Why Nobody Plays THESE CLASSES In Guild Wars 2

[@atcho5029]

One important thing to consider about the Rev is that it's locked for the free to play core game. Many players (including myself) started from there and are maining the 1st/2nd character they've created before bying the expansions. There are probably also many other players that are just sticking with the free to play model, thus never getting the opportunity to play Rev.

[@garkoskrakos8165]

also rev only existed from hot on

[@FelipeArthurferpa]

That would be a valuable argument if there were more characters from other professions. They simply try the rev and say “oh cool” and thats it, only a few main it

[@ostrakrewetka7604]

@@FelipeArthurferpa well I think that was very valuable argument cause statistics depends of all players even those who play for free. Im shocked that any vanilla class still looses with Rev. This could mean that if we considered buy to play players only, we wouldn't see Rev in top 3 less playable class in the game.

[@FelipeArthurferpa]

@@ostrakrewetka7604 Actually you would be surprised by the number of players who actually plays for free. Which is extremely low, not to mention people who tried and didn’t like the game. So playtime is waaay more relevant than character creation

[@RatnoonTV]

How people play this game Free To Play just blows my mind. I understand starting out as F2P, but sticking to it for years and years. That I will never ever understand. PoF+HoT bundle literally cost the same as ordering a couple of pizzas.

[@dpv007]

Engineer was my first class, and also one of the main reasons I grew to love GW2. I really love the flavor of tech being able to bridge the gap when it comes to magic/super natural abilities.

[@Cabrito11]

Its the last class i have played, and i love it, but it scares me. I think that will take a lot of hours for me to play it well

[@mase9975]

Engineer was the whole reason that I even bothered to quit WoW and go with GW2 when it came out in 2012 and now that we have a mech I started playing it again. I also play a Necromancer and a Mesmer but, I dabble in all the classes. Jack of all trade and master of none.

[@DahBurt]

Same

[@golden9551]

I started today and went engineer for this reason aswell

[@Cabrito11]

@@golden9551 good luck and have fun

[@PrincessYolda]

As someone who became an Ele main after avoiding the class for 10 years, here is a open world pro tip: Build a celestial Tempest with Dagger/dagger or warhorn You can just button smash and get used to the different attunements and not be ineffective on any of them. Also you are tanky enough that downstate is something you will not see often. Then you can ease into Catalyst or Weaver or a more squishy Tempest with time.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Actually this is fantastic advice!

[@Seraphim09x]

as a new player i started with tempest because it looked the coolest....that was almost a decade ago ...😅😅 i still play fire condi build with inbuilt survivability. My burn damage is almost 30k ..and thats just fire..i rarely die, and once u master the elements...it has alot of versatility and satisfying gameplay..

[@shivag73]

I love being a healer if I'm in a group. Tempest with Septor/Horn is the best combination. Otherwise I mix the elements. Weaver is awesome to use more than one at a time.

[@VMSelvaggio]

Revenant is incredibly cool, especially for someone like me, who played Guild Wars (1) from launch and remembers all of the character lore for most of these legends. Plus the things they say to you while you're standing there or fighting have some humor. Overheard from Jalis: "Age no longer affects us dwarves, EROSION however..." Your character: "So you get smoother instead of older?" (or something like that. It's my favorite interaction with Jalis!

[@jaroslav3905]

Oh yes it's in the little details like that! I'm trying to pick up my alts and revenant is the most appealing to me right now, hope it'll stick because the visuals are amazing and I want to be finally more than a mesmer main (don't get me worng I love it, just ain't the best class for pve and raids)

[@unnamed2737]

Elementalist was my first main. I never saw it as a mage. I played shaman in WoW and wanted something similar and ele was the closest I could get. Both had a million skills to manage based on the 4 elements.

[@oceanman4413]

I just started playing Guild Wars 2 and my profession is Mesmer. Your vids really helped me, keep it up! My experience with the players so far are pretty positive. There was one time where I was K.O'd by a mob, because I was AFKing and a player just revived/healed me out of nowhere without even me asking. I also love the events that would happen wherein random players currently in the area would help each other to complete it. I'm really enjoying the game.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Hey, happy I could help! The game certainly does a lot of things right. The mesmer is my like back up profession if I didn't do elementalist lol

[@Kantharr]

This makes sense in terms of how difficulty each class could be for beginners. When I first played Engineer I went with the simple build of running all turrets with rifle and that made it pretty fun to play.

[@leeprosser4682]

Me, who’s pretty much only played a revenant… “wait… what… there’s lore behind those legend dudes…”, you learn something new every day lol

[@CaffeinatedDad]

I mean I only knew Shiro because I played gw1 loool

[@TruePermafrost]

Just a word of advice for those out there, If you are looking for a class and you only play the least played classes to try and make something of it, please at the very least try the class that suits you're particular niches and playstyles. I've fallen for the trap many times before, but maining a class based off the fact its not played a lot will lead you to becoming an altaholic, since classes come and go by the patch. I remember when Engi during LWS3 was not played very much untill Lake doric and its leather farm happened, then everyone had an engi, but things rise and fall, so go play what scratches your class itch first

[@wynkuroh585]

This was me, Guardian appealed to me from the start for the class fantasy and aesthetic, but I avoided it because it was most played and I didn't really want to jump on a bandwagon. Six or so classes later I decided to try it and I really enjoy it despite having success with the other classes because it fits my preferred character style and in the end I don't feel like it mattered how popular it is.

[@mattstacey6058]

"why would you say something so controversial yet so brave?" Lol

[@Roxzes]

Idd recomend playing some rounds in pvp so u fan figure out what class and skills u wana play,i dident do this my first time and made a Reaper i sucked at it and went hunter that became my fav for 3 y and now im reaper again xP

[@ChaoticNeutralMatt]

Playing the class, trying to find stuff you might enjoy. Finally did that with guardian. Surprisingly good.

