Guild Wars 2

So guardians guard people… it’s kinda their thing…

and the dragons are the biggest threat, and the guardians have adapted to fight the dragons…. what is the big deal?

It’s not like they renamed the class, you’re still a guardian. You just spec’d into the dragon hunter trait line…

-THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS-

So after watching the ready-up, I’m loving 98% of what I saw, but I have two thoughts.

1: My grandma runs faster…. If they are going to change the elite books, how about making an elite signet with runspeed on it?

2: without meditation heals, or AH+EM this is going to be quite the squishy

Well the DH in my eyes seems more offensive than anything supportive.
The traps are kinda supportive but first of all they are just controle.
Then the long CD’s on traps – that’s why i don’t like traps. Long CD’s, fairly low effect and mostly just controle tools.
I hoped to get a long range weapon, with which i could lay down 2-3 symbols, from close to long range, so i could maybe replace my staff with it.
And no that’s not like laying down traps. You’re throwing traps beneath you feet, so you have to actually be at the location you want them to be (while using a weapon intended for ranged combat). In addition, traps have activation time.
Some may find this interesting or “cool” – in my opinion they could just go on playing their rangers. Nearly the same, just less shiny.

So no i’m not happy with what was presented.
The specialisation for guardian was the only thing i was interested and had to catch me, to convince me to buy HoT. It didn’t achieve that – so now buy from my side.

One thing to consider with the traps is why they’re hardly used on Rangers and Thieves now and learn from it. The issue with traps as they are now on them is that their damage is lackluster and their support is minimal.
Looking at the new DH Traps, the support seems to be improved and the damage looks decent at least. An issue it still shares with Ranger and Thief traps is that none of the traps are a stun breaker, which is a pretty needed part in most builds, especially PvP.
In addition, the recharge times seem to be fairly high, but without playing it, it’s hard to say if that’s balanced or not.

I quite like that specialization.
The most important to look at are the mechanics, and I’m quite happy with them. Balancing is just about changing numbers, they have time for that.

It’s a good thing that the theme and the name are the only bad points because they are very easy to replace compared to gameplay mechanics.

Okay . . . so while I’m still not crazy on the name, I totally retract my previous statements about ANet dropping the ball with this spec. I think the way they introduced it was not good compared to the Chronomancer, but after really taking some time to think about it and see it in action, I’m really quite pleased. Sure, I was hoping for a Paragon for reasons of lore, and I would still love to have seen that, but I’m happy with what we got, even if I wasn’t at first. I can admit, I jumped the gun with my reaction and was wrong. . . . still should change the name though, haha.

Well, time to retract statements for me too. Their explanation about the name “Dragonhunter” being like “Witchhunter” makes perfect sense and does fit.

I have to say that the spec looks good to me, I’m really looking forward to the other specs now although I have to say that I hope they boost the default profession in some way if you don’t choose an elite spec, so there is more of a trade-off between choosing an elite spec and choosing a third default spec.

We can all still look forward to paragon in a future expansion (the expac where they let us use our spears on land).

Alice.5360:

Dragons aren’t covertly hiding like witches. Witch hunting was hard because they looked like normal people and there were many of them. Dragons? They’re limited in number and pretty apparent. Plus, they told us we are big game hunters, not… covert investigator things.

Also, dragons aren’t evil. They just /are./ They absorb magic, wake, and retire. They’re more like forces of nature than evil.

And backline? Well, that’s how they framed the class, not me. It’s even in the release notes. :P

but corrupted dragon minions are the “witches”……dragons are the “devils”. you are comparing the wrong things. understand if u don’t like the name….but it does make sense. if they can come up with a better name that conveys the same thing, i’m all for it. but as it is, its fine.

I like the arc.
Some skills look nice, but i find the angel and dragon mix weird (wings…). I personally prefer more of an angel theme for guardians.
I would like a better elite look and name maybe some kind of light prison.
The traps look cool.
But i’m not a fan of the name. I think it’s important too.

I’ll say that I really enjoy the visuals of this spec. Kind of curious how crazy it’ll look with 3+ “Dragonhunters” around laying traps and all the brightness. Still, very cool and pains me to make a Guardian character…but I’m diligently saving it!

Do you realize how amazing a Tengu DragonHunter would look with the wings and the bow? I find the angel wings don’t quite mesh with the overall motif of the spec but for a Tengu? It’s perfect! Please keep up work on those new races for future updates, I’d really appreciate it and will continue to wait patiently for that release

Here are the ideas for trait/skill changes that I posted in the guardian forum.

