Guild Wars 2

As the title states,

The last event for Arah World Event, is to fight a Mage boss wielding a greatsword, thus sparks my curiosity.

Entirely possible.
Personaly i´d like to see1h swords too.

All depends on what kind of updates arena net is planning.

Also, it´s propably more likely that arena net will add new weapon sets rather than new professions. Few of the main reasons being that they would be easier to balance, require less work, can build on existing foundation, make current classes have more longevity and diversity and that since day 1 people have been wanting this weapon for that class and such, more than this and that class to be intoduced…well with possible exceptions of ritualist and dervish :S

I want to see Elementalists use hammers.

it would be soooo cool to be able to use whatever weapon we choose… we would see true diversity and many surprising playing styles…

Isn’t traeharne a necromancer wielding a greatsword? I wouldn’t get your hopes up simply on that observation.

Wulfrim.4793:

Isn’t traeharne a necromancer wielding a greatsword? I wouldn’t get your hopes up simply on that observation.

More specificaly necro wielding greatsword casting ele spells

Also there was a NPC in a sylvari storyline that was a warrior with a scepter shooting out fire dagger elementalist spells.

@Wulfrim
Traeharne got level up and became guardian, what is hints us… guess what? =) Bingo! – play guardian, guys. Even necromancer rerolled to this class.
As for elementalist… I don’t think so, Anet hates this class. He can use conjured GS, hammer, axe, bow, shield, but can’t use “normal” versions of these weapons. Even conjure system is terrible and almost useless.

I understand your need for more weapon sets for ele guys, but I hope that this isn´t going to happen. Any light armored caster class wielding a warrior/thief weapon looks wrong to me (that´s why I refuse to play D/D – if I want that, I log on my thief. And Mesmer with GS seems even more weird to me, unfortunately). I could understand this with a Battlemage class or something similar (it should have also heavier armor of course), but not with a light armored and mobile class like Elementalist.
Please don´t shoot me, it´s just my opinion based on years of playing RPG and MMORPG games

STRanger.5120:

I understand your need for more weapon sets for ele guys, but I hope that this isn´t going to happen. Any light armored caster class wielding a warrior/thief weapon looks wrong to me (that´s why I refuse to play D/D – if I want that, I log on my thief. And Mesmer with GS seems even more weird to me, unfortunately). I could understand this with a Battlemage class or something similar (it should have also heavier armor of course), but not with a light armored and mobile class like Elementalist.
Please don´t shoot me, it´s just my opinion based on years of playing RPG and MMORPG games

Mesmer gs is awesomely conceptualized.
No reason it couldn´t work for eles too.
Ofcouse all of this is just matter of tastes.

@Strang.8170:
I don´t want to argue man, but try to give me any reason why master of elements and a caster class dressed in a light suit (not even an armor I´m afraid) should even touch something so rude and barbaric like a huge Greatsword, which of course requires quite a bit of physical strength to even lift it (I doubt that Elementalists are going to gym at all)

Edit: But if ArenaNet give GS to Eles, I would like to have a Scepter/Focus Thief, thanks

GS Elementalists would indeed be very fun, I hope they add that some day.

I was thinking about this too, give them a GreatSword, put all staff skills into the greatsword and completely remake staff from scratch.

EDIT: or just do that to the greatsword, and hopefully soon people talking about elementalists with staves will be nothing but a myth in this game :P

@STRanger
Well in lore there´s plenty of excuses. Bigger spells need bigger objects to channel them through, shape of the sword makes it ideal for different kinds of spells, using it is indimitating, battle mages liked it and developed new techniques for it, people wanted to use them just because they could.

Elementalists, or caster in general, in gw universe have never been a scholarly professions, Cynn was hotheaded and not all that intelligent but still prodigy. Eve was just purely insane.
Mainly this was because game mechanics allowed dual professions in gw1, which meant warriors could be secondary eles and other way around. This is not the case in gw2 anymore, but we can clearly see that caster professions can evolve to more martial directions (monks and guardians)

Also scepter/focus on thief could work too. Afterall thief would use any tools necessary, so i could easily see they´d use magical weapons if they could augment their shadow magic through it (not that they use much of it, but it could change too)…actualy reminds me of few gw1 builds i dabbled with trying to turn my sin into caster (not verry succesful though :/)

Basicly it´s all just opinions though. Lore or mechanics give no real reason why it couldn´t happen, but neither is there reason why it should happen.
I know what you´re trying to get through, but that kind of casters are part of other settings.

