Guild Wars 2

Crapgame.6519:

Mightymealworm.8409:

Same could be said to you and PvP, sir. PvE is a big part of this game, and many players like more than one aspect of what the game has to offer.

That is true. However, PvE is scripted and 9 out of 10 times it comes down to learning the encounter and knowing when to use your cool downs or dodge. More often than not you can run full DPS stat oriented gear and live.

This is not the case with either form of PvP in the game which are two of the other triads of play this game offers. Furthermore, PvE drives more trait and skill balance because they can become too over powered or lopsided in the other two formats of play.

I don’t think either side should dictate nor do I know what the population numbers reflect. Just be aware, which I’m sure you are, there are 3 types of game play of which 2 relate to PvP.

Indeed.
I have wondered, many times, why the devs don’t just split the skills by modes.
Like in GW1.
Would make balancing much easier.

(I have 1 of each profession-shelving my thief if the changes go through.)

There is some splitting already, with pve and spvp on both sides of the extreme and wvw in the middle. I use word extreme a bit liberally though, as the differences aren’t that drastic. I’m thinking of compiling a list of all game type mode differences between skills/runes/boons etc…

Brett.4305:

Crapgame.6519:

Mightymealworm.8409:

Same could be said to you and PvP, sir. PvE is a big part of this game, and many players like more than one aspect of what the game has to offer.

That is true. However, PvE is scripted and 9 out of 10 times it comes down to learning the encounter and knowing when to use your cool downs or dodge. More often than not you can run full DPS stat oriented gear and live.

This is not the case with either form of PvP in the game which are two of the other triads of play this game offers. Furthermore, PvE drives more trait and skill balance because they can become too over powered or lopsided in the other two formats of play.

I don’t think either side should dictate nor do I know what the population numbers reflect. Just be aware, which I’m sure you are, there are 3 types of game play of which 2 relate to PvP.

Indeed.
I have wondered, many times, why the devs don’t just split the skills by modes.
Like in GW1.
Would make balancing much easier.

(I have 1 of each profession-shelving my thief if the changes go through.)

They already have the system in place too (“Save Yourselves!” has a PvE/SPvP version). Why they don’t split more skills eludes me.

ZoroDaOtter.3859:

They already have the system in place too (“Save Yourselves!” has a PvE/SPvP version). Why they don’t split more skills eludes me.

My guess is each time they split a skill it adds another test case to deal with.

We already know that some aspects of the game receive a higher priority of testing than others – the more you fracture the skill sets the more bugs you’re probably going to see in certain game types and I think there’s a danger that balancing issues could become completely ignored in anything other than pvp if changing one has no impact on the rest of the game

On the other hand, we are in most cases just talking about simple cooldown and duration timer adjustments here – so perhaps in these cases a separation isn’t too much to ask, but having alternative effects on traits or changing the way certain skills target isn’t going to be viable imho

How bout instead of a 5% dmg boost, it allows us to use Sword 3 on the move?

anking.6245:

How bout instead of a 5% dmg boost, it allows us to use Sword 3 on the move?

Having to trait a weapon to fix it’s fundamental issues is the wrong way to approach it.

Mightymealworm.8409:

Having to trait a weapon to fix it’s fundamental issues is the wrong way to approach it.

I’d be content if they approached it all.

Necro’s have something similar, with the daggers trait that gives 25% movement speed for dual wielding. Something like that could be better suited.

One of the Zeal GM traits should be a damage increase like 4-5%more damage per inactive virtue (virtue in cooldown could work too) . Currently both Zeal GM traits are useless unless you run a gimmicky condition build that uses racials and on switch sigils where kindled zeal might see some use not because its great but because it helps while getting Zeal’s 30% condition duration. Spirit weapons are complete trash except for the shield in some situations and I haven’t tried them in Spvp but they need to go back to being invulnerable in PVE and WVW cause they die almost instantly with the slightest AOE so 50% more damage of an wasted cooldown is trash as well .

Guardian:
Tanky and supportive guardians are in a strong position in many gametypes. We do feel that damage guardians are not as powerful as they could be. While we don’t want guardians to be as strong offensively as some of the other classes (given their powerful defensive abilities) we opened up more offensive guardian builds.

