Guild Wars 2 – Professions

A couple of weeks ago, ArenaNet announced the pre-purchase date of Guild Wars 2! There are a few different options, all viewable here. Although pre-sale doesn’t open until April 10th, it’s nice to finally know when. As an added bonus, those who pre-purchase will be able to participate in all future Weekend Beta Events…!

GW2 Professions

In light of that news, now seems like a good time to look over the different professions and decide what your starting character will be. There are 8 playable professions:

  1. Elementalist – “Fire, Air, Earth, and Water. I can deal with any of them.”
  2. Warrior – “Axe or Mace? Rifle or Greatsword? You know, they’re all good.”
  3. Ranger – “Good dog! Hold the enemy down while I shoot them! You get a biscuit!”
  4. Necromancer – “The great thing about minions is that they never last long enough to work up a horrid stench.”
  5. Guardian – “I’ll guard you. Let them come through ME first!”
  6. Thief – “I’m sorry, did this belong to you?”
  7. Engineer – “I’d explain it all to you, but a demonstration would be more useful.”
  8. Mesmer – “When I’m done with you, you won’t trust your own mind.”

If you’ve played the original Guild Wars, most of these professions look familiar. I’m really glad to see Mesmer on this list, and am excited to see what playing Guardian is like.

Hero List

We love heroes. These super-henchmen allow you to solo non-AI-able missions, easily vanquish Hard Mode with a friend, and run a team farm build by yourself.

But the sheer number of available heroes can be daunting, and makes keeping track of equips difficult. Is Margrid wielding an icy or poisonous bow? Does Zenmai need the minor shadow rune or should I give it to Anton? This fire staff I just found has a cool skin and good mods, but aren’t my fire eles already using good staves? It may be manageable if you’re the type to play one character exclusively; keeping track of your heroes across multiple characters is a different story entirely.

Gwen
Gwen

Data packrats and listmakers — I feel your pain. That’s why I’m sharing my awful secret with you. I use text files to keep track of all kinds of things, from what mission my paragon last finished in each campaign, to which mini-pets my necro has in the Hall of Monuments. Crazy, yes. Helpful, indeed! With eleven playable characters and frequent hiatuses, I find it necessary.

So here’s one of the lists I finally decided to make after months of inventory agony. Every available hero is listed in the order in which they appear in your “Add a Hero” drop-down menu. Copy + paste it to start your own list fun!

Hero List:

edit: Since a recent Guild Wars update, the list below is obsolete.  See the post “Heroes X 7” for an updated list (added 5/31/11).

  1. Norgu – mesmer (NF)
  2. Goren – warrior (NF)
  3. Tahlkora – monk (NF)
  4. Master of Whispers – necromancer (NF)
  5. Acolyte Jin – ranger (NF)
  6. Koss – warrior (NF)
  7. Dunkoro – monk (NF)
  8. Acolyte Sousuke – elementalist (NF)
  9. Melonni – dervish (NF))
  10. Zhed Shadowhoof – elementalist (NF)
  11. General Morgahn – paragon (NF)
  12. Margrid the Sly – ranger (NF)
  13. Zenmai – assassin (F)
  14. Olias – necromancer (P)
  15. Razah – ritualist (NF)
  16. M.O.X – dervish (F)
  17. Jora – warrior (EN)
  18. Pyre Fierceshot – ranger (EN)
  19. Anton – assassin (EN)
  20. Livia – necromancer (EN)
  21. Hayda – paragon (EN)
  22. Kahmu – dervish (EN)
  23. Gwen – mesmer (EN)
  24. Xandra – ritualist (EN)
  25. Vekk – elementalist (EN)
  26. Ogden Stonehealer – monk (EN)

Campaign Legend:

P = Hero acquired in Prophecies
F = Hero acquired in Factions
NF = Hero acquired in Nightfall
EN = Hero acquired in Eye of the North