First of the virtues

Wings of Resolve: Reduce the CD to 40-45 seconds. (Given the healing seems lower then current VOR and the healing range is 1/4 current VOR)

Now for the bow skills

Puncture Shot: Split it into 2 arrows that each do 55-60% of the current attacks damage. (Will speed up justice triggers)

Deflecting Shot: Slow projectile speed by 30-40%. Make it wider like a wave (180 across), Make it knock back enemies it hits (120), Make it count as a block when it stops projectiles (so it interacts with traits)

Hunters Ward: Scrapp it for new Hunters Wrath.

Hunters Wrath: Fire a barrage at the targeted location. The first 2 waves of arrows cripple enemies (2 seconds each) The third Immobilizes (4 seconds) Damage and cast time the same as hunters ward.
CD 30 seconds.
(Wards are made usless by stability, defiance, teleports etc… Immobilize at least requires a condi cleanse)

Now for traps

Purification: Split the heal evenely between use & when the trap is triggered. Make it convert a condition into a boon, or at least remove a condition.
(makes sense with the name)

Fragments of Faith: Lower the number of fragments to 3, but lower the cool down to 30 seconds.
(45 seconds is a tad excessive)

Test of Faith: Scrap the current iteration.

Test of Faith: Now does it’s damage in 3 pulses. The first 2 pulses damage & cripple (2 seconds each) nearby enemies while granting protectiion to nearby allies (1 second each). The last pulse damages & burns (3 seconds) nearby enemies while healing nearby allies. (healing TBD)

Procession of Blades: Cool down reduced to 30-35 seconds.

Dragons Maw: No longer creates a barrier. Instead pulses immobilize (2 seconds per pulse for 4 seconds).

Now for Traits

Dulled Senses: Scrapped for Seared Tendons.

Seared Tendons: Cripple (3-4 seconds) foes that you burn
(cool down of 10 seconds per target)

Hunters Determiniation: Moved to Adept major tier.

Piercing Light: Bleed (33% chance to trigger, 4 second bleed)foes you critically hit.
(Moved to master tier, taking hunters determination’s place)

Or

Piercing Light: Traps & symbols now inflict bleeding (4-5 seconds per hit)
(Moved to master tier taking hunters determination’s place)

Heavy Light: Current iteration scrapped.

Heavy Light: Traps now heal you when placed & daze (1 second) enemies when triggered.
(Healing TBD)

All these changes are aimed at creating more interaction between skills – traits & making skills/traits that seem rather meh better.

Only skill I have a slight issue with is True Shot. Increase the cd to 8-10 seconds and it should be fine.

After watching the twitch, I’m looking forward to the specialty. Name is lackluster…no matter what they’re reasoning…I don’t like it, so add my name to the list of people desiring it to change. Name = no, specialty = yes.

We should get a thread going with a list of popular names and peoples votes for it…see how forum based ideas work out.

While I’m not thrilled about traps as a mechanic, the traits and weapon skills seem pretty fun. I won’t comment on the name, but it looks like something that I will pick up on my guardian. Saying I like it more than chronomancer is weird, but I just don’t like time mechanics at all, so that is a no brainer for me.

Hey Guild Wars 2 Community,

in my honest opinion this elite spec is what it should be: skill based and showing us some different face of the guardian. I like the concept of this.

The “core” spec is just shouts, f1-3 random pressing in need and all your nearby allys will have some nice buff. It works pretty well and is the guarding core of the profession, but it feels a little bit to easy for me. Im a guradian main since launch, played the “core” in every of the 3 player environments, and it lacks of a high skillcap at the moment.

And the elite spec seems very nice to me! i mean, ok, the name is a little bit odd, but in the end of the day its just a name.
I expected something like “Paragorn” or more leaderchip spec and reading the first wall of text about the dragonhunter was very dissapointing.

“I dont wanna have traps like the thief or ranger!”, was my very first thoughts about it. traps seems so weak and not a very guardian-like type of skill. but after watching the “ready up” live stream i was HYPED. this was SUCH a difference.

