I'm taking a break (maybe permanent) from Warhammer. So I've decided to check out Guild Wars, which I played briefly at launch. I own the trilogy plus EOTN.
Last week I started a D/W in Nightfall, and have been enjoying it. But I'm more comfortable playing a ranged profession. I'm usually a healer, but have healer burnout from playing my Zealot in WAR. I'd like to play a ranged damage or buff-debuff support class.
Both Necromancer and Ritualist look interesting to me. Mesmer looks good too but the AoE nature of N and R look more appealing. And I'd like to play either Prophecies or Factions for my second character. Do experienced players have any recommendations? Are any of these professions viable for solo-pve with henchmen?
My goal is to eventually experience all three campaigns plus EOTN before GW2 launches.
Career/Campaign Choice
Weathervane
Marty Silverblade
*You can run anything in PvE and be successful (it's not like one weak team member will cause the entire team to fail). Some professions are more powerful than others, some (like the Dervish) are completely outdone by other professions. If you want to play with other people a lot, you'll have to get a guild/friends who are happy to play with you if you don't choose a powerful profession (you'll be with heroes/henchies a lot anyway).
*Both Necros and Rits are incredibly powerful nowadays. Theres no penalty for creating or deleting characters (other than losing their progress), so you can just make one of each and then play which ever one you feel like playing (or delete the other one if you don't have any more slots and want to try something else). Note that you can only make Rits in Factions (but they can go anywhere after a while) so if you want to make one in Proph and one in Factions you won't have a choice about which goes where.
EDIT: Theres a PvE based update coming next month (we're supposed to get one, anyway) and it's likely to address some of these profession balance issues. Even if it doesn't, you're better off playing a profession you like (it's a game remember, you're supposed to be enjoying it) thats slightly weaker than something thats super powerful but boring.
*Both Necros and Rits are incredibly powerful nowadays. Theres no penalty for creating or deleting characters (other than losing their progress), so you can just make one of each and then play which ever one you feel like playing (or delete the other one if you don't have any more slots and want to try something else). Note that you can only make Rits in Factions (but they can go anywhere after a while) so if you want to make one in Proph and one in Factions you won't have a choice about which goes where.
EDIT: Theres a PvE based update coming next month (we're supposed to get one, anyway) and it's likely to address some of these profession balance issues. Even if it doesn't, you're better off playing a profession you like (it's a game remember, you're supposed to be enjoying it) thats slightly weaker than something thats super powerful but boring.
RorripopRane
What Marty said.
It's so funny that you made this thread, you are a bit like me two months ago when I started (and have now both finished) a Necro and Rit in Prophecies and Factions, respectively (oh, except that I did Nightfall in 07' with a ranger... shhhh). I also planned on finishing all the camps and EoTN before GW2... then I discovered I finished all the campaigns quicker than I thought I would, but outfitting my Hall will occupy me well into 2011.
While I had kinda-of-a-good time with my ranger in NF, both my necro and rit were very fun to play and strong (or perhaps more precisely, flexible) in PvE. This is true for both low and high-end PvE... and especially with heroes/hench.
Also, I can definitely understand burnout, and the two classes that interest you are particularly helpful in making sure that never happens. Necros frequently go curses (de-buffer, sometimes includes blood magic), minion master (summoner-esque), minion bomber (summoner-esque but you have to be skilled with the keys, most people just let heroes do this), or orders (team buffer, generally only seen in high end PvE for Physicalways). Rits can go Resto (support healer and/or buffer), various different Signet of Spirit builds (high damage summoner/nuker-ish), and many other builds that are in between or are too specialized to provide a general name for at all.
I also expect that most of these builds will survive the update... or maybe weaken just a bit (*whistles*)
Good luck!
