Guild Wars 2

Simple question. Why do YOU not run meta, if you do? Are you aware you are crippling your team? Do you think that you are NOT actually crippling your team?

Just a random question, after 3 matches with/against SD engi, Fresh Air eles, GS warrior, healing necros (this one actually surprised me so much I took me more than a few moments to understand it was not a normal necro) ecc.ecc.

Frenk.5917:

Simple question. Why do YOU not run meta, if you do? Are you aware you are crippling your team? Do you think that you are NOT actually crippling your team?

Just a random question, after 3 matches with/against SD engi, Fresh Air eles, GS warrior, healing necros (this one actually surprised me so much I took me more than a few moments to understand it was not a normal necro) ecc.ecc.

There are all kinds of players.
Some are crippling the team, but note that the meta was created by players.
There are people that are trying different builds as well that either could very well be meta quality or are played so well by that particular player that the output quality is the same.
It’s a coin flip.

[If not looking for a genuine answer, Gr8 B8 M8]
[I run partial meta. 3/0/0/5/6 D/P Zerker Thief.]

Opinion: If everyone used meta, the game’s PvP would be even more boring and disgusting than it already is.

Because it’s a game, and I’ll play what i enjoy.

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

Because it’s a game, and I’ll play what i enjoy.

Fair enough. I also think like that when I queue with classes I don’t really know how to play (trying to learn mesmer here, and it’s very tough with all the celes/thieves/medguards around) but I can’t help but to have the feeling I’m not contributing that much.

Meta really only matters when good team faces good team (see high ratings before farm boards, tourneys)…. Most of the time it is not the case – you usually have completely one sided matches and no meta in the world would help you there… Besides, i promise you, 99% of loses come from bad rotations and terrible team play and not “wrong” builds.

It happend to me quite few times that i forgot to switch weapons comming from dungeon runs and was stuck with d/d s/p whole match… still won games, still killed other players… was my build suboptimal? yes… have i done my job and won the match though? yes… so who cares? Let people play what they want and enjoy the game (isn’t it why we play a game on first place).

Don’t get me wrong, i am not against meta builds, they certanly help and players should probably run them if they want to win but they are not obligated.

Frenk.5917:

Simple question. Why do YOU not run meta, if you do? Are you aware you are crippling your team? Do you think that you are NOT actually crippling your team?

Just a random question, after 3 matches with/against SD engi, Fresh Air eles, GS warrior, healing necros (this one actually surprised me so much I took me more than a few moments to understand it was not a normal necro) ecc.ecc.

Depends if you’re queueing as team or solo and what high level of competition. For example in soloq I prefer going medi gs guardian rather than medi hammer because gs is more straight forward when playing with pugs, hammer requires more coordination and for me it works better in a team environment.

The meta are the safest builds for the bad to average players (also working with good players obviously), but they are not the best builds or the only good builds by far.

Running something unpredictable has a clear advantage specially if you practice and master your own build.

Also the meta is made for PPT in mind mostly, actual fighting is not the focus of the meta. Some people play games to fight and test their skills, not sit on points.

The above reasons (especially fun factor and trying to not contribute to the meta getting stale), but there’s also the fact that by not running meta I get both a slight surprise advantage and the ability to tweak my build to counter meta.

If people only ran the meta, the meta would never change. Rom and Tarcis ran shoutbow when it wasn’t meta, now everyone uses it.

I run some meta-builds, but I also run non-meta, especially Fresh-Air (which btw. fits the current meta extremely well and is IMHO heavily underplayed and undervalued….). Mostly I look at the own team and opponent team and choose what to play.

If you’re so mad about ppl not running what you’d like them to run: go in with a team. It is that simple. Besides: If you play meta, then the chance of you playing against non-meta is higher than your team having non-meta, 20% higher. So the chances are even in your favour.

Xillllix.3485:

The meta are the safest builds for the bad to average players (also working with good players obviously), but they are not the best builds or the only good builds by far.

Running something unpredictable has a clear advantage specially if you practice and master your own build.

Also the meta is made for PPT in mind mostly, actual fighting is not the focus of the meta. Some people play games to fight and test their skills, not sit on points.

That’s a quite terrible post, I have to say..

Metas exist in all games with some form of competitive play, be it hardcore (Starcraft, pretty much any fighting game,…) or more casual (mobas, gw2, hearthstone,..) It is, simply put, the most efficient way of winning the game, by the strict definition of it, without adding those virtual “rules of honor” that say people playing “high risk high reward” builds are more deserving and people that don’t and stick to what’s refered to as “metagame”, are playing safer or are simply lesser players.
The people making those statements are called, so-to-speak, “scrubs” (refer to “Playing to win”, by David Sirlin).

