125075-need-some-help-getting-over-personal-obstacles-to-really-enjoying-the-game

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Hello Wildstar community. I recently started up the Wildstar 10 day trial to see how this game was nowadays. I had originally tried the game during some of the public beta weekends that happened before the game initially released. At that time I choose not to continue playing for two main reasons: 1) I couldn't find a class I really enjoyed playing, and 2) I had somehow convinced myself that I wouldn't be able to find a group of people with similar approaches to end game as myself. Admittedly, early problems with PvP and general stereotypes around the game kept me away longer.
 
Having started the trial, I can say I enjoy the general experience so far. Combat feels fast and fluid, the little bit of the world I have seen is beautiful, and I find the main story has an interesting enough basic premise to keep me going (I recognize I'm still at the beginning, just hoping the story really ramps up and gets exciting over time). Having said that, I find myself hitting my previously mentioned obstacles again, and I'd like to get some help to figure out the right approach for me to this game.
 
Class:
 
So I have been playing an Engineer in the trial so far. It's cool...but I'm not so sure it's the right class for me. It's hard for me to vocalize why, things just feel off and I constantly have it in the back of my mind that I should look at other classes. In my beta experience, I played and leveled all the classes to some level between 15-25. And each time I just felt unsure if I wanted to keep leveling that class. Now, I'm well aware that the way a class plays at low to mid level is very different that it plays at level cap in end game content. And I certainly took some time to look at higher level abilities and AMPs to see if they seem interesting. The problem I have, though, is just because I think an ability or mechanic sounds cool, doesn't mean it's the right choice for the kind of end game content I would want to focus on (raiding and casual PvP). I've taken some time to look into threads on the various class forums, but a lot of the positive posts/guides come from authors who generally know they like that class and that it works for them (nothing wrong with that, it's just a reality).
 
I was hoping that maybe some of the helpful people I've seen on the forums could make some suggestions for class based on my preferred play style. This is usually how I approach MMOs:
 
1. I enjoy tanking or healing, and prefer to avoid playing DPS in PvE content. I realize this doesn't eliminate any possibilities on its own.
1a. As far as tanking goes, I think my favorite tanking experience pre-Wildstar would be Brewmasters during Mists in WoW. I really enjoyed having to think constantly about how I was using my class resources to their absolute best and really be on top of what was going on in the fight. 
1b. I don't really have on favorite healer. I will say I found healers in FFXIV interesting, because it was cool to switch between a healing stance and a damage dealing stance as situations changed during the fight. An adaptive class is a plus for me. My only problem with FFXIV healing would be a lack of interesting/fun utilities outside of healing and doing damage.
2. I enjoy playing a class that requires a lot of learning of really master. I enjoy the sense of growing past normal leveling just by figuring out how to do things better. It's especially fun for me when the average community perception of a class is negative because of their experiences with people who haven't invested the time to optimize their play. It's a good feeling when I can change someone's mind about something.
3. I have a special place in my heart for highly mobile classes in MMOs. I know in Wildstar that all classes have good mobility with dodges, jumping, sprinting, etc, but I love special forms of mobility. Teleports, back flips, harpooning to an unsuspecting bad guy...those abilities just make me happy.
4. I don't have any real preference with regards to ranged or melee. I know tanks will tend to be in melee, and healers will be where they are needed/safe.
 
I'd appreciate any recommendations people might have. My main goal is to pick the right class for me so I can really focus on the journey towards end game. The thing is I am not an alt person...at all. You may have picked up from my play style that I enjoy dedicating myself to a class. I may eventually level up another character in an MMO, but that's usually several months or even over a year before I do that. Generally it comes down to how long it takes me to feel skilled enough with the class I am playing combined with a feeling that my character growth has slowed (i.e. when I start logging in just for raid nights). It can be a bit frustrating for me to have spent a bunch of time on a class I realize I hate. The sense that I'll need to start over can typically tank my motivation to play a game.
 
Finding a community:
 
The other concern I have is finding a group of players to join up with who I really enjoy experiencing the game with. It's been over a year and a half since I've done regular, organized raiding...and I've been really missing this. Wildstar looks to have so fun, challenging raids, and I really want to find a group of friends to experience them with. My main concern is whether or not too much time has passed to really be able to find that. In the past, I've noticed in a lot of MMOs it gets harder to join an active raiding guild the further into an 'expansion' cycle it is. I don't fault anyone for this, it's easier/more reliable to pick up someone who has been actively raiding and/or has the entry requirements cleared than someone just starting that process. Those raid leaders have to consider the enjoyment of the other people in the raid, so this isn't a bad thing, just a hard truth.
 
So I guess I am trying to ask if it will be realistically possible for me to find an active raiding guild once I reach level 50. I'm not so concerned with getting into some super-hardcore/bleeding edge content guild. However, I'd also like to find something more than a casual guild that may get enough people together to raid a couple times a month. Ideally I'd love to be reading 2-3 nights a week, even if the guild isn't making rapid progress. Just people who enjoy each others company and want to focus on improving/getting further a bit each raid night. That's my ideal guild, an atmosphere I really have enjoyed in the past. And I am willing to take care of any attunement/gearing process on my own if that's what it takes to get my foot in the door.
 
To go along with this line of thought, which faction do people think is the optimal to choose to find that kind of environment. I have heard that on Entity, Exiles has a larger overall population, but Dominion has a more active raiding population. I'm not sure if that is true though.
 
 
 
Thank you if you took the time to read that wall of text. I realize it may have turned into rambling in a number of places...I sometimes struggle with the best way to phrase something. I truly think Wildstar could be a game I can enjoy, I just need to work past these bumps and then start working towards my end game goals. :)	
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Some quick answers for you here.
 
As far as tanks go, I only know Warrior and Stalker. Never got my Engi high enough to seriously consider that role. Warrior is about building kinetic energy to full and keeping it as high up there as you can while making threat and regenerating your shields to grant interesting buffs to yourself.
 
Stalker tanks build and spend their suit power and regenerate their own health. I didn't seriously get into this one though. If you're more interested in strategically using resources then the stalker might be better for you than warrior there. Engi is similar to stalker in that regard too although as I said I really have no clue how they operate as tanks aside from the fact that they can generate insane threat with a bug.
 
As for healers with interesting abilities outside of damage and healing... Esper has a ton of crowd control abilities and has interesting debuffs that they can apply to the target. There isn't really a class who can jump between damage and healing, at least not during one fight, because your heals are boosted by support power and your damage is boosted by assault power. If you tried to use an assault ability with support gear on it wouldn't be very powerful and vice versa. Nothing stopping you from switching gear and ability presets in between fights though.
 
You CAN switch out utility skills very frequently without switching out your gear, so while your primary role might not change (DPS or heals or tank) the buffs/debuffs/interrupt/etc can vary significantly from situation to situation.
 
As for a guild, check out the guild recruitment page of your realm forums! And good luck! Hope this was somewhat helpful.	
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