Guild Wars 2

Two data points, then I’ll say something strange.

First is team Cute, who aren’t around anymore. As part of their comp, they ran Khalifa’s power necromancer build and a warrior. At the time there was maybe one other team with a warrior and no other teams with a power necromancer. And yet they were good enough to hang with the best teams, regularly placing high in or winning 3-round tournaments.

Second is Adaneshare talking about his thief venom share build and how it led his tPvP team to 15 straight victories. Thread here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/My-thoughts-on-classes-after-the-patch

And now the conclusion:

Point #1: Many, many builds in this game are competitively viable as long as you make it a part of your team strategy. That is, if you sit down and plan out your team, you can work almost anything in and have a good chance of winning tournaments.

Point #2: The main problem with GW2 balance right now is that there are a few builds that don’t require this kind of planning. For example, bunker ele, trap ranger, and others can solo queue and do kitten fine. Other builds, like power necromancer or venom share thief can’t perform well without a carefully crafted team.

So I think that two things need to happen (lots of two’s in this thread). One, the rockstar builds need to be toned down a little bit so they are not as effective against a carefully crafted team. Two, and more importantly, we as competitive players need to stop treating this game like other PvP games. Instead of running builds because they are great at soloing and judging builds based on how they perform in solo queue tournaments (that is, with little team planning), we need to take the time to carefully craft strategies that use unorthodox builds and figure out how to fit them into a team. That’s the only way the metagame will grow, not by sitting around waiting for nerfs.

Well first of all let me say I have no idea why so many people are concerned with the meta right now. There are no good teams playing anymore, and it’s been that way for quite a while. No teams = no organization = no competition = no meta. There is no barometer to measure build/team comp viability anymore.

But to entertain your topic, it’s really more about supporting your teammates and less so about building your comp around something. Because if you really break down what people mean they say you have to build around a power necro or warrior or whatever, what they really mean is you have a guardian and ele in your comp who knows what they are doing. I’d also argue that you’d need to support a condition necro just the same as a power necro, but not to the same degree of course.

Pretty much all standard hold 2-node team comps starts with guard and ele. I don’t have as much experience running 3-node team comps but a bunker guard isn’t required there, usually opting for 2 eles, and personally I always thought warriors were very good in 3-node team comps.

The most important thing in Pv kitten till skill.
And yes, the meta has been quite stagnant because people did not try out new stuff.
I saw Power-Necros and Warriors on EU prior last patch though too.

Also once GW2 gets launched in China expect the chinese players to pick up the most unorthodox and effective builds when crafting a team composition.

Edit: Curse and NN are playing again. Not sure about Idle, they are playing but not all too much.

I also think some strategies & builds are still undiscovered.

People is just too lazy, why do they have to try new strategies and builds when they can run mindless triple cantrip ele?

Rerroll.9083:

I also think some strategies & builds are still undiscovered.

People is just too lazy, why do they have to try new strategies and builds when they can run mindless triple cantrip ele?

but, why should they care to find new viable builds if the focus of the game is win and the build they are currently running makes them win with less effort they would need if they discovered a new tricky composition?

or, why should i play (example) pw thief with no haste instead of d/d with no haste if the second one kills in 1 sec while the first have to menage the fight for about 30-40 secs?

Lady Sara Goldheart.2764:

The most important thing in Pv kitten till skill.
And yes, the meta has been quite stagnant because people did not try out new stuff.
I saw Power-Necros and Warriors on EU prior last patch though too.

Also once GW2 gets launched in China expect the chinese players to pick up the most unorthodox and effective builds when crafting a team composition.

Edit: Curse and NN are playing again. Not sure about Idle, they are playing but not all too much.

Reading this post I found out gw2 is gonna be released in China (apparently 1st beta is very soon)

I checked their official forums (thanks google chrome for translating) and I realized some of them are already theorycrafting and following our most known streamers on twitch.

China meta is going to destroy us. Even if they get the game 1 year later.

It’s funny how USA developed the game and pvp wise: China > EU > USA

Also: their site is 100 times better than ours :/

i need you to link some chinese thread flame. i dubt it will exist.

Surely the fact qt made an alternative style with time warp lich form and a warrior is an argument against the recent patch changes.

My glass arcane ele is probably more viable than most warriors now..

when the bunkering will be nerfed, warriors will be playable again.
remember these words.

What competition? Farming PVE players looking for laurels? spvp = pre-mades vs pugs

I am sure there are builds that are good that people don’t really use, but are no teams around testing them.

Meta = the builds happen to beat the other 1-3 other teams that play. If you can beat them there is no reason to risk trying anything else.

Personally I don’t think there ever were any good teams. The main reason why some stand out is because all the other ones left.

Beating 2-3 other teams a whole bunch of times =/=competitive.

i think we need to wait for the chinese to save our kitten P