Help in choosing a profession!

Hi everyone!
So I decided to buy the whole guild wars set (the trilogy + eotn) through amazon.co.uk. Although I live in Italy I decided to buy the game from the english amazon as it was much cheaper than in Italy.
As it's on its way, I've been looking at the different professions I can choose.
Usually I like caster classes so I mainly looked at those.
These are what I like so far:

Ritualist: I like this class a lot regarding damaging but I don't really want to be healing.I also like the mechanic of spirits although I don't want to stand about healing my spirits once I've summoned them. Can you people give me any other information on them, especially regarding what the profession does once it has finished summoning spirits? I'd highly appreciate it.

Mesmer: I like this class as much as I like the ritualist. However, researching around I've seen that it is not the best class I can be as a first profession. I'd also like to PVE with this profession, and I've read varied opinions on whether they can/can't play this role (restrcited to PvP). What do you think? (regarding both problems)

Dervish: Out of all the melee classes this is the one that I prefer the most. I also read that it is advised for people to start with either a warrior, Ranger or dervish. However, I don't know a lot about it and I don't really want to play a class which just auto-attacks and puts enchantments on itself. Also I usually prefer casters (as already mentioned). Have they got more interesting skills than simply enchantments (apart for the avatar of the gods skills)?

Maybe elementalist: I usually like the mage in MMORPGs, however I've heard that the ele has been nerfed a lot and is limited to fire related attacks in PVE. Is the ele, really as weak as they say? or is it actually stronger than some say?

I'd highly appreciate if someone would answer these doubts that I have, or direct me/ eliminate some of the professions stated above.
Also I really didn't mean to disrespect any profession in the game and please excuse me if I have.
Thanks again
Klinkshine.

First, consider each profession in GW as capable of being played in several different ways.

Ritualists for example, can, indeed, be damage dealers, spirit summoners or healers - but not all of them at the same time.

However, fortunately, a major trait of GW is that you can change your character at any time from one to another role. The secondary profession can be changed, skills can be changed, attributes can be changed. A character that is a healer one mission can be a damage dealer in the next mission.

I'll answer specific points you raised in next post.

Ritualists:
-visually: blindfolds, not much clothing, lots of small jewelry. Weird casting animations.
-can be many things, but generally is more a support type than direct effect type. For example, rather than casting a spell at the enemy, the ritualist will often cast a spell at his ally and that spell will damage foes near that ally.
-you can be an exclusive spirit summoner and do nothing else, or you could be an offensive caster that summons a spirit or two as a secondary role. For example, one build summons as many spirits as it can and then hexes select target to increase damage spirits do to that target. Another summons just three spirits to provide some support and is otherwise an offensive caster. Or you can forget spirits even exist.

You really don't want to start your career as a mesmer. You need to be more familiar with the game to really make them shine.
-visually: stylish period clothes, look like ladies/gentlemen
-generally combine disruption with damage. For example: "next spell enemy casts will fail and damage the caster instead". Or "prevent the enemy from doing something for a while". That's why you generally want to know more about the game before you use a mesmer - you need to know what will work against whom

-visual: long robes and hoods, generally with a scythe in hand
-Dervish is essentially point blank AoE damage dealer. Charge in, and do damage to several targets close to you
-big part of playing the Dervish is properly casting and sacrificing enchantments, which can be a bit complex for a new player (Warriors are simpler in this respect)

-visual: clothes similar to mesmers, but less stylish and more exotic. Girls generally wear little
-classic caster of spells on the theme of the four elements. Not necessarily just a damage dealer, though - earth magic offers powerful protection and water magic offers powerful control spells
-probably best caster for a starting player

If you're choosing a class to go 30 or 50 points HOM, you want one with multiple builds available that are all good so you don't get boored.

Ele, Dervish would be the most effective classes for general PVE. Ele has the most builds available and most varied playstyle.

Mesmer and Ritualist right behind but out of the two, Mesmer is more exciting to play.

(Note that the remarks that follow are strictly from a PvE perspective, as I don't PvP.)

1. Ritualists do not heal their spirits. After spirits are laid down, an offensive ritualist can do several things. Hex foes to either damage them directly or increase the damage done by spirits to those foes. Cast direct attack spells. Buff team mates with spells to increase their damage. Buff spirits to increase their damage. It is even possible to create effective builds that do not use spirits at all, though spirits are so much more effective that few rits will do this except in special circumstances.

2. Mesmer is perfectly capable of playing PvE. Many team builds for hero teams use at least one and often two mesmers, while those with mercenary heroes may use three-mesmer teams.

The reason why mesmer is not an advised profession for a first-time player is that many of the skills are reactive in some way to the skills being used by the foes. A good mesmer has to have some familiarity with all the skills and skill chains for all the professions, or he will not know when it is best to use his own skills. A clueless mesmer might, for example, interrupt a relatively harmless skill and then have no interrupt available for the devastating followup skill.

