Good ole dependable guardian for me.

I love that video.  Necromancer don't care, Necromancer don't give a s***!

LOL

Originally posted by Magnum2103

Originally posted by IGBT

Originally posted by Vannor

Well Elementalist is probably your best bet as they, and Guardians, seem to have the most group orientated support/healing skills/utilities at the moment (according to the official wiki). Ele has heals when in their water attunement, they can have pets as well though.

You seem to be a magic person so I'm assuming Ranger isn't an option.

 

I have thought about Ranger.  What does intrigue me about that class (would be similar to a hunter in Wow?) is that they will probably have the very longest range weapons and perhaps the best at plinking people from the safety of the crenellations in the towers and keeps?

 

I have always liked hitting people from afar, either with pet, spell or arrow/bullet.  Never bring a knife to a gun fight my pappy always said.

Yes, a traited (at least 10 points into Marksman currently) longbow has the best range of any of the weapons it seems.  They have a lot of means of keeping enemies back too, even their melee focused weapons have ways to keep distance from your opponent for a quick swap out to a ranged weapon.

They also have a lot of support skills.  I feel they are in the middle ground of support for professions (below Engineer, Elementalist, and Guardian, but far above the others) as many pets provide some AoE support in one form or another.  They have the following support skills:

1.  AoE heal that also removes conditions.

2.  Fury, Might, and Swiftness buffs from warhorn.

3.  Pets can provide just about any type of boon to allies.  Some pets traited can even provide two boons.

4.  Some pets can heal others (Moas).

5.  Spirit skills, which grant a chance to trigger boons while active.  These work like static pets (think WoW totems), though they can be traited to move with you.

6.  Pet can pull nearby conditions on allies to it through a skill.

7.  Another skill let's your pet revive nearby allies.

8.  An elite spirit skill which heals, removes conditions from allies, and revives allies.

9.  Traited can remove conditions from nearby allies on dodge rolls.  They can also dodge roll more frequently than other professions with lots of traits that boost endurance charge rate and skills that grant Vigor.

10.  Good amount of combo starters (traps) and finishers.  EX:  You can use Healing Spring and shoot through or in it to gain healing on your arrows.  Your allies can also shoot through it (for example a pistol thief) to gain additional healing on their attacks as well.

They also have a lot of "control" oriented skills, though much of their control is lighter than other professions (they lack "hard" CC like the Necro or Thief) I'd probably put them in either 3rd or 4th in terms of control.

thank you for posting this.. I was about to school Vannor and you beat me to it =D

http://gw2.luna-atra.fr/skills_tool/ has MOST of the pets skills available to look at, just choose ranger and select the paw on the left... also dont forget to change the language to w/e is easiest for ya =D

to the OP I don't know enough about necros to know if they are complete in the tool, I hear that many profs are not but the ranger is pretty good.

Guardian for me. I hope they aren't too squishy. I think games should make a bigger deal out of the "Monk" class. With good animations. Twirling Staffs up side the head. 

Originally posted by Vannor

Originally posted by Magnum2103

Originally posted by IGBT

Originally posted by Vannor

Well Elementalist is probably your best bet as they, and Guardians, seem to have the most group orientated support/healing skills/utilities at the moment (according to the official wiki). Ele has heals when in their water attunement, they can have pets as well though.

You seem to be a magic person so I'm assuming Ranger isn't an option.

 

I have thought about Ranger.  What does intrigue me about that class (would be similar to a hunter in Wow?) is that they will probably have the very longest range weapons and perhaps the best at plinking people from the safety of the crenellations in the towers and keeps?

 

I have always liked hitting people from afar, either with pet, spell or arrow/bullet.  Never bring a knife to a gun fight my pappy always said.

Yes, a traited (at least 10 points into Marksman currently) longbow has the best range of any of the weapons it seems.  They have a lot of means of keeping enemies back too, even their melee focused weapons have ways to keep distance from your opponent for a quick swap out to a ranged weapon.

