Guild Wars 2

I’d like to see some changes made to make staff more viable. I think changes along these lines would make it a lot more popular that it currently is.

Fix skill 3 (Symbol of Swiftness)! Not having the speed stack with other abilities is frustrating beyond belief. This skill along with Mesmer’s Temporal Curtain really need to have this fixed.

Flip skills 1 (Wave of Wrath) and 2 (Orb of Light) so that Orb of Light is the default auto attack. Remove the “detonate” feature of orb of light so that auto attack works properly and speed up the projectiles to keep it in line with scepter.

-Reason for this: Not having a range attack is a huge limiting factor for staff, not being able to hit oil in WvW and not being able to range a boss in PvE make it a poor choice. While you could use it in place of a melee weapon with scepter+whatever in offhand for range it’s just a poor choice when compared to what 2hsword/hammer have to offer.

Make Wave of Wrath have a component so that if it is held down for 3 seconds it has a heal component as well as a damage (to compensate for the loss of the orb of light detonate ability) This is not nearly as important a change as the first 2 but would be a neat mechanic imho.

The only thing guardians need is a beating with the nerf bat.

Faux Play.6104:

The only thing guardians need is a beating with the nerf bat.

I’d much rather see sub-par professions (like the Ranger) brought up to the Guardian’s level and EVERY profession see significant bug fixes, trait improvements, and general refinement.

It’s so easy to hit things with the nerf bat, but it doesn’t really fix anything so much as shift the problem to a different source.

The Guardian, along with the Mesmer and Warrior, are NOT OP.

They have cohesive design behind them. Give this to other professions.

This isn’t a thread about balance, these are suggestions for fixing a weapon to make it a more viable and popular option. Please take balance suggestions to another thread.

Buffing a weapon to make it as strong as others you can pick from sounds like balancing to me. So I would say any balance related comment is in line w/ the OP. One of the strongest classes in the game does not need more buffs.

Kadin.2356:

This isn’t a thread about balance, these are suggestions for fixing a weapon to make it a more viable and popular option. Please take balance suggestions to another thread.

Just swap the auto attack. If you dont detonate you can throw orbs pretty often.

I think staff is just awesome on a guardian, especially in WvW. Best tagging weapon ever ^^’

You can throw orbs often until they hit something…? Maybe I always detonate them just out of some kind of compulsion but I seem to recall the 2 second recharge only occurring when I miss.

Anyway, since I use staff all the time (mostly for the speed boost and occasional line of force, when it actually pays off anyway) I don’t have too many complaints about it, but I can’t disagree that symbol of swiftness is bugged and needs fixing. Yeah, it has a short range 1 skill, but if it didn’t it would make it difficult to justify taking scepter.

Well, OK. Not so difficult in WvW.

Faux Play.6104:

The only thing guardians need is a beating with the nerf bat.

For what reason?

Sirius.4510:

You can throw orbs often until they hit something…? Maybe I always detonate them just out of some kind of compulsion but I seem to recall the 2 second recharge only occurring when I miss.

Anyway, since I use staff all the time (mostly for the speed boost and occasional line of force, when it actually pays off anyway) I don’t have too many complaints about it, but I can’t disagree that symbol of swiftness is bugged and needs fixing. Yeah, it has a short range 1 skill, but if it didn’t it would make it difficult to justify taking scepter.

Well, OK. Not so difficult in WvW.

Yes you are detonating. And as that’s a heal very little reason to do it. Just dont get too excited and hammer the 2 key. You will find a pretty good long range weapon especially since they sped the orb up

Please don’t change Guardian staff. After the recent buff, this weapon is bloody amazing for support Guardians and doesn’t need to be any better.

I think the #2 could do with a complete revamp. The slow moving Orb of nothingness is just awful. The other powers on staff are amazing.

I think the staff is arguably the best weapon the Guardian has. The 1 handed weapons need MUCH more attention.

Faux Play.6104:

The only thing guardians need is a beating with the nerf bat.

They are getting hit with the Thieves’ “boon hate” nerf bat.

Guardian just feels really finished and I think rather than nerfing it, bringing other classes to it’s level would be the best.

Goloith.6349:

Guardian just feels really finished

Not sure if serious.

I love the staff attacks guardian has for PVE. Skill number one doesn’t hit far but it hits wide. Its the best skill on the bar. It hits like AOE. It’s very useful in PVE. Strafe a little while using it. Your heartiness helps keep you alive while your damage and condition damage kill them.

The staff is not for every occasion. It’s better when you are with people. Not only do you heal those in range, but you always get a piece of the XP and loot.

I switch to a great sword when I want to do higher damage to a single foe..

I’d love weapon improvements to guardians, and I’d like to see a lot more for other classes as well. With the staff in mind, however, there is one fix that HAS to happen, now:

The orb getting stuck.

This is the most frustrating thing ever and reduces the effectiveness of the staff by an extreme amount. I like to use my orb on CD, but many times I can’t because I’m stuck with the detonate ability.