Guild Wars 2

Yes, hammer may be a control weapon, but so is the greatsword in some aspects. I feel this weapon is overshadowed outside WvW/sPvP.

I would suggest a couple of things:

- Trait support. I can only find one trait specifically for the hammer. The amount of traits supporting the greatsword is about 3.

- The single trait that supports the hammer is garbage. A 4 second chill okitten0% chance from a crit with a 45 sec ICD is just awful. Reduce the ICD to 7 seconds and make the hammer chill 100% on crit damage.

-Introduce a trait for hammer and mace that causes weakness on an opponent upon crit.

The final tweaks are to weapon abilities themselves. The third chain of the hammer needs to be much quicker and could use a damage buff. If not move that damage buff to Mighty Blow.

Zealot’s Embrace could afford to apply 5-10 stacks of vulnerability as well.

Banish would be so much better as a knockdown instead of knockback. If not, just make it a knockdown split for PvE. The last thing good for a group is a knockback. Everybody hates it because you break up the balled mobs a group just gathered to burst AoE down. It hurts your group more than it helps.

Circle of Warding could afford to apply damage to foes caught in it and heal allies in it. Or at the very least it could afford to be made a combo field.

But… but… banish!

Only reason I ever use a hammer anyway. It’s probably the funnest ability a guardian has.

Leave banish alone.

hammer is amazing… i.e. the issue is probably the user

i frigging love the hammer. just a few thoughts.

- wouldn’t mind more traits. but am more than fine with the way as it is. i feel the hammer is strong enough without traits.

agreed that the cooldown is pretty darn long. even 20 secs i could live with. however, i think 50% on a crit is more than fine. i have a build that utilizes this and though it not being the main focus (hard to be), it’s icing on the cake. if you get what i mean ; ))

hammer chain i love. you get used to the timing and actuall allows you to sneak a dodge in if you need for extra dmg (if traited), heal yourself, reposition yourself. also gives you ample time to switch targets and thus allowing you to place the symbol wherever the crap you want it. on a group of enemies? sure. on top of allies? sure.

banish is awesome. please don’t touch it. use ring of warding before you use banish. knock them aganist a wall or object instead of into the open. knocking enemies in PvP off high ledges? what. could. be. more. fun. than. that. aaaaaaand if in PvE if you’re using it, and realize it was a bad call, just hit Esc and cancel the move before it’s done casting.

Circle of Warding IS a combo field already. and yes, you guessed it. it’s another light field. RoW, Mighty blow combo for AoE retal. enemies are stuck. then have your way with ’em. the ONLy chagne i feel would be the need for it to be castable while on the move, like the recent change to LoW on the staff.

Hammer is fantastic. The only thing I agree with here is that the chill trait is utter garbage and needs to be changed drastically, though your suggestion is quite overpowered. 4s passive chill okittennternal cooldown? Really?

edit: this swear filter is completely baffling to me. I’m convinced it just changes random sentences into kittens for the fun of it.

Increase untraited size of the symbol (all symbols should have larger untraited diameter) and apply the symbol on the first hit of the chain and we are as close to perfect as we can be.

The playstyle is very different from the other weapons we have, this doesnt make the hammer bad.

Hammer makes use of Symbol traits much more than the greatsword. If you consider that, I don’t think the hammer needs much of anything.

Ring of Warding could use some changes, it’s rather unwieldy at the moment, but really that is it.

I agree that the hammer is fantastic, but it could use some slight changes especially in terms of PVE so that it encourages the use of more than just 2 skills. It would be nice if Zealot’s Embrace would either add a blind, a small stack of vulnerability, or a small duration swiftness boon

Brutaly.6257:

Increase untraited size of the symbol (all symbols should have larger untraited diameter) and apply the symbol on the first hit of the chain and we are as close to perfect as we can be.

The playstyle is very different from the other weapons we have, this doesnt make the hammer bad.

I respect alot of your stuff and u guardian pretty well but putting the symbol at the beginning of the chain would make it unbalanced. there is a reason they put the symbol at the end of the chain it makes it so it cant be spammed nearly as much. they cant give the guardian an ability that pretty much guarantees perma protection all by itself

Indure.5410:

I agree that the hammer is fantastic, but it could use some slight changes especially in terms of PVE so that it encourages the use of more than just 2 skills. It would be nice if Zealot’s Embrace would either add a blind, a small stack of vulnerability, or a small duration swiftness boon

you are right the hammer is fantastic but i guess im going to have to say this again its not the tool that is the issue its the user

Kryptonite.7580:

you are right the hammer is fantastic but i guess im going to have to say this again its not the tool that is the issue its the user

I’m not sure how it is a user problem and not a tool problem. In PVE, every single attack on the GS is universal enough to be use during every fight, and almost all of them increase your damage output. While the hammer on the other hand, reaches optimal damage output (combo fields aside) with just its auto attack. Its 3-5 abilities have very little use in general PVE content. Of course, they are situationally helpful, but for 90% of content, CC abilities aren’t really needed or mobs are immune to them.

