Class Decision

I have played WoW for a long time but i am going to college next year and i wont be able to pay for the monthly service anymore so i am switching over to guildwars.... i dont know much about it but i have read up on the forums and i am trying to decide between two classes and i would like some input if possible...

I am not really interested in making a caster because in every mmorpg i have played they usually get raped when they are isolated... So i want something that can be attacked and not just die. It is also imporant to me what the character looks like... which is causing a problem for me with the monk class because it looks like everything is a tattoo or a piece of cloth... correct me if i am wrong...
so this narrows it down to warrior i guess and maybe monk if i am wrong about what i said before... I really dont want to just stand somewhere and slash away at something (an view the same or similar animations) because i find that boring... anyone have any suggestions? i was thinking maybe a Monk/Mes or a War/Ele or Mo/War... orif neccesary ill fall back to a War/Monk if they are the most well rounded... If anyone has a suggestion i would be thrilled to hear from you. Thanks.
(i want to do PvE and be able to go GvG...)

Note: as i said before i really dont know what i am talking about but i saw some screenshots of some sick looking warriors... they could have been NPCs tho...

I have currently a WaMo and a RaMo that I use. I actually enjoy the RaMo alot better than any char class I have played. There are soo many different combo that you can use with the Ranger that they can be very powerful. Tanks are not hard to play either, thats if you want to sit in there and hack or take the damage for your group. I had a monk I didnt really like playing the char. I am a more in your face stradegy person than to sit back and heal, prot, and smite a little.

i think you're best off with rangers, closest to rogues from wow i guess

you're the second hardest to kill, you're kinda a jack of all trades, you can do anything, but any class can do it slightly better...

also most ppl use rangers in gvg, for strategic uss

Well, A warrior/monk is pretty easy. That would get you through the game easily and despite what people may say, you can change up your skills plenty as a warrior and reap the benefits of self healing or condition removal with monk as your secondary. A Monk/mes or even monk/warrior is also fun. If you're not looking to just hack and slash why not try the Ranger class. It took me awhile to try that class out and let me tell you, they are very powerful. You can do a number of different things as a Ranger. R/Me, R/E and/or R/Mo are very effective. On the flip side a W/R is also a fun combo to play. I don't think I helped much. There are a number of combos that are fun and once you get farther in the game you can change your secondary. If you want to be a dedicated healer then play the monk. If you want to deal damage from from the back and still be a able to take a bit of a beating then go Ranger. If you want to tank and deal heavy damage W/mo.
As far as GvG. Initially I would suggest leaving an open slot for a PvP character that you can use to GvG with.

i would suggest not going with w/mo's, you'll have trouble finding groups...i think monk necro and ranger are more popular

Necros are very versatile: they can inflict lots of damage, they can defend themselves, and they can support teams in many different ways.

You may not want to dismiss casters. They are far from just "squishies". Mesmers have prob. the best defensive stance in the game (75% chance of not being hit), and elementalists have skills that can make it so you can't be hit by melee, or so you can't be a target of spells. W/Me is a combo I would acutally really like to try. However, from the sound of things, you may really enjoy a ranger. They're versatile, and have high offensive and defensive capability. You pretty much can't go wrong with a ranger, as they can do so much. Good luck with the decision, and welcome to the Light Side!

thanks for the fast replies guys...

i was originally thinking monk because i saw alot of talk about a "invici" monk build that was supposedly sick... it seems most of you are saying ranger... what is a good second class for a ranger? (i am not looking to be a glass cannon but i am not looking to do alot of curses or whatever... i like to see the result of what i do not just know its doing something good lol) and does anyone have a link to what the end game armors look like for them? they look like they wear tights lol... and someone mentioned necro and mesmer... would necro/mes be good?

The ranger class is pretty self sufficient. In fact, most of the time I don't even use my secondary. Some of the popular choices are monk (for use of a re-usable resurrect skill), and elementalist (for "conjure" skills for more elemental damage). Plenty of good options all around, though.

The invincimonk is very powerful for certain uses. It revolves around having a low max health, and the skill protective spirit (you take 10% damage maximum when hit) along with healing breeze. It's pitfalls are monsters taht cause degen,interrupt casting, or strip enchantments. The monk version is rather costly, though, and a 55 hp version of a mesmer and necro can do the same thing (just not quite as proficiently). In short, these are used for farming and soloing some of the hardest areas in the game.

But, before I go on too long, I'll just leave you here with your decision (after all, you are the one who will be playing the character, not any of us on the forums).

If you are looking for armour pictures, try www.guildwiki.org and follow the armour link.
I wouldnt worry too much about being "squishable", you wont be soloing much other than farming (or at all other than farming), and all the classes have "trick" builds that will allow them to solo farm something decent.

I'm fond of the Re/Me or Ne/El ......

Im very fond of my monk..just because its my money maker...Well....my warrior also makes my money...People have a damand on warrior as much as monks...just that there are always warrior and not monks. No one usually likes warriors...

I disagree with this statement... I made a Wa/Mo as my third character, and have had no problem getting in groups, as opposed to my Necro/Ranger and Mesmer/Ele, who I often had to start my own groups just to invite people.

My advice: Try some different combos and see what you like.

Side note, do you have Guild Wars right now? If not, you can just buy Factions and have access to 8 Professions! More choices...

definaltly don't go for a w/mo...there are way to many of them and it is very hard to find a group.

Monks have the tatto armor but they also have other armors, and warrior have good armor selections as well - plus many cool swords/axes and sheilds and such...

If you prefer fighting i'd do with something like a W/Me or W/E, If you want to be the healer then by all means go for a monk.

Also don't forget about rangers - I don't think i saw that anywhere in what you said, There not casters, but they are fighters and they have many cool builds available (trapping, posion/bleeding..exc) Plus IMO they look great.

Definitely go R/N.

Necromancer in my opinion makes the most versatile 2ndary class in the game. They can ignore armor using moderate degen, sap hp, use sapped hp to deal damage, reduce enemy damage output, or slam using spiking shadow style damage. Summoning is something I think pure necros should do since soul reaping seems to synergize best with Death magic Necros...

Each primary has an advantage, as does each secondary. To say one Profession is the "most versatile" simply is not true. Since I'm bored, I will summarize my opinion of all the Profs (specific combos have their own unique benefits and drawbacks).

Warrior - best armor in game, lowest energy. Many Warrior skills use adrenaline to power skills, gained with each hit.

Ranger - second best armor, good energy. Have access to bows, pets, traps, and global effect spirits.

Everything else in the game is a "spellcaster", with similar armor and energy (except for the Elementalist)

Elementalist - the extra Energy they get tends to get eaten up from the extra costs of their spells. Good in PvE, not so great in PvP. This is because most damage is AoE, and humans are pretty smart about getting away. AI was tweaked a while back to run from AoE, but nuking Eles are still more useful in PvE.

Mesmer - Great at countering and dispelling (think Blue spells in Magic). Primary Fast Casting, lots of ways to disrupt enemies, but not nearly as "flashy" as the Elementalist.

Necromancer - Primary Soul Reaping, gains energy as things die. Can summon minions from corpses, suck life and heal self, several Hexes and such. Oh, and can sacrifice life for energy.

Monk - Healer, with some damage spells. Everyone needs a Monk on their team...

(sorry to bore others here, and I know I left some stuff out, this is just what came to mind).

I have found that nec/mes mes/nec mes/mo as the best casters if you learn the skills and are best for gvg or pve and for the Wa/mo thats me its easy to get to end of game and you can always change to W/el for gvg later on as W/El was dominate in GvG however since the cost of Gale has changed they arent as strong. W/mo is very easy to play. But a mes/mo or mes/nec can be damage king and a nec/mes can be also. Monking can be very frustrating but there is never enought of them as healers. So take your pick.

If you go W/mo get your Droks armor asap you may want to get to Gates of Kryta Scoundrels Rise great w/mo grinding LVLling area and solo farming area to get the gold for Droks armor. I got there as a 7with droks and lvl myself to a 16 solo and then went back to do quests and missions to get to 20. If you dont have low req weapons you might want to get the help of a guild mate to help you through a few lvl's there. Get some lvling scrolls once you can kill 1 every 30sec that will cut down on the lvling time.

But be sure an join a guild they can be very helpful. They will generally give away weapons and offhands and run u places for free sometimes give you gold & raw for armor if they are generous but dont pester them for it

Have fun this is a great game, you will make alot of friends and (enemies lol)
You will find some jerks but generally eveyone is nice but DONT trust anyone,
again lol,

IGN Rota Ulave

I prefer being a monk/necro. It is sooo easy to be a good healer and I am always welcome
Actually, I can easily heal a complete party of 8, just by my own. I hardily use the necro spells, because a monk can easily heal and cure party members. My only problem is that I make the game to easy on the people, and that they all die in the next party
As soon as I find "Blood Ritual", I'll never run out of energy again

It absolutely matters if you want to play PvP or PvE. Some of the most kickass classes (rangers and mesmers) are a lot less powerful in PvE, just because they don't bring brute force to the table. In PvE, the best shutdown available is to simple kill the facking thing. That being said, play a ranger, they rock. Just understand that Power Shot is not what makes a ranger good.