Guild Wars 2

Having a balance between Core and Elite specs does not necessarily mean you have to lower the value of Elite specs to be on the same level as Core… there’s so many issues with this strategy, not only does it blows out any incentive for players to buy HoT, but it would be a balancing nightmare. First, let’s have a GW2 history lesson.

Core builds were obviously more simplier but beyond that, we had specialized builds. After Anet’s patch launched (forgot when it was released), it defined a meta build that each class currently used at the time. This eventually led to a more diversed game shortly before HoT release.

Almost every single condi build were 1v1 duelist specs. Bunkers builds were slowly replaced by bruiser classes like Ele, Engi, & War. (In an attempt to balance these 3 classes Anet steered away from vanilla) Condi builds were only viable as side point defenders/assaulters because mid fight zergs pushed out heavy AoE cleanses.

How to really balance GW2 Elite specs
The builds that needs buffing are Bunker & Condi builds. These builds should remain specialized in Core. While Condi and Bunker builds can be made with Elite specs as a third tree, it wouldnt be nearly as efficient. It would either be too little condi, or too much bunker for the class to be efficient.

Easier said than done so, lets talk about working Guardian first.

Our Elite tree should function the same, as should other classes. Power builds should be evident in the Elite trees while Bunker and Condi should be prioritized in their class specific Core builds.

Feedback welcomed.

They don’t really want to buff core and the current elites are going to be inferior when they release the next expansion. It will be whats going on since HoT all over again. They want to sell expansions and the way to do that is to make the content involved superior to what already exists.

First, I am very confused when you say that bunker and condi need to be buffed as a general case, but it is not. Your example seem to be guardian, and that is one of the only classes where your analysis is really relevant. For example, condi reaper is much better than condi necro, bunker chrono the only real way to make a bunker for mesmer, etc….

Other than that, I disagree with the fact that you need to buff core to the elite level.

• It would not be a balancing nightmare. It is much easier to nerf 1 traitline than buff 5, and as you say, there was good build diversity before HoT, so nerfing the elite spec is the best way to bring back very fast this build diversity.
• balancing core with elite by buffing the core also removes any incentive to buy the expansion. This is a non-argument.
• the problem of power creep is not only balance. Even if we had balance right now I would still argue for a nerf to elite specs. The reason is that the power creep has significantly reduced the quality of the combat. More AOE, more CC, more block/evades/invuln, more unblockable, etc…

So in summary: you want bunker and burn guardian to work? I do too. But the best way to do that imo is to nerf DH (mostly the virtues, a bit some of the traps+LB), as well as all elite specs to this level. As many, I consider core guardian the quintessence of a balanced class. This is the level I want for all classes and all elite specs. If the game goes back to a stage where (unbuffed) bunker guardian is meta or near-so, I think the health of gw2 PvP will be VERY SIGNIFICANTLY improved.