Guild Wars 2

Disclaimer!

First I would like to say, not all Guardians are like this. It just feels like during events and dungeons I’m the only one doing this.

Dear fellow Guardians,

Did you know that your Virtues can be used to help allies? No? Well guess what! They can. Now I know… Loosing that buff might suck… but really… Lets look at this for a second. Whats better? Having aegis every 40 seconds… OR! Helping all nearby allies absorb that heavy AoE attack thats coming your way… Yeah I guessed so. The Aegis is supposed to be useful randomly, but even more useful for all.

Think of the Virtues like bats. Yes. Bats. Bats will fly out at night and find food, but if a bat is weak from being sick, hurt, or hungry… Other bats will come back to the cave and feed it. Gross, because of regurgitation but! Helping that bat means that it will help other bats when it feels better. Thus. Helping others to help yourself. Use those virtues in dungeons and events, even PvP… because maybe that person will come back and help you.

YOU TOO… can be… THE BATMAN… or BATGIRL!

So in short. Use virtues more please… I’m tired of being in a dungeon party with guardians who hoard their Virtues and never use them because they think they will never have them again.

May Dwayna bless your travels~

-Damen

I only do that when playing with people in my group. I dont really care if half a zerg dies of an aoe

I only use Justice and Courage. Using Resolve heals for barely anything, I’d rather keep my hp regen(I don’t have Resolve trait).

Why not just say it to the guardians in your dungeon parties? :x

I’m a guardian myself playing with a guardian friend. So happily I don’t run into this.
But, it’s easy to spot when someone isn’t too familiar with their class. It generally helps them if you can just tip them what to do.

Hey I got one for you OP.

Today I spent my time rezing other people in an event person after person getting one shot by a boss. Some time into the fight I died. Can you think of what happend next.

Oh ya, thats right they just walked right by me and left me there… after I rezed almost evey single one of them. Most of them when in there down state so they never realy died. But when it was my turn they all stood there and did nothing….. Perhaps you could ask them to stop being so selfish and rez the guardian with the AoE full heath heal.

You mostly learn how to use the skills and suport people on pvp.

In pve you dont learn that much cause you dont think on survival mode for others.

I tend to leave my virtues alown for the most part because i have other ways to provide aoe aegis. Only time i pop my virtue aegis is when i have nothing left to pop.

Justice and courage, sure. But there are far better ways to heal than to use the one virtue that helps keep us alive to keep those boons flowing. Then again, some guardians (myself included) run Renewed to spam those virtues real fast, and I’m sure they’ll spam justice as soon as their Empowered is done going on their staff. Our virtues are nice, but it’s our fields/symbols/shouts that do the most support.

With certain traits virtue of justice does way more damage when its activated then when its passive so its something I try to keep activated as much as I can.

virtue 1 = a bit more damage
virtue 2 = a fast heal
virtue 3 = stops attacks

I don’t see the problem of using it everywhere and every fight. Also, in combination with traits, using the virtues is more powerful then not doing that…

Virtue 1 + renewed justice = burn spam. And i use it almost everywhere in pve/wvw.

The other 2 does not looks that good to share – regen is not going to make the difference in a wvw zerg if you’re overwhelmed, for example.

Aegis…has a extremely long recharge. And you’d have to foresee and time perfectly it with a powerful attack directed to somebody else to get the best out of it…. not that great. Worth using it only with renewed focus, imo.

I have all 30 trait points into virtues.
Justice grants might and flame, so I always hit it when someone’s nearby.
Resolve heals 3 conditions in AoE, so I try to save it for moments when my group is poisoned or all my heals are on cooldown and someone’s dying.
Courage gives protection so I try to use it often. Nevertheless cooldown is huge, aegis is a big deal on self and it grants area stability for 3 seconds, so this virtue is probably the one you have to strategically save the most.

I guess I won’t have to say renewed focus is my favourite elite.

Valkaneer.7834:

Hey I got one for you OP.

Today I spent my time rezing other people in an event person after person getting one shot by a boss. Some time into the fight I died. Can you think of what happend next.

Oh ya, thats right they just walked right by me and left me there… after I rezed almost evey single one of them. Most of them when in there down state so they never realy died. But when it was my turn they all stood there and did nothing….. Perhaps you could ask them to stop being so selfish and rez the guardian with the AoE full heath heal.

This—^

Sad really. In WvW I Rez your behind, yet you can’t do the same for me. Man you people don’t know how much I do for you all put there, but I can’t get a single bit of support.

