Trying to manage my characters and wondering what people do...

So I have the three campaigns, but no expansion yet. Still, I'm wondering how people setup their characters.

Currently, I have one PvE character in each campaign, with only the Prophecies character having done much.

So, do people generally have a PvE character for each, or only one and use the others for PvP? How often do people switch 2ndary jobs? Should I be using my main PvE characters to switch jobs and unlock as many skills as possible for use in PvP?

How well do PvP builds do in PvE? I want to get into PvP, but should I have a seperate character or can I just use my PvE character, but with a totally different build setup?

How many farming characters do people use? How often do people go farming? Is there much reason or need to farm?

I guess I'm just trying to figure out where to go beyond just playing the PvE game. An acquaintance started a guild and I joined, but I'm thinking he's pretty clueless at this point, so I just need to get myself ready, so thanks for any help and tips!

I have, one character of every profession. Which have all completed atleast 1 campaign some have 3.

Pvp is 1 slot for a pvp char, i only use one pve char for pvp. Because of the need for all shields/weapon sets etc. if you are serious about pvp.

Swapping secondary to whatever I'm fancying at the time.

PvP don't work so well in PvE... they won't work at all, same goes for PvE in PvP.

Farming I'm not so sure, done a few FOWSC that's it, maybe one or two a week.

Personally I have 11 PvE characters. One is retired, I use 2 of them frequently. The rest get pulled out for a change every now and then. Only 2 of the characters are PvP ready. I also have a PvP character slot which I delete and change every time I want it. I know people who have perma PvP characters - have 2-3 professions they like and play often and then have one slot which changes as wished. It really is a "what works for you" thing.

Some PvP builds work well in PvE, many however don't. Or they work but you could be running a more effective bar. Generally Monk PvP bars and PvE bars are very similar for example. Something to realise is that without the expansion you will be at a disadvantage in PvP as you are missing some of the skills needed. As you're getting started it would be better to use PvP characters for PvP - they allow you to quickly change what you're doing so if you find that you want to play something else you're not limited by not having the equipment you need. Also you may find you enjoy playing a different profession in PvP to PvE. That being said there is no advantage either way if a PvE character is set up for PvP. Just takes a while to get all the necessary weaponry.

Farming: I only farm on my monk, and thats mostly 600/smite. Assassin is also greatly favoured (but not with me, hate the profession). At the moment I farm daily because I'm working on my Luxon title, but normally I don't bother as I don't have expensive tastes and get more than enough cash doing dungeons etc. You only need to farm if you need the money for stuff or are grinding titles. Otherwise its like everything else in the game - if you don't like it, don't do it.

If you have questions you want to ask but think they won't go down well in the forum, feel free to pm me. Not guaranteeing that I'll have all the answers but might be able to help somewhere along the line.

I have 20-ish characters, ten of which I consider my "mains."

I have one of each class, all 6 cores created in Prophecies, the other four created in their respective campaigns (duh.)

I don't PvP, but I have a spare slot just in case I ever find the need. That spare slot is also useful for re-making my Post Searing Express character who ferries goodies from Nicholas from Pre- to Post- whenever my inventory gets full there.

Every one of my characters that I can farm with (I'm not very good!) I do farm with - currently that's my Warrior, Assassin, Ritualist, Elementalist, Monk and Ranger.

I've got 7 PvE characters, and 1 PvP slot. I mostly use my monk, and a bit less my necro, ele and war. The other 3 are a ranger, an assa and a paragon, which i use rarely, and often i delete them to try something else.

I choose in which campaign to start depending on where my characters look prettier, or if i want to replay some nice things (pre-searing ).

I suggest you to do PvP with a PvP character, because all the skills and upgrades you have unlocked in your account are ready to be used. PvP characters are made to be created and destroyed without fear of losing anything. You can play today with a monk, and tomorrow with a war, using the same slot.

PvE characters, instead, need a lot of work and in-game money to find weapons, skills and armor during the gameplay, so it's not worth to do PvP with them IMHO (maybe only with your main PvE character).

You can unlock skills and upgrades during the PvE gameplay, identifying what you find along the way, or spending Balthazar Factions (speak to the Priest of Balthazar in your Guild Hall, or at the Great Temple of Balthazar). You gain Balthazar Factions killing opponents and winning during PvP fights.

I suggest you to do some PvE first, with one or two main characters, unlocking some skills and upgrades and learning the basic mechanics of the game. If you never did PvP maybe you can start with some competitive missions like JQ, FA or AB. Maybe RA is a little hard to start with, because it requires some basic knowledge of builds and PvP tactics.

