Class question for my Dad

[Winin]

My dad and brother and I are all rolling up in GW2 as our family game. My brother has a ranger, I'm enjoying my elementalist, and my dad is looking for a class to try. Got any suggestions? Ideally, we'd like to be able to do some sort of dungeon thing (or a fractal? I keep hearing about those).

He usually plays nukers or healers, definitely something that doesn't require much twitch. Would a necro fit? Can they stay back and send in pets, do damage, etc. from a distance? How are warriors to play? Do they have to run around a lot or can they stand in the middle of the fight and hold agro?

Thanks!

[Slurm]

The Necro can be a pet heavy class if you spec it that way (every special ability slot can be filled with a different pet) but the pet AI is preeeeetty simple and it doesn't allow for you to choose targets (sounds dumb, right?). It's all aggro based. The Ranger is the only class with a controllable pet. On the other hand, Necro is one of the more annoyingly tough classes in the game because of Death Shroud. They're a bit squishy, but if you can manage it, it becomes like having a second life.

As far as "twitch" gameplay, to be honest, the combat system is sort of built around the idea of movement during a fight. Even low level mobs will throw down rings or cones of attack that you should move out of if possible, that's why everyone gets an energy bar for evading. The need of which has become even more prevalent with the most recent Living Story boss fights. In some instances, it's basically you move/evade out of telegraphed attacks (big shiny circle of death on the ground) or you die.

Sure, there are classes (like Warrior or Guardian) that can soak up more damage and stay close range, and they can even draw aggro to some degree, but the general idea is that you want to stay focused on where the mob is attacking at all times.

I'd say in your guys' case, you need to determine if you're going to spec towards single target damage or area of effect and then build on that. With single target, you could all go zerker (power) for stats and just try to stay vigilant on calling targets and burn them down one by one. For AoE, you could have someone roll Guardian and use their Greatsword ability to pull targets towards them and then blender attack while your buds rain down death.

Just always remember that GW2 is more about damage output and how you want to dole it out while trying staying alive rather than the traditional MMO trifecta of General Patton, Harry Potter, and Dr. Feelgood.

[Winin]

Thanks for the rundown. I think our best bet is me as guardian or warrior to pull, and him doing staff elementalist hanging back and laying down fields. My brother loves the ranger, and that seems to fit well with anything.

I'm rolling up a warrior to see how that plays. I enjoyed guardian for a while, but sorta petered out in the mid 30's.

[Maeve]

Hmmm. Your dad might like an engineer? Can use grenades for distance damage, bomb kit, and then turrets can take a lot of aggro.

Remember, there is no "holy trinity" in this game, so your usual class play is just not there. If he thinks of ele as a typical healer, he will be disappointed.

I have not really done any PvE since leveling my engineer, but recall her being able to hold her own against most mobs and in the dungeons I did run.

I did find warrior to be crazy easy to level. She could just melt mobs.

[Grok]

There are a few other mechanics you'll want to be aware of like Boons and Combos which you'll want to take advantage of through selective Weapon Switching which will have a pretty big impact on gameplay and may have some bearing on your class choice.

wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Boon
wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo

[Maeve]

For healing, the best advice I can give you is to remember to BLAST THOSE WATER FIELDS! Gives you much better AoE healing.

[Slurm]

Mar 17, 2015 14:51:59 GMT -5 Maeve said:

For healing, the best advice I can give you is to remember to BLAST THOSE WATER FIELDS! Gives you much better AoE healing.

Yep.

When I run my Ranger in dungeons or PvP I use the field heal and a warhorn so I can blast myself (hehe) and add regen.

[Winin]

Combo fields and blasting, eh? Looks like I have some reading to do.