What's your first character going to be?

[statisticalfool]

I've decided to give it a shot. But I'm still completely clueless on what I want to do.

I'm Xing out Warrior/Ranger. A little too bland. Thief seems like a twitchy/positioning based class, so no on that either. Mesmer seems to have a ton of "this class needs a lot of work" attached to it.

So really, it's Guardian, Necro, Elementalist, or Engineer. Which...decisions, decisions.

Did anybody play any Guardian?

[Zetor]

I'm going asura elementalist... this has been locked in ever since BWE1. Great support options, super-long range (a must for wvw) and the squishiness doesn't bother me.

Not too sure about alts yet... asura guardian is probably going to happen at one point (seriously, have you guys seen those animations?!), and maybe a human ranger just to brag/show off my awesome HOM petssee Anet's take on a pet class. Not very keen on melee/close-range classes like warrior/thief/necro due to my Eastern Europe -> US ping (international guild...). Guardian is an exception since they're pretty much the antithesis of twitch.

[Threash]

I enjoyed Thief, Ranger, Warrior and Mesmer during the weekend betas.  Guardians elementalists necros and engineers didn't impress me much.

[Furiously]

I really like the jumpiness of the thief animations. Run speed trained is insane. Bow is decent for WvW. The wire pull is hilarious.

But elementalist has a lot more skills. And offers a lot more utility. The multimob skills mean faster leveling.

I am also not a huge fan on every single coat looking like 1960 tuxedos with tails on the medium armor.

[01101010]

I played each class to at least 7. Guardian was a nice melee buffer. The ground based AoE runes for your abilities were a tad confining when you consider all the movement on the battlefield - but that pertains to anyone laying down a field for others to fire through or stand in/around. That is a pain in the ass along with that third strike on the autoattack - takes forever and a day to go off. In order to run ranged, you need a scepter or a staff for spell casting... which just feels silly to me for some reason.

[Crumbs]

Asura engineer. 

The Norn and Human starting areas were ok, but the Asura zone was way more interesting.  I didn't try the other zones yet.  I also liked the way the Asura looked...my little guy was pretty cool.

Engineer because I'm just attracted to it like I always have been.  The profession in WOW, the class in WAR.  Commandos in old SWG.  I like the ranged weapons and the granade use.  I have a feeling the granades will come in very handy at higher level W3, what with the cc and aoe.  I also tend to gravitate towards the classes that people generally say are weak, because usually I end up find a way to make it work and I enjoy that challenge.  But if I fail I can just tell myself that the class is underpowered 

[Dark_MadMax]

I really wanted  make charr thief. But I just have to go with asura :( -the size advantages asura have are too enticing to pass on even though I hate that race. Also there was one problem with char - due to peculiar running animation jumping puzzles with them  are just so much more harder for me

[Tyrnan]

I'd always intended on having an Asura Mesmer for a main as it was one of my favourite professions in the original, but that very much depends on how much work they do on it between now and release. I love the aesthetics of it and really want to like it but just it's not quite there yet for me.

If that doesn't work out then like Zetor probably an Asura Elementalist or Guardian (can't get enough of those animations either ) with a Sylvari Necro alt. And then my altaholism will get out of hand and I'll end up with one of everything.

[murdoc]

Norn Warrior and Asura Ranger. I had way too much fun with my warrior.

[Sky]

Most likely my human mesmer, and hopefully they get sorted out in good order.

[statisticalfool]

Asura engineer. 

...

I also tend to gravitate towards the classes that people generally say are weak, because usually I end up find a way to make it work and I enjoy that challenge.  But if I fail I can just tell myself that the class is underpowered 

From trying out some PvP late, it seems like pistol/pistol condition builds are quite excellent.

[Dark_MadMax]

Engineer because I'm just attracted to it like I always have been.  The profession in WOW, the class in WAR.  Commandos in old SWG.  I like the ranged weapons and the granade use.  I have a feeling the granades will come in very handy at higher level W3, what with the cc and aoe.  I also tend to gravitate towards the classes that people generally say are weak, because usually I end up find a way to make it work and I enjoy that challenge.  But if I fail I can just tell myself that the class is underpowered 

Engineer is anything but weak. in top4 if not top 3 . It is also very fun to play

[Lantyssa]

Sylvari Mesmer
Sylvari Ranger
Sylvari Necro (see a trend yet?)
Asura Warrior
Norn Thief

Charr Ranger
Human Elementalist (probably Human)

I even have names picked out for all but the Elementalist.

[Threash]

I really wanted  make charr thief. But I just have to go with asura :( -the size advantages asura have are too enticing to pass on even though I hate that race. Also there was one problem with char - due to peculiar running animation jumping puzzles with them  are just so much more harder for me

You know the only advantage is visibility, hit box is exactly the same.

[01101010]

You know the only advantage is visibility, hit box is exactly the same.

It's a feeling thing for me. Large looming characters just feel sluggish and slow.

