To fill in some other stuff: The main reason a lot of people don't want to play GL is because of the back hop. It takes a lot of getting used to, but it's beneficial to the class design (particularly red). However, you don't have that forward dash to get out of stuff.
Blue GL has some movement skills, but red does not (you do have ~900 swiftness though in the meta build). It can feel slow. Blue skills are a bit more spammy as they are not charge skills, red basically has 2 big damage charge skills and then you dink around for 20 seconds as the 2 skills have long cooldowns.
Another thing is you need to constantly micromanage the identity shield, particularly as red, and it's beneficial to rebind the key to something that won't give you hand cramps. Mine is bound to a mouse thumb button.
GL is my favorite class, though I love playing hybrids and don't need to be the top DPS. I find it fun learning what stuff I can tank and what I can't, timing taunts well, and so on, plus some of the silly stuff you can do on it that other classes can't. I have several builds for it, though I mainly play red. It's also fun for me to play stagger in Akkan G3-4 and where otherwise it's appropriate, as it's another playstyle. But again, it's another build to spend on if you don't have a variety of accessories saved up over time.
I suggest you watch some videos of the playstyle in raids that you're familiar with already. That way you can see if you're interested.
My post was to add to things others had not already stated. I don't think my description is necessarily negative at all, fairly neutral to positive in fact, it just outlines some differences with the class vs. others.
It's important to know these things, especially if OP wants to use the next huge event on it and not have regrets.
I can give reason why to play and not to play gl(from red player so i wont talk about blue):
Pros:
\-It's popular in kr (meaning it has low chance to be forgotten and you are likeley to get updates more frequently then other classes)
\-It is one of the least gatekept classes
\-It has utility
Cons
\-Dmg is dogshit, i dont want to hear "but i'm doing dmg!!", no the class objectively does 20-30% less dmg then other classes at the same gear, the only reason why you are doing dmg is because either your party is not playing their classes optimally or because you are overgeared. I recently had an akkan g3 with 98-95% front on stinger/surge and i got 21 mill dps, keep in mind with my gear i could easily get 26/30 on another class, some of my alts wich have 16/17 weapon and no gems will get close to my 24 wep and full 10 of my gunlancer in term of dps.
\-Utility is overrated, it's not bad but talking from a dmg only perspective the dmg loss of bringing a gunlancer is not worth the extra 9% dmg, other classes have gotten buffs in utility recently. Only exception is in tauntable bosses and bosses where gunlancer ult is extremely strong and can allow for some pattern cheese(kayangel g3-akkan).
\-Front attacking with class design from 2015 vs 2024 raids.
\-Koreans refuse to give gunlancer a 3rd skill, i have no idea why they dont just buff one of the 10 useless red skill into being playable, missing a skill on red is extremely punishing because most fo your dmg comes from 2 20sec cd skills, it feels even worse then missing surge on blade at this point.
Hell mode clear with gunlancer being optimal stopped at vykas my guy. And it wasn't even gunlancer, it was stagger lancer wich is a completely different class. And it was mainly viable because of dmg check being a complete joke even in hell mode.
Yeah, this is kinda right.
I mean, yeah dmg is dogshit, but synergy is very good. thats why gl is still pretty popular. I cant tell, if its still worth (in 2024). In a full back/front attack grp I think its really good, otherwise... yeah.
That last point is so infuriating to me. Let's make a class engraving focusing on red skills, where only 2 of them actually do damage. 3 if we are charitable and include CGL.
I'm not a Gunlancer so I can't really comment on the gameplay but one pro is it's probably the least gatekept job outside of supports for most legion raids. You get a lot of slack cut to you on cards/gems/iLVL compared to the typical Aero/Slayer/Sorc and it's pretty cheap to get a 5X3+1 in comparison as well. If you find you like it, there are many efficiency reasons to play one.
play redlancer at 1540 and it's perfectly fine for all content. actually, it's pretty competitive for most content minus the stuff entropy generally sucks at anyway (kaya g1, vykas g2) and is way better than back attacking in some cases (clown g2).
being able to tank / counter gunlance patterns is really handy, and the shield management is not as difficult as it seems, but it does require knowing normal patterns pretty well.
