Guild Wars 2

Okay so… like over a year ago i played GW2 on a guardian (I was there when the asc. armor got there). Then I had to quit and now I’m thinking about getting back in. I dont have the expansion yet since I noticed so much in the game changing. I’ve always really enjoyed playing a guardian and I was actually pretty good with it. But since all of the buildstuff and all has changed so much I was wondering if it’s still worth playing the guardian and, if so, what would be a good build for it nowadays? I used to play GS Scepter/Focus sometimes switching to either sword or shield every now and then. Being somewhat DPS + heal…i dont know if that would still work nowadays tho…and if not then what would be the best alternative to it?

You can still go with meditrap like everyone else (tip: in PvE and WvW you can drop traps and then switch to other utilities and traps will still be left on the ground so you can make some advantage points for yourself before encountering mobs/foes).

I play my guardian just because I love the concept of guardian/paladin/templar you name it, also for roleplay reasons. But our profession in current meta (both PvP and PvE) is outmatched by clearly every other profession that does stuff we do but 2x better, more or just way easier and you need to be rather experienced to be on par with everyone else, though it is still quite a chunk to handle.

If you dont care about another class being able to fill the roll better & just want to RP then go ahead.

Otherwise I’d say roll an engineer or Rev.

They do everything a guardian can do but better & have better flexibility (especially in the engineers case)
+ they also both have completely viable condition builds.

At this point all the guardian really brings that others cannot is AEGIS, and given the way that many high lvl fractals & the raids work its near useless.
The guardian is also on the lower end of the spectrum for damage where as engineer and rev are on the high end.

well…since i still like the heavy armor classes alot…would it then be better to switch to warrior or is that a no go choice either…
I dont mind not being top of the bunch because i do believe a big part of the gameplay relies on the player aswell i.e. a top class character can still suck with the wrong player behind the keyboard. Therefore…what would be the best choice, stick with the guardian and try to master it or go for a warrior?

Yeh, warrior is quite nice. They do lots of damage but in pvp they are borderline weak due to lack of sustain other than endure pain and weak regen signet.
Even if you make a glasscannon, in this bunker’ish meta you won’t be able to do anthing as you will get your kitten CC’ed so hard that not even 10 stacks of stability will save you.

In PvE though, it is quite fun because mobs just stand there and take crits to the face

Just make a Rev and faceroll the game, this is litterally Thief X Guardian X Ele.

as i said i dont have the expansion yet and before i consider buying it i first wanna see what the game is like at the moment. Rev therefore isnt an option?
Which leaves the old classes to choose from…from that guardian, double dagger ele and maybe warrior were the classes i liked playing. So then ye…im juz looking into the options to see what could work from those classes and which one has some decent chance to move on to elite specs if i do get the expansion

Juzbeingme.1596:

as i said i dont have the expansion yet and before i consider buying it i first wanna see what the game is like at the moment. Rev therefore isnt an option?
Which leaves the old classes to choose from…from that guardian, double dagger ele and maybe warrior were the classes i liked playing. So then ye…im juz looking into the options to see what could work from those classes and which one has some decent chance to move on to elite specs if i do get the expansion

Berserker is meta for raids, so Warrior is a good option, but your Guardian however will still be awesome for fractals, and Ele is good for both.

Guardian is:

- trash tier for raids
- mediocre for fractals and pve
- nub stomper in low tier pvp
- trash tier in diamond league and above

Should be enough for you to make an informed decision. Unless you really love this class I would stay clear of this sinking ship.

Right now whoever thinks guard is in a good spot is either delusuonal, lying or never played anything else

Hunter.4783:

Guardian is:

- trash tier for raids
- mediocre for fractals and pve
- nub stomper in low tier pvp
- trash tier in diamond league and above

Should be enough for you to make an informed decision. Unless you really love this class I would stay clear of this sinking ship.

Right now whoever thinks guard is in a good spot is either delusuonal, lying or never played anything else

The game is already faceroll anywhere:
-You can have at least 1 or 2 Guards in raids if your team is not bad and have OP Chronos and Berserkers
-Who even bother doing anything other than Swamp Meta? Also PvE is faceroll
-I agree with this
-I don’t agree, It’s not trash if some professions are broken up to the point where taking anything else other than Chronos, Revs and Tempest is meaningless

Amineo.8951:

Hunter.4783:

Guardian is:

- trash tier for raids
- mediocre for fractals and pve
- nub stomper in low tier pvp
- trash tier in diamond league and above

Should be enough for you to make an informed decision. Unless you really love this class I would stay clear of this sinking ship.

Right now whoever thinks guard is in a good spot is either delusuonal, lying or never played anything else

The game is already faceroll anywhere:
-You can have at least 1 or 2 Guards in raids if your team is not bad and have OP Chronos and Berserkers
-Who even bother doing anything other than Swamp Meta? Also PvE is faceroll
-I agree with this
-I don’t agree, It’s not trash if some professions are broken up to the point where taking anything else other than Chronos, Revs and Tempest is meaningless

Dnt and KING can afford to have a Guardian in their roaster, 99.9% of other raids do not. A Guardian is a detriment to a raid team right now. I can tell you that by experience. Try pugging VG as a dragon hunter. You won’t find a group.

