Guild Wars 2

http://imgur.com/a/0MtxA

My idea for what a monk/tome elite spec would be like. I’ve posted a similar idea like it before, but I thought I’d give it a better try with That_Shaman’s tooltip builder and some extra work.

Maybe it could also force light armor usage or something, but I doubt ANet would go that far when making an elite spec~

Trait icons are by me. Rest of the imagery is from GW1 (I believe).

Forced light armor usage would be a great idea but base guardian already has good healing. I think thief should be monk as the initiative system seems appropriate for the class. You would have different punches, kicks, and a couple of offhand healing moves like chi wave that either damage and heal or just heal. Weapons would be no weapons equipped (bare hands) and would have the equivalent stats of an ascended mender’s weapon. I think something similar to monk would be great but with emphasis on CC and bust damage not healing and burst damage. The black belt I think would be totes great for guardian and would also have a rad no weapons equipped moveset like throws and a karate chop with daze.

Agemnon.4608:

Forced light armor usage would be a great idea but base guardian already has good healing. I think thief should be monk as the initiative system seems appropriate for the class. You would have different punches, kicks, and a couple of offhand healing moves like chi wave that either damage and heal or just heal. Weapons would be no weapons equipped (bare hands) and would have the equivalent stats of an ascended mender’s weapon. I think something similar to monk would be great but with emphasis on CC and bust damage not healing and burst damage. The black belt I think would be totes great for guardian and would also have a rad no weapons equipped moveset like throws and a karate chop with daze.

I can’t tell if you’re serious because some of the things I’ve seen on this forum but I sincerely hope not.

Agemnon.4608:

Forced light armor usage would be a great idea but base guardian already has good healing. I think thief should be monk as the initiative system seems appropriate for the class. You would have different punches, kicks, and a couple of offhand healing moves like chi wave that either damage and heal or just heal. Weapons would be no weapons equipped (bare hands) and would have the equivalent stats of an ascended mender’s weapon. I think something similar to monk would be great but with emphasis on CC and bust damage not healing and burst damage. The black belt I think would be totes great for guardian and would also have a rad no weapons equipped moveset like throws and a karate chop with daze.

Monks in Guild Wars =/= martial arts monks. Monks are essentially Guild Wars’ priest/white mage.

Yeah, gw2 monks focus less on the combat forms aspect and more on the religious/purity aspect. As for light armor: no. Making elite specs force ownership of an entirely new type of armor would be awful. And I’m on the fence about having to give up weapon swap for the tomes. You have to take the specific elite spec for it to work, unlike eles and engineers, and you only get 3 options. Engies can get up to 5 kits (yea, they won’t, but they could) regardless of spec and eles F1-F4 affect every skill on their bar. If revenant can get weapon swaps and their skill swap, when all of their weapons have a broad spread of utility, an elite spec like this could probably keep weapon swapping.

Instead of a monk elite specialization , Rangers already have the healing spec covered with Druid. Plus as others have mentioned we have decent healing already… I’d be in favor of seeing Paragon as an elite spec. It’d fit more in tune without having to swap an armour type. Sides we already have the monk outfit available in gem store.

Not really good reasons against a monk elite spec. A monk outfit existing is not an argument against a monk elite spec. You criticize a monk elite spec because another class has a healing-based spec (even though smiting/protection =/= healing), but then you propose a paragon elite spec for a class that already has six shouts. Don’t get me wrong, a paragon elite spec would be okay, but your reasoning is kind of terrible.

Druids are badly designed as well in my opinion.

@Agemnon: I think the daredevil is already intended to be the martial arts character. As people have said already, Monk in Guild Wars translated as something closer to the WoW Priest.

@King Cephalopod: I’m inclined to agree tomes shouldn’t require a weaponswap. Engineers have no weaponswap, but they can freely switch into kits whenever they like, foregoing even the cooldown on conventional weaponswapping. Meanwhile, elementalists get conjures, even though their compensation for no-weaponswapping is attunements. If tomes are closer to conjures in behaviour, then they probably wouldn’t require losing the weaponswap.

@Koranos: Guild Wars 2 was supposed to be a game where you could bring any mix of professions, including all of one profession in a pinch, and have a decent chance of success (although you probably wouldn’t want to all have the same builds). Making waiting for a healer a thing of the past was something they were specifically looking to do.

There are two ways to do this – make a dedicated healer not necessary (the approach up to HoT) or to make it so that every profession can act as a dedicated healer.

At the moment, druid outclasses other dedicated healers so much it isn’t funny, to the point of being required if you want that good healer. Chronomancer got nerfhammered hard due to the perception that they were required for raids – it’s possible that a similar fate is in store for druids (that they thought Ventari was any comparison whatsoever suggests that they grossly underestimated druid or overestimated Ventari). If not, then to get back to the manifesto aim, then other professions need to have access to dedicated healing builds that can compete with druid.

And since guardian is descended from both of the primary healing professions in GW1 (monk and ritualist) and at least one of the secondary healing/support professions (paragon) it doesn’t really make much lore sense now that they’re totally outclassed by druids even if they spec for pure healing now.

Sadly any healing spec will lose from druid because of the unique offensive buffs it gives. I personally would be in favor of finally having a spec that deals proper sustained condi dmg on par with engi or a unique party buffing ability like GW1’s paragon.

It rly does look fun tho.

cranos.5913:

Sadly any healing spec will lose from druid because of the unique offensive buffs it gives. I personally would be in favor of finally having a spec that deals proper sustained condi dmg on par with engi or a unique party buffing ability like GW1’s paragon.

It rly does look fun tho.

This ^.

And to really do that the spec would need to grant access to at least a second condition.

You also have to remember that tomes are extremely powerful and if freely Toggle’able or with CD’s that start once stowed they are essentially kits. Engineers give up access to secondary weapons and weapon swap in order to get kits, I doubt Anet would let guardians skirt by without similar sacrifices.

As for things that grant unique boons & have decently sustained condition damage, I have been messing around on an elite spec I idea called the Sun Spear.

The idea hit me when playing around in the Maguuma Jungle around the overgrown Balthazar temple. If there were places like this lost everywhere who’s to say that a living story or expansion couldn’t have a lost library, tomb or temple with knowledge long thought lost to the ages which when learned allowed the guardian to become the Sun Spear. (A 2 handed spear using paragon-ish elite spec that brings righteous judgement down on enemies to deal damage, burn & bleed them while buffing allies)

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

You also have to remember that tomes are extremely powerful and if freely Toggle’able or with CD’s that start once stowed they are essentially kits. Engineers give up access to secondary weapons and weapon swap in order to get kits, I doubt Anet would let guardians skirt by without similar sacrifices.

Remember that engineers can swap freely between kits with no cooldowns at all, and toolbelt skills mean that engineers effectively have double the utility skills of other professions.

As I commented previously, elementalists have weapon conjures, despite elementalists also having attunements. If tomes were given similar constraints to conjures – limited by recharge, unable to switch out without losing them until they recharge, possibly even having a limited number of charges – I don’t see why the comparison with engineers need apply. Any further constraints, like being unable to dodge or use utility skills while they’re in use, would go even further in making them specialist tools to break out in specific circumstances rather than something comparable to a classic weaponswap.