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How to (Really) Choose a Profession

FinitFinit Member Posts: 145

Below is an excerpt from Divinity's Reach, a blog about Guild Wars 2.

Hope you enjoy!

 

"It's a question everyone asks themselves when they first play Guild Wars 2.  You can have every little part of your character mapped out, log in, and that whole plan can be thrown immediately out the window.  The whole process is actually very simple, but you need to account for the game being an MMO.  Balance is in constant flux, one day you may have a God-like build and the next you may be sitting low on the totem pole.  So how do you resist the urge to switch and cave in to your "grass is always greener" syndrome?  Well to start, you need to find a profession that you can enjoy through the thick and thin, and the best way to do this is to like them.  You can't just like a specific weapon, or "that flashy skill", you have to really, truly like them.  Warts and all.  Yes, even when their old and wrinkled as a prune.  Now it may be sounding like I'm describing love, and you would be correct.  If you want to choose that single character, the main profession for several years, you are going to have to love them."

The full article can be found here:  http://divinitysreach.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-to-choose-profession.html#more

My Guild Wars 2 Blog can be found here: Divinity's Reach

Comments

  • KuinnKuinn Member UncommonPosts: 2,072
    I am struggling to decide which profession to play since most of them look nice, and only through thorough testing I know if I love the prof or not. I'm afraid I just have to pick one of the classes I find appealing and hope that they feel good on the long run. I wouldnt want to end up having a ton of alts in GW2, ideal would be to have one prof that I really like, but I'm afraid it's the same as in every mmo lately for me, heavy alting and a handful of frustration for not being able to settle down.
  • My solution for those who can't choose is just go ahead and buy three extra character slots and have one of each.

     

    If for some reason you have partially narrowed down your choices you might not need to buy so many slots.

     

    Eventually you'll find yourself spending more time on one character - when it's at least 20 levels ahead of all the rest I'm guessing you will have found your main.

  • L0C0ManL0C0Man Member UncommonPosts: 1,065

    One quick comment... I understand it's mostly a joke article (with some truths about the classes within), but find it funny how when they talk about necros it says "No one enjoys socializing with the brooding, serious type."... and in the novels the one necro we've seen (Kileen) is the exact opposite.. :)

    It was kinda funny in the novel how they had this sweet sylvari girl asking with a broad and innocent smile whether you'd give her permission to use your corpse in case you died.. :)

    What can men do against such reckless hate?

  • LeodiousLeodious Member UncommonPosts: 773


    Originally posted by Delvie
    My solution for those who can't choose is just go ahead and buy three extra character slots and have one of each. If for some reason you have partially narrowed down your choices you might not need to buy so many slots. Eventually you'll find yourself spending more time on one character - when it's at least 20 levels ahead of all the rest I'm guessing you will have found your main.

    This is definitely the best way for Guild Wars 2. So much of what classes do and how they behave is different from how you would expect. You really need to play a class for a while to get a feel for it.

    "There are two great powers, and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."

    — John Parry, to his son Will; "The Subtle Knife," by Phillip Pullman

  • JagaridJagarid Member UncommonPosts: 415


    Originally posted by Delvie
    My solution for those who can't choose is just go ahead and buy three extra character slots and have one of each.   If for some reason you have partially narrowed down your choices you might not need to buy so many slots.   Eventually you'll find yourself spending more time on one character - when it's at least 20 levels ahead of all the rest I'm guessing you will have found your main.
    This is absolutely what I am going to end up doing.

    I actually subscribe to the concept from the OP of, you know, finding a class that I actually like playing. Because of this I specifically went out of my way to try every profession in the BWEs and used every available weapon choice for each of them as well. I thought it would help me make up my mind but all it ended up doing was confusing the issue because I truly enjoy every one of the classes. That's not normal for me, in any class-based game.

    At this point, I'm just going to make a ton of alts and play whichever strikes my fancy each day until one of them "sticks"


    Originally posted by L0C0Man
    One quick comment... I understand it's mostly a joke article (with some truths about the classes within), but find it funny how when they talk about necros it says "No one enjoys socializing with the brooding, serious type."... and in the novels the one necro we've seen (Kileen) is the exact opposite.. :) It was kinda funny in the novel how they had this sweet sylvari girl asking with a broad and innocent smile whether you'd give her permission to use your corpse in case you died.. :)
     

    She was adorable and probably my favorite character across the two books. Not following stereotypes is so rare in fantasy fiction, particularly game-based fantasy-fiction.

  • JustsomenoobJustsomenoob Member UncommonPosts: 880

    Take a look at all professions and make an ordering from 1 to 8 with 1 being the one you most want to play and 8 being the one you least want to play.

