Ranger's the dark horse here, fyi.

I had my first opportunity to play GW2 during the sneak stress test last night, and I spent about 10 minutes each with Elementalist, Warrior and Thief (in that order). I completed the tutorials then tried to jump into PvP with @selfconfessedcynic,@Dourin and @silentdante but the server was full.. so I instead got to be completely overwhelmed by the chaos when I didn't know the combat system. ;)

Anyhow. I keep going back and forth on what I want to play. I've always been very partial to melee classes, but I just can't decide between warrior and thief. What are you guys going to do and what are your thoughts?

I almost always play a warrior in MMOs, I just like the in-your-face playstyle.

But I think I'm going to try a thief first this time around, the animations on the thief attacks really make them seam brutal and I really liked it when I tried it out.

Warrior's with rifles are currently extremely powerful. Thieves with bows and guns are also a nightmare to deal with. Every class has extremely viable melee and ranged styles that you should check out before making a decision.

@Benny said:

Warrior's with rifles are currently extremely powerful. Thieves with bows and guns are also a nightmare to deal with. Every class has extremely viable melee and ranged styles that you should check out before making a decision.

I have no desire to play a melee class with a ranged weapon, haha

Really, what I'd do is have a look at the armor galleries for medium and heavy armor, figure out which ones you like more, and base your choice on that.

Besides that though, Warrior is going to give you a lot more melee options than the Thief will. Theives are great in melee, there's no doubt there, but they aren't really meant to get up in people's faces like warriors are, and are probably better suited to be mid-ranged skirmishers who jump into melee to unload on a dude then get back out before they get smashed. Warriors on the other hand have lots of options to stun, charge, AoE, etc. Greatsword is perfect example of this, as you have a charge attack, a whirlwind that basically has you go flying between two points shredding anything in your path, a channeled cone attack where you just go nuts and cut everything in front of you to shreds, and an attack where you just up and toss your sword like a damn spear at somebody.

That said, I'm going Warrior myself. They're the 'easy' class, thus right up my alley! Also, I totally dig the idea of running around in heavy plate armor with a giant gun and a longbow that basically turns me into an artillery platform.

@Xeirus said:

I have no desire to play a melee class with a ranged weapon, haha

Neither is a melee class. Warriors with Rifle/Longbow are extremely powerful and just as viable as any other weapon set. Every class can go ranged if they want (except maybe Guardians?).

My answer will always be elementalist. Ranger v. mesmer? Elementalist. Warrior v. thief? Elementalist. Elementalist v. elementalist? Yes to both.

@Silvergun said:

Really, what I'd do is have a look at the armor galleries for medium and heavy armor, figure out which ones you like more, and base your choice on that.

Besides that though, Warrior is going to give you a lot more melee options than the Thief will. Theives are great in melee, there's no doubt there, but they aren't really meant to get up in people's faces like warriors are, and are probably better suited to be mid-ranged skirmishers who jump into melee to unload on a dude then get back out before they get smashed. Warriors on the other hand have lots of options to stun, charge, AoE, etc. Greatsword is perfect example of this, as you have a charge attack, a whirlwind that basically has you go flying between two points shredding anything in your path, a channeled cone attack where you just go nuts and cut everything in front of you to shreds, and an attack where you just up and toss your sword like a damn spear at somebody.

That said, I'm going Warrior myself. They're the 'easy' class, thus right up my alley! Also, I totally dig the idea of running around in heavy plate armor with a giant gun and a longbow that basically turns me into an artillery platform.

@Xeirus said:

I have no desire to play a melee class with a ranged weapon, haha

Neither is a melee class. Warriors with Rifle/Longbow are extremely powerful and just as viable as any other weapon set. Every class can go ranged if they want (except maybe Guardians?).

Ooh the look of the armor, hadn't thought of that. Where might said galleries be?

And as for warriors being easy.. yes. But that's also a source of hesitation for me - I don't want to play easy for the sake of easy, you know? I like things to require some skill.

@theimmortalbum: These are extremely low res versions of some of the armor in the game without any particle effects and some without the shoulders. If you go the heart of the mists in game in this stress test you can preview literally everything in its full glory

@Benny said:

@theimmortalbum: These are extremely low res versions of some of the armor in the game without any particle effects and some without the shoulders. If you go the heart of the mists in game in this stress test you can preview literally everything in its full glory

At work, sadly. Won't be home until long after it's over.

@theimmortalbum: aww that sucks. Well I'm playing a guardian, and I think the heavy armor in this game looks sick. But so does all the armor, it caters to all sorts of tastes and you can mix and match whatever you want and can dye it in crazy ways too.

@theimmortalbum said:

Ooh the look of the armor, hadn't thought of that. Where might said galleries be?

And as for warriors being easy.. yes. But that's also a source of hesitation for me - I don't want to play easy for the sake of easy, you know? I like things to require some skill.

I'm at work so I don't have a link handy. Just search for 'GW2 PVP locker armor' and I bet that'll turn something up.