IMHO PvP builds and PvE builds are two completely different things in most cases. Well, we can make some examples of builds used in both PvP and PvE (R/D wounding strike and Assa Moebius, just to name a few), but the play styles are completely different. In a few words, PvE asks you to learn some basic things like aggro control, and area damage/protection/heal to be effective, while PvP asks you a lot more..


You don't need to farm at all to finish all games and to buy the skills and the equipment to be effective. People usually farm to get expensive weapons and armors, or to grind titles, but you don't need them at all to be effective.

Hope i've helped you.

I play my ranger and only my ranger. I do all my farming, questing, titlehunting, and PvPing all on one character.
Most of the time, PvE builds are very different from PvP builds. If you want some ideas, you can go here.

One PvE char for every class, and 1 slot for PvP that recycles. When I'm not in gvg/ha I sometimes take pve chars for non-pve stuff. Mostly when i have a quest active on my pvp char and don't want to delete it.

I'd suggest you finnish each campaign with whatever character you fancy (pick the one(s) you like the most), as they all have a great storry and is a good gaming experience. And, you'll get money and skills (both as a player and for character use) by doing it, beside the great experience.

I also suggest that you buy EotN as it has a lot of key skills, such as patient spirit, and it too provide a storry and a lot of end-game gameplay.

Just go with one PvP character as you can reroll it whenever you feel for it without losing a lot of money or time, while this is not possible for PvE characters. Also, it is pretty expensive to use PvE characters in PvP if you are serious about it, so consider using a PvP one and reroll it whenever needed.

When you've completed all four campaigns you will probably have a good idea of what to do next, like getting into PvP, doing dungeons with your guild, farming, dungeon running or working on titles or maybe complete the game again - but on HM this time!

Whatever you decide, remember to have fun!

This almost sounds as though you are unaware that characters can travel to any campaign (that you own). I have characters that have started in each campaign, but they aren't for a particular campaign.
Once you have "unlocked" a particular secondary, it is merely a matter of loading a Template or selecting the secondary from the drop down list in the skills window (K). So, I change secondaries whenever i want. For example, if my monk goes to Umbral Groto looking to join a VSF PUG, it is normally a RoJ (Mo/Me), but if the group needs a healer, I simply load in an HB build (Mo/E), or I could load in the BiP build (Mo/N), if that's needed.
You don't need to go see the Profession Changer once you already done it once (per secondary).
Another example, load a A/Mo build to use my sin in a group, or load (one of several) A/E builds to go perma.

Because it's so easy to change secondaries/builds, I don't have particular "farming" characters. I usually "farm" with my monk(s) using a 600/smite team (Ogden is the smite), but sometimes use a Perma. I don't farm very often, and when I do these days it's usually just to get some particular item, such as those wanted by "The Traveler".

There is nothing beyond the PvE game, unless you consider PvP to be "beyond".

The right answer for you is going to depend on what your ultimate aims are - and these may change as time goes by, as mine did.

You can aim for a well-rounded view of the PvE game and play one of each class, aiming to complete at least one campaign in NM with each of them, possibly more. I did this at first, as it gave me plenty of variety. Alternatively you can aim for doing everything there is to do in PvE on just one character and go for the GWAMM title (God Walking Amongst Mere Mortals, 30 maxed titles). This is what I switched to once I decided I wanted a fully-decked Hall of Monuments ready for whatever the reward would be in GW2.

You can aim to prepare for PvP by unlocking as many skills and armour/weapon upgrades in PvE as possible, or you can unlock it all using Balthazar Faction gained from killing enemies in PvP. If you're going to do that in PvE I'd recommend having a PvE character for each of the classes you'd be interested in PvPing with, and getting the skills on them, rather than trying to get every skill on one character - it'll cost a lot less money and the skills won't be wasted. If you're going to do it in PvP I'd recommend using the majority of your character slots for PvP characters, as otherwise you'll spend a lot of time rerolling between classes while you work out which classes, builds and playstyles suit you best.

Changing builds on a character when you switch between PvE and PvP isn't a problem, but your equipment requirements will more than likely be completely different. It costs a lot of money to deck out a character perfectly for PvP, covering all the possible builds they might run, so it's much cheaper to use a PvP character at first. Once you know what your main class is likely to be in PvP, and you've got a few hundred thousand gold saved up, make a PvE character and get whatever shinies you want ready for your PvPing.