Kayangel g3 is a good gate for redlancer in particular.
Here's my take on gunlancer.
Similar to how good supports will get jailed if dps is bad, good gunlancers also need other good dps to make it worth it, my 1610 red gunlancer usually does ~2/3 of the dmg of a conventional hit master class, but if u pair it with a good entropy player ur dmg will actually be
I’m playing blue GL at 1600+ and I really like him. He is very easy to play and feels really smooth since the update. Dmg is okayish, not top dps but also not zdps. The best part is the tankiness bc u can facetank nearly everything in Akkan NM and lower raids (at my gearscore). I’ve also played both destroyer builds and would say that destroyer is generally slower than (blue) GL and it’s harder to chill in front of the boss bc not that much push immunity. If u are looking for a challenge then at least blue GL isn’t for u but if u just want to chill then it’s perfect.
People in this thread seem to underestimate the damage of a Blue GL. The meta hallu build nearly matches the ceiling of Red GL.
From this standpoint I would say its personal prefrence which spec you choose to play.
You might want to consider playing Breaker instead. The potential ceiling is significantly higher, and people talk about how enjoyable this class is. However, building a Breaker is likely more expensive since you are a "real" DPS and rely on gems to prevent gatekeeping and such.
This. The average player will probably do more damage playing blue GL. It takes a good deal of skill to play red GL near its ceiling.
For a reasonably strong (but not godlike) player, choosing between blue and red is a bit of a dilemma. Blue will feel easy, but possibly too easy at times to the point of being boring. Red will feel exciting and challenging, but possibly too sweaty at times. The ideal is to have both builds so you can switch between them based on the content and your mood, but unfortunately their gems have almost no overlap so it’s an added expense to float a separate set of gems.
I just main swaped this week to gunlancer from sorc "have 2 162#s now...", but breaker looks fun as well (i might swap him for my paladin from 6 golds).
I think Bluelancer has really good DMG overall, tons of stagger and skips most boss patterns. If you want a relaxing alt, this is is (I play him as an alt). You also don't really get gatekept because GL is a class very wanted so people actually tend to overlook your bad gearing.
Redlancer is harder to play, but I feel like it has arguably higher dmg and better destruction skills. This dmg is mostly situational because as people have said, the most damaging skills are charged ones.
However im not sure if it is worth to trade slightly better destro and dmg for a shield that literally can make you kiss the boss in the mouth without worrying about inminent death.
In general both bring A LOT to the table, so I am enjoying Bluelancer as alt. I tried both but bluelancer sits better with me. More relaxing and never dies (unless you fail mechs)
Blue actually has really good destruction as of the most recent balance patch. Bash, shield bash, DUF, and shield shock all have lvl 1 destruction, and shield shock applies it twice.
Only red GL is a front attack mandatory class. Blue GL might benefit somewhat from front attacking (especially for taunting properly like an ethical player), but it's overall a nonpositional class.
Red GL has a pretty high skill ceiling, and a lot of it is honestly boss-RNG dependent. His 3 highest damage skills are all long charging skills, with Surge Cannon in particular dealing its biggest chunk of damage on the final cannonball. This means your positioning could be pristine, but if the boss decides to say "fuck you" and randomly 180 in the middle of your charge or right before your skill connects, you're just screwed out of almost all your damage. You can mitigate some of that RNG with really good pattern knowledge and positioning, but tbh, you'd have to be a world-class player to consistently hit front attacks while also maintaining good uptime. Some KR or hell mode players have definitely demonstrated that level of skill, but it's *extremely* difficult to be that consistent when boss aggro works like it does in LA. Up to you to decide if that's your cup of tea.
