Guild Wars 2

Hey there,

As the title questions, how should sword be fixed?

My hope is that it’ll turn into a condi weapon
Bleed, burn and vuln for aa

*please turn sword wave into an actual wave so it can hit enemies rather than a projectile

Flashing blade:
-perhaps a weakness or slow?

Zealots defence:
-Movement is well needed for this skill, as staying still can be a quick death
-let the projectile absorb/destruction now become a reflect
- gain retaliation at the end of the channel?
-given either tracking or something similar to unrelenting assault in the way of making the damage actually hit and not having to side step in order to avoid it

What are your thoughts on sword?

Do you think it needs a buff?

How would you buff it?

Thank you for reading,

-Phyrak

Hey Phyrak. You have some good suggestions here but these changes have been suggested innumerable times before. Do consider necroing the sword feedback thread!

Anyways, in case a dev ever does read this thread and considers the changes, here is why we need the changes:

Sword auto: it’s an auto attack chain on a melee weapon. There should be absolutely no projectiles to it. Also adding an additional effect onto it would be nice. Literally every other sword auto-chain in the game right now has something special about it, such as causing a condi on the third hit, except guard’s.

Sword 2 (Flashing Blade): it is an underwhelming skill at the moment. Low damage, short duration blind, and a mediocre cd. Please consider buffing some value or parameter of this skill or even adding in new functionality.

Sword 3 (Zealot’s Defense): Does not at all keep up with the current game. For a skill that roots the guard, the damage is too low. Against another player, the projectiles travel too slowly and rarely connect due to the short range. This skill needs some serious love.

Lets not forget: during the beta weekend events, revenant sword auto attack had the exact same issue as ours (third hit was a projectile). Rev forum complained, and the issue was fixed in one week. Guardian sword should receive the same respect, it’s clearly not a difficult issue to fix.

If they want to keep swords auto as projectiles it should apply some sort of condition whether it be a damaging one or not something. Maybe something like a 1 second blind with sword autos target cap.

Sword 2 could use a small damage bump and I would personally love if it a gave small portion of swiftness 2-3 seconds.

Sword 3 let guardians use it while moving imo is the first step, then increase the projectile speed in theory it’s an amazing move in practice it’s pretty bad from a pvp perspective.

Arcaedus.7290:

Hey Phyrak. You have some good suggestions here but these changes have been suggested innumerable times before. Do consider necroing the sword feedback thread!

Anyways, in case a dev ever does read this thread and considers the changes, here is why we need the changes:

Sword auto: it’s an auto attack chain on a melee weapon. There should be absolutely no projectiles to it. Also adding an additional effect onto it would be nice. Literally every other sword auto-chain in the game right now has something special about it, such as causing a condi on the third hit, except guard’s.

Sword 2 (Flashing Blade): it is an underwhelming skill at the moment. Low damage, short duration blind, and a mediocre cd. Please consider buffing some value or parameter of this skill or even adding in new functionality.

Sword 3 (Zealot’s Defense): Does not at all keep up with the current game. For a skill that roots the guard, the damage is too low. Against another player, the projectiles travel too slowly and rarely connect due to the short range. This skill needs some serious love.

Lets not forget: during the beta weekend events, revenant sword auto attack had the exact same issue as ours (third hit was a projectile). Rev forum complained, and the issue was fixed in one week. Guardian sword should receive the same respect, it’s clearly not a difficult issue to fix.

Thanks for the positive feedback!

With some of the buffs you mentioned
Would it work well – specifically being a condi weapon?

Lalainnia.3598:

If they want to keep swords auto as projectiles it should apply some sort of condition whether it be a damaging one or not something. Maybe something like a 1 second blind with sword autos target cap.

Sword 2 could use a small damage bump and I would personally love if it a gave small portion of swiftness 2-3 seconds.

Sword 3 let guardians use it while moving imo is the first step, then increase the projectile speed in theory it’s an amazing move in practice it’s pretty bad from a pvp perspective.

All sound good to me!

I think I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve suggested sword changes in guardian threads. The devs simply seem to overlook it completely, despite years worth of suggestions and complaints about the sword’s performance in the community.

Compared to sword skills on other classes, it’s easy to see where the guardian sword is lacking. It’s damage is mediocre at best, and it offers very little utility to make up for it. If you were to compare it to Revenant sword skills for example, it loses on both fronts.

