Guild Wars 2

I’m just curious what makes you tick.

I don’t think there’s anything specific for me, it’s more of a ‘I know it when I see it’ kind of thing.

But I think it’s safe to say I like builds that require me to do a lot in combat. My favourite professions are elementalist, engineer and ranger using shortbow (where positioning is important) and sword/torch. I also like using conditions in addition to physical damage. I like the idea of applying lots of kinds of damage quickly.

Fortunately I’m also not interested in optimal builds. I’d rather have a harder time winning a fight while enjoying what I’m doing than win quickly and easily doing something I find boring. But then I mainly play PvE and even in HoT I haven’t had much trouble.

i play glass builds in pvp, and for me the best times are when you get the drop on the enemies and melt everything, those are the most fun moments

If I’m using greatsword it’s fun… Nowadays I mainly use longbow though

Action. I like dodging and blocking, and knocking back when I’m on my own, and taking on numerous enemies at once. Doesn’t matter what profession.

Something that excessively excels in one area so that when you play on a team with like minded builds an interconnection occurs that allows you to succeed in all endeavors.

Two things,
A little survivablity, I don’t mind loosing a fight, but I like to feel I’ve been in it. If some Elite or Champion mob supposedly my level or less; just one shots me. Or cannot be hit, thats no fun. I was in AC the other day; and Just could not move the needle on this Lv 30 Monk. Open world I might with the same build blast 6Lv 50s to Hades in one go; but Monkly was totally bullet proof.

The other as little arbitrary nonsense as possible. Like in CM, that point where there is no way to damage that spindly little rocket launcher; but for to use an Air Rifle that just happens to be left near to hand; to send the missles back. Whaaaa, Whyyyy?

Or having to light a Brasiur or burn a spider web with a specific magic torch; even though I am running a fire Ele and Im all about nothing but fire. I can see having the torch available to some melee type who does not have access to fire but let us use our own ablities devs.

I’m a returning player, and a Huge part of why I took the 2 year lay off was the huge amount of Arbitrary nonsense in the game. Im a simple soul really; All I want Is a Good Solid Axe and a Jotun whose thick skull it needs planting in. : ) C.

Versatility. Like being able to change builds for a char to fulfill different roles

For pve? Aoe and mass murder. Burn zerker warrior was gods gift to me

Nothing because if you don’t run meta people won’t play with you and scold you for being useless

Actions per minute.

Cool one-liners when I put the beat down. Like, one time, I gave this troll a mouthful of knuckle sandwich and my toon said, “Now who’s feeding the troll?”. He he…

Okay, he didn’t say that, but it would have been so cool.

Kattenpootjes.4291:

Nothing because if you don’t run meta people won’t play with you and scold you for being useless

So More freedom of “movement” where build is concerned? I would have to agree with that, the less the game caters to a tiny minority of elitist players; and more to more Filthy Casuals (like me : ), but seriously it is a game at the end of the day and no-one should ever be insulted because they choose a style of play outside the Meta. C.

I like seeing big numbers and huge chunks of enemy’s health pools going down all at once. xD

(Zerker ele ftw)

I play many different builds/play-styles but for the most part – for fun. Rarely ever competitive unless I’m with friends who are serious about PvP/WvW and need me to fulfill a specific role.

I make my own builds/theory-craft or simply expand upon an existing build to suit my needs.

Some of my current favorite builds are:

• full zerk gunflame Berserker (I can drop people in seconds, hehe)
• sentinel/soldier shout Dragonhunter (my frontline for WvW very fun)
• sentinel/soldier hammer elixir Scrapper (also frontline for WvW)
• full cleric tanky ‘healer’ Druid (fun trolling times with this)
• generic Mallyx/Glint hybrid Herald (great fun in PvP still)
• full zerk Chronomancer (for Dungeon/PvE purposes)
• various condition Thief/Daredevil builds (I am still trying to find a good condi thief build)

Noticeably yes, a lot of these are either pigeon-holed into a specific role and WvW orientated (be it roaming or zerging), I think I’m still trying to relive the good old ‘frontline hammertrain’ days… least I’m trying and having fun though!

