Guild Wars 2

Does anyone else feel that the lack of a resource system is actually a bad thing? At first I was enjoying it but now I am just playing whack-a-mole with my cooldowns. I never realised before but managing resources throughout a fight was actually a part of the strategy and it feels like something is missing due to its absence.

If you’re playing whackamole, you’re not using your cooldowns to their utmost.

IE: Chaos Armor, mesmer staff skill. 40 second cooldown. If I just hit this whenever it’s up, I’m not using the skill for what it’s made for.

Try timing your field skills with your finisher skills.
Try managing your crippling/immobilizing skills with your heavy nuke melee skills.

You have these synergizing skills for a reason.

Obviously not with the utility abilities, however with the damage abilities I am. No reason not to, maximises DPS keeping them on CD.

Your mileage will vary greatly depending on your class and spec, but I can tell you 100% that if i keep my damage cooldowns constantly on cycle, I am not doing my damage to the best of my ability.

If I time iWarlock with Chaos Storm, I get a nice finisher. If I time Phase Retreat with Null Field, I get free Chaos Armor.

Again, just try doing some investigation into the way your skills interact with one another.

I think this is one of the hardest things to get accustomed to in Guild Wars. You don’t use all of your damage skills every time they are up. Everything with a cooldown has a side effect that is best used in certain situations and you have to be really aware of what’s going on. Save your interrupts for the big boss attacks, save your defensive maneuvers for when you’re out of endurance. Save your long cool down combo finishers for when there is a field down. If there is already a certain type of field down, don’t put another one of the same type right on top of it. Don’t knock back or fear a mob when the warrior standing next to it starts his 100 blades. Don’t daze a mob that is already stunned.

I really stunk at GW1 because I could not get the hang of the hex layering. GW2 is easier, but it’s still way more complex than the combat systems that rely on resource management. This is why so many folks are getting smushed in dungeons. Every person on the team has to be aware of and react to sometimes very quick visual cues if you don’t want to have to run back from the waypoint every few minutes. The system is very action oriented, and there isn’t a single class that can stand back, mash their buttons, and be effective against the more challenging content.

Try playing a thief. No CDs (on weapon skills) They just drain resource that slowly recharges.

I say this a lot, but if you play really well you can take down hordes of enemies. The game doesn’t automatically hit you just because you were standing close enough for the enemy to start a combat animation. You can avoid a majority of hits. Saying that, if you use your abilities well you should be able to take down superior enemies. Spamming attacks when the CD is ready won’t let you do that. The game really isn’t about keeping the highest DPS.

If your just flat out DPS’ing I get the feeling which I get the feeling of many similar posts. Is that people are adventuring with the level parity pack or in zergs where all that matters is mainting dps.

My mesmer was able to take down 8 enemies at level 20, it wasn’t easy. Swaped out some weapons to try something different and lost to 4 enemies. Why wasn’t familar with the secondary effects. study your abilities.

Energy based skill rotations are not tactics.