• Zeal V – Shattered Aegis. Damage instead of Burning.
• Zeal VII – Zealous Blade. This trait now scales with Healing power (2%.)
• Zeal XII – Kindled Zeal. Increased conversion from 10% to 13%.
• Radiance V – Searing Flames. Reduced cooldown from 20s to 10s.
• Radiance X – Powerful blades. Increased damage from 5% to 10%.
• Valor V – Retributive Armor. Increased conversion rate from 5% to 7%.
• Honor VI – Pure of Heart. Increased scaling with Healing power from 25% to 40%.
• Virtues VIII – Supreme Justice. Number of attacks going from 4 to 3.
• Symbol of Swiftness: This skill now applies 4 seconds of swiftness per pulse, rather than 8 seconds if you have no swiftness and 1 second if you have swiftness.

Hey Jon,

I decided to re post my perspective of the changes so its in accordance to the guidelines for good feedback you posted.

Zeal V – Shattered Aegis: Its a positive change, better than what we have now. I don’t expect it to have big damage since it is a adept trait.

Zeal VII – Zealous Blade: On paper it sounds like a good change, however all this will do is force guardian to use healing power even more, thus the repeatable theme we see “trading survivability for damage”. This trait is in the zeal line, imo it would be better if the healing scaled with power. So it can help the player focus on damage. So instead of scaling with 2% healing power, it could be 1% power.

Zeal XII: No matter what the conversion rate is changed to, the trait still is useless. For any other class it would be a powerful trait, but for guardian its not due to having one condition: burning. It would be more beneficial if it was changed to convert power to vitality instead.

Radiance V: Excellent change, makes sense. This is one of the changes I’m looking forward to trying.

Radiance X: Not needed, but if you guys want to buff it go ahead. I feel more dynamic things could be done with the trait, similar to what was done with mace. For example +5% damage and also increases vitality by 100.

Valor V: I don’t think anyone will feel this change, its rather on the weak side.

Honor VI: A change I’m confused about, the trait has been buffed once before and still no one takes it. Just as pointed out by a fellow player the bad thing about this trait is that you never see the heal due to aegis being removed when you first enter the fight with full health. My suggestion is make it a delayed heal or change it from aegis removal to each time you block but give it a respectable ICD so its not abused.

Virtues VIII: Interesting change, but I don’t feel guardian will be affected by it. Guardian isn’t a condition damage class, so because of this the change ultimately seems rather weak.

Symbol of Swiftness: A buff a nerf rolled into one. This change will only further hamper guardian’s mobility.

My thoughts on what Guardians problems are

There seems to be a misunderstanding in regards to what guardians need to open up more builds. Its not damage, any damage buff won’t change a thing. Guardians have several problems: lack of mobility, lack of cc, lack of health.

The lack of health limits the amount of builds a guardian can have, with no escape mechanisms, no mobility, no cc, it makes running builds without vitality and other defensive skills risky.

The lack of cc makes being a melee class a nightmare, if you can’t stick to your target to do damage then you are a ineffective melee class. Like wise, guardian has poor ranged options. So there is no compromise for their weaknesses. Either they need the ability to stay on targets or keep targets near them. Or their ranged options need to be buffed.

The lack of mobility is related to what I wrote above.

My proposed changes:

Traits:

• Glacial Heart: Lower the ICD to 10 seconds, Reduce chill duration to 2 seconds. It now works with all weapons.

• Pure of Heart: Heal delayed by 3 seconds. Merged with courageous return in Valor

• Kindled Zeal: 10% of power is converted to vitality

• Zealous Blade: This trait now scales with 0.50% power.

Mace:

• Faithful Strike: Changed to be a cleave, casting time reduced to 1/2.

• Symbol of Faith: Cast time changed to 3/4

Sword:

• Zealot’s Defense: Can now be used while moving, fixed so the projectiles have a better chance to hit targets.

• Flashing Blade: Range increased to 900

Hammer:

• Ring of Warding: Can now be used while moving

• Zealot’s Embrace: Cooldown reduced to 10 seconds

Great Sword:

• Binding Blade: Leash ranged increased to 900

Kyle.3856:

JonPeters.5630:

The change to sword damage from 5% to 10%. I’ve seen a lot of talk that maybe it is not really needed. The fact was this was a lackluster trait and this is a lackluster change to it. I would love to do the right thing here and have a change that MH sword wants rather than just 5% more damage.