People farm when they've run out of other things to do, when they need money or mats for the more expensive armour and weapon skins, or to fill in small amounts of time when they can't really get anything else done. Nearly every class is capable of farming (still not heard of a paragon farming build...), but some can do more areas and rake in more gold per minute than others (eg sin and monk). It's not necessary to farm at all if you don't want to - it depends entirely on how expensive your tastes are.

I do most of my stuff on my ranger, as well, and getting her titles and stuff. She's completed all 4 storylines, and almost legendary guardian. On the other hand, I've made myself a perma sin and a monk for farming, and a necro for FoWSC.

14 characters all pve

I have one of each class and started 4 extras mainly used as mules and for trading.
I concentrate on 4 characters My Necro is the most used with Mesmer Ranger and Ele coming next.

The others are little used except when events come round when they all get used for the duration of same.

The Necro and Mesmer started in prophesies and moved through all the campaigns.
The Ele and Ranger started in Factions and did the same, I keep all the characters in Kamadan for convenience.

I'd just like to add that most people on here, when they talk about farming, talk mainly about solo builds or small groups like 600/smite. But, of course, farming is more defined by the fact that you are just doing something for the loot, rather than the size of the group.
While it's always nice to take a few players as possible, if you don't have the character class or spells or whatever to solo an area you should take as many characters as you need.

I have 10 slots, each for one PvE char, but I've been playing so long they are all Pvp Ready.

A pvp build works in PvE, a PvE build doesn't work in pvp

I have 16 characters: 11 pve that have finished one or more campaigns (1 of each plus an extra warrior with LDoA title), 4 pve (3 are mules, 1 can easily be deleted to reroll as anything), and 1 perma-pre.

Some builds work in both pve and pvp. However, certain skills which can be good in pvp, such as Frenzy and Primal Rage, are not so great in pve. Similarly, builds which take advantage of the AI's predictability, such as 55 or 600 farming builds, don't work for pvp.

Same here, albeit less PvPing. My PvP char is generally a monk for RA or JQ Z-Combats.

Other than my Ranger (Main and First toon), unless it was a character to introduce a newbie to the game or a Nightfall-specific class, all my characters are from Factions, solely based on the speed to go from Utter Newb->Max Ascended (aka "Being Useful").

Well you have to think a little as..

As over 4 yrs playing my main account has 21 chars others are normal

So its all down to your own preference really..Some may add geeze why so many ect.
Just wanted on first a male/female of each..Cost never has come into it as over 4 yrs its nothing to sub/games .

Any char can have all secondaries so if you wanted to play around with builds you have an option.

Make your Templates on builds( ones that work btw) then its only 2 seconds to swop over it town.

your playstyle comes into it really for to manage them.So in reality ..go for what you want to do as far as how to manage them.

If you like farming / pve / pvp ect then Templates is the way to go with your farming armour in a bag for when you want to have something diff to do on that char

I have at least one character of every profession. My first is Tyrian, since she was my first and had done most before I picked up Factions or Nightfall
Most my other characters ar Canthan, since Factions gives a faster leveling for when you don't wat to get held back by starter stuff
the last couple of characters are from Nightfall since they have to be (dervish or paragon) or i preferred the look from Elona

If you're aiming to PVP, then switching secondary professions is a good a way as any of unlocking skills. Otherwise you can try out other primary professions and do it that way
I don't PVP much, unless you count ABs and JQ, so it's not an issue for me. I swap secondaries as my play requires, although I did a lot of swapping when going for Skill Hunter (capping all elite skills on one character)

In PVE you're working against the environment. It changes from zone to zone, but it is pradicatable in what you'll face in each zone, so you'll swap and change our build depensing on where you're going and what you're doing
PVP is less pradictable, since you're up against the variable choices of other players. You can make an educated guess at what you're goig to face given the current meta, but you have to be prepareed for something unexpected.

PVE characters can PVP. A PVE character can chose the skills and equipment they've personally learnt and aquired. A PVP character chose from all the skills and equipment (statswise) unlocked on your account, so can be more flexible. Remember, you can save builds, so once set up you can swap out quickly whethe PVP or PVE. PVP characters can save equipment setups too, for that quick change

I'm not a big farmer, unlike some. My Ele goes fights raptors when their's a drops weekend; my dervish goes after gargoyle skulls leading up to wintersday. But otherwise I tend to make my gold through regular play. Perhaps not as fast as some might, but i prefer to play rather than grind