[@velkanzi]

Wow, finally you show the graph ... All of the classes look fairly close. Anet has done an amazing job. Please, please keep the diversity of classes. Keep them different. Keep the game interesting.

[@Tessa_Ru]

As someone dipping my toes in from FF14 (which is infamous for streamlining the classes into samey-samey roles), I have to agree. I feel like it should be ok if not a lot of people play a class, so long as the people playing it love it.

[@Dojan5]

​@@Tessa_Ru Starting FFXIV from a GW2 perspective was _rough_ man. I still think they should overhaul the levelling experience because it's so disjointed and weird. All tanks get a gap closer, why not make that a role action? Short of that, why do they all get it at different levels? Ranging from Dark Knight's Plunge at at level 54 to Paladin's Intervene at 74. Meanwhile Red Mage gets their gap-closer, Corps-a-corps at level 6! My FC buddy thinks it's fine and that not all people can pick up class mechanics that fast, but I personally think the job should have all core bits and pieces at latest by 50. I don't see how a Red Mage is "capable of handling" a gap closer at level 6 if a tank is unable until level 74. It makes no sense. The jobs sure are rather samey. It took me a long time to start appreciating the nuances between them. I think Squeenix has done a good job on that, but none of them are as drastically different between one another as professions in Guild Wars 2 are. I mean you can slap an elite specialisation on a job and suddenly it changes completely. It's kind of insane.

[@aid4nski215]

not really related to the topic of the video but i just wanna say that you sir have a really great and friendly speaking voice

[@DrDuckMD]

Revenant is my favorite class, so much utility. I usually run a boon dps spec for raids, but you can also heal with it or pure dps. It’s great.

[@MatLinnett1]

Another thing to take into account, GW2 Efficiency only counts accounts that have registered on GW2 Efficiency, and I would guess that the vast majority of players haven't.

[@ChaoticNeutralMatt]

Interesting

[@_XR40_]

"...I would guess that the vast majority of players haven't...." I started with GW1 about 15 years ago, moved to GW2 a little after it came out. Never heard of _GW2 Efficiency._ Never seen it mentioned in chat. Think that assuming most players haven't "registered" is a pretty safe bet....

[@DoamBot]

Thats how all polls work you take a sample of the greater population. Thus gw2 eff is perfectly fine and in fact the standard to see the greater picture.

[@dclegends8689]

So what? You implying that Rev, engi and ele players don't like GW2efficiency? lol What makes you think it's gonna be any different with the total of players?

[@minor_2nd]

Revenant due to being locked behind an expansion, is not a class many new players will gravitate towards, but might once they have more experience in the game. Similarly, new players will have no idea about gw2efficiency, but will eventually hear about it in due time and probably register. Because of this correlation, it's not unfair to assume that there's proportionally fewer revenants than other classes; the sample does not exactly represent actuality.

[@trollerbladdering]

Engi has always been my favorite class. The versatility of it was always attractive to me right from launch. I know that lore wise they're the polar opposite, but if gave me the same feeling I got with Druid in WoW, where no matter what, I had a way to adapt to whatever I was facing.

[@velkanzi]

Thank you, I really like your style, your flow. I find myself rewatching your content. Prolly helps that I am one of the crazies that likes playing the Catalyst ( badly ). Keep promising myself to take time to practice HOW TO play , rather than tackling the insane amount of content. Damn you new dailies ( and skritt ) that keep forcing me to play content I have never seen before. Keep up the good work.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Haha! Thank you! Oh and I know the content sink of this game I find myself wondering around doing every other thing and not focusing on one thing. Lol

[@LordSoth41]

My friend started with Engineer and always loved it, Engineer has always been one of my favorite classes even before Mechanist dropped because Scrapper is just amazing to play

[@shivag73]

Engineer with turrets is awesome.

[@jimmynguyen9104]

I rock the engineer scrapper. And I love your videos! Very informative. Just started gw2 a few months ago

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Hey thanks! Engineer just overall has a cool aesthetic to it. Lots of fun ways to blast things away.

[@CaMOOflage207]

Congrats caffeinated I remember watching your streams when you were a small KZbin man. 1.3k views in an hour I’m so proud and you deserve it bro!

[@cuellas1338]

Hey! I just got back to GW2 after a year and a half of not playing it and I'm loving it so far, and getting to enjoy your vids is a big part of it! Great info, good memes, chill ambient (great to watch while you "caffeinate" yourself)... Overall, great content! Keep it up!

[@cuellas1338]

Also I want to add I start to feel a trend in my decision making: Back then I mained Holosmith, now I'm playing Ele (trying Weaver before I buy EoD cause Cata looks tons of fun), I was planing on making a Thief and the heavy armor class I like the most is Revenant. Help (the only outliar here is my Reaper, but who doesn't like a good dead-boy with a big ahh sword).

[@velkanzi]

As you say, a bit of fun. When you look at the chart you displayed I personally am impressed at how close the spread is across the nine classes.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

True! Actually it's quite impressive how well distributed the classes are!

[@Ral0run]

Love the editing on your vids man - great content as usual.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Glad you like them!

