Guild Wars 2

This is an sPvP thread

I’ve been trying it out, and I like the way it works, but the cast times are so slow. Incredibly slow. The AA chain completes in 3.25s according to the wiki, compared to 2.5s for sword and greatsword. Other weapons don’t have AA chains. Anyways that’s just too slow for sPvP I think, whether you want healing or damage. And the healing contribution on the 3rd AA chain skill is ridiculously low.

Also, the Mace 2 skill also has a long casting time. I think if the AA was buffed down to 2.5s for a full chain and Mace 2 was buffed to 3/4s then we’d be good. I would love to use it but the weapon overall is just not competitive, especially compared to sword.

ive been using mace since beta, and still use, in both pvp and WvW… its awfull due how most classes can sustain the damage mace does and how bad guardian stats are being used, we sacrifice to much o defense for nothing while most classes can do defense and offense at same time, and the symbol is awfull due every one has speed boost and healing power on guardian is very weak, its slow casting by the time you ended casting the 2nd skill “Symbol of Faith” target is already is bursting you or went to range, does poor defense for self or team, usually in pvp i only uset to defend against initial contact burst then swap to sword/focus.

Dont expect anything good in this game, about game balance, its a defensive weapon is ment to be slow and punishing the carrier, they compensated that with a block/aegis on mace 3 because, mace even with that fall behind the offensive weapons, as a defensive weapon.

Mace has a huge problem, that is Anet thinks defensive Guardian gameplay is strong.. while its a class that does no damage, no support or very poor support and has low surviability no matter how many blocks it has(even so we hear alot of bad players QQ how DH/guard has many blocks, sicne this game was built to gammers that want to kill target by just spamming 1 key), they are a very easy class/build to defeat due how Anet likes to unbalance and carrie players trough gimmick damage build vs defensive builds.

Anet poor resolve of bringing a decent gameplay decided to make not all weapons viable to be main weapons for every mode.

Aeolus.3615:

ive been using mace since beta, and still use, in both pvp and WvW… its awfull due how most classes can sustain the damage mace does and how bad guardian stats are being used, we sacrifice to much o defense for nothing while most classes can do defense and offense at same time, and the symbol is awfull due every one has speed boost and healing power on guardian is very weak, its slow casting by the time you ended casting the 2nd skill “Symbol of Faith” target is already is bursting you or went to range, does poor defense for self or team, usually in pvp i only uset to defend against initial contact burst then swap to sword/focus.

Dont expect anything good in this game, about game balance, its a defensive weapon is ment to be slow and punishing the carrier, they compensated that with a block/aegis on mace 3 because, mace even with that fall behind the offensive weapons, as a defensive weapon.

Mace has a huge problem, that is Anet thinks defensive Guardian gameplay is strong.. while its a class that does no damage, no support or very poor support and has low surviability no matter how many blocks it has(even so we hear alot of bad players QQ how DH/guard has many blocks, sicne this game was built to gammers that want to kill target by just spamming 1 key), they are a very easy class/build to defeat due how Anet likes to unbalance and carrie players trough gimmick damage build vs defensive builds.

Anet poor resolve of bringing a decent gameplay decided to make not all weapons viable to be main weapons for every mode.

Actually symbol of faith is an excellent skill. Obviously it’s more useful offensively, but even if the person kites out of it you still get heals. You use it for sustain if you can’t use it offensively, you can always drop it then switch to longbow or scepter. It’s powerful enough to force someone off point yet also heals you, that’s the definition of offense and defense at the same time. It just needs to be reduced to 3/4s or even 1s, the cast time is unusually long by any standard, including other symbols. And like i said, the AA is 3/4s longer than other 1-handed weapon than guard has, that’s pretty unfair. It should be shaved down a bit, or at least have the aftercast reduced.

I only use it for the symbolic avenger 10% damage boost with traps for spvp build… but i cant play much that build, anything that playsDH traps on the build its a build that carries the players… and i hate to feel carried.

The healing is minor(arround 140 heal ticks) on a skills that is almost 2sec to be casted it stops casting if i take finger from button for some time when im laggin a bit on WvW this is what happens most of the time, its not a good thing to sacrifice other preferable stats over healing power on guardian, you should use your blocks to increase the healing power while choose a build that carries u trough damage ouput, reason i use mace 3 mostly of the time, to increase via blocks the outgoing healing.

