New player could use some advice on all that is GW

Hello everyone. I'm new to the game. Well not NEW as I played the game during beta/launch but new to the CURRENT game. I'm aware a lot has changed and I've read as much as I can on the expansions that I bought and the changes they brought. I still am having some difficulties with getting "started" and was hoping you as the community could lend me a hand. I'm a long time MMOer and have a decent grasp on the mechanics involved with playing but I'm more concerned with the META.

One of the big problems I'm having is act of choosing a class. I don't have the MOST amount of time to devote to games and would rather not make a 'mistake' in this regard. I've found several topics on the "style" of each class but these have mostly been rather old and some forum topics have seemed to contradict what I HAVE found. One instance is "Warrior" I chose this at first as I wanted to be a "tank". I started researching the best way to tank and thought I had a good handle on it. The more I read however the more I learned the Community seemed to think that Warrior tanking was not needed or bad.

My question is really more broad and oppinion based. What's the game like? Hows a normal 'mission' played out. Is it Holy trinity style or more just hack and slash? I'm the kind of guy who's going to want to play with other players. For some reason the act of playing solo with henchmen does not apeal to me as a constant (once in a while fine but a lot of topics I read seem to be based off solo play with henches or heroes). Is this Idea of mine going to be a problem?

I also know there's no answer to the "Which class is best for me" question but what I'd like to know: is how viable is the playstyle I have. I really like to be more of a party player. I like to tank I like to heal. What classes are best for this in the MetaGame. I know what the classes DO but not neccesarily what the current player base is using them for. I'd hate to say make a warrior tank and spend hours honing it just to find out that during End game no one will invite me.

I would like to thank all who help me out in advance as I can't wait to get in game and enjoy it.

I wish i had a dollar for each one of these kind of threads.... just dive in man its way more fun and efficent than reading what anyone here will have to say...

based on what you said you might want to start with a dervish or warrior.... right now dervish is the high damage melee character that can also tank... warrior has become obsolete compaired to damage out put and armor bonus the dervish has... if your going to get into making money you may also want to consider a sin.

The simple truth is that unless you're running with a full alliance, you're not going to be playing missions with teams of more than 2-3 people at a time. GWs is an older game, not many people play it for the joy of PvE - most of the activity is in the title hunting/speed-clearing/pvping.

Most missions in NM play out as a run and gun, kill things as-you-go ordeal. Hack and slash. Everything has been done so many times that there aren't a lot of things that teams form for. Your best bet is joining one of the very large alliances.

If you want to tank on a Warrior, you can, but be wary that Assassins are used for end-game tanking due to their spell immunity abilities. People don't form and say "LF DPS and healz", they need specific builds. The meta is very refined, and very very narrow.

If you're not looking to do a good portion of the game on your own, GWs may dissapoint you.

Sorry I do understand that there have been multiple threads about this but most have been older and didn't get into the exacts I wanted to ask. Plus I can't add to those discussions as they're old and the rules say not to.

I have 2 friends who are going to restart up as well. I'm just really worried about picking a class and having nothing to do or not being wanted in a group. I'd pick a monk but I'm worried the solo game would be that much harder relying on henches to basically play the game while I heal.

So alliances/guilds are where it's at? I figured at this stage of the game speed runs and such would be much more common place than slow paced story runs of old.

Dervish is currently the tank of choice these days?

PS thanks for the replies.

Ok so let me start by saying that tanking in general PvE is useless. Only certain team setups for some areas like Domain of Anguish use a real dedicated tank. In general PvE, specially in normal mode, you are in no need of a tank. Just put Shield of Absorption on a monk for example and it would be able to tank if needed I mostly let minions do the tanking for me. I find a general tank only loss of a damage position. But thats just my 2 cents on the topic

Then considering the monk. I'm a dedicated monk player, its the character I, by far, love and played most. I've done pretty much everything in HM with it, most of it with heroes and henchmen, so it's not something that should hold you back on your decision which profession to choose. Though admittedly, it can be a bit annoying to be the healer and needing to agro, though it's only a minor thing to me. But if 2 of your friends are going to restart as well, that shouldn't be much of an issue.

