Starting anew...

Karnage69

I played Guild Wars 2 back when it first launched and while I enjoyed it for awhile, life uh... finds a way... to stop me from playing.

I have decided to give it another shot. I typically play Tanks and Healers in mmos, but that is because I try to play with a solid group of friends. This time around, I won't have anyone really, just myself.

Any suggestions on a solid solo class since this game doesn't really have the generic tank/healer? I'm looking for sustainability and not overly squishy.

Also, as a side note, is anyone else starting anew or having a gaming group I could join up with? Even just a duo partner would be fun.

I grow tired of having no friends...  

Loke666

If you want something tanklike, go for warrior or guardian.

If you want to be able to heal, get elementalist. You can make a pretty good support character as ele with earth and water specc, healing would be secondary to support and you get a bit DPS as well then, not as much as a fire specced ele though.

Personally do I love the thief, it is bloody quick but with that one you really need to learn to dodge, avoid and kite or your gone in seconds.

laxie

First of all, don't worry about finding the one class that is the best at something (in your case the best at solo play).

All classes are completely viable at getting you through all of the solo game content. You will never find yourself in a situation when you are like "Oh, if only I had class X, I could beat this without a group."

I have been playing since release with a group of about 8 people. We had all the classes and each class was completely viable not only in solo play, but also in group content. The classes don't really even differ that much in terms of playstyle - many often let you specialise towards the way you like to fight.

For example, I have mostly played my Elementalist since day one. Since then, I've tried many different skill builds and each one was completely different. Most classes will let you go Berserker (maximise damage, minimise sustainability). That setup has let me kill stuff in a couple of hits, but getting hit a couple of times meant I was dead. Then I had a build that relies on summoning weapons - it had some really nice control and melee damage. After then I played a purely supportive build with a staff, it got close to the point where you could almost heal a group. Now I have a fairly tanky dungeon build that lets my group be a little sloppy. All of this with one class.

The point of the boring story is pick a class that feels right thematically. If you like to be a protector and someone who can shield your group, go for a guardian. If you like to be a fighter that can damage while buffing the group, go for a warrior. Mesmer for a highly mobile combatant relying on clones. Thief for damage, stealth and mobility. Ranger is great with pets. Necromancer uses his second form very often, so you get two skill sets. I would argue Elementalist is the most versatile - most classes has 5 skills per weapon set (carrying 2 switchabe sets at a time), elementalists have 20 skills per weapon set.

In terms of playing with friends, feel free to get in touch. My group has taken a break for about a year and we are slowly returning to the game. We are quite interested in running through lower level dungeons, which might be something that could work for you.

Octagon7711

I found the Necro easiest to level because of his pets and extra life bar in death shroud, he's also good at range and melee, and is equally effective with or without pets so you can change him up a lot for variety.  Ranger was second but now because the devs buffed him, I would level him first.  Of course it all depends on your playstyle as I prefer range.  I found warrior to be a beast while leveling also.  Mesmer and thief were the most difficult for me, everything else was in the middle.  I mostly play thief now because I enjoy the challenge.  Bottom line, you'll do best with the one you have the most fun playing.

Octagon7711

Loke666 said:

If you want something tanklike, go for warrior or guardian.

If you want to be able to heal, get elementalist. You can make a pretty good support character as ele with earth and water specc, healing would be secondary to support and you get a bit DPS as well then, not as much as a fire specced ele though.

Personally do I love the thief, it is bloody quick but with that one you really need to learn to dodge, avoid and kite or your gone in seconds.

With a good healing build guardians make excellent healers.

Loke666

Octagon7711 said:

Loke666 said:

If you want something tanklike, go for warrior or guardian.

If you want to be able to heal, get elementalist. You can make a pretty good support character as ele with earth and water specc, healing would be secondary to support and you get a bit DPS as well then, not as much as a fire specced ele though.

Personally do I love the thief, it is bloody quick but with that one you really need to learn to dodge, avoid and kite or your gone in seconds.

With a good healing build guardians make excellent healers.

Well, not as good as Eles but we do have 1 in the guild who helps a lot in harder dungeons and fractals.

laxie

To me, it feels that Guardians can do great damage prevention and instant group heals, whereas Elementalists tend to be better and consistent replenishment.

Guardians also ideally want to be quite close to the enemy. I feel I have lots of freedom of movement as an Elementalist.

observer

Karnage69 said:

I played Guild Wars 2 back when it first launched and while I enjoyed it for awhile, life uh... finds a way... to stop me from playing.

