WoW player planning on starting GW - Need class advice.

How the hell not? It's armor ignoring damage. Basically the only time it won't work is if you can't ball the enemies, which is almost always possible. If you can't, well, see below.
Quote: needs many enemies to work That's why I said "biggest AoE damage explosion", which it is. If you don't need the massive AoE, or you can't ball the enemies up into one mob, it's obviously not the best option. Warriors also do some of the highest single-target DPS (behind stuff like crit scythe sins), so the OP should be happy with smashing face normally too.
Quote: mostly a farming tactic No, it's an organized team tactic. There's a difference.

Quote:

you could also argue the same for splinter barrage Splinter is great, but the numbers simply do not compare, especially with larger mobs. MoP gets better as the number of monsters increases, Splinter stays the same.

Quote:

Not to mention you can forget the warrior and just arcane echo ebon sin +mop That's not even remotely close to the same damage. HB + whirlwind triggers MoP way more than any echoed sins are going to do.

kupp

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2008

The Shiverpeaks

[KISS]

07 Sep 2010 at 15:40 - 15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrissie Quickdraw View Post

Does it have to be a conversion ? Enjoying both is possible.

Killed LK heroic a month or 2 back on my wow char, and that's pretty "hardcore". But I still enjoy gw and now I'm waiting for content to come to the other, I spend more time in this game meanwhile. But offtopic.

Yeah but you got my point, people used to the typical MMOs don't always take up GW.

Quote:

Originally Posted by awry

Situational, won't work with all enemies, needs many enemies to work, mostly a farming tactic, etc, you could also argue the same for splinter barrage, which is sufficent for most cases. Not to mention you can forget the warrior and just arcane echo ebon sin +mop Still the Warrior has the highest sustained damage output in general gameplay. D-Slash + FGJ topples anything in single target, and if you want AoE a scythe build will give you higher damage than a dervish with it. The only thing missing is pure AoE skills like the elementalists but you'd still need perfectly balled up mobs to make the most of them. And I still doubt it has higher DPS than the a Warrior. Also take into account the easiness the Warrior has on applying Deep Wound wich is king on any confrontation imo.

Skyy High said it better.

Lowsanity

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Sep 2010

07 Sep 2010 at 16:26 - 16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrissie Quickdraw

Just forget everything you know about tanking in wow while you're in gw, and you'll do fine

(Coming from a tankadin, trust me, there's no "threat" like you know off in gw) Haha, so no mages/rogues who don't trick aggroing from you

@kupp, that's exactly WHY i want to play GW, different from the common MMO

. I killed lich king 25 heroic some time ago, so WoW is just farm to me atm.

After all that comments, ill end up focusing on warrior then, as they do good overall damage and can "tank"(ill discover how that works later haha). Ill probably get to lv 20 and get a necromancer friend to help with.
Thanks for all the answers, they have helped me a LOT on which class im going to choose as my first.

TalanRoarer

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2007

Manchester, England

Gil Worz Is Srs [Bsns]

N/A

07 Sep 2010 at 16:27 - 17

Quote:

Originally Posted by kupp

Explain that warriors can have the highest DPS of all 10 classes, pve and pvp? Yes. I'd be interested to see why you think that warriors are the best DPS class in PvE. ( I don't care for PvP ).

Zodiac Meteor

Imma Firin Mah Rojway!

Join Date: Aug 2008

At the Mac Store laughing at people that walk out with anything.

E/Mo

07 Sep 2010 at 16:32 - 18

You should forget tanking all together because tanking in Guild Wars doesn't work well because the AI is a bit brighter.

1. Foes can switch targets if their not dealing enough damage. This is really bad because they will ignore you and go straight for the monk.

2. Warrior, Assassins and Dervishes are frontline attackers, but they also the best damage dealer classes.

3. Tanking is only good with tank-n-spank builds in GW. No one uses them much because they are very slow.

When it comes to huge busting damage, Necro can fill that role followed closely by a Mesmer. Elementalists are hands down the best class that can play any role, from tank-n-spank to healer and everything in between, however, how well it works mostly depends on the player.