You have the new F2, repositioning skill, what can heal allys and imobillice enemys. F1 is just a nice spear, what can reset on kill, stack burning very fast and with the grandmaster trait it gives you 15% (!!) bonus dmg while chaining to EVERY enemy stuck in your chain. thats very strong.
Your F3 now, if used corectly, is the strongest defensiv skill in game, and you need practice and awarness of the enemys powerspike to use it right.
All of these 3 skills still maintain their passiv’s and are bossted by traits. in MY opinion its the best way they could go with our F-skills. just those changes make me happy, because it will seperate the"good" guard players from the “better” ones. this skillcap was needed and its finaly there!

next thing was the new weapon, the longbow. the skills you get on this weapon are very good playing to the guardians weaknesses at the moment. also nice you dont have to use this weapon if you think you dont like it. but those skills are unike, strong and make me very happy. i cant wait for roaming in WvW with this strong kit!

and last, but not least, the traps. holy cow! i mean, you can make a thief sweat in his pans with this trap of light thingy, you have now an elite skill whats vailable besides “renewd focus” and you can go on condi-based things with this wonderful things & traits.

So i think, even if i wasnt expecting this, its a very nice addition to the guardian! its not op, but strong, and it opens new builds and roles for our nice knight of the light!

Thanks anet for this very good-looking elite spec!

Dragonhunter with wing virtues? This is not good. Seraphim is better.

i do think that if they gave the option to switch modes so keep the existing skills but when you switch mode the bow becomes a close combat (teleports,jumps evades flips more mobile and skirmish like )weapon people would love the dragon hunter more,hell if they you wanted to even make the bow like a one weapon thing like the engie and have multiple modes you can go into.You could replace the virtues with armors (a buff sorta thing) you can give the people which would give people a certain stat increase for a period of time .Is it too late for them to add this because i think they should incorporate a melee mode with the bow which you can switch between. I mean HOT is still far away so they could still have time to add and change things and the people would appreciate the time you put into each specialization.I would make the bow melee skills quite fast to counterbalance the slowness of the range.
Though this is just a ramble and what atm the dragonhunter (miffed about the name but i will get over it) provides is good i think adding this would make people love the dragonhunter even more.Names just of the top my name is it is changed:zealot,vanquisher,lightbringer,,crusader,Unbroken,Harbringer of light

trap should be ground targeted (as it seems it isnt)
the cd is too long 45 sec… make it 30 sec

make 1 trap proc burning some way
make 1 trap clenase condition like healing trap
make 1 trap to be stunbreak
make 1 trap to proc some support boons like regen, vigor,protection

no taunt skill?

this way traps can be use in any build type. condi, zerk, hybrid, range or melee.
otherwise
in pvp you maybe see 1 trap in used and maybe the same in wvw
in pve you can see them as no support utility much needed.

I am concerned about the new utilities. They are awesome, but signets are not. Signets need to be fixed for Guardian. You are paring build options down and leaving useless skills in the mix. For PvP this is a real concern. People that don’t buy the x-pac are still possible team mates. If you don’t buff utilities for base classes, I want a separate queue from people that don’t buy the x-pac. I literally don’t want them on my team.

You guys are walking a really dangerous line with these Elite Specs. The new skills are way better than the old stuff and it’s going to create a real division in the playerbase especially since the new PvP maps don’t require purchase of HoT.

As a ranger main i feel kinda ripped off since what youve basically made is a ranger without an annoying pet , heavy armor and traps that work , so yeh besides the name being terrible i really feel like ive been kicked in the teeth since ranger pets are still awful to control in dungeons. But yeh i look forward to the warrior spec with useful turrets and heavy armor so my engineer gets made redundant too

Why did I main a Ranger again? Guardians get a better version of them now. Seriously, a big game hunter class? Time to reroll.

If the Dragonhunter was more of an “Evil meet sword SWORD MEET EVIL!” type of class (a’la witch hunters as the current defense stands), perhaps it’d have been better to emphasize that aspect during the presentation instead of this ranger-copy thing we have now?

Tharomir.6985:

Why did I main a Ranger again? Guardians get a better version of them now. Seriously, a big game hunter class? Time to reroll.

Guardians are, or Dragonhunters are? Perhaps Druids will be better rangers then Dragonhunters though.

Tharomir.6985:

Why did I main a Ranger again? Guardians get a better version of them now. Seriously, a big game hunter class? Time to reroll.

From the looks of it ranger will still have allot more ranged damage then dragon hunter.

They will also still do conditions just as well or better seeing as they can do bruning, bleeding, poison, cripple & immobilize & vulnerability.

messiah.1908:

trap should be ground targeted (as it seems it isnt)
the cd is too long 45 sec… make it 30 sec

make 1 trap proc burning some way
make 1 trap clenase condition like healing trap
make 1 trap to be stunbreak
make 1 trap to proc some support boons like regen, vigor,protection

no taunt skill?

this way traps can be use in any build type. condi, zerk, hybrid, range or melee.
otherwise
in pvp you maybe see 1 trap in used and maybe the same in wvw
in pve you can see them as no support utility much needed.