Mace 2 it works for you because u migh be using traps…..but meh.. with traps every one plays well…

Aeolus.3615:

I only use it for the symbolic avenger 10% damage boost with traps for spvp build… but i cant play much that build, anything that playsDH traps on the build its a build that carries the players… and i hate to feel carried.

The healing is minor(arround 140 heal ticks) on a skills that is almost 2sec to be casted it stops casting if i take finger from button for some time when im laggin a bit on WvW this is what happens most of the time, its not a good thing to sacrifice other preferable stats over healing power on guardian, you should use your blocks to increase the healing power while choose a build that carries u trough damage ouput, reason i use mace 3 mostly of the time, to increase via blocks the outgoing healing.

Mace 2 it works for you because u migh be using traps…..but meh.. with traps every one plays well…

Yeah I have been playing it in a DPS build, not healing. And like I said, I intended this to be an sPvP thread. Yeah it’s not so useful in WvW but that’s not where I’m using it.

i think mace AA and mace 2 migh be the skills i use less in spvp, the skills at least the simbol could get a casting tweak :\
Sometimes just use the mace simbol to see if target burns a dodge sometimes works, sometimes not.
And i dont play healing stats as well (nobody does)… that would be a auto suicide build.

Ik this is supposed to be about spvp, but mace is actually amazingly powerful in wvw when paired with shield and healing power is most definitely a desired stat on guardian in wvw right now. The amount of sustain for groups that a support focused guardian who has lots of healing power gives out is pretty crazy.(Guardian in wvw rn is pretty great, both base and the elite spec are highly viable and there are numerous builds and play styles you can use and actually contribute to your group with, and its in a pretty decent spot for roaming as well)

That being said, for spvp, i’ve tried myriad times to use mace. It just feels like its to slow with all the cast times on it. Maybe it was just me having a bad game, but i always felt like i wasn’t contributing nearly as much when i was playing around with mace.

GrahamW.5397, mace AA chain 3rd skill, wont heal even with a healing power build due its slow speed and low damage and how easy is to kill a players with damage output builds, since u will sacrifice alot of HP for a build that will get 1shoted with 10-12k hp,i dont see how those 2 skills (mace auto and simbol) are a threat even suport since if ur not playing for damage u will not be a threat, and that build barelly can give support.

Figthign some builds u cant damage them with mace and its a slow weapon, nor the surviability is eneught to survive, all u can do is dodge block and hope some one to turn match to a 2 vs 1 on the point.

In WvW is no diferent, the only ways ive been hable to kill or even hold 3 thiefs for quit alot before i had backup was just because i was being carried by traps even with some nomad gear.
healing trap was healing me arround 14-15k hp.

In wvw it is most definitely different. The amount of healing you get out of mace is insane. Well over 20k health, almost 4k armor on top of all the healing and boons your guardian will be throwing out there its one of the best support builds for wvw right now right up there with eles. . In spvp the balance is different and what makes it shine in wvw and the reasons why it does just aren’t there so you end up with a lack luster weapon that doesn’t really stand out or do much. If mace were to be used they would really need to adjust some of the cast times like op said, and even then i feel like it would still be pretty meh. Mace shield guardians used to be a thing spvp when the bunker amulets were around because thats what mace is good at. Without them it doesn’t really have a place. At least not in its current form.

GrahamW.5397:

In wvw it is most definitely different. The amount of healing you get out of mace is insane. Well over 20k health, almost 4k armor on top of all the healing and boons your guardian will be throwing out there its one of the best support builds for wvw right now right up there with eles. . In spvp the balance is different and what makes it shine in wvw and the reasons why it does just aren’t there so you end up with a lack luster weapon that doesn’t really stand out or do much. If mace were to be used they would really need to adjust some of the cast times like op said, and even then i feel like it would still be pretty meh. Mace shield guardians used to be a thing spvp when the bunker amulets were around because thats what mace is good at. Without them it doesn’t really have a place. At least not in its current form.

I think for sPvP the base healing for mace AA should be halved, but the healing contribution should be MUCH higher, it’s really low right now. That way increasing the AA’s speed would benefit either power or healing builds, but power builds wouldn’t get much healing off of a faster AA.

