Curse

Joseph Spiritmaster · Dec 30, 2008, 04:06 PM // 16:06

Sorry for Double post.... =/

Windf0rce · Dec 30, 2008, 04:58 PM // 16:58

1. What professions you have played:
Have had all professions in PvE at some point. Currently I have, at Level 20: A, E, P, Mo, Me; deleted W, D, N, Rt, R.

2. Which profession you have the most fun with and why:
It is a difficult choice because I like all of my current characters, but I'd say Mesmer.

3. A general description of your playstyle.
I like to be mainly an offensive character, mostly as a caster, occasionally venturing into melee or support.

The Mesmer, despite people bashing it in PvE, is amazing for my style. Fast Casting is so wonderful for casting PvE spells and Assassins' Promise in damage builds; might not be a GREAT advantage but it is enough to make me feel very uncomfortable when trying another caster (such as N, Rt, E). I either run a 12/9/9 build or 12/12, meaning I have either 10 or 14 FC which is a dramatic increase in cast speed.

The other classes became just too slow for my taste (Ritualist was first to be deleted because they are SLOW, keeping Monk because Monks require a faster pace), and I don't have Energy issues as a Mesmer. I know overall Soul Reaping > Fast Casting, but I simply don't need more Energy, I'll take the fun of casting faster over it.

I can solo PvE Hard Mode as a Mesmer very easily with H/H, either with a damage build or strong shutdown for healing-heavy areas (such as Eastern Frontier my ele suffered to Vanquish). AP Cry of Pain build is also widely accepted in high end PvE missions. Last but not least Mesmers are beautiful and I feel a bit different from everyone else who is mostly running a W, E or Mo. :P

Good luck.

Spiritz · Dec 30, 2008, 07:03 PM // 19:03

This seems a bit of a daft post - theres 10 professions which all have the capability of doing stuff.Its a case of personal preference - one will say necro and another will say para an so on.
monks and other healers can provide a gd backbone where melee and often rangers are front line ( rangers only as frontline for bow an they keep back often just out of aggro ) .
Necros are often a popular choice as they can be mm or curses/blood or rare occasions a mix of all 3.
No matter what prof i say is best someone else will say different and thats what diversity is.
End of the day its easier to try each profession if you have enough slots and make the choice yourself ( not yet myself made para as the profession doesnt interest me - im too much in ur face in pve an i like to be in the middle of a mob lol ).

@Windf0rce - mesmers have always been pushed down the ladder but having a mes an playing with 55 mes build an a few others i cant see why - they can shutdown some foes better than other professions ... also in pvp most classes hate going up vs mesmers as they are a massive pain in the ass so why not in pve :P.
Also 600/smite with mesmer as the smite bonder is damn funny and able to pull off 16/16 without having to swap head armor .

zelgadissan · Dec 30, 2008, 07:18 PM // 19:18

There is no such thing as fun in getting to GWAMM, like Lotus pointed out.

That said, my mesmer has 26 titles. Nowhere near another title, either. I personally get great fun out of my mesmer but not many others do - from your description it looks like Necro is your choice.

SOF · Dec 30, 2008, 07:35 PM // 19:35

Imho.
'sin.
I have a complete bias towards them as my main is a 'sin, (My GWAMM in the making. 20/30).
They're versatile, can play Midline (Crit Barrage) | Frontline (Crit Scythe, Shattersin, Moebius) or backline | (Discord Spam caller) ~ These work nicely as the caller as they have AP as primary, so can take whatever you fancy as your secondary.

It's fun imo because many are sceptic about 'sins. Thinking that the majority of them just like to run in, hit a couple of attacks, and fall straight on their arse.
It's true, many do, but only the crap ones :P

So I think not just because they're fun, but because there is a lot of 'sin haters out there, it makes them a cool proffesion to get GWAMM on.

Word of warning though: It's a bloody long grind, and I do not find it fun.

:P

Good luck in choosing,

_____
~SOF

daze · Dec 31, 2008, 04:01 AM // 04:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by SOF

or backline | (Discord Spam caller) ~
~SOF

just fyi. That would still be considered midline because you are targeting the enemy with [[assassins promise]. The only characters that can be classified as backline are characters who do not target enemy (healers/protters)

glacialphoenix · Dec 31, 2008, 04:05 AM // 04:05

I love my monk and my ele the most, but I admit I like monking more than I like nuking. I realise not everyone enjoys playing backline, but hey, if you like what you do, you'll have fun with it.

Ele does have its moments, and I'm trying ranger for the heck of it.

MercenaryKnight · Dec 31, 2008, 06:31 AM // 06:31

You just need to find the profession you like the most. I like my paragon the best. Yes he is forced to wear many skirts, but I liked the paragon profession and so that is my main character.

Don't base it on how hard it'll be to do xxx. Because in the end your gonna have the most fun doing it on your favorite character.

