An insight into the minds of the developers behind the buy-to-play MMO Guild Wars 2 was provided by the livestream on balancing.
Class balancing is one of the top topics in every game, including Guild Wars 2. Those with lots of armor and endurance should deal less damage than a class that has little armor and can take less damage, right? And those who give up mobility should be rewarded with range. Moreover, the class that is the hardest to play should also be the strongest in the hands of a master.
Thus, many ideas about balancing exist in the minds of the players. In Guild Wars 2, there was now the opportunity to compare these considerations with the ideas of the designers. How do players see their classes and how close is that to the intention of the devs?
Two of the game designers, Jonathan Sharp and Karl McLain, were confronted with player feedback on all eight classes and were able to address how ArenaNet views the classes themselves.
The Elementalist: For masters, then really
This is how players see it: For the Elementalist, the “ceiling”—the highest level that can be achieved—is particularly high. The class can do a bit of everything, is flexible, and shines with outstanding AOE potential. Players identify the class’s versatility as its weakness. Moreover, the class struggles to maintain high damage levels and faces problems with buffed opponents.
This is how the devs see it: According to ArenaNet, they definitely want to maintain the Elementalist’s versatility through various weapons. With most weapons, they slip into a support role. The low HP and vulnerability to burst damage is intended, as is the specific weakness against opponents who are under a boon, that is, under a buff.
The Engineer: Stationary All-Rounder
This is how players see it: The Engineer also shows high flexibility with his turrets.. His “skill floor,” that is, his requirement level, is relatively high and he has good crowd control. As a weakness, players criticize this flexibility. He is not particularly good at anything, and some skills are currently so strong that he is forced into certain builds.
This is how the devs see it: Debuffs, or conditions, are viewed as a “hard counter” for the Engineer, from which they find it hard to free themselves. Instead, they need to use their CC abilities to ensure that opponents cannot use them at all. This becomes difficult against multiple players. Engineers should struggle to achieve burst peaks, and they should also find it difficult to escape a fight—certainly much harder than a Thief or a Mesmer.
The Guardian: Tanky Support
The Guardian is seen in a support role at the front line. Unlike the Warrior, who is better at keeping themselves alive, he excels at supporting his companions with boons.
Weaknesses of the Guardian lie in its reliance on boons. Against classes that can steal them, he comes off worse. Additionally, the Guardian depends on his cooldowns to survive. The longer a fight lasts, the more difficult it becomes for him to survive.
The Guardian may enter a fight quickly but has difficulty getting out again. In assessing the class, players and ArenaNet agree, so they are pretty much on track.
The Mesmer: Assassin with a Twist
This is how players see it: The specialized class Mesmer relies on distraction, crowd control, and flexibility. Players point out his weakness in dealing with debuffs, the conditions. He also lacks AE damage and is limited to single-target damage. Mobility is a tricky issue for the Mesmer, as he’s not fast, but he does have portals. He can therefore withdraw well from a fight but cannot engage as effectively.
This is how the devs see it: Thus, it corresponds quite closely to the official design. They want to grant him access to important utility skills. His defense is maintained through stealth and evasion gimmicks; in one-on-one situations, he should perform well but show weaknesses when trying to maintain AE damage. He is vulnerable to conditions and when his illusions are countered. His Achilles’ heel is AE damage, which takes out his illusions. His susceptibility to burst damage is also intentional.
The Necromancer: Enduring and Wearing Down
This is how players see it: Players regard the weaknesses of the Necromancer as his lack of mobility and low burst damage. He is not particularly flexible. However, he trades this for the ability to drive opponents out of the fight.
This is how the devs see it: The Necromancer is designed by ArenaNet as a “sustained” character who can last long in a fight and grows stronger with increasing duration of the fight. He could still accept a bit more physical damage. Weaknesses should lie in mobility, dodging, and retreating from a fight. He should also struggle to maintain AE damage.
The Ranger – Sharpshooter and Glass-Cannon
The Ranger impresses with his DPS on a single target; he is the best class at range, even a bit ahead of the Mesmer. He should keep himself alive through skillful dodging. He is also fortunate to be able to maintain AE damage in melee.
Players assess the Ranger in line with how ArenaNet designed him. Weaknesses include that he cannot steal boons from his opponents. He is heavily reliant on his pet and does less damage without it than other classes. In PvE, the pet often causes problems in the endgame and creates more stress than it helps (well, that was surely not intended by ArenaNet). The lack of AE damage at range is also planned; for that, he hits really hard on single targets.
The Thief – Specialist for Burst
The Thief has his strengths in engagement; he can easily enter and exit a fight. By stealing boons and slipping away from potential sources of damage through stealth, he occupies a delicate special position in balancing.
Weaknesses are seen in his relatively low passive defense. If he wants to avoid damage, he must actively dodge. Additionally, he struggles to stay in a fight for long, being a classic glass-cannon due to his high damage potential. If he wants to withstand a fight for a longer time, he must make concessions on damage.
The Warrior – Fighting Machine with Toughness
The Warrior struggles to avoid damage but can deal substantial damage. With crowd control abilities in melee, he occupies an important role. However, he relies on his class resource, adrenaline, and finds it difficult when defense wanes. He is particularly vulnerable to conditions, i.e., debuffs.
Phew, that was a lot of information from a reliable source. You surely noticed that for the last two classes, the devs seemed to run out of steam a bit. Anyone wanting to read the written summary on Reddit or watch the livestream on Twitch can find corresponding links in the sources.
Update 21.10.2018: A current large guide on the best classes in Guild Wars 2 can now be found here:
