Curse you all!

[Winin]

I caved and got the game. Downloading now and reading up on classes. It looks like they can all be whatever (melee, ranged, dps, supporty) so I'm looking at the unique trick each has. So far I'm leaning towards Mesmer or Engineer.

I like ranged dps with extra trickyness (well placed turrets in pvp and/or debuffs).

Any tips or links to good info?

Thanks!

[trapsinger]

you can find pretty much all you'd need to know about the classes on the wiki. wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Main_Page

a quick note on range, the engineer and the thief are the only two classes without a 1200 range attack. The engi only goes up to 1000, and the thief only goes to 900. So if you really want to keep your distance, and it's between mesmer and engi, go with the mesmer for an extra 20% range.

Also if you really want to throw turrets on the ground, the sylvari get racial seed turrets. they aren't as good as the engi ones, but at least you get the functionality. and they have a seed turret elite skill that makes four at once. so you can still have turrets on the mesmer that way.

fun side note on the mesmer: the two handed sword is one of their 1200 range weapons, it shoots lasers. big purple lasers. i'm not joking.

and just to so i'm not totally prejudiced, the fun thing about the engineer is kits and mines and turrets. they get a lot of area control, but not as much mobility. and they get some interesting up close weapons, like the flame thrower.

[Winin]

I hear the warrior is good with range too.

[trapsinger]

the rifle is 1200 range single target, and the long bow is 900 range with some aoe, mostly fire attacks.

also they get a lot of charge attacks on their melee weapons for closing distance.

[Winin]

Thanks for the tips. I'll play my mesmer and engi up a bit and see how they fit before I go too crazy with alts.

[trapsinger]

Sorry, i should have said, my previous comment only relates to the ranges on the warrior. weapons are different for every class.

[Vejuz]

I would definitely recommend starting with the engineer. It is, overall, an easier class to play than the Mesmer in most specs, which is helpful when learning the basics of the positioning in GW2's combat. Also, a lot of the Mesmer's abilities need to be used at exactly the right time to get maximum effectiveness out of them.

Last beta, I was ~very~ fond of my engineer and her rifle and turrets.