Thoughts?

Jon

Hi Jon,

…

Soft CC is probably the best solution to add to this trait.

Xar.6185:

Sword #2 needs to become a leap finisher.

I would also like to see sword #3 allow movement at the same rate as greatsword #2

Sword 2 could also have (however brief) immobilize available via traits which would make connecting sword 3 that much easier. Much like mesmers’ 3-3-2 sword combo that has immobilize by default with second “3”. I’d trade any sword buffs for that personally pvp-wise

@Aza a great post. Those changes would really help close the gap a little witn warrior.

Can’t edit my post anymore, so I wanted to add one more thing:

• Protector’s Strike: Now applies a 1 sec stun to 5 surrounding enemies upon successful block.

And thanks Relentliss!

Aza, you are my hero. Great ideas.

I only wish we were not the class that has 50% less than the class above us in GW dev team posters, and we are the class with the least dev posts. Maybe we are top tier in GW dev team readers.

One can only hope.

Not really opposed to the changes, as many of these have been discussed this is just more a summery. however I still don’t like relying on a RNG to get a soft cc. A chill or cripple needs to be added to the weapon like almost everyone else as access to on at least one weapon. We have hard cc, but soft is just as if not more important due to the limited duration on hard cc

JonPeters.5630:

The change to sword damage from 5% to 10%. I’ve seen a lot of talk that maybe it is not really needed. The fact was this was a lackluster trait and this is a lackluster change to it. I would love to do the right thing here and have a change that MH sword wants rather than just 5% more damage.

Thoughts?

Jon

While the trait change on sword is nice, it would be better to make sword 3 useful. Reflecting projectiles, cast on the move, improved tracking to ensure hits…there are a lot of good suggestions on this forum and the weapon itself is the main problem. Sword 2 could use some work as well.

As far as the change to the trait maybe add a burn effect to it or some other condition. Its one of the better weapons for applying burning through passive virtue of justice, traiting the sword damage and adding another condi would be a great place to bring up the condi game.

@Aza – great post!

Outstanding post Aza, I found myself nodding and saying to myself “ya ide take that” specifically towards glacial heart and kindled zeal. All your changes seem reasonable and itde be great to see them put in.

Basically it comes down to a few things that need to be fixed:

Some of the symbol traits need to be combined so that you can run something along with the symbols if you decide to go full into symbols. Also there needs to be some sort of dynamic play with symbols, such as causing chill on pulse or even changing hammer symbol of protection (light field) to symbol of protection (frost field). Sword 2 and 3, Scepter 1, 2, and 3, Hammer 2, 4, 5 (using hammer 2 down or up a hill will cause the AOE to detonate above or below the target and doesn’t hit it, Hammer 4 should be an 3 target aoe which would change it from a troll attack to a useful CC [maybe change the range from 750 to 500 if its aoe], hammer 5 has the same ‘clunkyness’ that warrior’s hammer 4 had and almost requires Judge’s Intervention), Off-hand 5 ability cooldowns on shield/focus are quite long, maybe shave off 5 seconds from them, torch 5 needs to cleanse on the Guardian as well as friendlies. Also

As far as utilities goes…spirit weapons need something done to them, they are nearly useless in wvw. Purging flames needs to remove condis on pulse, and last time I checked was still bugged. The cooldown on all the consecrations is absolutely insane for what they do and how easily they are countered. I could see having a high cooldown on sanctuary if it was the size of shield of absorption, but a tall norn can’t even fit inside. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if consecration traits were combined.

There are also traits that could be combined. Amins has some solid suggestions and so does Aza. I’ll put my 2 cents in once I get back from vacation, but for a very basic look at it…our traits need an overhaul. Combining some and moving some around would be great, much like what happened with warrior defense and discipline trait lines. If for some reason you wanted to go deep into symbol play you lose all the other traits from honor. And considering that theres still no way for Guards to soft CC targets and symbols have such low damage…this doesn’t make any sense.

Basically what is hampering Guards right now: Severe lack of soft CC, excessively low HP pool from beta nerfs (basically what warriors are right now with the insane self healing and damage, even beta Guardians weren’t anywhere near what Warriors are right now), poor weapon mechanics on specific weapons, signets/spirit weapons/consecrations/symbols need drastic improvements to make them useful.