I use my virtues when I feel it’s necessary. Personally I don’t mind losing the passives as I don’t think they’re that big of a deal – at least in large group events.

the passive arn’t that important because they come back just like that.
so when i see the need i use it, usually when i see alot of people in wvw if i am in a party starting to get on low health i blow the viture out even though everyone around me will lose its passive aura i use.
also, the only issue i sometime have is that i don’t get rez after i run around wasting all the aegisis i grant from shout or viture to revive others plus using defence shielding skills. And when its me that is downed everyone walks by most of the time.
So alot of times you think to yourself “let the other Gaurdians do their thing too”, because you feel like others are just selfish and i endded up taking anger at /team in WvW alot of other Gaurdians backed me up on it. In response i had PvP addicts telling me i’m a noob\rager\should uninstall if i can’t deal with it.
So yes it sometimes feel like.. Why should i use my comfort zone for them?

nah, I’ll do what everyone else does in this game, and look after myself and not care about others.

I constantly ressed people, but they dont return the favor, and to add insult to injury, you get rewarded less for ressing people so Anet are actively discouraging people from doing it.

Im pretty sure anyone who has at least 15 radiance will spam their VoJustice, I do especially since mine also blinds and vulns, so i can use it to make a slow winding power attack miss.

The same goes for courage, if i see a huge attack coming I pop it more for the on demand aegis. However this is only if my other options are exhausted.

Resolve isnt worth using, it heals for barely anything and it doesnt at all make up for its long cooldown. The only time its ever worth it is if you trait up for it and have it remove 3 conditions on pop.

nah, I’ll do what everyone else does in this game, and look after myself and not care about others.
I constantly ressed people, but they dont return the favor, and to add insult to injury, you get rewarded less for ressing people so Anet are actively discouraging people from doing it.

No, you are encouraged and rewarded for rezzing. Your main reward is that you have another player back at your side. The credit and xp you get is just icing on the cake, whereas most other games wouldn’t give you that in the first place.

I pop my Justice mostly on cd, though my other virtues aren’t so effective for my spec. I do actually try to help those around me, though it usually comes from my weapon skills and wall of reflection. I rez people in between killing trash, which seems to be Anet’s intentions behind their system. do enough damage for Gold credit, keep other people alive long enough for them to get gold also. GW2 just has a slightly different style of winning, where you have a specialty, but you also do more of everything than another mmo per se.

I gladly pop my virtues while grouping, especially in tougher battles.

Seems mandatory for me.

Each and every one of us is supposed to protect each other, not just guardians.Each and every single one of us has to look out for each other and prevent death. Not just guardians.

If someone gets downed, you try to throw some defensive/protective abilities to his location so he won’t get defeated. If just two people bother to do this, he’ll likely fall on his own without getting resurrected.

Once someone is defeated, it’s too late!, in a dangerous battle, leave them alone so you don’t get defeated yourself. It will take too long to revive. It’s better for everyone if he goes to waypoint.

The problem is nearly every single person I’ve seen so far only cares for themselves. Even if it’s just two people, and one is getting beat up hard. Does that other player try to protect him? No, he doesn’t, he waits until he’s downed or defeated, then revives. This is bad and should be discouraged. You shouldn’t get rewarded for this. If anything, you should be punished. You didn’t do your job in protecting each other. And again, this is for every single person, not just guardians.

In dungeons, in a big boss event, in a small two person event, your job I to protect each other (via protective skills, or movement control skills, like stunning the enemy so the player can get away). Your job is not to go around reviving everyone. That shouldn’t be rewarded. You had plenty of time to prevent their death, you should be punished for not preventing it.

Remember that to do this you don’t need to be a guardian, you don’t need to be a support class, you don’t even have to bring fully supportive skills. You just need to think on your feet and care about each player and not just yourself. After all, if they die they are not helping you fight.

All this may be valid and true for a well functioning group of friends on TS, or “vets” knowing exactly what happens when.

When i come to a big battle, my highest priority is to hit the boss and stay alive.
I don’t see health bars, i don’t see conditions on allies … how am i even supposed to
know who needs what ?
I see my own health, my own conditions and the boss health/conditons/boons.
That’s what i focus on.

Do i revive ?
Ya, a hell lot, even all NPCs i see around.

But in (random pub) battle i use the skills that keep me alive rather than
casting skills that might (!!!) help others.

