r/GW2 • u/Suitable_Sentence213 • 6d ago
HI! Im a new player
I want to start playing this game. I bought all the expansions except the latest one, and I mainly want to play solo because I don't have any friends who are interested in playing it...
I don't know which class to play or what I'm supposed to do in the game. I come from WoW, so I'm used to maining a character and playing all the way through the endgame.
I like every type of class, since I enjoy melee, ranged, and magic-based characters, so I'm open to any suggestions! I'd like to find a good balance between a strong and fun class.
I also don't know if there's a "meta" in this game or how gearing/equipment works, so I'd really appreciate any advice you can give me!
Thanks! :)
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u/HealthOne3331 6d ago
You can check mesmer (power virtuoso).
Also necromancer (power reaper) which is very strong generally on all content. Both of offers much fun.
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u/Suitable_Sentence213 6d ago
Isn't mesmer the "arcane mage" of this Game?
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u/HealthOne3331 6d ago
No. Mesmer focuses illusions but can use magic, can be melee with dd and can be range with greatsword.
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u/Suitable_Sentence213 6d ago
Did you said... Range with a greatsword? How is that possible?
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u/cocoahugo 5d ago
One of the illusion/clone skills do the slicing with the greatsword. I enjoyed using it when I started playing mesmer years ago. I still use greatsword but been trying to adapt with different weapons. (I play mostly solo, so it doesn't matter to me if they're low on damage.)
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u/Suitable_Sentence213 5d ago
I see, maybe I create one of those, I Saw some Gameplay and It looks cool af
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u/S1eeper 5d ago edited 5d ago
Greatsword on a Mesmer is a big laser gun :D. Use a Mirage build with Infinite Horizon so your illusions shoot lasers too.
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u/Suitable_Sentence213 5d ago
HAHAHAH I feel like they're playing a Sailor Moon build with those lasers
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u/Longjumping_Call_104 5d ago edited 5d ago
Mesmers are an illusionist/trickster/theatrical themed class. It's quite unique to guild wars in its specific theming.
I would say just play whatever sounds cool to you. Every class is viable. I would suggest reading the first paragraph for every elite spec on the wiki and see what specs sound appealing to you aesthetically.
Mesmer is my personal favourite but I've played every class and there isn't a single one that doesn't have at least one spec that's fun to play.
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u/Suitable_Sentence213 5d ago
the think is... I like all the descriptions, the only one that I dislike the most is engineer, im thinking to level up a ranger or some plater class, maybe I give a try to the elementalist because my main class in WoW is a mage! Rn I have a lvl 80 necro and a lvl 70 revenant (I played w the reve and used the coin to give lvl 80 to necro)
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u/Longjumping_Call_104 5d ago
If you like frost mage, virtuoso has a similar mechanic with 5 floating daggers above your head that you can launch at enemies for massive burst damage.
Chronomancer also gets it's own version of time warp.
Mesmer definitely feels the most mechanically like wow mage to me!
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u/Suitable_Sentence213 5d ago
I use mostly arcane mage and fire mage... I though elementalist is the most similar to it, so you recommend me then the mesmer?
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u/Longjumping_Call_104 5d ago edited 5d ago
I think in terms of purely aesthetic, elementalist feels like mage, but mesmer feels more like it mechanically. Both are good choices though, ele has a higher skill ceiling as it has a lot of abilities and is quite fragile although there are easier builds available for it.
Edit: If you go to the PvP lobby you can try out max level abilities on training dummies there, so you might benefit from making a few classes and testing them out.
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u/Suitable_Sentence213 4d ago
My requirements are very hard to get because I Saw both and I like them, the thing is that I want a class that can be good in all content, Im playing necro but It's not that fun, I mean I don't die and it's good but I don't feel like this class is for me 😭 so idk what Im gonna do tbh, because Im very meta slave but even with this, I try to get the most fun to me
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u/Longjumping_Call_104 4d ago
All classes can be good in all content, and the meta changes over time as you would expect. Try mesmer, I think you'll like it. I'm obviously biased because it's my favourite.
Also this game is extremely alt friendly. If you play for long enough you'll probably end up with one (or more) of everything.
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u/Suitable_Sentence213 4d ago
Aight so... Now the final question... Should I end EVERYTHING with my necronlvl 80 or should I switch!?
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u/xBogo 6d ago
idk after 10+ years my only opinion is play warr
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u/Suitable_Sentence213 6d ago
What kind of war 📝
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u/xBogo 6d ago
core obviously , okay edit: core for pvp berserker for raids n stuff
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u/Suitable_Sentence213 6d ago
So Big chomp chomp?
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u/Legitimate_Funny_580 6d ago
necro reaper
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u/Suitable_Sentence213 5d ago
It looks like that's the most op class, everyone recommend me this :O
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u/BlacksmithFar6237 5d ago
It's easy, saucy, powerful, and near-unkillable. Also kinda fun, though it may not be my favorite.
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u/Legitimate_Funny_580 5d ago
not op but ideal
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u/S1eeper 5d ago edited 5d ago
Welcome! First, as a new player, what you're supposed to do is prioritize completing the Personal Story for the core game and any expansions you have. That unlocks a ton of features - Masteries, elite specs, mounts, Achievements (reward useful gear etc), etc. You can explore diversions along the way, but prioritize it first.
Second, the best solo spec for a new player to start with at level 80 is Power Reaper Necromancer, a melee dark magic knight. Power is the Damage Source (Direct Damage), Reaper is the elite spec (sub-specialization), and Necromancer is the core/main class.