[@dollarbr]

First profession I chose was an engineer, before Heart of Thorns expansion, second was elementalist, then i stayed in them like..... A LOT, learn everything that i could (learnt wrong, but still learned them) and in Path of Fire i started trying other stuff, what i tried? Revenant, lol.... Yeah, i have problems Now my main is Revenant, mostly vindicator and renegade for instanced content when needed dps and herald for instanced content needed of support

[@Zedrie]

Haha! LOVE the shirt 😂 Ele was my first level 80, first main, still dear to my heart but you are bang on about them - they are *high* maintenance, I remember running with my guildmates and yeah, such a great arsenal of power I was usually the last one standing and the only one that kept us from a wipe but man! My knuckles developed knuckles LMAO I've been playing since launch but your videos are good with some really decent info for neophytes so I watch them while I play to give you that extra count. Keep up the great content :) (Btw, Engi's - ugh, I want to make one, I'd like to grab the couple APs with capping and eliting one... but I just. can't. play. the. engi. It's the guns I'm sure, I just don't like guns as a weapon. Maybe because I came from EQ and D&D so it doesn't fit in my head, maybe because I'm a Canadian - that last part was a joke, but not really 😆)

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Hey thanks! Seriously the elementalist I don't even feel anymore when I play. It's simple muscle memory at this rate lol Also with the engineer now that they have the weaponmaster training from secrets of the obscure you can utilize all the elite spec weapons baseline (sword hammer and mace)

[@boutch1993]

One fact i love about the rangers is that they can be simple or complex, all in one class depending on which profession you choose to use. And, with the ginourmous variety of pets, it can offers a lot more utility than elementalists in general, especialy with the traps, commands, untamed natural tankyness, especial pets like the smokescale or the jacaranda etc. And soulbeast is super simple, but the mechanic to become one with the pet, combined with the quantity os pets, brings A LOT to the table. Plus, we have one of the best healers in the game (if not the best).

[@CaffeinatedDad]

I think the Ranger versatility is fantastic and honestly underrated. It can fit many different roles and playstyles depending on how deep you want the rabbit hole to go

[@boutch1993]

@@CaffeinatedDad Totally. And is very simple to adjust the ranger to diferent roles in no time.

[@schrenk-d]

Love my main Ele. But your right. It is a challenge to play Ele. Weaver is my jam.

[@lordb3423]

I like the thief, few buttons to worry about and is a high skill high reward class. It's all about positioning, eye frames, and game knowlage. It's easier to learn boss move sets on this class because i don't have to be staring at the skill bar all the time. And it's utilities are useful in some areas for taking shortcuts if you know where they are.

[@N7xVoss]

I watched this video this morning! Goose morning! I must say I was laughing from start to end well timed video clips of memes throughout the video! Nicely done. Loved the topic! Ele least played my guess.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Ha! Thank you buddy! A very Goose morning to you as well! I had a bit too much caffeine for this video

[@biggsdrasil]

I think it's warrior as least played. Maybe it's that it's the least "unique" take on a class theme, or that it's almost entirely physical. I uses to prefer mages all the way, but funny enough, recently I've had a craving to focus on my warrior. Warrior was the first class I had on my old account back in the old wow days. Barbarian was the first class I played in diablo 2. Playing a full (or mostly melee) class that depends on themselves and not magic makes me feel more fulfilled, in a way. On a personal level, it also reminds me to take care of myself in real life. I used to convince myself that I needed to play magic classes or healers because I needed to be able to help people and depend on class mechanics to save myself, but being full melee and physical forces me to learn the limits of my class and dance on that edge more often. I enjoy the paladin, as well, since it's mostly melee with some support built it, but warrior has a soft spot in my heart, too. Being a savior for others while doing everything in my power to help myself is my gaming power fantasy. (People say to play guardian for paladin vibes, but it doesn't feel the same to me)

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Honestly, the warrior fits the engineer thought too! It doesn't have any gifts or magic, just brute strength!

[@tchoythao5579]

@@CaffeinatedDad pretty sure warrior is the least played. The metrics sight had it listed as such.

[@_XR40_]

Warrior isn't easy - But you get some of the most exciting battles that way. Not being able to stand back and blast someone with fire produces a lot more adrenaline - And satisfaction with victories....

[@MaiseNow]

Question for you: would you be interested in doing a video on elite specs that DON'T require the player to "play the piano"? I've been maining Untamed and discovered it aggravates my autoimmune joint condition, so if I want to keep playing I need to switch to a less intense button-mashing build.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

This is not a bad idea...

[@PureRandumosity]

Play power soulbeast that uses a sword/axe and longbow with a red Moa. You can literally just camp sword/axe and still do a bunch of damage and not even touch the longbow unless you need it

[@wcocytus]

I think you should use "builds" instead of e-spec. Since there are some builds stem from an e- spec that have very different playstyle. Example could be power Mech vs condi Mech or condi Virtuoso vs power Virt

[@MILDMONSTER1234]

I agree with the statement on rev, the wiki and the in game description are just too vague on what the class even is. At first glance it looks like your standard dark knight style class but the way its described makes it seem like some type of summoner. It wasnt until i saw some videos when i realized it what it does and that it might be worth looking into I do like how each armor class has its own "edgelord" type. Heavies have Rev, Mediums have Thieves, and lights have Necros

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Oh for sure, that was done on purpose loool

[@SimplyDawn]

i used this video as inspiration & made a Charr Engineer (Charr is listed as the least chosen/played race on the same site you used). we're lvl 30+ & not doing too badly so far. thank you!

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Let's goooo! Char engineer is a fantastic choice!

[@_XR40_]

More Charr Engineers for the Iron Legion....

[@CarnaghSidhe]

In terms of most played to least played, I think you are much better off using "playtime" which puts the elementalist as #5 out of 9. In the middle basically. Rev is #9 out of 9 by playtime, coming in last. You appear to be using number of characters created, which really doesn't reflect what you're going to see in game... If I'm misspeaking I apologise and welcome being corrected.

[@MG_]

Playtime is kind of unfair for the Rev because every other class had at least a 5 year head start in playtime. i think using in characters created is fair because people deliberately make the choice to create the character, thus gathering data that can approximate exact amount of interest in the class.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Unfortunately if I use playtime, the data gets skewed due to revenant not showing up until HoT. When I chose characters created it leads to people creating those particular classes. I wish we could have more in depth data to work with however

[@Matt-sk6hi]

​@@CaffeinatedDadAnyway to find play time since a given time? Like since the start of HOT or EOD?

[@leafcatcher4802]

@@Matt-sk6hi possible but not from the most easily accessible data site gw2 efficiency

[@Matt-sk6hi]

@@leafcatcher4802 gotcha

[@Celine-kn5wv]

I’ve always played my elem as a mage, I love my staff and nothing in this game makes me happier then throwing fire balls and summoning stormes. Do I spend a lot of time on the ground ? Yeah sure, but I do it with a lot of style 😎

[@CaffeinatedDad]

THATS WHY YOU'RE THE 🐐 LOL I felt this on a personal level

[@gustavoschiller6852]

Surprised mesmer wasn't mention

[@spastic6250]

Great Vid!! Been playing Gw2 for 8ish years now and each of the classes you mentioned have been my mains through the years. But the two Engineers on my account represent 2/3rd of my total playtime on Gw2. No Mechanist time though! Scrapper / OG Engi FTW.

[@missk1697]

Actually engineer does incorporate a bit of magic. The jade bot is effectively powered by dragons energy, and your signets are basically "i spawn a massive blast field with this magically enchanted ring".

[@donosborn9899]

11 year engineer main here. I've loved (and struggled) with the class for years, but now with the Mechanist, it's just plain fun though it was more fun with the Sup Runes of the Golemancer prior to the switch to the Relic system.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

I am so sad at the nerf to the runes! I loved the unique summon relics!

[@donosborn9899]

@@CaffeinatedDad Yep, I surprised a lot of people when I'd roll up onto the scene with not 1 but 2 golems and mow through mobs. If I didn't need them for a particular mob, I just had to unequip the pauldons and put away the Mech and I'd be good to go. Anet needs to give me back my Mk I Golem.

[@ZachC-130]

If GW3 ends up being real, I think simpler class mechanics would go a long way in retaining players. I can’t count the number of times (years) I’ve stopped playing because I don’t feel like inducing carpal tunnel during my free time.

[@tbone9474]

I absolutely love my , in essence a more difficult guardian who offers identical flexibility in boons. My engineer is my main though and I play all 3 specs for different roles. Love them both equally, especially the holomsmith burst

[@nessus90]

Thief has been my main since the game released. I always enjoyed thief/assassin type classes in mmo's so it felt natural. But yes they can't get eaten alive but once you understand how to utilize their evade/stealth skills it definitely increases survival. Also knowing when to step back and change to range is important! I've gone thru so many different builds but right now I am enjoying being a daredevil with staff. Good AOE type damage

[@CaffeinatedDad]

That's the mini game, you have to be good at evasion and dodge timing to do well as a thief. And when you pull it off it's golden!

[@sircappyiii3079]

Engineer : who needs magic when you bave two barrels full of freedom to liberate pur enemies off this mortal realm

[@TheTolnoc]

I only ever see Charr and Asura engineers. Which is probably for the best, given what happened with Scarlet.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Hahahaha

[@vidaliver1447]

Bro i love your hard work you put into this video, all the talking, all the montage. Really do, amazing job! But the sad part is that to my knowledge you've made a drastic mistake in the very beginning. You see, when you open that efficiency statistics, why in holy name of the Six Gods do you pick the left table (characters) over the right (playtime)? Do you realize that half of the players in the game have made a mandatory mesmer to portal people around? And also like 90% of the people in the game tried every single character and the ones they have at the moment are defined not by what they liked more but by the fact what character they've deleted to empty one of the slots for another? I personally have a thief, a guardian, a warrior and probably 5 engineers picked because they were the fastest to go through the entrance story - and while my main with like 80% uptime is a thief, my 2nd highest played is a revenant that i don't even have anymore!!! Should i mention an ungodly amount of afk engineer and necromancers farmers? It's exploding amount of "characters" and "playtime" at the same time, which are essentially not played at all. So, the least played professions are actually: revenant, engineer, mesmer and thief. I put mesmer over thief for obvious reason: half of the mesmers are just parked afk on jumping puzzles to portal people around and are also mandatory picks for commanders who lead Hero Point trains, meta in Drakkar etc. Thieves are not easy to find in open world too, the engineers are most likely outscaling them by far, the main thieves playtime comes from sPvP and WvsW. Again, thank you very much for your honest effort and for trying to show people the least played spec. I highly appreciate it as i have already developed sort of an allergy for meta sluts. Hopefully more people would remember that the game is about fun. Love, and glhf!

[@trenchtierstudios554]

Engineers are some of the best zone controllers you can ask for when leveling. Their turrets allow you to get free damage and CC while you dance around the battlefield. In the end you'll also get a green mech.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Agreed! Really underutilized for their capabilities. Especially for the turrets!

[@trenchtierstudios554]

@@CaffeinatedDad run healing, rifle, net, and thumper turrets on my utility bar. (free player here) Rifle gives ok ranged damage in both turret and belt damage. Net gives two net ccs. And thumper is gold standard pb cc. Don't use flame turret due to a lot of monsters having prot from flame. Also rocket is too fragile.

[@Necromasterify]

Amazing video! I just arrived in GW2 and can't pick a profession (that's how I found this video). Would u recommend a profession personality quiz/test ? Can't deny, my work melt my brain and I was looking for something not too complicated. But from the moment I start to see the elite specs... F... I really can't decide, too many interesting options!

[@jeffhall2411]

The elementalist is my WvW goto when i go in there.. healing xp is amazing xp!