All of my suggestions are based on experiences in wvw since its the most dynamic battlefield in the game. Also, unlike pve mobs, people move out of our ‘ground holding abilities’ and aren’t forced to stand in them to contest points.

Why aren’t guardian weapons also being addressed? I would personally like to see the mace 3 get a buff to only activate on people within it’s radius. It’s somewhat ridiculous when a long bow ranger on the other side a crevice can activate this skill.

Thanks everyone!

I had some other suggestions but for whatever reason the forum wouldn’t let me edit my post to add them.

Traits

• Symbolic Exposure: Landing a critical hit against burning targets apply 5 seconds of vulnerability to target and surrounding foes. 1 sec cooldown

• Symbolic Power: Targets inflicted by burning deal 5% less damage to you.

• Focused Mastery: Reduces recharge of focus skills by 20%, also reduces condition duration by 20%.

• Inner Fire: Changed to each time you burn a target you gain Fury for 3 seconds.

• Perfect Inscriptions: In addition of boosting signet passives, it now grants 30 vitality for each signet you have equipped.

• Vigorous Precision: Reduced Vigor duration to 2 seconds. Down from 5 seconds.

• Supreme Justice: In addition to causing Virtue of Justice to burn more frequently, you also gain 5 seconds of might every third attack while virtue of justice is active.

• Permeating Wrath: Changed to activate around your target instead of the caster.

Shield

• Shield of Judgement: In addition to providing protection, it now provides aegis for 5 allies in front of you.

• Shield of Absorption: Fixed a bug that causes the shield to sometimes not detonate. Reduced cooldown to 35 seconds.

Torch:

• Cleansing Flame: Reduced the casting time from 4 1/2 secs to 2 1/2 secs.

I dislike this so called update. Our trademark spirit weapon still as useless as ever since they strip off the invulnerable of it.

If you could give mesmer 8 secs 1200 range teleport withdraw battle without target, why cant you do similiar thing to out sword2?

Staff2 shining ball skill should be change completely if it still stupidly spend most of its time to land in underground.

Shield is laughable and kittened. Reduce the cool down, and its done.

Torch should be able to cleanse own condition. As the saying goes, you can never help others if you can’t help yourself.

Hammer3: Opponent only need to strafe left or right without dodging to completely render the slowpoke cobra chain useless. Try do this in flanking, the success rate to net down is awfully ridiculous.

Mace3: enable us to detonate it please.

Lastly: i wanna have shield as main hand.

maybe change how virtue work, instead the current, add F1 spirit sword summon, F2 spirit hammer, etc etc
then maybe our useless spirit weapon will be more use.
or divert it back to normal state, the unkillable part, spirit weapon die too quickly

I feel like I’m just yelling at the universe in hopes that it’ll change… Oh well. (Note: This is mostly for WvW, the forced end game.)

Guardians are in an okay spot right now however have a few problems. My biggest three are as follows:

1. Mobility. With the staff symbol of swiftness nerf guardians will have little to no mobility as compared to other classes.

In PvP this isn’t a big deal but in WvW, essentially the forced end game, it is a huge issue. The only mobility we have is using Judges Intervention and Flashing Blade. Sure we can run retreat but that hurts most builds compared to using the other 3 shouts. We need a combination of some soft CC and some more mobility. I’d say a trait in the 10 Zeal line for 25% movement speed would help a lot. Combine that with either cripple or perhaps chilled on sword at least and a rework of hammer so that it isn’t so clunky and i’d be a happy camper.

2. Forced into builds. Sure guards have a lot going for them but the problem is most guards are forced into running Pure of Voice with soldiers runes and shouts. It’s difficult to surmise everything in a short post but I would be glad to discuss. In short, Pure of Voice, Alturistic Healing and Absolute Resolution are necessary in most guard builds and create a pick two and you get 30 points to actually play with.

3. DPS will always trump defense. The way the game is designed trying to out heal or out tank a DPS build is nearly impossible. I’m glad Anet is trying to define the class as a “defensive support” role however at the current rate guard will fall behind. I’ll wait to see how this next patch turns out but my hope for this game is wearing thin.

anking.6245:

How bout instead of a 5% dmg boost, it allows us to use Sword 3 on the move?

