Guild Wars 2

I feel I’m spamming the forums the past few days, sorry.

Here is another one, I was again researching the current state of the game and I noticed a commonality in almost all the other classes meta builds for pvp.

They dip heavy into their class defining trait line (bottom on row).

The only two that don’t do this are Ranger and Guardian.

Is our class defining ability, Virtues, that ineffective?

Or is there a special meta build we need to do more research on (doubtful after 2 years of no change).

More specifically it seems our class defining trait line is Valor ><.

What do you guys think, what in the Virtues trait line could be improved or better synergized?

It’s less that the traits for our class mechanics are bad, it’s more that the traits for our utilities (Monk’s Focus / Pure of Voice) are more important on some builds.

That said there are actually a lot of builds which go into virtues. The standard meditation build goes 4 into virtues for the cleanse on f2, the standard PvE dungeon build goes 5 into virtues for the damage and utiltiy, the standard WvW/GvG build goes 4 into virtues for the stab on f3. Not mentioning virtues bunker in PvP because I think it’s a terrible build.

People would go deeper into virtues if there would be a good grandmaster trait but there really isn’t one so you can pretty much always get the stuff you want in that line by putting 4 points into it.

Cool grandmaster traits would be stuff like

Activating a virtue heals you and people arround you. Reduces the recharge of virtues by 20%.

Run 25% faster when you have all passive virtues up. Chill targets arround your when you activate Virtue of Justice.

Idk just some ideas. The grandmaster traits we currently have in virtues are kind of a joke.

Like Keksmuffin say, there is a good amount of build in PvE, WvW and sPvP that use between 2 and 5 pts in Virtue.

A lot of good major trait, but only in adept and master. There is no big grandmaster trait in Virtue around which you can form a good build.

Virtues have been lackluster from the start the whole concept is just weak. The only thing that makes them at all interesting is… nothing really. I often run AR just because of the condition spam not because it is a well thought out concept.

Our class defining feature is fragmented and situational.

In comparison:

Necro: Useful whenever lifeforce is available
Ranger: Pets are always used and can be chosen/swapped to suit
Thief: Give random effects but can be attached to damage and heal modifiers
Warrior: If your Burst is ready, you use it

Not overly familiar with others to comment.

I use my virtues all the time.

PvE : Use my F1 all the time for blind, might and vulnerability. This amount of blind make my group able to take on more mobs at the time time. F3 allow my team to continue dpsing wihtout getting hit by a boss’ big attack. F2 passive is what define our profession.

sPvP : I only play bunker, but all my virtue are so important to my survivability there.

WvW : Baby stab replaced the old meta of AH + Pure of Voice. The extra stab + aegis is such a huge bonus when you approach the enemy, especially to bait the corrupt boons.