[@Shortay1325]

Super fun taking a celestial or healing staff build to big Zerg battles in WvW. Some of the most fun I’ve had (and still have) is a aurashare celestial frontline staff build. You can pop heals over allies while also CC and pressuring enemies 1200 range away. So dang fun.

[@user-yh8ce7tg8l]

The subject of this video is meant as a catch title, but the context and the statistical graph at the end of the video (10:34) are a completely different story. There is only a 2.92% difference between the most played and least played classes in GW2. TL;DR the least played classes are only played marginally less because of either complex rotations or simple rotations that certain gamers avoid. Other than that, play a class you enjoy and don't worry about this.

[@Blood_Ronin]

Rev is my fav. Surprised I don't see more.

[@ramthesleepy4160]

I remember starting off GW2 with a Thief, but ever since I saw it locked behind expansions I found it so cool, then eventually when I finally got myself into the game again, bought my first expansion and experienced Rev I just fell in love with it. I remember when I went to a full account I deleted my old Characters and started from scratch and that was with Rev. From then Rev was the bomb, still is, I love the idea, it's really fun to play, and all I wish for is a Legendary Engineer elite spec with Scarlet 😂 but man invoking the spirits of the mists to fight? Is craazy, Malyx and Kalla all the way for me. I can't stop saying their lines as they say it, the idle talks, the voice lines I love it, Rev up to this day holds lore and soo much detail I love it.

[@Jollux2124]

Started playing almost 2 months ago, choose revenant herald, qpds, love it so much that i have not tried any other class, just got my fourth leggy! loving the game so far !

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Oh man you are crushing it! Glad to hear you are having a great time!

[@danmolina2724]

Engineer was the first character i made when the game released because it was so different - I still play my engineer the most up to now but im sure that will change - thanks for the videos good stuff man

[@st_cuthbert544]

3:22 my guess: Thief 10:35 those percentages are actually really really close. Arenanet nailed it!

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Honestly all things considered they have done a great job eith balance in game!

[@therealtotem]

"how tasking it can be to play the piano" played ele once and lol. I made a fresh 80 rav forgetting i had one and how it plays and "oh boy" came in mind. I enjoyed the thief / engineer

[@uniquename111]

What pissing me off about Elementalist is that when the game came out over 11 years ago Elementalist had the highest dps build, and Anet explained that we got this because we also will have the lowest hp. At that point when power creep was not a thing this was ok to me. It was a trade off. Do good dps but god damn it make sure to time your dodges. I played Berserker support ele (back then healingpower did not scale well if at all) in WvW and it was tough but also fun to drop meteorshower and watch people die. If they focused me i was pretty much a one hit. Anway fast forward. Over the years Ele have taken so many hits and have so many weird cooldowns in wvw. Like meteorshower who will hit you hard then hit you less hard and then not at all and then if it is thursday and sunny outside and so it went. Now before people start hammering on the keyboard Ele have a lot of good dps specs and if you are the pianoplayer you will get very high dps no doubt. But Ele is no longer the top dps as it was supose to be in the past, but we still have the tradeoff. We still have the lowest hp in game, whilst other classes can shit out their dps and not get one shotted. Arena Net keep on refusing to remove the trade off and give Elementalist higher base hp and there is LITTERALLY no reason for that, because other specs can do more dps and they have a shitton more base hp then ele do. So that if anything is my annoyance towards Arena Net. Their constant refuse to remove the low base hp that was there as trade off, a trade off noone else have but they can also do high dps.

[@evilkamatis542]

Revenant was one of the most played class before. It is one of the highest dps class before. Then Anet, as per usual, nerfed the heck out of it to ground that people are now only mostly using their revs as a parked character to a treasure chest. Its sad.

[@saiter6010]

Yea pretty much my heralt atm

[@AzureRoxe]

Elementalist not really feeling like a Mage is also why many newer Eles always choose Staff and always focus on Fire, it's the closest thing to that Mage feel, especially with moves like Fire Staff 5. It also suffers from "The other 2 choices are far cooler to the average player" syndrome, with the awesome Necromancer [especially after Heart of Thorns released with Reaper] and freaking MESMER. With Thief, it's also their Resource mechanic that puts some people off since they need to manage it while every other class just has to focus on CDs.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Unfortunately there wasn't the true feeling of a mage in gw2, or a wizard for that matter. Thief I agree, bring limited to a resource spender makes it more intimidating

[@shivag73]

Reaper is amazing and was the 1st Elite. I played GW from the beta and so had a hard time wanting to play how different some of the professions in 2 are.

[@ostrakrewetka7604]

This video makes me feel myself so unique cause I play deadeye, vindicator and catalyst :D I have all classes leveled up and have best fun with those mentioned classes :D

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Looool then I'm glad you enjoyed the video!

[@punthebun]

Engineer was my second class (after my necromancer ^^), all the way back when I started playing GW2 (which was 8 years ago at this point... tho I did stop playing for 6 years ^^; ) I just loved the idea of lobbing dynamite at enemies, while setting up my rocket turret, while the rest of the word was just figuring out how rifles and pistols worked. Of course I picked an Asura as character race for my engi ^^ Gotta demonstrate superior Asura intellect at every chance XD

[@Rabidconscience]

I really expected revenant to be the least played profession because it not existing at launch (and the HoT paywall after it was added) meant that would-be revenant mains usually found their main before they got a chance to try it.

[@pirateFinn]

I actually found Rev fairly easy to play, since you typically don't swap weapons as part of a rotation, and the utilities arent too hard to use.