3. Dervish is capable of doing far more than autoattacking. Dervs have many attack skills available, some of which are powered by energy and some by adrenaline. Use of self-enchantments is pretty core to dervish play, however. They provide a wide array of buffs and protections, and a derv that doesn't use them is gimped. The profession is pretty devastating, but a bit fragile compared to most of the other martial professions.

4. Elementalists are most certainly not limited to fire attacks in PvE! Fire does provide the most variety of the profession's highest-damaging attacks, but does not provide as much utility as earth or water, or the spiking ability of air. Furthermore, there are quite a few tough foes in PvE that are highly resistant to fire damage or burning.

All elements have their place in PvE, and my own favorite happens to be earth. My earth-ele character has done pretty much everything there is to do in PvE, including elite areas and Hard Mode content, and I don't think he takes a back seat to fire eles.

It is true that eles are one of the weaker professions in Hard Mode, compared to the professions that rely on armor-ignoring damage (whether spell based or bonus damage from martial attack skills). But I don't think that makes them "weak" in any absolute sense. Furthermore, the profession is in the process of being revised so that it is more competitive with the other professions in Hard Mode. (Many of the elite skills were updated recently, and a future update will address the non-elite skills.)

I hope this helps.

Edit: I would add that ele is perhaps the most flexible of all the professions. They have a large energy pool that is capable of running builds based almost entirely on secondary professions. For example, an ele can easily run a ritualist build or a monk build with only a slight loss in efficiency compared to primary ritualists or monks. Eles have the defensive skills to do about the widest variety of solo farms at good speed. (Ritualists can farm just about anywhere using a generalized spirit build, but it tends to be much slower for a given farm than an ele build tailored to the task.)

A good player playing a profession he knows and likes is better than a poor player playing a profession he doesn't like just because they hear other people say it's a good profession.

Any profession can be good or bad depending on the player. That's the great part of GW.

Everyone so far is right on...but remember ultimately you make your character, not the other way around. If you like casting then honestly elementalist probably will be your bag. But trying them all is really the only way YOU (not anyone else) can decide whats best for you.

My favorite professions have been Dervish (like the flexibility of being melee but also using skill combinations and chains, and the timing required), Ritualist (just really a fun profession to play that challenges you to constantly being in motion with spirits +the summon spirit skill) and Necromancer (a real wide array of functionality, capabilities and roles, not just summoning undead) with a good dash of Mesmer (really knowing what to do and constantly being on reaction mode is exciting). Dislike Monk (I'm not a secondary, support type guy) and Rangers (too dull for me). But that's because I tried them all first.

Welcome!
Great advice has been given already.
A good thing about this game is you have enough slots to try out almost all the professions, so don't feel too much restricted in your choice, you can still try them all and just decide later which one you want as your main.

Apart from this, seeing which ones you can't decide between I'll just say this:
- mesmer, like others said, it's not good for a first walk through as you must have some specific knowledge of foes to use it well
- ritualist...it's ok, it's not hard to play, but you have to start it in Factions which is not really a newbie-friendly campaign; and you know, those two were also my first choices but I only made them later for those reasons, and i never regretted it.
-dervish is ok but you said you like casters more and they really aren't, even if they have enchantments...also, unless you play them as if they were warriors, they're a bit tricky to use
-elementalist imho is your best bet out of those: pretty simple to use, probably the most newbie friendly class out of all, incarnates well the mage archetipe of most games and, being a core class, you can as well start it in Prophecies, which is the best campaign to start with, for its very slow learning curve. And most importantly, as BrettM said, they're getting a huge rebuff at the moment...even if honestly, I don't think it was as bad as people said even before they started rebuffing it, so you shouldn't worry at all.

Maybe, as two of the ones you named are campaign-specific, and I think it's always nice to create a char in each campaign and do at least the tutorials in each (I always felt they're complementary). So you could, let's say, create an ele in prophecies, a ritu in factions and a dervish in nightfall to do this, then go on with the one you like more (even if i still suggest ele for this) and you'll still have the other two ready for whenever you may want to play with them as well.

Have fun!

Thanks so much everyone for the help (especially to a newbie as I am).
I think that I'll go for an elementalist in the end, and possibly a ritualist further on.
Once I have learnt more about the game I might actually try a mesmer
Thanks again so much for everything and have a nice day

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One last thing, can the ele go solo/farm?
Not that I want to base my gameplay on it but I've read that a lot of people do it.

Yes, there are several good farms for a solo ele. Furthermore, an ele makes a good enough ritualist (using the secondary profession) to do general farming just about anywhere.

it sounds like you should be a rit. there is nothing that forces you to be a healer or even bring any healing skills whatsoever, and you never have to heal your spirits, just resummon them when they die.

mesmer is fine if you're quick with your fingers at interrupting, but a lot of their skills are a little difficult for a newbie to understand how they work exactly.

if you were going to start with any melee, i would solely recommend a warrior. they are pretty basic, but effective, and get you to understand how things like adrenaline work. dervishes with their "flash enchantments" can be difficult to understand sometimes since you have to think out your build beforehand, and pay attention to what order you are activating some of your skills so everything goes as planned.

all in all it's up to you though

The biggest problem your going to face is the lack of skills you have regardless of what profession you pick. When you start a new character you only recieve a handful of skills and must purchase more from skill traders. Skill traders are limited in what skills they will sell you, so you can't buy a Faction skill from a Prophicies skill trader, though there are some common skills that are found in all chapters.

