Guild Wars 2

Pretty much this. There is no meta-lvl viable melee class or build.

For warrior, the meta is shoutbow with ranged AoE control and longbow camping.

For guardian, meditation turns the guardian into a human projectile that deals thief level aoe burst. If they fail they simply tele to another target or start popping invulnerability CD’s until a target they can use as an escape tele appears or they hobble away with a chain of defensive CDs and dodge rolls.

Thief works the same as above, with long range teleports and stealths that lets them strike a target then retreat with no penalty.

But where is the pressure warrior? Where is the shockaxe or linebacker from guildwars 1 that stays on a target and deals consistent damage and is rewarded for staying the the fray and survive the fight as it progresses?

D/D ele? Really? Even then RtL and lighting flash lets you disengage at anytime.

It’s a pretty bad state when the “pirate ship” meta has leaked into everything. When ranged classes, teleporters, and ground based AoE is so out of control every fight is a rock toss with an invisible no man’s land between teams. Where dedicated melee builds get pushed out of the meta because of lack of survival, lack of pressure, and recent skill balances reinforce the use of ranged bunkering and teleport+stab+reset gameplay.

Why is disengaging a bad thing?

Don’t ever play League, 90% of 1v1 engagements will end with you blowing all your skills and your opponent walking away with 23 health. If disengaging angers you in GW1, League might want you to kill kittens.

I’m fairly certain that Greatsword Warriors plague hot-join.

a teleporting dude with a hammer is still a dude with a hammer.

most builds have both melee and ranged and use both. versatility is rewarded.

Velimere.7685:

I’m fairly certain that Greatsword Warriors plague hot-join.

Dont think I have seen one in weeks. Its just hambow. Most are crap, but the good ones can shut you down completely with the hammer while you can do little to no damage in return due to the healing signet. Good luck going up against 2 of them going melee on your kitten while you are laying on your back for a minute, just chilling.

Velimere.7685:

I’m fairly certain that Greatsword Warriors plague hot-join.

Hotjoin is as far from real PvP as it can get, so that doesn’t count. Most of the players use PvE builds to get dailies there.

Nova Stiker.8396:

Why is disengaging a bad thing?

Don’t ever play League, 90% of 1v1 engagements will end with you blowing all your skills and your opponent walking away with 23 health. If disengaging angers you in GW1, League might want you to kill kittens.

Brawler is a whole archetype in League. You chase and melee enemy squishies while surviving counter pressure and peel.

lordhelmos.7623:

But where is the pressure warrior? Where is the shockaxe or linebacker from guildwars 1 that stays on a target and deals consistent damage and is rewarded for staying the the fray and survive the fight as it progresses?

Where is the Monk keeping him alive? you can’t play the same way as gw1 because this is not gw1, everyone is dps now there is no linebacker there is no healer.