Guild Wars 2

So as a hypothetical, which classes in GW2 do you think would use Polearms?

Warrior without a doubt. Possibly as a melee weapon. But who else?

I think Guardians should also get Polearms because they are descended from the Paragon. Having a Polearm as a ranged alternative to Scepter would be very useful for Guardians, and it’s odd the descendant of Paragons wouldn’t know how to throw spears.

So who else should get Polearms? My vote goes to Engineer. As silly as it sounds, I think it could work as a melee weapon focused on electricity. Not only is the Engineer in desperate need of more melee options, but I feel having an electrified zap-stick type weapon would be very fitting to the Engineer theme, similar to how the the Shield uses magnetism. Mechanically it could make use of splash damage and electric bolts which bounce back and forth between enemies and allies similar to Ray of Judgment.

How I think they can differentiate Polearms from Underwater-Spears is by making them 1H with scaled down versions of Underwater-Spear skins, similar to how Shortbow and Longbow use the same skins with different scales.

Anyways, that’s simply my idea. Who do you think would use Polearms?

Why melee? Being allowed to chuck spears and stuff would sorta soothe the pain of not being allowed to hurl my Axe like Rangers!

- Warrior

Warrior and Guardian would be my first choices, but pretty much any profession can find a way to use them creatively.

as for Engineers, i always thought maces and hammers made more sense as melee weapons for them

of course my dream is that all professions can use all weapons, with different skills for each combo

Well, polearms should at least be for warriors and rangers IMO.

Engineers should be able to wield a shield MH, riot shield ftw.

Research on the one polearm in the game’s database suggests it’s a 2-handed weapon if that makes a difference to people’s thinking.

Nike.2631:

Research on the one polearm in the game’s database suggests it’s a 2-handed weapon if that makes a difference to people’s thinking.

I think there was intended to be a spear instead of longbow originally – based on early concept art of weapon sets where there’s only one bow and a spear as well – but it got scrapped (concept art sets began not including them) and then brought back as an underwater weapon (a lot of harpoonguns, tridents, and spears were drawn separate of the weapon set concept arts, indicating they were brought in separate than the others).

This said, I would love to see the spear made an above and underwater skill, and obviously I’d say those which can use it underwater should use it above water too.

The one polearm in the data base is clearly and blatantly part of the Order of Whispers set – and is in addition to the Order of Whispers spear – so at one time they were working towards having both types of weapons in the game at the same time.

I like polearms, so I do hope someday they take up thateffort again and give at least some of the classes new option through its inclusion.

Polearm-weilding Elementalists… I’d be all over that!

Or it’s possible said polearm is just a remnant of when spears were not aquatic and were called “polearm” – but I digress.

I thought that too at first – except there is a OoW spear AND polearm.

The underwater hafted weapons for OoW (trident/spear) have the same heel cap, while the OoW polearm shares a heel design with the OoW staff – a dry-land weapon.

I don’t think guardians should get them if they come into the game, it doesn’t really fit to me.

Warrior & Ranger would be my two picks.

Here’s where I’m hoping for a reworked Dervish profession.

Do want.

Soooooo bad.

Dervishes are scythe-wielding holy warriors from the Nightfall expansion of Guild Wars, and they are awesome!

Anyway, I digress. I would assume that scythes would most likely be lumped into the “polearms” category of weaponry. Since the scythe was the primary weapon that Dervishes used in Nightfall, hopefully the introduction of polearms is a precursor to the inevitable rebirth of this awesome profession. We’ll see.

That aside, I’d say that I could see the Warrior using polearms, based on their core concept of being weapon masters. I’m not too sure about Rangers though, but POSSIBLY Guardians. It would indeed be cool on the Engineer, although I don’t feel that it falls into their particular archetype.

I DON’T foresee Necromancers, Memsers, Elementalists, or even Thieves being proficient with the polearms weapons.

However…if they brought a reworked Monk profession into the game, it’d probably be their bread-and-butter, so to speak.