I really doubt that Warriors are going to be mindlessly easy, it's just that what they do is much more straightforward than other classes. Take a Mesmer for example. They have to keep clones up, time shatters, use their other skills to vanish, teleport, etc, or Elementalists that have to manage 4 different hotbars per weapon. Warriors on the other hand are all about being super tough, and getting in people's faces (or getting people in their sights!), and turning them to mush. Stuff like Mesmers and Elementalists have much higher skill ceilings, but a good Warrior is going to be much deadlier than a bad one.

Fuck I hate this. Just want to throw that out there. Because I also really like the look and feel of the elementalist. :(

@theimmortalbum: That's why you're allowed to have more than 1 character!

@Xeirus said:

@Benny said:

Warrior's with rifles are currently extremely powerful. Thieves with bows and guns are also a nightmare to deal with. Every class has extremely viable melee and ranged styles that you should check out before making a decision.

I have no desire to play a melee class with a ranged weapon, haha

There are no ranged or melee classes in this game. All classes can do both.

Warriors are probably the most effective ranged class in the game right now though. I'd say they play more like the GW1 ranger than the ranger itself.

@UssjTrunks said:

@Xeirus said:

@Benny said:

Warrior's with rifles are currently extremely powerful. Thieves with bows and guns are also a nightmare to deal with. Every class has extremely viable melee and ranged styles that you should check out before making a decision.

I have no desire to play a melee class with a ranged weapon, haha

There are no ranged or melee classes in this game. All classes can do both.

Warriors are probably the most effective ranged class in the game right now though. I'd say they play more like the GW1 ranger than the ranger itself.

Well my point being I want to play a traditional melee class as a melee, I guess I'm still stuck in the old mindset

@Xeirus: For most builds you'll want to have both melee and ranged options. Versatility is extremely useful in difficult content.

Just make all the Professions you want to try and then spend MORE than 10 minutes with each.

@theimmortalbum: I'm guessing you're talking about which character to start with or main, correct? Because you'll definitely have enough character slots for both.I'm starting with a warrior and then I'll probably make a thief second (sorry elementalist, you got bumped down) because I love how visceral the combat feels for both classes. A warrior is capable of standing toe-to-toe in a melee for a while, whereas a thief has to capitalize on mobility and dodging to just straight up avoid being hit. They play quite differently but I love them both.

Going to have to go Warrior , then a Guardian probably XD ... T-Minus 1d-9hrs and I cant wait

Probably warrior because I'm more used to his playstyle.

@theimmortalbum well i would say i am not much of a build maker really, but the times i sit on a build calculator and try to do Theif builds, there are SO many options and things to think about with them i find it a bit daunting, where warrior it's a little more forgiving because they have a good armour and health already.

i say make both when the game launches and go to the mists and scroll over each weapon skill, each utility skill, and the elite skills. once you find which of all these things you like most (say with theif you like the dagger/dagger skills and the shortbow skills or something, you can then kind of look at the traits and figure out what type of stuff goes with the type of attacks the dagger/dagger has. i would say pistol/pistol is a good condition based start since it's 1 skill causes bleeding each shot. where the dagger/dagger has a bleed power it is 5 initiative, and most people hit heartseeker the most so you would probly want to go power build (and crit). also you then have to decide for traits, do you want to buff traps, stealth, power, precisio, stuff like that.

take some notes, and do the same for warrior. after you figure out those basics, take them into random sPvP matches and dont worry about winning or points but try and use your build and skills how you imagined them while setting it all up that way you can see how they work. after all that i would think you will have a great idea of which playstyle you prefer over the over.

I had the exact same problem as you when it came to choosing a class. I ended up choosing a thief eventually, as I believe that it has a much higher skill cap. However, if you're a little new to MMO's, I'd definitely go for the warrior. He's quite the bruiser, and has a much for forgiving playstyle.

@theimmortalbum said:

@Silvergun said:

Really, what I'd do is have a look at the armor galleries for medium and heavy armor, figure out which ones you like more, and base your choice on that.

Besides that though, Warrior is going to give you a lot more melee options than the Thief will. Theives are great in melee, there's no doubt there, but they aren't really meant to get up in people's faces like warriors are, and are probably better suited to be mid-ranged skirmishers who jump into melee to unload on a dude then get back out before they get smashed. Warriors on the other hand have lots of options to stun, charge, AoE, etc. Greatsword is perfect example of this, as you have a charge attack, a whirlwind that basically has you go flying between two points shredding anything in your path, a channeled cone attack where you just go nuts and cut everything in front of you to shreds, and an attack where you just up and toss your sword like a damn spear at somebody.

That said, I'm going Warrior myself. They're the 'easy' class, thus right up my alley! Also, I totally dig the idea of running around in heavy plate armor with a giant gun and a longbow that basically turns me into an artillery platform.

@Xeirus said:

I have no desire to play a melee class with a ranged weapon, haha

Neither is a melee class. Warriors with Rifle/Longbow are extremely powerful and just as viable as any other weapon set. Every class can go ranged if they want (except maybe Guardians?).

Ooh the look of the armor, hadn't thought of that. Where might said galleries be?

And as for warriors being easy.. yes. But that's also a source of hesitation for me - I don't want to play easy for the sake of easy, you know? I like things to require some skill.

check these out :