Agreed on the swamp meta. But anywhere else I would rather have any other class besides guard and thief

For your last point you are saying the same thing as me, just differently. If 4 professions are op chances are just as good the other 5 are underpowered

Hunter.4783:

Dnt and KING can afford to have a Guardian in their roaster, 99.9% of other raids do not. A Guardian is a detriment to a raid team right now. I can tell you that by experience. Try pugging VG as a dragon hunter. You won’t find a group.

Agreed on the swamp meta. But anywhere else I would rather have any other class besides guard and thief

For your last point you are saying the same thing as me, just differently. If 4 professions are op chances are just as good the other 5 are underpowered

You have trouble pugging raids as a Dragon Hunter because of sentiments like yours, not because the class is underwhelming. There’s a huge difference between Guardians offering slightly lower damage and Guardians being a liability to bring.

As for sPVP, don’t confuse the meta as a definition of power. The current meta is solely about not dying, an unimportant ideal in the PVE Bereserker meta. Case in point the warrior, a great class in PVE and worthless in sPVP.

I’ve played Guardian as a main since the head start 3 years ago up until the week raids came out. The Guardian brings nothing to the raid that other, better, classes can bring. Well except for one thing that is, terrible DPS that isn’t worth thinking about. Anyone who says they do decent damage has never played another class except maybe Mesmer. Earlier this year when I decided to map complete on my Elementalist I was shocked at how much damage I was doing compared to a Guard.

Azoqu.8917:

I’ve played Guardian as a main since the head start 3 years ago up until the week raids came out. The Guardian brings nothing to the raid that other, better, classes can bring. Well except for one thing that is, terrible DPS that isn’t worth thinking about. Anyone who says they do decent damage has never played another class except maybe Mesmer. Earlier this year when I decided to map complete on my Elementalist I was shocked at how much damage I was doing compared to a Guard.

Guard DPS was good pre-HoT, now it’s only better than Mesmer and nothing else, Rev/Chrono does the job better, Tempest are better tanks and Druid gives better healing, the only ways to fix this is to either nerf the most broken professions atm or rework Guardian/DH…

I feel a little saddened by what I’m seeing across the board in this forum…

I was an FTP up until a few weeks ago and bouncing around on different race/profession combos until I decided to play Guardian.

I really fell in love with the style as a whole and from what I’ve toyed around with in PvP (unranked mind you) I’ve enjoyed Dragonhunter.

I’ve yet to get to 80 and do ‘end game’ stuff, but a lot of the posts I’m reading paints a pretty bleak picture. Would you recommend I stick it out and see what/if I can do at 80, or should I really be looking to jump ship (well…techincally not board it since I’m still new)?

I would jump ship asap. No reason for you to stick around with a butchered and mediocre class. In pve I highly recommend anything else but thief and guard. Trust me you will not be disappointed.

Spvp is completely separate. You can play a chrono in raids and fractals and spvp with guard. But please strongly consider switching at least for pve and exploration

For the record, I have over 4k hours on my guard. Now all my guard does is stick by the forge for crafting

Chrono might not be fun to play, I tried Mesmer a while ago up to level 80 and deleted it, because the play style was not very interesting and too faceroll compared to Elementalist, I still like to play Guardian sometimes but overall I think it’s better to go Reaper or Scrapper if you want variety.

Berserker/Tempest plays like the base classes, Daredevil is bad in groups, Herald is very boring in PvE (auto-attack spam) and Druid is basically Healing Tank…

Hunter.4783:

I would jump ship asap. No reason for you to stick around with a butchered and mediocre class. In pve I highly recommend anything else but thief and guard. Trust me you will not be disappointed.

Spvp is completely separate. You can play a chrono in raids and fractals and spvp with guard. But please strongly consider switching at least for pve and exploration

For the record, I have over 4k hours on my guard. Now all my guard does is stick by the forge for crafting

That’s too bad.

Oh well, guess I could try Engineer since that was the next class that seemed fun from what I’ve played. I’m trying not to be one of those FotM players, but after living through Warrior on WoW in early Wrath of the Lich King days where we got dump-trucked on by the other plate-wearing classes and got relegated to second-class citizens I’d prefer to not have that happen again.

Another question. Did the elite specializations from HoT make the game worse in a sense? This could be naive thinking on my part, but it seems like that if you don’t run your profession’s elite spec you’re doing a disservice to yourself and your party.

Starbreaker.6507:

I feel a little saddened by what I’m seeing across the board in this forum…

I was an FTP up until a few weeks ago and bouncing around on different race/profession combos until I decided to play Guardian.

I really fell in love with the style as a whole and from what I’ve toyed around with in PvP (unranked mind you) I’ve enjoyed Dragonhunter.

I’ve yet to get to 80 and do ‘end game’ stuff, but a lot of the posts I’m reading paints a pretty bleak picture. Would you recommend I stick it out and see what/if I can do at 80, or should I really be looking to jump ship (well…techincally not board it since I’m still new)?

I have a character for each profession at 80 and all specializations unlocked. I really don’t think Dragon Hunter is as bad as people claim, at least not for solo\group pve exploration. If you are dead set on pvp and on raiding then yeah some other classes in the current meta are going to do better\be more optimal. But if you just want to enjoy the story, do events in the new HoT zones, explore, unlock hp’s and mastery points, etc, the Guard will do just fine. I’ve found DH to be an extremely fun way to play Guard, with bow coupled with strong traps.

Don’t let the min maxing deter you too much. I’ve been playing since release and almost every profession has it’s day in sun or shadow for some aspect of the game. Not surprisingly the classes that are at the most extremes are almost always considered part of the meta. Warrior for example because it does insane dps and can wear heavy armor – yet still has crappy support and frankly is pretty boring to me. And Mezmer now because it has extreme support with alacrity, but has terrible dps.

Starbreaker.6507:

Hunter.4783:

I would jump ship asap. No reason for you to stick around with a butchered and mediocre class. In pve I highly recommend anything else but thief and guard. Trust me you will not be disappointed.

Spvp is completely separate. You can play a chrono in raids and fractals and spvp with guard. But please strongly consider switching at least for pve and exploration

For the record, I have over 4k hours on my guard. Now all my guard does is stick by the forge for crafting

That’s too bad.

Oh well, guess I could try Engineer since that was the next class that seemed fun from what I’ve played. I’m trying not to be one of those FotM players, but after living through Warrior on WoW in early Wrath of the Lich King days where we got dump-trucked on by the other plate-wearing classes and got relegated to second-class citizens I’d prefer to not have that happen again.

Another question. Did the elite specializations from HoT make the game worse in a sense? This could be naive thinking on my part, but it seems like that if you don’t run your profession’s elite spec you’re doing a disservice to yourself and your party.

HoT destroyed PvE Dungeons, PvP and WvW, and yes base professions are subpar (except Scrapper which is a different play style) compared to elite specs.

Azoqu.8917:

I’ve played Guardian as a main since the head start 3 years ago up until the week raids came out. The Guardian brings nothing to the raid that other, better, classes can bring. Well except for one thing that is, terrible DPS that isn’t worth thinking about. Anyone who says they do decent damage has never played another class except maybe Mesmer. Earlier this year when I decided to map complete on my Elementalist I was shocked at how much damage I was doing compared to a Guard.

Can you post a credibly damage ranking, because I’ve scoured the internet trying to find one without any luck? All I’ve seen is anecdotal evidence like yours without any real testing.

Ghostwind.4380:

Starbreaker.6507:

I feel a little saddened by what I’m seeing across the board in this forum…

I was an FTP up until a few weeks ago and bouncing around on different race/profession combos until I decided to play Guardian.

I really fell in love with the style as a whole and from what I’ve toyed around with in PvP (unranked mind you) I’ve enjoyed Dragonhunter.

I’ve yet to get to 80 and do ‘end game’ stuff, but a lot of the posts I’m reading paints a pretty bleak picture. Would you recommend I stick it out and see what/if I can do at 80, or should I really be looking to jump ship (well…techincally not board it since I’m still new)?

I have a character for each profession at 80 and all specializations unlocked. I really don’t think Dragon Hunter is as bad as people claim, at least not for solo\group pve exploration. If you are dead set on pvp and on raiding then yeah some other classes in the current meta are going to do better\be more optimal. But if you just want to enjoy the story, do events in the new HoT zones, explore, unlock hp’s and mastery points, etc, the Guard will do just fine. I’ve found DH to be an extremely fun way to play Guard, with bow coupled with strong traps.

Don’t let the min maxing deter you too much. I’ve been playing since release and almost every profession has it’s day in sun or shadow for some aspect of the game. Not surprisingly the classes that are at the most extremes are almost always considered part of the meta. Warrior for example because it does insane dps and can wear heavy armor – yet still has crappy support and frankly is pretty boring to me. And Mezmer now because it has extreme support with alacrity, but has terrible dps.

This has to be one of the more level-headed responses I’ve seen, so thanks for that.

I perused around the other profession forums today and it was an interesting read, if not comical.

Almost every class felt they needed buffs of some sort and a few were even saying they felt their elite specializations weren’t that great. From best I can tell the only professions that had a legitimate gripe seemed to be warriors and thieves.

I think I’ll just stick with this for now and if it turns out that it truly is bad it’s easy enough to whip up another character and jump into PvP.

I still enjoy my Guard for a lot of game modes, though I choose to run other classes for certain things like high level fractals.
I generally run my Guard as a power medi guard, with full zerk for all PvE stuff. Took on HoT maps in stride (first char that I took through HoT).
I currently run a full melee hybrid DH build, mixing meditations with a couple traps, coupled with GS/Ham. The bow gives you an option of good ranged DPS if you need it.

