Guild Wars 2

I’ve noticed something interesting about greatswords. On just about every class that can use them, they are almost always one of the best damage dealers. And since many players build damage, greatswords are high in demand. This leads to the price of greatswords being very high, especially late game. This is seen since the highest priced item in the game (not even just weapon) is a greatsword. Do you agree? Do you disagree? How might we fix this problem?

This just isn’t true. Nor would it be an issue any way, something inevitably has to be the highest priced item. Not only is greatsword not necessarily the highest damage dealing weapon for each class NOR is it the most expensive item to buy as far as exotic stats/pearl weapons goes.

Screw greatswords. Rifles 5ever!

Well, Warrior are slowly moving away from greatsword to a Axe/Off hand build, but they still use it for the Whirldwind and hundred blade. While on the other hand, It look like guardian pull with the #5 is too good to be ignore unless you are on single target. I wish guardian would priorize something that has a shield as off hand.

Serac.5691:

This just isn’t true. Nor would it be an issue any way, something inevitably has to be the highest priced item. Not only is greatsword not necessarily the highest damage dealing weapon for each class NOR is it the most expensive item to buy as far as exotic stats/pearl weapons goes.

Well, of the 4 classes that can use it, from what I’ve seen:
Very Popular on Warrior and Mesmer
Popular on Guardian
Sorta Popular on Ranger

I’m just saying that because of the rules of supply and demand, the greatsword is more expensive just because of the demand.

EpicBanHammer.7521:

Serac.5691:

This just isn’t true. Nor would it be an issue any way, something inevitably has to be the highest priced item. Not only is greatsword not necessarily the highest damage dealing weapon for each class NOR is it the most expensive item to buy as far as exotic stats/pearl weapons goes.

Well, of the 4 classes that can use it, from what I’ve seen:
Very Popular on Warrior and Mesmer
Popular on Guardian
Sorta Popular on Ranger

I’m just saying that because of the rules of supply and demand, the greatsword is more expensive just because of the demand.

there’s also 4 legendary greatswords. and 1 of everything else. obviously the demand is in GS. maybe someday the other 4 classes will get the diversity of appearance too.

Greatswords might be better damage, but the weilders die a lot, i’m not sure if its true they are better in the long run, but on my hammer/cleric Guardian i never die and have a lot lower death rate while pumping out pretty ok Damage..

The answer is obvious: Nerf greatsword. Then nerf whatever replaces it as the highest dps/most demanded weapon, and continue until every weapon does 0 damage. Then everyone will be equal no matter what weapon they use.

Greatswords tend to be moderately high damage with a low skill floor for most classes. For most classes that can use GS, there are actually better weapons to use, but they tend to be more difficult to use/learn. Example, Warrior. For GS spamming 2 does a good deal of damage, but axe/mace will result in more damage if you know what to do. So in that sense, GS is in a good place.

Greatswords are also pretty popular because of their aesthetics. You have to admit Anet put a lot of effort into making greatswords, considering we have two GS legendaries.

Lightsbane.9012:

there’s also 4 legendary greatswords….

Confirmed Bachelor.3508:

…considering we have two GS legendaries.

Three legendary greatswords, lol

On my berserker war I use Axe/shield & rifle. On my celestial/healing shouts warrior its sword/shield & bow. I’ve moved beyond gs.

For my mesmer I do love the gs simply cause I love playing glass cannon. Not only does it have the DMG but its got piercing auto attack, cheap clones on a short recharge/high DMG attack, boon removal, high DMG phant that cripples, aoe knock back. In short high DMG and utility.

I still do not understand why a guardian would use a gs.

Justine.6351:

I still do not understand why a guardian would use a gs.

I use Greatsword because they look awesome – they are huge and easily noticed

Guardians use GS to pull enemies, Symbol of Wrath, Conditional Removal and Blinding. Plus it does good damage

havoc.6814:

Lightsbane.9012:

there’s also 4 legendary greatswords….

Confirmed Bachelor.3508:

…considering we have two GS legendaries.

Three legendary greatswords, lol

Eternity counts twice, and it’s the only one that matters, so you’re all right

Warriors only use GS for 100B/WW, and only bad mesmers use greatsword (unless we’re talking about PvP/WvW). No idea about rangers though it’s definitely one of the ranger weapons I rarely see. Greatsword is a nice burst weapon on a guard, but 1h sword is better sustained DPS.

So all you noticed was that hundred blades makes a big number and that bads like to camp it, that a lot of bad mesmers use greatsword and that it just happens to be a popular weapon with guards.

Take a look how any gs looks then look at the staff from the same set-you will find your answer.

I wouldn’t call GS bad on a Mesmer. #1 does DECENT regular attack damage. #2 ricochets, summons a clone, and grants might to your guys and vulnerability to the enemy. #3 removes a boon in a small AoE. #4 summons a Phantasmal Berserker which hits REALLY hard and is a pretty big source of damage if you’re ranging. #5 will launch any enemy in front of you away.

It’s a good weapon, but I don’t suggest keeping it on all the time. Just use it for the #3 when needed, #4, and the #2 for an extra clone.

The game is so much greatsword biased, the best looking legendaries and exotics are always greatswords. This is why they have high prices. For example compare looks of the dreamer and twilight. I hope anet hires new designers that design better non-greatsword weapons.

