Curse

TheRaven · Jan 07, 2008, 08:15 PM // 20:15

For me, I hate taking Assassins in my pugs. It's not that assassins are a bad class. If you find a good one they can really help the team and in PvP they are wonderful.

But unfortunately most assassins are created and played by 10-12 year old boys that think assassin ninjas are the Kewlest awesomest rockin pwnage profession eva!!!! and they just never learned how to play. They think they can run into a mob, flash their daggers and the mob should instantly die. If the mob doesn't die then it's because that RED ENGINE GORED monk moron wasn't doing his job.

Yeah, I try to avoid assassins at all costs unless I know the player behind the sin.

Edge Martinez · Jan 07, 2008, 08:27 PM // 20:27

For PvE my sin is one of my favorite toons. BUT... I run him as a crit barrager, and use his sin skills for survivability. My overall favorite PvE class to play is probably ranger or monk.

My least favorite? Well... I hate my Necro, but I hated my mesmer more, so I deleted him to get a PvP slot. The mesmer would have been cool, would have been good,... hell, he finished Prophecies and Factions, but I did it alone. Pretty much had to when I typed Mesmer LFG.

Aerian_Skybane · Jan 07, 2008, 08:35 PM // 20:35

A dervish, paragon, and assasin will all be picked before a Mesmer, which is really sad because my GF plays one to match my warrior, and our guild has a blast playing with a mesmer. They really are underrated, not only that but they are pretty fun to play with too. Ah well, not everyone can think outside the box.

Assasins are everywhere though, they always try to join my parties. I really can't trust them though, most of them are like what has been said above, really stupid players. I only accept assasins of people I know. Then they rock.

Numa Pompilius · Jan 07, 2008, 08:56 PM // 20:56

I love playing mesmer, but there's really no denying they're gimped in pve. With their expensive and looong recharge skills they're great for annoying one or two enemies, but how often do you need to do that in PvE?

In PvE they're basically a weak necromancer without soul reaping or AoE spells.

My present favorite class are necros. I don't see why people bitch about the soul reaping nerf, it's hardly noticeable.
So paragons are good, you say? I tried one out briefly, but it just felt weak to me.

quickmonty · Jan 07, 2008, 09:21 PM // 21:21

For PvE ..... Mesmer, 'cause the n00bs don't know how deadly they can be.

Tender Wolf · Jan 07, 2008, 09:22 PM // 21:22

Hmm...well I agree that I don't see many sins running around in PVE. Now in PVP they're everywhere, and they're always the ones that kill me. Grr...lol Anyway, as for PVP, you don't see that many monks or rits, or at least I don't. The rest are all fair game to me.

I can pretty much play any profession but the one I can't get into is the assassin. I don't know why, I guess I just don't like how they look. To me they're all kind of ugly. lol And as a monk, I only do smiting because I don't like healing others, plus I'm really bad at it.

Thorondor Port · Jan 07, 2008, 09:23 PM // 21:23

To me its crazy to say that there is a least used class in pvp.
Obviously being there is a least used class, but its all depentant on the build..

Say your running:
w/e
w/e
n/e
e/rt
e/p
mo/me
mo/me
mo/me

Now your a pro team and dont lose and play every match on the wall to halls you encounter:
Iway,Sway,IVSpike,Smiteball,Legoway, 2monk backline balances with mesmer, 3 monk backline balances with dervishes or assassins, Rangerspike, eleball, that signet spike with the assasins, eoe bomb with all that SH and tele-ele's with KD

Chances are you'll see every class on the way to halls.

If any class is the least played in pvp I would blame the build you are playing.

That being said....
Monks and elementalists are the most common in my opinion (almost every team has one)

Aera Lure · Jan 07, 2008, 09:24 PM // 21:24

Least popular? Generally speaking, in terms of being welcome in parties etc, probably the assassin. Least played? I'll say mesmer, as I do see enough Paragons and Ritualists around.

Zahr Dalsk · Jan 07, 2008, 09:30 PM // 21:30

I'd say mesmer as the least often played.

Truth be told every now and then I make a mesmer and eventually delete it because I lack the patience to get them to the point where they have skills that make them effective. This is actually a commonly occurring problem for me, since some classes, like Ritualist, are not fun until one has reached a certain point (for Ritualist, I feel the fun started once I had capped Attuned was Songkai) however having gotten ritualist to that point I may do the same with a Mesmer. I might actually try Paragon and Dervish again in PvE as well (the starting areas are agonizingly dull in Nightfall, particularly the title/level grind and the lack of factions-speed leveling).

