Guild Wars 2

We all understood that 2 condi rev, 2 chronobunker and one tempest is meta, so much that almost all teams end up with it. This is the least varied meta I’ve personally seen. Before the expansion, all classes were used regularly in tournaments except for ranger (which we still saw from time to time) and except for D/D ele being over the top, all classes seemed to have a place.

So why is that? Are druid, scrapper, reaper and DH weak? Hell no! There are a few reasons.

First rev and chrono have the highest block/evade uptime without decapping

• chrono block+precog+blurred frenzy: 4.5/(30 + 2.25) + 3/45 + 2.5/(12 + 2.5) = 38%
• condi rev: UA+crystal hibernation: 2/(12 + 2) + 3/(25 + 3)=25%
• power rev UA+crystal hibernation + warding rift + infuse light : 2/(12 + 2) + 3/(25 + 3) + 2/(10 + 2) + 3/(30 + 3) = 51%

scrapper comes close but elixir S decaps.

Now if you add alacrity to the mix, the CD can be reduced by up to 40%. This gives an optimal (unrealistic but still)

• chrono : 63%
• condi rev: 42%
• power rev: 85% (aren’t we happy that perma-alacrity is not realistic)

Fun fact: I didn’t count the dodges.

Condi damage?

• chrono: temporal enchanter
• condi rev: pain absorption
  for a final near-perma resistance. In case it fails, chrono can still cleanse some condis.

How do you prevent that from happening? Well you CC them. Or do you?

• chronomancer: bountiful disillusionment = stab on shatter
• rev: Unwavering Avoidance + Enhanced Bulwark
  so near-perma stability for both

you managed to get someone downed?

• medic’s feedback + quickness
• rev: radiant revival

What is the weakness of this 2 classes? Not much outgoing healing? Well let’s add a tempest “et voilà”.

Now I am not sure this meta will last that long. As a matter of fact, condi rev may not be ideal because its damage is countered by the perma-resistance that chrono can almost bring on its own. And it does not have a high enough invuln uptime.

Now I want to say I’m not here just to QQ. I main chronomancer, and I play the chronobunker build since the first beta week-end. And at the time I already started giving feedback saying that the block uptime is too high (I was rather conservative and recommended as a first step to reduce to 1.75s instead of 2.25), that well of precognition is too good for its cooldown (I think I recommended 1min CD) and that alacrity is too easy to get. Getting F5 is already a strong addition by taking chronomancy. We don’t need on top of that to have alacrity on shatter as a minor.

What I really want is that a-net reconsiders and actually does a balance change before february. Because the meta IS broken. But I would like it to be a good balance. This means:

• nerf what is actually wrong. I’ve seen people complaining about bountiful disillusionment or restorative illusions. Remember that those traits were not OP before, there are still not OP now. What is OP is the absurd amount of invul/block uptime
• nerfing bunker mesmer won’t be enough. Scrapper, druid, reaper and DH are also overly ridiculous. I personally enjoyed the pre-HoT meta. Any meta where the old bunker/medi guard, shatter mesmer, soldier engi, etc… feel weak is probably wrong. A meta where the old D/D ele feel weak is insanely wrong.

Please a-net, reconsider your statement and balance all the elite specs as soon as possible.