Please help me decide on a build

I'm really trying to stay into GW, but I can't seem to stay interested in the class combos I pick for very long. I'd love some of the more seasoned players to give feedback and suggestions as to what I might enjoy based on a few things.

1) PvP has never been my thing. To be honest it's kind of scary. I am most comfortable in a nice sized guild going after big baddies. But I like this game and want to ease myself into it. That said, I've come to realize that some builds work for pvp and some more for pve. Since I will be spending most of my time in pve, or at least while leveling up, I need a build that has pve survivability (i.e. Mesmer primary is right out).

2) No builds with any emphasis on pets. I've played a necro and a ranger to various degrees and although on rare occaisions I was able to manipulate my pets into tanking for me or what have you, they're more trouble than they're worth IMO.

3) I don't want to be primary healer. My highest toon to date is a monk/mesmer and it's boring as hell....I made her to play with a war/nec and ranger/ele friend. Domination magic is too fun not to use because I have to stare at my group's bars as we creap thru tuff zones.

4) What I like so far has been Elementalist the most, and Ranger isn't bad either. I like the damage of a bow but the slow attack speed and it being two handed turns me off at the same time. Necro as a secondary is pretty enjoyable but the cast times really get to me. I like the idea of an AE dmg build which I've been trying to flesh out with my El/nec, but I want some reassurance that the build will get better as I level (11 atm). Also it's challenging sometimes to round mobs up in one area for my assault.

So there's where I'm at. I like damage and i like a bit of utility. I like having a way to get either my health or power back from a target.
I'd love some suggestions on what I should try or stick with, and also ideas on how to spec as i'm leveling in PvE. There are a plethora of builds here that give you the end result without considering how those of us that choose the role-playing character to level ourselves should build our toons.

Thanks

We heard you the first time.

it was an accidental double post, relax

Well I personally love my warrior/ranger. In close-combat the warrior show greatly and I like that a lot. I mostly just use the ranger to heal sometimes and also to have a pet. I am not so sure you would like it since you would really like to be able to heal good and don't like pets. Maybe a good combo for you would be say warrior/monk, warrior/mesmer, or warrior/elementalist. They are all good in their own ways. There are already a lot of warrior/monks though so if you want to stand out try one of the other 2 or both to compare. GL choosing and I hope I helped.

Trying the ranger/monk thing because I hear it's a good build for soloing. Seems really slow going and i'm not even post-searing yet. I feel spread thin between marksmanship, expertise, healing and smiting (smiting only for that AE, which is weak compared to ele. fire rain unless i'm in catacombs). It only gets harder post-searing so i'm still at a loss. Maybe I'll keep truckin' on my ele/necro.

You many want to consider a Monk primary that focuses more on the Smiting aspect, and less on the Healing. It utilizes the more strategic aspects of playing a monk in a party, but without necessarily being the healer for the group. Smiting helps against the undead, which is prevalent in PvE, and buffs your party's ability to do more damage (holy damage ignores armor class).

The Monk's primary attribute Divine Favor already adds a passive healing bonus on all Monk based spells, and most of them can be cast on yourself (Target Self) as well as on your party (unless it says 'target other' in the description.

With an Elemental secondary, Earth magic has some excellent spells which support and defend a Smiting Monk. Air Magic is good for dealing even more armor-ignoring damage, blinding attackers and running away quickly. Water Magic can slow down opponents. Fire magic has the area spells for when things get too close.

The Smiting Monk gets a bad rap for PvP, but it's actually a pretty cool build for a dedicated PvE player. It's also one that few people use.

I have the ranger/monk, dont bother with smiting spells, youve got arrows for smiting things

Of course you could go Monk/Ranger, but your energy costs will be higher, and armor lower, though you do get that nice passive heal.

Im not post-searing either, im level 5 and keep finding more quests to do its not just a noobie area, its bleeping huge noobie area..

grab the healing and you can even help out in groups, youre at the back of the group anyway, might as well be able to heal.

Or take Monk/Elemental and be the "red mage".

I'd say Warrior Necro for you.

You like doing damage: Hell your a freakin Warrior.
You want utility: Necro's can rend enchantments, weakon targets, weakon their armor, and do other such things as needed.
You like stealing life from enemies: Yeah, that's necro.

And you don't want pets? W/N, to help you pve, I'd reccomend getting a gew summon dead buddy spells. Your main problem was that you wound up tanking, well, now that's not an issue, and it'll help you hunt faster.

We're not here to think for you. Find your own build.

Closed.