Are there any unviable classes? - Guild Wars Forums

CyberReaver · Oct 09, 2010, 02:39 AM // 02:39

I'm a new player coming to Guild Wars after several months of trying to find a mmo. My question is, are their any classes that seriously lack in the PvE department? I know in some games certain classes have a stygma against them or just never seem to function the way they should (my hunter from WoW comes to mind, nightmare trying to get into raids

). I'm not looking for a best class, just want to make sure i don't play through the game only to have problems in the end game content. Any info would help a lot and thanks!

End · Oct 09, 2010, 02:48 AM // 02:48

Dervish. Paragon (except one build). And Ranger. All seem to need a little buff to be brought up to speed with the other professions.

HawkofStorms · Oct 09, 2010, 02:56 AM // 02:56

lol
Ignore the above post.
They are all very viable. You can do any content in the game with any class if you have a proper build setup and are a good player. The original poster isn't asking if any class is slightly weaker then others, but if there is a class that literally can't play the game/function.

This game is fairly easy in PvE due to various overpowered PvE skills, consumable items, etc Only like the top 1% of content will profession be a limiting factor (and even then, not so much). You might not be able to do a specific dungeon build or speed clear, but you will be able to do any dungeon with any class if your team is set up for it.

End · Oct 09, 2010, 03:01 AM // 03:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkofStorms

lol
Ignore the above post.
They are all very viable. You can do any content in the game with any class if you have a proper build setup and are a good player. The original poster isn't asking if any class is slightly weaker then others, but if there is a class that literally can't play the game/function.

This game is fairly easy in PvE due to various overpowered PvE skills, consumable items, etc Only like the top 1% of content will profession be a limiting factor (and even then, not so much). You might not be able to do a specific dungeon build or speed clear, but you will be able to do any dungeon with any class if your team is set up for it.

He also mentioned getting a group. Admit it. Pugs want cookie cutter. Or at least I assume thats what he means when talking about trouble getting into raids.

Hell most bad guilds want cookie cutter. If he gets into a good guild thats completely different though.

Shayne Hawke · Oct 09, 2010, 04:27 AM // 04:27

Short answer: no.

Long answer: Not if you find a good guild that doesn't care what you play and will find a way to do things no matter what you bring, with minor restrictions.

Stumme is opening up to the idea of seven hero parties, which will eliminate the need to PuG in certain areas completely. No word yet on whether that is for sure happening or not, I don't think.

Chthon · Oct 09, 2010, 05:22 AM // 05:22

Ranger is exceptionally subpar. So is dervish. Elementalists and paragons are both crap except for one extremely overpowered build each. Supposedly a major update that will make dervishes not suck is in the pipeline. I pray that rangers will be next.

End · Oct 09, 2010, 05:26 AM // 05:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

Ranger is exceptionally subpar. So is dervish. Elementalists and paragons are both crap except for one extremely overpowered build each. Supposedly a major update that will make dervishes not suck is in the pipeline. I pray that rangers will be next.

I believe they mentioned Para's being next in line long long ago. But plans change.

Luminarus · Oct 09, 2010, 05:37 AM // 05:37

In terms of overpowered pve builds, every class has one or several, excluding the dervish and ranger.

Warriors can run earthshaker, hundred blades, d-slash etc.
Assassins can run Shadow Form, WotA sin, moebius db, crit scythe, 100b etc
Paragons can run imbagon
Monks can run UA/HB/RoJ
Eles can ER Prot/Infuse or (lol) nuke
Mesmers can run panic or clumsiness spam, or other joke pve builds
Necros can run MM, SS, Discord, AP MoP Nuker, etc
Rits can run SoS, DwG, ST, Rit Lord etc

Dervs can run... PERMA AVATAR OF BALTH!!! And ranger can run Barrage!!!

Not saying there aweful, they work but on the whole they just arent that good.

chuckles79 · Oct 09, 2010, 06:59 AM // 06:59

Ok, there are no unviable classes. There are, however, certain elite areas where some classes are not welcome. Also, when you finally get to HM (meaning you've beat all the campaigns are in the "what now?" zone; you might not get top billing if you are a derv or ranger (though typically most PuGs are happy to have one...and only one of each.

For instance, rangers are welcome in Tomb of the Primeval Kings and Urgoz's Warren. However no one wants them in the Underworld and they are a 2nd tier choice in DoA Glaiveway groups.

Dervishes are currently gimped, but Anet has promised an update soon, and one that will guarantee that only dervs can use scythes to their max. potential (good by ranger/sin/para/warrior scythe builds). So there is no reason not to play that.

