This made me realize that maybe it's time they update the profession selection menu, so it shows each profession's Elite Spec (and a small description about it's theme). That could help a lot of new players decide what they want to pick

Warrior: Hulk Smash Guardian: Hulk Smash and Burn Revenant: Magic Ghost Use Hulk To Smash Engineer: Hulk Get Tools, Tools Smash Ranger: Hulk Shoot, Pet Smash Thief: Hulk Slash Mesmer: Hulk Disappear, other Hulks Smash Necro: Hulk Angsty Smash, Hulk No Die Elementalist: When the world needed him most, Hulk Vanished

i have gotten to the point i have a character slot for every profession and kind of just switch based on what i feel like playing

I feel this video could have done with showing gameplay from each class. Hearing about them and seeing them in action are very different

I think the most important piece of advice when it comes to choosing a class in GW2 as a new player is that you need to think of it as: "What professions should I START with in Guild Wars 2?". People come to this game conditioned by the fact that most MMORPGs require you to choose a main class, MAYBE one or two alts if you really have a lot of time and then focus on that at least for an expansion, to keep up to the gear and reputation grind. GW2 is the opposite of that, it is all about horizontal progression, a staggering variety of builds, playstyles and cosmetic setups while a lot of other elements, including top tier gear, is acquired once and for all and is shared across all characters. This easily means that the way to fully enjoy the experience that GW2 offers is to leave behind the notion of "my class" or "my main" and have at least 1 character for each profession, and work bit by bit to gear it up, fashion it up and learn the different playstyles and specializations that are available to each of this. I know for a fact that once I adopt this approach, my enjoyment of the game increased A LOT (and that the main reason I still enjoy it as a player that started at day 1, at launch). Obviously some class specializations and class themes will resonate more and one gets back to that more frequently, but the true gift that GW2 offers is that you do not have to choose that in advance, but each time you launch the game...

Me: Have being playing GW2 since the beta. Also me: Ahh yes, I think Ranger would be the perfect starting class for me.

WP, I literally just started rewatching your story playthrough and reinstalled GW2. You read my mind with this video. I needed a refresher after a 4 year hiatus. Thanks!

Great video and coverage WP. I love that you covered so many angles, from style and theme to gameplay, solo vs group, etc.

I know this is for new players, but I still found it useful. It helped me decide on my 14th character!

I’m about 30 hrs in so far and this is my first mmo. Thanks for doing these. It’s very helpful, and your presentations are fantastically entertaining! Cheers!

I wish there was a video on how the playstyles change with elite specializations. Til HoT came out I loved Thief but daredevil didn't click with me. I then switched to Necromancer just because Reaper was so much more fun. I fear that many people miss out on a lot of value just because they don't know how exactly the elite specs affect the classes playstyle.

you're spot on about how great the movement is in GW2. I love playing mesmer because of it's ability to teleport around the battlefield. The movement is what keeps me interested in this game.

I've played since launch and never noticed the first 3 professions I picked were all low health. Explains a lot

One important thing for new players: some of them might say "favours ranged", they have long range weapons but in the actual endgame like raids, fractals, strikes, you will be basically forced into melee range. If you want to play a long range caster the endgame does not provide it apart from open world and there is no solid aggro system so the enemies can just run to you too. Even elementalists ALL 3 elite specs are close range, you can equip a staff on them but you wont be able to hit tempest overloads or weaver stances on enemies. People expect you to stack on bosses to share buffs etc. Do not expect to play a long range caster if you want to optimize (you can still use things like staff in melee range if you want)

I'll send this to a couple of friends, thanks WP!

Great guide, thank you for this! Covers pretty much all of the angles I consider when trying to pick a class.

Forwarded to a friend who just made an account yesterday. Nice timing, WP! :-) I now have a character of every class, although I haven't really played my Rev and Engi yet. Just getting to grips with my tempest after having played him as core Ele for years.

Nice video and very informative. I love that you covered theme as well ;D

This is for new players with mmo experience who really want to consider 500 factors when making this decision. If you are a casual player, don’t let this kind of guide paralyze you. Just jump in and have fun.

This was a great video for beginner overview. Thank you!