Glints Bane

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2006

Where I sleep

The Almond Brothers [Bros]

07 Sep 2010 at 16:39 - 19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lakdav View Post

Assassin can tank, yes, but only with the Shadow form Elite skill.

I lol'ed.

TBH. If you want damage and the ability to tank I'd go with warrior or assassin. Assassins have Loads of spike dmg and can have decent armor rating. with the use of a few prots from heros or people (protective spirit, SoA) sins are beast. + their crit abilities can be used for other weapons like a scythe for semi-AoE effect.

Warriors have lower dps then a sin most of the time but can take lots of damage without a lot of dependency on prots. Warriors are good for snaring or AoE frontline dmg, while the sin is mostly single target spikes (ofc you can add splinter weapon or death blossom)

If you are willing to move away from tanking then I would go necromancer. They have a large output of dmg and supporting skills that will buff a teams effeciency.

Elementalists are also high dmg dealers but they are overpopulated and as some mentioned they lose their effectiveness in Hard Mode and end game content.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zodiac Meteor

3. Tanking is only good with tank-n-spank builds in GW. No one uses them much because they are very slow. This isn't true for the most part. Most people in GW dont have a sense of tanking like other games because it is harder in GW. But since you have a lot of experience (I'm assuming a few years) tanking all it takes is the ability to ball em up then AoE and move on. my guild H/Hs "tank-n-spanks" faster then most speed clear (you'll learn the terminology) groups can.

When it comes to your timing of starting up--this is a fine time for the most part. If you can get into a good learning guild that will teach you most lingo you should be able to catch on quickly. Just watch out with what everyone says. Like shadow form is the only way to tank with sin and its impossible to ball anything with a tank. Or you will be stuck where those guys are with a single-minded view of gameplay when the options are many in numbers.

JimmyTyme

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2009

Canada Eh

Fallen Knights Of The Shattered [Soul]

07 Sep 2010 at 17:49 - 20

Quote:

Originally Posted by TalanRoarer

I'd say that starting Guild Wars now is still a viable option for any new player.

As far as the classes go; I have no idea about WoW. But if you're looking for a damage dealing class; none beat Necromancer. Most people will tell you that elementalists are the best damage dealers in the game but they're pretty useless once you get towards the end content.

Plenty of classes can tank in Gws; mainly Assassins (Through 1 OP Skill) Warriors and Elementalists. while yes i agree with talan that starting now is viable (and the more stuff u add to hall of monuments benefits u in GW2) but... I disagree with any class being overpowered/underpowered during your first time through and its just a matter of taste and personal style (yes such a thing exists

) so it's simply best to look around sites see what everyone does and just play the game get a feel for your own style and see what ya like all classes are pretty much even (in NM, once you get to HM there are classes who fall short but are still entirely viable) ... oh and for the most-part since you new try to avoid PvXwiki till you've beat the game at-least once (it'll just ruin the game for ya)

kupp

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2008

The Shiverpeaks

[KISS]

07 Sep 2010 at 17:54 - 21

Quote:

Originally Posted by TalanRoarer

Yes. I'd be interested to see why you think that warriors are the best DPS class in PvE. ( I don't care for PvP ). Churning out 100+ damage hits per second on a single target is one of them (dragon slash + FGJ, you'll be averaging 3 hits every 2 seconds). The damage dealt in melee (on all classes, warrior it's the hardest though) outshines the damage done by casters in any you look at it, from a constant damage spam and the lack of long cooldown abilities.I could write quite a long paragraph about it, but this is well known fact, hope you're not gonna say otherwise. And I know necros with MoP can deal a lot more, but that falls under the 'special circunstances' category, not the average gameplay.

