What to play?

so, i'm a returning vet, i got characters in all 3 campaigns, and have gone a little ways into EotN on a couple. my ranger has completed all missions and bonus in proph, but i tried playing him once a started back up and i just didn't like the play style, he felt pretty weak when trying to actually do damage with the bow, even in nm pve, i felt like skills were too slow, so i'm trying to figure out what class to play.

i have a derv that has finished NF, i just need a few bonuses and i'll have protector there, and i'm working a rt or mo through factions. i'll probably get the rt up, since it seems they're the preferred go to for farming these days. does it matter if i don't get legendary protector? i don't think i really care to do that... maybe if i start vanquishing, since i'll be back into those areas anyways.

now, it looks like for casters rt and necro are currently the favorites, and sin and war for melee. monks of course are useful, but most people just run hero monks, since most people are running h/h anyways. derv was my favorite class to play, but it looks like they're considered pretty weak overall.

tl;dr: what i'm asking for opinions on is this, since i'll play mostly solo, i wanted to play a melee and use h/h for casters/rangers, should i stick to the warrior, or go ahead and go dervish? play what is solid, or what i like better? like i say, i got monk, ele, war, ranger, derv, para, that i can play, but i figured melee would be best for me.

i been playing the last few nights just hopping back and forth between toons, finishing a mish here, unlocking more skills there, i just need to focus so that i can complete all the campaigns, but as i get to where i want to do the elite zones, i don't want to be locked out of groups based on my class choice.

thanks for any advice.

Derv, Ranger, and Para suck. Monk sucks to play alone. Mesmers are a blast now. Eles can be fun if you like support but don't really deal enough damage in HM to play the "fun" Ele bars. I love Assassin, and other folks love Warrior. Both classes are playable in a group and solo. Necro and Ritualist can fill any role solo or in a group.

My suggestions: Mes, Rit, Nec for caster, Sin, War for melee.

use your dervish for h/h. use your warrior for group play.

theres no reason you can't play multiple characters.

well, time dictates that but i understand what you're saying.

thanks for the advice.

If you want to keep playing your ranger then I have a great option for you to look into. Beast mastery.
No one wants a beast master in the team because most are terrible. But you said you mostly play alone, so no problem there.

If you can get a good set up, beast mastery is one of the best things in the game. Pets have 80 base armor, like a warrior or a paragon, and with Otyugh's Cry it gets another 24. Now your pet has 104 armor against everything...its like how rangers have 100 vs elemental and warriors have 100 vs physical. Using 15 beast mastery with Feral Aggression gives constant 33% IAS and +10 damage for your pet. Heal as One was recently updated to steal health when your pet attacks. In Normal mode using this combination makes your pet always deal 65 total damage or more per hit without skills (around 40 in HM).
Pets are the best tanks in the game once you learn how to control them with the Attack/Defend/Heel tab.

use you 5 remaining skills form your attacks/defense. Don't bring skills to keep your pet from dieing if you don't want to. Doesn't matter if it dies, pets don't get death penalty.


Works very well. Used this with barely half decent heros and some henchies and went through all of EotN with it. Also ran all of Sorrow's Furnace yesterday with it.

I didn't really think about getting into beast mastery, i'll give this a try. i still gotta get Heal as One, but i think that my ranger is close to that area, just don't remember what faction i'm on right now.

I used to run a Beast Mastery build and my pet was a VERY effective tank. But don't try to PuG with that setup unless you want to get laughed at. There are some great pet buffs and pets can interrupt, apply conditions, etc. But their AI sucks. Definitely plan to micro the heel/guard/attack. Can't tell you how many times I was yelling at my screen, "stupid pet!"

Yes
It's best used when going on your own with some heros/henchies. Beast mastery is a difficult line of skills to understand, and when people don't know how things works they tend to think its bad. People want builds that they can press 1,2,3 and kill stuff, and they like their team mates to be just as simple.

Oh, I dunno. Rangers can be pretty good in PvE (my main is a ranger).

Try the old norm, splinter barrage. I like to run Barrage, Splinter Weapon, Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support, Technobabble (surprisingly good with barrage), Finish Him, Comfort Animal, Dshot/Savage shot, and a res. Works well enough for me.

But if you wanted to go melee, Warrior is your best option. Dervs and assassins kinda suck for H/H PvE play. Pick up Save Yourselves! (Kurzick PvE skill) and run an Earthshaker build or something.

Thank you, RedDog, for that whole post. Ranger was my first character, my "pioneer," and I would run around with a pet because I like animals. But I was the main damage dealer with a marks/expertise Barrage build. The pet was...companionship and meatshield. But like the OP, I got frustrated with the unimpressive damage output. I discovered SoS/spamming for farming purposes and just never looked back. The play is relatively effective but growing kind of stale, especially now that I'm honoring my pioneer by making her a GWAMM. Thanks to your post, I may go visit my menagerie and see what kind of real fun I can have with a pet.

If you are doing stuff with H/H I would say pick the character you have most titles on and use the discord necros with the human player skills being:

Assassins promise
You Move Like A Dwarf
Finish Him
Ebon Vanguard Assassin
Cover Hex
Random Skill
Random Skill
Random Skill

Using this can roll through PvE

My Dad has been playing his ranger since Feb. '07 and he already has 20 maxxed titles.
Seriously, there are no bad professions; only bad players.
That being said it seems Dervs are the most gimped, but they'll be buffed very soon now so defintely keep him "ready"

I'd like to disagree with the 2nd post. Playing para with H/H is very doable and easy, also playing with most groups of humans works too. You are shut out of many elite areas, but the para is on par with rangers as far as dmg output and if you are playing with other physicals there is nothing better (since I haven't seen a human running orders in almost 2 years).

The only times I ever "hate" playing my para is in hex heavy areas where you see Vocal Minority and Soothing Images a lot.
There is a lot of things I can say about making so many skills, never used by humans, designed all around shutting down a single profession, with only one workable meta build.

thanks for the replies, makes me feel a bit better about my characters.

i reckon i'll keep working on the Rt/ for getting through factions. since i don't have any toons that have more than 1 or 2 titles, i was always really spread out when it came to playing time, my biggest issue will be figuring out which toon i want to vanq with. and i think i might just go ahead with the R/ for that. he is the farthest of any of my toons, and ranger armors look pretty decent.