If they truly desire to refine a pole melee weapon from the ones already existing(Spear), they should just chose a specific kind such as a Halberd.

I think the ones who use spear underwater is a good generalization. Or at least half the ones who use spears. And sorry, but scythes are not used in the same way as polearms. The motions would be very different

I would love for engineer to get a new weapon! And your idea for electric polearm is fantastic! Really hope they do something Similar

I think a big question here is… define polearm?

I’ve seen a few people talk about spear-throwing, but something easily throwable is really not a polearm – javelin would be a more appropriate term.

There are really four general types of polearm – spear-type (such as pikes), axe-type (such as halberds), glaive-type (not the Warcraft type, but possibly including scythes, as many glaive-type polearms were weaponised scythe blades), and hammer-type. Hammer-type polearms can probably be simplified as hammers, although historically most hammer-type polearms had a hardened spike on the other side to double as a can-opener, which could allow for a different set of skills, and such behaviour might overlap with scythes somewhat. Axe-type polearms could possibly be merged with greataxes, if greataxes were incorporated, or with glaive-type polearms.

Warrior: Pretty obvious – can probably pretty much use any of them.

Guardian: The impression I get is that the distinction between guardian and warrior (apart from magic) is that warriors can be either disciplined, tactical soldiers or rampaging berserkers, while guardians are always supposed to be on the more disciplined side of things. This is why weapons and styles more associated with the berserkery fighting style – axes and dual-wielding – aren’t in the guardian’s armory. Polearms of all types are more associated with the more tactical side, so they’ll probably go to the guardian, with the possible exception of axe-type if they’re merged with true greataxes. A polearm-wielding guardian is also one of the contenders as a replacement for the feel of the GW1 dervish.

Ranger: Apart from hammers (and there’s a precedent for that in GW1 bunny hoppers) pretty much all polearm types work, assuming that axe-type polearms are mixed with either greataxes (for the ‘woodsman’ feel) or glaive-types. Spears have a clear association with hunting, and for those who want a quarterstaff on a ranger, a glaive-type polearm can be animated in such a way to basically behave like a staff with a blade attached.

Thief: Big, long polearms are probably a bit unwieldy for members of the thief profession.

Engineer: I can see an attraction to a long electrified pole with which engineers can touch people with, but there are certainly melee weapons that fit the engineer theme better – I’d expect hammer and mace (a one-handed weapon to go with the shield) to come first. Furthermore, an electrified stick could also work as a sword, especially since there might be a limit as to just how much ArenaNet could do with an electrified stick. (Personally, I’m holding out for a lightning gun kit…)

Scholars: Potentially, pike- or glaive-type polearms could appear in any of the scholar professions as, basically, a second staff, with animations similar to caster staff animations.

Necromancers and elementalists both get special mention here, however, should scythes and glaive-type polearms be merged. The association between necromancers and scythes is obvious, and would grant necromancers a more melee-focused weapon, a role which mainhand dagger doesn’t really satisfyingly fill. For elementalists, providing the elementalist with a scythe would be another way to potentially replicate the GW1 dervish feel without making a new profession.

Mystic Starfish.2586:

I think the ones who use spear underwater is a good generalization. Or at least half the ones who use spears. And sorry, but scythes are not used in the same way as polearms. The motions would be very different

Despite their powerful iconography and association with death via the Grim Reaper, scythes aren’t weapons at all – they are designed for killing grass .

Well yeah, it’s a harvesting tool, I understand that >.>
But just saying, people want scythes mostly because of grim reaper and dervs from gw1, and the fighting motions used would be different than that of a piercing weapon

Unmodified scythes do make fairly poor weapons, which is fairly obvious when you think about it. Peasants given half an opportunity to prepare for war generally remount the blade so that it’s pointing up rather than across, making a glaive-type polearm.

Well, we’re not entirely going for realism here. A necromancer may wield an axe, but they just wave it around and cut the enemy with magic. Mesmers often do the same with their weapons. The warhammers in the game are nowhere close to what a real warhammer would look like. Stuff like that.