Traps definitely need to be looked at.

The cool downs are all excessively long.

None of them do damaging conditions at base. (have to trait for that and trait only effects traps)

The heal trap purification doesn’t even remove a condition.

The elite trap dragon’s maw does a ward which is basically useless in PvP given the wide spread use of stun breaks, stability & teleports.

As for the taunt skill, I’d rather they add taunt to shield number 4 & resistance to shield number 5. That would make the shield worth using.

Boro.7359:

If the Dragonhunter was more of an “Evil meet sword SWORD MEET EVIL!” type of class (a’la witch hunters as the current defense stands), perhaps it’d have been better to emphasize that aspect during the presentation instead of this ranger-copy thing we have now?

To their credit, the devs didn’t really cover much of anything about the Dragonhunters conceptually besides their skills. I don’t believe anywhere it was said that the spec would be “sword meet evil” (the teaser pic had a bow and the datamined info said it was a longbow…nothing to do with swords).

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

messiah.1908:

trap should be ground targeted (as it seems it isnt)
the cd is too long 45 sec… make it 30 sec

make 1 trap proc burning some way
make 1 trap clenase condition like healing trap
make 1 trap to be stunbreak
make 1 trap to proc some support boons like regen, vigor,protection

no taunt skill?

this way traps can be use in any build type. condi, zerk, hybrid, range or melee.
otherwise
in pvp you maybe see 1 trap in used and maybe the same in wvw
in pve you can see them as no support utility much needed.

Traps definitely need to be looked at.

The cool downs are all excessively long.

None of them do damaging conditions at base. (have to trait for that and trait only effects traps)

The heal trap purification doesn’t even remove a condition.

The elite trap dragon’s maw does a ward which is basically useless in PvP given the wide spread use of stun breaks, stability & teleports.

As for the taunt skill, I’d rather they add taunt to shield number 4 & resistance to shield number 5. That would make the shield worth using.

In all honesty traps much like simbols are already useless, who actually traits simbols? so why on earth would you dedicate an entire trait line to them?. I said this before, static elements in a game based around moving action are non starters.

I imagine most people will play DH to get access to bow and some actually useful virtues but i dont expect to see many traps like today i dont see them with hunters or rogues.

Massively disappointed the most ridiculous decision I have seen made in a game. Take a front line heavy class and give it specialization to make it a long ranged and back line…

Whats next Engineer Tank with greatsword melee abilities?

I think virtue improvements are brilliant, but longbow and traps seriously? Traps are useless to use in a heavy action – live moving and dodging game, they are barely used as it is with current classes.

If I wanted to play a ranger, I’d make my ranger alt my main… Specializations are supposed to improve, letting the class excel not water the class down further and make it into a wishy washy mash of two classes….

Yup what would actually have been better is a moving aoe skills centered on the character. much like every paladin has in justabout every fantasy game.

I just find it strange, how u can eb´ven leave feedback on something u have not even played yet….

Frostfang.5109:

I just find it strange, how u can eb´ven leave feedback on something u have not even played yet….

For traps at least, it’s because we already have classes that have traps in this game. Their effectiveness in a fight is inversely proportional to the intelligence/skill of your enemy.

Anyone else feel the Dragonhunter is just plain lackluster when compared to the other Elite Specs shown so far? I was utterly blown away by how cool and awesome the Reaper is. The visuals, the flavor, the theme — It was all there. I have to say, the Reaper is an excellent execution of an Elite Spec.

Dragonhunter just seems “tame” to me. My only character is a Guardian, and I love everything about Guardians as a class. I expected to see an Elite Spec that would transform the Guardian into a Stalwart Defender, an elite Soldier of Dwayna, an Avatar of Light, you know, something that is a logical extension of the flavor and theme of the Guardian.

Instead, we become Dragonhunters? With a bow that lays traps? Remember the picture that was teased a couple of days before the Dragonhunter was officially revealed?

This was it.

I had immediately fantasized about a Guardian who supported his allies from afar, who shot healing/cleansing arrows, who shot symbols in the ground that buffed allies and cripples enemies, who could turn into an avatar of Dwayna (with wings), and you know, do more cool Guardian things (maybe shouts?)