Adding small secondary effects to the abilities would give reason to cast them in PVE.

Hammer is one of those complete weapons. It does what it does and is wonderful at it. It really has no worthless skills unlike many other weapons.

The ONLY thing that I think needs a fix on hammer is people dodging/falling out of RoW. Otherwise just leave it the kitten alone.

PvE… I couldn’t care less about. You can beat almost all of PvE without anyone even having any traits anyways. Try that in PvP though…

Other than the crappy Glacial whatever trait and the dodging RoW, I’m hoping that hammer never changes.

Indure.5410:

Kryptonite.7580:

you are right the hammer is fantastic but i guess im going to have to say this again its not the tool that is the issue its the user

I’m not sure how it is a user problem and not a tool problem. In PVE, every single attack on the GS is universal enough to be use during every fight, and almost all of them increase your damage output. While the hammer on the other hand, reaches optimal damage output (combo fields aside) with just its auto attack. Its 3-5 abilities have very little use in general PVE content. Of course, they are situationally helpful, but for 90% of content, CC abilities aren’t really needed or mobs are immune to them.

Adding small secondary effects to the abilities would give reason to cast them in PVE.

hmm so you probably havent ever heard of the concept of every weapon isnt like the rest they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Hmm something to think about.

i dont understand why people think that having a weapon have everything is honestly a good idea. there would be people winning in seconds. oh he is to overpowered… same typical gamer that doesnt actually think about the repercussions of what they ask for.

Kryptonite.7580:

Brutaly.6257:

Increase untraited size of the symbol (all symbols should have larger untraited diameter) and apply the symbol on the first hit of the chain and we are as close to perfect as we can be.

The playstyle is very different from the other weapons we have, this doesnt make the hammer bad.

I respect alot of your stuff and u guardian pretty well but putting the symbol at the beginning of the chain would make it unbalanced. there is a reason they put the symbol at the end of the chain it makes it so it cant be spammed nearly as much. they cant give the guardian an ability that pretty much guarantees perma protection all by itself

Yes if it was triggered by just swinging it would be seriously unbalanced but not if it only triggers on contact.

In pve this change would have minor impact since in pve you have 100% protection uptime from the chain and one trait. The real impact would be in pvp and ofc its a buff, it allows to protect ourself and the team much faster.

But the real impact is that symbolbuilds in wvw would be much more valid. Atm symboltraits are used in wvw mainly to get more AH proccs, not to increase the efficiency of the damage component and protection in symbol of protection.

The main issue, which i forgot to write down, is that 2h mastery doesnt increase dps, only availability, and i can understand that the pve centric players find this boring, i know i do, spamming two skills over and over.

i’ve been tinkering with a symbol build in WvW and it works pretty darn well in large numbers so far. running with hammer and mace. it would definitely be a lot more devastating if the symbol was placed with the first hit, if even on contact. :OO

perhaps that in itself could be a trait. so not something innate to the hammer, but with a choice of going for that instead.

Brutaly.6257:

Kryptonite.7580:

Brutaly.6257:

Increase untraited size of the symbol (all symbols should have larger untraited diameter) and apply the symbol on the first hit of the chain and we are as close to perfect as we can be.

The playstyle is very different from the other weapons we have, this doesnt make the hammer bad.

I respect alot of your stuff and u guardian pretty well but putting the symbol at the beginning of the chain would make it unbalanced. there is a reason they put the symbol at the end of the chain it makes it so it cant be spammed nearly as much. they cant give the guardian an ability that pretty much guarantees perma protection all by itself

Yes if it was triggered by just swinging it would be seriously unbalanced but not if it only triggers on contact.

In pve this change would have minor impact since in pve you have 100% protection uptime from the chain and one trait. The real impact would be in pvp and ofc its a buff, it allows to protect ourself and the team much faster.

But the real impact is that symbolbuilds in wvw would be much more valid. Atm symboltraits are used in wvw mainly to get more AH proccs, not to increase the efficiency of the damage component and protection in symbol of protection.