     

    On release day, roll the profession you chose as 8 and you'll be happy with it.

  • Dreamo84Dreamo84 Member UncommonPosts: 3,713

    GAH!

    First it was Mesmer all the way

    then it was Elementalist or Ranger

    then I decided on Ranger

    Then I decided on Elementalist

    Then it was Elementalist or Mesmer

    Then Elementalist all the way!

    Then Mesmer...

    Then I tried a Warrior

    Now its back to Elementalist or Mesmer...

     

         Someone help me!!!!

    image
  • SiphaedSiphaed Member RarePosts: 1,114
    Funny stuff. I like how it matches each perfectly.


  • EnsiferEnsifer Member UncommonPosts: 49
    Kileen is definitely an amazing character, anyways on topic Guardian all the way had that decided when they announced the proffesion.
  • Lord.BachusLord.Bachus Member RarePosts: 9,686

    My initial choice was the Elementalist because of its great diversity, but low hitpoints, low armor and medium to low DPS are just to much trade offs for that great diversity. Sadly D/D does not make up for the missing mellee combat either.

     

    I started building a guardian because it has great support too, just loved being in Mellee, untill i entered WvWvW, i have this strange habbit of loving Mellee for PvE and ranged combat in PvP. Sadly the guardian ranged mechanics could not convince me

     

    Then i went to the Engineer, but somehow i kept missing the option to mellee, adding a mellee kind of weapon set for engineers would definately have made it my preferred class.

     

    Next step was the necromancer, but the pets somehow felt useless, i loved the survivabillity tough, but somehow they lacked on the support and controll departments.

     

    Well, there is allways the messmer, but somehow the illusions and the clones used in combat killed my immersion, i dont really like the randomness used in this class a lot, random clones, random boons, random conditions...After a few hours i found it was not my cup of cake after all.

     

    Then i tried the ranger and found out the class could almost do it all, Tanking (highly defensive build), pet tanking, spirirt buffing build, Great support builds, maybe the best CC controll build in game, high burst DPS, condition builds, Pet killer build, Mellee build, ranged build, the only thing lacking is long ranged AoE, but so far i can live with that.  Trade off however, it can only do one of the builds really good at the same time, requiring you to swtich tradepoints a lot when aquiring different roles.  (Elemetalists for example can switch roles at the go inside a single build, they also stay somewhat effective in the other roles)

     

     

    So where does that leave me right now.  I am really missing that Mellee/Magic hybrid class that i allways tend to end up playing.

     

    I am still very much in doubt about what class mechanics i want for release. Unable to make up my mind, while i love a lot of most classes, there is none that i truely love so far.

    Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)

  • ToxiaToxia Member UncommonPosts: 1,308

    Warrior.

    Space Jam- Daffy Duck voice: Just stay outta my way.

    The Deep Web is sca-ry.

  • ZylaxxZylaxx Member Posts: 2,574
    Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

     

    So where does that leave me right now.  I am really missing that Mellee/Magic hybrid class that i allways tend to end up playing.

     

    I am still very much in doubt about what class mechanics i want for release. Unable to make up my mind, while i love a lot of most classes, there is none that i truely love so far.

    I know how you feel Bachus.  Hopefully the first expansion will have a true melee/magic hybrid that I too love.  Never played the first GW1 past level 6 but wasnt the Dervish sort of like a hybrid melee/magic class?  If so that would be a great addition to the one thing I find missing from GW2.  If the Dervish isn't, then heres hoping a WoW Death Knight like, or DAoC Thane like class comes into existance.  Untill that time I will settle on my Warrior or Thief (havn't decided yet which is my main). 

    Everything you need to know about Elder Scrolls Online

    Playing: GW2
    Waiting on: TESO
    Next Flop: Planetside 2
    Best MMO of all time: Asheron's Call - The first company to recreate AC will be the next greatest MMO.

    image

  • SuprGamerXSuprGamerX Member Posts: 531
    Originally posted by Finit

    Below is an excerpt from Divinity's Reach, a blog about Guild Wars 2.

    Hope you enjoy!

     

    "It's a question everyone asks themselves when they first play Guild Wars 2.  You can have every little part of your character mapped out, log in, and that whole plan can be thrown immediately out the window.  The whole process is actually very simple, but you need to account for the game being an MMO.  Balance is in constant flux, one day you may have a God-like build and the next you may be sitting low on the totem pole.  So how do you resist the urge to switch and cave in to your "grass is always greener" syndrome?  Well to start, you need to find a profession that you can enjoy through the thick and thin, and the best way to do this is to like them.  You can't just like a specific weapon, or "that flashy skill", you have to really, truly like them.  Warts and all.  Yes, even when their old and wrinkled as a prune.  Now it may be sounding like I'm describing love, and you would be correct.  If you want to choose that single character, the main profession for several years, you are going to have to love them."

