Guild Wars 2

My main is a ranger, level 80 for a very long time and I have The Dreamer. I sacrifice a skill slot just so I can have Signet of the Hunt and the 25% run speed increase. And every other toon that I have, I always keep the run speed skill or trait up just so I can run faster. Anyone else do this or is it just me?

You can use runes to run faster if your equipment is a high enough level. Also, with the new balance changes, Signet Of The Hunt active is pretty sick with the Maul skill on Greatsword.

For travelling and so on, yes. I switch out movement signets when I’m doing something beyond travelling, gathering, and other things that don’t require me to have that slot occupied by something else. What’s the problem?

Also, pretty much EVERYONE does this (or uses Traveler runes) in WvW mode since having speed boost is almost a necessity there. Not only does speed help you in-battle or help you escape from battle if necessary, but there is a lot of running around and you often want to get to your destination sooner rather than later.

Sometimes I don’t use speed in PvE, though.

Sometimes yes. I use Signet of the Hunt in WvW and I’ll switch it in if I’m going long distances, but I usually switch it back when I get to my destination.

There are other options, traits and runes mainly, but I find switching the skill in and out the easiest.

You should be happy you’re not a mesmer. We don’t have a speed signet, no out of combat speed traits, and one reliable (but unreliable) source of swiftness on one off-handed weapon.

Lishtenbird.2814:

You should be happy you’re not a mesmer. We don’t have a speed signet, no out of combat speed traits, and one reliable (but unreliable) source of swiftness on one off-handed weapon.

OMG, mesmer was one of the first professions I ever played in this game. I remember running. Slowly.

You can always equip Signet Of Inspiration and pray to the RNG gods for Swiftness. Perhaps Lyssa will smile on you today.

Yes! I do this as well

Lishtenbird.2814:

You should be happy you’re not a mesmer. We don’t have a speed signet, no out of combat speed traits, and one reliable (but unreliable) source of swiftness on one off-handed weapon.

Don’t worry, guardian feels your pain. Though at least you have some sort of combat movement speed.

Shanks.2907:

Lishtenbird.2814:

You should be happy you’re not a mesmer. We don’t have a speed signet, no out of combat speed traits, and one reliable (but unreliable) source of swiftness on one off-handed weapon.

Don’t worry, guardian feels your pain. Though at least you have some sort of combat movement speed.

My second main is guardian with Pack runes. Retreat, Staff, GS, Judge’s Intervention – and mesmer is left behind Plus, aegis lets receive some hits from trash mobs without being put into combat.

Lishtenbird.2814:

You should be happy you’re not a mesmer. We don’t have a speed signet, no out of combat speed traits, and one reliable (but unreliable) source of swiftness on one off-handed weapon.

Mesmers are a little better off than Guardians, as you can slot Superior Runes of the Centaur and use Mantra of Recovery to trigger the rune each time you charge and cast the mantra.

So every 10 seconds you just mash your heal button for 13 seconds of swiftness.

Lishtenbird.2814:

You should be happy you’re not a mesmer. We don’t have a speed signet, no out of combat speed traits, and one reliable (but unreliable) source of swiftness on one off-handed weapon.

This is why I question some of how balancing is done in GW2. Not a major froth-inducing gripe, but a very what-the-huh? kind of thing. I assume it’s a WvW/PvP thing, and I get that. Maybe it was too hard to reconcile those and PvE.

Because, balance issues aside, there’s no reason to hold some classes back, while my warrior can maintain a constant Swiftness+25%. Granted, I traited for that. In fact, I built the entire character around it. Now I just luff him to death~

But yeah, I’ve planned entire builds around speed signets before. Earth-based Elementalist, Marksmanship Ranger, etc. Even respec’d my Engi for the speed shoes trait (that I thankfully had before April).

I can appreciate that GW2 devs want this to be a build choice, but it’s limiting and culls exploration of more effective or interesting builds for the sake of convenience.

I have traveler runes on my mesmer. Either waste a skill or waste your rune slots.

Most of my characters have traveller or runes of speed meanwhile, only ranger and necro are using still the signets

Must say i’m a hardcore gatherer .. so speed is much more important to me than maybe 2% more damage ^^

If this makes you sad, try playing a Mesmer or Guardian.

My contention: movement speed base should be upped by 25%. Remove this from all current traits, signets, sigils, runes. Leave only the 33% swiftness boost in the game. Allow the speed booster from gem store to push run speed by +15% or 33% cap.

The real problem for me comes with levelling. For me it’s all about how fast I can get through the content. When levelling I always use the speed buffs I can, and the skills I can to move even faster even for just brief bursts. When levelling a Guardian or Mesmer you are seriously kitten. They will take 25% longer to level to 80, in all cases.

For those that will say “Dude, use the RUNES”. Well first of all when levelling the speed runes are seriously cut in effectiveness vs. the pure 25% movement buffs most classes have access to. Secondly, it gimps build diversity at end game. If I have to use Traveler Runes in order to feel I have the minimum mobility on my Guardian or Mesmer, they lose effectiveness by not being able to use other Runes.