[@saiter6010]

Yea, Rev is pretty simple and i risky to say spammy sometimes(boon herald)

[@pirateFinn]

@@saiter6010 Herald changed some with the latest balance update but overall I agree

[@rhailex4727]

I think you should've shown the playtime for each profession because a lot of people who just park their alts may just make a profession they don't have yet "just in case". Playtime shows more clearly the differences.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

True! The main issue I ran into was the revenant not being introduced until hot. The data was a bit skewed :(

[@pieohpie]

Love the downstate Ele meme 😂

[@JustPixelNoIDontWantAnyNumbers]

As someone who has been playing rev as their main since they first bought the PoF/HoT bundle after completing the Personal Story on my Necro, a couple things come to mind (some of which you mentioned in the video itself): 1. Its an expac class. Unlike with the elite specs where you can play the baseclass in f2p, rev is locked behind a paywall. Also, a lot of people usually stick to their first character, maybe switching it up later down the line. And unless someone bought gw2 for you or you won a giveaway or something, you wont exactly be starting with rev as your first character. 2. Often times, when people list the hardest classes in the game, its usually Mesmer, Ele and Rev. Some also say engi which might also contribute to its place in the ranking but eh. The truth is, I personally find Rev a lot easier to play and to explain than a lot of other classes, exactly because of the legends. You basically have toolkits from engi for a class mechanic, and they can be summarized easily. Want Power damage? Shiro. Want Condition Damage? Mallyx. Want to heal your allies and also carry every single Wing 7 run? Ventari. Want to be unkillable in open world? Jallis. And amazingly enough, the traitlines are basically designated to the legends, so if you understand the legends, you understand the traitlines. Devastation is for power damage with some light lifesteal. Corruption is for Condi damage and general condi fuckery. Retribution is for reducing damage on yourself and allies. Salvation is for healing and supporting. I just flows so nicely together and makes it (In my opinion) one of the easiest classes to get into and to make your own builds with. Also people that say energy is hard to manage havent played the class, the only case where this is true is on Heal herald because you need to balance out your energy consumption to have enough for emergency heals. Um, I just realised that 2 pretty much sums up my thoughts for the class so no third point. Anyway yeah im kinda obsessed with rev because I really like its integration into the lore and also rytlock just blew me away when I first started playing the game. good stuff.

[@ZanesZygot]

Mesmer was my Main and its concepts are exactly what I love even going by the colors, and I find it kinda amazing (?) how popular it is in a way I wouldn't expect. I mean, I find it cool, one of the coolest, but I also think it's not for everyone for some reason. Revenant is my most played one tho, I'm a big lore guy and having one profession so connected to this aspect (even tho I didn't play GW1) made me go crazy wanting to know more, but I agree with the points, it's kinda difficult to grasp what it's trying to represent in a way. And about engineer I never even thought of making one, I think most people when playing a fantasy game would disregard any about technology and guns, so really I don't have any interest. Tho I do find it very cool and when I see a god engineer it always makes me kinda envy them? Dunno, there's something cool about them but I never got to them for some reason.

[@Gamer23-s6n]

Elementalist is really fun to play but the moment you get on one after other classes the first thing you notice is that 'glass cannon' thing, and it starts feeling like you're dying alot. after awhile i get tired of not being able to solo stuff i can solo on necro so i just switch back to harbinger who can go almost forever and never die. even when soloing events in jahai bluffs etc. necro is TOUGH. And Flamethrower with eternal stability is awesome on engineer, especially on fights like the giant wurm world boss who throws everyone all over. 3 of the 5 possible flamethrower skills are cc so it works pretty good.

[@coffeeScryer]

Earth/Water Ele can solo stuff in a tanky condi way. But I've always liked Air/Fire power Ele, which does suffer the way you describe :c

[@deekds]

Dagger/warhorn Tempest myself, Love it! Never before have I wrecked entire armies in seconds while at the same time that knife edge feeling of knowing I'll be dead from one shot at any time. All risk, All reward!

[@Veechii]

A bit of personal insight as to why the engineer is the least played profession, especially before EoD came out, was because it was extremely unforgiving. What i mean by that is that the rifle was WAY, WAY worse before it's rework, did less damage, the leap wasn't what it was now and the CC abiltiies had very little damage on them. Also using both grenade AND bomb kit was required because of the lower potencies on rifle making it just as piano'y as the elementalist. Also mechanist wasn't a thing and scrapper didn't apply quickness until fairly recently (3+ ish years ago) so the only viable spec for most content was Holosmith, which is considered the hardest of the 3 elites as of now. The last 3 years have been absolutely fantastic for engi players!

[@ilyakusenco8151]

“Elementalist is not a pure mage” is so true and that’s why I love it. When I played wow, there wasn’t a class that fills the spellsword niche except for death knight (which I played). Ele is basically a niche WoW lacked for me.

[@Draxynnic]

Problem is that the people who did want the mage-style elementalist are feeling as abandoned as you did in WoW - Elementalist was originally marketed as being like that but with a spellsword-ish option, but every expansion has pushed it more towards being a spellsword while the mage style has been mostly left to wither (outside of the scepter rework). The ideal would be a balance that caters to both playstyles.

[@VisualBeatLab]

Just started playing a few days ago. Good job on this video.

[@montanawhite5699]

I was always drawn to engineer. As a maintenance technician for my day job it fits me. I’m also a general handy man.

[@MCH731]

100% agree especially on the Elementalist. I think one thing they could do to draw a little interest and this goes for all classes. Allow weapon swaps for all. Saying the attunements make up for the inability to weapon swap is ludicrous in my opinion.

[@saiksaikatai594]

I will say this again. The engineer needs a rework of the mechanic specialization or a new specialization where he merges with the robot or builds an IronMan armor, gets in it, pilot it and even flies in it.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Agreed! I like the mech but i think it takes away overall from the engineer

[@TheRealTimeline]

I can tell you why people don't play engi as an Engi main myself, there are no weapons! You have kits, but kits are like the poor mans weapon, no one wants to use them.