The main issue, which i forgot to write down, is that 2h mastery doesnt increase dps, only availability, and i can understand that the pve centric players find this boring, i know i do, spamming two skills over and over.

again it would help you stack protection for allies easier and that is exactly the point it allows one to stack protection way to easily. protection is one of the best boons out there and to allow it to be perma is a little ridiculous.

and either way to make symbols more viable to wvw you have to change pretty much everything about them. the only mediocre one is SoW but only if u have enough control to keep the player in them.

if they want to change symbols to somehow be a somewhat viable build in pvp then go for it but this is not the way

akamon.2769:

i’ve been tinkering with a symbol build in WvW and it works pretty darn well in large numbers so far. running with hammer and mace. it would definitely be a lot more devastating if the symbol was placed with the first hit, if even on contact. :OO

perhaps that in itself could be a trait. so not something innate to the hammer, but with a choice of going for that instead.

this is somewhat reasonable but imo still a little questionable

Kryptonite.7580:

Brutaly.6257:

Kryptonite.7580:

Brutaly.6257:

Increase untraited size of the symbol (all symbols should have larger untraited diameter) and apply the symbol on the first hit of the chain and we are as close to perfect as we can be.

The playstyle is very different from the other weapons we have, this doesnt make the hammer bad.

I respect alot of your stuff and u guardian pretty well but putting the symbol at the beginning of the chain would make it unbalanced. there is a reason they put the symbol at the end of the chain it makes it so it cant be spammed nearly as much. they cant give the guardian an ability that pretty much guarantees perma protection all by itself

Yes if it was triggered by just swinging it would be seriously unbalanced but not if it only triggers on contact.

In pve this change would have minor impact since in pve you have 100% protection uptime from the chain and one trait. The real impact would be in pvp and ofc its a buff, it allows to protect ourself and the team much faster.

But the real impact is that symbolbuilds in wvw would be much more valid. Atm symboltraits are used in wvw mainly to get more AH proccs, not to increase the efficiency of the damage component and protection in symbol of protection.

The main issue, which i forgot to write down, is that 2h mastery doesnt increase dps, only availability, and i can understand that the pve centric players find this boring, i know i do, spamming two skills over and over.

again it would help you stack protection for allies easier and that is exactly the point it allows one to stack protection way to easily. protection is one of the best boons out there and to allow it to be perma is a little ridiculous.

and either way to make symbols more viable to wvw you have to change pretty much everything about them. the only mediocre one is SoW but only if u have enough control to keep the player in them.

if they want to change symbols to somehow be a somewhat viable build in pvp then go for it but this is not the way

Yes it would but im certain Anet can handle the balance by adjusting other stuff. why not reduce the number of protection ticks to 2, or decrease the the dps from the chain or and internal cool down.

My point is that usability would increas and symbols would increase in value, if its OP it can be balanced by other means..

akamon.2769:

i’ve been tinkering with a symbol build in WvW and it works pretty darn well in large numbers so far. running with hammer and mace. it would definitely be a lot more devastating if the symbol was placed with the first hit, if even on contact. :OO

perhaps that in itself could be a trait. so not something innate to the hammer, but with a choice of going for that instead.

I literally tried to find one setup that actually has comparable impact to the other alternatives we have. In tpvp i got it to work in wvw its just to static.

I would appriciate if you pmed me and shared your experience.

the point is that the hammer is just fine please dont reduce the damage. the hammer is perfect as is and + u can get pretty much perma protection other ways if speced/ set up right.

Again the hammer is good just the way it is

Kryptonite.7580:

the point is that the hammer is just fine please dont reduce the damage. the hammer is perfect as is and + u can get pretty much perma protection other ways if speced/ set up right.

Again the hammer is good just the way it is

Those were examples of how to balance it. I agree the hammer is perfect and i cant see me play without it.

Sorry if i was unclear, i know we can get 100% uptime on protection already, in pve all you need is the hammer, by investing for it in wvw/tpvp. My point was that making the availability of the symbol, making gameplay more action oriented, isnt necessarily making it OP, just more fluent.

Symbols on the other hand (55 trait points) isnt perfect and i sincerely think they need to fix our symbols: This will adress stuff in the hammer ofc.

changing glacial heart to:

Ring of Warding can be cast while moving. Ring of Warding is now instant. Increased duration: 2 secs.

would be worth taking * grin *

I can’t possibly play my guardian (my main) without the hammer, I love this weapon! But yes, glacial heart is the a joke. And two handed mastery is pretty useful in some situations but i would like to use MB after every chain