I just feel that the Reaper and Chronomancer seem like they fit the overall theme of their respective classes much more than the Dragonhunter does. I also feel that they seem much more fun to play, mechanically speaking. Visuals, flavor, and mechanics seems much more cohesive and complimenting of each other with those two Specs. I don’t feel this way with the Dragonhunter.

In fact, I feel like there is a big disconnect with all three of those elements in the Dragonhunter. I don’t quite understand the flavor of the Dragonhunter, nor do I understand how laying traps with a bow is fun and/or attractive to anyone who identifies with the Guardian class. Traps should be symbols instead. They should also inherently provide support to allies, because that fits the flavor of the class. Visually speaking, I don’t see anything as impressive as the Reaper or Chronomancer. Which is to say, nothing cool is happening from a mechanical standpoint with the Dragonhunter, so nothing cool is happening from a visual standpoint. And it shows. There’s nothing flashy, colorful, or exciting going on.

It sucks to work on something and have someone comment negatively on all that hard work. I’m only speaking about what I see and how it makes me feel as a player. I really want to play a Chronomancer and a Reaper, but I don’t want to play a Dragonhunter at all. I’m simply not interested. Which is fine, because not everyone will want to play every Elite Spec, nor can they identify with every theme of every single Elite Spec. But the Dragonhunter doesn’t seem to have the amount of positive feedback that Reaper and Chronomancer do. I just feel like the Dragonhunter deviates too much from what a Guardian “is” as a class, and what a Guardian “does” during combat.

Thanks for reading.

its high concept stuff, use your imagination.

dragonhunter abilities actually look quite powerful, my only issue is the name

Zackie.8923:

its high concept stuff, use your imagination.

God, I hate PR speak like that. It’s patronizing and feels like the devs are speaking down to us like we don’t have a clue how things work. There is nothing ‘high concept’ about dragonhunters.

http://www.writersstore.com/high-concept-defined-once-and-for-all/

That’s a decent rundown of what high concept is and dragonhunter is nowhere close to that.

Ralanost, that’s a good breakdown of High Concept. Even Wikipedia has a good breakdown where it says the following:

High Concept = Something that is “easily pitched with a succinctly stated premise”.
Low Concept = Something that is “concerned with character development and other subtleties that aren’t as easily summarized”.

Interesting it mentions that most High Concept work can be summed up via it’s name or title. Like say Snakes on a Plane.

So by going via the definition of High Concept that includes the Chronomancer since it translates as practitioner of time “divination”, it has a succinctly stated premise. But since the Dragonhunter’s concept is based around lore based character motivations of a dragon hunting faction and other subtleties or as it was phrased “Subtle Nuances”, that means the Dragonhunter is actually Low Concept.

Actually I believe the main issue is that people are viewing Specializations as something that is supposed to be as the OP states “logical extension of the flavor and theme of the Guardian.”

That’s the biggest mistake I think everyone is making.

Elite Specializations are designed to be horizontal progression, not vertical. We’re taking a piece of our main profession and specializing further into that aspect.

Chronomancers -> Mesmers who decided to focus more on the time aspect of their profession (which admittedly was pretty sparse to begin with).

Reapers -> Necromancers who decided to focus more on being as powerful as Death itself.

Dragonhunters -> Guardians who decided to focus more on zealous justice.

These are all just one piece of each profession that is being extended, the 2nd Elite specializations for these professions will then delve into another facet of the base profession.

A future elite spec for each could be:

Mesmer -> Some kind of mage-thief that focuses more on its stealth aspects.

Necromancer -> A Demonologist-ish kind of summoner with more focus on minions.

Guardian -> Cleric-ish boon giver/supporter with more focus on tomes.

OP is clearly one of the many that think Elite specs are supposted to be vertical progression but they aren’t. They’re just another choice to play the profession in a different way, a more focused (specialized) role.

We can even use the Druid as an example. It is not the total encompassing progression of what a Ranger is, it is just an extension of the Nature Magic part of the Ranger.

Welcome to the guardian elite specialization disappointment club.

Mar.4839:

Actually I believe the main issue is that people are viewing Specializations as something that is supposed to be as the OP states “logical extension of the flavor and theme of the Guardian.”

That’s the biggest mistake I think everyone is making.

Elite Specializations are designed to be horizontal progression, not vertical. We’re taking a piece of our main profession and specializing further into that aspect.

Chronomancers -> Mesmers who decided to focus more on the time aspect of their profession (which admittedly was pretty sparse to begin with).