The best solution I can come up with for Guardian and Mesmer is to have one of their Elites have a 25% movement passive.

sonicsix.5713:

My main is a ranger, level 80 for a very long time and I have The Dreamer. I sacrifice a skill slot just so I can have Signet of the Hunt and the 25% run speed increase. And every other toon that I have, I always keep the run speed skill or trait up just so I can run faster. Anyone else do this or is it just me?

I used to do that but then I got used to switching skills between fights because I started to see the value in every single skill of my skillbar.

Shanks.2907:

Don’t worry, guardian feels your pain. Though at least you have some sort of combat movement speed.

Sword 2, baby. It beats any in-combat mobility that a mesmer has. Of course, you really need a target for it to work, so you can’t always use it like a Mesmer can use Blink.

If you’re good, you can actually run away from enemy mesmers by targeting other things (such as neutral monsters in WvW mode) and once you are out of combat they shouldn’t be able to catch you unless they are using runes for Swiftness. Most professions will still be on your tail, though, except for most of the cloth professions.

narwhalsbend.7059:

I have traveler runes on my mesmer. Either waste a skill or waste your rune slots.

Yup, put a travel set on my Thief, so I didn’t have to waste a skill slot on a signet.

I like my mobility and keep it on on everyone that can manage it. On my necro, I don’t use dagger or the speed signet, but I do use traited warhorn.

Lishtenbird.2814:

You should be happy you’re not a mesmer. We don’t have a speed signet, no out of combat speed traits, and one reliable (but unreliable) source of swiftness on one off-handed weapon.

I hooked my mesmer up with swiftness on kill sigil and runes of air + healing mantra for just this reason. It’s not as cool as equipping a speed boost signet, but it sure as heck beats plodding along. Oh and Blink too. Invaluable.

I always have Signet of the Hunt on unless I’m in a dungeon/fractals. There’s always people spamming swiftness in dungeons, so it doesn’t really matter. It’s gotten to the point where I am reluctant to play one of my characters if they don’t have a movement speed passive. I am just too used to having it.

Pandaman.4758:

Lishtenbird.2814:

You should be happy you’re not a mesmer. We don’t have a speed signet, no out of combat speed traits, and one reliable (but unreliable) source of swiftness on one off-handed weapon.

Mesmers are a little better off than Guardians, as you can slot Superior Runes of the Centaur and use Mantra of Recovery to trigger the rune each time you charge and cast the mantra.

So every 10 seconds you just mash your heal button for 13 seconds of swiftness.

don’t know if it was said so I thought I would add, Runes of the centaur can keep up permanent swiftness for any profession, all they need is an endless transformation tonic (the return to normal button is your 6 skill so you can use it as if it was a heal and it activates the swiftness from the runes.), I personally use the endless toymaker tonic.

I exclusively play Engineer and two years ago… Movement Speed wasn’t a concern for me at all.

I came back to playing back in Feb 2014 and the first thing I noticed is: Why am I so slow? Was I always this slow? Why am I even SLOWER in combat?

So I took up the trait for 25% increased movement speed and was like “Awesome. This feels right.” However, I did some testing and it seems I don’t go that faster with the trait AND swiftness boons. And if I just use swiftness, that feels like the same thing.

Is the trait useless? Well, like you said, I don’t want to sacrifice a skill just to move fast…but I don’t want to sacrifice a trait to move fast either. Worst of all: in combat, I’m still slowed to hell.

That has to be my number one complaint that I just don’t want to admit because I feel like no one else has these feeeeels. D:

sonicsix.5713:

My main is a ranger, level 80 for a very long time and I have The Dreamer. I sacrifice a skill slot just so I can have Signet of the Hunt and the 25% run speed increase. And every other toon that I have, I always keep the run speed skill or trait up just so I can run faster. Anyone else do this or is it just me?

The fanboys will shout you down for uttering such blasphemy. I’ve been saying for a long time now, that switching out traits, weapons, and skills, for Swiftness boons, is just stupid.

LUST.7241:

I exclusively play Engineer and two years ago… Movement Speed wasn’t a concern for me at all.

I came back to playing back in Feb 2014 and the first thing I noticed is: Why am I so slow? Was I always this slow? Why am I even SLOWER in combat?

So I took up the trait for 25% increased movement speed and was like “Awesome. This feels right.” However, I did some testing and it seems I don’t go that faster with the trait AND swiftness boons. And if I just use swiftness, that feels like the same thing.

Is the trait useless? Well, like you said, I don’t want to sacrifice a skill just to move fast…but I don’t want to sacrifice a trait to move fast either. Worst of all: in combat, I’m still slowed to hell.

That has to be my number one complaint that I just don’t want to admit because I feel like no one else has these feeeeels.

Speed goes to whichever one is highest. So Swiftness’s 33% is the highest you’ll see, making the 25% seem useless while you have Swiftness up. It also may be hard to notice the difference. If you’re accustomed to running at +25%, an extra 8% is hardly noticeable.

Oh HECK yes!

Think about it, what is the one thing you do more in the MMO than anything? It’s not combat, it’s not crafting, it’s not chatting. It’s moving.