Well tbh I haven’t found any fun in playing engineer/scrapper or revenant/herald.

On the other hand I like playing support builds
zealot/zerk or zealot/cleric variants of warrior, necro, ele, guardian…

I also have a Trailblazer/rabid necro and a minstrel/cleric guardian wich are epic. Both are quite tanky and while the first does very nice condition dmg the other does really good healing. I also really really enjoy my sinister PU condi Mesmer whcih tends to be quite nice as well…

In the end I like condition builds and support/healing builds more then DPS builds tbh, But I still like playing my PS EA warrior (consider it support), or My staff DPS elementalist, well it’s no support build either but flexible enough to counter most problems (I run fire/water/tempest instead of Fire/Lightning/Tempest.)

I feel I’m a bit weird in this regard, but I love playing supportive defensive builds! I’ve tried damage (zerk) builds but never quite liked that as much as leaping into the fray on my tank Scrapper or Glint/Ventari Rev (Full Clerics, I love my rev!).

Sure I don’t do much damage, and sometimes the healing really isn’t important (Especially in old Tyria) but that feeling when my fiance and friends are ripping into something as I’m tanking and kiting it around is amazing to me Also when I watch them all get flattened by a shockwave/whatever and their health dips to critical levels, Mumble explodes with “I’m going down soon!” “That really hurt!” followed closely by “Oh hey, almost back to full!” when my tablet comes out and saves them all

That’s my favorite playstyle! Also helps that all my Fractal/Dungeon/Jungle romps are with my close friends so “meta” isn’t expected or needed at all Also I rarely play alone, my fiance is usually ripping the things I make mad apart with her zerk ele (Now, she likes blowing stuff up!) so my tanky support build just means we get to aggro the whole room! >:) Hahaha

Have a great day everyone!

For me, it’s the same as Danikat. I don’t really care about efficiency, but more about positioning and action. My favorite is torch and axe on the ranger.

Great mobility, multiple alternatives available all the time, positioning play, good kiting, lots of aoe options, lots and lots of CC, non repetitive play, a good measure of weirdness and chaos.

After 2 year playing GW2, FT+Rifle Engie is still my favorite.

I’m a pretty simple guy, dps and and attack animations/sound effects are at the top of my list.

Running GS and Dagger/x on Necro is incredibly fun and satisfying.

Necro and Ranger PvE builds are the most fun for me. I enjoy the trap ranger and well necros the most. Since it is PvE, I don’t have to worry about meta builds and can just play what is fun for me.

In raids, I love the condi builds. Burnzerker and Condi Engi are my favorites. This is ironic due to the fact that I am not fond of either class outside of Raids. LOL

In fractals and dungeons, I am a Shout Guardian fan. I have a blast with him and now that support efforts are being rewarded just like damage, I will love it even more. I can help my team and get rewarded too!

After reading other posters, the words that came to my mind were faceroll versus challenge, meta builds, healing and survivability.

I’ve played Ranger since beta and I like how my power build is straightforward and easy to play when I’m tired from work. It’s entertainment for me, after all, and I don’t want frustration. But I also like how I can jump into the melee fray when I want more challenge.

I don’t mind playing a meta build if that’s what works best. But I always try to understand the synergies so I can be effective. Understanding options also allows me to tweak my build for particular situations.

I’ve always enjoyed healing and used to play my Guardian so I could help others. Now I can do that on my Druid main too!

Lastly, I usually run soldiers armor (with berserkers weapons and everything else) because I like to survive. I don’t mind if it takes extra time to kill something but I hate dying. Also, I like resurrecting people but hate to be the man down. And often I’m just running through mobs (even in HoT zones) because I like to explore; I don’t want to fight if I don’t have to.

Going back to my Smite days, for me it is all about the fight. I enjoyed being ganked by assassins and burst builds only to survive and turn it back around on them, jumping into the middle of an enemy team to lay down the hurt on their glass built damage dealers, as they frantically try and push me off. For me it wasn’t about waiting for the right time to strike but rather making it the right time.