If you're tired playing one character, pick up another; either role a new class, or pick up a discarded old character. Want a bit more of a challenge, there's Hard Mode to look at. There's titles to chase if that's your ilk. The Zaishen quests also add a pointer if you don't know what you fancy doing on occasion.
Farming's there if you don't ming the repetition and/or like to see your welth expand

There's a fair bit to look at. Good luck

I only have 1 PvE character, the rest are PvP. I see no reason to make multiple PvE characters, feels like a waste of time and gold and I already know the story that took place. I know a lot of people delete and reuse PvP slots but I use them for storage and don't have to load templates and skills every time, not to mention if I forgot to save the character creation screen so I can't get the EXACT character recreated again. I also like somewhat name squatting lol... those names are mine! It really bites me though, when you don't use like 5 of your slots but then run of room to try new professions. I really do wish I could save character creation templates and names.

IMO, you MUST save one slot for a PvP character. They are called PvP characters for a reason, meant to be used for PvP! Once you try the PvP equipment panel you will never go back. Being able to create max armor/weapons/insignias/runes of any attribute on demand and for FREE while waiting to enter a match is just addictive. I sometimes used to switch between Sentra and Stalwart EVERY MATCH too which would get really costly. And you have every skill learned that you've unlocked as well, no tomes to deal with or hunting down bosses or running to skill trainers. I really see no reason to NOT use PvP characters for PvP... The only exception would be if you have totally tricked out your PvE character... if you have the gold, the weapons, the skills learned, and don't routinely change your armor, you don't need a PvP character. Also it is easier to get rare or exotic skins as a PvE character, if you want to look different.

I have 9 PvE characters (all professions except derv) and a slot that I use for PvP or pre. Since I'm not a big fan of playing through the same campaign more than once and prefer elite areas and dungeons, I just get my characters to the places where they are useful. My Paragon doesn't have access to ToA while my Ritualist hasn't been to The Deep, etc.

Getting characters to DoA is the worst part... I hate NF's storyline. v__v

I have 12 characters at the moment, eight PvE and four PvP.

Prophecies - warrior, mesmer, monk, necro
Factions - ritualist, ranger
Nightfall - dervish, ele

My main, warrior, is title hunting (17), the others I am slowly moving along. All but one (ele) have finished one campaign.

I started out in Nightfall and halfway through I bought the remaining GW chapters including EOTN. I continued playing Nightfall. After a while I created mules to carry stuff. I wanted to play all of the other classes, too, so I created the mules as characters to be played later and bought additional character slots. Naturally, a Ritualist and Assassin in Factions, a Dervish and Paragon in Nightfall. My Monk started out in Prophecies. The other core professions I started out in Nightfall, since I often play with heros. Two slots are occupied by PvP characters, but I don't like PvP at all so my PvP characters are pure mules.

At the moment, I completed all chapters with 6 characters and just started with the 7th. I consider my first character as "main" but play him not very much any more, since he has achieved almost all you can get. Characters I favor not much return to the mule state, and for characters I like playing I keep the inventory free for general gameplay.

Regarding skills: I farmed Balthazar faction and unlocked all PvP equipment and normal skills at the Priest of Balthazar. The elite skills were unlocked by capturing all elites for the Legendary Skill Hunter by my main char. I don't buy any new skills at the skill trainers, I collect all skill tomes that drop and use them to learn skills instead. I aim at having every single skill (elite & non-elite) for the primary profession for each character. For secondary professions, I learn only the skills I need for gameplay. I try to do all of the PvE skill quests for all characters.

I just wanted to say thank you all for the input. You've all given me some very good ideas on how to work this, so again, thanks.

I think for now, 3 characters, one for each campaign, till I get at least the story and a start. I'll focus on my first character, my elementalist in Prophs, but may bounce to an assassin or a paragon when I want to switch things up. This will give me plenty of freedom and plenty of room later to create other characters as necessary.

Thanks again all!

Seems like a nice setup, as I said before, do whatever you like to enjoy yourself, it is what games are about.

Just a little tip from me would be that you travel, once you can, to at least NF and EotN to get the beginning heroes so you have the fredom of heroes. Travel to Factions too, just to pick up some skills (use a trapper/nuker to farm the zaishen elite and then use the earned balthazar faction to unlock the skills you want, the'll now be availble to any skill trainer in the corresponding campaign, or consider buying tomes, as this will be cheaper than paying 1k from the merchant).

Main = Warrior
Farmer 1 = Sin
Farmer 2 = Monk
PvP slot 1 = Changes
PvP Slot 2 = Changes
Utility 1 = mule
Utility 2 = mule
Utility 3 = mule