Curse

Chromodar · Oct 22, 2010, 09:11 PM // 21:11

Heya.

So, I've been starved for an MMO worth playing for a while now, tried a bunch of F2P ones, but finally decided to give GW a go. My main motivation is experiencing the world and the lore in preparation for GW2, as well as getting a bunch of those hall of monuments points if possible. I'll mainly be duoing with a friend, as well as soloing some.

So, I need to figure out what to play, and what to tell my friend to play (he usually has a hard time deciding for himself) in order to do this effectively. I've looked around on that pvx wiki thing, but it's hard when I don't know what will be required to get the hall of monuments thingies.

My question then, is this: How would you do it if you were starting over, duoing with a friend, and trying to fill your hall of monuments in a timely fashion?

I usually like pets, DoTs, debuffs, crowd control, ranged dps, don't mind healing either, if needed.. I dislike tanking and pure melee, and prefer not to play stealthers. My friend is less picky than me, as long as he feels he contributes meaningfully to the group, and is not a pure healer, he's happy.

I've started a mesmer with the intent on going ritualist, but I literally just made the char, so there's plenty of time to change it. Will I be able to achieve the goals stated above with this setup? Or will I need more tanking/healing/whatever? What should I tell my friend to play to compliment it? Or is there a completely different way (within the preferances noted above) that would be superior?

Learning curve is not an issue. I've played MMOs since UO, and am usually really quick to catch on to gameplay mechanics and such, and my friend learns fast as well.

So, suggestions, comments, even just links to builds you feel suits our needs, everything is welcome. And thank you in advance for your help

**Marty Silverblade** · Oct 22, 2010, 09:27 PM // 21:27

Keep in mind you don't pick two professions, you pick a primary and a secondary. Don't think that because you're going to be /Rt that you'll be doing lots of Rit things. Your secondary should be used for picking up a skill or two that rounds off what you're trying to do with your primary profession.

That said, a Mesmer will not get a pet (or minions or spirits), has some ok DoT's (though DoT isn't particularly powerful compared to direct damage), decent debuffs, good crowd control, decent ranged dps (depending on your setup), and no/very little healing ability.

My recommendation would be Necromancer. They get minions (very useful), decent debuffs, hexes with massive potential if you know how to use them right, and no/very little healing ability. Necromancers are also very versatile so you can run a variety of different builds and secondary professions well.

Regarding completing the HoM; don't be concerned. All professions can complete the PvE content on Hard Mode without consumables and with only AI team members. Having a friend will make it much easier. Just play what you like to play and you'll be fine.

Chromodar · Oct 22, 2010, 10:22 PM // 22:22

Huh, I saw some "spirit farmer" builds on pvx that suggested rit as secondary, so I figured it'd have access to spirits.. Oh well.

I guess necromancer fits what I usually play.. Cabalist in DAoC, warlock in WoW and so on.

What would go well alongside a necromancer?

**Marty Silverblade** · Oct 22, 2010, 10:28 PM // 22:28

You would have access to spirits. The point is that Mesmer is your primary profession, so you should primarily play as a mesmer. If you want to play a Rit, play a Rit. I've joined groups and seen 3+ players (not even Rits) with the same spirit spam build and they all whine when someone tells them to run something better that requires thinking. For farming it's fine, but don't pretend you're a Rit.

For the second question, pretty much everything does. It might be good to have a melee as well.

jensyea · Oct 22, 2010, 10:28 PM // 22:28

I completely agree with Marty, except for the fact that necromancers have alot of healing capability. See, their primary atribute, Soul Reaping, gives a necromancer energy whenever a foe near him dies. As such, as long as the team keeps killing stuff, he can spam heal spells as much as he wants. Seriously, necromancers are currently the most versatile characters in the game simply because their primary atribbute is so overpowered. You can choose to spec N/Rt or N/Mo if you want to heal, or N/Me for a few skills from the mesmers line that complements your build. Note that when you advance in the game, you will be able to change your secondary profession, have a look at www.pvxwiki.com and enjoy!

lv42daze · Oct 22, 2010, 10:33 PM // 22:33

pvx wiki is a must. u'll at least know what skills to buy.

Chromodar · Oct 23, 2010, 12:04 AM // 00:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by jensyea

Note that when you advance in the game, you will be able to change your secondary profession, have a look at www.pvxwiki.com and enjoy!

Some NPC ingame just told me that I will never ever be able to change my mind once I choose a secondary. Guess I'll go back and tell him that he has outdated info. Not that he'll respond or even care, NPCs are like that.