Super Pervert Frog Hermit · Dec 31, 2008, 08:16 AM // 08:16

Thanks for all the feedback.

Right now, it looks like Necro and Ritualist are the top recommendations, with a few die hard Mesmer fans making a good case.

I'm going to revive my necro and try doing a few things other than MM and see how it goes for a while.

I have always liked the concept of the Mesmer profession, but up until now have been dissuaded from trying one because of the fair amount of bad press they have concerning PvE play.

Still, I like their style. I'm tempted to just spend another few months trying out a Mesmer before I decide.

daze · Dec 31, 2008, 08:31 AM // 08:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Super Pervert Frog Hermit

I have always liked the concept of the Mesmer profession, but up until now have been dissuaded from trying one because of the fair amount of bad press they have concerning PvE play.

Still, I like their style. I'm tempted to just spend another few months trying out a Mesmer before I decide.

Mesmer is a fun prof to play, and they have lots of potential to be ultra mega. Dont worry about all the crap talking about mesmers. It just means that it is too complicated of a profession for those people to play.

Things like [cry of pain] can be played by any player while it takes a real pro to fully utilize shutdown builds. (Hint: Just get comfortable the <TAB> button and <SHIFT><TAB> if you want to run shutdown, also learning skill animations and sounds will help you pinpoint key skills to target)

But there is no reason why you cant go [cry of pain] hybrid with shutdown just to dabble with the skills.

Ive always wanted to run [ether [email protected]][assassins [email protected]][wandering [email protected]][[email protected]][arcane [email protected]][arcane echo][cry of [email protected]][finish [email protected]]

gw_poster · Jan 08, 2009, 10:05 PM // 22:05

Dervish hate I can see, but Ranger? High survivability, decent damage output, excellent support/utility functions, widely accepted, good looking armor unlike monk/clown armor, metro/mesmer, gay/derv, e-peen/warrior, shall I go on?, running skills, good looking weapons - close 2nd to warrior weapons, but unlike caster-fairy wands and hard-to-see sin weapons...hmm, what else...the skill colors are neutral and not annoying like pink sin, purple mesmer, yellow paragon, etc..although many PvE (eotn) skill colors are rather annoying...but anyway, choose what you want because if you intend on getting GWAMM, you better be ready to like that character for the next 1,000 hours minimum! The vanq part (legendary) of GWAMM can seem boring and tedious, but map at the same time and you won't even notice the mapping aspect. Skill capping is the boring one imo, especially random boss spawn land known as Tyria, which I personally saved for last (44 skills left) lol

My main (title char) is a ranger which I have a bias for, but I've played all other professions to level 20+, except rit/sin, but I've played them as PvP - not that that exactly compares, but just not my cup of tea. For legendary survivor, I agree a Paragon is easiest (mine was done doing the worms outside Boreal Station).

No offense to other professions btw, just a matter of personal opinion/preference..GL on your endevour toward GWAMM!

Tyla · Jan 09, 2009, 12:39 AM // 00:39

Rangers are a slot that could be filled by something that's often better. The only main advantage they have is Barrage, which can be replicated by several skills usable on melee-based professions in terms of AoE damage. The only thing you can compare it to is a Dervish, but the Dervish will still come on top because of runes - they shouldn't need extra energy management at all. Same with Warriors, and Assassins.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daze

Mesmer is a fun prof to play, and they have lots of potential to be ultra mega. Dont worry about all the crap talking about mesmers. It just means that it is too complicated of a profession for those people to play.

Funny, I play a Mesmer in PvE yet I still argue against their strength in PvE in comparrisson to other professions. Infact, I've yet to see how an A/Me Promise Cryer compares to its opposite - what benefits more from extra runes, Me/A or A/Me? My guess is the latter, as it has more energy gain from Assassins' Promise meaning you need less energy management, meaning you don't need to use as many skill slots - although that's not the discussion at hand, it's worthy of mentioning. Does this mean I'm a bad Mesmer? Or am I actually using more skill playing a Ranger because in terms of interrupting it's harder to get interrupts on a Ranger when not spamming?

Windf0rce · Jan 09, 2009, 09:02 PM // 21:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyla

Funny, I play a Mesmer in PvE yet I still argue against their strength in PvE in comparrisson to other professions. Infact, I've yet to see how an A/Me Promise Cryer compares to its opposite - what benefits more from extra runes, Me/A or A/Me? My guess is the latter, as it has more energy gain from Assassins' Promise meaning you need less energy management, meaning you don't need to use as many skill slots - although that's not the discussion at hand, it's worthy of mentioning. Does this mean I'm a bad Mesmer? Or am I actually using more skill playing a Ranger because in terms of interrupting it's harder to get interrupts on a Ranger when not spamming?