I just wish it wasn’t dagger/dagger for Elementalist but rather some kind of fist weapon/gauntlet kind of unarmed thing. That would totally make it Avatar kung fu – bending style hehehe.

I’d like to see Longbow myself for the arcane archer look. Mesmer’s already have GS. Elementalist is the only scholar without a unique weapon. Mesmer’s have GS, sword and pistol. Necromancer’s have Axe. Ele should have something unique as well to set it apart from the other two. Longbow, Hammer, etc. Something different from Mes and Necro.

STRanger.5120:

I understand your need for more weapon sets for ele guys, but I hope that this isn´t going to happen. Any light armored caster class wielding a warrior/thief weapon looks wrong to me (that´s why I refuse to play D/D – if I want that, I log on my thief. And Mesmer with GS seems even more weird to me, unfortunately). I could understand this with a Battlemage class or something similar (it should have also heavier armor of course), but not with a light armored and mobile class like Elementalist.
Please don´t shoot me, it´s just my opinion based on years of playing RPG and MMORPG games

Well Dagger is pretty normal for caster classes. Even in WoW the casters can use Daggers in the MH slot. Greatsword on the other hand is definitely unusual (and so are Axes on Necros for that matter! How does that make sense?). The only reason why I think GS, Pistol, and Sword make sense on a Mesmer, though is because Mesmer is a magical duelist so the more physical weapon sets make sense for them.

Not that some of those weapons aren’t cool looking and fun on the three Scholar classes, just doesn’t quite fit in with the archetype. I might suggest a Mace MH for Ele since that does fit in with the picture and I’ve seen cloth armor classes in other games use that. We’d still be stuck with either Dagger or Focus OH though. I’m not sure what other OH weapons would make sense that are currently in-game.

Fist weapons or elemental gauntlets for Elementalist. You heard it here first.

flyingfox.6150:

Fist weapons or elemental gauntlets for Elementalist. You heard it here first.

Sounds ugly. My Ele is too pretty for gauntlets and fist weapons. Weapons must go with the dress! :P

More martial weapons might not fit other games…but then again this is not other games.
Like i said previously, in this setting scholarly professions aren´t really all that scholarly.

oh, and necro axes are perfect fit, how else would they chop down bodies to craft those cute little minions?

I personally think that Dual-Wield Scepters would fit perfectly for Elementalist. D/D doesn’t make much sense to me, and I don’t really like the idea of Dual swords. Ele’s aren’t a melee class, unless you’re a BattleMage I suppose. Anyways, Scepters are sort of like our Swords imo. :P

Necros should have hand scythes (weaponized harvest sickles?) in place of Axes to fit them better…but still! Elemental gauntlets/gloves for Elementalists! XD

flyingfox.6150:

Necros should have hand scythes (weaponized harvest sickles?) in place of Axes to fit them better…but still! Elemental gauntlets/gloves for Elementalists! XD

Scythes would be cool. Maybe even a 2 handed one? O.o

the staff changes into a scythe when you use 1

I’m sure staves fashioned like scythes are available as exotic/legendary weapons or something.

Any light armored caster class wielding a warrior/thief weapon looks wrong to me (that´s why I refuse to play D/D – if I want that, I log on my thief. And Mesmer with GS seems even more weird to me, unfortunately).

I’ve never quite understood this mindset completely. I mean I know it’s the common trope in video games but there’s all sorts of exceptions to it in literature (Gandalf and Glamdring for one). Really the whole wizards = weak frail guys always struck me more as a tabletop game balance point than anything else and even they’re starting to move away from it nowdays.

not to mention wizards and mages should have the power to augment their strength or decrease the weight of their weapons…

That said though, a caster class should have never be able to cut, slice and dice the way how a warrior or ranger can, they shouldn’t be skilled martially with the weapon but rather use the weapons to express their spells, such as the dagger elementalist.

The fist weapon thing would be cool with a martial arts style skillset. It does remind me of Avatar-style bending. I’ve always liked the idea of a martial-style caster. The whole stand back and nuke thing is played out, and never appealed to me anyway. Just my tastes, though.