As a result, any player that is willing to WIN THE GAME, hence in this case, reaching 500 points before the ennemy, will play something that is tailored for that purpose : On point brawling, skirmishing, mobility, etc.

So, by not playing what’s commonly accepted as “meta”, you’re generally dragging your team down. Now, you might experiment something with potential, or just play a far more fun spec, everyone does it. But no amount of “skill” will outweight that same amount put into playing something optimal, nor will a “surprise factor” that you might gain throughout the first 30 seconds of a match. Meta has nothing to do with playing safe, it has all to do with efficiency.

Let’s be clear, in the end, it’s only a game, and fairly casual at that. But you pretending one thing and its opposite is just non-sensical and fairly hypocrit.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me that the “meta” builds are heavily geared towards coordinated team play. However, as someone who solos exclusively, I prefer to not rely on my team mates at all. This doesn’t mean I don’t try and work with the team whenever possible, it just means that the build I run can in no way rely on others – either helping them, or taking help from them.

This is not the same as working together on the fly. It just means my build is not team oriented. My play will obviously try to take advantage of the presence of others.

Builds that help others are crippled when there is no coordination. When there is no one to benefit from your shouts, when there is no one to burst down if you immobilize the other guy. All this leads to frustration.

Solo queue’ers run builds that are “selfish” in this regard. And the “meta” builds are all geared towards great team comps.

For the sake of my blood pressure, I do not run anything except “selfish” builds in PvP.

Xillllix.3485:

The meta are the safest builds for the bad to average players (also working with good players obviously), but they are not the best builds or the only good builds by far.

Running something unpredictable has a clear advantage specially if you practice and master your own build.

Also the meta is made for PPT in mind mostly, actual fighting is not the focus of the meta. Some people play games to fight and test their skills, not sit on points.

So many things are wrong in this post that I don’t really know where to begin.

First of all, if you are playing in a conquest game, you HAVE to play PPT. That’s the game. That’s why people play conquest: to have this added strategical aspect. If you want to kill stuff, go roaming in WvW, or just duel people in practice/custom arenas.

I agree that running something unpredictable gives you a clear advantage in the beginning of the game, there’s no denying it. Being killed in one phoenix combo by a sf elementalist when you were expecting a RtL can really change the outcome of the first team fight. You just have to make sure that your build is good enough to be useful the entire game, because the element of surprise dies pretty quickly.

Saying that the meta builds are the safest for the bad and average players is just plain wrong. That’s true only of shout bow warrior. The celestial engineer is harder to play than the rabid equivalent, for example, but works better in a team environment and against better players. And you will become conscious of how ridiculous your statement is by comparing the effectiveness of a shatter mesmer, with no condition removal and the survivability of an ant, with the one of a condi mesmer, or a power ranger, or a power necro, or other bad builds that function very well in low MMR tiers.

Meta builds are meta because they work well in organized, high level of competition. You’re just flatting your ego with your anti-meta stance .

For pretty much all MMOs I can’t stand staying solidly in the meta. I’m fine with others going for a cookie cutter build, but I can’t stand not having a build that isn’t my own. I would certainly wish to use meta builds to learn all I can, but sticking with them? Once I understand a game, I share what I learn not to create a standard, but to continue drawing out the potential of my favorite classes.

bhagwad.4281:

For the sake of my blood pressure, I do not run anything except “selfish” builds in PvP.

You’re absolutely right. I have dropped my mesmer in favor of my thief in soloq, because the Shadowtrap is much more valuable than a Portal that no one will take, and won’t see much solo use anyway because points flip too often in soloq.

I don’t run meta builds because I’ve always just experimented with professions until I found something I liked, and ‘meta’ for guild wars 2 is actually a newer concept. At least, I hadn’t even heard it used here until around last year or so.

I play builds that I enjoy playing, whether it’s in pvp, pve, or wvw.

Even so, my builds are still builds that I took a lot of time theorizing, trying in all aspects of the game, and mastering, so I don’t feel like I’m crippling my team when I join a match. If I feel that there’s even a slight chance that I might not play well or don’t know my strengths and weaknesses well enough, I only play in hotjoin matches, custom arenas, wvw, PVE (against certain champions and such) until I feel strong enough to join an actual unranked match solo.

With how toxic the community can be sometimes, I really don’t care what my team thinks of me, but I don’t want to compete with a build that I don’t feel I’m good with for my own sake.