Also, Ritualists and Assassins seem pretty rare outside Factions.

Toutatis · Jan 07, 2008, 09:34 PM // 21:34

I would say that the mesmer is probably the least played in PvE. The only time I have ever come across other mesmers in-game is at events (or on the extremely rare occasions when my guildies pull out and dust off theirs).

Although I think that's probably a good thing. Can you imagine the ego clashes if mesmers were always running into each other left, right and centre? The next major Guild War: started because one mesmer remarked that another mesmer's armor was "so last season"

cthulhu reborn · Jan 07, 2008, 09:58 PM // 21:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius

I love playing mesmer, but there's really no denying they're gimped in pve. With their expensive and looong recharge skills they're great for annoying one or two enemies, but how often do you need to do that in PvE?

In PvE they're basically a weak necromancer without soul reaping or AoE spells.

My present favorite class are necros. I don't see why people bitch about the soul reaping nerf, it's hardly noticeable.
So paragons are good, you say? I tried one out briefly, but it just felt weak to me.

Well, para's aren't perhaps the biggest damage dealers but they are a great support character. They can prevent about 1/3rd of incoming damage for the whole party at all times basically and chants and shouts cannot be taken away by enchantment kill etc. And they have good armour so they can be in the thick of it without having to go into melee range.

Without wanting to go too far in to the SR nerf but it's not the output of energy that was the concern but just that the mechanic of how it works is just lame. Some people feel that way and some don't. To me the whole mess around it turned me away from the necro as I just felt cheated. It was a big fight and it can result in a lingering bad taste. Again the average energy gain is fine. Anyways that's enough about that.

The least favourite classes tend to be the ones people have to think about when they put them together.
Sins tend to be suicidal because people don't think. Mesmer suck in PvE because people don't think...etc etc.

I can play any class fine in PvE but yes some take more thought than others. You cannot death's charge into a group of enemies out of your healers' range with your sin and expect to be effective unless you make a build that can sustain itself, at least for a short while. Most people don't get that and keep dying blaming the monks.

People will keep thinking mesmers suck because they don't see how effective they are in PvE especially in preventing a lot of damage. PvE has as a specific challenge that there is huge spike damage. Level 28+ creatures that can wipe entire parties in a couple of seconds. Trust me, damage prevention is important.
Go into the Gate of Pain mission with an interrupt mesmer and be glad of all those meteor showers that won't hit you and the melee demons that kill themselves on empathy. It really works.
But you cannot just blow all your energy at once, you have to time and weigh quickly what is and isn't important to disrupt. So yes it requires more thought and skill and thus is less popular.

cebalrai · Jan 07, 2008, 10:34 PM // 22:34

Funny... My favorite AB character is a P/Rt. Motivation restoration and a little restoration from the Rit line. Flesh of my Flesh + Song of Restoration + Sig of Synergy = quick effective res that also heals the whole party.

Sir Seifus Halbred · Jan 07, 2008, 10:47 PM // 22:47

It varies from mesmer to paragon, or sin to ritualist.

tehshadowninjar · Jan 07, 2008, 10:56 PM // 22:56

Least played I would say....mesmer. Basically all they do is prevent most people from attacking. You take Me/N though, and you have a deadly build against ANY melee and almost as deadly against spell casters without hex removal or a monk.

Insidious Parasite = 30 average damage per attack. (Not skill casting)
Empathy = 35 average damage per attack. (Not skill casting)
Spiteful Spirit = 100 damage per any action that affects any player in any way.

Those 3 wipe out melee, plus, you have 60-130 damage skills that deal LOADS of damage agaisnt people using skills... IE eles, since 80% of their skills are 2s cast time all the way to 10s. Take dazed, and the ele is good as dead. But this requires ALOT of strategy and percision and skill. Most people think you can waste all your energy. Guess what? If you do, you're done for. There's something called res, and you only have 5 energy left! Heh.