If they fixed conjures and made them usable with other attunments, that’d be a huge step in the right direction, and open up a lot more options for us. Or just making them work, at least.

flyingfox.6150:

not to mention wizards and mages should have the power to augment their strength or decrease the weight of their weapons…

That said though, a caster class should have never be able to cut, slice and dice the way how a warrior or ranger can, they shouldn’t be skilled martially with the weapon but rather use the weapons to express their spells, such as the dagger elementalist.

I agree, and also the way the Mesmer uses the GS. I’m a bit torn, though. I do understand the idea of it looking proper in terms of a Mage class, but I play the GS on my Mesmer and really love it (not to mention how cool it looks)… and I have played quite a bit with Sword/Pistol as well.

Edit: As far as other weapons this game doesn’t have, they could do the spellbook or the Orb two handers like in Aion (or Orb OH like in WoW). Of course there’s the traditional Wand as well but I think that’s too similar to Scepter. Sword could be a cool MH weapon if it’s used to channel our skills like the Dagger and GS are. We really need more OH weapons, though. Maybe a Sword OH? Or Warhorn/Torch (but those two are kind of boring and don’t really seem to fit so I dunno).

I could sorta seem eles using a great sword. I would see it as being midrange, frontal cone style attacks.

not AOE per se, but cone attacks.

So:

Fire 1: frontal fireball focused from sword, slight splashy style damage
fire 2: fire arc spreading outwards in an obvious cone pattern

etc

but meh.

I’d like to see one-handed swords first, but not saying I hate the idea of greatswords. I feel greatsword is already one of the most meta-popular weapons though.

Spacefish.4623:

I’d like to see one-handed swords first, but not saying I hate the idea of greatswords. I feel greatsword is already one of the most meta-popular weapons though.

I blame anime.

As a Scot descendant, and fan of Celtic myth, a wizened mystic wielding a massive greatsword doesn’t faze me in the least. In fact, it gives me a nerdgasm, since there’s no reason that mystic archetypes should be limited to using sticks or whatnot other then D+D tradition, which is mere game balance. The warrior-mystic has an even longer and older tradition in fact; the pure mystic really only comes from the imagination of 20th century gamers and authors.

STRanger.5120:

@Strang.8170:
I don´t want to argue man, but try to give me any reason why master of elements and a caster class dressed in a light suit (not even an armor I´m afraid) should even touch something so rude and barbaric like a huge Greatsword, which of course requires quite a bit of physical strength to even lift it (I doubt that Elementalists are going to gym at all)

All kinds of wrong going on here- not that it’s uncommon, given the widespread misunderstanding of historical weapons. A greatsword was a high-impact, high speed weapon used by foot infantry primarily against cavalry (although it worked great against everyone else, too). It was used more like a polearm than a sword or hatchet, with stabbing, lunges, and rapid parries with the tip of the blade. The leverage granted by using two hands (one placed above the hilt for greater leverage- this is why they are often leather wrapped and have tines midway up the blade- to protect the forward hand) makes this possible with surprisingly little strength- in actual practice, a greatsword is a lot faster then a 1 hander, even in the hands of a novice. The skill is in getting it to go where you want, not getting to GO. Physics takes care of that part. A spellcaster wouldn’t need that second part, since they’d be using it as a focus anyway, so it’s entirely feasible to use one.

The edges were only lightly sharpened (except near the tip, which was razor sharp) and used for parries and for disarming the opponent (lances and spears in particular)- that’s why they so often have wavy edges on them, to catch the haft of an enemy’s spear and cut it. The preferred killing blow was dealt with a thrust, heavy slashes from the top 3rd of the blade being an alternative if distance or position weren’t right, and bashing with the extra-long hilt guards and pommel as a last resort. Think of it like a halberd, but instead of only the axe-head being deadly, any point on the weapon could be used for striking. Often the task of a soldier wielding this was to disarm, ground or disable a foe, then move on and allow the lesser infantry (spearmen, conscripts, etc) to finish the job.

And a TL:DR to sum up: A greatsword is a fast, brutal skirmishing weapon meant to disable and disarm. It’s not heavy and barbaric, as popular myth suggests. It would be perfectly suited to a warrior-mystic class.

