I have narrowed my profession to either a Ranger or Mesmer, but now I cant decide on which to level first. Why are you for or against either class. Help me decide.

-Echinos

What is your background? What kind of playstyles do you like? Do you prefer direct damage or condition damage? Do you like tanky pets or disposable ones?

In GW2 every class can do pretty much everything, but they do them in different ways. We'd need to know your personal inclinations to even remotely suggest anything with any gravity.

All I can say at this stage is that both are quite viable in every game type at the moment. I like purple more than green so I'd pick mesmer.

Mesmer. Definitely a more enjoyable and unique class to play.

Mesmer has more novelty for me. I've seen the ranger/hunter archetype played out in so many games. The mesmer manages to actually be something unique. I'm also not a huge fan of pet classes, so that may color my opinion.

I actually really enjoy both. My selling points:

Mesmer:

• Clones are tons of fun in PVP
• Great visual style
• The boon/condition manipulation style is completely unique and makes you feel like a proper jerk

Ranger:

• Pets!
• Tons of mobility
• Melee ranger weapon skills are some of the most fun weapon skills in the game IMO

From what I played of mesmer, the clone/phantasm system wasn't much fun in PvE. It's neat having clones be your focus in combat, but detonating them didn't seem to do much damage. But then mesmers don't seem to be that much about dealing damage so much as inflicting conditions and actually confusing enemy players. On that front I think mesmers would be a blast to play around with in PvP, just to watch enemy players frantically attacking clones. Also, the way they wield a greatsword is just plain badass (it floats between your hands).

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be maining a ranger myself, mainly because I like the greatsword skills (there's a leap and counter that are really fun to use) and the longbow skills. It's got a good bit of of variety when you look at all the other weapons too. You've got longbow good for keeping enemies away from you, shortbow for inflicting conditions, greatsword for damage, axe to deal with multiple enemies and defense, warhorn to buff, sword for some agile combat, and dagger for condition, and a torch for AoE and burn. All that plus a shit load of pets to choose from to complement your playstyle, including buffers, heavy hitters, or tanks.

I suppose it comes down to whether you want to first level up a combat all arounder with cuddly buddy or a fuck-with-the-AI Saint.

not knowing your background, I would suggest Ranger since its gameplay is more straighforward and will therefore probably help you better learn the core mechanics of the game. Afterwards, you can just reroll if you realize you prefer the mesmer.

I reckon the gameplay for mesmer is more based on managing your ressources (clones) and has a tendency to take you attention away from the field (where are you in regard to mobs, when to dodge etc) as a start. As a result, the clones will maybe create sort of a buffer slowing your learning curve for core mechanics.

but if you are greatly used to MMO maybe go for mesmer directly.

@project343 said:

Ranger:

• Pets!

Ahahah that's a negative point if you ask me, the pets are awwwwwwful. The whole reason I won't play Ranger ever is pets just die and are useless.

I'm not into either class, but if I had to choose I would pick Mesmer because the class type is unique to the GW franchise.

I have already decided that I like the play style of both classes. These have been selected based on my enjoyment of the Mage, Elementalist Shaman, and Hunter from WoW. And I have no concerns about my MMO abilities and whether or not a class will be too complicated.

But I do have some concerns about each class.

In PvP do the Mesmer’s clones really fool anyone? I would like to think that one could tell (based on the true Mesmer’s movements and actions) which is an AI and which is a human player. And over time more and more opponents will pick up on this. Is this a factor at all? Should one simply treat them as regular “pets” that do damage for you and not rely on them to fool anyone? Also, this was an interesting comment from TheHT:

From what I played of mesmer, the clone/phantasm system wasn't much fun in PvE

As for the hunter, I hate seeing pets die because it represents dps and abilities wasted. I watched a video of a guy whose pet was dead for nearly all of a ten minute encounter. The pet got one shot immediately after a revive (which had a long cast time). Is this just bad pet management on his part? Or in your experience are the Ranger pets really not that great? I would tend to focus traits away from the pets and spend them on something I have more control over.

Thank you for the feedback. If the friendliness on the forums is any indication the enjoyment we will have in game, then I think this will be a great guild.

-Ech

Here is a summary so far based on your input. The lists are even!

@Echinos: You forgot Longbow as one of Ranger's Pros.

@Echinos: I find myself getting caught up by clones in PvP more than I'd like to admit. That may just be me being stupid though. For all I know there's an easy to see way to differentiate between player and clone.

This is the response I give on GWI forums...

FLIP A COIN

@Chavtheworld: They've made a ton of progress. Tried ranger in BWE2--hated it. But in some of the more recent stress tests, they've added auto revival, better AI, and a ton more health. Farking love it now.

@project343 said:

@Chavtheworld: They've made a ton of progress. Tried ranger in BWE2--hated it. But in some of the more recent stress tests, they've added auto revival, better AI, and a ton more health. Farking love it now.

Interesting, how does auto-revival work?

@Echinos said:

In PvP do the Mesmer’s clones really fool anyone?

Yes. There have been countless times I have used a skill to jump over to a clone thinking it was an easy target, only to see it shatter into pieces of purple glass. The result of this is usually me cursing loudly.

I really enjoyed the Longbow Ranger. Good variety of hard-hitting, ranged attacks which helped keep me out of harms way. And I'm a sucker for pets in games.

@Chavtheworld said:

Interesting, how does auto-revival work?

The minute you leave combat, the revival bar on your pet starts to fill up on it's own. I'd say it takes no more than 10 seconds to completely fill up. Also, I believe the reviving time for NPCs and pets out of combat has been drastically reduced throughout the BWEs and stress tests.

@project343 said:

@Chavtheworld said:

Interesting, how does auto-revival work?

The minute you leave combat, the revival bar on your pet starts to fill up on it's own. I'd say it takes no more than 10 seconds to completely fill up. Also, I believe the reviving time for NPCs and pets out of combat has been drastically reduced throughout the BWEs and stress tests.

Hmm, that's good.

@project343 said:

@Chavtheworld said:

Interesting, how does auto-revival work?

The minute you leave combat, the revival bar on your pet starts to fill up on it's own. I'd say it takes no more than 10 seconds to completely fill up. Also, I believe the reviving time for NPCs and pets out of combat has been drastically reduced throughout the BWEs and stress tests.

Oh wow - that's a big improvement!

Awesome, I may bump ranger up a spot on my list.

I keep hearing conflicting reports on the clones usefulness in PvE. Can anyone give an update on that?

I just played a Mesmer. It was all right. If you enjoy using straight up magic with your great sword then you'll be fine. I had a problem with the fact that I didn't actually use my great sword. I shot a beam out of it, stabbed it into the ground to up stab an enemy some distance away (that was pretty awesome) or throw my sword at an enemy. I'm in a similar predicament as you though, except it involves a Guardian and a Warrior. I'll make both when the game is released, but which one will I devote more time to? I love the guardians move set with the Hammer and sword and shield, but the warrior looks pretty awesome with dual axes.

The good point of mesmer clones, is that each time a new clone is popped up it is an automatic target drop. meaning even if the opposing player knows which is you and which is the clone. they still have to retarget you. giving you a slight edge in gcd

@abegrey: It's specifically these spells: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Clone Keep in mind phantasm's don't cause a target drop.