And you shouldn't choose your main profession on if it is liked by groups, but by if you like playing it! You are going to play it a lot of hours, which very little will be with 'teams'. Besides, for general PvE any character can manage, some (Mesmers, Ritualists) more wanted then others though. Only if you are aiming for teams for high end areas they will require you to play specific roles and professions. But I wouldn't worry about that just yet.

Dervish is credible at melee having both a decent survivability and a high damage output in normal mode. For hard mode, the armor ignoring damage dealers are by far more useful and popular, those being Mesmer, Ritualists, Necromancers and to some extend the smite part of Monks (it's armor ignoring but the builds are pretty much build around Ray of Judgment and Strength of Honor).

Every character has its own strengths and weaknesses though, and all of them are easy to manage normal mode PvE with, so just see what prof you like most. Look the skills up on the wiki, think a bit about the mechanics and perhaps try the professions in game for a few days each. I can't tell you what profession to pick, is tastes vary.

And like loshon said, if you don't like playing alone a great amount of the time, though I assume those 2 friends are going to play along with you, GuildWars might not be very suited for you. It's a game which is already pretty old, and getting a lot more quiet. The players that are still left often prefer not to be held back by players of another level and prefer to play with their heroes as they often tend to do the job better

Good luck deciding!

Heroes/Henchman are perfectly capable of doing all the necessary killing to get you through the campaigns with ease, so if you want to play a Monk then go for it. If you really feel that you want to be able to do more than just heal, then you can make a Ritualist; you could choose whether or not to heal your way through the campaign, you'd have several endgame builds available to you, and they can heal just as well as monks in PvE, if not better.


Speed runs are extremely common in a few select areas, and of course these groups will require that you be running a specific build, which your chosen class may or may not be capable of. If you want to experience everything Guild Wars has to offer, finding a good guild is a great start.

It depends on what you're tanking - Warriors and Dervishes are both fine for all Normal Mode and most general Hard Mode situations, but Assassins with Shadow Form are the current flavor of the month(year? decade?) for most speed clear groups and the like. Play whatever you think you will enjoy, there's no sense worrying about the endgame when you aren't there yet.

You've mentioned you like to tank and you like to heal -- these two things are somewhat dichotomous in Guild Wars because usually one is melee while the other is ranged. And in picking a profession, I think that's the main question you need to ask yourself: where do you prefer to be? Melee drives me crazy, personally, because you have to chase foes around. If that wouldn't bother you, dervish might be a good choice, though -- someone correct me if I'm wrong -- I think they mostly do passive/spot healing. If you prefer ranged and a more active healing role, monk is definitely the way to go (ritualist is also a consideration). Playing with your friends, you'd have no problem healing/protecting the group. General PvE PUGs seem to always want a monk. And it wouldn't be too difficult to be healer for your heroes. Though you could always go smite if playing with AI.

Melee Classes:
Warrior -- I don't see a lot of desire for them in PUGs, speed-clears, etc. (I think they take a role in FoWSC?) Good special event solo farmers (raptors).
Dervish -- Excellent runners, current skills do well in PvE, though I don't see PUGs begging for them.
Assassin -- End-game/SC tanks, excellent solo farmers, good runners.

Ranged Classes:
Ranger -- In desperate need of a buff to actual bow skills, but "Jack of All Trades" in a lot of things.
Paragon -- Also in need of a buff to break it out of the "Imbagon" rut.

Spellcaster Classes:
Monk -- Great healer/protector, always wanted in PUGs...not sure about end-game.
Ritualist -- Good healer, good damage-dealer. Always wanted in PUGs (only one build, though), great solo farmer, desired in some end-game/SC setups.
Mesmer -- Fun in PvE, don't see a lot of desire for them in PUGs, though they can get groups. Not sure about end-game.
Necromancer -- They serve a purpose -- minions, curses, blood-buffs, though I don't see them being begged for in PUGs and can't think of any end-game roles they specifically fill in the current meta.
Elementalist -- Kind of in need of a buff to keep up with the armor-ignoring casters in HM. Can do some solo farms.

These are just my impressions of what I observe in my general game-play. I don't do speed-clears, myself, or a whole lot of hardcore end-game content. So please anyone correct these impressions if I'm wrong.

ETA: Pff, I wrote all this and then realized you'd be well-served to read the profession guide stickies in our Campfire Section.