Raid-wise, I haven’t run her through at all, since I have other classes that bring more utility.
Fractals, sub-50’s are easy in general, no matter the class almost, so hard to say here. (group utility I think guards are still in a very good place here, but most people want to use traps and forget they have a load of other utilities they can use)

PvP.. a well played DH can be a game changer in low to mid tiers at least, haven’t played against many ruby and up with my DH.

There should also be a balance patch coming some day, so don’t put all your eggs in one basket, or so the saying goes.

Guardian is in a pretty bad state atm. Other than in WvW melee trains (for stab) they’re not really meta anywhere. The damage is subpar and other classes just bring more to the table. Chrono has as many reflects, permanent quickness output and alacrity. Rev has ridiculously more DPS and the ease with which it buffs parties is undefeatable. Guardian on the other hand just has a very short quickness uptime, bad dps as said before and mostly useless defensive buffs.

Honestly I don’t think this is fixable until they bring out the next elite spec. DH was just a bad idea overall.

cranos.5913:

Guardian is in a pretty bad state atm. Other than in WvW melee trains (for stab) they’re not really meta anywhere. The damage is subpar and other classes just bring more to the table. Chrono has as many reflects, permanent quickness output and alacrity. Rev has ridiculously more DPS and the ease with which it buffs parties is undefeatable. Guardian on the other hand just has a very short quickness uptime, bad dps as said before and mostly useless defensive buffs.

Honestly I don’t think this is fixable until they bring out the next elite spec. DH was just a bad idea overall.

DH wasn’t a bad idea and the next elite (unless completely broken OP) is not going to fix Guardian, because core guardian is the problem.

Indure.5410:

cranos.5913:

Guardian is in a pretty bad state atm. Other than in WvW melee trains (for stab) they’re not really meta anywhere. The damage is subpar and other classes just bring more to the table. Chrono has as many reflects, permanent quickness output and alacrity. Rev has ridiculously more DPS and the ease with which it buffs parties is undefeatable. Guardian on the other hand just has a very short quickness uptime, bad dps as said before and mostly useless defensive buffs.

Honestly I don’t think this is fixable until they bring out the next elite spec. DH was just a bad idea overall.

DH wasn’t a bad idea and the next elite (unless completely broken OP) is not going to fix Guardian, because core guardian is the problem.

Well that’s a lot of statements without any substance… DH was a bad idea because they put all the dmg increase on traps and added a range weapon. You can only buff trap dmg so much, and considering the QQ about it I doubt we’ll see more buffs any time soon. The lb skills give you a nice amount of burst, I won’t deny that, but in terms of constant dps it’s pretty awful and nothing compared to let’s say revenant sword auto attack. Buffing LB even more would also be quite broken or would go against their idea of slow, hard hitting attacks.

Core guardian has never been a big issue before HoT. It had a place in every game mode with viable builds, often even part of the meta. It wasn’t perfect ofc, but it’s due to the fact that other classes got completely broken OP elite specs that guardian moved to the least desirable class spot.

The only way to make the class competitive again atm would be to buff the core guardian abilities/weapons, since I doubt they’ll ever do that and DH abilities are more likely to get nerfed then buffed… Yeah new elite is gonna be the only way out.

This is a pretty stupid thread, I mean really.

It just causes an over dramatic scene for a class that isn’t as awful as people say. Just because something is lower at some aspect at the game currently doesn’t mean it will always be.

Playing an MMO has its ups and downs. I wish people would realize this and wait for class balancing patches. In MOST cases MMO devs will make sure classes are not broken. I know this game has a bad rep sort of with balancing, but be patient.

I’ve played MMOs for years, and the main class I played in WoW went through bad times due to being a bit weaker than other classes. Even with this, I still did fine in raids. I raided at a mid-tier/hardcore level.

With my class being weak in some patches, then it was amazing in others. MMOs constantly change and patience matters or the game is not for you.

Play what you have fun with and gear up what you want.

Kam.4092:

Playing an MMO has its ups and downs. I wish people would realize this and wait for class balancing patches. In MOST cases MMO devs will make sure classes are not broken. I know this game has a bad rep sort of with balancing, but be patient.

Ehh, it took necro 3 years to become somewhat decent and it’s still not top tier. GL being patient xD.

Kam.4092:

I’ve played MMOs for years, and the main class I played in WoW went through bad times due to being a bit weaker than other classes. Even with this, I still did fine in raids. I raided at a mid-tier/hardcore level.

With my class being weak in some patches, then it was amazing in others. MMOs constantly change and patience matters or the game is not for you.

It’s different in other MMOs tho, especially in the past. The changes were more often, not once every 3 years. It was also less easy to level and gear a different character. In GW2 it literally takes no more than an hour to fully level and gear an alt, and another 2 hours to unlock the elite spec so there’s no reason whatsoever to bring your whole team down just because you like it.

cranos.5913:

Kam.4092:

Playing an MMO has its ups and downs. I wish people would realize this and wait for class balancing patches. In MOST cases MMO devs will make sure classes are not broken. I know this game has a bad rep sort of with balancing, but be patient.

Ehh, it took necro 3 years to become somewhat decent and it’s still not top tier. GL being patient xD.

