Guild Wars 2

So, i have a guardian, and its really fun, i am a hardcore gamer, i had experience with other mmo, but not any as gw2, this mmo is just beautiful, but the Scepter of the guardian, makes me CRY. it has so much potential, wasted, the orbs, the enemy just walks to avoid them because they are too slow, the aoe is to little, making it UNUSABLE IN ANY TYPE OF WVW. and what i see it is that it is SO EASY to fix this, maybe complicated in terms of programing, but the updates for making the scepter a good ranged weapon are minimal yet CRUCIAL, i can find two so far

1. FASTER ORBS
2.MORE AREA OF EFECT FOR THE NUMBER 2 SKILL

done, that is what the scepter needs to be a viable ranged weapon, but anyways, what do you think?

I think I’d rather have a pistol than a magical tennis racket that’s shooting glowing balls in slow motion.

I’ve already posted somewhere what I think.

1. Faster projectile speed with slower casting speed. Make this a projectile finisher.
2. Turn it into a Symbol.
3. Stays the same.

@shedim: I don’t think this will happen, nor do I think there’s that much support for it in the community.

Instead of orbs we could fire pulses from the Scepter, these could be much higher speed and therefore always hit a moving target at a range between point blank and 1200.

Or just make us conjure blue fire on our target like an Elementalist with a Scepter and Fire.

Change the damage or rate of fire to compensate.

Right now all a player needs to do is to run in circles to avoid Scepter orbs >.<

Anything to make Skill #1 actually hit players, right now it’s PvEtastic.

Ynna.8769:

I’ve already posted somewhere what I think.

1. Faster projectile speed with slower casting speed. Make this a projectile finisher.
2. Turn it into a Symbol.
3. Stays the same.

@shedim: I don’t think this will happen, nor do I think there’s that much support for it in the community.

I know. Doesn’t keep me from suggesting it, though ;-)

I think everyone wants the longbow which might be a Full burning weapon or a long range support wep.

While I do like the Scepter in PvE (havent done have PvP or WvW yet) I do get a tough frustrated at the slow movement of the auto-attack projectiles.

I would however hate to see the actual attack speed of the auto-attack nerfed. Between the #1 auto-attack, and the #2 fast hitting AoE (albeit small AoE) you can stack some really nice burning damage quite quickly.

I just rolled a guardian a few days ago (currently L42), my main is a necromancer.

I always thought our staff’s auto-attack had the single least useful AA in the game, that was until I used the guardians scepter. It’s absolutely terrible, its range should be reduced to a 600 range just so newcomers to the class don’t mistake it for a ranged weapon. The symbol is pretty neat, and the immobilize that doesn’t require you to face your target is boss — but that’s it.

It needs to have it’s projectile speed increased 50%-75% or the staff needs to have a proper ranged auto-attack and the devs can return the guardian scepter to it’s original 900 range.

The whole animation of the scepter where your character moves as if he is playing tennis, is just going to turn people away from this weapon, no matter what changes are made to it. The whole idea of a knight swinging balls of light out of a wand just makes no sense.

I think there should be an audio signal each time you kill an enemy with the Scepter.

First kill: “15 Love”
Second kill: “30 Love”
Third kill: 40 Love"
Forth kill: SCOOOOORE! <sound of croud cheering>

It will reset each time you are downed, and after you get your 4th kill you get a buff that changes the graphical image of the balls of light into tennis balls.

I have told my guildies many times that I wish the orb on #1 was faster and that #2 was a symbol. Other than that, it’s a good weapon.

Honestly, I really only want #2 to be a symbol so I can get the symbol traits (larger, longer, etc) to work with it :P

replace with bow we already have the graphics and animations for it see our bow we summon.

kousei.5914:

I have told my guildies many times that I wish the orb on #1 was faster and that #2 was a symbol. Other than that, it’s a good weapon.
Honestly, I really only want #2 to be a symbol so I can get the symbol traits (larger, longer, etc) to work with it :P

Stop stealing my ideas
I really don’t get why people are hating so much on the Scepter as a Guardian weapon. The Guardian is somewhat of a middle ground between mage and fighter, so it stands to reason that it uses weapons of both archetypes.