And that’s why in WvW I will usually leave people alive when I beat them so long as they don’t turn tail and run the first few seconds into a brawl.

Hardest part for me is that I don’t have any one reason why I like a playstyle. What I want is different each day, and I find myself playing various alts so much that I really don’t have a “main”.

Of the classes I do play, there’s one general theme. I like power. Potency. The ability to melt face, or the ability to be a linchpin and turn the tide of battle.

It varies for me. I play the classes I do cause I am interested in something at the time that is related to that class. However, its not cause I’m having fun or anything.

When I truly think I am having fun is when I managed to solo something or helped duo something that I thought was outside of my skill range. This means, yes its almost always something PvE oriented, even the tower and keep lords in WvW to me count as PvE. When it comes to fighting other players, its never something I find fun. I’m often too busy to even think about having fun then.

Although a few times, I will say I have had fun in PK ways. Its mostly when I know someone isn’t skilled with their character to combat/counter anything I can do. I’ll end up toying with them… and acting like they are actually causing damage to me, when the whole time I can fully heal anything they give. I know trolling them in a way, but to me its fun watching them try even if they didn’t have a chance. With WvW now having PPK (points per kill), I don’t generally toy too much anymore. Thanks ANet for ruining my fun time in WvW roaming.

Minion Master is one of my favourite playstyles because I love having a horde of creatures to outnumber and overwealm my foe. It’s why I played Vampire Counts in Warhammer and Tyranids in 40k.

Being nearly invincible and still dishing out damage. Hence my current minion master reaper in PvE. Minions absorb all the attention while I dish the damage with the greatsword. No other character I have rips through a pack of pocket raptors as efficiently as my reaper.

Good survivability, short cooldowns, AoE.

I enjoy support roles. Makes me feel important.

In most games, that relegates to Healing, but through GW2 I’ve also gained a penchant for Buffing. So naturally, I gravitate towards Druid and Chronomancer, but since most professions got some kind of Support I don’t feel pidgeon-holed into a specific Profession or Playstyle. (One of the things I really enjoy with GW2)

Something with a high skillcap that rewards skillful gameplay. An acrobatics/critical strikes/daredevil may qualify since you need dodging for the vigor upkeep and it isn’t enough to read the start of a tell to get a formal dodge but rather dodge at a specific moment. However, since the extra movement speed was moved to shadow arts (thus acrobatics was overall nerfed this patch) I’m running SA/CS/DD with staff and shortbow, S/D and shortbow, or staff and S/D in PvE now since SA offers so much like stealth on steal (meaning no need to S/D 5 then swap to staff for its totally awesome knockdown) and removing a condition per second in stealth but still overall rely on evades so I can stay on the enemy while minimizing damage intake but seems impractical in larger scale fights where the risk of getting swarmed is totally real.

I want to support my allies, I usually play healers even in single player games.

Aesthetically. Firstly, I like seeing 24k HP (not going over24,999 or below 24,000) no matter how weak my damage is. If not, I will not or rarely play it.

I prefer not to use range weapons or condition build when I’m playing heavies. And I like playing heavies.

I have two different play styles in games that makes ’em fun for me. The big tank in the center of the fray. Armed to the teeth and never surrender. Always at the front line and the first to charge into everything. I played that in “classic” mmos.

The other version is glass cannon, extremely mobile and many different tools. This is what I play in GW2, it’s a Mesmer. I love the frantic gameplay, the mobility and all the “oh kitten” buttons to save yourself. If you don’t pay attention you’re likely downed before you can say “wtf”. I love the portals and all the little skills that make a difference at the right moment (hello distortion <3).

tbh i like a build where i deal alot of damage , take alot of damage but my attacks have lifesteal XD but well in this game its not like this , so i run full berseker warrior

Enjoyable participation and damage at my pace (usually half that of others), lest my hands and arms feel sliced open…

That means defensive builds (primarily on the Guard), and fairly impossible on some classes like Thief (which I find disappointing, but understandable). I’m always on the lookout for builds on non-Guard classes that can fit this bill (slow steady sustain that can take a hit or two).