There isn’t a single mobile projectile reflect, I think it’s a tech issue.

Imperatora.7654:

anking.6245:

How bout instead of a 5% dmg boost, it allows us to use Sword 3 on the move?

There isn’t a single mobile projectile reflect, I think it’s a tech issue.

warrior shield can reflect projectile and block anything

As do magnetic aura and dagger storm.

CnaeusDane.2938:

2. Forced into builds. Sure guards have a lot going for them but the problem is most guards are forced into running Pure of Voice with soldiers runes and shouts. It’s difficult to surmise everything in a short post but I would be glad to discuss. In short, Pure of Voice, Alturistic Healing and Absolute Resolution are necessary in most guard builds and create a pick two and you get 30 points to actually play with.

3. DPS will always trump defense. The way the game is designed trying to out heal or out tank a DPS build is nearly impossible. I’m glad Anet is trying to define the class as a “defensive support” role however at the current rate guard will fall behind. I’ll wait to see how this next patch turns out but my hope for this game is wearing thin.

Not sure about what you’re trying to say here.

The thing about AH / PoV / Absolute Resolution is completely true for a mid point bunker/support in sPvP, but there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s, in fact, an awesome build for that role.
It can also be similar for zerg support in WvW, and I still don’t see any problem with that; you have a role to fullfill, and you do it extremely well.

On a different scenario, like solo roaming in WvW or playing offensive in sPvP, you don’t use those traits. You simply can’t expect to win a 1v1 running them.
Shouts + PoV + Soldier Runes is clearly a support thing and support becomes more powerful the more allies around you, so it obviously can’t be competitive for killing things by yourself. Otherwise, it would be insanely OP.
AH heals you when you grant boons to yourself or allies, so now again it really shines on teamfights, and specially when you’re supportish and run a staff. It needs to be a poor choice for a 1 on 1 fights.
Finally you have absolute resolution, which is a completely different story. Even if it’s AoE and by definition weaker than similar selfish functionalities like Cleansing Ire, it’s still a handy on demand multiple condition removal, usable twice if you run renewed focus, and improves your passive regeneration. The traits you have to pick to get there aren’t also bad; 5 point minor is amazing and the retaliation improvements on 10 and 15 aren’t bad either.

I absolutely disagree with your last point.
With a bunker spec you can definitely hold almost forever against a single enemy in sPvP.
In WvW, the most DPS oriented builds are usually the ones I have an easier time beating, and that’s thanks to healing and defense.
When I’m defeated, it’s usually by attrition against a more resilient spec than mine, which needs to be fairly offensive in order to land some serious damage (in those few seconds I can stay in melee) and not being kited to death (which still happens sometimes). If I could stick better to my enemies and run higher amounts of defense, my win rate would be quite higher.

In this game, balanced/defensive specs usually win against burst ones (as long as you actually deal damage, don’t expect to kill people on a full healway build). The real issue is that we are SO melee oriented and our mobility/CC is SO crappy, that we are pretty much forced into high offense (like meditation burst) to be a threat, which makes us suffer against sustained enemies.

I really don’t think there is a need for that symbol of swiftness nerf. Mobility is the last thing that needs to be taken away from a guardian.

Vargamonth.2047:

In this game, balanced/defensive specs usually win against burst ones (as long as you actually deal damage, don’t expect to kill people on a full healway build). The real issue is that we are SO melee oriented and our mobility/CC is SO crappy, that we are pretty much forced into high offense (like meditation burst) to be a threat, which makes us suffer against sustained enemies.

This. Either give +movespeed% or access to mobility-limiting conditions to allow us to have better melee uptime. Adjust damage accordingly. Right now Trip Med requires you to land everything to be successful, and the Focus 5/Torch throw is so obvious to see coming.

@Vanessa/Dane: not sure the 25% idea has ever been considered, if Guards get it anywhere, the Mesmers will start to yell and we don’t want that. And if they put it 30 into Zeal I’m not sure it’s the best idea, you’ll end up mega-glass 30/5/30/5/0 with Trip Med and feel like a 30/30/0/0/10 Lava Tomb S/D Ele…
30 points into Zeal is so not justified.

