They are fun but a bit squishy since they have a low AC and tend to be in the front lines.

They key to being an assassin is not to tank. you need to get in, spike, get out without pulling agro back to you safe spot.

If this is your first time I would recommend a warrior, ranger or Elementalist as your first character to get the hang of things.

Cheers TDC, I started an Elementalist, but due to crashes didn't get far!!
I'll read up on those 3, see which grabs me the most.

Warriors and Elems are the most basic, at least at first. It's just about building up some good combos that deal a lot of hurt, and it has the room to let you diversify into causing conditions and interrupting when you want.

Rangers, however, are good if you've got a few other players to play with, since it'll let you hang back and see how things work without being right in the enemy fire zone all the time.

Mesmers are much the same, but require a bit more work. An Illusion mesmer isn't too hard to do, their hexes tend to be pretty general, nothing too specialized.

Healing monks aren't too complex either, but if you play with henches it's easy to get bored, and if you play with other people you can easily end up grouping with dudes that are gonna whine if you don't do a perfect job and save them whenever they're idiots.

I'd say that of the basic six classes, only Necros are really an "advanced" class, as such.

Of the four expansion classes so far, I'd call assassins something along the lines of the warrior. Basics, like how to string together a really painful combo, are relatively simple, but learning the advanced stuff like the timing of when to strike and when to dodge outta there, can take some time.

Dervishes are relatively basic, too, even more basic than the assassins, since they really ARE made for getting into the thick of it and hacking enemies to lumps.

Paragons and Rits are relatively advanced, not horribly complex for someone who knows the game, but definitely not a very good starting point, I'd say.

Might play it 'safe' and try a warrior first.

Installed XP, installed the latest (I hope) drivers, installed GW's and it shut down before I even clicked on my Ele!!!!!
So I phoned a friend, and changed a few things in the bios, (at first it told me my CUP was not working, rather scary!!) changed things again and it now seems to work, test played for half an hour and now problems.

Will start again when I've got time with that warrior! [img]smile.gif[/img]

any good tips for a first time warrior, is Axe, sword or hammer best, I kind of like the idea of the hammer. Where can I get some better armor?
Cheers

Hammer does the most/best damage but is slower than sin to wield. There are a couple skills to speed things up a bit, though.

My personal favorite is sword. Wicked skills and a good range of damage.

No matter what chapter you have, the first upgrade from beginner's armor ios the first town/outpost. In Factions, the next upgrade after that is right after the first mission at Minister Cho's Estate. You can also find collectors trading body parts for armor scattered throughout the map.

Is the sword the 'easyist' to get the hang of?

Swords and Axes allow for a shield, so it's... more forgiving [img]tongue.gif[/img]
But I still favor Hammers. Even in PvE.
"Get down!" *smack!* "Get down again!" *stock!*

EDIT: OMG, I'm a Harper now!

[ 01-23-2007, 12:01 PM: Message edited by: Bozos of Bones ]

Sword is the easiest since it's what you first get a decent assortment of skills for, plus the armor bonu from the shield makes it a bit easier for a newbie to survive.

After that, axe is also pretty good, but the skills seem more suited for someone who knows how to tank and survive well, since quite a few of them need you in the thick of a cluster of enemies to be really useful.

Thirdly, hammers are the most difficult, especially since they're more teamplay weapons. They have less raw damage, at least in my experience, but strategically applied knockdowns can save your entire party's collective butt.

Garnet also brings up a good point, first chance you get: Upgrade that dingdang armor. Your first chance to do that, of course, depends wildly on the chapter you're playing. After that, I'd recommend upgrading once every second chance you get it, otherwise you can easily spend excessive amounts of time gathering money and materials for upgrading, compared to the amount of actual armor boost you get.

Suggested upgrade spots are...

<u>Prophecies</u>: Ascalon City, Lion's Arch, Ventari's Refuge, Droknar's Forge.

(Note, in both Factions and Nightfall you reach top-quality armor much faster than Prophecies.)

<u>Factions</u>: Ran Masu Gardens, Kaineng Center

<u>Nightfall</u>: Jokanur Diggins/Blacktide Den, Consulate Docks or the Command Post

Because leveling is so accelerated in Factions, my girls upgraded their armor each time possible. (Shing Jea, Ran Masu, Beknur Harbor and finally Kaineng). After Kaineng, it's all about vanity ;) .

For Prophecies, once you're in the Crystal Desert, you can obtain the collector's armor quite easily - and while it's the plain jane variety without any extra perks such as +10AL vs. XXX damage - it *is* max and will get you through until you touch down at Droknar's Forge.

Nightfall - some of the collector's armor is easily obtained if you know what you're doing. For instance, at the Astrolarium, for three skale teeth, you pick up the next leggings upgrade. Not all are so easy to get to or the body parts so easy to collect, but a few make life a lot nicer and less expensive [img]smile.gif[/img] .

Re weapon choice: I'd suggest trying them all. Husband loves wielding axes but I really don't care for them. Middle son equips his tiny monk with a huge arse hammer when he's in the smiting mood - and, if nothing else, you'd think the foe would run screaming from an itty bitty girl with a mallet bigger than she is!. As I said, I prefer swords. I have, however, wielded all three weapons and unlocked nearly every skill while I was at it.

Some of the most fun I've had (solo with only pet and henches) was trying out the "Bunny Thumper" build with my ranger. As long as you keep pertinent skills activated (I modified the original approved skillbar to my own liking), you do awesome damage, take little yourself and have fun at the same time.

[ 01-23-2007, 02:33 PM: Message edited by: Garnet FalconDance ]