Guild Wars 2

I’ve been an avid PvP’er since beta. I’ve played WvW extensively, sPvP, solo tournies and team tournies. This current meta is just frankly ridiculous, it seems to me that aNet are intent on dumbing this game down and giving people builds that are viable that shouldn’t be.

It’s almost like they are encouraging passive lazy play, low risk HIGH reward playstyles over people using builds that require some kind of rotation, timing of abilities and actual thought to their gameplay.

In solo tournies nearly every profession is some kind of condition bunker, with the exception of the odd S/D ele that’s scattered around and the occasional zerk thief. This is literally every single profession. I see Spirit Rangers that literally just spam Crossfire to stack bleeds and very little else. Thieves that will just spam Death Blossom to stack bleeds an nothing else, PU Mesmer builds that stack conditions just from AOE killing clones, Longbow wars, necros etc.. etc… it’s all just passive (no thought required) condition application. Condition via auto-attacks (ranger) or high bleed stacks from a thieves death blossom. Longbow/Hammer wars, Necros with condition burst, Engis in condition bunker builds. Point in case was the last match I played, where a rank 46 thief literally used NOTHING but death blossom and and at one point had 22 bleeds stacked on his target, I watched his target cleanse then immediately be loaded up with conditions from the thief and his death blossom spam.

How does that require any kind of thought or skill? It requires none. For aNet to have aspirations of this game becoming an e-sport, well it just beggars belief. For that to happen, they need to start moving away from meta’s like this where bunker condition builds like we see everyday reward lazy gameplay. It amazes me that there is no Risk vs Reward for any of these builds.

If you are capable of doing high condition damage you SHOULD be balanced by having weaker defense, not having toughness and vitality tacked on so you can just soak up damage whilst still pumping out high condition ticks. It should be HIGH OFFENCE from ANY source whether direct or in-direct is offset by WEAK DEFENSE. It shouldn’t be offset like is at the moment, by massive defense so your essentially a DPS tank, that can out-DPS pure power professions from sheer condition pressure and having high enough toughness/vitality to counter their burst, it makes no sense.

It seems like Risk/Reward only applies to none stealth burst builds which are vaguely viable, sure you might get the odd kill if you catch someone un-awares, but if your not a profession with a gimmick, well basically stealth, your screwed no matter how good you play, your essentially penalized for trying to play something that isn’t a condition bunker.

I miss the ele meta. At least there was skill in deffending close without letting the ele decap, having 2 players bursting ele at the same time, interrupting heals, etc.

Right now it’s all about spamming conditions, dodging every time is up and stacking toughness while relying on passive effects. So sad.

It’s already too late. Simply changing the meta won’t bring people back, and more importantly won’t bring any new competitors to the game.
There has to be some kind of overhaul or revamp to certain mechanics (there are tons of posts outlining those).
I know I come off very pessimistic in every single post, except those where I am suggesting changes, but I’m afraid I’m just being realistic at this point. You have no idea how much wish I could be optimistic.

Marcos.3690:

I miss the ele meta. At least there was skill in deffending close without letting the ele decap, having 2 players bursting ele at the same time, interrupting heals, etc.

Right now it’s all about spamming conditions, dodging every time is up and stacking toughness while relying on passive effects. So sad.

I do not, The ele meta was so incredibly OP, they could literally solo more than 10 players without dying. Ele made the game really unfun and they deserved the nerf for it.

True, they needed some nerf. But what anet has done to eles is stupid. And an un-nerfed ele would soon be considered balanced with the current powercreep.
Ele was nerfed under average and ignored in the powercreep, actually ele descended further.
We don´t need old ele meta, we need the other kitten to be toned down to reason.

Blimm.5028:

And an un-nerfed ele would soon be considered balanced with the current powercreep.

QFT

Blimm.5028:

True, they needed some nerf. But what anet has done to eles is stupid. And an un-nerfed ele would soon be considered balanced with the current powercreep.
Ele was nerfed under average and ignored in the powercreep, actually ele descended further.
We don´t need old ele meta, we need the other kitten to be toned down to reason.

True. I play Ele, and I only started PvPing after all the Ele nerfs, so I never got to experience the “OP ele meta” that some people still seem so kitten over, although I don’t doubt that it was frustrating.

What I do know is that the current meta is infinitely frustrating. Condi and CC spam makes just surviving as a D/D ele a chore, let alone having to juggle through a rotation that’s not guaranteed to land and leaves me on cooldown. I know part of it is a L2P issue on my part since I’m no pro, but you can’t deny that Eles have trouble merely surviving in this meta.

And no, I’m not a fan of the Fresh Air build. It’s more unavoidable instant damage, although I think the build has enough drawbacks to not be totally cheap.

