New to the game

Hello everyone. I've been hearing some pretty great things about this game and have finally decided to give it a try.
All morning I've been trying to read up on all the info I can find in order to have an idea of how to make my class. One that looks like it could be pretty fun is an Elementalist/Mesmer, but I want to ask everyone's opinion just in case this would be a waste of time.

I've been through a couple other mmo's and have always drifted towards a Caster Damage class or sometimes a healer mainly because I just enjoy their playstyle more.

If Elementalist/Mesmer is a terrible idea perhaps someone could suggest an easy profession to play around with just until I learn the mechanics of the game. I'm not asking for the absolute best pvp profession but something that will get me comfortable with a wide variety of things.

Anyways, thanks for any help or tips you guys can offer and I look forward to starting this game and hopefully seeing some of you inside it

Cheers

later in the game you can change your secondary proffesion. If you want to pvp, just make a pvp char, that way you get access to max weapons/armors and all unlocked skills(u can unlock skills with faction, which you get from killing stuff in pvp)
If you want caster dmg just go for elementalist, mesmers are for pvp mainly, they dont have much use in pve. Necromancer is another caster that relies on cursing the enemies making them suicide/weaker or summoning minions to fight among him. Id go for elementalist/monk just because you can take hard rez(you can use it more than one time, compared to the ressurection signet).
you can go read stuff at http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page
you can find builds(if you decide that you cannot make a good one by yourself) at http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Don't look too much into the secondary profession, for all the attention they get, 90% of the time you'll be best served by relying entirely on your primary skills.

In case of your ele, you'll be able to do very decent damage just from your primary, so Mo would be a better secondary to start out with (ONLY for a hex removal and some basic heals very early in the game. Heals are best left to the monks after level 10 or so.)

Early warning: although the elementalist is good for casting damage in PvP, it is NOT good for damage in PvE. Seriously. It'll work fine in early parts of the game, but as you progress you'll be less and less effective due to the way GW handles armour and damage types.

In PvE, the elementalist is a support class, not damage.

If you want to deal damage, you play a physical class like Warrior or Assassin, or possibly the Ritualist.

Welcome To Guild Wars
Ele Is A Pretty Fun Class To Play for Most Pve And Pvp...
And About The Mes Bit You Can change Secondary Profs Later In The Game So Wouldnt Worry About It!
Good Luck + Have Fun

If you want a really basic, yet powerful class in all aspects, you may want to consider taking an Warrior or Ritualist

Warrior has access to many, many different roles and weapons, both offensive and supportive of their team.
A warrior is able to boost their team's defensive to skyrocketing amounts with its powerful "Save Yourselves!" shout whilst having access to some of the most useful skills in the game with its strength attribute such as Warrior's Endurance.
Warrior's Endurance grants a warrior energy each time they attack. This allows you to spam Asuran Scan on an axe build to gain great, steady damage, or to take equip of scythes or daggers and utilize their powerful AoE affects with some of the highest damage in the game that can kill the Master of Damage in a mere 7 seconds without help of allies. A warrior can also equip a hammer and utilize Earthshaker to knockdown many adjacent foes to them, or a sword which grants them powerful AoE damage through Hundred Blades and Whirlwind attack, and powerful damage and adrenaline charging for utilizing Save Yourselves.


Meanwhile, a Ritualist can take many offensive turrets called Spirits. Spirits are powerful ally summons which, through Signet of Ghostly Might or Signet of Spirits, assist and create your powerful army of mobile turrets with Summon Spirits.
A ritualist may also support their allies through powerful spells like Splinter Weapon which causes damage to enemies whenever the casted ally attacks, or you will be able to heal your party with your array of heals while maintaining your energy and causing damage to enemeis through Signet of Spirits.
Offensively, because the ritualist has the strongest Splinter Weapon in the game, you could take with you barrage to utilize a powerful AoE nuke, and Triple Shot with Nightmare Weapon for a powerful, armor ignoring and health draining spike of way over 100 damage every few seconds.
And while a lot of ritualist armor might seem weird, if you buy the Seitung Boots and use a max variant of the starter armor, it'll make your ritualist look really cool without looking weird


Both professions have many other options as well, and it is your job to find them as a player

Welcome to GW & the Guru!

LIES! Damnable lies, I tell you!!! Nah, I'm still having fun with it after 4-1/2 + years.
Yes, Ele/Mesmer would be a good combo to run. Ele/Monk wouldn't be a bad choice either.

Don't expect GW to be like other MMO's out there, because it's not. If you go into it with a clear view that GW isn't your regular MMO, you'll not be disappointed.

You should do just fine with an Ele/Mesmer, but for someone just starting out, Warrior or Ranger are good professions for learning the ropes on. It's a good thing you get multiple character slots, that way you can play around with different professions. One big plus is that when you spend your attribute points, it's not set in stone, because you can change them around when in town. GL & HF!!!

Eh, just make sure you bring a few heroes that can spread Cracked Armor around and E/Me Rodgort's Invocation spammer should do just fine. Not optimal perhaps, but well enough.

EDIT: But for a new player, Necro is a very nice class to start with. It's very versatile, you can try lots of different roles/functions for your character, and thanks to Soul Reaping, you won't have to worry about managing your energy as much as with the other classes.