I think the core of most issues is with some of the traits being in the wrong lines.

I made spreadsheet with current traits and colored each line so 5 different colors, I then started picking traits and coloring them to what I feel is the appropriate line they should actually be in, and then made another sheet with the traits all in there rightful place.

and then I thought, why not just have 10 more trait points for everyone?

JonPeters.5630:

The change to sword damage from 5% to 10%. I’ve seen a lot of talk that maybe it is not really needed. The fact was this was a lackluster trait and this is a lackluster change to it. I would love to do the right thing here and have a change that MH sword wants rather than just 5% more damage.

Thoughts?

Jon

How about a basic cooldown reduction for sword skills added to the trait?

PS:
Considering our problems with mobility, It’s odd to me that torment hasn’t been added to the conditions a guardian can apply. This might be an option to look at for new conditions.

Araris.7839:

JonPeters.5630:

The change to sword damage from 5% to 10%. I’ve seen a lot of talk that maybe it is not really needed. The fact was this was a lackluster trait and this is a lackluster change to it. I would love to do the right thing here and have a change that MH sword wants rather than just 5% more damage.

Thoughts?

Jon

How about a basic cooldown reduction for sword skills added to the trait?

PS:
Considering our problems with mobility, It’s odd to me that torment hasn’t been added to the conditions a guardian can apply. This might be an option to look at for new conditions.

as some have pointed out torment doesn’t really fit with Anet’s idea of a guardian being defenders, torment is more of an aggressive, predatory condition. I wouldn’t mind confusion being added to our conditions though, along with retaliation it would turn our enemies attacks against them and help us do damage through defense which I think might fit a bit better. EDITED FOR TYPOS

rajule.8054:

Araris.7839:

JonPeters.5630:

The change to sword damage from 5% to 10%. I’ve seen a lot of talk that maybe it is not really needed. The fact was this was a lackluster trait and this is a lackluster change to it. I would love to do the right thing here and have a change that MH sword wants rather than just 5% more damage.

Thoughts?

Jon

How about a basic cooldown reduction for sword skills added to the trait?

PS:
Considering our problems with mobility, It’s odd to me that torment hasn’t been added to the conditions a guardian can apply. This might be an option to look at for new conditions.

as some have pointed out torment doesn’t really fit with Anet’s idea of a guardian being defenders, torment is more of an aggressive, predatory condition. I wouldn’t mind confusion being added to our conditions though, along with retaliation it would turn our enemies attacks against them and help us do damage through defense which I think might fit a bit better. EDITED FOR TYPOS

We’re Zealous psycho’s that set ourselves and others on fire, but we draw the line at tormenting people for movement..hmm.

rajule.8054:

Araris.7839:

JonPeters.5630:

The change to sword damage from 5% to 10%. I’ve seen a lot of talk that maybe it is not really needed. The fact was this was a lackluster trait and this is a lackluster change to it. I would love to do the right thing here and have a change that MH sword wants rather than just 5% more damage.

Thoughts?

Jon

How about a basic cooldown reduction for sword skills added to the trait?

PS:
Considering our problems with mobility, It’s odd to me that torment hasn’t been added to the conditions a guardian can apply. This might be an option to look at for new conditions.

as some have pointed out torment doesn’t really fit with Anet’s idea of a guardian being defenders, torment is more of an aggressive, predatory condition. I wouldn’t mind confusion being added to our conditions though, along with retaliation it would turn our enemies attacks against them and help us do damage through defense which I think might fit a bit better. EDITED FOR TYPOS

Guardian Torment could be like the long arm of the law; the harder you run, the more justice hurts.

In all reality though, Guardians need another damaging condition to make condition damage ever become a useful stat. If Anet isn’t interested in offering more mobility to this class, Torment seems a good option to punish kiters.

just coming in here to say, good stuff everyone! hoping the devs get an accurate and telling picture of how the Guardians are doing and feeling in various parts of the game right now.

One of the first things we need as guards is the ability to soft cc. It’s a poor design choice to give the slowest ‘tankiest’ class zero soft cc options on weapons, traits, or utilities. This needs to be fixed quickly.

i can live with that. dying for some sort of soft CC. it can’t be said anymore.. we’re not meant to be mobile. we’re meant to get in a fight and stay there. and we’re definitely not meant to be able to get out of a fight. except most of the other classes we face up against are the opposite of that. so they CAN easily get out of the fight, reset, and come back. the soft CC will definitely help us “live up to our name and game” if this is the case.