Rangers are great multitaskers, but at the expense of not truly doing any ONE thing great.

Paragons are mostly only viable as imbagons (everything else is situational or gimmick), however they are welcome in almost every area (FoWSC's and UW exempted) and I have trouble thinking of a build that works better when you have to go solo with heroes and henchies.

In fact the only profession that is well and truly gimped, are elementalists. After being buffed out of this world by the release of Nightfall, the changes made in game and the introduction of Hard Mode has made their traditional nuking role pointless. Their single target attack abilities are subpar.
They are now only really used as terratanks (though sins have taken that role...along with every other role now that being perma isn't as fun and they need new things to do).

So in short, play a ritualist, necro, monk, or assassin. Rits and necros are always welcome as they can do multiple roles. I recommend that if you do play these that you don't over specialize (don't you hate rits who only have SoS and necros who only have SS?)
Monks are always welcome, since few people have the temperament to play this role. Assassins were overbuffed because of YEARS of neglect, but are now only slightly overbuffed (you missed the true salad days of sins)

chuckles79 · Oct 09, 2010, 07:01 AM // 07:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luminarus

In terms of overpowered pve builds, every class has one or several, excluding the dervish and ranger.

Dervs can run... PERMA AVATAR OF BALTH!!! And ranger can run Barrage!!!

Not saying there aweful, they work but on the whole they just arent that good.

Rangers can run incendiary arrows, condition spread, stance tank, runner, pet attack spammer, and others.

Dervs have wounding strike, orders, and perma avatar of anything.

Plus I would add that rangers rock at PvP, and your PvE ranger can do both, saving a character slot.

mathiastemplar · Oct 09, 2010, 11:37 AM // 11:37

All classes are good, just pick your favourite.

Ignore those who says otherwise.

It's all about finding a decent guild and friends to play with.
Oh, and don't play with PUGs.

CyberReaver · Oct 09, 2010, 11:45 AM // 11:45

Thanks for all the info guys, this really helped. Hope to see you in game!

snaek · Oct 09, 2010, 12:55 PM // 12:55

i think most people are arguing semantics here. all classes can beat pve yes; just that some are better than others at it.

Elder III · Oct 09, 2010, 01:25 PM // 13:25

PVE + Normal Mode + Heroes = Any nooby can play well and have fun with ANY class.

LifeInfusion · Oct 09, 2010, 01:26 PM // 13:26

Normal mode: anything goes.

Hard mode... don't play anything that relies on enemy armor being low:
Elementalist (terrible in hard mode...the only reason why I have one is because I had spent hundreds of hours on mine before they released hard mode) --> generally long cast times, caster level armor, exhaustion, useless primary attribute outside of Ether Renewal and Glyph of Lesser Energy

Ranger --> all people want to do is get you to splinter barrage...and in hard mode Rangers do craptastic damage because most of the damage comes from their weapon not the attack skills. A quarter to a third of the skills are spirits that don't ever get used, save for Winter, Edge of Extinction, and Frozen Soil. If you play one, staple d-shot to your skillbar but be aware that Mesmers skills in PVE got so buffed in the past year that it is borderline pointless (more so if you cannot reliably interrupt casts slower than 2 seconds with your bow).

Dervish --> another crap primary attribute, unless you are running Avatars (meh), enchantment spam ala fake Orders necros, Assassins and Warriors pull it off better. It's hard to be good devrish when you need to bring Avatar of Balthazar or Conviction to not get owned by melee in Hard mode. All their attributes have elemental damage so this is a melee Elementalist with 10 more armor with a scythe and a hood.

Paragons do decent... There's Nothing to Fear and Spear of Fury are strong PvE skills. The problem is the motivation line is lacking and Command consists of mostly support skills that don't help that much in Hard mode. Most teams want P/W with Focused Anger + Spear of Fury + There's Nothing to Fear + Save Yourselves spam. "Go for the eyes!" is insanity in normal mode, along with "Fall back!" if you have minions and/or melees. Without PVE skills, Stand Your Ground is a good way to meet the +25 armor skill stacking cap.

Quaker · Oct 09, 2010, 03:12 PM // 15:12

There are no "unviable" classes in GW in the larger sense. If you are concerned about getting into PUGs for some areas, there are particular cookie-cutter builds that people want you to bring, but that's only in certain endgame areas and for "Speed clears" of some dungeons, the Underworld, etc.
If you are mainly going with Heroes & henchies and/or you are in a good PvE Guild, it doesn't matter what your class is. There are no places in GW that require a particular class to complete.
(and there are no Raids)

Xiaquin · Oct 09, 2010, 03:54 PM // 15:54

Viability is relative. Some are more desirable than others, but all are accepted within the community, nothing is "shunned". High-end PvE demands specific builds and the flexibility wanes, but the key word is specific, they're doing a farm; in general, take what you want, you'll do fine.