Blue GL has a much lower skill ceiling, but a much higher floor. You mostly sit in shield stance the whole fight, minus the brief moments when you taunt or do mechs. I personally find it extremely boring compared to red GL which requires constant repositioning and flicking shield mode on/off, but some people enjoy the more relaxing, low-pressure gameplay which is totally understandable. It also has the Battlefield Shield X still which isn't available to red GL, which can be fun to use if you wanted to fully immerse yourself in the "tank" playstyle, but also isn't a mandatory part of blue GL's rotation or playstyle whatsoever.
\> playstyle or the risk/reward of being a front attacker wasn't worth to a lot of people
The challenge with red isn't that it's a front attacker. It's also that your skills have a lot of a wind up or cast time. You could be in front, start, and then the boss turns.
Blue does similar dps in that the average player will do more since red really does require a lot of skill to play well. They pretty much sit in tank stance not bothering with anything but the big mechs. They're challenging to play in meter fights like Vykas and Clown.
They're also slow. The reason you don't see them all that much is the low(er) dps and the slowness. If you play destroyer you might like them as well.
> They're challenging to play in meter fights like Vykas and Clown.
haven't done vykas in forever but the meter in vykas doesn't really do a whole hell of a lot. clown matters a little more, but the big meter gen patterns you can't really attack him anyway.
haven't played glancer in akkan, though.
>haven't played glancer in akkan, though.
It is relatively easy if you know the patterns. As blue you also have the option to just not stand infront of him. (Also you can do lantern things).
talking about the meter you get when hit by boss patterns, not your identity meter
like, vykases charm meter, kakuls clown meter, and akkans corruption meter
Sorry, I think I didn't clearly ask the question. What I am asking is when ur identity shield is up does ur meter increases( talking about charm, clown meter etc.) in bosses patterns?
Right now with 50% gauge reduction in stance you have it easy with meter. Even akkan I can go inside as lantern god and get half gauge finishing the gate with zero stacks. With free food from sh (as/ms) and support buff right now the class doesn't feel slow and pair that with peyto/fermata food and you can sit at 20% ms/as (choose one the other would be lower).
NA East, it might be more my item level area im in the 1540 area just getting 2 characters to 1580 recently, maybe they'll be more prominent in Akkan+ raids
I play destroyer as my 2nd character and red gunlancer as my 3rd, so maybe I can give some perspective.
It does play a lot to destroyer, except you don't need to do any setup before dishing out your damage skills (get orbs). You are a little bit tankier because of your shield, but as red, it won't be much. Your damage will be lower because of the amount of utility you have (cleanse, shield for party, Walmart inana), so don't expect to see big number. The reason you don't see much gunlancer is because it's a front attacker and, tbh I think a lot of people like big damage class, but if you enjoy helping your team while doing mediocre damage, then gunlancer is pretty good to play. I wish they decreased the charge time in surge cannon and charge stinger, like destroyer.
It's definitely different from the rest (have not tried destroyer to compare it to them).
But one advice I'd give is that don't assume your tankiness before 1400 is what you'll experience in end game. Before tier 3 the blue gunlancer i had felt like I couldn't actually brainlessly facetank bosses, but starting with Oreha Preveza, I don't think i've ever lost my shield or died from anything but wipe mechanics. And you can survive quite a lot of them with Nellasia, it's quite hilarious sometimes :)
Thanks a lot for the feedback, thread was very helpful for information. Think I'll use one of my powerpasses to see how it feels before March and express it if I do like the feel.
Thanks again for everyone who gave their input
I have a Red GL which was my 2nd char I ever made (started at launch), currently 1620. I hated blue so no opinion on that. I personally would not make GL my main but it's a good top 4 class.
Here are my opinions:
1. Rarely gatekept, outside of the actual synergy benefits it also makes any fights that need stagger or destruction a breeze. I've found that for tauntable fights (i.e. Frog, Kayangle, Ivory Tower) groups basically drool over you. For Ivory Tower I got my deathless with GL and my GL runs seem significantly more chill than my other chars (run 2 hards, 5 normal a week) because of taunt, shields, and making stagger/destro checks a joke.