Innovation is key. You can’t create a new meta always following the herd.

For me it’s playstyle, I prefer high damage and mobility/sustain and sometimes meta builds can’t give me that (plus some times playing meta just feels to easy)

Also meta builds are the most optimal builds for the class’s optimal role however that doesn’t necessarily mean your gimping your team by playing something different, granted some classes can possibly do the non-meta role better then you but each class has unique features that it can bring to a fight. GW2’s system is probably one of the most ‘play your way’ systems out there, so why not take advantage of it?

Eurantien.4632:

Innovation is key. You can’t create a new meta always following the herd.

Some people are sheep, some people are shepherds, and some people are weird wolves with bad builds no one but them will use. That is the GW2 ecosystem.

I run a meta build that’s no longer meta, does that count? At the moment I run bunker guard. Normally, as I have seen, the meta is about dps and ranged attacks. Thief SB, Mesmer GS1, GD scepter 1, W bow, engi nades, etc. No one expects me to pop shield 5 on point when they are off point to negate damage. They normally expect focus 5. However, what I have seen is that the build does not work when another bunker joins the team. Too many bunkers with not enough DPS doesn’t win matches. That’s what happens when you balance around classes but not builds in solo queue.

Which is more important; Meta build or party comp? If I have all meta builds and one team has mesmer, necro, thief, engi, and ranger while the other team has engi, guard, war, ele, and thief. Which is more important in that example? This is why templates are needed. To ensure that we can switch builds depending on party comp because that’s more important in my opinion than what meta build I’m using.

As long Metabattle the builds judged only by the readiness for VoIP Premades in tournaments there is no reason to use them for a solo player. For solo players are “Meta” sub-optimal, since there are much better Builds.

Let’s not exaggerate. I don’t think you have to run 100% meta or you are crippling your team but knowledgeable people pretty much know what works and what doesn’t at this point and if you are not running a build incorporating a fair amount of what consensus says works then you really are hurting your team. We all have our secret sauces and tweaks to certain builds. If you think you are inventing the wheel two and a half years plus in though you are probably mistaken.

Magira.6390:

As long Metabattle the builds judged only by the readiness for VoIP Premades in tournaments there is no reason to use them for a solo player. For solo players are “Meta” sub-optimal, since there are much better Builds.

Are you telling me that a cele engi or a shoutbow warrior is useless for soloQ? That makes no sense.

Also, would you mind linking one of these über effective solo builds?

Simple. For professions that I know by heart, I always craft my own builds and improve them over time. I believe that there wasn’t any case when I would play copy-pasted build that wins in tournaments (because that’s what meta in this game is) on my Necromancer. I ran similar builds, but because they came up during my gameplay.

If I play a profession that I don’t know as well as Necromancer or Ranger, I often get the general idea of one of the pre-crafted builds and then change everything I don’t like during test runs. That’s how I came up with Rezz Ranger and MaceBow for Stronghold for example.

I’m crippling my team just by showing up, mate, meta or not.

witcher.3197:

Magira.6390:

As long Metabattle the builds judged only by the readiness for VoIP Premades in tournaments there is no reason to use them for a solo player. For solo players are “Meta” sub-optimal, since there are much better Builds.

Are you telling me that a cele engi or a shoutbow warrior is useless for soloQ? That makes no sense.

Also, would you mind linking one of these über effective solo builds?

A shoutbow warrior might not be useless per se for soloQ. What is undeniable however, is that a shoutbow’s potential is maximized in an organized team. For the support, a shoutbow sacrifices damage. Normally that is more than made up for by the super awesome might boosts and condi heals.

In soloQ, those advantages will probably not be utilized. Hence, the trade offs seem much worse.

Sometimes i want a challenge so i go off meta. Sometimes i notice a frequent opponent is really bad at x or y so i will run off meta to take advantage of that. Sometimes i run off meta because it is more fun for kitten-talking and the like.

witcher.3197:

Magira.6390:

As long Metabattle the builds judged only by the readiness for VoIP Premades in tournaments there is no reason to use them for a solo player. For solo players are “Meta” sub-optimal, since there are much better Builds.

Are you telling me that a cele engi or a shoutbow warrior is useless for soloQ? That makes no sense.

Also, would you mind linking one of these über effective solo builds?

The good solo builds are also on your side, just not “meta” or rather in the roaming WvW section. Or in the Trash area, because not suitable Premade.^^

PU Mesmer, Fresh Air Ele, Static Discharge Engi etc.

