Guild Wars 2

So, again to preface just because this (as far as I know) has come up many times before.

When Heart of Thorns launches, with the new Elite Specializations and all, it is very likely the meta builds will change. GIVEN the likelihood of the changes:

- If someone is running the old meta which does not include the specialization in non-Heart of Thorns content like Fractals or old Dungeons, will there be an inclination to suggest they change their build to the new, potentially better damage meta containing the new specialization or stay as is since it should not have been touched too much (pending any and all balance patches from now)?

- Do you think Heart of Thorns specializations, if they produce builds of better quality PvE DPS in old dungeons, should be a necessity in every single run regardless of the difficulty of the content?

I realize these questions can be tilted, however I want an honest opinion without any sort of conflict from those who care enough on the forums to grant me an response. Ultimately it is a little selfish to ask but at this juncture I am curious about what people think.

Most people that pug dont care about meta builds, even in groups where people do gear check and stuff you still get lots of pugs that are running non-meta traits and weapons and just lie about being zerk, i dont think it will change after the xpac releases.
And also people will forget about the old content and will start focusing on the expansion. The exception might be fractals, maybe for lvl 100 fractals people might demand meta builds if the content is too hard, but if the difficult from the new lvl 100 gets to be the same from the lvl 50 we have nowadays most groups wont care about min-maxing.

People will tell you “this is better than x”. No one can force you to run what is best, though. Suggest? sure. Enforce? nuh.Only tryhard pugs and a few overzealous guilds would ever enforce full ascended or HoT traits on old content, seriously.
I bet not even the new content will require any of that. If it should or should not, that’s up to personal opinion.

P.S. Yeaaaah, “impartial”. Ah-hah? /forced i-bit-a-lemon grin
P.P.S. Opinions are like cow pies.

deSade.9437:

People will tell you “this is better than x”. No one can force you to run what is best, though. Suggest? sure. Enforce? nuh.Only tryhard pugs and a few overzealous guilds would ever enforce full ascended or HoT traits on old content, seriously.
I bet not even the new content will require any of that. If it should or should not, that’s up to personal opinion.

P.S. Yeaaaah, “impartial”. Ah-hah? /forced i-bit-a-lemon grin
P.P.S. Opinions are like cow pies.

/coughs heavily. Also /looks other way while whistling innocently.

If the elite specs were better, then the meta would change and some people would require you to run them. But they aren’t. Just look at tempest or dragonhunter. Why would you need to run them in the current dungeons/fractals

Chronomancer says hello.

Miku Lawrence.6329:

Chronomancer says hello.

It still wouldn’t be required in old dungeons <.< unless you’re such a sphincter about it you probably are either in an overzealous guild already (so no need/don’t want to play with the op in old content) – or you’re forced to pug because you got no friends. Only these 2 types of people would force not-that-hot players to cash out 45e so they can be 10% more efficient, omg, arah p4 so hard.

Other than chronomancer, the core professions don’t seem to be any better in PvE with an elite spec compared to without it. Maybe reaper, but necros get hated either way I don’t think reaper does anything about that. Druid and engie spec still remain, but I’m doubting those will change anything in PvE either. Adding more damage and complications to engies’ already high damage and very complicated rotations doesn’t seem likely and unless druid adds some unique type of group buffing Spotter/Frost spirit is still gonna be the thing rangers bring.

I think that most elite won’t be part of any meta in dungeon. Maybe chronomancer and reaper will be better than Mesmer and Necro, but that’s it. And I don’t think the difference will be huge.

+1 to Chrono and Reaper. Both of those looks like solid ‘upgrades’ that are compatible in a typical Dungeon run.

Tempest is a giant meh for PvE
Dragon Hunter may be worthwhile to Spec on-the-fly for ranged based fights. Otherwise Core Guardian will still work much better.

It may be too early to tell, but it looks like Berserker and Daredevil will lose out on group utility (more so on Berserker).

Revenants still look like they’ll be offering just raw damage, though our new Herald spec lets us be less selfish and fill in gaps where certain boons aren’t being met.

Elorna.5329:

Other than chronomancer, the core professions don’t seem to be any better in PvE with an elite spec compared to without it. Maybe reaper, but necros get hated either way I don’t think reaper does anything about that. Druid and engie spec still remain, but I’m doubting those will change anything in PvE either. Adding more damage and complications to engies’ already high damage and very complicated rotations doesn’t seem likely and unless druid adds some unique type of group buffing Spotter/Frost spirit is still gonna be the thing rangers bring.

Given the big damage buffs Reaper greatsword is getting for the next BWE, I think Reaper might end up meta for PvE Necromancers. It was already approaching (but not surpassing) dagger DPS in the last BWE, and its damage is going to be meaningfully higher now. It doesn’t really help the Necromancer’s “selfish” nature of not having many boons to spread around, but it definitely helps their poor on-paper DPS.

And yeah, you’re right about Chronomancer—it’s going to be awesome for PvE Mesmers. Even aside from the damage buffs and quality-of-life it can provide (shatter without losing our phantasms? Aw, yeah), Continuum Split will do wonders for our utility. With it, we can put out 20 seconds of uninterrupted Time Warp—24 seconds if we take Temporal Enchanter. That is beautiful and is only one example of the stuff it’s going to let us do with our utilities and elites.

Why does blood is power not allow your allies to life drain on all attacks for 10secs instead of being a weak as version of FGJ?

…necro?