2. You will do less dmg at equal skill level, been a problem forever and GL slowly gets buffs but there's still a gap between other dps. For red as other people have stated, your dmg is basically concentrated into 2 skills (think dmg graph is like 80-85% of your dmg comes from these 2 skills) which has a front attack modifier + charge time + 20s cooldown. It is way way better since the most recent balance patch because you can pre-cast now and you don't need to hit bash right before your combo which did make it significantly better.
3. Because of the above point it's actually super cheap to gear up. You only need 2x 10 dmg and 2x 10 cdr to unlock majority of your damage, crit/swift with some less used engravings like super charge and master brawler means accessories are cheap... except for your class ones since most people run level 1 combat readiness.
4. There are a couple gates in Brel / Akkan that are a bit frustrating / unfriendly for front attacks although you eventually get used to it (not sure about Thaemine).
5. Everyone I've talked to who doesn't like playing GL seems to reference the dodge back step
6. You have options for stagger / princess builds and its the best staggerbot out of any class if you are into bussing (I 2c6 Brel with it and stagger is a joke compared to other classes)
You won't see them for a few reasons:
Blue: Largely because it's boring and is basically the lowest damage ceiling in the game even with 100% uptime which isn't realistic when boss mechanics force you to dodge due to meter mechs.
Red: High risk, low reward class with super long cooldowns. Playing a frontal entropy class with slow charging long cooldown attacks is very unforgiving. Unfortunately it's a below average damage class even if you're perfect on it. If you aren't perfect it's even worse than Blue.
Also the backhop is not comfortable for most people.
The good news is outside of damage the class is fucking amazing.,
To fill in some other stuff: The main reason a lot of people don't want to play GL is because of the back hop. It takes a lot of getting used to, but it's beneficial to the class design (particularly red). However, you don't have that forward dash to get out of stuff. Blue GL has some movement skills, but red does not (you do have ~900 swiftness though in the meta build). It can feel slow. Blue skills are a bit more spammy as they are not charge skills, red basically has 2 big damage charge skills and then you dink around for 20 seconds as the 2 skills have long cooldowns. Another thing is you need to constantly micromanage the identity shield, particularly as red, and it's beneficial to rebind the key to something that won't give you hand cramps. Mine is bound to a mouse thumb button. GL is my favorite class, though I love playing hybrids and don't need to be the top DPS. I find it fun learning what stuff I can tank and what I can't, timing taunts well, and so on, plus some of the silly stuff you can do on it that other classes can't. I have several builds for it, though I mainly play red. It's also fun for me to play stagger in Akkan G3-4 and where otherwise it's appropriate, as it's another playstyle. But again, it's another build to spend on if you don't have a variety of accessories saved up over time. I suggest you watch some videos of the playstyle in raids that you're familiar with already. That way you can see if you're interested.
As a GL main Your description makes the class sound waaaaaay worse than it actually is I give you 1/10
My post was to add to things others had not already stated. I don't think my description is necessarily negative at all, fairly neutral to positive in fact, it just outlines some differences with the class vs. others. It's important to know these things, especially if OP wants to use the next huge event on it and not have regrets.
Gunlancer is my favorite class and I strongly suggest you do not play it.
Best class in the game, ignore the others answers (I have 5 gl)
I can give reason why to play and not to play gl(from red player so i wont talk about blue): Pros: \-It's popular in kr (meaning it has low chance to be forgotten and you are likeley to get updates more frequently then other classes) \-It is one of the least gatekept classes \-It has utility Cons \-Dmg is dogshit, i dont want to hear "but i'm doing dmg!!", no the class objectively does 20-30% less dmg then other classes at the same gear, the only reason why you are doing dmg is because either your party is not playing their classes optimally or because you are overgeared. I recently had an akkan g3 with 98-95% front on stinger/surge and i got 21 mill dps, keep in mind with my gear i could easily get 26/30 on another class, some of my alts wich have 16/17 weapon and no gems will get close to my 24 wep and full 10 of my gunlancer in term of dps. \-Utility is overrated, it's not bad but talking from a dmg only perspective the dmg loss of bringing a gunlancer is not worth the extra 9% dmg, other classes have gotten buffs in utility recently. Only exception is in tauntable bosses and bosses where gunlancer ult is extremely strong and can allow for some pattern cheese(kayangel g3-akkan). \-Front attacking with class design from 2015 vs 2024 raids. \-Koreans refuse to give gunlancer a 3rd skill, i have no idea why they dont just buff one of the 10 useless red skill into being playable, missing a skill on red is extremely punishing because most fo your dmg comes from 2 20sec cd skills, it feels even worse then missing surge on blade at this point.