I’ll be honest. I play a Male Human Guardian and I find the way he swings the weapon on the auto attack totally rad. But the projectile is just ugh. We all agree that it is far too slow, so I don’t even use it in PvP, but I like it for PvE but even there the way the orbs fly just looks so not menacing at all. They wobble around at walking speed for Christ’s sake. Smite isn’t even that bad, but if they turned it into a Symbol it would be completely inconsistent with the others. They all tick for the same damage every second 5 times. Smite ticks for lower damage 15 times, and not everyone in the are is hit every tick, it’s kind of random. But I do wikitten would have some more consistency or apply some kind of condition, because right now it’s just very boring. It’s got to be one of the blandest (non-autoattack) skills in Guild Wars 2. It literally does nothing beside deal damage in an AoE, at least things like Lava Font are combo fields.

kousei.5914:

I have told my guildies many times that I wish the orb on #1 was faster and that #2 was a symbol. Other than that, it’s a good weapon.

Honestly, I really only want #2 to be a symbol so I can get the symbol traits (larger, longer, etc) to work with it :P

Making it a symbol would lose it’s animation, I think. Or else all symbols need animations! Also, if scepter gets a symbol, it’s only fair that sword gets one, too…right..? ;x

Other than being extremely boring, I think the scepter is fine. It was only intended to be a mid-range weapon, but because we had nothing at 1200 range for WvW, it was extended to 1200 during the beta. Basically, if you’re hitting something mobile, use it as a mid-range (600-900) weapon. If you’re hitting something that’s not moving around, you can do long range.

Outside of hitting mobile targets at long range, you have smite, for AoE damage on a short cooldown, and you can immobilize to alleviate the movement issue.

Sairenkao.6485:

kousei.5914:

I have told my guildies many times that I wish the orb on #1 was faster and that #2 was a symbol. Other than that, it’s a good weapon.

Honestly, I really only want #2 to be a symbol so I can get the symbol traits (larger, longer, etc) to work with it :P

Making it a symbol would lose it’s animation, I think. Or else all symbols need animations! Also, if scepter gets a symbol, it’s only fair that sword gets one, too…right..? ;x

I rather dislike the animation and the annoying noise it makes anyways, so I’m all for it becoming a symbol.

I never use the scepter anymore. If I need any sort of range I’ll use the staff. The scepter won’t hit anything at 1200, and the staff hits everything (figuratively, limited at 5) at 600. The staff’s 2 & 3 are just fine for immobile targets, i.e. cannons and oil. In those 600+ range battles of attrition, one Wall of Reflection will put out more damage than the scepter, and then I can use staff to heal and buff teammates who have the hard hitting ranged weapons/skills.

I would rather dual weild shields than use a scepter xD

Id just like the slow blue orbs to be a beam of light everything else is fine, i guess #2 could be a symbol for the trait bonuses.

As for the auto attack animation i think its funny looks like a tennis player on crack, yes this is a bad thing which is why id rather have a beam of light, better to point at my enemy then swing my specter like a crack head.

Sairenkao.6485:

Also, if scepter gets a symbol, it’s only fair that sword gets one, too…right..? ;x

If sword gets a symbol I might even start using it again! :O
…once they make Zealot’s Defense hit foes in a line and/or be projectile finishers..
What’s that? Derailing?
SCEPTER SCEPTER SCEPTER!! Tell us what you think about scepter!

Sorry to double post, for some reason, people hate that.
Anyway, I just looked up all the other professions that use scepter and looked through their skills, all the non-Guardian professions that use scepter’s skills all really played towards a strength of that profession. Eg:- Mesmers go clone crazy with a healthy dose of confusion, Elementalists basically have a set of skills that really reflect each attunement as well as having various combo fields and finishers and Necros have some really good condition based skills.
Guardians? Are we supposed to specialise in swarms of small packets of damage with easy to dodge projectiles that aren’t even finishers? The only good skill we have on scepter is Chains of Light and I wouldn’t say it necessarily plays towards a strength of our profession, unless you count only being really viable in melee range a strength, which, ironically, is not what the scepter is about anyway!
I can go on for far too long about swords and scepters….