Mightymealworm.8409:

anking.6245:

How bout instead of a 5% dmg boost, it allows us to use Sword 3 on the move?

Having to trait a weapon to fix it’s fundamental issues is the wrong way to approach it.

That’s exactly how these game designers have made GW2 work though.

Plus introducing terrible game design like being punished for using skills (Confusion), moving (Torment) or attacking enemies (Retaliation).

And remember, they said GW2 would never need diminishing returns on CC as there would never be too much in the game.

Except Necros can fearlock to death. Warrior can stunlock to death and several professions can chain immobilize that stacks >.<

I feel like our weapons need a lot more looked at then traits/skill.

Sword 2: Need to be a leap finisher
Sword 3: Need to be cast on the move. I’m still not 100% it even block anything.

Hammer 2 :need better animation to fix it from missing a lot when someone below you.

Hammer 3: needs to be faster.

Hammer:5 need to be cast on the move.

Sheild: I think need a total rework. I feel like skill 4 should add Knockback. It just feels right that way.

Shield 5. I don’t know yet lol but something different. I Just don’t see any guardians anymore using shield.

A random thought, since Hammer is pretty fun with its low cooldown Blast finisher, have you thought about changing Hallowed Ground into an Ice Field rather than a Fire Field? Picture a cold temple to the north instead. Using it with Hammer procs Frost Aura, which will also Chill enemies trying to kite the Guardian after failing their burst combo.

I’m also of the opinion that Glacial Heart should become the Hammer cooldown trait. You can then make Zealous Blade the Greatsword cooldown trait, and then change the original Two-Handed Mastery into something cool for Staff only.

From there you can have the underwater weapons tied to any of those three traits as you see fit.

brandon.6735:

I feel like our weapons need a lot more looked at then traits/skill.
(…)
Shield 5. I don’t know yet lol but something different. I Just don’t see any guardians anymore using shield.

Freaking useless even on ranged spikes, also KB is useless since every runs stability.

After reading all the posts it’s clear what the players want from the guardian profession and what the guardian needs to be on par to his “role”.

But what would one expect when going 30 deep into zeal?
Theoretically (i don’t have the numbers) but, like Aza and many others said we need a power to vitality trait for starters.
A zealot should be feared in melee range, and should be very powerful (not OP) in his symbols. Symbol of Wrath need a little bit of “buff” i mean it’s not funny when a thief dances in it after he stabbed you. A zealot should be a counter to the condition meta, punish condition appliers with burn (maybe a GM trait). And symbol of Wrath really needs cripple (it’s too easy for people to get out of it). Ofc a Zealot would need sustain be able to apply pressure and Hold the Ground.

And then there’s spirit weapons which i just can’t wrap my head around them, really needs an overhaul (except spirit shield which rocks).

Sword is good, like others said need some soft CC (still would take 10% dmg).

- Indeed i could not agrre more with most people. Our symbols are extremly weak, especialy damage wise considering how easy they are to escape. They are also not balanced at all, for instance both mace and hammer can have a 100% uptime on there symbols and they provide regeneration and protection.

- Then we talk about our two remaining symbos, the staff and GS. Sure staff is great for team mobility and in this game mobility is king. But GS is really lacking since a (untraited) GS will have a 5 second retal every 20 second assuming you stay inside it for the full duration. And i don’t even think retal is that good compared to hammer or even mace version of there symbols.

- Don’t understand this the wrong way, against a player that is so bad that they should be slapped straight retaliation is awesome. But against a player who has rapid attacks that is acctualy smart, they will etiher remove your boon or wait for it to end.

- Make more weapons with symbol, balance our current one we have. And merge some of the symbol traits, having three major and three minor traits that will add as a total of 3 stacks of vurnability, 10% damage, 2 seconds longer duration(1second for Hammer), 60 added radius and healing everyone inside them, and those are all split in two different trees.

- Please, when i started playing Guard i though it would be more about the symbols, so i implore you. Add more traits, merge more and balance the symbols to be exactly what they are supposed to be. A area denial for foes and a buffing zone for friends.