Oct 09, 2010, 02:39 AM // 02:39	#1
CyberReaver Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: Oct 2010	Are there any unviable classes? I'm a new player coming to Guild Wars after several months of trying to find a mmo. My question is, are their any classes that seriously lack in the PvE department? I know in some games certain classes have a stygma against them or just never seem to function the way they should (my hunter from WoW comes to mind, nightmare trying to get into raids ). I'm not looking for a best class, just want to make sure i don't play through the game only to have problems in the end game content. Any info would help a lot and thanks!

Oct 09, 2010, 01:26 PM // 13:26	#15
LifeInfusion Grotto Attendant Join Date: May 2005 Location: in the midline Profession: E/Mo	Normal mode: anything goes. Hard mode... don't play anything that relies on enemy armor being low: Elementalist (terrible in hard mode...the only reason why I have one is because I had spent hundreds of hours on mine before they released hard mode) --> generally long cast times, caster level armor, exhaustion, useless primary attribute outside of Ether Renewal and Glyph of Lesser Energy Ranger --> all people want to do is get you to splinter barrage...and in hard mode Rangers do craptastic damage because most of the damage comes from their weapon not the attack skills. A quarter to a third of the skills are spirits that don't ever get used, save for Winter, Edge of Extinction, and Frozen Soil. If you play one, staple d-shot to your skillbar but be aware that Mesmers skills in PVE got so buffed in the past year that it is borderline pointless (more so if you cannot reliably interrupt casts slower than 2 seconds with your bow). Dervish --> another crap primary attribute, unless you are running Avatars (meh), enchantment spam ala fake Orders necros, Assassins and Warriors pull it off better. It's hard to be good devrish when you need to bring Avatar of Balthazar or Conviction to not get owned by melee in Hard mode. All their attributes have elemental damage so this is a melee Elementalist with 10 more armor with a scythe and a hood. Paragons do decent... There's Nothing to Fear and Spear of Fury are strong PvE skills. The problem is the motivation line is lacking and Command consists of mostly support skills that don't help that much in Hard mode. Most teams want P/W with Focused Anger + Spear of Fury + There's Nothing to Fear + Save Yourselves spam. "Go for the eyes!" is insanity in normal mode, along with "Fall back!" if you have minions and/or melees. Without PVE skills, Stand Your Ground is a good way to meet the +25 armor skill stacking cap. Last edited by LifeInfusion; Oct 09, 2010 at 01:31 PM // 13:31..

Oct 09, 2010, 02:48 AM // 02:48	#2
End Forge Runner Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Rubbing Potassium on water fountains. Guild: LF guild that teaches MTSC (did it long ago before gw2 came out and I quit...but I barely remember) Profession: N/A	Dervish. Paragon (except one build). And Ranger. All seem to need a little buff to be brought up to speed with the other professions.

Oct 09, 2010, 02:56 AM // 02:56	#3
HawkofStorms Hall Hero Join Date: Aug 2005 Profession: E/	lol Ignore the above post. They are all very viable. You can do any content in the game with any class if you have a proper build setup and are a good player. The original poster isn't asking if any class is slightly weaker then others, but if there is a class that literally can't play the game/function. This game is fairly easy in PvE due to various overpowered PvE skills, consumable items, etc Only like the top 1% of content will profession be a limiting factor (and even then, not so much). You might not be able to do a specific dungeon build or speed clear, but you will be able to do any dungeon with any class if your team is set up for it.

Oct 09, 2010, 04:27 AM // 04:27	#5
Shayne Hawke Departed from Tyria Join Date: May 2007 Guild: Clan Dethryche [dth] Profession: R/	Short answer: no. Long answer: Not if you find a good guild that doesn't care what you play and will find a way to do things no matter what you bring, with minor restrictions. Stumme is opening up to the idea of seven hero parties, which will eliminate the need to PuG in certain areas completely. No word yet on whether that is for sure happening or not, I don't think.

Oct 09, 2010, 05:22 AM // 05:22	#6
Chthon Grotto Attendant Join Date: Apr 2007	Ranger is exceptionally subpar. So is dervish. Elementalists and paragons are both crap except for one extremely overpowered build each. Supposedly a major update that will make dervishes not suck is in the pipeline. I pray that rangers will be next.

