Guild Wars 2

So we’ve gone from “turtle bombing” over the past month or so to a new somewhat broken mechanic of abuse in using Swirling Winds to defend siege weapons and tower/keep walls.

For those who are unfamiliar, Swirling winds is ability #4 for an elementalist that is using a focus. It is a ground targeted ability that destroys projectiles. What is unique about this ability is that it is one of the few abilities that can block siege weaponry attacks (in particular trebuchet attacks). I can’t speak for other tiers in WvW, but in tier 1 all sides have taken to using multiple elementalists to protect key trebuchets and even the walls of towers and keeps from other trebuchet attacks.

It then comes down to a war of attrition and who has the most elementalists on hand who are willing to sit and defend an area for long periods of time. If one server is organized enough and has enough elementalists on who are committed to protecting an area, it pretty much negates any chance of destroying the target.

This seems like yet another ability or mechanic that A-Net has let slip through the cracks. I find it hard to believe that they would intend for Swirling Winds to be so powerful as to negate siege weaponry attacks on a target. This makes controlling a point like Stonemist incredibly important as you can keep all of your trebuchets in one area for easy protection from both ground assault and now other trebuchet assaults.

Previously it was possible to set up a treb out in the field to take out an enemy treb that was placed on a platform in Stonemist, but now you can pretty much forget about it.

I am curious as to what A-Net’s stance on this is and if it is intended or an oversight on their part.

Don’t forget Thief smoke too.

Haven’t seen anything like this yet in T2. I’d have to see it for myself to say whether I think it needs fixing. Like permastealth…had my first encounter with a really annoying Thief two days ago in a supply camp. We got him, but it was annoying.

kidbs.8920:

It then comes down to a war of attrition and who has the most elementalists on hand who are willing to sit and defend an area for long periods of time.

Everything in WvW is a war of attrition. Everyone hates it too, but those are the rules we have to play by.

djkittiek.7694:

Don’t forget Thief smoke too.

and guardians have a few right.

fivekiller.1432:

djkittiek.7694:

Don’t forget Thief smoke too.

and guardians have a few right.

Actually they nerfed that early. Seems they didn’t mean to allow these abilities to block siege, but here we are anyways.

Ain’t tactics fun? I see nothing wrong with it though. Its a great use of abilities. Also, several other classes have similar anti projectile spells.

Raf.1078:

Ain’t tactics fun? I see nothing wrong with it though. Its a great use of abilities. Also, several other classes have similar anti projectile spells.

if others can do it then i see it staying.

if they nerfed guardian’s ability to do it and there aren’t really any other classes who can then i see it going the way of the mesmer’s greatsword 4 attack. if an ability is the only one in the game that can do something very amazing that is usually a strong indicator that it won’t be doing that for long.

Raf.1078:

Ain’t tactics fun? I see nothing wrong with it though. Its a great use of abilities. Also, several other classes have similar anti projectile spells.

yes, but they were nerfed to not block siege weapon projectiles. swirling winds and i guess thief smoke slipped through the cracks.

the rule should be applied consistently. imo smart artillery use is the primary means a small group of players can outplay a large group of players. giving a player skill to negate artillery reduces smart gameplay down to “just have eles block it”

garrison trebs attacking bay keep is a primary example. 10 organized players can run up, making sure they are undetected and build a treb in open field to kill the garrison trebs. having eles on garrison trebs just negates the smart artillery use, and allows the zerg plenty of time to get rolling and react. a smart faction trebbing from garrison would have scouts posted at those location so the garrison trebs can be turned around before the defenders even build the counter treb.