RyuDragnier.9476:

I wouldn’t call GS bad on a Mesmer. #1 does DECENT regular attack damage. #2 ricochets, summons a clone, and grants might to your guys and vulnerability to the enemy. #3 removes a boon in a small AoE. #4 summons a Phantasmal Berserker which hits REALLY hard and is a pretty big source of damage if you’re ranging. #5 will launch any enemy in front of you away.

It’s a good weapon, but I don’t suggest keeping it on all the time. Just use it for the #3 when needed, #4, and the #2 for an extra clone.

or you could just use sword/focus with /pistol or /sword offhand and deal over double the damage while spamming invulnerability, and im not even sure ive ever seen a ranger using a greatsword, if more of them did maybe most parties wouldnt kick on join

I’ve never understood this love for the pistol on the Mesmer. Not worth it IMO. But I DO have the sword/focus on my main set on my mesmer. I tend to stick with that and the GS.

Gs, sword/focus.
I do tend to use sword/focus as my main set though.

GS on Mesmer is really bad for dungeons. /p, /s or even Staff are better options.

FOR DUNGEONS. I don’t think it’s very good in PvP either, but I’m not going to make an argument about that.

1. does DECENT regular attack damage

Sword does better and doesn’t require you to sit out of boon range of your party.

1. ricochets, summons a clone, and grants might to your guys and vulnerability to the enemy

Or you can have a warrior use on my mark, axe 2, mace 4 and for great justice all in an extremely short period of time for I believe 16 stacks of vulnerability and 3 stacks of might and fury for the party.

1. removes a boon in a small AoE

For fights when boon removal isnecessary, Arcane Thievery, Phantasmal Disenchanter, Null Field.

1. summons a Phantasmal Berserker which hits REALLY hard and is a pretty big source of damage if you’re ranging

Except firstly you shouldn’t be ranging, and secondly, focus, pistol and sword all have strong phantasms too.

1. will launch any enemy in front of you away.

5 also makes groups hate you because you threw a bunch of mobs around when they were trying to group them and cleave them.

I’ve never understood this love for the pistol on the Mesmer. Not worth it IMO. But I DO have the sword/focus on my main set on my mesmer. I tend to stick with that and the GS.

Pistol is a powerful phantasm, puts on 8 bleed stacks and when shooting through an ethereal field, 8 stacks of confusion.

Your best bet is to run sword/sword and sword/pistol, swap out the off-hand sword for utility situations requiring the focus and then have a greatsword in your inventory for rare cases like Melandru in Arah which needs to be ranged.

It’s a miracle mesmers don’t have a stigma of “greatsword camping bad” like rangers do of “wrongbow/bear pet camping bad” consiering the amount of mesmers who use that trash weapon.

Clumsy.6257:

…and im not even sure ive ever seen a ranger using a greatsword, if more of them did maybe most parties wouldnt kick on join

My first 80 was a ranger, I use longbow and greatsword… lb for the area attack and to keep enemies far away and gs for when I get swarmed. In addition to the block ability gs has some good multi-target hits and the autoattack includes an evasion in the rotation. So if you’re swarmed by four of five enemies switch to gs and hit everyone at once, and evade their attacks every three or four beats.

As for kicking rangers, that’s because most people can’t be bothered to think for themselves. They hear “rangers are the kitteny class” and assume every ranger is bad. It’s the second-most popular class so there are a LOT of them out there, and a good choice for solo players because of the backup from a pet. So the law of averages means that a larger number of rangers will be very casual or inexperienced as opposed to more hardcore players. The same with warriors because they are the most common class, but they don’t have the same rep. So any warrior or ranger you see is more likely to be inexperienced, but that doesn’t make the class itself bad.

tolunart.2095:

Clumsy.6257:

…and im not even sure ive ever seen a ranger using a greatsword, if more of them did maybe most parties wouldnt kick on join

My first 80 was a ranger, I use longbow and greatsword… lb for the area attack and to keep enemies far away and gs for when I get swarmed. In addition to the block ability gs has some good multi-target hits and the autoattack includes an evasion in the rotation. So if you’re swarmed by four of five enemies switch to gs and hit everyone at once, and evade their attacks every three or four beats.

As for kicking rangers, that’s because most people can’t be bothered to think for themselves. They hear “rangers are the kitteny class” and assume every ranger is bad. It’s the second-most popular class so there are a LOT of them out there, and a good choice for solo players because of the backup from a pet. So the law of averages means that a larger number of rangers will be very casual or inexperienced as opposed to more hardcore players. The same with warriors because they are the most common class, but they don’t have the same rep. So any warrior or ranger you see is more likely to be inexperienced, but that doesn’t make the class itself bad.

I’m guessing your talking about open world pve, in which case you could run around naked and still be just as effective, in dungeons if your using wrong bow its auto kick, there is absolutely no excuse to use a ranged weapon in any dungeon (excluding fractals) when melee deals much better damage and every expects you to stack, and as for why most people kick rangers on sight… I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a ranger stack on a boss and still try and spam lb/sb

The one time I gave a ranger a chance after Guang’s views became meta, they were a “heal build” and just spammed spirits.

I don’t like playing with rangers because the players are bad, not because the class is. I also booted a warrior from CoF p1 pre-nerf because he only had GS and no axe/mace, another had GS and sword/shield, greatsword mesmers make me cringe and any condi build makes me die a bit inside too.

The problem is the people get the wrong idea about the “range-r” and expect to just be allowd to camp range, hence why there’s so many bad rangers, whereas at least some zerker warrior with greatsword faceplanting after hundred blades is still doing damage.

I don’t do dungeons, for pretty much the same reasons above, except from the other side.