It's so funny that you made this thread, you are a bit like me two months ago when I started (and have now both finished) a Necro and Rit in Prophecies and Factions, respectively (oh, except that I did Nightfall in 07' with a ranger... shhhh). I also planned on finishing all the camps and EoTN before GW2... then I discovered I finished all the campaigns quicker than I thought I would, but outfitting my Hall will occupy me well into 2011.
While I had kinda-of-a-good time with my ranger in NF, both my necro and rit were very fun to play and strong (or perhaps more precisely, flexible) in PvE. This is true for both low and high-end PvE... and especially with heroes/hench.
Also, I can definitely understand burnout, and the two classes that interest you are particularly helpful in making sure that never happens. Necros frequently go curses (de-buffer, sometimes includes blood magic), minion master (summoner-esque), minion bomber (summoner-esque but you have to be skilled with the keys, most people just let heroes do this), or orders (team buffer, generally only seen in high end PvE for Physicalways). Rits can go Resto (support healer and/or buffer), various different Signet of Spirit builds (high damage summoner/nuker-ish), and many other builds that are in between or are too specialized to provide a general name for at all.
I also expect that most of these builds will survive the update... or maybe weaken just a bit (*whistles*)
Good luck!
cognophile
I'd suggest creating at least one character in Prophecies, so you get a chance to experience presearing Ascalon. Necro is a very viable class for PvE, so maybe go with that.
Zahr Dalsk
Optimal Class Tier (a wide array of effective builds, always useful)
Monk
Necromancer
Warrior
Usually Useful Tier (usually effective with a wide variety of builds, difficult to go wrong)
Ritualist
Assassin
Subjective Usefulness Tier (sometimes powerful with certain builds, but otherwise pretty weak and pointless)
Ranger
Elementalist
Paragon
Useless Tier (pointless, redundant, not useful at all)
Dervish
Mesmer
*This list assumes the player is decent. A stupid person can make even the most effective classes worthless.
EDIT: This is also only for PvE, obviously, since in PvP you'll of course be using a PvP character that you regularly delete and replace with whatever class is needed at the time. Thus the question of "what profession" becomes irrelevant.
Monk
Necromancer
Warrior
Usually Useful Tier (usually effective with a wide variety of builds, difficult to go wrong)
Ritualist
Assassin
Subjective Usefulness Tier (sometimes powerful with certain builds, but otherwise pretty weak and pointless)
Ranger
Elementalist
Paragon
Useless Tier (pointless, redundant, not useful at all)
Dervish
Mesmer
*This list assumes the player is decent. A stupid person can make even the most effective classes worthless.
EDIT: This is also only for PvE, obviously, since in PvP you'll of course be using a PvP character that you regularly delete and replace with whatever class is needed at the time. Thus the question of "what profession" becomes irrelevant.
FireWhale
opinion posts make me laugh.
Just play whatever you like.
Just play whatever you like.
Cuilan
Assassins and warriors can use melee can use melee weapons very well for high damage and constant damage, especially when buffed by other players or heroes. The dervish can too...
Rangers are worthless. Same with paragons with the exception spamming of a defensive skill called Save Yourselves.
Ritualist spirit spam. Nobody wants em much for much else. They have some niche physical weapon builds.
Mesmers are a wonderful profession when played well in PvE. Not many of those people are around.
Rangers are worthless. Same with paragons with the exception spamming of a defensive skill called Save Yourselves.
Ritualist spirit spam. Nobody wants em much for much else. They have some niche physical weapon builds.
Mesmers are a wonderful profession when played well in PvE. Not many of those people are around.
The Drunkard
Quote:
Originally Posted by Weathervane
Last week I started a D/W in Nightfall, and have been enjoying it. But I'm more comfortable playing a ranged profession. I'm usually a healer, but have healer burnout from playing my Zealot in WAR. I'd like to play a ranged damage or buff-debuff support class.
There are three professions that are always popular for pve: monks, warriors, and necromancers. I'd start with the necro based off of your prefrences since they do both of those very well. Necros are also popular in high-end areas as well.
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