I think your just asking the wrong questions. What you need to find is the profession that will be the most fun for you to play.

Warrior, Dervish and Assassin's are all melee and all can find a home in most parties. Sins tend to find homes as ShadowForm tanks, Warriors as Hundred Blade spikers and Dervishes as AoE damage dealing spikers. The number of builds each have is rather limited at times as other players want a certain build for you to fill a role in their party.

Necromancers, Ritualists, Elementalist and Mesmers are all sought after in parties and have more versatile builds. Necros can use minions, Spiteful Spirit or even blood builds in most parties. Ritualists are often spirit spammers to cause or mitigate damage but can do restoration as well. Eles are still major AoE damage dealers though they do have a few other uses in certain locations. Mesmers are very versatile as interupters or damage dealers.

Rangers and Paragons are likely the least requested professions for Missions/Dungeons. That is not to say they are not usefull, just not the first thing parties look for.

Monks are always needed for healing but some are permited to go smiting from time to time, depending on how the gruop is laid out.

Hope that helps you find something fun to play.

I'll throw out a bit of advice too. If you're restarting mainly because the Hall of Monuments, pick a core class. They have access to the most relatively easy (if not expensive) armor to get. I made the "mistake" of playing a Paragon. While I do like him, I've discovered that when trying to fill the Resilience monument there are several of the the flavors of armor that have no paragon version. This means I'm going to have to play another class to get the last one for a all 8 points...Kurzick.

Actually, Monk is good class to run if you want to join groups. People are often looking for human healers.
But, you are correct about not wanting to be a healer with just henchies. The good news is - you don't have to be, in fact, you don't want to be. If you are a Monk with just Henchmen and/or Heroes, it's much better to play as a damage dealing smiting/secondary based monk, (Mo/Me, Mo/E, etc.) and leave the healing to the H&H. This is because it is much better to be the 'director' of the group - calling targets, etc.
Given the ease of switching builds, armor and weapons, you would simply have a healing build for groups and a smiting/dmg build for H&H.

There are still lots of new players and players taking alts through the game - just not as many as before. Just find a Guild that caters to what you want to do and/or has members who are also doing regular PvE.

It would be more correct to say that Dervish is the "melee" class of choice. The AI of the NPC foes makes tanking not the tactic of choice. "Tanking" is usually left to minions and pets.

I don't think it really matter that much which class you pick.

But if I was starting now, knowing what I know now, rather than what I knew when I started playing a few months ago, I'd pick a class for myself that wasn't viable as a hero. Probably Assassin. The accepted wisdom is "never take an assassin hero!" since the AI doesn't manage them well, which kinda means that if you want to play with an assassin, you have to do it yourself.

Dervish seems to be another that the AI doesn't manage so well.

I do love my necromancer, but that really is a class that the AI does an excellent job of, I could certainly play something else and still have the fun of building some necro heroes.

The assassin class says hi :P!

It is a game, where you kill stuff :3.

You are usually given an objective to realize within the mission. In every mission, there will be a ''bonus'' objective which will be triggered by talking/killing/dropping/etc something.
Note : Prophecies is a campaign which adds a bonus, while Factions & Nightfalls add a ''Master's'' objective.

This is by far different of Runescape, this is a game where you kill and proceed, there is no better profession for general PvE, of course, Mesmers can use anti-melee skills, so some professions have advantage on others and disadvantages on others.

In some areas, you will find more useful to be using heroes or henchman
because players can't keep up with certain aspects that heroes can.


The end game more requested professions are ; monks, ritualists, mesmers, paragons, elementalists, assassins (and rarely) necromancers.

Monks, like all games, heal they're party in end game, the most requested builds are UA, HB & Aura of Faith (uncommon).
UA : Unyielding Aura. Elite Enchantment Spell. Your Monk spells heal for +15...51...60%. End effect: a random other party member is resurrected with full Health and Energy and teleported to your location.

HB : Healer's Boon. Elite Enchantment Spell. (10...46...55 seconds.) Healing Prayers spells cast 50% faster and heal for 50% more.

Aura of Faith : Elite Enchantment Spell. (3 seconds.) Target ally gains 50...90...100% more Health when healed and takes 5...41...50% less damage.

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Paragons are only requested because of the Imbagon
build, the word itself is a portmanteau of the words "Imbalanced" and "Paragon"..