GrahamW.5397:, strange after hot, it becames really hard to use mace on WvW, i really have a diferent experience.
ive been in situation mace auto chain heals 900-1k, i really feel rewarded when that happens and that am contributing, blocks heal close to 2k, but that is rare, since i need to get close to target that only play aoe spike builds, and that means ill get hard CC pulled by DH’s and rekt if i get in melee.
Maybe because i play against server that run very gimmick builds mostly and im still using shouts most of the time :\.

Huskyboy.1053, mace aegis on mace 3 did give a great boost, still the risk reward of how the weapon works to increase healing and armor could get boosted.
Or as u say, since mace dont do much damage and is more oriented towards defensive, they could increase the AA, it would be far from OP buffing it.
Most times in fight i dont reach the 3 aa chain, im to busy getting in melee range and bursting targets with burn burst rotations or traps…

To put it short, yes but most people will run Sword/Focus for the ports. There’s actually a few builds out there that use mace, build around it, and works quite nicely.

Aeolus.3615:

GrahamW.5397:, strange after hot, it became really hard to use mace in WvW, i really have a different experience.
i’ve been in situation mace auto chain heals 900-1k, i really feel rewarded when that happens and that am contributing, blocks heal close to 2k, but that is rare, since i need to get close to target that only play aoe spike builds, and that means ill get hard CC pulled by DH’s and rekt if i get in melee.
Maybe because i play against server that run very gimmick builds mostly and im still using shouts most of the time :\.

In group play for wvw especially 15s where it is currently meta, mace/shield will be ran for most groups. Some players will run dh or more traditional guardian builds for fun as guardian is pretty versatile in wvw, but mace/shield is arguably the strongest way to play guardian in a group setting right now as the support it offers are to good to pass up. Boon uptime, healing, blocks, easy time ressing downs, cc, really tanky just in general, easy reliable access to the ever important stability. Mace/shield base guard has everything you could ever want from a support build. As for your issues with aoe spike damage, thats a thing you’ll need to learn with practice, dodging bombs is important since a good bomb can 100-0 even the most tanky builds. If you run in a party with 2 guardians and do a proper stability rotation you should have no problems with cc. Mace has never been in a better spot for wvw.

If you want to talk about it some more feel free to mail me in game and i’ll respond when i can, i think we’ve talked about it enough here for now xd. Sorry for the wall of text op.

yeah maybe its a lack of play in decent group, since ive been in the cannon fodder group that gets melted against a gorup of 10-15 reapers and DH’s…

Ah.. Huskyboy.1053 sorry for the thread hijack, it derrailed a bit, since i feel mace 2 could receive as well a boost not only for spvp content.

Contrary to some comments here, I run mace on a Mender’s DH for ranked PvP. (No traps on utility bar either.) And I totally agree; mace AA3 and mace 2 are way slow. I sometimes hit AA 1 and 2 and then consider interrupting it with 3, 4, or F1. That I have time to think about it says something.
I’d def be behind reducing those cooldowns and increasing that healing power contribution. Would be certainly make my life easier.

if i recall Anet reduced the initial heal form mace AA, but increased the stat contribution, maybe needs a higher base value with the actual stat contribution.
Chrury.4627 I would not mind with that, still needs to affect simbol regen its darn to slow to cast for its contribution.

One tweak could be distribute mace healing over the chain AA, increasing the healing output for allies from the guardian Justice, it feels that justice could play a good role also not only for burn.

Aeolus.3615:

if i recall Anet reduced the initial heal form mace AA, but increased the stat contribution, maybe needs a higher base value with the actual stat contribution.
Chrury.4627 I would not mind with that, still needs to affect simbol regen its darn to slow to cast for its contribution.

One tweak could be distribute mace healing over the chain AA, increasing the healing output for allies from the guardian Justice, it feels that justice could play a good role also not only for burn.

Nah they increased both base healing and HP contribution. I’m saying they should reduce base but dramatically increase healing contribution. As it is right now I get about 250 extra healing from magi amulet, which is not very much. But increasing base healing rewards power builds, which isn’t good imo.

ah ok tks for correction, tough they had lowered the base healing well.