Plus, it would look REALLY awesome to shoot fireballs out of one.

Well, given that Gandalf was pretty epic with a sword…lol

I think the issue lies in the fact that some arbitrary value (range) has been placed on every weapon that classes have access to. Obviously mesmers use great swords as a ranged weapon, rangers use axes as a ranged weapon (which felt weird to me)

So, I would in theory say why not make every weapon available to everyone, or perhaps open the choices a bit more to make sense?

Xhaiden.3891:

I’d like to see Longbow myself for the arcane archer look.

Ooh, sounds nice. Both bows are only used by two classes, and energy arrows would be pretty sweet.

Haette.2701:

Xhaiden.3891:

I’d like to see Longbow myself for the arcane archer look.

Ooh, sounds nice. Both bows are only used by two classes, and energy arrows would be pretty sweet.

Could be cool, but I wonder – if we’re already shooting fire arrows, what benefit do we get from peforming a projectile finisher through a fire field? Same question for Ice and Water fields lol? I’m not sure the Dev’s had Elemental arrows in mind when they designed that system. :\

Earth would probably continue being the attunement with the most finishers. I picture a bow as firing arrow-shaped bolts of pure fire/ice/lightning/rock, not normal wooden arrows, and only the solid ones would count as projectile finishers.

Leiloni

Could be cool, but I wonder – if we’re already shooting fire arrows, what benefit do we get from peforming a projectile finisher through a fire field? Same question for Ice and Water fields lol? I’m not sure the Dev’s had Elemental arrows in mind when they designed that system. :\

We already have a proof of concept in Frost Bow. The auto attack of which is not a projectile finisher far as I recall. But even if it was, the attack has a splash heal at the point of impact. It could still pick up regen when being shot through a water field. Half of our current auto attacks don’t actually have a secondary effect if you look. They’re just damage with different colour spell effects. So the bow auto attacks don’t actually need a secondary effect.

Provided each is using either a different effect or a different method of damage delivery. Such as:

Water Shots = AoE splash heal
Earth Shots = Bleeding
Air Shots = Ricochets to multiple targets as the bolt arcs.
Fire Shots = AoE splash perhaps with a persistent burning ground component.

Heck, Fire Bow #2 could use the “trail of fire” effect from Burning Retreat so the arrow leaves a burning trail to the target. Frost Bow #2 could keep its channeled vulnerability. Air Bow #2 could blind. Earth Bow #2 could have weakness or cripple. So on and so forth.

Yes. Elementalist can summon a GS and use it just fine. Whats the problem?

boozer.7815:

Yes. Elementalist can summon a GS and use it just fine. Whats the problem?

I believe they should Re-Do our conjuring spells… If we could conjure a Weapon and then still attunement swap, gaining new abilities for the weapon, remove charges and put a 300 second (5 minute) duration on them. This would make conjuring more fun and viable. Not to mention the ability to change a Greatsword into a Fiery, Icy, Lightning, or Granite blade would be freaking WICKED. Lol

Oliin.9581:

Any light armored caster class wielding a warrior/thief weapon looks wrong to me (that´s why I refuse to play D/D – if I want that, I log on my thief. And Mesmer with GS seems even more weird to me, unfortunately).

I’ve never quite understood this mindset completely. I mean I know it’s the common trope in video games but there’s all sorts of exceptions to it in literature (Gandalf and Glamdring for one). Really the whole wizards = weak frail guys always struck me more as a tabletop game balance point than anything else and even they’re starting to move away from it nowdays.

I understand you and maybe I didn´t express my thoughts precisely enough (when you mentioned Gandalf, it came to me). I mean that melee class weapons (swords, daggers etc.) can be used if the wielder has enough physical strength (GS), but even Gandalf used the sword as a melee weapon and staff for casting spells, which evokes the feeling that melee (weapon made mainly from metal in some cases) are not suited for effective casting, and that´s why caster weapons even exists. Who would bother with some wood “shaft”, if they can have a big two-handed blade or dual swords instead, no problem with casting with them and effective melee weapon at once if needed?
This is the thing that doesn´t make sense to me, if there should be classic melee weapons for casters, I would rather see a new class “battlemage” type, than give those big pieces of metal to typical caster class…

Rhyse.8176:

1) It would be perfectly suited to a warrior-mystic class.

