Guild Wars 2

Chronomancer’s looked really well done. It makes me wonder exactly what a Guardian’s specialization would entail.

If our specialization offers something completely different than a simple bow that pewpews, then i’ll gladly sacrifice a Virtue traitline for it.

As for the 5 new skills we’re getting
Concecrations?
Symbols?
Traps? lol. …traps..?

Mesmers don’t topically use Wells nor Shields… so a Bow with Traps would “make sense” in terms of giving us something we don’t usually obtain while also specializing them with Guardian abilities. Traps could potentially provide us with CC that Guards utterly lack.

Oh and is anyone else annoyed that the Mesmer’s Shield can block? Why the satire humor Anet!?

What we know so far is that we will get a bow and that the new guardian elite specialization will be a ‘crowd pleaser’. Bow and traps does seem like a logical combination as a sort of hunter archetype. Personally, I feel like this classification would better fit a ranger. Although if the traps contain any sort of soft/hard CC it would definitely be a welcome addition. The downside is that I’m afraid that the traps won’t work well in PvP because the enemy needs to run into them to work. Any enemy with a brain will avoid the traps if they can.

I’d love to see a dark knight kind of guardian with corruptions. Totally the opposite of what the guardian is now. Although that will likely not happen. Otherwise a monk with aura’s seems to fit the ‘crowd pleaser’ term as well.

Since Anet said one elite spec would get 6 shouts I think it might be us. And I saw some people saying “that makes no sense, shouts are short range bla bla bla won’t work with a bow bla bla bla” well I think they may just double the shout range and that’s it. 1200 shout range, with 1200 weapon range. We can go for damage/support if the stance thing is true, and we can use the long ranged shouts and the (soon to be) baseline targeted consecrations to provide support and control around the field.
EDIT: Adding to that, the crowd pleaser aspect comes with the fact that we would pretty much be Paragons.

Arrk.4102:

Since Anet said one elite spec would get 6 shouts I think it might be us. And I saw some people saying “that makes no sense, shouts are short range bla bla bla won’t work with a bow bla bla bla” well I think they may just double the shout range and that’s it. 1200 shout range, with 1200 weapon range. We can go for damage/support if the stance thing is true, and we can use the long ranged shouts and the (soon to be) baseline targeted consecrations to provide support and control around the field.
EDIT: Adding to that, the crowd pleaser aspect comes with the fact that we would pretty much be Paragons.

That makes more sense. Though i’m not fond of shouts, I do like the idea of a “support and control” type role. Guardian being mainly dps meta for so long, I forget the class type it truly is lol.

Saiyan.1704:

Oh and is anyone else annoyed that the Mesmer’s Shield can block? Why the satire humor Anet!?

Yep.

I hope our spec doesn’t give us 6 shouts >< What a terribly linear-minded approach to an upgrade for the profession.

Speculating, we get another virtue and alot of long range support in LB skills with OKish damage. Traits will support ranged and Spirit Weapons’s better (The proposed core trait changes have only 1 SW enhancemen which is lame for a whole class of skills)

We all know deep down inside we’re going to get a Signet Elite that adds +100 to every stat and blinds on activiation.

Cuz, well, you know…..

Guardians are in a good place

I’m guessing it will be something visually like GW1’s Ray of Judgment, but instead of inflicting holy damage and burning on enemies it will deal a 33% chance to fix the skill facts on up to 5 friendly targets ( not including yourself )

Chants/Refrains/Echoes could be a possibility because they are different enough from shouts. I mained Paragon in Gw1 because I liked the way that chants/refrains/echoes could be combined with so many options and trigger off each other. I don’t know if 4 utility skills, a heal, and an elite could be nearly as interesting. You’d be forced to take the full set to get them to do anything.

I seriously doubt any of the current shout classes will get more shouts. That goes against the claim that elite specializations will give classes access to things they didn’t have before.

I feel like necro might get the shouts out of anyone. Traps I think might go to engineer if they want to keep traps in the medium professions, but I could see some holy themed traps for guardian. Drop a GW1 ray of judgment style trap, or a blind, vuln, and immobilize trap. I don’t expect guardian to get trap access though. Echos, chants, and arias I could see though. They would have to be different than shouts, but they could fit well thematically.

I’m really interested, because I don’t know what Anet has planned for us. The current changes already look pretty nice.

Personally I hope the specialization goes the way of the far eastern themed “spiritual monk”

They used bows & believed they could endow objects with their spiritual energy in order to purge demons/undead/spirits as well as burn things or heal/protect allies.

So the bow makes sense.

As for what the new utility, heal & elite skills will be IDK.

