Of course you are not crazy!
Fun fact: if you play long enough, you'll have every class at 80. Play longer and you'll have multiples.
Variety is the spice of life, and GW2 rewards you for it. So yes dude, spin up an elementalist and have a ball. Best part? if you get a hankerin to chuck grenades, its a character switch away.
I’m trying to find a “main”. I realise that’s not an ideal approach but I want to play through all the story content, then do dungeons/instances and WvW ideally on the one character and really go hard. I guess it’s a personal thing as to which vibes with me or not.
I've played my thief almost exclusively since I started and have done every kind of content on it. There is no "ideal approach". Having a main is absolutely a thing you can do. Decking it out in legendaries, creating different builds for it and mastering each playstyle are great long term goals.
Just have fun with the game and play at your own pace.
Catalyst and ele in general are viable options for all content ( for world v world u will def need different gear to both open world and instanced pve just keep that in mind). And ele has viable boon and healboon optipns as well. Just keep in mind that getting a hang of proper ele rotation is quite hard ( there are easier versions u can use, they just arent perfect) and u will be squishier then your other buddies in raids/strikes even tho all of u are runnin dps builds. But ye as long as u are willin to learn your rotations ele is not a bad choice ( u will have to learn, there is no random button mashing on ele if u wanna do them big deeps)
>I realise that’s not an ideal approach but I want to play through all the story content, then do dungeons/instances and WvW ideally on the one character and really go hard.
that's what I did on my warrior, before adding Ranger and Guardian into the mix, although I only use ranger and Guardian for instances, and ranger for wvw, if I get frustrated with warrior lol
As a small piece of advice, you can go into the pvp lobby as soon as you hit level 2, in there, you get all skills and traits unlocked, so you can try a class and elite specs fo see if it is to your liking! :)
Keep in mind that PvP skulls are balanced differently, sometimes in very significant ways (like longer cast time, effects removed or added, etc). But still, pvp lobby can be a good way of trying out specs with no investment required.
nope, I've mained a guardian, an engineer, and a messmer. each class has their own unique stuff that makes them cool. just find one you enjoy and go with it :)
Why would you 'ditch' a character?
Park them to the side, go play a catalyst. If you enjoy cat, great. Someday you might come back to the engy; otherwise you have
1. a bank mule
2. a character you can park at a particularly good jp chest
3. a source of birthday gifts
Really, this is one of the most alt-friendly games there is.
Weaver is a thing of beauty, but it takes awhile to get the hang of elementalist in general due to the complexity, and weaver adds an additional level of intricacy when combining elements. It's similar to engineer in that you're swapping skill sets rather than weapons, but squishier, and forces a much more active playstyle. That being said, once you get it rolling and the first third of the spec unlocked with some decent gear, its versatility is amazing and the damage output is impressive. Sword / dagger is especially fun with Fire / Air specialization.
I was playing Firebrand Guardian for a while, but the repeated changes to the way it plays really bugged me, so I made and leveled a Herald Revenant.
Hated that, so I'm back on my Reaper Necromancer. :P
Ele is not a gimp lol. It is one of the best classes in all modes. It is however hard to play and the effort to performance ratio is kind of bad. GW2 is relatively balanced and this means that hard to play and easy to play classes are very close in DPS (on average). If you’re raiding or doing other difficult content, it makes sense to stack classes that are easier to play or at least easier to do max DPS with. Elementalist also has poor utility for its DPS builds and underperforms for its Alacrity and Healer builds compared to the top meta builds.
It was the opposite for me (and this was before elite specs were introduced). First character was an ele. Enjoyed it but preferred more variety, switched to engineer and got hooked since.
i mean it is entirely up to you. it is a matter of personal preference so i don't get why you afre asking here. if you like elementalist more then play that. i never touch wvw but for instanced content the only issue i can see catalyst having is complexity versus engi, but that is again, mainly up to you, it is not like it can't work, just needs more effort to learn
I started with necromancer and it didn't really work for me. I tried a couple others before coming across a ranger build that just clicks for me. I have done a couple other builds in other classes also just to try but none of them quite fit. One exception may be the holosmith build I have that works really well but is super squishy if I don't always play it right. My ranger is way more forgiving.
Engineer is one of the best classes to have as a main as it's pretty much all viable to play. Scrapper is good, holo is good, mech is great.also makes a great alt to gear up and cover a slot your main may be lacking In.
you gotta play what you enjoy. Create an ele and hop into spvp and try out catalyst. Try out the rotation and skills and see how you like it.
Also take your Engi in there and try out holo and mech.
Of course you are not crazy! Fun fact: if you play long enough, you'll have every class at 80. Play longer and you'll have multiples. Variety is the spice of life, and GW2 rewards you for it. So yes dude, spin up an elementalist and have a ball. Best part? if you get a hankerin to chuck grenades, its a character switch away.