Kam.4092:

I’ve played MMOs for years, and the main class I played in WoW went through bad times due to being a bit weaker than other classes. Even with this, I still did fine in raids. I raided at a mid-tier/hardcore level.

With my class being weak in some patches, then it was amazing in others. MMOs constantly change and patience matters or the game is not for you.

It’s different in other MMOs tho, especially in the past. The changes were more often, not once every 3 years. It was also less easy to level and gear a different character. In GW2 it literally takes no more than an hour to fully level and gear an alt, and another 2 hours to unlock the elite spec so there’s no reason whatsoever to bring your whole team down just because you like it.

well tbh, imho, the Necro taking 3 years was Majorly down to what seems to be absolutely Dislike to the concept of rebuilding proffessions, the Necros problems were more within its Mechanics then anything they could simply fix which would require HUGE changes, ALOT of proffessions are suffering here as a whole realistically, but Anet dont seem to want to put out that sorta level of change into the game for whatever reason they have.

I mean Thiefs, entire Utility Set and Some of their Trait lines could do with a Rebuild, Base Necromancer Could do with a few Rebuilds here and there, Ranger pet AI Could use a rebuild + Some of their Utilities, Dragonhunter ALREADY needs to be Rebuilt, Warrior needs Some Rebuilding to it, Elementalists Utilities need Rebuilding (3/4s of them are Rubbish, they just are worthless)

tbh ignore the Rep, every game leaves Broken kitten things and Underpowered things in the game all over the place, WoW – Spriest MoP – WoD, Paladin WoTLK – WoD. both Underpowered and Worthless, DKs Stayed Overpowered for the entire of WoTLK, Rogues started Overpowered, now continously nerfed (identical to this game) into the floor, it just seems to be a proffession/class Every game Gets wrong Not just this game. Mages Ruled DPS meters for YEARS after their Cata Revamp… and thats the “biggest MMO” on the market, like seriously..

the rage on balance matters is huge in every game, the problem is Blizzard will in time Rebuild the class Back to balance after so often or every other Expansion, Anet wont do that..

[Quote]
the rage on balance matters is huge in every game, the problem is Blizzard will in time Rebuild the class Back to balance after so often or every other Expansion, Anet wont do that..[/quote]

It’s 1 thing to be underpowered in 1 department, and another to be trash tier in every competitive mode.

Considering the whole silence I don’t even think Anet is aware of most problems with the guard class. Hence they have gone for 2 years with no change.

Tbh my gut feeling is telling me until the next expansion, or until they do a class re design, things will stay this grim. Just so everyone is aware.

Good luck pugging gorseval on a DH for now

Hunter.4783:

It’s 1 thing to be underpowered in 1 department, and another to be trash tier in every competitive mode.

Every competitive mode? Guardians are fine if not one of the better WvW classes. PvP is such a joke right now in terms of balance that your definition of “trash tier” currently involves 2/3 of the classes. And although raids/fractals/dungeons aren’t technically “competitive” if we are talking about them: dungeons are irrelevant now and if you can fill a party your lucky; guardians still have a good spot in fractals; and raids are a bad fit for the Guardian.

They said there would be a huge balance patch after their PVP season is over. They most likely won’t be rebuilding classes, but expect some major number tweaking across the board.

PvE: Due the power creep, most of the old content just explodes at sight if you are using a DH, so you have no problems doing world completing, world bosses, dungeons, fractals or just gathering with a DH. The new maps are also easy to do with the class due the high amount of blocks, blinds, cc and burst you have at your disposal. Outside some very specific champions, is very easy to solo most of the HoT content as a DH.

The only weak spot for Guardians/DH is the Raids; but raids were conceived against the old GW2 rules: defined roles (tank, healer, dps), high gear requirements (ascendant/legendary, food required…) and to bne honest the rewards from Raids are pretty crap. ‘m surprised about the amounto of people varing about that game mode: I did’t even enter in a single time. Activities must be either fun or rewarding to me (even better: both), and currrently raids had nothing of those to me.

WvW: Guardians/DH are mandatory in large groups, due since the stability changes in June and the buff of ccs the chances of dying perma-rooted if you don’t have guardians to provide some amount of stability are 100%. But WvW is already in critical condition and the rewards are crap, so Guardains are again in good spot here.

PvP: Is a bit tricky: in one hand, DH aren’t competitive as bruisers at the top level of game (Pro Leagues), but in the other, ruby and even diamond divisions are full of people ramming into traps and getting deleted, so DH are viable and useful albeit not top dogs.

Conclusion: to me Guardian/DH is solid in most of the content; I did change to Herald at the start of HoT but albeit I enjoy the class I come back to DH as my main again. I have the 9 classes at 80 but still find myself playing Guardian/DH 80% of the time. Doesn’t have the weakness of the Revenant against ccs and conditions and keeps more flexibility in terms of builds. Doesn’t touch the damage numbers from Warriors and Revenants but for the 95% of the content in game our current numbers still are a faceroll.

Who cares raids? I’m earning ~17 gold coins x hour just gathering stuff, financing 3 legendary items ath the same time and having fun in PvP. Balance betwen classes in the least of the problems in this expansion….