Just jumped into Guild Wars 2. Thanks for the tips

So, this is an older video but it checks out (insert Star Wars meme here). As a new player attempting to nail down a profession, I obviously was drawn to this video. Holy cow. Your presentation and overall vibe is great. I am more excited to play after watching. Thanks.

A tip : after you level 1-2 characters in the OG way, you'll get "tomes of knowledge" by playing with the toons you already have, this tomes can be used to level up a character u don't have yet, so if you have a level 80 toon you're playing with, you'll build up this tomes in a way u won't need to level all your toons in the OG way, I leveled 2 toons in the OG way, 2 w booster u get w expansions and the other 5 with this tomes

Pick engi because it's fun and amazing. bombs, elixirs, guns, pistols and shields, rifle, lightsabers, electric hammer, boom, it's the best (engi main)

tl;dr: pick what you like. everything is viable in this game, just get started.

Not a new player, but it's a very well put video, I liked it a lot. Thank you!

I’ve got a character for each class and specialization. 27 themed characters and 9 slots reserved for EoD. Now with the legendary armory gearing these guys out is a breeze. Just gotta grind tokens and raids for the next 5 years…

Thank you! I'm always terrible with picking classes and since I'm playing the free version right now, I only have two spaces for characters. I've created 6 characters so far and the Asuran elementalist is my favourite so far :) Both story and gameplay-wise!

I think how each class play or how each class differs in mechanics/complexities would also be nice to know. For example, engineer was my first foray into GW2 and was always struggling because I don't really know how to play it properly to bring out its best (and still am lol). Then I switch to another class and I am able to perform better, like when I am a warrior or necro.

Woodentater, we love you...keep the great videos cpming, you do a lot for new anf veterans alike.

Buying my first gaming laptop this week, I think GW2 is the first game I'm going to install. Pumped! Thanks for the vid.

Great video! But I personally have to disagree about the speedy character type. I love high mobility and reaction based fast combat classes and so when I started this game only the Thief felt really good for that. You have fast dodge roll recovery, now even 3 dodge rolls, you have skills to go in and out of a fight and teleport around. After a friend of mine started the game and I started a class with him and I choose a warrior because i like swords and though this class would be kind of similiar. But I had 0 fun playing that class because it felt really slow and much more stagnant. So I than tried a mesmer and I had a much better time with him. You can teleport around, switch places with a clone and generally you have more skill to interact with the current situation such as giving barrier. At least this was the case for me for the lower levels and also because I really wanted to use a sword as my main weapon and at least the warrior sword skill didn't provide that. Now after 6 years i have returned to the game and I wanted to start fresh and new and so I created a Revenant and I have a lot of fun with him. It feels really speedy and you have multiple mobility skills. I think I found my favourite classes for each Armor type and I can recommand these 3 classes for everyone who wants to play a fast sword wielding class.

I have motor skills problems, lack environment awareness and have zero coordination, that's why my favourite class to play is Engineer because of the turrets. I use double pistols and love how convenient the abilities are, especially the #3 and #5 for when I'm losing against mobs, so I can run away like the coward I am. That also applies with the ability of those shoes that kind of jump away (I forgot the name), it's a nice "emergency button". I've been playing for a little bit over a month and have a Ranger as well as a thief at level 80, but the Engineer is by far my favourite and the easiest for me to use. 🥺❤️

WP, you gotta go through the Elite Specs aswell as soon as EoD drops. I wanna hear all about their functions and lore background !

New player here, just an observation ive noticed having watched a bunch of YTers in the past few days All of them talk of how Mesmer is this apwcial thing unique to GW, they had 2 varietes of it in EQ2, the illusionist and i forget the "evil" ones name, both were excellent to play You spoke in this vid of how the Elemntals work here, im not sure you called it unique exactly, but what you described was how Elementals worked in UO Theres a load of other stuff i keep hearing "you wont find this in other MMOs" type comments but im afraid a whole bunch of them also found in EQ1, UO and EQ2, AO, DAoC AC and many other early MMOs I think us older MMOers know what im getting at, and i think those who think GW2 is unique probably played WoW as their first MMO NONE of this is meant in anyway to disparage GW", the YTers making the comments, or other players in any way I just found it interesting how much WoW changed the scene, and in many ways almost broked the MMO market altogether - which is just 1 of about 4 reasons why i never played Wow, but i wont get into that, again not meant to be negative in this comment I think Buddha said it best - _"There is nothing new under the sun"_ Assuming my memory is correct and it _was_ Buddha who said it Why did i write all this? Mostly because i think its a shame that players who started with WoW, missed out on so much, the MMOs that didnt have levels but still had progression, the games that didnt give out a constant stream of rewards to give players dopamine spokes and keep them playing, and in some cases the brave ways some Devs took their games in order to be different. The trouble is, everything _after_ WoW had to contain elements of WoW because they wanted to steal some of the vaunted 14 million playerbase from WoW Anyway, just the thoughts of an old man, for anyone who may be interested

