What's your first character going to be?

[Sjofn]

Yeah, that's true about the writing, Rasix, most of it is pretty bleh. Although there was a quest I did as my sylvari gentleman where I was disguised as a human that had some funny lines, so that was a nice surprise.

[Zetor]

In my experience, the lines of Asura and Charr characters are much better than Norn and Human (which are boringville), even the supporting characters like Pact Asura Dude Who Makes Things Go Boom. Some of the writing amused me (mostly when it was goofing off and not trying to tell the super-serious GW1-style story... again, Asura and Charr to an extent), but yeah, this game is no TSW or TOR. Still better than GW1's story/writing/VO, though.

[Sjofn]

Damn a damn sight better than lolmetzen. 

[Fordel]

Warrior Longbow is really fucking good.

[Maledict]

I would disagree - I thinkGw2 has the worse story in any MMO I've played, for one reason only.

Destinys Edge.

I do not know why MMO designers are obsessed with shoehorning their pet characters into these games and making THEM the heroes rather than the players themselves. I honestly could not care less about any of them. They are all dull, awful whiney characters and the game makes no attempt at explaining why the hell I should give a toss about them.

It was the same with Morden Rasp in EQ, and Thrall in WoW. No-one wants to play maid to a badly written fan fiction character because the designers have delusions of grandeur. Stop putting the lore in the books and stop forcing these obnoxious designer stand ins to be the stars of the story.

[Modern Angel]

By story dungeon two, I was like, "Shit, all five of these fuckers are AWFUL people. Why do I want to help these whiny assholes?" Compare to Devona, Mhenlo, et al from GW1: they had just enough personality to not be absent and served solely to facilitate you along the way to YOUR glory.

At the least, Destiny's Edge doesn't play a role in most of the storyline stuff (haven't done Arah, so can't comment on that). That's you and Plant Guy Necromancer, who I actually like.

[Zetor]

To be fair, I found the novel[la] that shipped with GW1 to be pretty-fucking-awful.

But yea, Destiny's Edge is annoying, and Green Rurik isn't much better. I enjoy the story quests with the minor/supporting cast a lot better (and this is also why the personal story was much less enjoyable for me between the forming of the pact and before the lolwut-style romps started going on in Orr -- aka the level 60s).

[satael]

I kind of liked the whisper side-kick charr  and the noble human sidekick had some almost funny lines (concerning sensible shoes and swords) but the edge made me wish they'd do an additional dungeon where you could bash each one of them (I'd pay gems for that without a question)

[Draegan]

Draegan , how are you finding your Mesmer at the higher levels? Really stumped for a build to choose considering you can go so many different ways.

I stopped playing a Mesmer and rolled an Engineer.

In my opinion, Mesmers are really good at one thing: Killing lesser skilled players in sPVP or smaller W3 engagements.  I didn't like how their damage was scaling (low) and I was beginning to tire with their play style which is always moving alway switching weapons.  I felt pretty feable.

I also was beginning to dislike how their traits meshed.  Other problems are that shattering scaled horribly.  DPS was reliant on Phantasms.  Build up time was very slow and AOE damage was pitiful unless you played a shatter build.  At level 56 or so, my shatters were hitting for 300-500? i think a pop.  They were barely denting a mob really.

Anyway if you really like the Mesmer, go for full points in Illusions, 20% Mind Wrack damage.  The rest is up to you.  If you like a Phantasm build, go down the precision line and get bleed on crit and other +better phantasm traits. 

There really isn't any imagination when it comes to Mesmer builds.  They have so few.

--


Playing an Engineers is like night and day.  I'm beginning to love the class.  My engineering post from FOH:

Been playing my engineer, now level 20.  I'm using Flamethrower, Elixer Gun and Rifle.  Here's my favorite combo:

FT #2 (Fireball with explosion at the end)
Swap to Rifle
Rifle #5 (jump to target)
Rifle #3
Rifle #4  (You can do 3 to 4 almost simultaneously, that shit goes off fast, no cast time.)
Swap to FT
FT #2

The blast back distance from Rifle #4 is perfect for the FT#2's explosion distance.  This usually kills anything.