That said, I was hoping Asura would be not so candy coated. I'll probably roll up a human - possibly an engineer.

[statisticalfool]

Do the personal stories link up after the Background / Your Plot Hook first two arcs?

Or if you're a human, are you going to be stuck in human stories forever?

[Ard]

Asuran warrior, elementalist, or ranger.  I'm still not sure.

There is however, a lot to be said for Norn Luchador

[Arinon]

Norn Warrior.  The ranged options and gap closers both looked solid so should be good times.  After that it's pretty wide open.  I'll have to play more and see.  If I had to pick now it would be Necro or Eng.

Also, all this Asura love is frightening.

[Modern Angel]

Charr Necromancer. Necro for life.

[Kageru]

Human Rifle-woman (Warrior).
Norn Guardian
Asura Necromancer.

I was sure going into the test it was going to be a Sylvari. But the Asura turned out to be more fun and I preferred the art aesthetic.

[Amaron]

Thief for me probably.  I wanted to do ranger without all the trap/pet crap (fully realistic in GW1 but not here).   Thief seems to be the only one close to that.  Not sure on race.  The human story started out pretty snorific.

[Shatter]

Asura Thief.  Was planning to go Mesmer but they were pretty sucky in BWE3.  They said they are working on them but since trying Thief out I really like the class  my decision is made

[Phred]

I also tend to gravitate towards the classes that people generally say are weak, because usually I end up find a way to make it work and I enjoy that challenge.  But if I fail I can just tell myself that the class is underpowered 

I tried an engineer this weekend and they aren't weak at all now. With a Healing turret down they see, very difficult to kill and they get good dps from the pistols now. The reworking seems to have accomplished wonders.

[Phred]

Most likely my human mesmer, and hopefully they get sorted out in good order.

Oh look, isn't that Billy Preston?

[Hawkbit]

Nord Guard.  I actively tried other race/classes, and I'll likely roll a Sylv Ranger to level with the Guard, but Nord Guard.  I really enjoyed the guardian class playstyle.

[Sky]

Oh look, isn't that Billy Preston?

I've got a smoking live album of him when he was with King Curtis, need to track down the Aretha album that completes it, Curtis's band stayed on to back Aretha, another smoking album.

Anyway. Mesmerizing, indeed.

[Dark_MadMax]

You know the only advantage is visibility, hit box is exactly the same.

Yeah and visibility is huge. even  in spvp there is a lot of cases when asura is not visible while everyone else is. You can hide your tiny asura inside huge norn or char etc. In WvW its gonna be even more of a factor -you can hide inside siege engines,  inside other people and tab targeting you among 40 other people wont be realistically possible. While there still name tags and such to click asura do have significant advantage in that department.

Visibility is very important in GW2 as most skills have visual queues and animations and if you know what they are you can time your dodge accordingly. You can't do that vs asura whom you cant even see

[statisticalfool]

Something I'm not quite clear on: with instant lvl80 characters, as long as you've got the slots, you can just create whatever characters for pve,  Asura characters for pvp, and then use the pvp currency to buy stuff for your Asura?

[Numtini]

Despite having made one in GW1 and then gotten stuck with "wow this class sucks" I'm going for an elementalist. Asura.

Well, technically, my first character will be whatever the default is because I plan to be spamming the "go to the end" thing at the minute of launch to grab the one word name i want.

[Tmon]

If you have that name in GW1 all you have to do is link your account and log into GW1 before launch and it will be reserved for you.  Conversly if someone else in GW1 already has the name they can reserve it by doing the same, so spamming through is most like not necessary.  Although I do just whip through the character design appearnce stuff since I don't really care about it.  Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a random button for appearance so I'll look mostly stock for whatever race I end up playing.

[Zetor]

You can only reserve two-word names that way, though (GW1 names need to be two words).

I'll be reusing one of my GW1 names for nostalgia, but otherwise I tend to go with one-word names... so I'll be hammering on the login screen with Numtini at launch/headstart  

e: incidentally, my main in GW1 was/is an elementalist as well. Super-gimped in pve until the recent-ish elementalist patch, but with 7 heroes all you need is 3 pve skills and Assassin's Promise anyway. 

[Numtini]

I'm looking for a one word name. Specifically my name Kathy.

My GW1 names should be reserved, but I was going to log in again today just to make sure it was marked as active and between May and today my entire NC Soft account has been banned. Again. I've already done the phone thing once. I'm not doing it again. I hope GW2 has better security.

[tazelbain]

Ya, really hope the phone app is done before live.

[Lantyssa]

Do the personal stories link up after the Background / Your Plot Hook first two arcs?

Or if you're a human, are you going to be stuck in human stories forever?

Not 'stuck' so much as each selection in character creation is its own story.  You may or may not interact with other races, but your story is your own.

That doesn't prevent you from running around other racial starting areas.

[Sky]

You can hide your tiny asura inside huge norn

Hey man, if you play a Norn named George I'll play an Asura named Kuato.