The problem therein is that no matter what I can think of to suggest for sword improvements, I simply feel far too pessimistic regarding any chance of such feedback being even heeded by the devs, much less acted upon, to even bother anymore.

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

I think I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve suggested sword changes in guardian threads. The devs simply seem to overlook it completely, despite years worth of suggestions and complaints about the sword’s performance in the community.

Compared to sword skills on other classes, it’s easy to see where the guardian sword is lacking. It’s damage is mediocre at best, and it offers very little utility to make up for it. If you were to compare it to Revenant sword skills for example, it loses on both fronts.

The problem therein is that no matter what I can think of to suggest for sword improvements, I simply feel far too pessimistic regarding any chance of such feedback being even heeded by the devs, much less acted upon, to even bother anymore.

One may hope to summon Gaile and get to her get some discussion with the class devs about moving community opinion of the variety of weapons per class that need to be buffed to par with the HoT power creep

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

I think I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve suggested sword changes in guardian threads. The devs simply seem to overlook it completely, despite years worth of suggestions and complaints about the sword’s performance in the community.

Compared to sword skills on other classes, it’s easy to see where the guardian sword is lacking. It’s damage is mediocre at best, and it offers very little utility to make up for it. If you were to compare it to Revenant sword skills for example, it loses on both fronts.

The problem therein is that no matter what I can think of to suggest for sword improvements, I simply feel far too pessimistic regarding any chance of such feedback being even heeded by the devs, much less acted upon, to even bother anymore.

Could not have said it better myself. I’m glad more people like Phyrak are joining the fixguardiansword movement here. It just goes to show that nearly everyone who makes these suggestions for guardian sword realizes it is an underwhelming weapon and needs either fixes or added functionality to bring it back in line with the weapon skills of other classes.

P.S. Phyrak, I think bleeds/cripple on sword auto chain (as cover condis) are a great idea, and if a symbol was added to sword 2 and sword 3 was mobile, then sword would be a much better burn applier!

Arcaedus.7290:

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

I think I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve suggested sword changes in guardian threads. The devs simply seem to overlook it completely, despite years worth of suggestions and complaints about the sword’s performance in the community.

Compared to sword skills on other classes, it’s easy to see where the guardian sword is lacking. It’s damage is mediocre at best, and it offers very little utility to make up for it. If you were to compare it to Revenant sword skills for example, it loses on both fronts.

The problem therein is that no matter what I can think of to suggest for sword improvements, I simply feel far too pessimistic regarding any chance of such feedback being even heeded by the devs, much less acted upon, to even bother anymore.

Could not have said it better myself. I’m glad more people like Phyrak are joining the fixguardiansword movement here. It just goes to show that nearly everyone who makes these suggestions for guardian sword realizes it is an underwhelming weapon and needs either fixes or added functionality to bring it back in line with the weapon skills of other classes.

P.S. Phyrak, I think bleeds/cripple on sword auto chain (as cover condis) are a great idea, and if a symbol was added to sword 2 and sword 3 was mobile, then sword would be a much better burn applier!

Cheers
It needs to be a harrier-esque style weapon to persue foes
Combined with a symbol on 2 would give more synergy with other trait lines – symbol of burning light (new 2) port to foe, blinding and burning within area x – pulses cripple/torment (whatever is balanced)

Phyrak.7260:

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

I think I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve suggested sword changes in guardian threads. The devs simply seem to overlook it completely, despite years worth of suggestions and complaints about the sword’s performance in the community.

Compared to sword skills on other classes, it’s easy to see where the guardian sword is lacking. It’s damage is mediocre at best, and it offers very little utility to make up for it. If you were to compare it to Revenant sword skills for example, it loses on both fronts.

The problem therein is that no matter what I can think of to suggest for sword improvements, I simply feel far too pessimistic regarding any chance of such feedback being even heeded by the devs, much less acted upon, to even bother anymore.

One may hope to summon Gaile and get to her get some discussion with the class devs about moving community opinion of the variety of weapons per class that need to be buffed to par with the HoT power creep

The sad part is while other classes are enjoying power creep, the guardian continues to be nerfed into an ever-increasingly dire state. We have mediocre performance from both a damage and support point of view, and our sword skills are really just the cherry on top of the salt laden cake, so to speak.

I feel sad as someone who has been a guardian main for this long.

