Haven't seen this surprisingly, curious what the bombers are playing. This definitely seems like a game where you can actually, somehow, have both a main yet still be an altoholic, with the varying profession playstyles. Nonetheless, is there a class you just gravitate towards?

Just got the game last week, so I'm still working my way through all of them. I'm currently playing an Engineer, but have read so many mixed reports about their viability in both PvE and PvP, that I am constantly wondering if I should try out a Mesmer or Ranger instead for both convenience and power, or stick with it and shove grenades up everybody's asses.

Ranger and loving it. Pretty much every weapon combination is fun, and all avenues of traits make sense to me, and hence offer loads of viable playstyles. Pet management has never been realized better than in GW2. Intuitive and smart. Powerful, yet balanced. Loads of little neat 'pro-tricks' to leverage.

Mostly playing open world PvE and instanced dungeons currently, with maximized crit-centric Glass Cannon gear. Also got a set of maximized Magic Find gear, as well as an experimental heal/condition damage set (which doesn't quite work out as I intended, due to underpowered nature spirits, which are too weak due to internal procc cooldowns and low survivability).

Currently deep in love with Sword & Dagger weapon skills, when playing in the open world. So much style, it hurts. Also one of my favorite sPvP loadouts. Pondering to custom tailor a set of gear to sustain such a playstyle in instances.

Oh - and I'm very likely gonna alt an engineer for serious, after the inevitable hiatus for XCOM and other big holiday releases. Engineers are awesome in everything. Don't believe the high-level metagame players. Every profession is perfectly viable for everything, and engineers have the most style of all - and the most versatile and deep profession mechanics to boot. Things are subject to change anyways.

P.S. always wanted to ask, how do the Engineer's weapon kits scale, lacking proper itemization?

Started off playing guardian in the early betas, but moved onto warrior. I prefer ranged combat to melee (played ranger in GW1), and the warrior is one of the best ranged professions (whereas the guardian is the worst). Guardian is neat too, but it's kind of boring. The current meta game also pretty much demands that you go with a full defensive spec (until they nerf retaliation, which is probably going to happen in the next patch).

I've also started playing thief a little bit recently because of how OP they are (although their damage did get nerfed in the recent patch). They're great for glory farming, but not a lot of fun because of how gimmicky the builds are.

@UssjTrunks: In the most recent patch notes Anet mentioned they are in the process of changing retaliation, although they didn't outline specifics.

my main is a lvl 80 ranger but started up a elementalist and just got to lvl 30 with her, and thinking about doing a necro or guardian.

My main is a Necro 80, my alt I am leveling is a Ranger 47. Been spitting time with those two lately.

I also have a level,1 ele, warriror, and mesmer that I will get to eventually.

I have a Guardian and Mesmer at 80. The Mesmer is a fun class that really requires you to think tactically, while the Guradian is an un-killable juggernaut. I love both, but my Guardian wins out for being overpowered awesome in all situations.

You can just stick with playing your Engineer if you like playing the class, as they're great in WvW and can hold their own in PvE content. You don't need to believe all the complaints, as people just like to complain on the internet (shocking, i know), but at least be aware of your class weakness so you can decide how you want to address them.

Main a Guardian (80). Have a Ranger (60) as an alt, but I'm putting it in hold for the moment. I tried an Engineer, but was disheartened by the Grenade kit. Nothing wrong with the 'nades, just the idea of everything as a ground target is awkward to me. Very tricky to get the hang of, especially when you need constant movement to kite. I've read both the guru and official forums on Engineers, and the general consensus is that, yes, you can use other kits, but they're a lot weaker than grenades. Everything aside from grenades is treated as a "just for fun" kit, as in you're out of your mind if you're not using grenades. I'm tired of typing grenades, so I'll end here.

@uniform:@halcyonTwilight: Grenades as far as the eye can see! Yes, I got particularly disheartened yesterday when I had NPCs who were constantly running out of my nades. Not sure if it was a pathing issue or them being smarter, but if they didn't beeline to me or somebody else, I couldn't land one for my life. I haven't done any PvP yet for practicing, but I'm frightened about how well actual players will dodge if NPCs of all things can do it that much.

And yes, the damage on most other kits is laughable. Elixir Gun 4 requires somebody to stand in it for FIVE SECONDS to take a whopping 8% of their health (tested on golems in the mist, who obviously don't even have toughness). I realize a good chunk of the kits are more for disabling rather than damage, but the damage they do have is subpar, or easily avoided (grenades).

Ranger and Warrior.

I spend most of my time between Guardian, Ranger and Warrior. To be honest, I haven't found a class that really clicks with me. I'm always so disappointed with each classes' utility skills (slots 7, 8 and 9), that I just lose interest in the class and move on to another until I get disappointed with that one.

Just started but I love playing Elementalist. Just running around yelling IM THE FUCKING AVATAR! *rides the lightening*

@uniform: Pretty much in full agreement; for all the versatility they have, I'm finding engineers are fairly pidgeonholed into either using a build that will give them carpal tunnel, or sacrifice quite a bit of damage for convenience/quality of life. It's high-risk with average-reward; I'd almost say Engineers may as well be a melee class, since almost all abilities "reward" you with the highest outcome the closer you are to a target (grenades easier to land, Blunderbuss/Blowtorch do more damage, bomb kit is melee). I hear people praise them for being able to duel and even do 1v2 or 1v3, but don't most classes already do that if built well?

I was hoping this would be less of a rant, but simply based on the votes thusfar, it seems engineers just don't have much representation.

The Engineer.. He has a flamethrower, what else do you want?

My main was an engineer but I'm not too sure on that anymore because fuck me if I'm gonna sit on a mortar lobbing shit at people I can't hit.

@Caelum89: From what I've read, Mortar is A) the worst Engineer Elite skill, and/or B) The worst Elite Skill in the game. You're better off with the Elixir one.

Been playing sPvP, and it's occurred to me that until more rebalancing takes place, the Thief is the strongest profession in the game right now. I don't like the 'faceroll keyboard and win' style of gameplay, but if you can't beat em....

@Ulain: Yes and no, because the damage on that baby is ridiculous but it's a fucking mortar, why am I limited to 20 yards ahead of me? Engineer is supposed to be this support, back-lane class that just helps out but. It kind of makes me mad when a propelled round of death only goes 20 feet in front of me. All in all though, Engineer was fun to muck about with, just wasn't my thing in the end. It would have been neat if they actually went ahead and just made it something useful.

As fas as I can see, Arena net are saving all big class changes for one big patch, as hardly any classes have had dramatic changes, and some really do need them, Necromancer *cough*

@Caelum89: The range listed on the wiki is 1400. I'm guessing it may be like the trebuchets in PvP: the longer you hold down the button, the further it shoots. I'm sure that won't save it from mediocrity, but it's something to make note of.

My favourite class is Elementalist :) I got my own specific playstyle and keep testing a lot of other build (traits, skills. gear options). Gonna do every possible legendary for this class, but unfortunately, its only 5 (trident, staff, focus, scepter and dagger) :C When I tryed playing another classes like ranger, warrior or necro I realized that ele is the hardest of them, but still it bring me a lot of fun when I play as elementalist :)

Mesmer is my favourite, mostly because it's the most unique class in this sort of game. It also requires a bit more thought to play because of the fact.

If I had freetime right now, I would be enjoying the fuck out of dagger/dagger Elementalist. But alas, I have to put that character on pause for a couple weeks. :(