Some of the “meta” builds rely on the team that gives them Switness, and are without Premade slow as a snail. Solo suitable? No.

I’d say people run meta cause they aren’t bright enough to create their own or are too lazy to go through the testing to create a good build, or maybe they just don’t see synergy between different skills. I personally don’t run meta some times as it makes your opponent a hard time as they don’t know what is coming. For example, lux fortuna, runs a smoke screen on thief. He throws some teams off as they don’t know how to counter all of the blinds.

Meta concerns certain team compositions fighting other certain team compositions. If you have 3+ warriors on your team, it may not be the best idea for all of them to go shoutbow.

Also non-meta builds aren’t necessarily bad at all. They’re just not what a handful of top teams are running at the moment. DPS Guard was considered “bad” some time back, the “bad” power necro is now replacing the condi necro, DPS warriors are becoming more and more popular etc.

I do not run meta because I enjoy the gameplay I’ve self-found. Also, because my Condition Staff Elementalist build probably beats your meta thing with a lot of dedication and practice.

Because Mesmer meta has been the same since launch…

No, seriously. It has.

But also to me the meta is a guide, not the law. I’ll play meta builds to learn a class and better understand its mechanics, to know what I’ll be fighting against, and to use as a reference for creating my own builds. The whole reason lockdown Mesmer became any sort of thing is because of those of us who didn’t listen to “just play shatter” or “hambow can do it better.”

Too many people parrot what they hear from others, not enough people explore. We have all these interesting traits and utilities and you think I shouldn’t even try to make them work because supcutie or helseth says so? No. I disagree. Countless used clone-death builds and has even explored signets. Why does it work for him? Because player skill is still a large factor in how successful a build can be.

Build diversity only really starts to narrow at the higher tiers of play, and many meta builds are geared towards competitive team play. If I’m not training with a specific team to win a specific tourney, then I will be happy with my successes on my favorite builds.

Frenk.5917:

Simple question. Why do YOU not run meta, if you do? Are you aware you are crippling your team? Do you think that you are NOT actually crippling your team?

Not all non-meta builds are bad builds, and not all builds fit every player. I’m great with lockdown, so much so that I’ve become bad with shatter, but I’m still a better player and more useful to my team than 80% of people using shatter builds. Again, skill and wisdom determine whether or not you’re crippling your team.
(Jeez, that sounded far more conceited than I intended.)

I play a phantasmesmer since the start of gw2. I use D/p zerker since the start of gw2, i use Power Ranger LB/GS since the start if gw2.

Am i meta senpai?

I have more fun on my necromancer. I’ve played my necro since launch and I know it better than any other class. It may not be meta but I’m sure I’m not holding my team back by playing it.

I get where you’re coming from. I really do. Sometimes people get attached to bad builds when they could have more fun if they just accepted that “cookie-cutter” isn’t bad (You know what comes out of a cookie cutter? DELICIOUS COOKIES!), especially if they don’t want to bother to really test and refine and analyze builds themselves.

~

That said, I’m pretty sure my entire team decided to “cripple” themselves when they solo-queued for Unranked instead of making a premade with Teamspeak/Mumble for comms.

My choice to play a slightly off-brand version of a profession that most of the top PvP teams don’t even have a place for anyway isn’t going to do as much damage in comparison.

I usually run meta, but there are times when I don’t. Here’s my main reasoning for running non-meta:

Meta builds become meta not just because they are strong. They become meta because they are strong against what players are currently using.

For example, the shoutbow build is excellent against condi builds, but if you’re not running into a lot of that, then a hammer build can be better.

Also, consider that meta builds are generally rated for their effectiveness in an organized team environment. Running something like hammer/GS will be pretty mediocre there. However, when you solo queue, the mobility of the GS can make it more ideal since out rotating a less coordinated team and decapping undefended points can give your team a winning edge.

Why do YOU not run meta, if you do?
I don’t find meta as fun.

Are you aware you are crippling your team?
Are you aware that not all meta builds are bad?

Do you think that you are NOT actually crippling your team?
I know for a FACT i’m not.

I use a very off-meta hybrid burn build and i’m pretty sure that downing 2 people at once isn’t crippling my team. Typically, if they don’t have a warrior, ele and guardian i’m fine. Even then… they’re usually very unorganized players who don’t know how to cleanse conditions properly. If I feel i’m under performing, I switch out to a hammer meta variant.

KarsaiB.9475:

Xillllix.3485:

The meta are the safest builds for the bad to average players (also working with good players obviously), but they are not the best builds or the only good builds by far.