Interesting point, although I don't see how an Assassin gaining 19 Energy, compared to a Mesmer gaining 17 from AP would make much a of difference. Sure it adds up but it seems a very small difference, not enough to grant that an A/Me beats a Me/A. It could, but even then the effectiveness gap would be too small to be noticed, and casting faster is just as good as far as 'small advantages' go (besides being more fun).

Overall, very honestly I don't feel much difference in effectiveness playing Necro, Mesmer, or Ele in Hard Mode with Hench/Hero. All of them are good enough and I think all the 'effectiveness' discussion threads do is to shy people away from certain professions.

All of the offensive casters are pretty fun and "good enough to beat HM" and to play solo (E, N, Me), I wouldn't recommend Mo and Rt though.

Tyla · Jan 09, 2009, 10:08 PM // 22:08

Everything is "good enough to beat PvE". The only person who can shy people away from a task are themselves - if you find something fun, do it. If you don't, don't. If you want complete efficiency, you obviously find that fun and go ahead and do it.

Drake Aran · Jan 10, 2009, 03:39 PM // 15:39

Mhhh...personally I love warriors and assassins, 'cuz I've had great fun playing them both (and my main character is a warrior from Nightfall), but the choice is really all yours.

kostolomac · Jan 10, 2009, 03:52 PM // 15:52

Quote:

1. What professions you have played,

Mesmer , necro , rit , para.

Quote:

2. Which profession you have the most fun with and why,

Mesmer , I got addicted to FC and can't stand the long casting times of the other casters. They look awesome and imo they are the only profession that looks good with chaos gloves. They are very versatile.

Quote:

3. A general description of your playstyle.

I like to kill stuff indirectly , and there are plenty mesmer skills for that. Seeing someone dying trying to kill you or save themselves is always nice. Also [Assassin's Promise]+[Wandering Eye]+[Clumsiness]+[Cry of Pain] is good with h/h (I don't play with other people much so I can't say about group play). All in all I like to do damage either way.

flettir · Jan 11, 2009, 04:30 AM // 04:30

Well, first off, why is Paragon the fastest?
Survivor? Get it by capping a lot with any profession, you'll have to anyway for GWAMM.
I mean, some are just obviously slower/worse for this...sins aren't built to vanquish. I just don't see what makes Paragons better.
Anyways, combining fun with a certain level of efficiency...I would say Monk, Necro, or Ritualist. Monks and Necros are needed in just about any team build, so there's always a place for them; the same goes for Ritualists in general, though PUGs might be less likely to agree (not that you'll be PUGing stuff much for GWAMM). I like Monks because they're a reactive class; instead of the same skill chain every time, you have to react to stuff that's happening in the game, it keeps the class fresh instead of monotonous. Necros are just badass, not to mention amazingly versatile. Rits are, in a way, a combination of both. Rits can run a variety of things, but in a unique way that just feels more fun to me.

daze · Jan 11, 2009, 08:24 AM // 08:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyla

Funny, I play a Mesmer in PvE yet I still argue against their strength in PvE in comparrisson to other professions. Infact, I've yet to see how an A/Me Promise Cryer compares to its opposite - what benefits more from extra runes, Me/A or A/Me? My guess is the latter, as it has more energy gain from Assassins' Promise meaning you need less energy management, meaning you don't need to use as many skill slots - although that's not the discussion at hand, it's worthy of mentioning. Does this mean I'm a bad Mesmer? Or am I actually using more skill playing a Ranger because in terms of interrupting it's harder to get interrupts on a Ranger when not spamming?

Did you read my post or just glance at it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daze

Mesmer is a fun prof to play, and they have lots of potential to be ultra mega. Dont worry about all the crap talking about mesmers. It just means that it is too complicated of a profession for those people to play.

Things like [cry of pain] can be played by any player while it takes a real pro to fully utilize shutdown builds. (Hint: Just get comfortable the <TAB> button and <SHIFT><TAB> if you want to run shutdown, also learning skill animations and sounds will help you pinpoint key skills to target)

This means that cryer is NOT the best thing a mez can do. It is the easiest thing a mez can do.

Cryers are like midgets, they are only dangerous when in groups. Id take an experienced shutdown mez over a cryer any day.

Tyla · Jan 11, 2009, 11:37 AM // 11:37

Actually, Cryer is the best thing a Mesmer can do compared to other things. Tell me, would you run BHA or Arcane Conundrum? The "smart-person" answer would be BHA, because:

The more people you have, the more devastating it is. Highly usable with physical attackers, as they usually attack and that assumes the target is being hit 90% of the time, meaning casts will rarely, if ever get off - you could also use it on other targets and mildly disrupt that target while you do the same. It highly synergises with things such as Epidemic too. An alternative is Barrage and Technobabble - be it on an off character or your Ranger, it will still be incredibly strong. A Mesmer won't be half as powerful as a Necromancer or something else with it, considering they have more to offer in the long run.