I agree with OP, emphasis on condis and passive play has ruined the meta.

runeblade.7514:

Marcos.3690:

I miss the ele meta. At least there was skill in deffending close without letting the ele decap, having 2 players bursting ele at the same time, interrupting heals, etc.

Right now it’s all about spamming conditions, dodging every time is up and stacking toughness while relying on passive effects. So sad.

I do not, The ele meta was so incredibly OP, they could literally solo more than 10 players without dying. Ele made the game really unfun and they deserved the nerf for it.

What nerfs? I still don’t die to spammers if that what you mean, when did Anet nerf ele ability to beat noob spammers?..as far as I know they never did…so yeah one good ele vs 10 noob spammers?..I can see a good d/d ele survive even now.

It should have been gone a long time ago and new modes should have been introduced to make new meta’s come in. Incompetence from the company as a whole.

Blimm.5028:

And an un-nerfed ele would soon be considered balanced with the current powercreep.

I disagree.

The power of the un-nerfed d/d Ele is much worse than the meta we have now. The Ele d/d stunlocking is much worse than the infamous warrior’s stunlock. On top of that, at least the ele gets a free escape, mobility, snare-lock, stun-lock, condi burst, heal, defensive auras, condi cleanse, strong damage. Cantrips give 3 stunbreaks that lets them escape three disables.

There can be only two choices, D/D ele keeps these 19 god killing skills but they lose the disengage, which we have now.

The second choice is that D/D ele gets the 19 god killing skills nerfed to oblivion but their RtL goes back to 15 seconds so they keep the disengage.

runeblade.7514:

Blimm.5028:

And an un-nerfed ele would soon be considered balanced with the current powercreep.

I disagree.

The power of the un-nerfed d/d Ele is much worse than the meta we have now. The Ele d/d stunlocking is much worse than the infamous warrior’s stunlock. On top of that, at least the ele gets a free escape, mobility, snare-lock, stun-lock, condi burst, heal, defensive auras, condi cleanse, strong damage. Cantrips give 3 stunbreaks that lets them escape three disables.

There can be only two choices, D/D ele keeps these 19 god killing skills but they lose the disengage, which we have now.

The second choice is that D/D ele gets the 19 god killing skills nerfed to oblivion but their RtL goes back to 15 seconds so they keep the disengage.

And that’s why you shouldn’t talk about eles, somebody who keep attacking an ele with shocking aura up..he’s as stupid as somebody who attack a warrior with endure pain up…although in ele case the stupidity of the player is even more obvious seen the huge ball of light which envelop the ele.

….you compare a 25s CD hugely visible defensive skill where the opponent get stunned for 1s if he hits you once in 4s durationto a 4s stun available every 7s?…

Keep “singing” on how OP ele was, bro! I will never lose to somebody who rush in without thought or strategy. no decent player ever will..like NEVER

runeblade.7514:

Blimm.5028:

And an un-nerfed ele would soon be considered balanced with the current powercreep.

I disagree.

The power of the un-nerfed d/d Ele is much worse than the meta we have now. The Ele d/d stunlocking is much worse than the infamous warrior’s stunlock. On top of that, at least the ele gets a free escape, mobility, snare-lock, stun-lock, condi burst, heal, defensive auras, condi cleanse, strong damage. Cantrips give 3 stunbreaks that lets them escape three disables.

There can be only two choices, D/D ele keeps these 19 god killing skills but they lose the disengage, which we have now.

The second choice is that D/D ele gets the 19 god killing skills nerfed to oblivion but their RtL goes back to 15 seconds so they keep the disengage.

What is this d/d ele you speak of?Eu meta was always considered superior to Na and there werent an d/d eles in it from what i remember
Also gj exaggerating..ele stunlocking??do you know what stunlock means? (serious question im not trying to be offencive)
There are only 2 cantrips that stunbreak and d/d cant survive at all against an s/d thief or a stunlock warrior..(always assume equal skill)
It has to run from all the fights against other melee setups so im pretty sure it can definately NOT kill gods :P
Go ask the eu guys about how good d/d actually was..S/d bunker was the problem and its ability to tank and disengage in a mode call conquest..infact dagger mainhand has only seen buffs in many skills and almost zero nerfs.Now it just sucks and cant 1vs1 kitten..But then again when in NA players like cmc get to top 10 soloq by getting into stacked teams cause 10 people queue then you could say everything is viable

Th game’s gameplay… needed to go fast…
GW2 had the biggest influx of players of any game… and lost near all of them during the ‘good’ meta…

The devs just don’t have the resources and/or capabilities at hand to fix any issue with GW2, tragically they’ve only succeeded in making existing problems even worse.