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

Phyrak.7260:

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

I think I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve suggested sword changes in guardian threads. The devs simply seem to overlook it completely, despite years worth of suggestions and complaints about the sword’s performance in the community.

Compared to sword skills on other classes, it’s easy to see where the guardian sword is lacking. It’s damage is mediocre at best, and it offers very little utility to make up for it. If you were to compare it to Revenant sword skills for example, it loses on both fronts.

The problem therein is that no matter what I can think of to suggest for sword improvements, I simply feel far too pessimistic regarding any chance of such feedback being even heeded by the devs, much less acted upon, to even bother anymore.

One may hope to summon Gaile and get to her get some discussion with the class devs about moving community opinion of the variety of weapons per class that need to be buffed to par with the HoT power creep

The sad part is while other classes are enjoying power creep, the guardian continues to be nerfed into an ever-increasingly dire state. We have mediocre performance from both a damage and support point of view, and our sword skills are really just the cherry on top of the salt laden cake, so to speak.

I feel sad as someone who has been a guardian main for this long.

Its fine really…if you play this really really really specific build and min max it /s

Still needs a buff or a skill swap with focus
That and give spirit weapons a purpose – engi style kit imo
Give signets a perma effect and buff similar to ele

Sided with bug fixes and baselining bits and pieces and we’re hopefully on par with the power creep

Phyrak.7260:

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

Phyrak.7260:

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

I think I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve suggested sword changes in guardian threads. The devs simply seem to overlook it completely, despite years worth of suggestions and complaints about the sword’s performance in the community.

Compared to sword skills on other classes, it’s easy to see where the guardian sword is lacking. It’s damage is mediocre at best, and it offers very little utility to make up for it. If you were to compare it to Revenant sword skills for example, it loses on both fronts.

The problem therein is that no matter what I can think of to suggest for sword improvements, I simply feel far too pessimistic regarding any chance of such feedback being even heeded by the devs, much less acted upon, to even bother anymore.

One may hope to summon Gaile and get to her get some discussion with the class devs about moving community opinion of the variety of weapons per class that need to be buffed to par with the HoT power creep

The sad part is while other classes are enjoying power creep, the guardian continues to be nerfed into an ever-increasingly dire state. We have mediocre performance from both a damage and support point of view, and our sword skills are really just the cherry on top of the salt laden cake, so to speak.

I feel sad as someone who has been a guardian main for this long.

Its fine really…if you play this really really really specific build and min max it /s

Still needs a buff or a skill swap with focus
That and give spirit weapons a purpose – engi style kit imo
Give signets a perma effect and buff similar to ele

Sided with bug fixes and baselining bits and pieces and we’re hopefully on par with the power creep

I don’t think it’s really fine at all. I can’t think of any kind of build that a guardian can focus on that another class cannot do better. The only remotely unique support mechanic we have going for us is aegis, and even then it doesn’t really perform well enough to build around without sacrificing too much performance in other areas.

I wouldn’t say guardians are terrible to the point of being unusable, but they’re certainly not up to par.

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

Phyrak.7260:

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

Phyrak.7260:

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

I think I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve suggested sword changes in guardian threads. The devs simply seem to overlook it completely, despite years worth of suggestions and complaints about the sword’s performance in the community.

Compared to sword skills on other classes, it’s easy to see where the guardian sword is lacking. It’s damage is mediocre at best, and it offers very little utility to make up for it. If you were to compare it to Revenant sword skills for example, it loses on both fronts.

The problem therein is that no matter what I can think of to suggest for sword improvements, I simply feel far too pessimistic regarding any chance of such feedback being even heeded by the devs, much less acted upon, to even bother anymore.

One may hope to summon Gaile and get to her get some discussion with the class devs about moving community opinion of the variety of weapons per class that need to be buffed to par with the HoT power creep

The sad part is while other classes are enjoying power creep, the guardian continues to be nerfed into an ever-increasingly dire state. We have mediocre performance from both a damage and support point of view, and our sword skills are really just the cherry on top of the salt laden cake, so to speak.

I feel sad as someone who has been a guardian main for this long.

Its fine really…if you play this really really really specific build and min max it /s

Still needs a buff or a skill swap with focus
That and give spirit weapons a purpose – engi style kit imo
Give signets a perma effect and buff similar to ele

Sided with bug fixes and baselining bits and pieces and we’re hopefully on par with the power creep

I don’t think it’s really fine at all. I can’t think of any kind of build that a guardian can focus on that another class cannot do better. The only remotely unique support mechanic we have going for us is aegis, and even then it doesn’t really perform well enough to build around without sacrificing too much performance in other areas.