Reapers -> Necromancers who decided to focus more on being as powerful as Death itself.

Dragonhunters -> Guardians who decided to focus more on zealous justice.

These are all just one piece of each profession that is being extended, the 2nd Elite specializations for these professions will then delve into another facet of the base profession.

A future elite spec for each could be:

Mesmer -> Some kind of mage-thief that focuses more on its stealth aspects.

Necromancer -> A Demonologist-ish kind of summoner with more focus on minions.

Guardian -> Cleric-ish boon giver/supporter with more focus on tomes.

OP is clearly one of the many that think Elite specs are supposted to be vertical progression but they aren’t. They’re just another choice to play the profession in a different way, a more focused (specialized) role.

We can even use the Druid as an example. It is not the total encompassing progression of what a Ranger is, it is just an extension of the Nature Magic part of the Ranger.

Yes but those focus their whole theme on one thing. Guardians by themselves have nothing to do with hunting, dragons or hunting dragons.
Mesmers have time magic thus Chronomancer.
Rangers have nature magic thus Druid.
Guardians have 0 relation to hunting or dragons which is why it makes no sense.

It feels significantly forced. Like they laid out a spreadsheet of weapons and skill types, and Guardians got the leftovers.

Their arbitrary rule of not reusing a weapon or skill type in the first set of elite specs is too limiting, since any new elite specs will break it down. Unless the second elite specs will all utilize new weapons.
Doesn’t change that they should have gone with a name that fits the profession.

hmm for some reason i thought some kinda cleric typ specialisation would have fit way better than a dragonhunter with bow…idk but it just doesnt fit the guardian well. some sort of cleric or even exorcist type would fit a guard better. but thats just me. ill still check out the new stuff and i can see a few interesting options for wvw builds…

cletiscake.9173:

Anyone else feel the Dragonhunter is just plain lackluster when compared to the other Elite Specs shown so far? I was utterly blown away by how cool and awesome the Reaper is. The visuals, the flavor, the theme — It was all there. I have to say, the Reaper is an excellent execution of an Elite Spec.

Dragonhunter just seems “tame” to me. My only character is a Guardian, and I love everything about Guardians as a class. I expected to see an Elite Spec that would transform the Guardian into a Stalwart Defender, an elite Soldier of Dwayna, an Avatar of Light, you know, something that is a logical extension of the flavor and theme of the Guardian.

Instead, we become Dragonhunters? With a bow that lays traps? Remember the picture that was teased a couple of days before the Dragonhunter was officially revealed?

This was it.

I had immediately fantasized about a Guardian who supported his allies from afar, who shot healing/cleansing arrows, who shot symbols in the ground that buffed allies and cripples enemies, who could turn into an avatar of Dwayna (with wings), and you know, do more cool Guardian things (maybe shouts?)

I just feel that the Reaper and Chronomancer seem like they fit the overall theme of their respective classes much more than the Dragonhunter does. I also feel that they seem much more fun to play, mechanically speaking. Visuals, flavor, and mechanics seems much more cohesive and complimenting of each other with those two Specs. I don’t feel this way with the Dragonhunter.

In fact, I feel like there is a big disconnect with all three of those elements in the Dragonhunter. I don’t quite understand the flavor of the Dragonhunter, nor do I understand how laying traps with a bow is fun and/or attractive to anyone who identifies with the Guardian class. Traps should be symbols instead. They should also inherently provide support to allies, because that fits the flavor of the class. Visually speaking, I don’t see anything as impressive as the Reaper or Chronomancer. Which is to say, nothing cool is happening from a mechanical standpoint with the Dragonhunter, so nothing cool is happening from a visual standpoint. And it shows. There’s nothing flashy, colorful, or exciting going on.

It sucks to work on something and have someone comment negatively on all that hard work. I’m only speaking about what I see and how it makes me feel as a player. I really want to play a Chronomancer and a Reaper, but I don’t want to play a Dragonhunter at all. I’m simply not interested. Which is fine, because not everyone will want to play every Elite Spec, nor can they identify with every theme of every single Elite Spec. But the Dragonhunter doesn’t seem to have the amount of positive feedback that Reaper and Chronomancer do. I just feel like the Dragonhunter deviates too much from what a Guardian “is” as a class, and what a Guardian “does” during combat.