Now the best part about Elixer gun is that you have a regen toolbelt ability.  You also have a #4 blast ability that is similar to Rifle #4.  If you practice getting in and out of these kits, it has a ton of mobility.

This combo is pretty awesome and fun.  Now, I have +10 in Firearms and my crits cause bleeding and vuln.  (I could also choose 20% redux in rifle CD).  Next I will go up explosives and get a chance to burn on crit as well.  This works so well with FT #1 and EG #3.

Posting this build again: Build Editor :: Guild Wars 2 Skills

There are few things you can change around, like Speedy Kits instead of Static Discharge.

Outside the retarded giant backpack I have to wear as an engineer and the fact that kits don't have autoattack and sigils, the class is pretty fun so far in PVE.  The little bit of W3 I did last night was entertaining, but I need to train my fingers to use the Utility Skill buttons for weapon swap instead of my actual weapon swap button.

[Sky]

Warrior Longbow is really fucking good.

I agree, though I find having greatsword really enhances it a lot. Greatsword 2 is just too awesome not to have in the rotation, using the longbow for f1 and 3, with the occasional 4. Kiting with 5 it pretty nifty, too. Now that I'm running a high crit build, a properly lined up longbow 2 can be decent, it's pretty weak normally imo.

[kildorn]

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgAQNAsaRlwzqqHVzgGa9IBqHY37fnkCVn6SKwduB;TIAAzCuA

That's my usual running around mesmer. The thing to remember is that even though you buffed your phantasms, they should be shattered shortly after they've done their thing once or twice.

The reason I run that specific setup is that it easily converts to:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgAQNAsaRlwzqqHVzgGa9IBqHYv6WnkCVj6SKwduB;TIAAzCuA

For WvW.

[Nebu]

Anyone have necro advice?  I've tried all sorts of specs and combos and the class seems like it's built more for support than for killing.  Right now I'm playing a scepter/focus build for pvp and it's basically load up target with conditions and blow corruption.  The damage just comes too slowly out of lich form to drop someone before they get team help.  It's a bit frustrating.  I'm still scoring ok in matches.  It just seems like a lot more work than other classes that I've messed with to get the same result.

I enjoy the necro and want to make it work.  Perhaps I should mess with daggers or pet builds again.

[Lantyssa]

Necro needs love.  Lots and lots of love.  I'm trying to get mine up a bit to see if traits help, but to 25 it's been a bit of a slog.  I know Nevermore gave up at 24.

To me it feels like they're too dependent upon the 6-10 buttons.  My Ranger or Mesmer uses those occasionally, but 1-5 and skillful play will win all kinds of difficult encounters.  My pets need to be constantly using their specials to get their worth, and they're barely more survivable than Mesmer clones.  Offensive wells require me to be on top of the mob, don't last long, and both minions and wells have far too long a cooldown.

[Nebu]

I gave up on pets due to poor AI and unreliable pathing issues and went more to signet and well builds.  The signet that grants 5% run speed helps with kiting and the signet that places like 8 conditions really helps with your corruption (3 key with scepter) damage.  5 key is my self heal with condition purge and 6 is either pull foe, blindness well, or weakness well.  My elite skill is nearly always lich form as the dps is the only way I can get a good spike damage finisher with some added AE for fighting caps.  

No matter which you choose, necro is about outlasting opponents... which isn't good in pvp where LoS issues and 2 v 1 ar common. 

[Raknor]

Never played a necro but the consensus in the guild is.. "If it has pets.. free kill.. if not.. might be a good fight"

I really need to get to 80 already so I can try out some new classes. 

[trias_e]

Necro needs love.  Lots and lots of love.  I'm trying to get mine up a bit to see if traits help, but to 25 it's been a bit of a slog.  I know Nevermore gave up at 24.

To me it feels like they're too dependent upon the 6-10 buttons.  My Ranger or Mesmer uses those occasionally, but 1-5 and skillful play will win all kinds of difficult encounters.  My pets need to be constantly using their specials to get their worth, and they're barely more survivable than Mesmer clones.  Offensive wells require me to be on top of the mob, don't last long, and both minions and wells have far too long a cooldown.