I wouldn’t say guardians are terrible to the point of being unusable, but they’re certainly not up to par.

They’re still very much in need of a buff though, or at least some parts are…

It still baffles me that they came up with the DH longbow and only included one unblockable ability while the amount of projectile reflects exponentially increased.

Add to the fact that Guardians have a crap ton of projectiles, even on their melee weapons, it adds to many frustrating matches and skirmishes.

I’ve pretty much given up on any type of remediation other than the wishful thinking that our next elite spec doesn’t have to deal with this nonsense.

phokus.8934:

It still baffles me that they came up with the DH longbow and only included one unblockable ability while the amount of projectile reflects exponentially increased.

Add to the fact that Guardians have a crap ton of projectiles, even on their melee weapons, it adds to many frustrating matches and skirmishes.

I’ve pretty much given up on any type of remediation other than the wishful thinking that our next elite spec doesn’t have to deal with this nonsense.

With regards to the longbow, I think the community had a heavy hand in ANets decision to add that as the weapon of choice for the DH elite spec. I remember a lot of discussions on these forums pre-expasion with people asking for the Guardian to be given the longbow, mostly because they weren’t happy with the scepter as a ranged option.

Still, longbow aside, I do agree that guardians have too many projectiles to deal with. Two out of three of our sword skills involve projectiles and 2 out of five our our greatsword skills also launch projectiles. Fighting any enemy in PvE or PvP with projectile reflects is very punishing for a guardian, even when they’re using their dps oriented melee weapons.

Sword is fine
Bye bye

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

phokus.8934:

It still baffles me that they came up with the DH longbow and only included one unblockable ability while the amount of projectile reflects exponentially increased.

Add to the fact that Guardians have a crap ton of projectiles, even on their melee weapons, it adds to many frustrating matches and skirmishes.

I’ve pretty much given up on any type of remediation other than the wishful thinking that our next elite spec doesn’t have to deal with this nonsense.

With regards to the longbow, I think the community had a heavy hand in ANets decision to add that as the weapon of choice for the DH elite spec. I remember a lot of discussions on these forums pre-expasion with people asking for the Guardian to be given the longbow, mostly because they weren’t happy with the scepter as a ranged option.

Still, longbow aside, I do agree that guardians have too many projectiles to deal with. Two out of three of our sword skills involve projectiles and 2 out of five our our greatsword skills also launch projectiles. Fighting any enemy in PvE or PvP with projectile reflects is very punishing for a guardian, even when they’re using their dps oriented melee weapons.

Yep, I’ve been throwing out these numbers lately and encourage you to do the same:

Nearly one third of all guardian weapon skills are projectiles. 40% of all guardian weapon skills used in offensive pvp builds are projectiles. Of the two most common weapon sets paired (longbow & Sw/focus), 60% are projectiles. The point is, we have a ridiculous amount of reflectable projectiles for a heavy-armored melee class. The “projectile” property has got to go on some skills, namely sword auto attack.

Excluding Longbow, Greatsword and Sw/Focus what other projectiles are there?

Hammer 3
Torch 4 when you throw it
Scepter 1

Don’t touch my root(animation) on Sword #3 it’s great flavor!
Damage increase, wether through more reliable projectiles hits and/or a flat dmg increase is very welcome.

I like the idea of adding some swiftness to sword #2.

The point of AA3 was to apply additional damage and multi hit procs which causes additional passive “justice” procs, this should be maintained while changing the projectile function and hit reliability.

What do you mean sword 3 root is “great flavor”? There’s no need for it whatsoever.

Just remove the projectile part from the 3rd autoattack and sword is ok again. Probably will happen sooner or later anyways.

Is this about PvE or PvP?

For PvE I’d love for it to be viable because I love Swords.

I honestly think this should be the go to offensive DPS Mainhand weapon.

Having it build Might on the Auto Attack would be cool, similar to the Greatsword. Fixing the Projectiles is needed. I think the second skill doing more than Blind would be a good change. Multiple skills do multiple conditions for other classes. Mixing something like Blind with Vulnerability, or Blind With Cripple would be a good change.

I loathe rooting skills, and think the 3rd ability should be a free to move skill. This would help with making more of the hits strike the target, or players in PvP, also make the ability not ground focused.