Necro is amazing. So much fun to play. I love my reaper.

Fantastic, love it my dude. Supported the channel for jeez a decade now? I still love this game and I still love all you do my friend. All the best

Only game that came close to Mesmer was Wildstar's Esper/Spellslinger a mix of both. New elite spec virtuoso is a lot of the same concept of Esper

I am a newbie and this was super helpful. Got my sub.

This is pretty good WP, CLASS act ;) I would say the biggest mistake I see new players make - and then relentlessly sticking to if they start the bad habit early - is not taking advantage of weapon swap in a meaningful way. You can be that ranged tactician you imagine, but often situations and bosses force you into circumstances where ranging will get you (and sometimes others near you) killed. Dead as a can of spam. People should learn early to use weapon swap to opt into close quarters combat when it is necessary.

I play ranger, collecting pets and exploring around maps never gets old

Really great video, and not too overwhelming furr new players which I can be bad at, the one thing I think I would have mentioned is that each class can only use specific weapons, so if someone is heart set on using say a staff, or gun, or sword and board that should be taken into consideration when choosing your first class.

The amount of content is incredibly daunting. HoT, PoF, Icebrood and the new upcoming expansion has soooo much content. Each of which has really important stuff to unlock (masteries, mounts, etc). It’s so scary and I feel overwhelmed already :( level 20 here I kind of dread hitting level 80 cause that’s when the game really seems to start…

Just started playing tonight. And I'm having a moderate amount of fun... So many normal things are locked behind a paywall tho. Like extra bag slots, character slots. I suppose since it's F2P with no subscription now though I can live with it. If I find myself getting to the point where I've sunk 30+ hours at least into it I will consider purchasing the first 2 expansion bundle for a 'full account'

Basically you can play every class in all content. Often classes fill multiple roles at once, that said if you´re looking for a specific role there are classes that can do these things better than others. If you´re comming from a traditional mmo with a holy trinity you might want to look into the following meta classes: Healer: - Druid (Ranger) - Tempest (Elementalist) - Firebrand (Guardian) - Scrapper (Engineer) - Scourge (Necromancer) Tank (relevant for raids only): - Firebrand (Guardian) - Chronomancer (Mesmer) - Scrapper (Engineer) - Tempest (Elementalist) Dps: (any class works)

Liked the very real warnings. You thought about solid commentary to provide. Well done.

12:01 this was very comforting to hear I always worry about my class choice fucking me over later bc of some small info I didn't know

I went back and forth for weeks trying to decide. After trying everything to 10 and doing some PVP, I decided on a charr warrior that just uses a rifle. Best decision I ever made!

"and they didn't like that" *me, who misses my customizable hero party with a passion* :')

i did preordre GW2 back when it was about to release. i then played it for 2 or 3 months and then I kinda forgot about it, I just reinstalled the game and bought all the epxantions. and I'm loving the game way more now than I did back then! also the fact that my old level 80 char is still relevant today and the gear is still as good today as I was back when I played is just Amazing!

very helpfull , ty!