Least popular... assassin. I would say this because of all the thought and skill needed to chain together the PERFECT skill bar. You can do any 3 combo easy, but it's much more effective if you have a 5 skill chain. This is very hard, because you want to find 5 skills with the lowest recharge, energy consumption, and activation. And there's only 1-3 skills in the entire Assassins's arsenal that can make 3 into 5 or 5 into 7. You also need self healing. (6) Mabye IAS/IMS (7) and a personal benefit skill of your own... IE Beguiling Daze (Shadow Step and Dazed on average for 6s) or mabye Aura of Displacement (Shadow Step in and dismiss to shadow step out to point of origin Aura of Displacement was cast) Which makes 8. Most kids... like some person up there said before, think assassins are somewhat like ninjas, they're like, so fast and stealthy, and like "ZOMFGZWTFBBQ, I GOTS A ASSASSIN, LOL, U BE DEAD BIG TIME!!!!11111111!!!shifteleventeen" And then blame the monk because YOU overextended. It takes all of 2 seconds to kill an assassin with 4 people with average builds attacking you.

Racthoh · Jan 07, 2008, 11:10 PM // 23:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by tehshadowninjar

Least played I would say....mesmer. Basically all they do is prevent most people from attacking. You take Me/N though, and you have a deadly build against ANY melee and almost as deadly against spell casters without hex removal or a monk.

Taking down melee enemies is not crucial to success. If I want to shut down casters I'd use Broadhead Arrow + Epidemic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cthulhu reborn

Go into the Gate of Pain mission with an interrupt mesmer and be glad of all those meteor showers that won't hit you and the melee demons that kill themselves on empathy.

Ehhh if someone is standing in a Meteor Shower they're better off dead. Even in a H/H situation I can take the all flag and move them out of the MS range; three seconds after it finishes is plenty of time to react.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vinraith

Well, it's between Paragons and Necros for that title, they're both fairly absurd.

Unless that necromancer has Order of Pain, Dark Fury, and Splinter Weapon... meh.

Numa Pompilius · Jan 07, 2008, 11:23 PM // 23:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by cthulhu reborn

But you cannot just blow all your energy at once, you have to time and weigh quickly what is and isn't important to disrupt. So yes it requires more thought and skill and thus is less popular.

Oh I'm not saying that mesmers are weak, but the ability to make one or two targets suffer isn't all that useful in PvE, not compared to ursan tanks, fire eles, or MM rits AoE-bombing their way through the mobs by the dozen.

Also while high-level bosses would be logical targets for mesmers they have half duration casts, half recharge time, and half duration hexes, again making a mesmer less effective at damage mitigation than, say, ursan perma-knockdown.

To me it seems as if mesmer is a class without focus, a class which can't do much of anything better than other classes, not as a primary. Originally they appear to have been intended for degen, shutdown, interruption and energy denial, but all that original capability has been gradually nerfed and eclipsed by the capabilities of other classes (rangers interrupt better, monks remove hexes better, necros degen and remove enchants better...).

So... I like playing mesmer, it is a sweet feeling when you totally ruin a fire eles day by hitting him with a Powerblock, or drop Empathy on a dervish, but I've a hard time seeing what unique benefits mesmers bring to the table any more.

Great as a secondary profession thanks to the inspiration line (which should have been the class primary line) though.

Hott Bill · Jan 07, 2008, 11:26 PM // 23:26

Most least played in PvE is hands down, mesmar. In PvP it is probably Dervish. I too enjoy using my assassin in PvP because they can shadow step in, kill, and get out.

Um Yeah · Jan 07, 2008, 11:40 PM // 23:40

In Pve: I'd probably say paragons or mesmers. Paragon's always been boring as hell for me to play, and I don't see too many of them regularly. Most people don't play mesmer well in PvE and give up on it or something. Idk
Pvp: RA/TA: Para, probably followed by rit or mes.
Pvp: HA: I don't HA anymore, but if I had to take a guess, probably rit or nec.
Pvp: Gvg: Sins, necs, and dervs. Unless, of course, you're Japanese >_>

Vinraith · Jan 07, 2008, 11:53 PM // 23:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racthoh

Unless that necromancer has Order of Pain, Dark Fury, and Splinter Weapon... meh.

A startlingly limited view of the applicability of a class with functionally limitless energy throughout the bulk of PvE. I keep trying to find a reason not to just run 8 of them (two human necros with 6 necro heroes) and can't really find one.

Big_Daddy · Jan 07, 2008, 11:55 PM // 23:55

I'd say mesmers are the least played in PvE, but I must admit I have often wondered how a certain mission or quest might have come out if I had a good mesmer on my team.