For PvE I Love my necro.  Use staff marks, well of suffering, well of blood.  You set up a combo field and finish it with multiple effects proccing.  Everything dies.  My AOE damage is absolutely insane.

Dagger does pretty decent single target dps too.

For PvP I can't say the same, but I've done very little of it and don't know of what specs are effective.

[Modern Angel]

I'm damned near invincible with my necro. It's pretty insane.

Solo PvE: Running minions/staff. Blow up bone minions as soon as they come up, flesh golem will get you in trouble periodically because it's really weird about randomly charging bad guys but is otherwise nuts. 20% less recharge on staff skills is a must; drop your AE land mines right on top of enemies, repeat. Go with targeted Wells (see more in a minute) for your heal; the heal pet is fragile, attracts aggro, doesn't heal your pets, and generally blows ass.

PvP: Wells, Wells, Wells, Wells, Wells. Massive radius, incredibly powerful ticks. The names are escaping me but I run healing well, damage well, the damage + turns boons into corruptions well, and the AE poison/weakness targeted AE, plus Lich Form.

Do you want to scatter a walls defenders, killing at least a couple? Want to contribute to siege defense? Tired of that Guardian charging up to you? Wells. Wells, use your scepter to drop slows on them and watch them drop. Works in sPvP, too, because most people are too damned confident that a necro can't crank out damage fast enough to solo them.

[01101010]

Necro needs love.  Lots and lots of love.  I'm trying to get mine up a bit to see if traits help, but to 25 it's been a bit of a slog.  I know Nevermore gave up at 24.

To me it feels like they're too dependent upon the 6-10 buttons.  My Ranger or Mesmer uses those occasionally, but 1-5 and skillful play will win all kinds of difficult encounters.  My pets need to be constantly using their specials to get their worth, and they're barely more survivable than Mesmer clones.  Offensive wells require me to be on top of the mob, don't last long, and both minions and wells have far too long a cooldown.

For PvE I Love my necro.  Use staff marks, well of suffering, well of blood.  You set up a combo field and finish it with multiple effects proccing.  Everything dies.  My AOE damage is absolutely insane.

Dagger does pretty decent single target dps too.

For PvP I can't say the same, but I've done very little of it and don't know of what specs are effective.

I can echo this. I rolled a necro for lulz and now I can't stop dinking around PvE with it. Staff AoE easily handles groups along with the wells. Suffering is amazing with huge tick numbers and I usually take well of power to flip any conditions on myself and others to boons. For DEs I will also take the the Undeath Signet to rez players from range when a champ mobs does some wipeout move. Plague signet is fun, but really better suited for PvP (takes all the conditions from other players and puts them on you, then activate signet to transfer all that badness to your opponent). I also run around with axe/focus for when mobs get close and I need something a bit faster than the staff. Also helps that I have a focus that inflicts bleed when switching to it so once mobs get close, I get a free PBAoE bleed going from staff to axe/focus. Also the reaper's touch on the focus is a nice quick regen that bounces around the mobs.

I handle shit way better and have way more control than my warrior or thief or guardian, however I cut through shit quicker on my warrior and hardly get into trouble hp-wise on the guard. YMMV i guess.

[Draegan]

Necro advice: Reroll.

I believe every other class has higher damage potential, and many others have higher survival and mobility.  So unless you like the feel and the play of a necro, then I wouldn't bother.

[Nebu]

Necro advice: Reroll.

I believe every other class has higher damage potential, and many others have higher survival and mobility.  So unless you like the feel and the play of a necro, then I wouldn't bother.

I was wondering if this was the case, but wasn't sure if I just wasn't getting everything out of the class. 

Thanks for helping my sanity.

[Modern Angel]

Necro advice: Reroll.

Yes, this. Fewer necros mean fewer people complaining that they were soloed in WvW or noticing that triple wells dropped on them as they were rezzing their friends killed them in two seconds. I need to keep going.

[MediumHigh]

Necro advice: Reroll.

Yes, this. Fewer necros mean fewer people complaining that they were soloed in WvW or noticing that triple wells dropped on them as they were rezzing their friends killed them in two seconds. I need to keep going.

Yeah I second that.