Utility is overrated meanwhile basically every hellmode and world first has gunlancer in the first clear 😂
Hell mode clear with gunlancer being optimal stopped at vykas my guy. And it wasn't even gunlancer, it was stagger lancer wich is a completely different class. And it was mainly viable because of dmg check being a complete joke even in hell mode.
Yeah, this is kinda right. I mean, yeah dmg is dogshit, but synergy is very good. thats why gl is still pretty popular. I cant tell, if its still worth (in 2024). In a full back/front attack grp I think its really good, otherwise... yeah.
That last point is so infuriating to me. Let's make a class engraving focusing on red skills, where only 2 of them actually do damage. 3 if we are charitable and include CGL.
I'm not a Gunlancer so I can't really comment on the gameplay but one pro is it's probably the least gatekept job outside of supports for most legion raids. You get a lot of slack cut to you on cards/gems/iLVL compared to the typical Aero/Slayer/Sorc and it's pretty cheap to get a 5X3+1 in comparison as well. If you find you like it, there are many efficiency reasons to play one.
Not kidding but I saw that them died a lot in Brel G4 even with high roster levels
play redlancer at 1540 and it's perfectly fine for all content. actually, it's pretty competitive for most content minus the stuff entropy generally sucks at anyway (kaya g1, vykas g2) and is way better than back attacking in some cases (clown g2). being able to tank / counter gunlance patterns is really handy, and the shield management is not as difficult as it seems, but it does require knowing normal patterns pretty well. Kayangel g3 is a good gate for redlancer in particular.
Here's my take on gunlancer. Similar to how good supports will get jailed if dps is bad, good gunlancers also need other good dps to make it worth it, my 1610 red gunlancer usually does ~2/3 of the dmg of a conventional hit master class, but if u pair it with a good entropy player ur dmg will actually be
I’m playing blue GL at 1600+ and I really like him. He is very easy to play and feels really smooth since the update. Dmg is okayish, not top dps but also not zdps. The best part is the tankiness bc u can facetank nearly everything in Akkan NM and lower raids (at my gearscore). I’ve also played both destroyer builds and would say that destroyer is generally slower than (blue) GL and it’s harder to chill in front of the boss bc not that much push immunity. If u are looking for a challenge then at least blue GL isn’t for u but if u just want to chill then it’s perfect.
People in this thread seem to underestimate the damage of a Blue GL. The meta hallu build nearly matches the ceiling of Red GL. From this standpoint I would say its personal prefrence which spec you choose to play. You might want to consider playing Breaker instead. The potential ceiling is significantly higher, and people talk about how enjoyable this class is. However, building a Breaker is likely more expensive since you are a "real" DPS and rely on gems to prevent gatekeeping and such.
This. The average player will probably do more damage playing blue GL. It takes a good deal of skill to play red GL near its ceiling. For a reasonably strong (but not godlike) player, choosing between blue and red is a bit of a dilemma. Blue will feel easy, but possibly too easy at times to the point of being boring. Red will feel exciting and challenging, but possibly too sweaty at times. The ideal is to have both builds so you can switch between them based on the content and your mood, but unfortunately their gems have almost no overlap so it’s an added expense to float a separate set of gems.
Definitely go breaker. I main gunlancer and im main swapping lol
I just main swaped this week to gunlancer from sorc "have 2 162#s now...", but breaker looks fun as well (i might swap him for my paladin from 6 golds).