They also have a lot of support skills.  I feel they are in the middle ground of support for professions (below Engineer, Elementalist, and Guardian, but far above the others) as many pets provide some AoE support in one form or another.  They have the following support skills:

1.  AoE heal that also removes conditions.

2.  Fury, Might, and Swiftness buffs from warhorn.

3.  Pets can provide just about any type of boon to allies.  Some pets traited can even provide two boons.

4.  Some pets can heal others (Moas).

5.  Spirit skills, which grant a chance to trigger boons while active.  These work like static pets (think WoW totems), though they can be traited to move with you.

6.  Pet can pull nearby conditions on allies to it through a skill.

7.  Another skill let's your pet revive nearby allies.

8.  An elite spirit skill which heals, removes conditions from allies, and revives allies.

9.  Traited can remove conditions from nearby allies on dodge rolls.  They can also dodge roll more frequently than other professions with lots of traits that boost endurance charge rate and skills that grant Vigor.

10.  Good amount of combo starters (traps) and finishers.  EX:  You can use Healing Spring and shoot through or in it to gain healing on your arrows.  Your allies can also shoot through it (for example a pistol thief) to gain additional healing on their attacks as well.

They also have a lot of "control" oriented skills, though much of their control is lighter than other professions (they lack "hard" CC like the Necro or Thief) I'd probably put them in either 3rd or 4th in terms of control.

While all this is true, OP should note that you will not be able to do 'all' these things in a single fight. It all depends how the traits are set up, which weapons you have equipped for the current fight, which utility skills you have chosen and which pets you have chosen.

I am pretty sure no prof can do all those things in a single fight.  Rangers have 2 pets they can swap out for double CC or double buffs or w/e is needed. The pets do not share a CD, just like weapons. Most rangers in PVE at least will have a warhorn set up for buffs, spirits on the bar, the pet revive skill and I think at this point most PVE rangers will have the healing elite. Bottom line, rangers have plenty of support and just as other profs it depends on how you set up your bar and what traits you choose.

Originally posted by IGBT

Probably my favorite class was bonedancer in DAOC.

 

So....Necro?

Well personally i think the bonedancer was an awesome class (tough it could be easilly countered, by someone that knew how to) it was the personification at that time of what i expected Necromancers to be. Masters of minions, lifetaps and AoE's.

If you really loved bonedancer, Necromancers might be a nice choice for you...

For the 0.1% who have never seen "The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger", this what the Yog necro vid reminded me of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg

If I could make a suggestion, keep in mind that the Beta runs get deleted between each one... how about trying the professions you haven't really felt like you'd have an interest in during the betas? You could go a day as a guardian, thief, mesmer, etc. just to get a feel for those different ones from your usual playstyle. They're going to be deleted anyhow, so if you don't like them nothing's lost regardless. Save the stuff you really want until live (or near-live) so it doesn't too familiar and lose that "new necro smell".

Just a thought.

Believe I saw someone mention it in my quick skim through but warriors do have a fear as well. It's actually one of the skills that has me confused as to whether I'm going Ranger or Warrior. I think it would be quite comical to do a lunge into the fray then run a bit  behind them, turn and fear them towards my teammates :D.  But if it doesn't last that long at all might be more useful simply sniping away with ranger. 

Too many choices. And the hero builder tool didn't help my decide in any sense :'(.

Human Necro though would work best for you. Extra summon with the hounds of balth skill. 

Originally posted by PiratePete

 

Human Necro though would work best for you. Extra summon with the hounds of balth skill. 

 

I think the Necro has a targetable fear, which makes a world of difference in pvp.

I have always liked the ability to take on way more content than was intended.  In WoW I soloed many things with my lock that were supposed to take 3 to 5 players.  I can already imagine kiting tricks with that pet teleport, and I haven't even seen beta yet!

Originally posted by IGBT

Hi Everyone.  I am looking foward to pre-ordering this game and hopefully playing the release soon.

 

I really enjoy only healing classes (or healing/damage) and pet classes.  Since in this game everyone can heal, tank or dps, I am inclinded to create a pet type class.

 

I have played life mage in AC, smite cleric and bonedancer in DAOC, shadowpriest and warlock in WoW.

Probably my favorite class was bonedancer in DAOC.

 

So....Necro?

Going off this, I would say that Necro would indeed be your best option.

They don't do a ton of damage, but they are one of the most survivable classes in the game, and can summon a minion army to help support themselves / the team.