Bring in healthbars, display conditions, slow down the action and then you will see
way more interactivity and teamplay.
There’s a severe downside of removing healers, tanks and mainly all teamwork tools…

You pay attention to the battle field, that’s how. There’s no need to see health bars or conditions or boons, because if you pay attention to those around you, you’ll see the visual effect around their body. Better yet, you’ll see it coming from the boss before it even lands.

I find it funny you revive but don’t protect. You should change your priorities instead of asking arena net to reward you for playing the game wrongly.

I know it’s difficult to change your habbits, for some more than others. However, I have zero percent doubt that this is what arena net intended you to do.

Maybe you should go to guild wars 1 and play a protection monk without using the party bar (press P and it will disappear), with no resurect spell, playing with random people, with no voice chat. You’ll get used to it quick!

To be good in guild wars 2 (and 1), remember this: pay attention to the battle field, not to the interface.

I’m not speaking out of my behind; I do this, both in gw1 and gw2, with no voice chat, with random groups.

I dont think I activated my virtues once before I got Renewed Focus. I originally just got that skill because its semi spammable.

As a guardian I always make sure to help out with my virtues, although I can’t say I do this effectively as my preferred tactic is hit all three F keys at once when they recharge and I’m in a group, although yesterday’s dungeon run did have me thinking more tactically about it.

I find that I rarely use them, because I kind of forget they’re there. Then there’s the idea of the passive benefits vs. a WTF button, or if there’s a situation in which your heal or aegis may save from a killing blow. In which case, a utility might be better, or you allow them to take the blow and then resurrect them.

I want to try a Virtue build but find it hard to stray from my 0-30-20-20-0, as I haven’t done enough dungeons yet.

Sometimes you NOT pressing that F1, 2, or 3 is actually best for those around you, because the passives are…really good. x_x

The shield is the only one I’ve really bothered to make an effort to use often. I have the trait in the healing line that grants my regeneration to everyone around me so I’ll never be activating that.

10.30.0.0.30 GS White hit/Condition Damage build with Full Exotic Carrion gear. I rely on my F1 more then I care to admit, and I spam it at a constant while whirling around in all my glory. HOWEVER, I catch myself in WvW being too careful with the other two Virtues. The OP is right, we need to remember those passives are great, but the Actives are for all. All for one, right?

A couple questions to those of you that say “Virtue of Resolve” isn’t work activating -

How are you laying out your stats? Are any of you primarily using “Cleric’s” gear?

Does +healing not have any effect on it?

What about Absolute Resolve?

I never found the bonuses of the virtues worth using. I pop them every once and a while, but it doesn’t seem to really benefit all that much.

1) Burning is usually up 100% on targets in most groups I am in, so who cares about Justice?

2) The heal seems weak, and the regen to myself seems better, why bother?

3) Blocks one attack for everyone, or everyone can pay attention and dodge.

I just don’t see how it is of that much more benefit to use these over using many of the other skills we have. Maybe if you are traited deep into Virtues, but right now, I am running with only 10 points.

i’m not there yet, but i spam F1 as much as i can. burning + blind + vulnerability. and it’s resonably short CD makes it more useful than the other two. battles are so crazy sometimes it’s hard to catch everything but say if i do see people around me with low health or are downed, i do pop F2 to help a little (if there’s nothing else, like many others here). i try to time my F3 when i see an oncoming attack or i’ll put it up at the beginning of any fight.

slowly learning how to best use all three and will likely try to trait for some of them, but not all. looking into renewed focus bcause i like knowing i’m giving my allies a bit of extra help.

question: if there are multiple guardians, do the activated virtures stack? i’d hope so. if not, it’s kind of hard if you’re playing with a group (without proper communication) and trying to time everything so you make the most of it or don’t waste them popped virtues.

AndrewSX.3794:

Virtue 1 + renewed justice = burn spam. And i use it almost everywhere in pve/wvw.

Toss in 5 points in Virtues and you’re dealing out ridiculous amounts of Might in all directions.

TeamRaveGreen.6917:

A couple questions to those of you that say “Virtue of Resolve” isn’t work activating -

How are you laying out your stats? Are any of you primarily using “Cleric’s” gear?

Does +healing not have any effect on it?

What about Absolute Resolve?

Cleric gear makes a noticeable difference to VoR. As for absolute. Does right at a 25% boost or so to the healing you get from VoR. It does not affect those that are under the effects of Battle Presence. But then again. It really should not.