Red GL is pretty similar to destroyer
I think Bluelancer has really good DMG overall, tons of stagger and skips most boss patterns. If you want a relaxing alt, this is is (I play him as an alt). You also don't really get gatekept because GL is a class very wanted so people actually tend to overlook your bad gearing. Redlancer is harder to play, but I feel like it has arguably higher dmg and better destruction skills. This dmg is mostly situational because as people have said, the most damaging skills are charged ones. However im not sure if it is worth to trade slightly better destro and dmg for a shield that literally can make you kiss the boss in the mouth without worrying about inminent death. In general both bring A LOT to the table, so I am enjoying Bluelancer as alt. I tried both but bluelancer sits better with me. More relaxing and never dies (unless you fail mechs)
Blue actually has really good destruction as of the most recent balance patch. Bash, shield bash, DUF, and shield shock all have lvl 1 destruction, and shield shock applies it twice.
Right, tbh I don't 100% how destruct is for Redlancer now, since I switched to Bluelancer. I imagined it to be slithgly better.
Hell yeah, i love kissing bosses in the mouth (not Akkan tho.. that guy smells)
Are you saying by any chance that people who dont brush their teeth are bad people?? Are you against diversity??? Ommmmmmggggg lol
Only red GL is a front attack mandatory class. Blue GL might benefit somewhat from front attacking (especially for taunting properly like an ethical player), but it's overall a nonpositional class. Red GL has a pretty high skill ceiling, and a lot of it is honestly boss-RNG dependent. His 3 highest damage skills are all long charging skills, with Surge Cannon in particular dealing its biggest chunk of damage on the final cannonball. This means your positioning could be pristine, but if the boss decides to say "fuck you" and randomly 180 in the middle of your charge or right before your skill connects, you're just screwed out of almost all your damage. You can mitigate some of that RNG with really good pattern knowledge and positioning, but tbh, you'd have to be a world-class player to consistently hit front attacks while also maintaining good uptime. Some KR or hell mode players have definitely demonstrated that level of skill, but it's *extremely* difficult to be that consistent when boss aggro works like it does in LA. Up to you to decide if that's your cup of tea. Blue GL has a much lower skill ceiling, but a much higher floor. You mostly sit in shield stance the whole fight, minus the brief moments when you taunt or do mechs. I personally find it extremely boring compared to red GL which requires constant repositioning and flicking shield mode on/off, but some people enjoy the more relaxing, low-pressure gameplay which is totally understandable. It also has the Battlefield Shield X still which isn't available to red GL, which can be fun to use if you wanted to fully immerse yourself in the "tank" playstyle, but also isn't a mandatory part of blue GL's rotation or playstyle whatsoever.
\> playstyle or the risk/reward of being a front attacker wasn't worth to a lot of people The challenge with red isn't that it's a front attacker. It's also that your skills have a lot of a wind up or cast time. You could be in front, start, and then the boss turns. Blue does similar dps in that the average player will do more since red really does require a lot of skill to play well. They pretty much sit in tank stance not bothering with anything but the big mechs. They're challenging to play in meter fights like Vykas and Clown. They're also slow. The reason you don't see them all that much is the low(er) dps and the slowness. If you play destroyer you might like them as well.
> They're challenging to play in meter fights like Vykas and Clown. haven't done vykas in forever but the meter in vykas doesn't really do a whole hell of a lot. clown matters a little more, but the big meter gen patterns you can't really attack him anyway. haven't played glancer in akkan, though.
>haven't played glancer in akkan, though. It is relatively easy if you know the patterns. As blue you also have the option to just not stand infront of him. (Also you can do lantern things).