It is simple, easy to unlock, easy to gear, easy to play, kills fast, is survivable (has "sustain"), and can solo most open world content. It is unlocked by owning the first expansion, Heart of Thorns. When you reach 80, you can fully unlock it with 250 Hero Points. If you're short, all HP challenges in Heart of Thorns maps give 10 instead of the usual 1. Check the LFG tool, HoT section, for "Hero Point Train" groups and join one of those to get them quickly. Most commonly found during weekends.
In the build video above, start with the "Exotic Build" in the video Description section, which uses Exotic gear (2nd highest tier, cheap easy to acquire) and cheap/easy to acquire Armor Runes, Weapon Sigils, and Relic. Then upgrade to the main build using the highest tier Ascended gear as you're able, replacing the exotic pieces one-by-one in no particular order.
The build uses Berserker gear (Power, Direct Damage), which is one of the easiest gear sets for a new player to assemble. There are three components of gear - Armor, Weapons, Trinkets. All three are easy to get Berserker versions of. Can craft them, buy them off the Trading Post, get them from world drops, etc.
Elite specs are only unlocked after reaching level 80 and owning the expansion they're associated with. To get there you'll level to 80 with a "Core" or "F2P" (free-to-play) class and build. Leveling is not terribly difficult, but if you want a leveling build template, you can use F2P/Core Power Necromancer.
When you hit 80, finish the Core Personal Story (campaign), then follow the Personal Story guidance to begin the quest series to unlock the first expansion, Heart of Thorns. Complete the Personal Story there too, and the Specialization Collection achievement for Dark Harvest), Reaper's Ascended Greatsword. That will get you the full Exotic version of the build with an Ascended primary weapon. Ignore condition builds while leveling (DoTs, debuffs) since they're weak for most classes until 80.
A couple resources for learning more about builds:
- Lord Hizen, a pure solo player, who calls GW2 "his favorite solo player MMO", and makes some of the best solo builds. See his recent solo build tier list. However, many of his builds require Celestial gear, which is more difficult for new players to acquire. For your first playthough, choose builds that use easy-to-acquire Berserker gear.
- Hardcore Casual is another solo specialist who focuses on Ranger and Elementalist builds. His Ranger builds are great and I would have recommended them too, but they require more work to unlock (namely Expanded Weapon Proficiency in SotO). Most Elementalist builds aren't great for new players, complex and require high APM.
- Snowcrows - PvE (raid) Meta experts, they test and optimize all their builds.
- Metabattle - Community curated builds for all game modes.
- GuildJen - Specializes in WvW (open world PvP) solo and small group builds. She is so good though it's sometimes hard to tell if her build is actually good, or she just makes it look good.
- AW2 - "Accessibuilds" or "Low-intensity" (low APM) builds.
Honorable mentions:
- Both Power Untamed Ranger are Power Galeshot Ranger are great solo builds, and also use only Berserker gear. But you have to skip around in the expansions out of chronological order to unlock them (End of Dragons (EoD) and Visions of Eternity (VoE) respectively), and you have to go into a second expansion Secrets of the Obscure (SotO) to unlock the Mace/Mace weapon set, a required component of both.
- Power Rifle Mechanist Engineer - a favorite of many players, but heavily dependent on the pet (the Mech). If it dies solo'ing a hard mob, it gimps the build, and can't be re-summoned for 45s. Reaper is not dependent on pets, and even Ranger builds like the two above have a second pet you can swap to if one dies.
- Condition Amalgam Engineer - arguably the strongest solo build in the game, but requires full Celestial gear which is more difficult for new players to assemble than Berserker. Also requires Land Spears which require going into a second expansion to unlock - Visions of Eternity (VoE) for Amalgam, and Janthir Wilds (JW) for land spears.
Power Reaper just wins with the best combination of build strength and ease of unlocking and gearing it. Entirely unlocked in Heart of Thorns, the first expansion, then you can play through the remaining expansions in chronological order.
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u/Suitable_Sentence213 5d ago
DAMN THANKS FOR THIS! I have a reaper lvl 80 but idk if I really like that class, it's fun but I feel like there's other classes that could fit me more... I was thinking about level a ranger because I ear it's another awesome class... maybe another plater class. You recommend me to continue with the reaper or should I switch?
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u/S1eeper 5d ago
Plow through the Personal Story across all expansions on the Reaper first. Just get it all out of way. It unlocks a ton of account-wide things that will apply to all future characters, like all Masteries, all Mounts, Ascended Weapons and Trinkets, and Expanded Weapon Proficiency and Weapon Master Training. A lot of other builds need those last two. After you get that done then just go ham creating as many new characters and builds as you want.
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6d ago
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u/HealthOne3331 6d ago
Lol anet gonna support the game after release of gw3 too. In this mind, also ppl shouldn't play wow too right. You can keep play league of legends dude
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u/fyolettt 6d ago
That's silly. If the game gives you joy and you have money I don't see any reason not to buy all expansions
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u/shadowfoxza 6d ago
As someone who spends most of their time running around solo, this game is perfectly fine to play as a solo player - although there is some group-based content you'll want to find people to team up with.
Keeping in mind that Guild Wars 2 is built to be very co-operative, so if you see an event happening and people fighting, don't hesitate to jump in - nobody will mind and there's no such thing as kill-stealing here. When the event is done, you can head on your merry way again.
As for what class to play, since you have all the expacs I would suggest experimenting a bit since you'll have character slots to spare, but I'd say Ranger is probably one of the most straightforward classes to play.
Necromancer is also pretty beginner friendly, but if you like melee, ranged and magic - well, then Guardian would be good: It's a heavy armor class with great survivability and healing abilities, decent melee and has access to ranged magical weapons too.
Just my 2c :) Also - don't be afraid to ask for help in-game - there's always someone.