I’ve not really suggested many things for this weapon, but these are just some random thoughts of mine.

Keksmuffin.1450:

Just remove the projectile part from the 3rd autoattack and sword is ok again. Probably will happen sooner or later anyways.

They fixed the ranger auto on sword so we can hope.

First step to fix anything…good designers

How about making it a legit condi weapon? I mean Guardians already have Greatsword for high burst dps and Hammer for high sustained dps. Give it short duration burn on auto or something.

Lahmia.2193:

How about making it a legit condi weapon? I mean Guardians already have Greatsword for high burst dps and Hammer for high sustained dps. Give it short duration burn on auto or something.

From what I’ve seen the prevalent idea for making it a legit condi weapon would be to add bleeding or some other condition on sword trait so it would have proper cover condis (based on powerful blades rolled into retribution I still think it’s more a hybrid mobility + crit-power/condi like warrior sword in theory). The 3 hits on AA3 mean that ideally even without Supreme Justice passive F1 procs every AA chain, but the fact that AA3 is projectiles tends to ruin that since they miss easily. So it should stay 3 hits but should lose projectile property for more reliable burning. Really anything that has high hit rate is a functional burn weapon (e.g. scepter AA/#2), the problem is that several weapons themselves are barely functional and most of those high-rate weapons use projectiles.

Sword 1: Good, maybe add poison

Sword 2: Make it a leap as well. Up the damage and range. Keep CD the same

Sword 3: Up the damage and add burning.

Done.

Lahmia.2193:

How about making it a legit condi weapon? I mean Guardians already have Greatsword for high burst dps and Hammer for high sustained dps. Give it short duration burn on auto or something.

Not a bad idea. I’d personally make the scepter more condition oriented because we already have a ranged dps weapon with longbow. However, having the sword as a melee condition variant might be a good idea as well (so we have both a ranged and melee condition weapon option). Considering mace, sword and hammer and greatsword are all physical damage oriented, having one of those four change to more of a condition focus would be nice.

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

Not a bad idea. I’d personally make the scepter more condition oriented because we already have a ranged dps weapon with longbow. However, having the sword as a melee condition variant might be a good idea as well (so we have both a ranged and melee condition weapon option). Considering mace, sword and hammer and greatsword are all physical damage oriented, having one of those four change to more of a condition focus would be nice.

Fixes:
Remove projectile on auto, keep cleave.

Sword 2, remove blind, replace with torment and cripple. Damage stays low.

Sword 3, melee range attack with no root and no projectiles. Apply 1 stack of bleed per hit, blocks ranged attacks while channeling.

Adjust direct damage accordingly so it’s not a super hybrid weapon.

Make sword 1’s auto attack chain have a range of 150… Remove the 3rd part of the chain’s projectiles… Remake it into a normal slash that deals like 2.4k~ damage (since the mini projectiles do like 900 each).

Make it so sword 3 is a single projectile that covers a radius of 300 and works like lb 3

mrauls.6519:

Make sword 1’s auto attack chain have a range of 150… Remove the 3rd part of the chain’s projectiles… Remake it into a normal slash that deals like 2.4k~ damage (since the mini projectiles do like 900 each).

Make it so sword 3 is a single projectile that covers a radius of 300 and works like lb 3

I think just changing the third auto attack to deal 3 × 900 damage but change the hits into non-projectiles would be just fine. I like that this attack synergizes well with virtue of justice (and some sigils). Honestlty though, it needs to be changed to non-projectiles. They did it for revenants which had literally THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM with their sword auto attack….

Sword Wave

• This skill unleashes three piercing projectiles that hit up to three foes each.
• The three projectiles count as three attacks toward activating the Virtue of Justice passive effect.
• The projectiles sent out can be blocked, absorbed or reflected by fields. If this happens, the skill chain will not break, forcing the player to use it again, wasting two attacks in total (or waiting for the skill to revert to the first chain).
• Avoid using sword against objects like burrows, the projectiles will usually fail to hit them.

Wave of Wrath

Why don’t we just take the mechanics of Wave of Wrath, and put them into the parameters of Sword Wave? There’s no reason Sword Wave shouldn’t be a wave, and no reason you can’t make one 300u wave per sword in the animation. Nothing else about the skill has to change other than the projectiles becoming waves. That fixes the three problems listed in the wiki Notes section (Note #2 being a benefit that should, and would be retained with this change)