[@michaelgray371]

I feel like engineer would be a lot cooler if they had themed it as a more advanced engineer. If more of its abilities were themed like the holosmith and not a guy living in the woods.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

That... that actually makes a lot of sense....

[@Warcrafter4]

@@CaffeinatedDad Thematics are also a large part of the popularity. Guardian and Warrior are both very strong thematically. Meanwhile Engineer and Revenant are both weak thematically. Engineer is actually a "Junker" as their turret and kits are literally made from junk as shown by the skritt. So the class name is a misnomer. As for Revenant. If you didn't play GW1 you're just kinda stuck with a generic "Ghost"/"Haunted" class. I mean the Herald Elite spec probably got more people playing it in PoF despite being a HoT elite spec. Simply because people actually found out who Glint actually was and got a massive thematic boost. Aka for Revenant's thematic issue boils down to : "Who are these people and why should I care?". As if you only played GW2 the only one you really learn and thus care about is Glint.

[@RoseDragoness]

As a new player that been playing games for ages and now prefer things not super complicated... I first made an elementalist. Then I get overwhelmed with all four different elements and how the position of the spells cant be changed. Say, there is a dodge on fire spell on slot 3, something similar to that dodge on lightning is on slot 4, that is where it is confusing. If I can arrange the first five skills as I want to put where is my damage, where is my cc, and where is my evasion, I would keep playing it. Now I go to simple ranger.

[@jeeshadow]

If that graph is a reflection of the gameplay, (and I think it is) that is a huge credit to the ANET devs. There's a 2.92% difference from the least played class to the top played class! That tells you that every class is well thought out and very fun to play!

[@wcerasmus]

Me watching this while started with engineer and ended up as a engineer Holo and Scrapper main due to its versatility to all content, groups and team skill.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Loool this may have been targeted!

[@UndeniablyMac]

I just started using Elementalist, using Scepter and Dagger rn, its going great, I love it

[@Kalarandir]

In all my years of playing since launch, Ele is still the only profession I have not 80'd once. Yet I have multiple 80's in every other profession, and Engi was my first 80 and my 2nd most played profession. I think the graph shows that there are no hated profs and just favoured ones that are to be expected i.e. Guardians. But, imho, I think the spread is fairly even.

[@belquerst]

Engi was one of my most favorite class since beginning of the game.. Always loved his variability and playstyle.. :)

[@PWReviews]

My main for the last 8 or 9 years has been the elementalist but I just am not enjoying it as much as I used to and starting to find the change of attunements a bit bothersome. For the last 2 years the revenant has been my main and I'm loving it! I still play the Ele from time to time but the Revenant is amazing and I love it's set skills/talents and diverse build range. Can't wait to see how it plays in Obscure and the elementalist ☺️

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Rev is alot of fun especially the mist effect when dodging! Sometimes my ele gets boring but I usually just swap weapons OR builds to change it up!

[@ethanhorn6093]

I have been playing for three months. I started with Necromancer, couldn't get into it. Moved over to Engineer and enjoyed it a lot. I however have settled in the glow of Elementalist because i like the structure of how they rotate between weapons and elements. I specifically like the fantasy of being a dmg healer. Being able to flit from healing, buffing, and hitting, while moving from long ranged to mid ranged spellcasting feels fresh no matter how much of it I play. I think Elementalists uses an overlooked game design that makes it very hard but rewarding if you get it... and I am saying that as someone who hasn't quite got it... but I still enjoy it a lot. I 100% though get why people might be averse to playing the class. It's hard. It's really hard.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

It takes alot of knowledge and experience to be able to push elementalist to it's capabilities that's why I feel many people avoid playing it

[@ethanhorn6093]

@@CaffeinatedDad Oh absolutely, no doubt. I was just pointing out to reinforce a year later that it is 100% valid and I get why people dodge the class. But I do find it very rewarding (I know its your favorite class and you're not saying its not). I think its kind of nice to see videos from a year or more ago still be relevant and accurate to my experience. A very rewarding class. I wish I liked the Revenant more... it seems very steeped in the lore of GW2's world building.

[@dclegends8689]

My main is a ranger cause I've always enjoyed the archer archetype. I created other 4 characters at the time, but never gave them much attention other than casual gameplay just to open maps. After being away from the game for pretty much 7 years, I came back to it last year and now I'm tying out these other characters. Two of them being my rev and my engi. The rev's energy system still throws me off a little bit and engi got a bit more streamlined with condi mech for me. That specialization really made engi more popular and I can totally see why.

[@serow]

The Rev is such a rare archetype in MMOs, I'm so glad GW2 included it.

[@ipunchedu8884]

seeing the list i think it's clear what's being played and what is not is mainly down to how easy it is to get into the class

[@fuyu848]

I would argue that for Guardian's Willbender elite spec can be fast and reach high APM too

[@TheGearSol]

Most of the classes can have high APM, I don't really get all this "elementalist high APM gods" thing. It's not a 2009 anymore, where you have mage class with all the buttons in the world. The only elementalist spec with real high apm is weaver, other specs are on the same level as other classes in general.

[@fuyu848]

@@TheGearSol Agreed. With the introductions of elite specs and thanks to the much more accessible alacrity and quickness balance the pace of the classes with only a few that can go further.

[@chanceturbo2745]

The way I described revenant to my friends why I get them playing, is that it plays like Link in Majora's Mask with the mask switching mechanic.

[@ashleyanne2056]

Revenant is least played for one reason: It is locked until you buy an expansion. So no one makes it for their 1st character that they fall in love with.