[Nebu]

WvW is VERY different from sPvP. 

I prefer sPvP and the class is pretty much ineffective there (though I still manage to score between 200-300 a match often).  Play your necro in sPvP and then play a ranger, engineer, guardian, warrior... you'll see what I mean immediately. 

[MediumHigh]

Necro requires the most focus deck building. Whats your build pal?

[Nebu]

Necro requires the most focus deck building. Whats your build pal?

Which one?  I've played about 20.

[MediumHigh]

Necro requires the most focus deck building. Whats your build pal?

Which one?  I've played about 20.

The one you like the most.

[01101010]

Oh christ so we have to add yet another balance tier to the mix? PvE, WvW, sPvP?

[MediumHigh]

Oh christ so we have to add yet another balance tier to the mix? PvE, WvW, sPvP?

Yes.

[Nebu]

Oh christ so we have to add yet another balance tier to the mix? PvE, WvW, sPvP?

PvE and WvW are essentially the same.  sPvP and Tournament PvP require much more thorough build attention and generate many more 1v1, 1v2, and 1v3 opportunities.

The one you like the most.

I described scepter/focus above.

[MediumHigh]

Oh christ so we have to add yet another balance tier to the mix? PvE, WvW, sPvP?

PvE and WvW are essentially the same.  sPvP and Tournament PvP require much more thorough build attention and generate many more 1v1, 1v2, and 1v3 opportunities.

The one you like the most.

I described scepter/focus above.

sceptor focus describes like half your bar. What about the other half?
 
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fQAQJArYjMal7pbGbMcA;TIAAzCuA here is one notice the different flavors of dead that work together. though i'd swap out the elite for lich.

[Ingmar]

Oh christ so we have to add yet another balance tier to the mix? PvE, WvW, sPvP?

PvE and WvW are essentially the same. 

Not for me as a guardian, I don't run anywhere near the same build. If I tried to run my PVE build in WvW I'd be awfully ineffective. Different elite, different utilities, different offhand on my weapon swap, etc.

[Nebu]

This is my current fav.

I tend to swap out blindness for other things depending on how the night is going. Ex: If I'm playing Guardians a lot, I'll take the well that turns boons into conditions. Etc.

Not for me as a guardian, I don't run anywhere near the same build. If I tried to run my PVE build in WvW I'd be awfully ineffective. Different elite, different utilities, different offhand on my weapon swap, etc.

They feel the same to me.  Beating on doors and the mindless zerg is a lot like farming mobs in the 80 zone.  Then there's the horde of mobs already in the WvW zone... I encourage you to play 5v5 tournaments.  It will let you know pretty quickly how competitive you are on your class/team.

[MediumHigh]

This is my current fav.

I tend to swap out blindness for other things depending on how the night is going.

In your build you might want carry your staff first, simple because your ur sceptor/focus is a great finisher but not a damage dealer on its own. You want to hold off with staff till they are a 3/4th of health and spam then down sceptor, than switch back to staff. Be sure you don't switch back to staff until you cast spine shivers.

[Nebu]

In your build you might want carry your staff first, simple because your ur sceptor/focus is a great finisher but not a damage dealer on its own. You want to hold off with staff till they are a 3/4th of health and spam then down sceptor, than switch back to staff. Be sure you don't switch back to staff until you cast spine shivers.

Solid advice, though I find staff to be of limited value in spvp due to the amount of movement.  Too many ground effects that the better players will avoid. 

[MediumHigh]

In your build you might want carry your staff first, simple because your ur sceptor/focus is a great finisher but not a damage dealer on its own. You want to hold off with staff till they are a 3/4th of health and spam then down sceptor, than switch back to staff. Be sure you don't switch back to staff until you cast spine shivers.

Solid advice, though I find staff to be of limited value in spvp due to the amount of movement.  Too many ground effects that the better players will avoid. 

Well thats why your support, follow movement, cast ahead. Or take advantage of dropping melee (you do ignore armor) bait an hammer your way and it'll hurt them more than you. See a down target? Switch to staff unless thief or ele, punish the enemy team for rezzing. Your a little like sona when your a staff necro, except all your skills are basically sona's R in scope.