No offence Silver, but small packets of damage are EXACTLY what plays into our profession’s strength. Virtue of Justice, as you propably know, procs on every fifth (fourth with trait) hit, and skills like Smite hit multiple times. If you use Chains of Light on an enemy and then Smite him, Smite alone can proc VoJ 2 times because it hits so often. I agree the auto-attack is horrible, but the Sword and Scepter are perfect for Virtue of Justice.

Scepter does have some issues with the auto attack and Smite being kind of random, but Sword is almost perfect. I have only one issue with the Sword, Blinding Blade should at least deal noticeable damage, about as much as an auto attack, 65 damage is just laughable. But the other skills just synergize with the Guardian perfectly.
The auto attack is one hit, one hit and then three hits. So a whole auto-attack chain is 5 hits. Which, not coincidentally, is exactly how many hits you need to proc VoJ, and Zealot’s defense hits a couple of times too, so that’s even more procs.

I think if they want to fix the Scepter’s projectile and really play into a ranged condition weapon for the Guardian they should change the auto-attack to a channeled auto-attack beam, like the Ele’s Air Scepter or Mesmer’s Greatsword auto-attack. That would make the projectile instant and it would give us some nice multi-hits like the Sword does.

I would argue that applying boons and various other passive-ish team support skills whilst dealing a decent amount of damage is more in line with what a Guardian’s strength is, rather than just limiting it to one virtue, which, in a team situation is always on cooldown anyway.
Sword and scepter both offer zero boons, zero symbols/fields and zero combo finishers. If you’re using ANY weapon appropriately (especially in a PVE situation), you’ll be proccing the Justice passive as much, if not more than sword anyway, so while the hits from sword 1 add up to five, the hits from a good mace/greatsword/hammer/staff chain of skills burns like crazy anyway. You can get Wave of Wrath to proc Justice EVERY hit if you’re hitting five foes. So I would say that every weapon already plays towards Justice, yet sword and scepter don’t seem to offer a whole lot else, other than ok damage.
I really want to use these two weapons, in fact, before release I had it set in my mind that I would mainly use sword+shield/scepter+shield but I just can’t bring myself to use them over weapons that offer so much more.

It barely even occured to me I could use this weapon to hit stuff. I only use it to stop people from running the hell away from me. The immobilize is at least very good… >_<

Scepter is ridiculously OP in sPvP, but I can see how it might be a little lack luster in WvWvW. Generally people in sPvP want to stay around points, meaning you can cut their angles giving the distance for orb spam not too many problems. I hit with most of my orb of wraths as long as you aren’t trying to be like all the other legolas wannabes and re-simulate a lord of the ring’s castle siege.

I like the suggestions in the original part, and I think smite being a light field with an on demand combo finisher projectile would be insanely nice, maybe even bordering on overpowered. Condition builds would be so weak against it as you can lay down smite and spam your orb and get cleanses for every single orb you shoot out.

3 needs a cast time. The instant immobilize is really broken at this point I think. Maybe a range decrease if not making it a cast time.

How about the ability to use a spear above water… THEN you can call us a Paraguardian. wink wink

I would change up the Scepter to have a chain like Mesmers and Necromancers.

1: Orb of Wrath (Same animation but projectile travels faster)
→ Orb of Light (Backhand swing animation shoots fast moving projectile name stolen from Staff #2)
—> Smite (Raises scepter into the air and a bolt of lightning strikes enemy dealing damage and inflicting Weakness)

2: Retribution (Same skill just renamed since I stole the name for Scepter #1)

3: Chains of Light

I would also make changes to the Staff.