I wanted a backline caster and the Elementalist was really good at the start but as the difficulty and complexity ramped up having to juggle 30 skills got just too much. I then tried the Mesmer but keeping which phantasms I was dealing with and how long their individual timers were at completely overwhelmed me. The only real get out of how easy it is to pick a class "wrong" is how easy it is to level and particularly how generous the game is with level boosting items. Right now I'm trying to pick between Necromancer, Thief and Ranger and it sounds like either Necromancer or Ranger will work for me.

one thing i didnt understand was talking about the same gear type. the only accountbound gear that will not get soulbound is ascended, which shouldnt be something to worry about while picking the first character (esp since you dont necessarily want the same stat distribution even if you have the same gear type) so am i missing something here? another thing worth mentioning is pvp. entering the pvp lobby unlocks everything and there is a vendor that sells cheap weapons so its easy access to try out the classes against some golems and have a look at visuals and stuff. it was something that really helped me

If you are a soloer, I highly recommend Ranger, pet class. Axe Dual wield, Bow for cooldowns let your pet tank a bit so you can heal up. If you are down and no one is around, your pet can get you back on your feet and back in the fight.

Thanks 😃

Good video but you should mention what the difficulty of each class can be too.

Subclasses can sometimes really change how you play the game. There should be three weapon switching selections to come along with the subclasses. it's crazy that you have to give up so much in versatility in order to maintain a subclass.

I have a mesmer alt exclusively just to do jumping puzzles because I'm quite good with them, then I can help others to the top too and maybe gain a gold or two in the process. I can't stand playing mesmer otherwise but I do like Portal. xD

Literally any of them, all can be played in a simple style, you don't need to swap 10 kits per rotation on engineer in order to play open world content, same for elementalist

my recommendation for beginners would be. ranger, warrior and necromancer

What class would you recommend for magical powers? Staff, Scepter. I played this game years ago and had chosen warrior and was stuck to swords and bows. Could never pick up a Staff.. I want to experience the magic 😊

i've mostly played ranger soulbeast and chronomancer for a while there too, but now i'm looking to play something a little different because it's been ages and the new tutorial mastery forces me to get a new character.... i already have one of each profession and just don't know what to pick anymore XD

Pick a profession based on what combat gameplay you expect to enjoy. Don't anticipate professions having much unique gameplay outside of that. For example you won't be stealing from friendlies or picking locks as a thief. You won't be fixing structures of hacking computers as an engineer. That gameplay exists, but in context of an event or quest and isn't exclusive to professions. Some content, such as jumping puzzles, collection events, are made easier by certain movement abilities that are designed mostly with combat in mind.

The deciding factor, when I picked my first (and still main) class/profession: Necromancer: *Exists* I knew absolutely nothing about the game or how Necro played in this game, I just knew the simple fact that Necromancers are always fun in every game. I went in, thinking I had picked the "weakest" class for the sake of a good time. Little did I know that I just enabled god mode and was about to have the time of my life. Lessons were learned. Necromancer being fun in *any and every* game, is just a simple fact of life. The sky is blue, the grass is green and when starting a new game, pick Necro for a good time. After a while, I branched off and started playing *other* classes, but I always get the urge to hop back on my Necro. Not that they're "bad" or "unfun" but they just didn't suit my playstyle. Revenant and Mesmer were nice, though. Tried out Mechanist during the beta and think that's the only thing that can match how much fun I have on my Scourge. If I wasn't taking a break until the expansion drops (just don't want to be burned out) I'd be lvling my Engi to prep for it.

Me: *creates new character* Voice in the background: "This little maneuver is gonna cost us 10 years"

Still waiting for the Monk class!

I ended up with a toon in every armor class. All salads, because leaf supremacy. Main is a Necro, and I have a Guardian and a Druid. Maximum fashion

There also isn’t the martial artist archetype covered by the base professions. It’s kinda sad to me since I have to level up a profession I don’t really like to get to the elite spec that has is it.

My personal advice is to try all the classes at least to lv 20 and still after you made you desicion to go back to them and give them another chance. When I first played gw2, my friend who got me in the game recommened necromancer to me because of the theme that I played in another mmo but necro never clicked with me, the I tried guardian and warrior since I do like heavy armor burly and strong weapon users and I did like them but also didn't click for me, at one point I played Engineer and thought this is fun and I like complicated classes but this feels to difficult for me, many hours of gameplay later and engineer became my main class.

Hope you've still got class spotlights down the line :)

There are costs to build swapping since you have to change gear stats in mystic forge or make/buy new gear.