The only other pet class really would be the Ranger, which plays more like a hunter than a warlock. I would start w/ the necro, though, but try out multiple classes.

Keep in mind that all of the classes in this game play quite a bit differently than similar classes do in other games. It's a difficult thing to describe, but you'll see once you start playing the game. For that reason, I'd highly suggest trying out multiple class types (maybe roll a PvP character, so you can get a glimpse of how they will play at 80 first), because there's a pretty good chance that you may just find a 'new' favorite class type with this game.

Originally posted by ariboersma

Originally posted by Vannor

/snip

While all this is true, OP should note that you will not be able to do 'all' these things in a single fight. It all depends how the traits are set up, which weapons you have equipped for the current fight, which utility skills you have chosen and which pets you have chosen.

I am pretty sure no prof can do all those things in a single fight.  Rangers have 2 pets they can swap out for double CC or double buffs or w/e is needed. The pets do not share a CD, just like weapons. Most rangers in PVE at least will have a warhorn set up for buffs, spirits on the bar, the pet revive skill and I think at this point most PVE rangers will have the healing elite. Bottom line, rangers have plenty of support and just as other profs it depends on how you set up your bar and what traits you choose.

Elementalist and Engineer have almost all their support skill available in every fight. Since they only have 2 weapons they always have at least half their weapon skill to choose from, thanks to attunements and kits. Engineers always have 4/5 of their weapon/kit skills available. I know that traits and mods on equipment will make certain skills better than others but the big difference here is that it is possible to make a Ranger that has absolutely no support skills. Making a Ele or Eng with absolutely no support skills isn't possible and they have more support skills on offer even compared to a support themed Ranger..

I'm going to play the utility class.  Oh wait...that's all of them.

I agree, I think the Necro is the natural fit for the OP.

I'll tell you something, for most of the time I've been following the game, Necro was at the bottom of my list. The more I've learned about Necro design in this game, the more I like them, to the point that it's probably in my top three. Not because I see them as OP, but they have a lot more adaptability than I originally thought they would.

Originally posted by IGBT

Originally posted by Vannor

Well Elementalist is probably your best bet as they, and Guardians, seem to have the most group orientated support/healing skills/utilities at the moment (according to the official wiki). Ele has heals when in their water attunement, they can have pets as well though.

You seem to be a magic person so I'm assuming Ranger isn't an option.

 

I have thought about Ranger.  What does intrigue me about that class (would be similar to a hunter in Wow?) is that they will probably have the very longest range weapons and perhaps the best at plinking people from the safety of the crenellations in the towers and keeps?

 

I have always liked hitting people from afar, either with pet, spell or arrow/bullet.  Never bring a knife to a gun fight my pappy always said.

Ranger are also effective melee player aswell your not just locked into range, i quit like the 2h sword skills for rangers. Im assuming ranger will have quite a few traints to increase range so they prob are the longer range of the classes.

I think you should go for a necro unless your pet must be cute (then it is ranger).

Necro is an excellent support class and you can have several pets at the same time.

Originally posted by IGBT

Hi Everyone.  I am looking foward to pre-ordering this game and hopefully playing the release soon.

 

I really enjoy only healing classes (or healing/damage) and pet classes.  Since in this game everyone can heal, tank or dps, I am inclinded to create a pet type class.

 

I have played life mage in AC, smite cleric and bonedancer in DAOC, shadowpriest and warlock in WoW.

Probably my favorite class was bonedancer in DAOC.

 

So....Necro?

There are no healers in the game. All classes have the same capability to focus on healing as one another.

If you want a pet class you have a few options:

- Necromancer with a variety of summons.

- Mesmer with illusionary clones and phantasms.

- Ranger with a permanent pet and pet switching (two active at once), They can also summon various spirits which can be made mobile with traits.

- Engineer with damage and heal turrets.

- Elementalist with summon elementals (one non-elite and one elite).

- Guardian with spirit weapon summons.

So thats pretty much every class aside from Warrior and Thief who can become a pet type class. Thief can summon the thieves guild with an elite skill, but they are less permanent than the others.

What it comes down to is what visually appeals to you really.