Indure.5410:

Hunter.4783:

It’s 1 thing to be underpowered in 1 department, and another to be trash tier in every competitive mode.

Every competitive mode? Guardians are fine if not one of the better WvW classes. PvP is such a joke right now in terms of balance that your definition of “trash tier” currently involves 2/3 of the classes. And although raids/fractals/dungeons aren’t technically “competitive” if we are talking about them: dungeons are irrelevant now and if you can fill a party your lucky; guardians still have a good spot in fractals; and raids are a bad fit for the Guardian.

They said there would be a huge balance patch after their PVP season is over. They most likely won’t be rebuilding classes, but expect some major number tweaking across the board.

Competitive game modes would be raids and sPVP. raids because its a challenging environment where you can’t walk in and simply faceroll like fractals.

No one really cares about wvw right now. The only reason you bring a guard in wvw is because of stability to begin with. That was the case even before HoT.

Just wait till people figure out Dwarf stance revs have as much if not more stability applications, then things will be more interesting.

in Any case, guards need a MAJOR balance pass asap.

As a WvW player, I’m glad guardians (and DH) still have a place in zerging as well as roaming groups. As a solo roamer, it’s a rougher life considering that guardians and by extension dragonhunters now get countered by the elite specs of classes they used to destroy (druid, scrapper), continue to get countered by elementalist in the form of tempest, and don’t do great against heralds either.

Guardian has fallen far down the rungs of 1v1 supremacy as far as glassy builds go, but there’s nothing I’d rather be playing in anything from 2v2 up to a full on blob fight. The skill cap has been increased by the necessity of spatial awareness for virtue placement, and the rewards of the new virtues match up with this increased dimension.

I’d agree that guardians do need some buffs, but hopefully something mechanical and not just a damage increase. Even though it’s very good, I don’t have fun plinking True Shots on an enemy, and I certainly dislike that our damage potential is higher on a ranged weapon than a melee one, leading players to camp longbow because it is simply more rewarding.

Hunter.4783:

Just wait till people figure out Dwarf stance revs have as much if not more stability applications, then things will be more interesting.

Inspiring Reinforcement is a truly weak source of stability due the nature of the skill and Unwavering Avoidance + Enhanced Bulwark just cant compete against Stand Your Ground! in team fights. Revenants (and specifically Heralds) are very powerful in the offensive department, in sustain and support BUT I play all the plate classes and would be blind to not being aware of some serious holes in their defense.

Jalis legend means either (Glint + Jalis) losing Riposting Shadows (the only reliable source of breakstun for the class) or (Shiro + Jalis) losing Glint (which means that the sustain and team support of the Revenant just sinks).

i have a feeling that Anet would delete the guardian from game if they could >_>

Aeolus.3615:

i have a feeling that Anet would delete the thief from game if they could >_>

Fixed your typo.

Hunter.4783:

Indure.5410:

Hunter.4783:

It’s 1 thing to be underpowered in 1 department, and another to be trash tier in every competitive mode.

Every competitive mode? Guardians are fine if not one of the better WvW classes. PvP is such a joke right now in terms of balance that your definition of “trash tier” currently involves 2/3 of the classes. And although raids/fractals/dungeons aren’t technically “competitive” if we are talking about them: dungeons are irrelevant now and if you can fill a party your lucky; guardians still have a good spot in fractals; and raids are a bad fit for the Guardian.

They said there would be a huge balance patch after their PVP season is over. They most likely won’t be rebuilding classes, but expect some major number tweaking across the board.

Competitive game modes would be raids and sPVP. raids because its a challenging environment where you can’t walk in and simply faceroll like fractals.

No one really cares about wvw right now. The only reason you bring a guard in wvw is because of stability to begin with. That was the case even before HoT.

Just wait till people figure out Dwarf stance revs have as much if not more stability applications, then things will be more interesting.

in Any case, guards need a MAJOR balance pass asap.

Gw2 and competitive, lol. I have to agree with Indure that PvP is simply not even worth taking seriously and maybe even that nobody cares applies to that even more so. But with the speed of balance changes, how can anyone take that seriously?

There’s no point talking about balance or a so called competitive atmosphere when it’s clear the developers don’t even understand the concept. The esports hype is simply nothing but hype and if you want a competitive atmosphere, to probably start looking for another game, because don’t hold your breath. No really, don’t.

What in the last 3 years has Arenanet even done to promote such a thing besides wasting money so we can get a stream with a few hundred views? What have they really done when it comes to player observations who play the game far better than they have to go on anyways? Why does Anet decide that the Guardian should have the mobility of a cripple relative to other classes other than some vague concern of “concept?”. Does that sound like those that actually care about balance? It wasn’t until recently you could even see recent game history, and stats? It took them 3 years just to come up with a ranking system that meant something? And not really because lolabuse.

It hasn’t helped my resentment that this game is revolving around that shoddy balance, and the rest of us get pvp-centric “visual noise” changes to ruin the experience for the rest of us.