Thanks for reading.

reaper is actually extremely far playstyle wise from necromancer.
Attrition and medium to long range versus burst/melee range. Now, i will stay visuals/how well put together it feels, I think reaper is stronger.

but that might just be because im not as into long ranged trapper combat as others.

main point; most of these specs will be bringing something new a different to the class, rather than highlighting something they already excelled at

I feel the same way Cletis, and I was more-or-less expecting the same kind of elite spec that you were.
When the devs are calling DH a “backline support” spec, I think it says there’s something wrong; they don’t even realize that it’s just some messy fusion between a ranger-wannabe and a guardian. It feels like they’re still speaking about the leaked longbow skills that had an offensive stance and a support stance, but they forgot they removed the support stance and ruined virtues’ supportive ability.

Honestly, this spec deserves every bit of negativity it’s getting, and I’m seriously hoping it’s redesigned by a different designer, because the skill level between the designers of dragonhunters and chronomancers/reapers has become very apparent. Not holding my breath though.

Longbow on Guardian is something I wished for a long time, though I had other ideas of what it would do.

However, what I have seen with the Dragonhunter is all fine. I think it will be very interesting and fun to play with a Longbow that got strong shots, as well as planning and placing reworked traps of justice.

While the word traps might sound odd, the core element of the guardian is ground control, and that is what we will be able to do with traps a little bit more.

However, the name Dragonhunter is so, so, so off. There is no synergy with the specialization name, the utility names, and the trait names, except a very few ones.

Longbow skill names.
Puncture Shot
True Shot
Deflecting Shot
Symbol of Energy
Hunter’s Ward

Trap names.
Purification
Fragments of Faith
Test of Faith
Procession of Blades
Light’s Judgement
Dragon’s Maw

Virtue names.
Spear of Justice
Wings of Resolve
Shield of Courage

Trait names.
Piercing Light
Zealot’s Aggression
Soaring Devastation
Hunter’s Determination
Bulwark
Dulled Senses
Hunter’s Fortification
Heavy Light
Big Game Hunter

There’s like… only a few names that ties to hunter, and only one that ties to dragon. There’s no synergy at all with the overall theme of the “Dragonhunter” specialization and the skills and traits and utilities.

It’s all a mess.

The other two specializations we have seen, got everything tied together, it all got synergy, they got a theme going that is unique to their profession only.

I think the bad name makes people subconciously think that the dragonhunter is worse than what it is.

I mean, let’s forget about the name. Guardian’s elite spec is pretty much a leaping angel, and sort of like a divine hunter entity. Elite specs are not only meant to be extentions of each prof’s themes, but also a dev interpretation of what a dual-classing theme would be like. And what is their interpretation of a Guardian/ Ranger spec? Bows that shoot symbols, arrows of bouncing light, shield arrows, Ray of Judgement traps, ward-ish version of traps, winged leaps and the like. That’s all awesome.

That being said, Chronomancer and Reaper are god-tier and surpringly better than what I expected from Anet. The theme is immediately appealing, the playstyle feels more unique, yet fits perfectly with the theme, the new death shroud animation is of a deadly beauty, and Robert’s way with puns kind of gives an extra charm to it all. Robert is quickly becoming my favourite prof designer at Anet with those two elite specs. I feel that he offers some fresh new ideas to the team (mesmer’s trait changes are also an example of that), and I find Reaper and Chrono to be at near-perfect status, be it for their playstyle, for how focused and immediately appealing their theme is, for their charming skill/ trait names, and especially for how well gameplay communicates the theme of the spec.

For DH to be on-par, he needs a better name and a more focused thematic quality. For example, their new virtues are really interesting, but they feel more like something you’d expect from a paragon. And then you have what generally seems to be a divine ranger, only to have a dragon-named elite that is clearly there just for the sake of the spec’s name to make sense (which it still doesn’t).

With a bit of a polish, DH can be easily on par with other specs. Change the name to something that invokes a divine-hunter-ish theme, make RoJ trap the elite trap instead of the dragon-themed one (IMO) – perhaps even go as far as remove anything dragon-ish from that skill (animation and name), and suddenly, everything will fit together very nicely. We’ll then have what the spec truly is – a holy ranger of light.

It’s awful. The bow looks promising, but the traps are based on terrible mechanics and are just another source of area denial, which we absolutely did not need over mobile damage sources. The traitline has no synergy with any of our existing traits. What the hell is the point of giving us extra damage against crippled enemies when the only source of cripple we have is with the new bow? Why do we have a trait that increases our damage from > 600 range if the majority of our weapons are melee? And why do we have a trait that inflicts cripple on knockback if the only reliable way to proc it is from a different bow trait (or the use of the very underwhelming shield)?