[@jarodhuhse6086]

Even though I do not play engi, but that class is not just attack. That class has insane amounts of combo set ups just like ele

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Core engineer is basically attack! I'd imagine most would use turrets, and maybe grenade kits to attack straight up

[@bernardouc]

Great content, having a los of fun with your videos. I cale back to gw2 after 10 or so years, before the first expansion and im having a blast. Just curious why almost all of the proffesions are melee, seems really strange and im still looking for a good build that i can perform well in pve mostly from range

[@benjaminfast5496]

Welcome back! I have played all the classes and used all the weapons (some way more than other's though). Best ranged options, IMHO: Engineer with Rifle (power) or Dual Pistols (Condi). (Engineer will also get a Shortbow this winter hopefully) Mesmer with Staff or Scepter (off hand pistols are my preference) or Vitruouso with Dagger Pistol (sword on swap) Revenant (Renegade) with Shortbow Ranger with Axe and Dagger or Torch (shortbow on swap for condi) Necromancer with Scepter and Dagger. Scourge with Scepter and Torch. As someone who also prefers ranged combat, these are the ones I have enjoyed while still feeling useful. Ranged weapons on some of the other classes feel weaker or harder to main. Finding what feels right for you is important though. Engineer and Mesmer are my two most played classes and probably because they have better ranged options.

[@cmdrwraithe1857]

@@benjaminfast5496 If you solo a lot, Engineer or Ranger is what you will want, for sure.

[@dave_by_day7632]

Now the revenant is the least played (5.66% total play time) vs the engineer (7.28% total player time)

[@huna7a]

Jeez I must take shirt like that, stating "downstate is a part of my rotation", its really cool! Im not much of an elementalist player, I hit alot of metas with it when im bored just to throw condis and smash the heads of the adds with double fire attunement sword skill 2, and then leap with dagger 5 on earth attunement (my favorite elementalist skill!) My second weapon set is scepter warhorn for mid to close range, its not very efficient at long range, but I still love it. My knight gear uses scepter focus as ranged weapon offset weapons and I again use sword dagger for mainset. Even doe you dont have condition damage in knight gear, it still does some low but important damage, which is really cool! Some metas and bounties really require a toughness gear, and since knight gear has approximately double the toughness the celestial gear has, I prefer it for survivability. The amount of damage reduction effects you get as elementalist from food effects, traits, skill passives and auras is unsane, and when you pack this with knight gear it becomes way easier to survive and keep beating stuff. Dealing damage comes second when you have not enough tools to survive, and the knight gear might be meh in damage dealing, its awesome in terms of survivability, and since im not a fan of trailblazers gear on elementalist, I have build knight gear instead, the things it allow you to do in fights is uncomparable with anything else!

[@9186737467]

I'd imagine people only think there's a lot of Machinist because it's one of the most identifiable classes.

[@rhombedrum]

well i've seen meta squads having 1/3 of them just being mechanists lol, like literally 10 out of 30 players on Drakkar were mechanists a few days ago, for example

[@rhombedrum]

To stay on topic tho, I presume that engineer is still (even now) the least played profession because people who main engi main it for a reason: engi offers a lot of utility, engi specs are each unique and valuable for something specific, as soon as you know the proffession and spec you can pull out pretty much anything you need to survive all game mods. I presume the majority of engi mains choose different classes for their alts just because one or two engi characters cover the most of it. Also yes, it is demanding during the learning curve, and some just don't stick with it after levelling an engi. The phenomen of mechanists all around is just that simple: firstly, it's very effective, and secondly, it's very good in terms of accessibility features (especially prior to june 27th patch), you can practically build it so that you can have any type of disability and still access high-end content like raids while also being very useful to your team. So, people who are into casual gameplay choose mechanists because of this feature too: you can have the simplest playstyle in the game without lacking effectiveness and efficiency. Note edit: funny that we don't see many mechanist players switching to holosmith after June 27, mainly because other engi specs require you to know the core class utilities and demand way more from the player. Both holosmith and especially scrapper after the patch need you to pay a lot of attention to what you are doing exactly. That just proves that those who play mechanists do it because of it's simplicity, even after all the Mechanical Genius updates.

[@woodenmetal2977]

After about 100~ mastery levels on my warrior, I decided to dabble into other professions. I tried out the core guardian - solid class. Not as exciting as the warrior, but very versatile. They're quite good in group content, but I mostly solo except in OW meta events. Even with full berserker on guardian, it always felt like I was doing more damage on the warrior. It could also be profession bias, I guess. I tried out ranger - pretty fun, but then I quickly remembered why I don't use bows and rifles on my warrior; I'm just not a ranged-type of player. And then... the elementalist. I don't think I even got that to level 60 when I decided to go back to my warrior. The fact that the staff, alone, has 20 weapons skills in between its elements was mind-blowing to me. Then there are its other weapon combinations, like dagger/dagger. I could just be bad at the game, which I fully accept.

[@milanopiano]

From the first day of GW2 launch I have played my Asuran engineer. I LOVE the class. I have dabbled in other classes, but Engineer for me gives by far the most versatility, customizability and flavour.

[@RavenWT]

Revenant is soooooo amazing to play! I switched my Main Warrior for the Revenant ! Can do almost all roles with the revenant, just switching stuff / spec and let's go ! And my second "main" is engineer ! So much fun too! Cheers!

[@mistformsquirrel]

My guess for least played is Thief - not because it's bad, but it's survivability is way harder than a lot of classes; and when I feel like "I could be doing this same damage, but on a Guardian who's almost unkillable... why am I bothering?" ... yeah.

[@Xthasys]

Finally a video no longer than 12 hours

[@Silungar]

My only problem with engie is how underwhelming the scrapper is looks wise, combined with how far away the holosmith and mechanist are from the original aethetic, especially holo

[@fylimar]

I love my Asura mechanist - basically gnome artificer in GW2 (gnome artificer is one of my characters in our DnD game).