1: Burning Wrath (Same exact animation as Elementalist’s Flamestrike but using Guardians blue flames)

2: Wave of Wrath (Same animation as when it was Staff #1 but now with a cooldown and heals allies)

3: Symbol of Swiftness

4: Empower (Lower channel time from 4 seconds to 3 seconds and increase Might stacks from 3 per pulse to 4 per pulse)

5: Line of Warding (Not just a Staff change but a Ward change. I think if enemies have Stability they should still take some damage from passing through the ward)

This would at least give Guardians two decent ranged auto attacks. Projectile via Scepter and targetted damage via Staff. Another option would be to make Scepter #1 into a channel effect like the Elementalist’s Arc Lightning. Change the effect into a beam of light like the Guardian’s downed skill Wrath.

Judges.4527:

Seriously tho, shut the hell up. Guardians, as a class, are SO overpowered. Yeah they might have a weapon or two that’s not as hot, BUT ITS STILL playable.

I was beaten by a scepter guardian in sPVP tonight who still had full health when I beat him. I don’t suck, but necros do, and Guardians are OP.

I don’t mean to be rude, but Necromancers are on of the classes that can most easily defeat a Guardian.
Guardians aren’t so overpowered. They’re maybe a bit too strong at point defense, but that’s about it.
The Scepter is easy to avoid, even in sPvP, just by keeping a distance and changing direction often. And the Scepter issues aren’t that noticeable in sPvP, more in WvWvW.

Judges.4527:

Seriously tho, shut the hell up. Guardians, as a class, are SO overpowered. Yeah they might have a weapon or two that’s not as hot, BUT ITS STILL playable.

I was beaten by a scepter guardian in sPVP tonight who still had full health when I beat him. I don’t suck, but necros do, and Guardians are OP.

If you can’t kite the slowest profession in the game it’s probably your fault. But think what you want.

(I referring to PvP)
The Sword is the best weapon of the Guardian. Autoattack that deals insane damage, gapcloser, and the 3 skill brings the highest burst you can get.

Scepter need higher projectile speed on the autoattack and lower attackrate.
The second skill needs higher damage and lower aoe. So you need to place it right to get the “high” damage.
The third skill is fine I think.

I really wouldn’t mind the scepter’s orb speed if it bounced of targets and hit a maximum of 3 enemies… the scepter is still a mid-ranged/close-range weapon seeing the orbs can only hit faster if you’re closer to your target.

The scepter is also completely useless when trying to hit people on top of walls in WvW

I did WvW for the first time last night and I have to say the biggest issue with Scepter is that and their ranged attacks over all is that we have none. It is really boring to sit on a Keep wall and only provide heals and projectile protection.

You can’t use Staff auto attacks at all, Staff #2 is glitchy and usually flies in the opposite direction. #3 is really the only damage they can provide and it is tied with a less useful Boon when doing keep defense IMO. I would rather give Vigor, Protection or Regen.

Did u really expect to play Range when u pick this class ? seriously

it seems who play scepter are those ppl that cant play melee … what a shame

Punny.9210:

Did you really expect to play ranged when you picked this class? Seriously.

It seems who play Scepter are those people that can’t play Melee… What a shame.

Just as we cycle through the same topics each 10 days, we have this every once in a while.
To answer your question: I didn’t specifically expect to play ranged with a Guardian, but I did expect to be at least somewhat adequate in every aspect of the game, including ranged combat. If Arenanet didn’t want us to fight (well) at range they shouldn’t have given us ranged abilities. That would be sloppy design. They also wouldn’t have said during the beta that the Guardian’s ranged capabilities were lacking and increase the range on them.

And I won’t even dignify the last part of your post with a reply.

Punny.9210:

Did u really expect to play Range when u pick this class ? seriously

it seems who play scepter are those ppl that cant play melee … what a shame

I can’t believe people can be that ignorant…
Let’s take a look – did you really expect to play range when you pick warrior? Probably no, but you CAN be viable at range if you WISH. Your choice, warriors got this choice, guardians not so much. As far as I’m concerned i prefer to play melee Guardian, but why should we be forced to be melee, shouldn’t all classes be able to at least viable at all builds?