If the specialization is “Monk”, the new skill type would probably be “prayers” (possibly “tomes”?). If the specialization is “Paragon”, the specialization’s skill type would probably just be “shouts”. Both monks and paragons fit the description of “crowd pleasers”. However, I don’t see any need for a profession to have 10 shouts (11 if healing breeze becomes a shout). I wouldn’t be surprised if necros are getting the 6 shouts with their spec.

Arrk.4102:

Since Anet said one elite spec would get 6 shouts I think it might be us. And I saw some people saying “that makes no sense, shouts are short range bla bla bla won’t work with a bow bla bla bla” well I think they may just double the shout range and that’s it. 1200 shout range, with 1200 weapon range. We can go for damage/support if the stance thing is true, and we can use the long ranged shouts and the (soon to be) baseline targeted consecrations to provide support and control around the field.
EDIT: Adding to that, the crowd pleaser aspect comes with the fact that we would pretty much be Paragons.

Guardians already have support coming out the butt.

I really hope the new spec will be decently offensive with some good CC.

Otherwise they are just giving the guardian more of what it already has.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Guardians already have support coming out the butt.

I really hope the new spec will be decently offensive with some good CC.

Otherwise they are just giving the guardian more of what it already has.

Considering that the current guardian meta is a fairly selfish meditation build, I disagree. The specialization should be supportive, but offer a different kind of support than what shouts do (the longbow is a good start already).

Fashion Mage.3712:

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Guardians already have support coming out the butt.

I really hope the new spec will be decently offensive with some good CC.

Otherwise they are just giving the guardian more of what it already has.

Considering that the current guardian meta is a fairly selfish meditation build, I disagree. The specialization should be supportive, but offer a different kind of support than what shouts do (the longbow is a good start already).

Well given the amount of defensive support the guardian has & the fact that is becoming more & more outside the meta I would say that leaves offensive support.

That means things like might stacking, fury, CC, conditions etc…

Yeah if we get some sort of bow it makes sense for it to be based around support/burning/cleansing. Could be interesting. Hambow Guardian incoming? Haha.

i want more dps

Fashion Mage.3712:

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Guardians already have support coming out the butt.

I really hope the new spec will be decently offensive with some good CC.

Otherwise they are just giving the guardian more of what it already has.

Considering that the current guardian meta is a fairly selfish meditation build, I disagree. The specialization should be supportive, but offer a different kind of support than what shouts do (the longbow is a good start already).

The specialization should be nothing short of A M A Z I N G to make me ever think to move away from meditations. And by “amazing” I mean “offensively”. I would not play a tank build, even if provides 50k HP.

Fashion Mage.3712:

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Guardians already have support coming out the butt.

I really hope the new spec will be decently offensive with some good CC.

Otherwise they are just giving the guardian more of what it already has.

Considering that the current guardian meta is a fairly selfish meditation build, I disagree. The specialization should be supportive, but offer a different kind of support than what shouts do (the longbow is a good start already).

The current guardian meta is an offensive build because defensive guardian builds have been consistently nerfed for being “too strong”. I’d be all for something offensive with CC, because it’s way too easy to kite a medi guard.

Rumor I’ve heard is that necros are getting shouts. I bet the elite that gives 6 shouts is theirs.

Guardians are supposed to be the magical warriors too, I see them playing that side up. Just because Mesmers got wells doesn’t mean we can’t either, though admittedly it is less likely.
Maybe we’ll get an F4 that does something like an elementatlist attunement, just not elemental.
Interesting side note, when I searched magical bows a lot of them seem to cause fear in their enemies. Maybe we’ll work around conditions other than burning.

Guardians will be warrior monks therefore they are getting mantras :p

Vizardlorde.8243:

Guardians will be warrior monks therefore they are getting mantras :p

Cheers to you if this turns out to be true.

In my own vision of Guardian 2 things need to be added:
- party wide increased attack speed buff (similar to Phalanx)
- life on hit to sustain ourselves better in combat (thief please)
(not like medi’s don’t work, but I’m not a fan of they’re design)

Anyways, I hope our new elite will be “special”.

Saiyan.1704:

Chronomancer’s looked really well done. It makes me wonder exactly what a Guardian’s specialization would entail.

If our specialization offers something completely different than a simple bow that pewpews, then i’ll gladly sacrifice a Virtue traitline for it.

As for the 5 new skills we’re getting
Concecrations?
Symbols?
Traps? lol. …traps..?

Mesmers don’t topically use Wells nor Shields… so a Bow with Traps would “make sense” in terms of giving us something we don’t usually obtain while also specializing them with Guardian abilities. Traps could potentially provide us with CC that Guards utterly lack.