But apparently you think otherwise, care to explain what/why deals more dps?

edit: I re-read the OP and yes, Necros deal a shitload of damage. But having a necro as my 'second main' and having the Legendary Guardian title on it, I can tell you it won't as much as a warrior, in this case mainly due to how much you have to rely on AI to cooperate towards their own death. Scatter is one hell of a pain and the moment MoP is used, it triggers. Same for SS. You can get off a few hits on a few mobs but they'll quickly move away and break your damage entirely. They're extremely useful as utilities and actual support, but for pure damage on their own, I find them very unreliable. At least with a warrior the moment you jump in, you're breaking faces and you control the battle and the enemy. For example, having vanquished Elona, Cantha and half of Tyria with an Earthshaker build, the damage dealt was immense not because of raw numbers, but because I kept the mobs under control on the same spot until they were dead. Without it, they'd just scatter and break my momentum. A necromancer doesn't have this ability despite having great potential in damage, potential that's dependent on circustances you usually cannot control. With the warrior, you can. And like I mentioned, with the ability to spam skills a lot faster than other classes, you're constantly dealing heavy damage on the enemy non-stop.

Desert Rose

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Sep 2007

07 Sep 2010 at 18:02 - 22

Guild Wars was originally designed as a PvP game, so many mechanics of other RPGs wouldn't work; i.e. what would be the use of an oldschool tank in PvP? Any at least decent player would simply ignore the tank and go straight for the healers, making the tank useless.
Therefor ANet made another approch than the Tank/Nuker/Healer roles in many other RPGs; instead, the melee fighters (often called physicals) were made the main damage dealers, casters support their own physicals or hamper the opposed ones. But your enemies are still hard hitting, so you still need something to "tank" the damage; in GW, the ability to "tank" was given to the healer class (monk) in form of short living buffs (Protection Prayers) that can increase the durability of an ally up and sometimes even beyond the durability of "tanks" in traditonal RPGs.

Now that the small introduction is over lets go over your questions:
1.) In GW you get max level and max equipment very, very quickly compared to WoW; from there it depends on your ability to learn. If you are quick learner you can catch up with the top PvElers in a matter of weeks, for PvP on a high level it will be far longer.
2.) As explained above the best choice for a damage dealer is a physical (warrior, assassin, dervish, and to a lesser degree ranger and paragon) is the best choice; in some cases, like i.e. the already mentioned Necromancer with his Mark of Pain, some casters can deal an incredible amount of damage, but that's only possible in special team builds. For overall good damage choose a phsical.
Tanking in GW is only possible because of flaws in the in comparison to other RPGs still very good AI, and it's only worth the hassle in endgame content speedclear runs. The best tanking classes are the assassin (Shadow Form) and ele (Obsidian Flesh), but both classes need a highly specialized build and team to function properly. The best overall "tank" is the warrior simply because he has the highest natural armor rating.

kanuks

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Nov 2005

07 Sep 2010 at 18:19 - 23

Where is the big damage coming from for a necro aside from mop? Can anyone enlighten me on this? I mean evas + mop is nice but you need the foes to be balled up. To do that you need either a tank or at least someone able to bodyblock/ball foes up. Imo warriors are way better dps machine than necros. Let's not even talk about SS which is imo a terrible skill.

TalanRoarer

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2007

Manchester, England

Gil Worz Is Srs [Bsns]

N/A

07 Sep 2010 at 21:41 - 24

Quote:

Originally Posted by kupp View Post

The damage dealt in melee (on all classes, warrior it's the hardest though) outshines the damage done by casters in any you look at it, from a constant damage spam and the lack of long cooldown abilities.I could write quite a long paragraph about it, but this is well known fact, hope you're not gonna say otherwise.

I don't deny that, my favourite teambuild is Physway. But I only asked you about your comment about Warriors being the highest DPS in the game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kupp

But apparently you think otherwise, care to explain what/why deals more dps? Ok I found it (eventually).
WoTA Dagger Spammer would be my top DPS build.

My reasoning being that the Assassin will have better energy levels to be able to spam AScan/BuH on demand and shoot out some silly numbers.

