We just got out of the 10th or so meeting on Elementalist skills yesterday. Guardian had A LOT of iteration, whereas mesmer and thief actually have had a lot less. 2) We had 12 professions in mind at the start. We ended up with these 8 because they fulfilled the archetypes in the best ways while keeping some of the GW1 feel and still making it feel like a new game. GW2!!! 3) Weapon choice is almost as important as profession choice. A Hammer warrior is a CC nightmare, but a Longbow warrior is an AoE damage machine. Of course its also valid to play a warrior with neither of these weapons.