Oh and is anyone else annoyed that the Mesmer’s Shield can block? Why the satire humor Anet!?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/New-Speculation-on-Elite-Specs/first#post5028637

As I said in the above link,

I believe the Guardian new Elite Spec is a combo of Guard/Ele

and will have stance(wow mechanic kind/ aka Ele attunement) mechanics with virtues. they will change the way the weapon skills change. Or they will change the second half of the bar.

Adding special effects to the already current weapon skills.

In terms of playstyle, I also hope the guardian’s elite specialization is something like a guardian/ele. Not that I think F1-F3 virtues will be changing (how would that even work with base specialization traits?).

Buran.3796:

The specialization should be nothing short of A M A Z I N G to make me ever think to move away from meditations. And by “amazing” I mean “offensively”. I would not play a tank build, even if provides 50k HP.

It probably won’t be “amazing” in the sense that you’re implying, considering that the purpose of elite specializations aren’t to provide an upgrade or a strictly better “alternative” to an existing build. Additionally, considering that meditation guardians are the meta at the moment, I don’t think they should get an upgrade anyway.
If you’re simply referring to being able to specialize in offense alone, you can mostly already do so with the new zeal/radiance/valor lines. As a trade-off, one of those lines could be given up to get a longbow. So you’d essentially be giving away damage (zeal/radiance) or survivability (valor/meditations) in order to gain range and whatever else comes with the spec. Again, it’s not an upgrade, but specializations aren’t supposed to be an upgrade.

There’s also more reason to believe the spec will be be there to better specialize in support and/or control in this interview (third question): http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/feature/9624/Guild-Wars-2-Specializations-Define-Roles-in-Heart-of-Thorns.html

Black Box.9312:

The current guardian meta is an offensive build because defensive guardian builds have been consistently nerfed for being “too strong”. I’d be all for something offensive with CC, because it’s way too easy to kite a medi guard.

When was the last time bunker guardian builds got a nerf?
Meditation guardians are easy to kite?

There’s some good speculating going on hear. I really like the idea of paragon spec, but I agree with some people above that guards aren’t getting more shouts. I think the term “crowd pleaser” is our big hint… As in we’ll be getting more “crowd control”. It’s going to be traps.

We have supportive shouts…

Next thing is…

Mervil.7461:

There’s some good speculating going on hear. I really like the idea of paragon spec, but I agree with some people above that guards aren’t getting more shouts. I think the term “crowd pleaser” is our big hint… As in we’ll be getting more “crowd control”. It’s going to be traps.

“Crowd pleaser” probably either refers to it being supportive, or it refers to it being a specialization that a lot of people will like for other reasons (the return of monks or paragons). A “crowd controller” is kind of the opposite of a “crowd pleaser”.

Crowd pleaser could also mean Ritualist… a Guardian with 5 immobile spirit pals?

misterdevious.6482:

Crowd pleaser could also mean Ritualist… a Guardian with 5 immobile spirit pals?

That’s a possibility, although “Ritualist” would probably fit far better as the Revenant’s specialization. Ritualists are to Revenants what Monks are to Guardians.

Is there a reason our new “thing” in our specialization wouldn’t be auras?

rajule.8054:

Is there a reason our new “thing” in our specialization wouldn’t be auras?

Aura’s are more of an elemental & eartheral type of thing.

You know, fire frost lightning etc…

Judging by what mesmers got, it seems they are giving classes some new tools to deal with their current weaknesses, rather then giving them more of the same.

Take Mesmer: Aclarity and wells screams PVE all over to me. Phantasms staying after 1 shatter is also tied to increasing PVE DPS, some some PVP benefits ofc.

Lets look at Necro: Ofc we have no info but we know they are getting GS, which most likely will be a CLEAVING weapon, as everyone and their mother are saying a reason necros suck in PVE is the lack of cleave. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they got shouts, to again make em more desirable in PVE settings…which is where necros fall short.

Now lets take guards now:

- We are top 3 in PVE together with ele and warrior, and are most likely gonna be top 2 after the changes as eles are getting the nerf. So i HIGHLY doubt the elite spec is going to further boost our PVE DPS, otherwise its going to kitten all over the new zeal, radiance and honor traits.

- The guardian community has been complaining for years now about the lack of a decent range option especially in PVP, kitability, and lack of CC. So don’t be surprised if the Longbow is specifically designed to deal with these issues. From the videos, the projectiles looked fairly fast, so i doubt one would be able to strafe past them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got some kind of snare or pull in there too, to go in line with most ranged weapons.

