Guild Wars 2

Let me clarify first, I’m going to criticize this rune set from a viewer’s perspective not from a player’s.

I just finished watching the EU and NA ESL tournament, and something became pretty clear to me, this rune set is the single most game changing element in the current meta right now, by far. Not Rampage, not Mesmer/Thief burst, nor Elementalist sustain, the real culprit, the most impactful element is the sixth bonus. It’s true that sometimes when the sixth bonus proccs, some conditions are still there and he/she just dies afterwards, but that’s not always the case.

So many well set up bust spikes ruined becouse of that proc, so many possible clutch moments that never happened.

I’ve seen thieves just eating all the damage deliberately and this proccing, recieving a couple heals here and there and using withdraw to safety, reset HP and come back. That thief should be downed, period.
I’ve seen mesmers surviving multiple times and then using portals to go out to safety, only to come back with several other team mates changing the course of the battle entirely. That mesmer should be downed too, period.
Giving engineers enough time for a second heal with Automated Medical Response.
I could keep going, but you get the point.

This sometimes created a rollercoaster of people disengaging and re-engaging multiple times, I just wanted to see people actually die. It even created a turn-over on multiple team fights that should have never occured.
For example, I might be wrong (my apologies if given the case), but I’m pretty confident when I say that without this rune set, oRNG wouldn’t have performed just as well with their 5 marauder amulet comp. Not to say they wouldn’t have won anyways, they are among the best around, but their performance was definetly improved by this rune set. It’s just an example, it could be applied to any other team.
Maybe these runes are a necessary evil, you know, damage is pretty crazy nowadays, but I think that particular sixth bonus is just too impactful.

Thoughts?

Agreed. I don’t even know how many times i’ve beaten someone fair and square and they survived because of this nonsense rune. I’m not using it, maybe i am gimping myself but this right there is such a low level where i won’t sink.

It’s a symptom of a bigger problem and that problem is low hp pools. Vitality needs buffed. People shouldn’t be getting 2 and 3 shot.

uhohhotdog.3598:

It’s a symptom of a bigger problem and that problem is low hp pools. Vitality needs buffed. People shouldn’t be getting 2 and 3 shot.

partially agree, I’m ok with 2 and 3 shot if it’s a coordinated spike, or a 1 person setup that went unchecked.

in other news: this rune set is required to prevent “stealth 1shot” specifically on glass/low armor classes, it has the added bonus of being able to be used as a means of sustain, free stomp/res (if no cc). I like the idea of the rune and I like the many uses that proc has, I can’t really offer any solutions to the issues surrounding it though. I know from personal experience it has allowed me to turn the tables innumerable times.

When you give a couple professions the ability to almost insta-kill you from stealth…plus give some professions the ability to escape…this rune is almost required for high level play.

The insta-burst people use it because they can still do their insane damage with the rune, plus they get to survive/escape almost any encounter.

The non-insta burst people need it just to survive the ridiculous damage they added unnecessarily to a few professions.

in other news: this rune set is required to prevent “stealth 1shot” specifically on glass/low armor classes, it has the added bonus of being able to be used as a means of sustain, free stomp/res (if no cc). I like the idea of the rune and I like the many uses that proc has, I can’t really offer any solutions to the issues surrounding it though. I know from personal experience it has allowed me to turn the tables innumerable times.

This.