Running something unpredictable has a clear advantage specially if you practice and master your own build.

Also the meta is made for PPT in mind mostly, actual fighting is not the focus of the meta. Some people play games to fight and test their skills, not sit on points.

That’s a quite terrible post, I have to say..

Metas exist in all games with some form of competitive play, be it hardcore (Starcraft, pretty much any fighting game,…) or more casual (mobas, gw2, hearthstone,..) It is, simply put, the most efficient way of winning the game, by the strict definition of it, without adding those virtual “rules of honor” that say people playing “high risk high reward” builds are more deserving and people that don’t and stick to what’s refered to as “metagame”, are playing safer or are simply lesser players.
The people making those statements are called, so-to-speak, “scrubs” (refer to “Playing to win”, by David Sirlin).

As a result, any player that is willing to WIN THE GAME, hence in this case, reaching 500 points before the ennemy, will play something that is tailored for that purpose : On point brawling, skirmishing, mobility, etc.

So, by not playing what’s commonly accepted as “meta”, you’re generally dragging your team down. Now, you might experiment something with potential, or just play a far more fun spec, everyone does it. But no amount of “skill” will outweight that same amount put into playing something optimal, nor will a “surprise factor” that you might gain throughout the first 30 seconds of a match. Meta has nothing to do with playing safe, it has all to do with efficiency.

Let’s be clear, in the end, it’s only a game, and fairly casual at that. But you pretending one thing and its opposite is just non-sensical and fairly hypocrit.

Dude people that have about 4000-5000 hours on their main class were playing the meta long before it became the “meta”. It’s usually the most obvious build one can think off.

Builds similar to build I made for myself are played by more and more people, it could well become the meta with time, or something else could for all I know. One thing is certain the current meta is about to change completly.

For what concerns my playing instead of dancing on a point in 1v1s for 1-2 minutes until someone comes to help you I can actually kill medi guard, thieves and mesmers in under 10-20 seconds and get the job done. I’ve fine-tuned my dps and survivability to my style and yes in a certain way my build is anti-Meta. I do know the weakness of my own build but in most situation my build has been more productive for the global PPT than the Meta I was running 6 months ago.

What I was saying is that generally the Meta has PPT in mind above fighting, but it doesn’t mean that winning fights with another build doesn’t help with PPT.

@ OP For me its a matter of playstlye. I ultimately perform better running a build that the mechanics ive learned and enjoy fit.

I make a terrible medi hammer guard for example. But im pretty kitten good at the hybrid builds that have popped up recently. And am really looking forward to the DH build.

When I try to pidgeon hole myself into someone elses playstyle that I DON’T enjoy. I almost always play worse at that build than I should simply becuase it either doesn’t mesh with me or its too kitten boring. (condi ranger for example I can’t STAND playing. I give props to the people that do. But its so opposite my own playstyle its like an apple trying to taste like an orange.)

Its actually one of the reasons im most looking forward to with the upcoming changes. There are builds ive wanted to try that i always needed either that extra two trait points or this trait thats locked in a line thats bad for me in order to make reality. But alot of my old theorycrafts are gonna actually be possible to use once this change hits.

You have to love greatsword warrior

every one does.

The OP really doesn’t understand what makes a build meta. It isn’t the best spec. It is:
1. A great spec for coordinated teams
2. A top player uses it and then everyone else starts to bandwagon it.

The reason a meta build doesn’t work as well for you:
1. You are likely not on a well coordinated team
2. Your playstyle is different than that top player
3. You play less, or are less talented at your class, than that top player.

I feel the questions the OP presents are illinformed.

The meta tends to be players copying the builds of the best players. The vast majority of players hamper their team by using builds designed around players with the highest skill level, fastest reflexes, and in depth understanding of the skills, while having no where near thay skill level and understanding.Building around your skill level, reflexes, and understanding, can be much more benificial then just blindly using build you see the top level use.

remember what the meta guardian build is?

oh yeah, its just Tage’s build. one he was frowned on for using till his team won WTS with it. it goes to show that builds exist in the wild that would be meta if people knew about them.

my engineer and warrior builds are variations on the meta, my engi is still cele rifle and my warrior full shouts. but, they have been heavily adjusted to fill different roles. I’ve killed enough players running meta with them, and been able to pull off things that the meta builds just cant (my engineer build has heavy boonrip, makes dd ele a joke) to feel that they are viable. it’s not that I havnt played meta, it’s just that with me at the wheel, and with the goals i have in mind (hybrid bunker, livin that 3400 armour 2k power life) they work better. plus, people have no idea what you are running and often don’t know how to deal with it.

if it’s any proof, I’ve 1v1d meta cele engis with my engi build in servers and have converted them to my build, and they have had a lot more success with it.

choovanski.5462:

its just Tage’s build

How is Medi Guard in any way Tage’s build or even remotely unknown prior to the WTS? The old 2/1/6/1/4 trait spread with GS + Sword/Focus is almost 2 years old. The only thing that’s changed is Hammer over GS and Scepter over Sword with the points in Zeal put in Virtues instead so you could drop SYG for a 3rd Meditation.