2) Plus, it would look REALLY awesome to shoot fireballs out of one.

1) aka Battlemage or similar class in games (not elementalist/wizard/mage)

2) You have our elite skill for this and it´s kinda powerful even if it has half the range than staff.

I use the fiery greatsword alongside my D/D loadout for a range upgrade, lol.

Otaur.9268:

boozer.7815:

Yes. Elementalist can summon a GS and use it just fine. Whats the problem?

I believe they should Re-Do our conjuring spells… If we could conjure a Weapon and then still attunement swap, gaining new abilities for the weapon, remove charges and put a 300 second (5 minute) duration on them. This would make conjuring more fun and viable. Not to mention the ability to change a Greatsword into a Fiery, Icy, Lightning, or Granite blade would be freaking WICKED. Lol

This sound good, summoned weapons are very different thing to blacksmithed weapons. Summoned weapon is made of an element which this class can control, so it is not as heavy as the real weapon if the Elementalist wants.
And the idea of switching summoned weapon skills with attunements and removal of charges sounds much more better than any more weapon sets for our class to me. good idea m8

STRanger.5120:

I understand you and maybe I didn´t express my thoughts precisely enough (when you mentioned Gandalf, it came to me). I mean that melee class weapons (swords, daggers etc.) can be used if the wielder has enough physical strength (GS), but even Gandalf used the sword as a melee weapon and staff for casting spells, which evokes the feeling that melee (weapon made mainly from metal in some cases) are not suited for effective casting, and that´s why caster weapons even exists. Who would bother with some wood “shaft”, if they can have a big two-handed blade or dual swords instead, no problem with casting with them and effective melee weapon at once if needed?
This is the thing that doesn´t make sense to me, if there should be classic melee weapons for casters, I would rather see a new class “battlemage” type, than give those big pieces of metal to typical caster class…

Yes, yes, yes…in other settings prefectly valid points, don´t however apply to this setting.

I get that d&d, lotr and plethora of setting do use the weak, smart and frail mage image, but gw universe is not part of any of those.
I can understand your desire for that kind of archetypal mage and i do respect that, but it frankly irks me that you try to make elementalist to be solely that and justify it by logic from other settings which have nothing to do with the fantasy universe we´re talking about here.

Back in developement devs talked something about how they wanted to cover as many archetypes of characters as possible. Rangers for example, have bows, which fills their traditional archetype, and in addition they get swords and greatswords to cover that quick and mobile warrior archetype (“want to be aragorn” as it´s sometimes called) Both exist within the same profession.
In elementalists we clearly already have the stick wielding old guy in bathrobes archetype filled. It would only make sense if they expanded and began filling battlemage and spellblade archetypes. And like i previously have said, there´s nothing in this games lore or setting, that would make it any less logickal.

@Strang.8170

That´s true you are stating here, but i think that Battlemage/Spellblade classes are not running around in pyjamas (light armor), don´t you think?

Surprising enough, a large portion of the Light Armors in game doesn’t look like traditional cloth armors we see in other MMOs. Some of them seems fairly Medium-looking.

I just don’t understand how we didn’t get the use of the torch I mean it’s a source of power, using the elements and such.

As much as I’d like to see GS on eles, it seems unlike for Anet to do since there already is the elite… Battlemages are epic. :P

I’d prefer Hammer or Mace. Purely on the observation that those are the weapons that have the lowest number of professions which can use them (only 2 professions each, where the GS already has 4 professions which can use it).

But as mentioned, I don’t think NPCs are any indication of weapon usability. Seems in some situations the NPCs just use whatever skills / weapons / professions they want with no regards to game mechanics.

I’d like to point out that GW1 casters are not the weak and flimsy archetype. I mean, really, look at what they do:

-Exist on a battlefield. That takes a certain chutzpah just to do it.
-Run and dodge accross that battlefield. These guys are better athletes then you or me, for sure.
-Take massive hits to the face and keep ticking. Sure, build specific maybe, but there’s nothing flimsy going on here.

A massive hulk of flesh and testosterone (Conan!) they are not, but they are probably stronger and in better shape then you or me by a long ways. If one of these guys want’s a sword, are YOU going to stop him?