You can do some PvP and earn Balthazar Faction to unlock skills, but then you would require a Tome to teach your character that skill.

Before you settle on what profession you like you may wish to make use of the Wiki and research what skills will be available to you and when. It can be very frustrating to pick a profession only to find you need to complete half the game just to find the one Elite skill that you wanted to make use of.

Something not on your list, but certainly worth a second look is the Necromancer.
I'd say it's likely the most flexible of the casters.

Sticking with just the necro skills, you can:
1) You can get something like the spirits with minions.
2) Do some decently large direct damage.
3) Can make enemies hurt for doing various things like hitting someone, casting, having enchantments, etc.

But what really makes them stand out is something you'll never see in a new player's guide: They have the best energy management in the game with Soul Reaping.
With that, they can pick any of the other professions, typically the caster ones, as their secondary profession (you can change it as often as you like once you get far enough into the game... relatively early for long term considerations). Then, they can run the same skills as others, (perhaps slightly weaker due to lack of runes to help them), and will be continue to have energy to keep casting them, typically far more often that the normal profession.

However, pick what you like. I'm just putting another option on the table for you.

Plus playing a necro I have never had any trouble getting into a group. Since they are core you can start a necro with any campaign.

Is the direct damage done by a necro comparable to the one done by an elementalist?
And are ele's good in PvP?

That's a little bit like comparing apples to oranges. Especially when there are so many skills and possible builds.
But to speak generally....

What gives the elementalist the advantage is a high number of big damage spells, a lot of which are spammable. And you can mostly just fire away with them, since few require a condition to be met to pay off. Their skills do suck up a lot of energy, though -- some of the really impressive ones causing exhaustion. And though the ele has the highest energy pool in the game, without some e-management skills on the bar, it's quite easy to burn through it.

What gives the necromancer the advantage is the fact that his spells do armor-ignoring damage, so casting a spell that says it does, say, 48 damage, even against a high armored foe like a warrior, will actually do 48 damage (this is not true for elementalists, who do armor-respecting damage). Additionally, a lot of necro spells do "life steal" rather than "damage". This is helpful not only because it gives you the HP of the steal, but it also bypasses any "damage" mitigation skills a foe might use.
The downside is that a lot of necro skills aren't as spammable. Some have long activation or recharge times, while a good many others require a condition be met (as Rod was describing). Also, off the top of my head, I think necros have far fewer "OMG, LOLOL big numberzzzzz!" spells. Their specialty is degen via conditions and hexes with smaller direct pain inflictions.

They're both good classes, both very newbie-friendly. It's only for the sake of balance that they (as do all professions) have their strengths and weaknesses.


EDIT: As for your question about eles in PvP, yes, they are seen there. Air, mostly, to shutdown with blindness in the "serious" formats; fire for capping in the "casual" Factions formats. But don't worry about PvP when creating your first PvE character. You'd be better off having a dedicated PvP slot that you can re-roll and equip on the fly for whatever format you'll be playing at the moment.

Out of those four classes you narrowed it down to, I would choose elementalist since they are extremely versatile and quite easy to get the hang of.

However, whatever your decision is, it really all comes down to what you feel you will enjoy more based on the playstyle and how the class sounds. A class is only as good as the player.

Excluding the elementalist what would you thunk my second best option would be? (between: rit, necro, Mesmer, dervish? Not that I don't like the ele but I'm just thinking of any plan B's

For me personally I play whichever profession I feel like playing atm. All of the professions you've listed are powerful in both pve and pvp, it really is just paragon that isn't used much in the current pvp meta: http://www.gwpvx.com/Category:Meta_working_PvP_builds

If you're thinking competitive then it depends on which tembuild your team is running. Gw is not about having the right profession setup, but to use builds that synergises well with itself and the other builds in the team. The teambuild is very important to sucess.

Just for the sake of saying something I'd go with mesmer, very annoying and powerful in pvp and very powerful in pve as well.

Mesmer is not a good Plan B for a starting choice for reasons given earlier in the thread. Rit is a good choice if you aren't afraid to start in a campaign that is the least newbie-friendly of the three. Otherwise I would suggest necro.

You have more than one character slot. Perhaps you should roll an ele, necro, and rit in three of them and play each through enough of the tutorial area to get a feel for which you like the best. Theorycrafting is no substitute for taking a profession for a test drive, since everyone has different tastes.

Ok thanks everybody very much
You were all very kind and helpful to me and I thank you for lending some of your time to me