Aktium.9506:

choovanski.5462:

its just Tage’s build

How is Medi Guard in any way Tage’s build or even remotely unknown prior to the WTS? The old 2/1/6/1/4 trait spread with GS + Sword/Focus is almost 2 years old. The only thing that’s changed is Hammer over GS and Scepter over Sword with the points in Zeal put in Virtues instead so you could drop SYG for a 3rd Meditation.

maybe i was oversimplifying, all i meant was it was Tage who the build was taken from. I don’t know enough about Tage or the guardian community to comment on the origin (though, it is likely that people will come up with the same build independently due to how traits are). all i mean is that it was Tage’s performance in WTS that brought the build into the meta.

choovanski.5462:

maybe i was oversimplifying, all i meant was it was Tage who the build was taken from. I don’t know enough about Tage or the guardian community to comment on the origin (though, it is likely that people will come up with the same build independently due to how traits are). all i mean is that it was Tage’s performance in WTS that brought the build into the meta.

Fair enough. An offensive meditation build has sorta always been hinted at by traits and meditations themselves. I’ve seen all kinds of iterations of it, the first viable one I ever saw was the one played by Bullet Punch. But yeah, Tage sure popularized the build.

The best reason I can think of to not run meta is to run ‘anti-meta’ tbh. Very few understand or do this though. Meta Engi, Mesmer, and Lb Ranger can all be wrecked my condis, but few people are running condis b/c the amount of condi clears (including aoe) vs several of the other meta builds, ie war, ele, and guard mostly. The celestial builds rely heavily on boons, but very few people are running heavy boon removal/corruption builds at all. The berserker meta builds mostly have little condi removal and are rendered nearly useless with high Weakness uptime, yet 99% of the PvP playerbase have absolutely no clue how incredibly powerful Weakness is as a defensive condi.

There are plenty of reasons to not run 100% meta builds. Anti-meta builds are the #1 reason imo, but also meta builds are often crafted in a vacuum and tweaked to re-enforce themselves. If everyone only ever ran meta builds, then the meta would never change outside of sweeping changes to the game/mechanics by the Dev’s.

There’s also the reason that some don’t like how the meta builds play. Whether its a case of using setups they don’t like or preferring condi over direct damage or vice versa. Their build my not be top tier tourney material but they have spent a lot of time on it and have tweaked this build and it is what tuey feel most comfortable/productive with. Minion Masters are a good example of this type of group I’m trying to explain.

The worst ever reason (and I couldn’t possibly be more emphatic about this) is the PHIW ‘anti-conformist’ hipster crowd who believes running their I’ll conceived crap build is “good enough” and "at least they’re not being like everyone else (ie Metabattles per se). These are your ‘bunker’ Thieves/Mesmers, your ‘Healer/Support’ Staff Eles/Banner Warriors, etc. In my experience, these are thelayers with the most minescule understanding of PvP (or GW2 in general) yet couldn’t be convinced in a million years that they’re not the coolest to ever grab a mouse and keyboard. Utter frustration here in all my experiences.

I run a few builds that aren’t in the meta only because I know them well, enjoy them, and get equivalent success in soloq from them. If I’m playing with a coordinated team, then I’ll definitely run meta so that they best understand what I’m capable of, unless asked to run something specific. Also, if I’m playing a class that I’m less familiar with or want to explore another style of play, I’ll run meta. Finally, in some cases, ie mesmer, the meta build really is the best option atm.

You worded the question so oddly, but I run both meta, and all kinds of non-meta builds. Sometimes, I’ll switch weapons or respec right before match starts, depending on matchup. You do realize that the meta builds don’t work that well in the wrong composition? Right?

I mean, if the random queue genie dumps 3 meta LB rangers on the opposing team, should you really run the cookie cutter x-meta build? Kitten that, I am bringing off had axe and some bleed bombing fun to town (not meta mind you).