new to game, what to be?

I just got a trial today and want to make the most of my 10 hours so I know if it is worth buying. Any suggestions on what I should be? I play WoW and I'm a hunter, is the ranger basically the same thing? If so, does the ranger's pet behave in the same way as in it distracts the target while I shoot away?
I'd like something strong with a magical element to it as well...

Ranger is as close to hunter as you'll get.
however there are no pure aggression skills in guild wars, not for players, not for pets.

if you want magic you should go elementalist for direct and high damage, monk for healing, mesmer or necromancer for cursing and shutting down enemies.

Make an Ele and blast your way through. You'll like it more than playing a ranger at the beginning of the game since they are starting to become effective at higher levels. It's just my personal experience though.

Ranger was the first character I made 2200 hours later shes still going!

Ranger is a lot of fun, but their primary role isn't really damage. While their individual shots might deal damage comparable to other classes, their attack speed is a lot slower.
There *are* builds which do massive amounts of damage, but these involve very specific skill synergies and usually a specific secondary profession.

Rangers have no "magic" at all. Their buffs and such come in the form of stances, potions, and nature rituals (which are very wide area buffs or debuffs)

Elementalists are among the highest DD's if that's what you're looking for. You could always go Ranger/Ele. [wiki]conjure flame[/wiki] is a popular elementalist skill amongst rangers.

Depends on whether you're into PvE or PvP. While hunters are easy mode for PvE in WoW Rangers aren't quite the same in GW PvE. Apart from teams that have 6/8 players as rangers and rely on extremely high and rapid damage and party-wide buffs to survive they don't really serve any other particular worth in PvE. However in PvP Rangers are quite versatile characters as they can often make or break a game with the different kinds of pressure and shutdown they can apply as well as their defence capabilities.

If you want easy mode PvE and like fireworks go with an Elementalist and make red bars go down. Necromancers are also quite fun to play in PvE as well, especially in the lower level areas.

And be lumped in the "arrogant twit" basket by many by default.

I'd recommend warrior for mindless, able-to-play-when-drunk value.
But I greatly enjoy my Ranger and Necromancer.

In the end, entirely up to you; Just get the game, if you can spend the money to play WoW, the price for prophecies is trivial.

I never said you were...

It's just my experience that alot of monks think of themselves highly.
Not you necessarily

Apologies !

Monks take the most skill to play, so when people think highly of themselves for monking it isn't entirely a bad thing.

Since traditional tanking has been pretty much destroyed I wouldn't say playing warrior in PvE is mindless.

Guild Wars Guru doesn't have a laughing emote.

Elementalists are among the highest burst damage dealers. Rangers beat them out easily at damage over time. Last I checked, they were just under Warriors in that respect.

Rangers are great classes for PvE, being versatile for practically everything, they have no real strength, but no real weakness either. The only problem is that they're practically useless until about level 15 and even then, it's not until level 20 they show their true colours. Not that it's hard getting to 20 anyway.

QFT that's the only time my warrior gets screen time

He/She didn't specify whether they meant direct damage or damage over time, so you have no real reason to laugh. Warriors are definately the highest DPSers in GW but, often in PvE, Elementalists get the job done far faster than a Warrior can, which is why most warriors generally build in PvE with a shout or two, IaS stance, and an adrenal spike of some sort to assist with damage.

Haha. Blasphemy We're not that useless

If you like mindless fun, go warrior or ele.

If you want to be guaranteed to get on a pug, no matter how bad/inexperienced you might be, be a monk or an AoE SF Ele.

If you want to learn the game's ins and outs, and be a good player, be a ranger.

On a serious note, check out the pve thread on different classes. Each class has a good thread on how to play it, and many builds to get you started. Other than actually making the character and rolling with it, they will give you the best idea for starting off.

I'll add to Haggus: If you want to really learn how to play, go for Legendary Survivor.

Ele or Necro. Not a big call for Rangers in the early part of the game.

Mesmer is something what WoW doesn't have. It would be a new experience and you wouldn't have any assumptions how it work. You want something different because you want to play GW and not WoW.

I would advice to forget WoW aggro and all other things. GW works differently. Play and learn.