LLD101

[Dao Jones]

It's abundantly clear to me that I'm rapidly losing the will to play D2. And without enthusiasm, dueling skills deteriorate painfully. So I'm going to finally uncork and install GW in the next few days. But, I'd like some suggestions from current players about classes, and about what you've seen work and what you've seen fail.

Reading up on the characters, some of the classes seem very intriguing, but like many games, looks may be deceiving. So, here are some questions:

1) Mesmers: how well do their skills work against opponents? To read it, it sounds like they can seriously bamboozle and deter an enemies' attack with effects, but are these effects effective enough to consider this class?

2) If I decide to use an Elementalist, should I go primary to take advantage of the added Energy their primary ability seems to get? Or can I still use their skills effectively with a smaller energy pool?

3) I'm fairly sure I want a "caster/fighter" mix. Should I use a Warrior, or Ranger? I sincerely enjoy sniping combat, but many games (like D2, for instance), do not lend themselves well to such tactics. Or would a Warrior be helpful on backup when things get too close?

Basically, I don't care if I'm an unstoppable tank (as I hear Warrior/Monks seems to be), I just don't want to pick two professions that combine to form the ultimate SuperSucker. Also, I'm not certain when chosing the primary class, which primary ability will be the more useful of the two classes.

It seems likely that my first character will involve a pairing of Mesmer/Elementalist/Necromancer with a Ranger/Warrior. (Although I've considered the possibility of a Mesmer/Elementalist combo...) So, how would you suggest I pair and order those designs? I've looked around the internet in general for guidance, but there are too many dumb people out there to trust their input without knowing them. Hopefully someone here has some good insights to share. Thanks!

[VoicesLLD]

i see alot of w/mo, r/mo, e/mes, and mes/e. for non GW people, thats warrior/monk, ranger/monk, elementalist/mesmer, mesmer/elementalist.

i myself chose to be r/mo, and am doing quite well (lvl 11 at the moment). being able to kill creatures below you from ridges above, as well as the ability to charm an animal as your pet, and the healing spells, seem to help make the game more playable on a solo level. iv done many of the quests on my own, with the help of a merc and my pet. probably about 90% of them, other than the "missions".

i suggest being atleast level 6-7 before going to post-searing (going to 'war' that is, unless you have someone helping you level) as not many people want to group with a level 3-5, as they cant do anything and just die alot.

another aspect that helped me choose my profession of a ranger vs a warrior was the skills a warrior has. i found the combo attacks boring. i like 1 single powerful attack, and at the moment im pushing about -45 dmg per hit average, and on rare occassions when im using the terrain to my advantage (the higher you are above your opponent, the more dmg you do, so they say) i can hit up to -81.

personally, id say for your first character, since youll be learning the game, go with something popular and something safe. warrior/monks seem to never die. and ranger/monks can be just as good of tanks as well, but later on in the game when they are stronger. even warrior/elementalists are pretty good. but i wouldnt suggest something like mesmer/elementalist, or necro/mesmer for your first character.

[Dao Jones]

I've been reading around the web, and learning that combat/caster groupings can be difficult due to deficient Energy and occasionally unrelated skills.

I think I'm pretty much content to try a Ranger out as my first class. While Mesmers seem really interesting, they also seem complicated to play, and for a new player that sounds like an unwise choice. Plus I, too, like the inherent strategy involved in ranged combat, and it sounds like GW is a little more forgiving to ranged fighters than D2 has been.

The trick now is to consider a second class. Monks are good at healing themselves and others (and I hear they never lack for willing party members), but I'm not sure I'm ready to burden myself with the responsibility of being a party's lifeline. And I hear Elementalists require more Energy than a Ranger primary can afford to have (although there seem to be good support effects Elemental magics can provide). I was thinking of maybe a Ranger/Necromancer.

Bah. The more I read the more confused I get. I guess I'll just install it and pick whichever class looks coolest to me.