Oct 09, 2010, 05:37 AM // 05:37	#8
Luminarus Furnace Stoker Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Sydney, Australia Guild: Haze of Light [pure] Profession: R/	In terms of overpowered pve builds, every class has one or several, excluding the dervish and ranger. Warriors can run earthshaker, hundred blades, d-slash etc. Assassins can run Shadow Form, WotA sin, moebius db, crit scythe, 100b etc Paragons can run imbagon Monks can run UA/HB/RoJ Eles can ER Prot/Infuse or (lol) nuke Mesmers can run panic or clumsiness spam, or other joke pve builds Necros can run MM, SS, Discord, AP MoP Nuker, etc Rits can run SoS, DwG, ST, Rit Lord etc Dervs can run... PERMA AVATAR OF BALTH!!! And ranger can run Barrage!!! Not saying there aweful, they work but on the whole they just arent that good.

Oct 09, 2010, 06:59 AM // 06:59	#9
chuckles79 Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Mar 2009 Guild: FILA Profession: P/	Ok, there are no unviable classes. There are, however, certain elite areas where some classes are not welcome. Also, when you finally get to HM (meaning you've beat all the campaigns are in the "what now?" zone; you might not get top billing if you are a derv or ranger (though typically most PuGs are happy to have one...and only one of each. For instance, rangers are welcome in Tomb of the Primeval Kings and Urgoz's Warren. However no one wants them in the Underworld and they are a 2nd tier choice in DoA Glaiveway groups. Dervishes are currently gimped, but Anet has promised an update soon, and one that will guarantee that only dervs can use scythes to their max. potential (good by ranger/sin/para/warrior scythe builds). So there is no reason not to play that. Rangers are great multitaskers, but at the expense of not truly doing any ONE thing great. Paragons are mostly only viable as imbagons (everything else is situational or gimmick), however they are welcome in almost every area (FoWSC's and UW exempted) and I have trouble thinking of a build that works better when you have to go solo with heroes and henchies. In fact the only profession that is well and truly gimped, are elementalists. After being buffed out of this world by the release of Nightfall, the changes made in game and the introduction of Hard Mode has made their traditional nuking role pointless. Their single target attack abilities are subpar. They are now only really used as terratanks (though sins have taken that role...along with every other role now that being perma isn't as fun and they need new things to do). So in short, play a ritualist, necro, monk, or assassin. Rits and necros are always welcome as they can do multiple roles. I recommend that if you do play these that you don't over specialize (don't you hate rits who only have SoS and necros who only have SS?) Monks are always welcome, since few people have the temperament to play this role. Assassins were overbuffed because of YEARS of neglect, but are now only slightly overbuffed (you missed the true salad days of sins)

Oct 09, 2010, 11:37 AM // 11:37	#11
mathiastemplar Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Denmark Guild: Jade Reapers [JD] Profession: W/	All classes are good, just pick your favourite. Ignore those who says otherwise. It's all about finding a decent guild and friends to play with. Oh, and don't play with PUGs.

Oct 09, 2010, 11:45 AM // 11:45	#12
CyberReaver Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: Oct 2010	Thanks for all the info guys, this really helped. Hope to see you in game!

Oct 09, 2010, 12:55 PM // 12:55	#13
snaek Forge Runner Join Date: Mar 2006 Profession: N/	i think most people are arguing semantics here. all classes can beat pve yes; just that some are better than others at it.

Oct 09, 2010, 01:25 PM // 13:25	#14
Elder III Furnace Stoker Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Ohio Guild: I Will Never Join Your Guild (NTY) Profession: R/	PVE + Normal Mode + Heroes = Any nooby can play well and have fun with ANY class.

Oct 09, 2010, 03:12 PM // 15:12	#16
Quaker Hell's Protector Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Canada Guild: Brothers Disgruntled	There are no "unviable" classes in GW in the larger sense. If you are concerned about getting into PUGs for some areas, there are particular cookie-cutter builds that people want you to bring, but that's only in certain endgame areas and for "Speed clears" of some dungeons, the Underworld, etc. If you are mainly going with Heroes & henchies and/or you are in a good PvE Guild, it doesn't matter what your class is. There are no places in GW that require a particular class to complete. (and there are no Raids)

Oct 09, 2010, 03:54 PM // 15:54	#17
Xiaquin Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Jun 2010 Guild: [aRIN] Profession: R/	Viability is relative. Some are more desirable than others, but all are accepted within the community, nothing is "shunned". High-end PvE demands specific builds and the flexibility wanes, but the key word is specific, they're doing a farm; in general, take what you want, you'll do fine.