I have decided to give it another shot. I typically play Tanks and Healers in mmos, but that is because I try to play with a solid group of friends. This time around, I won't have anyone really, just myself.

Any suggestions on a solid solo class since this game doesn't really have the generic tank/healer? I'm looking for sustainability and not overly squishy.

Also, as a side note, is anyone else starting anew or having a gaming group I could join up with? Even just a duo partner would be fun.

I grow tired of having no friends...  

Being squishy really depends on which stats you wear, and the class/armor doesn't really matter that much.  If you're wearing nothing but Power gear, you will be squishy no matter what.  If you're wearing lots of Toughness stats, you will survive longer, but your damage will be very low.  I would stick to Power, Precision, or Condition Damage stats.  Just get used to using Power stats early on though, so then you will learn how to dodge and heal when needed.

Dakeru

The input in the whole thread is pretty much spot on.

Now it's just up to you if you want to tank/heal as guardian right at the battlefront or if you prefer the mobility and more constant healing from the back row as elementalist.

Also lucky note for you: Stats come from your gear - the gear that you want is called Cleric.
It's dirt cheap and you will probably have more than enough money to buy the full set by the time you reach level 80.

Karnage69

I can always trust MMORPG.com members to give me plenty to think about. Thanks again.

Still a bit undecided at this point. I think I have narrowed it down to warrior or elementalist. I like the idea of charging in and being a brute for once, but also elementalist because of my healing background.

Edit: Since the game is not really centered on having a major healing or tanking role, are elementalist healers sought after? Do people even want them in a group?

Dakeru

Karnage69 said:

Edit: Since the game is not really centered on having a major healing or tanking role, are elementalist healers sought after? Do people even want them in a group?

The dungeon elitist guys who want to finish dungeons asap often insist on certain roles.
A zerker warrior for example or the phalanx warrior (almost the same thing but the phalanx will deal less damage but share his might stacks with the party which makes him a powerful buffer)

The healer elementalist is able to give 13 stacks of aoe might as well though, if you use the rune of Altruism.

Also you don't seem like someone who wants to hang with guys who try to skip and rush content as much as possible so looking for friendly groups may be the better option.

rertez

Food reminder. Consumables are handy if you want to ramp up a specific stat you require. Just browse the trading post for food or cook them for yourself.
And yes you can run anything with friendly casual groups if you're not into speedruns and skipping specific parts. Just advertise your party as being casual using the LFG tool and try to join some casual guilds that like to do stuff using non-meta builds.

Loke666

rertez said:

Food reminder. Consumables are handy if you want to ramp up a specific stat you require. Just browse the trading post for food or cook them for yourself.
And yes you can run anything with friendly casual groups if you're not into speedruns and skipping specific parts. Just advertise your party as being casual using the LFG tool and try to join some casual guilds that like to do stuff using non-meta builds.

Only if you aren't greedy like me, I always go for magic find instead of stats...

And yeah, joining a guild with similar playstyle is good tactics. Constantly PUGing is annoying in any MMO, and it doesn't help that many players never figured out how the group dynamics really work either.

Kenaoshi

GW2 combat is about active defense, aka prevent shit from happening(aegis, blocks, reflects, dodge, blinds ...) rather than fixing it (healing).
So if you want support you party you can do in from many ways:
Guards provide reflects, aegis, blinds and condi cleanse
Mesmers is second on reflects and condi cleanse, a a few stealth
Thief provide blinds and plenty of stealth for rezzing the fallen and skipping.

Warrior/Ranger/Elementalist are more on the Offensive support  group, providing might, fury and other particular offensive buffs and a few condis like vulnerability that weakens the enemy.
 
Engie provide a bit of all.

The point i am trying to make is all this can be done regardles of gear. Most veterans go full offensive gear because they mastered these tools.
To avoid frustration dont go with a mindset of "healing people" but try to synergize with people capabilities.
You can create you own group and advertise on the LFG "All welcome, learning, need help" and surely someone will be willing to help
And combo fields, combo fields is key too
have fun :awesome:  
 

Leon1e

Look at this table - https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo

Learn it, live it, love it  

No but seriously, that's how team mechanics work in this game. It's through combos. It's far easier to blast a water field to heal all allies than it is to try to make a directional heal.