-

I mean of course, nothing is set in stone but more likely than not, they will give us something to deal with our weaknesses, rather than further solidify our Presence as PVE kings (which we will be once the trait changes are rolled in). And don’t be surprised if people decide to opt out of the elite spec if they are trying to beat speed-clear records. I still think scepter > Longbow on stationary PVE targets, otherwise they will have to scrape scepter

Vizardlorde.8243:

Guardians will be warrior monks therefore they are getting mantras :p

I think Stances would fit a martial monk theme better. I’m not sure if ANet wants to fit the alpha-longbow stance-switching mechanic into our spec but perhaps Stances could offer different effects based on the last activated Virtue, similarly to Ele Glyphs. Chronomancer wells have shown that shared skill types can have functional differences between professions.

Give the guardian a few more tomes. Of all the guardian skills, the tomes seem closest to what a priest would get more of once his combat skills were up to par. Because a guardian isn’t a straight up fighter. He is supposedly a learned priest, so what do priests do when they have spare time? They read the bible and pray. Monks read their books and scrolls.

Since the elite skills are tomes, add in some non-elite scrolls or books, and maybe another elite tome. This will give the guardian some more variety in gameplay. Right now guardian is the simplest class to play, which simply doesn’t make sense for a supposedly learned man of religion.

Then the F5 mechanic would depend on which tome,book, or scroll he was reading. It would switch depending on the active tome. (I.e if no tome or scroll is active F5 would decrease cooldowns on the tomes. If Tome of wrath is active F5 could increase party damage, if Tome of Wisdom is active all healing done by party members could increase by 10% when pressing F5.) this would give some much needed variety to the guardian..

process execution.8014:

Vizardlorde.8243:

Guardians will be warrior monks therefore they are getting mantras :p

I think Stances would fit a martial monk theme better. I’m not sure if ANet wants to fit the alpha-longbow stance-switching mechanic into our spec but perhaps Stances could offer different effects based on the last activated Virtue, similarly to Ele Glyphs. Chronomancer wells have shown that shared skill types can have functional differences between professions.

yes this…

Wards would be nice. We only have 2 now. Maybe Ward guardian. GW1 wards like.

Mara.6782:

Wards would be nice. We only have 2 now. Maybe Ward guardian. GW1 wards like.

you mean a stability check? only necros with their elite on cooldown trip on wards

Could be interesting if the mantra skill type was adapted to emulate old paragon chants and echoes.

I would love mantra skills (aion chanter style)

Black Box.9312:

The current guardian meta is an offensive build because defensive guardian builds have been consistently nerfed for being “too strong”.

That’s not the reason why the traditional AH Bunker Guard was pushed out of the meta at all. Guardian rarely got neither buffs nor nerfs. Pure bunker roles as a whole were pushed out of the meta due to the lack of flexibility compared to bruisers like D/D Ele, Shoutbow and Cele Rifle Engi where everyone on the team can freely rotate to where they’re needed the most due to being able to both do damage and bunker points to some extent.

Aktium.9506:

Black Box.9312:

The current guardian meta is an offensive build because defensive guardian builds have been consistently nerfed for being “too strong”.

That’s not the reason why the traditional AH Bunker Guard was pushed out of the meta at all. Guardian rarely got neither buffs nor nerfs. Pure bunker roles as a whole were pushed out of the meta due to the lack of flexibility compared to bruisers like D/D Ele, Shoutbow and Cele Rifle Engi where everyone on the team can freely rotate to where they’re needed the most due to being able to both do damage and bunker points to some extent.

Although they did receive nerfs to things like Save Yourselves and Selfless Daring, perhaps it’d be more accurate to say that bunker guardian builds got indirectly nerfed. Point is that bunker guardians have never been able to deal adequate damage other than maybe before the PvP retal nerf, but when the game was first starting out they were the de facto defenders. Anet decided that they didn’t like that there was no competition for this role, so they buffed the defensive capabilities of other classes. All the while, they did very little to compensate on the part of the guardian, who still has to trait very heavily into defensive lines and sacrifice any sort of decent damage in order to compete in the first place.

THAT is why defensive guardians fell out of the meta. Medi guard is only really a thing because it counters other zerker builds. It can’t do much against a d/d ele or celestial engi.

My guess is single charge mantras with sustained effects, half way to being stances anyway, with a slightly shorter charge time than mesmer. Example effects being a semi-spammable apply 1 s burning on every hit for 3s.

Something to note:

If the Elite Spec uses a Stance system, it would be affecting more than just Longbow. SInce Elite Specs can use other weapons as well. this mean the stance system would need to affect them as well.

I’m hoping the elite specialization provides more guardian mobility and speed options.