Sure, guardian didn’t really need too many major buffs, but I still feel like we got ripped off. At the very least we could have gotten something cohesive instead of this random unrelated spec that doesn’t even have a worthwhile name.

Black Box.9312:

It’s awful. The bow looks promising, but the traps are based on terrible mechanics and are just another source of area denial, which we absolutely did not need over mobile damage sources. The traitline has no synergy with any of our existing traits. What the hell is the point of giving us extra damage against crippled enemies when the only source of cripple we have is with the new bow? Why do we have a trait that increases our damage from > 600 range if the majority of our weapons are melee? And why do we have a trait that inflicts cripple on knockback if the only reliable way to proc it is from a different bow trait (or the use of the very underwhelming shield)?

The traits you listed are meant to enhance the elite spec itself, which is to be expected. I don’t see what’s wrong about that. Also, bow’s barrage can knockback on target’s movement. The shield being underwhelming is also not DH’s fault.

DiogoSilva.7089:

Black Box.9312:

It’s awful. The bow looks promising, but the traps are based on terrible mechanics and are just another source of area denial, which we absolutely did not need over mobile damage sources. The traitline has no synergy with any of our existing traits. What the hell is the point of giving us extra damage against crippled enemies when the only source of cripple we have is with the new bow? Why do we have a trait that increases our damage from > 600 range if the majority of our weapons are melee? And why do we have a trait that inflicts cripple on knockback if the only reliable way to proc it is from a different bow trait (or the use of the very underwhelming shield)?

The traits you listed are meant to enhance the elite spec itself, which is to be expected. I don’t see what’s wrong about that. Also, bow’s barrage can knockback on target’s movement. The shield being underwhelming is also not DH’s fault.

Isn’t the goal of the specialization to enhance the base class though? What’s the point of using anything not related to the spec if there’s no synergy? It just makes the entire class completely divisive; you can either be a Guardian or a DH, but don’t bother trying to be both because building for one side of the equation only removes opportunities from the other side. It’s stupid and it’s counterintuitive. With the Chronomancer, interrupt builds are going to be more powerful than ever. With the Reaper, Terrormancer is going to be crazy with damage inflicted with chill, which is guaranteed alongside the fear that already does crazy damage. With DH, there’s no reason to take it unless you plan on using the longbow. It doesn’t work with anything else.

And no, the shield’s status is not related to the new spec. But it serves to reinforce my point that a trait that procs on knockback is not very useful on a Guardian.

What bizarro world is this?

Dragon Hunter fixes the guardian’s greatest area of weakness, long range.

Reaper offers necros nothing. No group buffs, no blast finishers, no mobility. Shortbow thieves, rangers, engineers, Dragon Knights… anything that can kite an undead skellie in Orr, will have nothing to fear from Reapers.

The traps work, they may not fit your theme of a guardian, but they are awesome. The shouts, necros got, will never be used.

Beyond pve melee aoe, the reaper has nothing to see.

Ezeriel.9574:

What bizarro world is this?

Dragon Hunter fixes the guardian’s greatest area of weakness, long range.

Reaper offers necros nothing. No group buffs, no blast finishers, no mobility. Shortbow thieves, rangers, engineers, Dragon Knights… anything that can kite an undead skellie in Orr, will have nothing to fear from Reapers.

The traps work, they may not fit your theme of a guardian, but they are awesome. The shouts, necros got, will never be used.

Beyond pve melee aoe, the reaper has nothing to see.

Reapers apparently offer necros nothing and yet they are so many times more appealing than dragonhunters. Perhaps that’s because people are looking for something fun and interesting instead of something boring but powerful? It could also be because they’re not as worthless as you’re making them out to be.

Ezeriel.9574:

What bizarro world is this?

Dragon Hunter fixes the guardian’s greatest area of weakness, long range.

Reaper offers necros nothing. No group buffs, no blast finishers, no mobility. Shortbow thieves, rangers, engineers, Dragon Knights… anything that can kite an undead skellie in Orr, will have nothing to fear from Reapers.

The traps work, they may not fit your theme of a guardian, but they are awesome. The shouts, necros got, will never be used.

Beyond pve melee aoe, the reaper has nothing to see.

And then suddenly, the Reaper pulls you. And then chills you. And then hits you with unblockable attacks for heavy damage. Good luck getting out of that situation with a longbow Guardian that sucks enough at disengage already without 66% reduced movement speed and increased cooldown.