[VoicesLLD]

being a monk as a second profession means you arent responsible for everyone. you are responsible for yourself, and the occassional of other people.

but in all honesty, when you have a skill that takes 3 seconds to cast, and then continues to heal the person for 10-15 seconds, it isnt much of a burden.

i myself, dont enchant other people, and leave the enchantments on myself. this allows me to be a tank, and at the same time heal others.
each enchantment i place on myself lowers my mana regen by 1. rangers have a mana regen of 3 to begin with, and i have yet to come across any items to up that. so when i have my two enchantments on myself (+40 life, +2 replenish life), i only have a mana replenish of 1, which is slow, but it still is ok. since each spell/skill you can use has a cool down rate (atleast for a ranger/monk), i only find myself running out of mana about 35% of the time. it usually replenishes back before the cool down rate is over (or a good portion atleast).

on the other hand, however...


warriors have by FAR the funniest dance.

[Rampage]

If you decide to make a MOnk/anything you will never have trouble finding a group to quest with. Monk primaries are in high demand. I started out playing a Ranger/Elementalist which is now a level 17. The sniping and the area of effect spells make for a deadly combination. It also gives me the option of adding a pet to help tank. My second character is a Warrior/Monk which I made to help my son level his Monk/Ranger. I was realy surprised to find that I enjoy using the W/Mo. My son is a WoW addict and plays Monk on that so he is truly awesome at using the GW Monk to best advantage. I don't think you can go wrong with almost any combination. They all have advantages and disadvantages. The most important thing is learning how to combine your skills for maximum effect. I read an article that compared GW with the card game Magic the Gathering. It actually is true in some ways. Selecting your skills is like building your deck. Finding skills that build upon one another is what makes a so-so character into a awesome fighting machine. It sounds to me like your style of playing is similar to mine. If you enjoy the ranged battle then go with the Ranger as either a primary or secondary. That way you can use a bow, have a pet for a tank and chose to either heal/interrupt/rain AoE or whatever.

[Vixen]

I did Warrior/Monk, it's a lot of fun so far. I like the way the Ranger can deal out decent damage to multiple foes while being able to heal himself using both the monks spells and wilderness survival.

Voices- how'd you get so much damage per hit... I think I do like 19-30ish at level 10 >.<

[VoicesLLD]

[Dao Jones]

It's amazing how unhelpful the game book is... I'm now trying to figure out how to recuit NPC henchmen. There doesn't seem to be any in-game help, and the book really doesn't mention much on the subject. I could certainly use a few good tanks...

Still, it's a pretty good game.

[Vixen]

You can only recruit after the searing.


What you do is, you find the henchmen, click him, then look to your party menu. When you click on him, his name will fill a bar on the party menu and there will be a green plus next to it. When you click the green plus, the henchmen (howerver many you choose... I think up to 3) will be with you when you next leave town.

[VoicesLLD]

....you can have more than 1 henchman? iv been playing with only 1 this whole time. i thought that was the max.

[Dao Jones]

Ahh... very helpful to know that I can't get henchmen pre-searing. Would have been nice for that to have been mentioned anywhere in the included game materials.

Nevertheless, I manage. Currently a level 4 ranger/necro. Seems like a good class to solo with, since the people I see loitering around town seem about as smart as the people camping in chat rooms on b.net. Only partied once (for the Charr in the Catacombs quest), and the level 3 elementalist/mesmerist I was with spent all her time running ahead of me, forcing me to play catch up.

Anyway, hope to see y'all on there. Thanks Voices for your input today in-game. Hopefully, as soon as I get more experienced with this game I can start trying out other weird builds...

[Dao Jones]

Does anyone here have experience with high level necromancers? I'm still playing around with characters, and I'm wondering if I build an elementalist/necromancer combo if I should go E/N for Energy Storage, or N/E for Soul Reaping? I'm not sure how beneficial Reaping is (it's certainly not too useful at lower levels), and I'm wondering if it becomes helpful at higher levels? I think it's sorta like the psapphire/pskull debate: better to have extra up front, or to get more over the long run?

[VoicesLLD]

you can always try it yourself and find out. thats the wonderful thing about GWs. skills spent, are never permanent. the "refund points" are replenished 1 for every 250 exp gained. on top of that, while you stop gaining levels at 20, you never stop gaining exp and skill points. each next "invisible level" (the +skill point, point) is the amount for the previous "level" +2000.

so lets say level 20 takes you 40000 exp. the next "level" will be 42000 more. and then 44000, and then 46000, etc etc. youll get a skill point at each of these, but youll remain level 20.

so the point of my rambling is this. pick a path, and if you dont like it, no worries, you can change it all around later.

[B[x]]

However, the problem is that you cannot switch from E/R to R/E after the game has started.

[Dao Jones]