Guild Wars 2

With the amount of love sword and scepter recieved last patch, guardian has to be one of the top professions in terms of weapon set viability.

At the same time, it feels like the greatsword struggles to fill a niche. Tries to be DPS, mobility and cc at the same time, and fails to deliver any of those in adequate amount.

My suggestion is to make it a chasing weapon, mostly geared towards wvw roaming. I propose that Symbol of Wrath becomes a 1200 range skill that applies cripple when first placed (like how sword applies blind and lb burns)

And maybe reduce Leap of Faith CD to 12sec.

Greatsword is fine as it is except the AA which feels really weak compared to other weapons and classes.

To your suggestion: no thx.

So, in which situations would you use the GS over another weapon set?

Greatsword #2 should definitely receive an update. It should be faster or not reduce movement speed. Like, what? Also, #2 & #5 should not end if your target stealths… #2 is a freaking AoE ability. It’s not like Revenant sword #2!

GS still has the same niche it’s always had, burst damage. Run your burst rotation then swap out.

Mace: Healing/support/defensive
Sword: Gap closing + Fury
Scepter: Mid range/large hitbox/Might
Hammer: Protection/CC
GS: Burst/AE Pull/Mobility
Bow: Longer Range
Shield: Team support
Focus: Personal Defense
Torch: DPS

Really no profession has better balance, GS might not see much use right now because there’s really not that many situations where kitten burst of damage is really a thing, PVP/WvW Roaming people will bring enough to survive that burst or avoid it, PVE has all become longer fights for any content that is really worth discussing. If you go back and do Dungeons opening with a GS burst and then into say Sword or Scepter would work great though, but dungeons are… just wow how much power creep has trivialized them.

I really can’t see it changing and not just being in competition with another weapon for the same slot, meaning one will be ‘useless’ (lesser option) and one better, which ruins this nice balance going on.

RabbitUp.8294:

So, in which situations would you use the GS over another weapon set?

The situation where someone wants to use it; it’s not about “where is this weapon supposed to be the best”, it’s about “I like GS, so I’m using it”

mrauls.6519:

Also, #2 & #5 should not end if your target stealths… #2 is a freaking AoE ability.

Those “features” of GS#2 are absolutely amazing. You don’t even need your target to stealth, simply losing the target also ends the cast -.-

gs is still good in dungeons where fights are so short that one burst is all you need. its also good for the pull in some situations in fractals and raids (altho mesmer is still a lot better at that).

Jerus.4350:

GS still has the same niche it’s always had, burst damage. Run your burst rotation then swap out.

Mace: Healing/support/defensive
Sword: Gap closing + Fury
Scepter: Mid range/large hitbox/Might
Hammer: Protection/CC
GS: Burst/AE Pull/Mobility
Bow: Longer Range
Shield: Team support
Focus: Personal Defense
Torch: DPS

Staff → Lootstick, swiftness, healer

gin.7158:

Jerus.4350:

GS still has the same niche it’s always had, burst damage. Run your burst rotation then swap out.

Mace: Healing/support/defensive
Sword: Gap closing + Fury
Scepter: Mid range/large hitbox/Might
Hammer: Protection/CC
GS: Burst/AE Pull/Mobility
Bow: Longer Range
Shield: Team support
Focus: Personal Defense
Torch: DPS

Staff -> Lootstick, swiftness, healer

Yes, sorry forgot that one, but again it still has it’s niche.

It’s a ‘1st world problem’ type thing, but guardians have to get every weapon if they want to be fully set up

Jerus.4350:

GS still has the same niche it’s always had, burst damage. Run your burst rotation then swap out.

Mace: Healing/support/defensive
Sword: Gap closing + Fury
Scepter: Mid range/large hitbox/Might
Hammer: Protection/CC
GS: Burst/AE Pull/Mobility
Bow: Longer Range
Shield: Team support
Focus: Personal Defense
Torch: DPS

Really no profession has better balance, GS might not see much use right now because there’s really not that many situations where kitten burst of damage is really a thing, PVP/WvW Roaming people will bring enough to survive that burst or avoid it, PVE has all become longer fights for any content that is really worth discussing. If you go back and do Dungeons opening with a GS burst and then into say Sword or Scepter would work great though, but dungeons are… just wow how much power creep has trivialized them.

I really can’t see it changing and not just being in competition with another weapon for the same slot, meaning one will be ‘useless’ (lesser option) and one better, which ruins this nice balance going on.

Here’s the thing, sword has burst and mobility, too, and can be complemented with an off-hand.

As I said in the op, it can be the primary mobility weapon, like it is for warrior and ranger, and a roaming weapon for chasing. No other weapon fulfils those roles.

In its current state, it’s pretending to be a swiss army knife, it has some burst, mobility, hard and soft cc, and its trait gives it some minor healing. It tries to do too much, and ends up doing none of those.

The only thing it has going for it is the pull for grouping up mobs, and even that competes with the elite trap.

Considering they won’t give guardians a passive 25% runspeed that everyone else gets, do you really think they’ll give them a pair of Nike’s in the form of GS changes?

It’s still the best option for mobility when not specifically chasing a target, it’s just not comparable to other professions because we’re hamstrung in that department. And, it’s burst is higher than that of the sword.