Well, Guardians would -have- to have access to spears if added, seeing as how they are a combination of the Paragon (-the- spear user in GW1) and the Monk lore wise.

I could also see Ranger, and warrior using it and would be -very- surprised if they didn’t.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Thief, ele or necro used them, but i wouldn’t be surprised if they couldn’t.

And i doubt engi or mesmer would use them, they just seem to clash with their fighting style.

That being said, i’m kinda curious why Engi can’t use maces…

Durzlla.6295:

That being said, i’m kinda curious why Engi can’t use maces…

Yeah, especially since a main hand melee weapon would work fine with an off hand pistol. Blowtorch deals more damage the closer the targets are and the snare from Glue Shot would be great for chasing.
And the shield would be much better for melee oriented fighting too, imo. It works as a ranged weapon, but usually the attacks that need to be blocked are the more powerful melee attacks.

But I think polearm could work too, see the stick Kranxx is using in GoA. Just give different settings to the thing, electric, magnetic and maybe even sound based and you have a new weapon.

BuddhaKeks.4857:

Durzlla.6295:

That being said, i’m kinda curious why Engi can’t use maces…

Yeah, especially since a main hand melee weapon would work fine with an off hand pistol. Blowtorch deals more damage the closer the targets are and the snare from Glue Shot would be great for chasing.
And the shield would be much better for melee oriented fighting too, imo. It works as a ranged weapon, but usually the attacks that need to be blocked are the more powerful melee attacks.

But I think polearm could work too, see the stick Kranxx is using in GoA. Just give different settings to the thing, electric, magnetic and maybe even sound based and you have a new weapon.

Ah you have a good point… I personally pictured it more as a staff myself (also surprise engis don’t have that for a second 2h)

My question is what kinds of polearms are you talking about? Spears? Halberds? Scythes? Glaives? Guisarmes? Glaive-guisarmes?

That said, I think the Necromancer could do with a lovely scythe, don’t you?

Well, of course the necromancer would love a scythe, but who else would you see waving the thing around? It’d look a bit off in anyone else’s hands.

Son of Elias.5420:

Well, of course the necromancer would love a scythe, but who else would you see waving the thing around? It’d look a bit off in anyone else’s hands.

The Warrior was a VERY viable scythe user in GW1!

Same with the Assassin (Thief) who was even more so viable than the Dervish itself at one point in time.

I imagine the Elementalist may also see use out of a scythe because the original class to use it (Dervish) specialized in Earth and Wind magic.

Guardians could use scythes as well, as a throwback to Dervish skills.

Well when we get the Dervish in the Elona Expansion the Dervish would use Scythes…

Dervishes are highly unlikely, in fact another profession period is highly unlikely.

It would depend on what players wanted, More weapons for classes or more classes to play.

Well, there is a whole Spear thing.
But yeah warriors obviously.
And rangers: hunting spear.

One of the devs said early in development that they realised bringing in multiple professions post-release was a poor decision, and that they were going to do their best to cover everything with professions available at release. They specifically didn’t rule new professions out, but did say they would have to think carefully about whether it would be good for the game before they did so (basically, finding that there was some playstyle they’d missed that wasn’t covered even vaguely by an existing profession).

Unfortunately, I can’t put my hand on the interview now – it was half a decade ago now – but new professions, especially new professions based on GW1 ones, are quite unlikely.

Mystic Starfish.2586:

I think the ones who use spear underwater is a good generalization. Or at least half the ones who use spears. And sorry, but scythes are not used in the same way as polearms. The motions would be very different

Yeah, scythes are farming equipment!

Fantasy Scythes are designed a bit differently than real life scythes and war scythes(Which were mentioned earlier). The blades are generally closer to Kamas(Asian mini scythes) in shape, not as elongated before the curve, with more focus on the tip of that blade rather than the bottom edge.

Basically the idea is a bladed weapon that can pierce and slice with a horizontal swing, rather than a real scythe which uses the bottom of the blade to cut grass at an angle.