The term imbagon usually refers to a paragon build which uses the quick adrenaline building of Focused Anger and an IAS or simply Soldier's Fury skill in conjunction with the powerful PvE-only skills "Save Yourselves!" (often abbreviated to "SY") and "There's Nothing to Fear!" (similarly abbreviated to "TNtF"). This combination provides enormous party-spread damage reduction (82.5% from just "Save Yourselves!") and can still deal moderate damage with its spear.

I, personally, find this build to be very boring.

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Ritualist

Ritualist have the ability to create spirits out of nothing (except energy), which are pretty good at maintaining melee foes away from the backline.
In end game missions, the popular Signet of Spirits is asked.

Signet of Spirits : Elite Signet. Creates 3 level 1...10...12 spirits (60 second lifespan). These spirits deal 5...21...25 damage with attacks.

Which is really boring at some point.

Mesmer

Mesmers are requested when interruption is needed, which mostly refers to the Area of effect spell called Panic. It is very useful, as they can interrupt high spike spells (Meteor shower) or some others.

Panic : Elite Hex Spell. Also hexes foes near your target (1...8...10 second[s]). Interrupts all other nearby foes whenever a hexed foe successfully activates a skill. .

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Elementalist

These are used as E/Mo Bonders (link at bottom), because of the armor HM creatures have against elemental damage, spiking is rarely used in HM.

A bonder is a specialized form of protection Monk or Elementalist. Instead of casting protective spells as needed just before or during battle, a bonder uses maintained enchantments to provide constant protection. There are many different bonder builds for different purposes, including some with healing prayers, for example with Mending, or unlinked skills such as Succor.

The elite skill used is Ether's renewal.

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Assassins

These builds are based around permanently maintaining Shadow Form, protecting the user from spells and dramatically reducing damage from attacks. There are a number of variations, since the core of the build requires only 2 skills. They are typically used for farming and speed clears.

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Necromancers (uncommon)


Those are requested when there is a specific position they can do, such as Spiteful Spirit , minion masters , Spoil Victor, etc.

Spiteful Spirit : Elite Hex Spell. (8...18...20 seconds.) Deals 5...29...35 damage to target and adjacent foes whenever this foe attacks or uses a skill.

Aura of the Lich : Elite Enchantment Spell. Exploit all corpses in earshot. Animates a level 1...14...17 bone horror, plus one for each exploited corpse. You have +1 Death Magic (5...37...45 seconds).

Spoil Victor : Elite Hex Spell. (3...13...15 seconds.) Causes 25...85...100 Health loss whenever target foe attacks or casts spells on a creature with less Health.

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Links :

E/Mo Bonder Hero : http://www.gwpvx.com/Build:E/Mo_ER_Prot_Hero.

E/Mo Player : http://www.gwpvx.com/Build:E/Mo_ER_Infuse_Bonder

Rt/Any or Any/Rt Spirit Spammer :http://www.gwpvx.com/Build:Rt/any_Spirit_Spammer

Monk/Any Healer's Boon , Unyielding Aura :http://www.gwpvx.com/Build:Mo/any_Generic_Healer

Necromancer/Mesmer Spiteful Spirit : http://www.gwpvx.com/Build:N/Me_SS_Nuker

Necromancer/Any Aura of the Lich Minion master : http://www.gwpvx.com/Build:N/any_AotL_Minion_Master

Paragon/Warrior Imbagon : http://www.gwpvx.com/Build:P/W_Imbagon

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Best regards, Chris !

First thing I want to say is THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH

All this info was VERY helpful and I really appreciate it.

As someone stated my friends are coming back for the Monuments thing and I'm the tag along really. My one concern was I didn't want to do that and then find out I love the game and have to reroll lol I just don't have that sort of time.

Actually thinking now either Assasin or Monk at this point. I just REALLY hate all the models for Monk lol. I don't usually play assasins or rogues but I've been looking at some of the abilities and it deffinitly sounds fun. But I'm sure it will be expensive.

I really want to thank you all for the help. I'm coming back for the monuments but I'd like to stay and I want to have the best running start I can get to help me enjoy it. Now to find a guild!!!!

No problem, it took me 15 minutes to write that. But it was worth it :3 !