Guild Wars 2

I’ve recently tried playing a grenadier in the mists. I’m really enjoying it, but when I head back to pve I feel disappointed. I’m level 6 and the talent (Grenadier) that makes grenades worthwhile is an elite I need to be level 60 to have. This elite causes you to throw an extra grenade (3 instead of 2) and gives increased range. A third grenade is huge, that’s quite literally a 50% increase in damage! It’s an amazing trait. In fact, I think it may be the single largest damage boost provided, by any trait, to any weapon in the game!

Problem is, without that trait, grenades are pretty weak. A rifle can deal more damage. Grenades are really unwieldly and difficult to use. With that trait I feel rewarded for pulling off challenging moves with big damage; without it I feel punished no matter how well I play.

I think that perhaps the trait is simply too strong. Maybe if some of the power granted by the trait was leached out and injected into the base ability it would feel better before level 60. My suggestions?

1. Make base ability throw 3 grenades, trait increases to 4, reduce damage of individual grenade so overall damage is the same.

Imagine that currently each grenade does 33.3 damage. You would deal 66.6 damage with out the trait and 100 damage with it. This change would make each grenade deal 25 damage. You would deal 75 damage without the trait and 100 with it. That would still be a 33.3% increase in damage, making the trait still one of the strongest damage boosts to a weapon in the game, but with a bit more damage in the base ability, I wouldn’t miss it soo much while leveling.

2. Make 3 grenades the default, reduce base damage, talent becomes a flat damage percentage damage increase.

I dislike this particular idea. It would accomplish the overall goal, but I like the added grenade effect. It’s just makes the trait visually apparent in a way I find satisfying. That having been said, thanks to the trait Shrapnel which give each explosion a 6% chance to cause a bleed, adding an fourth grenade might cause issues.

3. Make the grenade added by the talent a “mini-grenade” that deals half the damage of the other two, buff the damaged of the base 2 to compensate.

So in this example, current damage is again 33.3 a piece, 66.6 with two, 100 with three. This change would make it so the first two would do 40 apiece for a total of 80 damage without the trait. The third grenade, added by the trait, would only do 20 damage bringing us back to the total off 100.

Ultimately, I’m no game designer. My ideas may well be bad. I may be barking up the wrong tree entirely, but I truly believe Grenades can, and should, be improved for lower level players. What do you think?

Just level with the tools you can use until you reach 60, remember your traits reset when you use a book.

So the best solution is not to use grenades at all for 75% of my leveling? How exactly does that sound reasonable to you?

Grenades give conditions and combos even with two, not to mention the fact that after you use the freeze grenades to slow them down you can hit 3-2-1-F2 in quick succession. Yes, don’t forget about the extra round of grenades you get from F2.

They’ve been a constant in my skill set since I got them and they’re worth using.

I like grenades for the AOE damage and slow/poison/blind. They are superior to the rifle when you happen to pull 8 grubs >.>

And I’m pre-60 (working on it). I have switched to bombs recently as I prefer confusion/cripple but grenades work as well. I just like their responsiveness better for PvE.

I find the grenade kit to be extremely effective at lower levels. Its perfect for kiting as you can throw grenades behind you as mobs chase you which makes you invincible against melee, and its blind and combo field are great in large scale fights. I rarely leave home without it, even when untraited.

I’m not near 60 (around 35ish now), but I’ve been using grenades in WvW a lot ever since I got them; they are easy to lob down from walls, easy to lob up to walls, and most importantly, they do area damage. Yes a rifle is more effective against an individual opponent (and has the net and pushback abilities), but when going against groups, I certainly prefer to bring by bag of things that go boom.

But in PvE i tend to use them much less, though the tips above sound very good, have to try them there again

I’m aiming for that trait, but so far, I don’t feel like grenades are very much underpowered. Might be because I haven’t tried it yet.

IMHO, haven’t done math on it, and all that.

The grenade kit is great at low levels. I didn’t use them on my beta character, but I was just using them exclusively on my level 6-12 alt over the past few days, and he was doing great damage. He’s far better at taking three guys at once than taking three guys in a row, and you have to be good at fast-casting ground effect moves, so it’s more complicated than most weapons, but I don’t think I’m lacking in damage at all.