    The full article can be found here:  http://divinitysreach.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-to-choose-profession.html#more

    Where to start ... umm ... ok here ; Every MMO released in existence is based on a player picking a class he/she prefers over the rest and plays that class.   Now over the years, MMO's have become more and more hand holders and breast feeders to the QQ'ing gamers.  Why most players in most MMO's play the same OP class over and over again.   Although Anet intentions might be humble and all , we'll see if they got back strenght like CCP on not giving in to the QQ'ing players.   But I'm pretty sure by new year , GW2 will have some serious balancing issues , but then again , only time will tell.

  • ruonimruonim Member Posts: 251

    Just play every class. All classes are nice. But some feel like flowing without problem, and some feel unfit for one person.

  • Lord.BachusLord.Bachus Member RarePosts: 9,686
    Originally posted by Zylaxx
    Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

     

    So where does that leave me right now.  I am really missing that Mellee/Magic hybrid class that i allways tend to end up playing.

     

    I am still very much in doubt about what class mechanics i want for release. Unable to make up my mind, while i love a lot of most classes, there is none that i truely love so far.

    I know how you feel Bachus.  Hopefully the first expansion will have a true melee/magic hybrid that I too love.  Never played the first GW1 past level 6 but wasnt the Dervish sort of like a hybrid melee/magic class?  If so that would be a great addition to the one thing I find missing from GW2.  If the Dervish isn't, then heres hoping a WoW Death Knight like, or DAoC Thane like class comes into existance.  Untill that time I will settle on my Warrior or Thief (havn't decided yet which is my main). 

    Well, in the first guildwars you could multi class anything you wanted.

     

    But in the end, i could not live with only 8 skills, it was just not enough to keep me going on

    Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)

  • adaneshadeadaneshade Member Posts: 36
    I really tend to enjoy playing the least popular class (makes it easier to stand out when you get really good with them), which is normally easy to determine in most MMOs. I'm finding it difficult here, however because all classes seem to be really well liked.
  • SabasSabas Member UncommonPosts: 217
    Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

    So where does that leave me right now. 

    Actually the engineer has a melee weapon. A pretty good one.

    Though it falls under the toolkit category so you need to level up a bit before you can acquire the skill.

     

    The wrench, it has some amazing defensive skills and some neat crowd control.

    http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tool_Kit

     

  • Dreamo84Dreamo84 Member UncommonPosts: 3,713
    Originally posted by adaneshade
    I really tend to enjoy playing the least popular class (makes it easier to stand out when you get really good with them), which is normally easy to determine in most MMOs. I'm finding it difficult here, however because all classes seem to be really well liked.

    haha i'm kinda having the same problem. No real losers for popularity. Guess we will just have to resort to picking what we like then, eh? Kinda HARD! lol

    image
  • Dreamo84Dreamo84 Member UncommonPosts: 3,713
    Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

     

     

     

    So where does that leave me right now.  I am really missing that Mellee/Magic hybrid class that i allways tend to end up playing.

     

    I am still very much in doubt about what class mechanics i want for release. Unable to make up my mind, while i love a lot of most classes, there is none that i truely love so far.

    Sounds like you kinda want it all...I would suggest melee mesmer since that is the closest to a melee/magic hybrid. YOu said you didn't like it but maybe it would grow on you?

    What about Ele with daggers? Very short range melee feeling.

    image
  • RanyrRanyr Member UncommonPosts: 212
    I had a good laugh. Elementalist is definitely me. I did read all of the Harry Potter books. :p
  • maxiime223maxiime223 Member Posts: 94

    Somehow, I can't seem to find a class that REALLY suits me...

    Maybe a fixed thief would be it?

    ugh...

  • FrodoFraginsFrodoFragins Member EpicPosts: 5,903
    Argh.  I was expecting something useful.  Kind of funny.
  • SlyGamer79SlyGamer79 Member Posts: 278

    I simplify my problem i almost always have a main and an alt on mmo's so i have two characters to work on.

    in the case of guild wars i had most of my focus on ranger & elementalist for main & alt so that same idea carry's over to guild wars 2 same classes that i love to play. 

    the only issue i might have is what server to play on & maybe race i'm still kinda debating on my rangers race but my elementalists race will be asura because short races rock :-D

    PSN-SlyFox5679
    Xfire-Slyfox5679
    raptr-slygamer1979

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