Even in a game which makes an obvious effect to deal with timesinks, in addtion to the 25% skills AND I still always have skills that give swiftness on all my characters and Runes of the Pack are on them when they’re leveling. It’s probably why I ended up playing an elementalist because they are one of the most mobile classes, but I’ll be using my thief for exploration.

Labjax.2465:

Speed goes to whichever one is highest. So Swiftness’s 33% is the highest you’ll see, making the 25% seem useless while you have Swiftness up. It also may be hard to notice the difference. If you’re accustomed to running at +25%, an extra 8% is hardly noticeable.

When you’re running between events spread across a whole zone or even around cities, 8% is noticeable It’s particularly entertaining leaving others behind which you will manage to do.

Lishtenbird.2814:

You should be happy you’re not a mesmer. We don’t have a speed signet, no out of combat speed traits, and one reliable (but unreliable) source of swiftness on one off-handed weapon.

My very first character was a mesmer but I stopped playing him and this was one of the reasons once I tried classes like elementalist (or even guardian as you pointed out).

Lishtenbird.2814:

You should be happy you’re not a mesmer. We don’t have a speed signet, no out of combat speed traits, and one reliable (but unreliable) source of swiftness on one off-handed weapon.

Yes, it’s so irritating when I find myself unexpectedly in WvW combat with the kitten focus still equipped… my panic button (torch 4) does nothing!

I use a speed boost a lot of the time. Occasionally, I’ll switch out the speed signet for something else, if the content demands it — which is to say, not that often.

I do this too. I’ve been wishing that they would make movement speed an account bound thing, just like MF, so that I didn’t have to waste a skill or runes.

MOUNTS. I actually had a big long discussion on this and i think anet is walking a fine line. I mean mesmers, eles and most classes can speed run a map with auras, blinks, flashes and the like. I’m not a big proponent of mounts in the game but something needs to happen to reiject some love for this game… I hate to bring up mounts, but it’s kind of a centerpiece at this point.

videoboy.4162:

I do this too. I’ve been wishing that they would make movement speed an account bound thing, just like MF, so that I didn’t have to waste a skill or runes.

….or you know, mounts. The logical thing that everyday people use when traveling long distances, whether it’s a train, car, or plane. Almost every MMO has them, except GW2, and they don’t just have them for vanity. They are needed to travel long distances inside the game. Ironically, waypoints are still inconveniently insufficient, when you still need to switch out skills, weapons, and traits, which are an inconvenience.

-Awaits the irrational hatred against mounts from illogical, pro-waypoint, signet-switching swiftness players.-

dybryd.1358:

Yes, it’s so irritating when I find myself unexpectedly in WvW combat with the kitten focus still equipped… my panic button (torch 4) does nothing!

LOL Another reason why I stopped playing my mesmer. Constantly needing to switch weapons became annoying. I got used to finding ways to use the focus, but I did not really like playing that way all the time.

nexxe.7081:

….or you know, mounts. The logical thing that everyday people use when traveling long distances, whether it’s a train, car, or plane. Almost every MMO has them, except GW2, and they don’t just have them for vanity. They are needed to travel long distances inside the game. Ironically, waypoints are still inconveniently insufficient, when you still need to switch out skills, weapons, and traits, which are an inconvenience.

-Awaits the irrational hatred against mounts from illogical, pro-waypoint, signet-switching swiftness players.-

Well honestly, if they made +33% the standard and tossed out anything swiftness-related, I think people would feel a lot better about not having mounts.

Better yet, they could make a toggle-able “sprint” type of skill like some games and have it be independent of your normal bar.

nexxe.7081:

-Awaits the irrational hatred against mounts from illogical, pro-waypoint, signet-switching swiftness players.-

ANet uses movement speed as part of their profession balancing, so if they were to introduce a speed boost (whether it be in the form of a permanent account-wide buff, mounts, signet/traits for all classes, or whatever), then they’d have to nerf Guardians and Mesmers, because those two classes lack inherent speed buffs as a balance to their abilities.

I would rather not see Guardians and Mesmers being nerfed, really.

And apologies for not being an illogical, pro-waypoint, signet-switching swiftness player.

I finally invested in some runes of speed for my guardian. So worth it. Whatever I’m sacrificing to have the speed boost is not noticeable. Before I would unconsciously push harder on the movement controls trying to make her run faster, which was noticeable after a short time playing. So frustrating.

Yes, whether a trait or a utility slot, I almost always use a passive run speed boost in open world play when I can. In cases where I’m in a small enough group that I might need to get more out of that slot during a given encounter, I will change it.

Labjax.2465:

Well honestly, if they made +33% the standard and tossed out anything swiftness-related, I think people would feel a lot better about not having mounts.

Better yet, they could make a toggle-able “sprint” type of skill like some games and have it be independent of your normal bar.

A command that uses Stamina to run.
Think about it.

Pandaman.4758:

ANet uses movement speed as part of their profession balancing,

A valid concern for WvW and PvP, where timing is everything. In PvE, where most of the desire is coming from, there is no need to balance this way.
WvW would be the most difficult, since it’s not only class balance, but map balance as well.

I love signet of the hunt. every other class moves so slow in comparison

seriously they should just give everyone a 25% speed boost will free a lot of shackles