Guild Wars 2

Since PvP is somewhat balanced (unless something major changed), can people without the HoT expansion still competitively do PvP?
Also, as a returning player, is PvP still a popular thing?

Nop, balance swings, classes going from ok to unplayable. And the constant doubling down on failed design has pretty much killed pvp population.

Oh, and dont even bother with out HOT, elite classes flat out destroy core classes. It was one of the few expansion in games i have played that introduced more options and killed variety.

Oh? I thought the specializations all had a synergy with one another which was build on your own particular play-style. That is how I see it anyways:) But I do not have HoT so I never tasted the elite specialization. Oh well.

So, from what you are saying, does everyone with HoT use the elite specialization over the others?

Thanks for your feedback:)

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So, from what you are saying, does everyone with HoT use the elite specialization over the others?
[/quote]

Yes

Only viable base build is p/p engi with invis, which is still worse than scrapper p. Evrything else is bad. Power necro at base might stomp some scrubs.

Elite specs are 100% required. Thief elite tree is better than acrobat and shadow arts combined.

I have successfully played PU Mesmer in Bronze. Running a non HoT build means accepting that you will be playing against the odds. You will get hammered flat. The difference is that stark.

On the other hand, one never knows what will change. For example, Mesmer received a buff this past patch that applies might to a phantasm. The problem is that that buffs don’t affect clones or phantasms. Therefore, the buff is designed not to work.

PvP is playable without HoT. Of course elites just give you that edge hence why everyone picks it. Not all core builds work but you can do fine if you are decent and know your class/other classes mechanics. I played core thief to platinum on my alt account (doesn’t have HoT) without issues for example. I think core condi necro is a very viable pick actually. Don’t listen to QQ, if you are a good player, you can make core work. Honestly, i think you need elite specs only once you start facing top players where even tiny numbers make big difference. What class do you play?

As far as pvp goes, community definitely became smaller due to various changes to the system, long periods of class imbalance, removal of rewards/carrots etc.

I mostly play my ranger, and I only play it with a core build with great success. nerg to stab made it a lot easier to pull cc combos off. I actually prefer the core ranger over druid. Havent had any major issues with it yet other than i might have to get off point to not die. Then i jist pewpew and recap. Cant do the same with e.g my thief tho

Last season I was in top 100 most of the season on my core warrior alt, dropped out in the last week but still stayed inside top 250. So you can play pvp without HoT, but you will most likely be at disadvantage. I personally was pretty useless in teamfights, but the build allowed me to kite pretty effectively outnumbered while having sufficient 1v1 possibilities.

Easily doable on:

Necro – ive played core power necro at plat lvl most of the season.
Guard – core (burn) guard was super common throughout the season.
Engineer – burn engi is playable but as some others said niche and overall not as strong as scrapper.
Ranger – core power ranger is quite strong with the changes to stab.