But yeah, right now I'm kinda just sucking in knowledge from ingame, pvx and here. I'll probably keep doing this for a day or two, then come back when I have a better idea on exactly what we want to do, see if there's any suggestions or tweaks more experienced players would make.

Thanks for the help so far

Is there some sort of working, up-to-date character builder somewhere? All I can find are ones from 5 years ago.

Also, which decisions (if any) can't be changed once made? Attributes are easy to change, and someone mentioned that you can change secondary profession. What about skill points?

JimmyTyme · Oct 23, 2010, 04:07 PM // 16:07

I also agree with Marty and unlike the moron previous, Necro's do (as Marty said) have very little healing ability, though if you go N/Rt and have 9 soul-reaping, 9 restoration they can use some of the Ritualist heals quite effectively, and still have either curses, death magic or blood magic maxed @ 14 or 16 (12+1+3 or 12+1+1), as for what one of the previous individuals said, if your trying to learn the lore, i seriously suggest you DON'T use pvx atleast for 1 run through until you get onto the dungeons, because a huge portion of the game is build making, finding out what does and doesn't work. build making is probably a lot more fun and will give you a chance to learn the game-mechanics as opposed to just having stuff handed to you (which is just f**kin boring IMO)
Once again as Marty said, there's no "best class" it's what you want to play, depending on your style, I'm partial to rangers, warriors, and ele's myself, though at times I diverge and play one of the other 7 classes.

as for skillpoints, you can't change them once you buy the skill its there forever, but dun worry you get more skillpoints, with each "level" (max level is 20 but you still get extra skillpoints for every time you reach a certain experience breakpoint, and there are unlimited breakpoints, all equally far apart)

Chromodar · Oct 23, 2010, 06:00 PM // 18:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyTyme

as for skillpoints, you can't change them once you buy the skill its there forever, but dun worry you get more skillpoints, with each "level" (max level is 20 but you still get extra skillpoints for every time you reach a certain experience breakpoint, and there are unlimited breakpoints, all equally far apart)

Thanks for this info

P_A_A · Oct 23, 2010, 06:04 PM // 18:04

If you want to go with two characters that go on well with each other, i'd go for warrior + necromancer. However, with all those gimmick PvE skills there are, you can run any profession and still faceroll trough the game, if you have a decent hero setup.
No decisions but choosing your primary professiones are irreversible.
For an up to date builds database you can go to pvxwiki.com

PS. Mmmm...i think i saw your avatar in RoM forums sometime?

Chromodar · Oct 28, 2010, 03:02 PM // 15:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by P_A_A

PS. Mmmm...i think i saw your avatar in RoM forums sometime?

Never played RoM, but I myself stole it from an EVE forum user ages ago, and I've also seen someone use it on Elitist Jerks.

On topic, I made a rit and a necro, trying them both out. The rit reminds me of an animist from DAoC (to the point where I think of my spirits as "shrooms").. I think I'm leaning towards the necro though.

Anyways, I have no idea why I never tried GW before.. It seems like a really nice game. High hopes and fingers crossed for GW2

Bloodthirsty_Wolf · Nov 25, 2010, 03:17 AM // 03:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by P_A_A

PS. Mmmm...i think i saw your avatar in RoM forums sometime?

Funny I was thinking the same thing.

On topic.

GW is a great game after you get the hang of things. It is a grinding game in many aspects but don't let that turn you off. It is a very well designed game with good developer support unlike many F2P games out there. I have always played a warrior but necro is my 2nd choice due to the variety of play styles it offers.

GW is different from most MMOs in the way some classes are the OP class that everyone plays. Every class played well is strong and there doesn't seem to be class discrimination in GW like in other games. However there is always a lack of good healers imho.

FoxBat · Nov 25, 2010, 06:05 AM // 06:05

If one of you guys can play melee it will make your HoM go faster, but is by no means required. Some really beautiful stuff can happen when you get a warrior and necro together for example.

BrettM · Nov 25, 2010, 10:59 AM // 10:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chromodar

Some NPC ingame just told me that I will never ever be able to change my mind once I choose a secondary.

You are stuck with your choice until you've completed a certain mission that unlocks the ability to change. That's about halfway through Prophecies, but much sooner in Factions and Nightfall. The NPC is just warning you that he won't be giving you any do-overs, and you will have to live with your choice for a while. No big deal.

If you decide to go with a caster or ranged profession, then your friend should probably be melee, with warrior probably his best choice. If you are going necro, you will have some great skills in the curses line that will boost his damage output by making the foes more vulnerable to physical damage.