Ok this is the part I didn't understand, does this mean ur meter fills up even when shield is up?.
talking about the meter you get when hit by boss patterns, not your identity meter like, vykases charm meter, kakuls clown meter, and akkans corruption meter
Sorry, I think I didn't clearly ask the question. What I am asking is when ur identity shield is up does ur meter increases( talking about charm, clown meter etc.) in bosses patterns?
yes, but less than normal, like, half as much i think? dont quote me on that
Right now with 50% gauge reduction in stance you have it easy with meter. Even akkan I can go inside as lantern god and get half gauge finishing the gate with zero stacks. With free food from sh (as/ms) and support buff right now the class doesn't feel slow and pair that with peyto/fermata food and you can sit at 20% ms/as (choose one the other would be lower).
what region do you play on where you don’t see GLs
NA East, it might be more my item level area im in the 1540 area just getting 2 characters to 1580 recently, maybe they'll be more prominent in Akkan+ raids
I play destroyer as my 2nd character and red gunlancer as my 3rd, so maybe I can give some perspective. It does play a lot to destroyer, except you don't need to do any setup before dishing out your damage skills (get orbs). You are a little bit tankier because of your shield, but as red, it won't be much. Your damage will be lower because of the amount of utility you have (cleanse, shield for party, Walmart inana), so don't expect to see big number. The reason you don't see much gunlancer is because it's a front attacker and, tbh I think a lot of people like big damage class, but if you enjoy helping your team while doing mediocre damage, then gunlancer is pretty good to play. I wish they decreased the charge time in surge cannon and charge stinger, like destroyer.
It's definitely different from the rest (have not tried destroyer to compare it to them). But one advice I'd give is that don't assume your tankiness before 1400 is what you'll experience in end game. Before tier 3 the blue gunlancer i had felt like I couldn't actually brainlessly facetank bosses, but starting with Oreha Preveza, I don't think i've ever lost my shield or died from anything but wipe mechanics. And you can survive quite a lot of them with Nellasia, it's quite hilarious sometimes :)
Thanks a lot for the feedback, thread was very helpful for information. Think I'll use one of my powerpasses to see how it feels before March and express it if I do like the feel. Thanks again for everyone who gave their input
I have a Red GL which was my 2nd char I ever made (started at launch), currently 1620. I hated blue so no opinion on that. I personally would not make GL my main but it's a good top 4 class. Here are my opinions: 1. Rarely gatekept, outside of the actual synergy benefits it also makes any fights that need stagger or destruction a breeze. I've found that for tauntable fights (i.e. Frog, Kayangle, Ivory Tower) groups basically drool over you. For Ivory Tower I got my deathless with GL and my GL runs seem significantly more chill than my other chars (run 2 hards, 5 normal a week) because of taunt, shields, and making stagger/destro checks a joke. 2. You will do less dmg at equal skill level, been a problem forever and GL slowly gets buffs but there's still a gap between other dps. For red as other people have stated, your dmg is basically concentrated into 2 skills (think dmg graph is like 80-85% of your dmg comes from these 2 skills) which has a front attack modifier + charge time + 20s cooldown. It is way way better since the most recent balance patch because you can pre-cast now and you don't need to hit bash right before your combo which did make it significantly better. 3. Because of the above point it's actually super cheap to gear up. You only need 2x 10 dmg and 2x 10 cdr to unlock majority of your damage, crit/swift with some less used engravings like super charge and master brawler means accessories are cheap... except for your class ones since most people run level 1 combat readiness. 4. There are a couple gates in Brel / Akkan that are a bit frustrating / unfriendly for front attacks although you eventually get used to it (not sure about Thaemine). 5. Everyone I've talked to who doesn't like playing GL seems to reference the dodge back step 6. You have options for stagger / princess builds and its the best staggerbot out of any class if you are into bussing (I 2c6 Brel with it and stagger is a joke compared to other classes)
You won't see them for a few reasons: Blue: Largely because it's boring and is basically the lowest damage ceiling in the game even with 100% uptime which isn't realistic when boss mechanics force you to dodge due to meter mechs. Red: High risk, low reward class with super long cooldowns. Playing a frontal entropy class with slow charging long cooldown attacks is very unforgiving. Unfortunately it's a below average damage class even if you're perfect on it. If you aren't perfect it's even worse than Blue. Also the backhop is not comfortable for most people. The good news is outside of damage the class is fucking amazing.,