Someone probably already mentioned it but I was thinking more about why I dislike the idea of Sword dominating our DPS if it were to get another 5%. I’m put off by the idea that if i want to do something, there will only be one optimal way to do it. I WANT to be able to have a competitive DPS build using a variety of weapons, not just one … and not just the one that has the least interesting interactions with the other Guardian tools and skills.

Please consider how more damage to the highest DPS weapon would further differentiate whatever build variety is left in PVE. There are plenty of good ideas to address Radiance Master Traits without focusing on a particular weapon to do so.

Here are my thoughts on the guardian:

Symbols are great flavor-wise, but they have more traits built into trait lines than ele’s auras, but the static nature of symbols makes them a good deal less useful. They need to be instant-effect in order to be as useful as they should be. Needing to stand on them continuously makes them weak. If they are going to have so many traits, they also need to be as pervasive as auras are for eles – you should always have one in your skill set. Give sword and scepter symbols and the traits are a little less useless already.

I agree that there is a huge lack of mobility and that this is a lot more of a problem than damage. This has been pretty well articulated in this thread, and I wholeheartedly agree. Guardians need more cc, soft or hard or both, or it needs more mobility. Alternatively, it needs to have a greater wealth of ranged abilities. In a dynamic game, you cannot have a character who lacks both range and mobility. That does a good deal to lock players into point-defense bunkers.

On a personal note, I’d really like to see Elite Focus moved to adept tier. It’s really hard to justify this in a real build, but I adore the tomes. I take it, but I feel a little silly. The trait really doesn’t seem to fit that tier. Particularly considering I don’t think many people actually seriously use tomes.

Speaking of tomes actually, I think it would be nice if we still had access to our virtues while using them.

Just my thoughts. High hopes for the changes!

Antipode.7830:

Speaking of tomes actually, I think it would be nice if we still had access to our virtues while using them.

That would allow using Indomitable Courage (or even a well timed regular aegis or traited VoJ) for a Tome of Courage full heal cast. Not sure if we are crossing the OP line here (we lost the ability to benefit twice from Indomitable Courage and Absolute Resolution by slotting a tome, that’s quite a tradeoff, but a full heal, well, is serious stuff). Sounds interesting, that’s for sure.

In any case, I completely agree on moving Elite Focus to adept.

what about our tomes and spirit weapons

JonPeters.5630:

The change to sword damage from 5% to 10%. I’ve seen a lot of talk that maybe it is not really needed. The fact was this was a lackluster trait and this is a lackluster change to it. I would love to do the right thing here and have a change that MH sword wants rather than just 5% more damage.

Thoughts?

Jon

You should look at the traits that buff the Mace, Shield, and Great Sword, because they’re unique and different from each other. Let that be some inspiration for tweaking the MH sword, because yeah, _just_5% more damage is lackluster.

1. Cripples on auto-chain #3 (AoE cripple 1s-2s bad?)
2. Increase damage by 5%(10%) & raise ______ stat (Crit-damage for flavor)
3. 5%(10%) damage and bleed on-crit (lack of condition builds narrows us)

I like 3 a lot because I look at Zeal and Radiance and think to myself “Well, all I got is Burn”. If Bleed was added to our stock of conditions, I’d be more inclined to explore those trait lines. I hate feeling I wasted 30 points for 300 condition damage which does jack for us – the Pyroclasm build sticky points out that burn/condition duration > condition damage.

What I miss is some little improvement for the Hammer. Don’t get me wrong, the Hammer does a great job in PvE/Dungeons, WvW and also on few sPvP maps, but there are some tweaks I really miss.

Buff 1: The autoattack loop should be faster, the 3rd attack should only take 1 second to hit instead of 1 1/4, so same speed like Mace.

Buff 2: All of the Guardians offensive weapons (excluding staff here) have some trait to increase damage. What the Hammer has is only Glacial Heart, which in my opinion is quite useless with that recharge.
Why not changing Glacial Heart out completely for something like “5% damage increase and 10% boon duration” or “5% damage increase and 10% more critical damage”?
The Mace also got some love with the Mace of Justice trait.

or reduce glacial heart cd, most class out there can perma slow.

no actually, the other hammer user i know can perma stun.