The only thing I see is that the Rev and select elite specs seems a bit overtuned, most likely because they want people to buy the expansion

ArchonWing.9480:

Hunter.4783:

Indure.5410:

Hunter.4783:

It’s 1 thing to be underpowered in 1 department, and another to be trash tier in every competitive mode.

Every competitive mode? Guardians are fine if not one of the better WvW classes. PvP is such a joke right now in terms of balance that your definition of “trash tier” currently involves 2/3 of the classes. And although raids/fractals/dungeons aren’t technically “competitive” if we are talking about them: dungeons are irrelevant now and if you can fill a party your lucky; guardians still have a good spot in fractals; and raids are a bad fit for the Guardian.

They said there would be a huge balance patch after their PVP season is over. They most likely won’t be rebuilding classes, but expect some major number tweaking across the board.

Competitive game modes would be raids and sPVP. raids because its a challenging environment where you can’t walk in and simply faceroll like fractals.

No one really cares about wvw right now. The only reason you bring a guard in wvw is because of stability to begin with. That was the case even before HoT.

Just wait till people figure out Dwarf stance revs have as much if not more stability applications, then things will be more interesting.

in Any case, guards need a MAJOR balance pass asap.

Gw2 and competitive, lol. I have to agree with Indure that PvP is simply not even worth taking seriously and maybe even that nobody cares applies to that even more so. But with the speed of balance changes, how can anyone take that seriously?

There’s no point talking about balance or a so called competitive atmosphere when it’s clear the developers don’t even understand the concept. The esports hype is simply nothing but hype and if you want a competitive atmosphere, to probably start looking for another game, because don’t hold your breath. No really, don’t.

What in the last 3 years has Arenanet even done to promote such a thing besides wasting money so we can get a stream with a few hundred views? What have they really done when it comes to player observations who play the game far better than they have to go on anyways? Why does Anet decide that the Guardian should have the mobility of a cripple relative to other classes other than some vague concern of “concept?”. Does that sound like those that actually care about balance? It wasn’t until recently you could even see recent game history, and stats? It took them 3 years just to come up with a ranking system that meant something? And not really because lolabuse.

It hasn’t helped my resentment that this game is revolving around that shoddy balance, and the rest of us get pvp-centric “visual noise” changes to ruin the experience for the rest of us.

The only thing I see is that the Rev and select elite specs seems a bit overtuned, most likely because they want people to buy the expansion

As you said,guardian has been held back by class concept and design for the last 3 years but then they go ahead and throw in the DH to shake things up. BUT they still failed to even adress the core issues from 3 years ago. DH was their 1 chance to correct most class flaws but they ended up introducing new ones like virtues needing a cast time, reducing class survivability etc.

This shows me the devs need to get together 1 day and go over each guardian mechanic from scratch. I am more convinced each day the guard class needs changes in core mechanics rather than number changes. Base HP needs to go up too.

Hunter.4783:

ArchonWing.9480:

Hunter.4783:

Indure.5410:

Hunter.4783:

It’s 1 thing to be underpowered in 1 department, and another to be trash tier in every competitive mode.

Every competitive mode? Guardians are fine if not one of the better WvW classes. PvP is such a joke right now in terms of balance that your definition of “trash tier” currently involves 2/3 of the classes. And although raids/fractals/dungeons aren’t technically “competitive” if we are talking about them: dungeons are irrelevant now and if you can fill a party your lucky; guardians still have a good spot in fractals; and raids are a bad fit for the Guardian.

They said there would be a huge balance patch after their PVP season is over. They most likely won’t be rebuilding classes, but expect some major number tweaking across the board.

Competitive game modes would be raids and sPVP. raids because its a challenging environment where you can’t walk in and simply faceroll like fractals.

No one really cares about wvw right now. The only reason you bring a guard in wvw is because of stability to begin with. That was the case even before HoT.

Just wait till people figure out Dwarf stance revs have as much if not more stability applications, then things will be more interesting.

in Any case, guards need a MAJOR balance pass asap.

Gw2 and competitive, lol. I have to agree with Indure that PvP is simply not even worth taking seriously and maybe even that nobody cares applies to that even more so. But with the speed of balance changes, how can anyone take that seriously?

There’s no point talking about balance or a so called competitive atmosphere when it’s clear the developers don’t even understand the concept. The esports hype is simply nothing but hype and if you want a competitive atmosphere, to probably start looking for another game, because don’t hold your breath. No really, don’t.

What in the last 3 years has Arenanet even done to promote such a thing besides wasting money so we can get a stream with a few hundred views? What have they really done when it comes to player observations who play the game far better than they have to go on anyways? Why does Anet decide that the Guardian should have the mobility of a cripple relative to other classes other than some vague concern of “concept?”. Does that sound like those that actually care about balance? It wasn’t until recently you could even see recent game history, and stats? It took them 3 years just to come up with a ranking system that meant something? And not really because lolabuse.

It hasn’t helped my resentment that this game is revolving around that shoddy balance, and the rest of us get pvp-centric “visual noise” changes to ruin the experience for the rest of us.