Bandwagon

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jan 2010

07 Sep 2010 at 21:48 - 25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lowsanity View Post

First of all, hello

.
Well im a hardcore World of Warcraft PVE player, but i got kinda bored recently as i've done basically anything possible in this game already.
I've been waiting to play GW for a long time and now ill probably be finally starting.
Ill be buying Classic, Factions and Nightfall.
I got "two" questions.
1) Is it still worth to start playing at this time? I've read that GW2 is on it's way and that i'd need around a year or so to get to the "acceptable" skill of a player.
2) I play on WoW as a retribution paladin who like to mainly DPS(do damage) and to Tank, so as i've read there's many classes that can tank, right? I tough the warrior of GW would be similar to a paladin in WoW. If not, what class is decent at damage dealing(that a good player can put on more damage than people do on pure damage classes) and good at tanking?
Healing classes is out of question. I don't like making people stay alive by healing em. 1) Yes it is, especially if you want to play something different than the WoW
2) In GW, except for certain team builds and comps, there is usually 2 healers (backliners) and 6 "DPS" in an 8 man group, there are exceptions but that is the general jiist of it.

I would consider looking at the guild wiki and checking out the articles they have for each profession then try out said professions (if you bought Proph Factions and NF then you have 8 character slots) that interest you.

After you get to level 20 (max level) and progress through the game give PvX wiki a visit and check out some of their builds afterward (or just make builds by yourself). Focus on what makes them powerful instead of ctrl+C'ing the builds so you understand what the overall community feels what the top damage dealer / useful build is for that profession.

Do not roll a Paragon as your main character if you like variety in your primary PvE profession, at the moment there is only one build that they truly excel at (and everything else is crap compared to what others can achieve).

You played a Ret paladin in WoW, and probably other classes, when designing your builds try not to overextend your skills, a warrior for example does not need self heals in PvE, they should be focusing on killing stuff (when grouped with others), same with a necromancer, elementalist, assassin, dervish yada yada. In WoW you can use all abilities available to your spec, this is not possible in GW.

Try and join a guild, you won't expect much competent pug activity in a 5 year old Free to Play game since most of the population has already done that content and has learned they can do it faster and just as effectively if they do not waste their time waiting for pugs. If you do not like this, you may not enjoy the game at later levels.

luwe80

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2008

BK, NY

We Made Mallyx Tap [Out]

08 Sep 2010 at 02:34 - 26

I think a big difference and in a good way is that in GW you can have a max level toon, with max weapons in like a week or two. You probably won't have most skills but you'll get the gist of that class. Worst case you find out you don't like that class you can just make another toon and in a week or so have him at max level.

Lowsanity

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Sep 2010

08 Sep 2010 at 10:15 - 27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bandwagon View Post

1) Yes it is, especially if you want to play something different than the WoW
2) In GW, except for certain team builds and comps, there is usually 2 healers (backliners) and 6 "DPS" in an 8 man group, there are exceptions but that is the general jiist of it.

I would consider looking at the guild wiki and checking out the articles they have for each profession then try out said professions (if you bought Proph Factions and NF then you have 8 character slots) that interest you.

After you get to level 20 (max level) and progress through the game give PvX wiki a visit and check out some of their builds afterward (or just make builds by yourself). Focus on what makes them powerful instead of ctrl+C'ing the builds so you understand what the overall community feels what the top damage dealer / useful build is for that profession.

Do not roll a Paragon as your main character if you like variety in your primary PvE profession, at the moment there is only one build that they truly excel at (and everything else is crap compared to what others can achieve).

You played a Ret paladin in WoW, and probably other classes, when designing your builds try not to overextend your skills, a warrior for example does not need self heals in PvE, they should be focusing on killing stuff (when grouped with others), same with a necromancer, elementalist, assassin, dervish yada yada. In WoW you can use all abilities available to your spec, this is not possible in GW.

Try and join a guild, you won't expect much competent pug activity in a 5 year old Free to Play game since most of the population has already done that content and has learned they can do it faster and just as effectively if they do not waste their time waiting for pugs. If you do not like this, you may not enjoy the game at later levels. Thanks for the answer, Bandwagon. I've just bought GW and all xpacs, going to start testing classes tomorrow. I guess pugs are shit in all games lol, i usually avoid doing anything with pugs as they're 99% clueless on what they are doing.
Well, i guess i already found on what ill be probably playing. Thank you all who posted here to help me get some understanding of the game and make my choice on class to roll