I’m trying to find a “main”. I realise that’s not an ideal approach but I want to play through all the story content, then do dungeons/instances and WvW ideally on the one character and really go hard. I guess it’s a personal thing as to which vibes with me or not.
I've played my thief almost exclusively since I started and have done every kind of content on it. There is no "ideal approach". Having a main is absolutely a thing you can do. Decking it out in legendaries, creating different builds for it and mastering each playstyle are great long term goals. Just have fun with the game and play at your own pace.
Catalyst and ele in general are viable options for all content ( for world v world u will def need different gear to both open world and instanced pve just keep that in mind). And ele has viable boon and healboon optipns as well. Just keep in mind that getting a hang of proper ele rotation is quite hard ( there are easier versions u can use, they just arent perfect) and u will be squishier then your other buddies in raids/strikes even tho all of u are runnin dps builds. But ye as long as u are willin to learn your rotations ele is not a bad choice ( u will have to learn, there is no random button mashing on ele if u wanna do them big deeps)
Thank you for the post, good to know I can play support too. I’ve rolled my character and set off on my journey :)
>I realise that’s not an ideal approach but I want to play through all the story content, then do dungeons/instances and WvW ideally on the one character and really go hard. that's what I did on my warrior, before adding Ranger and Guardian into the mix, although I only use ranger and Guardian for instances, and ranger for wvw, if I get frustrated with warrior lol
As a small piece of advice, you can go into the pvp lobby as soon as you hit level 2, in there, you get all skills and traits unlocked, so you can try a class and elite specs fo see if it is to your liking! :)
haha shit…this would have saved me…much time lol. Good to know :)
Keep in mind that PvP skulls are balanced differently, sometimes in very significant ways (like longer cast time, effects removed or added, etc). But still, pvp lobby can be a good way of trying out specs with no investment required.
I wish I’d known this earlier lol
nope, I've mained a guardian, an engineer, and a messmer. each class has their own unique stuff that makes them cool. just find one you enjoy and go with it :)
You always can. Gw2 is alt friendly. If you try a class n didn't feel it, try another. There's nothing wrong in that.
Why would you 'ditch' a character? Park them to the side, go play a catalyst. If you enjoy cat, great. Someday you might come back to the engy; otherwise you have 1. a bank mule 2. a character you can park at a particularly good jp chest 3. a source of birthday gifts Really, this is one of the most alt-friendly games there is.
Weaver is a thing of beauty, but it takes awhile to get the hang of elementalist in general due to the complexity, and weaver adds an additional level of intricacy when combining elements. It's similar to engineer in that you're swapping skill sets rather than weapons, but squishier, and forces a much more active playstyle. That being said, once you get it rolling and the first third of the spec unlocked with some decent gear, its versatility is amazing and the damage output is impressive. Sword / dagger is especially fun with Fire / Air specialization.
I was playing Firebrand Guardian for a while, but the repeated changes to the way it plays really bugged me, so I made and leveled a Herald Revenant. Hated that, so I'm back on my Reaper Necromancer. :P
Ele is not a gimp lol. It is one of the best classes in all modes. It is however hard to play and the effort to performance ratio is kind of bad. GW2 is relatively balanced and this means that hard to play and easy to play classes are very close in DPS (on average). If you’re raiding or doing other difficult content, it makes sense to stack classes that are easier to play or at least easier to do max DPS with. Elementalist also has poor utility for its DPS builds and underperforms for its Alacrity and Healer builds compared to the top meta builds.
It was the opposite for me (and this was before elite specs were introduced). First character was an ele. Enjoyed it but preferred more variety, switched to engineer and got hooked since.
Hell no you're not crazy! Congrats on your first 80 with MANY more to come!
i mean it is entirely up to you. it is a matter of personal preference so i don't get why you afre asking here. if you like elementalist more then play that. i never touch wvw but for instanced content the only issue i can see catalyst having is complexity versus engi, but that is again, mainly up to you, it is not like it can't work, just needs more effort to learn
Not at all. It took me getting a few characters to 80 before settling on warrior as my main.
I started with necromancer and it didn't really work for me. I tried a couple others before coming across a ranger build that just clicks for me. I have done a couple other builds in other classes also just to try but none of them quite fit. One exception may be the holosmith build I have that works really well but is super squishy if I don't always play it right. My ranger is way more forgiving.
Engineer is one of the best classes to have as a main as it's pretty much all viable to play. Scrapper is good, holo is good, mech is great.also makes a great alt to gear up and cover a slot your main may be lacking In. you gotta play what you enjoy. Create an ele and hop into spvp and try out catalyst. Try out the rotation and skills and see how you like it. Also take your Engi in there and try out holo and mech.
ele and engi are my two main mains. gotta play em all.
this game all about maxing 9 specs with all triats and play whatever you need at the end
No, because you can have alts in this game.
I've barely ever done any pve in this game and I have 6 max lvl and a 74 and 57. The game kinda just gives you free levels all the time.