Guild Wars 2

Hey guys,

Back again with a suggestion post this time directed at the effectiveness and the “rational” of everyones favorite GS attack Whirling Wrath. A couple issues i want to bring up and i want peoples opinions on how they feel regarding. I want to have this noticed. I’ve seen posts about WW before and have been meaning to try and consolidate them into a single article.

Now i play a DPS guardian and ever since the beginning of my time with this game i’ve used a Greatsword and have absolutely refused to let go of it. As a DPS focused player using a GS, i can say our only attacks meant for DPS are our auto-attacks and WW. Leap of Faith and Binding Blade are nice, and they can crit but ultimately are wasted if just used in the “heat of the moment” for dmg. SoW… well i just never liked it to beginning with (the concept that is) i was always to mobile to utilize it properly and i find it too easy to avoid

WW is the main attack. The cats pajamas, the bees knees, if you will. But heres what i find funny..

• Auto-Atk- No Finisher attacks, reasonable dmg, combos into a slightly more powerful finish. No problems here. Pretty standard.

• LoF – Leap Finisher, reasonable dmg, gap closer, blind. you can combo finish something as well as catch up to your enemy. Even reduced the cooldown, no problems here. (aim still needs work!)

• SoW – Buff/Condition AoE. Stationary. Slow cooldown (i’ll deal with it). Good dmg if you can make it hit. Hard to hit with. Not bad, some like it, as for me, not that great unless using it for quick retaliation/leap combo.

• BB – Great attack! Fire homing projectile that causes Pull condition on enemys within range. Ranged CC! Reliable Gap-Closer. Does some dmg. Can hit/pull multiple targets. Over all a great attack!

• WW – Spin for about 2 sec causing dmg. Un-specific Tooltip. Causes a projectile. Combo Finsher Whirl.

Now i generalized a bit on WW but im going elaborate on the specifics.

The Spin
Im very touchy with this spin. First of all, guardians playing with the “Auto-Attack Assist” that allows the game to prevent them from running through your target is actually cutting their Whirling Wrath DPS. Whirling Wrath as of right now functions on a principle i’ve nicknamed the “Eye of the Storm” (my condolences to any of those suffering a lack of guild wars because of the recent crisis with Hurricane Sandy.)

Now “Eye of the Storm” usually means the calm part. But in this case its the opposite and actually means that you do the most dmg the more EXACTLY centered on your target you are when you WW. Think Turtling, but the reality is your trying to get as many of those “projectiles” to hit your single target as you can. If you aren’t on your target but rather next him in proper melee range i see an almost 1/3 drop in dmg (rough estimate but you can notice it).

The Projectiles
Now i try not to talk down on anyone/anything, but these projectiles…. are absolutely worthless. Its basically like the combo finisher is on all the time firing dmg projectiles (that dont really even hit for that hard). Worst part is, in PvE, it might kill you. There shouldnt be a guardian out there that hasn’t had the over-aggro scare caused by those randomly flying projectiles going out at every angle that decides to hit that mob you’ve been trying to avoid.

Fact of the matter is the projectiles are unnecessary. Why have them in the first place and have the dps of an attack dependent on a projectile as well when the attack is meant to be melee range? I mean its a Greatsword, come on. The Binding Blade was a innovative, creative, and enjoyable way to combine ranged/melee into one. The Leap too! Even if it is unreliable. But adding a substantial part of our DPS on our shortest cool down/most used move that we need to a projectile that we can’t rely on to hit anything to be a majority factor? Its a melee based skill for a melee based weapon.

The combo finisher makes sense to shoot out projectiles, every whirl finisher does it. Its a nice added bonus, but thats what it is to a whirl, a BONUS. Only to us guardians is it a dependent factor of how effective the skill will be. Look at the warrior spin, he doesnt even need to be on top of you, just shoots through you for 3-4 hits. And this isnt about the dmg either, a warrior is suppose to hit harder so its ok. But the difference in needed preparation in terms of utilizing both attack to their full effectiveness is different. You dont have to think as much with the warrior spin or “aim” as much. Why dont you make 100B dependent on small projectiles that cast out and random angles? (just kidding no warrior hate here)

These projectiles dont make much sense. And serve more as nerf to our WW then a benefit in my honest opinion.

I’m not asking for a buff on dmg either. Atleast not a direct boost to the dmg its already capable of. Im just asking for a more capable way of achieving that “true dmg”.

My rework would be something like this.

Whirling Wrath – No more projectiles, at all. Keep Whirl Finisher. Keep Dmg same. Keep cooldown the same. Add in an extra 10 yard or 15 yard increase on hit-box radius. Reduce it to a x5 or x6 spin/hit cycle. Keep the executable time the same, maybe half a second longer, why not.

This isnt an overhaul, this isnt a total rework of all the GS abilities, just a refinement. Guardians attacks seem alot about pizzazz and flare. The nice blue whirl is fun to look at and see, yes. The nice projectiles are interesting. But it seems like utilization and functionality is being sacrificed for aesthetics. Keep the blue whirl, lose the useless random blue farts.

I’d love some feedback, opinions, and thoughts from some of the other guardians. I’d also welcome any Dev involved in profession creation/design to comment and give us their thoughts. Although highly unlikely, i can still hope.

- Tzenjin