Has someone who is still new to the game, having less than 90 hours in the game and still feeling like there is a mountain of stuff still ahead for me. I honestly in past games avoided necromancer in other games due to either bad mechanics or abilities compared to other classes. I am glade to say that this game has taken such a unique class and given them all the props in making it such an easy to grasp, functional in most situations profession. This is one of the few games that feels like each profession/class is actually balanced and without a more obvious meta that other mmo's tend to end up having.

That... "tilt" the character model does when you select revenant is really, really annoying :D!

lol, imagine picking a thief and then getting asked by your party that 'can you be a healer?'

I feel you make it harder to pick a class by saying think about what weighclass you want because of gear. I don't think gear is a problem in GW2. I have 60 lvl 80 character and they are all in at least exotic but most have ascended weapons, jewelry and so on. Obviously i do not play them all, some are mules and others are made for specific reasons and others are just standing on spot where i need something. But never the less it really is very easy to get exotic gear in which works just fine in all game modes except for high tier fractals because you need the slots for agony resistance that only ascended have. A lot of ascended gear such as weapons and jewelry and backpacks you can farm in season maps. And when you reach a point where you start going for ascended gear you are further in to the game where you start to understand how to get this things and how it not takes way to long. The first set might take a while because you usually craft it but then you have fractals, raids, strikes, pvp and wvw who will give you access to ascended gear if you play it frequently. I have several alt accounts as well and even though i might play those account maybe a few hours a month i have at least one or more characters which have ascended gear. So with above said i think chosing it for that reason is just making it harder then it is and should not really be a reason to why you must pick the three medium armour when you really wanted to play some other weightclass too. The other reasons are totally fair and things you can think about, but gear is not.

My main problem in GW2, as a returning player, is where to get new gear. I have an Ele decked out in Berserker gear and he's squishy AF. I don't have the gold to buy new gear, and no idea where to farm for it. Edit: by "farm" I meant "farm either gear or gold".

how does loot and gearing work in gw2? is it worth it to play the same amorclass as your friend when you first start out to share the loot?

Guardian gaaaang 💦

Mesmers about the White Mantle portal device: Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power

Me picking mesmer as a newby hoping to pull of trickster stuff. Also me tanking and running from bosses with portal and clones.

I pick like this. Does it have duel daggers and stealth? Thats the1.

What are the advantages of playing multiple characters? (besides the fun / variety) Just thinking about map completion and gearing up makes me shudder...

I play every class but I focus on like 3

I started playing a warrior and I like it a lot, but majority of people on forums say it's bad. What would you say? Should I just go with Guardian even if I like it less?

To me, necromancer was a comfy start, while testing a thief was challenging the moment centaurs ganged-up on my dude... 🙃

I've been playing Guardian since the start and I never knew about the squishy thing lol... none of my other characters are heavy armor 😅 I mean I did stop playing for like 5 years, but still... clearly I so t pay much attention.

Torn between engineer and ranger. Engineer for the crazy utility and turrets etc, Ranger because I love the idea of companions.

I love my Guardian and elementalist

By how much snot it can produce, measured by oz.

I just started playing right now lol I chose a thief/the tree people I can’t remember the name lol

I have played every profession and so far the only one I DON'T like is the revanent. I just cannot get into it.

Thief has portals too.

what weapons can warriors use?

Hi. I know some time's past since the video and the question might sound stupid or random but that's just how i work unfortunately and maybe there is someone willing to help. I play rpg games only for the sake of good looks, like - I'd rather play a class i don't really want to but which has armor i like, than my favorite class with ugly armor. So i started this game just now and informed myself enough to already have some basic knowledge and i have to say, the necromancer with a scythe looks pretty dope to me. Now i saw some random outfits only and found one shoulder piece called - houndskin mantle. My question now is, can i still obtain this item? And is it possible to wear it as necromancer? If someone could answer this random question i would be really thankful.

What is everyone’s thoughts about the most and least played professions? Want to get back into the game for the first time since launch but don’t want to waste my time leveling a profession only to find it’s what everyone is playing at the moment. And yes I know this will prob change by EoD

8:29 well now I need a toon that looks like that.

they need to add all the specialities of each classes, when people are picking one so they know whats gonna be ahead of them

I want to play a Necromancer Ranger with an undead bear pet.

Thief also has a portal now! Should mention that along with Mesmer if that's a strong consideration.

Warrior supremacy for comp. Deny cheese mechanics, embrace skill.