The only thing I see is that the Rev and select elite specs seems a bit overtuned, most likely because they want people to buy the expansion

As you said,guardian has been held back by class concept and design for the last 3 years but then they go ahead and throw in the DH to shake things up. BUT they still failed to even adress the core issues from 3 years ago. DH was their 1 chance to correct most class flaws but they ended up introducing new ones like virtues needing a cast time, reducing class survivability etc.

This shows me the devs need to get together 1 day and go over each guardian mechanic from scratch. I am more convinced each day the guard class needs changes in core mechanics rather than number changes. Base HP needs to go up too.

Yea, the problems in core really have to be addressed. As you just mentioned just number changes are insufficient, and that’s been their way of attempting to bring DH to par, but such a thing isn’t going to effect QoL or the fun factor. It’s still the same clunky skills.

My definite fear here has probably been felt and that is they’re focusing on specialization which is probably why I’m hearing that specilizations seem dominant atm, and that’s not a good thing if they continue to ignore core classes.

It’s just not a good foundation to build on, and it’s no irony that the Revenant which was designed with the elites in mind appears to be in a better spot.

As many, many others have stated around these parts, you can’t be in a good spot if everyone keeps power creeping. Guardian mobility, now, relative to other classes was never acceptable to begin with but these chains have just been getting worse.

But that’s why I have a fairly pessimistic notion here. It just goes far beyond a few cooldowns and numbers when it really involves those involved to really let go and not let random restrictions hold out on things more interesting. The scrapper is a good example of this, while still keeping of what makes an engineer.

Also, I find it funny that stuff like vigorous precision gets nerfed to be consistent to other class, but when every other class has an easy mobility trait, that’s suddenly not okay because of “concept”

People joked about tempest as in “bringing more of the same”

Now compare tempest vs DH status …. 1 class is dominant in every game mode, the other is barely holding on

To be fair, tempest dominating every game mode is “more of the same” when it comes to ele. =p

Follow these steps and i promise you can play your guardian, in any game mode and have tons of fun.

Step 1: Don’t come to the forums

Step 2: Play the game

DH is a lot of fun and extremely strong. I played Revenant, Reaper and DH during HOT for about 400h together now and in the end all 3 are a lot of fun to play. Damagewise I’d say DH is the strongest be cause of all the sick damage modifiers you have. The traps are extremely strong. Just try it out: go outside, look for a formidable enemy, lay 5 traps, pull use symbol of wrath, pull them in with GS #5 and follow up with #2. Most enemies will die within a blink – even stronger enemies in HOT.

ProtoGunner.4953:

DH is a lot of fun and extremely strong. I played Revenant, Reaper and DH during HOT for about 400h together now and in the end all 3 are a lot of fun to play. Damagewise I’d say DH is the strongest be cause of all the sick damage modifiers you have. The traps are extremely strong. Just try it out: go outside, look for a formidable enemy, lay 5 traps, pull use symbol of wrath, pull them in with GS #5 and follow up with #2. Most enemies will die within a blink – even stronger enemies in HOT.

Needless to say its misinformation like this that keeps holding the class back

I have edited the post 3 times cuz i don’t feel like being infracted again but no matter how much i try i can’t make the post sound any nicer…

ProtoGunner.4953:

DH is a lot of fun and extremely strong. I played Revenant, Reaper and DH during HOT for about 400h together now and in the end all 3 are a lot of fun to play. Damagewise I’d say DH is the strongest be cause of all the sick damage modifiers you have. The traps are extremely strong. Just try it out: go outside, look for a formidable enemy, lay 5 traps, pull use symbol of wrath, pull them in with GS #5 and follow up with #2. Most enemies will die within a blink – even stronger enemies in HOT.

It’s not pure DPS though, that’s burst damage, and like Mesmer it’s not that good against bosses but only trash mobs.

Noein.1685:

Follow these steps and i promise you can play your guardian, in any game mode and have tons of fun.

Step 1: Don’t come to the forums

Step 2: Play the game

step 3 leech from party and stay back pressing one key and eating popcorn.

step 4 wait for brainless player or mob to tap your traps.

or

Play pve where anything works, even naked.

Hunter.4783:

ProtoGunner.4953:

DH is a lot of fun and extremely strong. I played Revenant, Reaper and DH during HOT for about 400h together now and in the end all 3 are a lot of fun to play. Damagewise I’d say DH is the strongest be cause of all the sick damage modifiers you have. The traps are extremely strong. Just try it out: go outside, look for a formidable enemy, lay 5 traps, pull use symbol of wrath, pull them in with GS #5 and follow up with #2. Most enemies will die within a blink – even stronger enemies in HOT.

Needless to say its misinformation like this that keeps holding the class back

I have edited the post 3 times cuz i don’t feel like being infracted again but no matter how much i try i can’t make the post sound any nicer…

Yeah, i fogot to tell it’s completely subjective and yeah I know it’s burst damage. Still in opern world PvE (only relevant in HOT, since rest is faceroll anway) it’s very helpful since you don’t have to think and just lay down your traps and bam, gone away. kitten numbers, kitten theory, it’s what I lived and loved!