If alternatives weren't so powerful, then the shutdown from a Mesmer in particular would be more useful. It does not take a "pro" to take shutdown builds to their highest level, particularly in PvE considering that the AI is quite predictable at times, and you're running off twitching a lot of the time. If you Diversion an enemy, it's always going to be chance what you divert, but if you Guilt / Shame an enemy, either they won't cast or you're going to get free enemy, but that's just a matter of "which caster's dangerous?" the same way BHA and Technobabble are. That, and it's unmaintainable and only workable on one enemy. HM just makes interrupting a matter of twitch or fail, and sometimes it's worth knocking everything down instead of using other methods of shut down - but take away knockdown, take away everything that's "easier" and bring in just interrupts as shutdown, the Ranger will be the "hardest" to run because of flight.

Shutdown builds are just twitch or fail, or are absolutely easy in PvE, because it rarely matters what you interrupt.

Firebolt145 · Jan 16, 2009, 01:11 AM // 01:11

Since this topic is related to something that's bothering me and also isn't a graveyard just yet, I thought I'd ask here. Forgive me for my unstructured post but I'm in a rush.

I've gotten my hands on all the main chapters and am getting EotN next week or so. I currently run a Dervish, Assassin (my 'best' character atm), Monk, and Paragon (all at level 20), and am leveling up a Ritualist and a Necro. I now want to choose a profession to go for GWAMM but decided to ask here before blowing all my money on a character.

Overall I enjoy playing a thinking profession - a Me build I saw the other day really interested me and made me really consider making one to play seriously:

[Extend Conditions]["You Move Like A Dwarf!"][Ash Blast][Cry of Pain][Phantom Pain][Shrinking Armor][Drain Delusions][Technobabble]

However, I've heard a lot of bad press surrounding Me in PvE, and I'm still a bit shaky about selecting it.

Everyone seems to recommend either W, Mo or N, with some suggesting a few side profs. None of these seem to really interest me. I prefer A over W but even A seems to get monotonous, spamming the same chain over and over again. I'm not into backlining, and Necro also seems to monotonously do the same thing. A couple people recommend the Ritualist but after trying it, it just seems too slow for my liking. Spirit binding itself takes 2-3 seconds each time.

Sorry for the unstructured post but I'm in a bit of a rush. What do you guys suggest?

EDIT: Just got back, thought I'd post here my impressions and opinions about each profession. I may have wrong ideas about some of them, PLEASE correct me.

W - very common and needed for tanking/damage. Has never interested me as it is really just tank and hit back, doing some damage.

R - just hasn't really interested me. Tried it for a while, deleted.

Mo - hmm... I don't really enjoy backlining and just spending all my time healing. However, the idea of soloing (and farming) almost anywhere (via 55, etc) does interest me.

N - everyone talks about how useful these guys are because of armor-ignoring damage, etc. Maybe they're useful, but I find them boring in that you just place the same hexes over and over again, taking only a little consideration onto who you aim that SS on, for example.

Me - highly specialised, and therefore 'useful' in only some circumstances, whereas useless in others. However, also seems to require the most thinking and versatility of the classes (do I bring interrupts or what, etc, into which area) and their builds can effectively shut down an entire group, regardless of what the group is (build I posted earlier). Seems to have potential for solo farming as shown from Dopefish's thread (http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10274911). Currently interests me the most, but all the negative publicity around it (not saying just in this thread) is making me confused.

E - a lot of options, though confined to pretty much fire magic while leveling up. Good support and can also do some shutdown via knockdown, etc. Leveling up is boring for me (fire spam) but the end (water, earth and air) seem to be quite rewarding.

A - armor-ignoring damage and big numbers, but also weak (70AL). Some versatility, can run critscythe/bow along with daggers. Can farm solo and run, which is nice, though I'm not sure if the farming builds have been nerfed. However, seems to become repetitive (dagger = same chain over and over again, critscythe and critbow doesn't really need much input from the player).

Rt - mainly support, also versatile. Can run healing builds or damage builds. Also can solo (330hp Rit) which from what I've read seems to be possible almost anywhere in HM. However, just has a very slow feeling - spirit casting takes 2-3 seconds itself. Each build is monotonous - you just repeat it over and over again with each mob you meet.

P - say hello to the imbagon. Used and is useful almost everywhere. Problem - it's just SY spam while C-spacing. Not fun to spend hours and hours doing so.

D - mainly damage. However, is even more squishy than Assassins and does become monotonous - cast enchantments, run in, hit a couple times, kill/be killed. Not a lot of options.

I know I sound more negative than positive about each profession, but I don't mean to be pessimistic. I also have only had GW for about 2-3 months now, and may have many wrong ideas. Please correct me if I do.

And if you think that something would really suit me if I gave it more time - please do let me know!