Guild Wars 2

so. i’ve been maining guard for more than a year now. i know quite a bit about the class and i like playing pretty much everything: pve (dungeons, fractals + open world), wvw, some pvp. i’ve hit a bit of a wall:

guards are very situational, especially when it comes to the dps department. in pve, a 20/25/0/0/25 build with sword/focus + greatsword works well for me, while i use meditations with sceptre/torch + sword/focus in pvp (don’t complain. i like it ), and shouts with staff + hammer in wvw zergs.

now, if you know guard at all, you’ll notice that all of them use different trait trees, and i use every single weapon except mace and shield. my issue is when i go from pve into wvw.

the pve dps build has no surviving power in zergs, the pvp build is great for roaming but is not optimal for zerging, and the zerging build dies to roamers while i’m slowly jogging to join the blob (guards need a speed utility. really. SoS is useless now outside of a zerg. used to be able to keep 99% swiftness uptime solo).

so what i’ve done is make some kitteny radiance/valor/honor mash-up that does nothing well, so i don’t need to spend money retraiting every time i switch game modes, but that obviously doesn’t work.

why must guard be so super-specialised to do just one thing well? should have mained warrior, but i’d probably get bored to death -_-

i already have 8 character slots filled (they’re all unlevelled except for ele and thief [maybe i’m a masochist, i picked all the low hp professions to level to 80 T_T], and totally under-equipped). the only obvious solution to me is to level another guard for pve so i can keep my wvw ranks, but my ascended gear with agony resist is soulbound, and i don’t really fancy spending another few months getting another guard up to 80, skilled up, and fully-equipped.

any suggestions? giving up a game mode is not an answer, neither is asking me to play an AH/boon/support build. i like my big red crit numbers and i don’t like the sound of wet noodles slapping on things.

I use the same build for all content :S 0/5/30/30/5. I have no issue doing anything, and yes I know how to play very well

I have the exact same dilema. Because of this I just run the classin AH for WvW (I don’t do Roaming right now) and PvE. 0/0/30/30/10 for PvE full Zerker with 2 shouts and 1 concecration (usually Wall or PF) or if need just run with 1 shout (Save Yourselfs or Stand Your Ground for stun break). I know I’m not optimal for PvE since I’ve tryed the meta too but I manage to do pretty well still. Although the PvE I do is not much of a challenge (CoF mainly and some other dgns, rarely Fractals but for those I change for the Hammer Meta). That build with full Zerker, Runes of Scholar, Sigils of Force and Night and I still manage to do 10k WW every once in a while.

PvP is not a problem since there wwe have diffent build. I would love they would do the same system for WvW even only with the Traits, that would be enough, so that way I could run different builds without having to go switch every single time I want to do WvW or PvE (it takes little time I know, but I also have little time to play so not spending any going to an NPC and Trait everything again would be nice).

When I tryed the Meta I was thinking in about leaving WvW for good and just focus on PvE and tPvP but then I would feel like 100g spend for trash since Commander tag in PvE is kinda of useless, except for those really though event like Tequalt and the Wurm, which I don’t do

looks like i’m being limited (hear that, anet? your game is limiting me) to 0/x/30/30/x or similar if i like to play pve and wvw. so much for build diversity. so sadness, much fail.. cries quietly in corner

I don’t really see the problem with this, but wvw and pve are very diffrent game modes and what is required in one is different from others. It’s apples and oranges. PvE demands active mitigation against large boss damage spikes while having max dps, while WvW often demands passive mitigation against many damage sources. It’s not a flaw with the class as opposed to just different things having different values. Most zerg tank builds for many classes work great in zergs but you wouldn’t roam with them.

It seems to me that if you try to make something fit both then you’re just going to always be mediocre at everything and thus never happy.

If you wish to be lazy you can just switch gearsets (zerker—-> soldier)

My solution is to keep my wvw build for open world as well as it is too easy to bother optimizing for. This leaves only dungeons/fractals in which I respec to the pve meta stuff.

Idk why you think one build or one weapon set will be viable in all situations. What baffles me further is why you think guardians are the only profession that has to make builds according to what they’re doing be it pve or fractals or wvw zerging.

iHungeri.4096:

looks like i’m being limited (hear that, anet? your game is limiting me) to 0/x/30/30/x or similar if i like to play pve and wvw. so much for build diversity. so sadness, much fail.. cries quietly in corner

Personally I don’t think you should run Valor for either. Radiance, Honor, and Virtues are where it’s at – for both of them. Lord knows I never run Valor unless I’m doing a meds build for some reason.

If I don’t feel like swapping traits, I run 15/0/0/30/25 Hammer for PvE and WvW. Sometimes I do 10/0/0/30/30 instead in order to get access to the Stability on Courage trait whose name I forget to land stomps in WvW and then switch to Permeating Wrath for PvE because it’s baller with Hammer.

foofad.5162:

iHungeri.4096:

looks like i’m being limited (hear that, anet? your game is limiting me) to 0/x/30/30/x or similar if i like to play pve and wvw. so much for build diversity. so sadness, much fail.. cries quietly in corner

Personally I don’t think you should run Valor for either. Radiance, Honor, and Virtues are where it’s at – for both of them. Lord knows I never run Valor unless I’m doing a meds build for some reason.

If I don’t feel like swapping traits, I run 15/0/0/30/25 Hammer for PvE and WvW. Sometimes I do 10/0/0/30/30 instead in order to get access to the Stability on Courage trait whose name I forget to land stomps in WvW and then switch to Permeating Wrath for PvE because it’s baller with Hammer.

That doesn’t sound bad at all, I might even try it. But Valor in WvW is a must for a defencive/support play. Full support any x/x/x/30/30 would do.
I’ll maintain my AH, love it or hate it I don’t care it works great for me, it was exactly what I wanted and thats why I mained Guardian and not Warrior (I also didn’t like the GS skills on Warrior as much as I like them on Guard).

thanks guys for your responses and insights. i guess if i want a “unifying” build (the guardian trainers have made quite a few gold off me already, having retraited so often), i’ll have to accept some drawbacks here and there, especially in the dps department. that or i keep paying to retrait.

back to the drawing board.

I would pay more than I do to a NPC is ANet did a item to retrait on the go in-game, not on the gem store. For like 10 silver each. I would buy toons of those and have them with me. Now having to go to a trait Trainer everytime when most of them aren’t even that close to a WP (the LA ones were but I never liked LA that much, too much lag)

mPascoal.4258:

foofad.5162:

iHungeri.4096:

looks like i’m being limited (hear that, anet? your game is limiting me) to 0/x/30/30/x or similar if i like to play pve and wvw. so much for build diversity. so sadness, much fail.. cries quietly in corner

Personally I don’t think you should run Valor for either. Radiance, Honor, and Virtues are where it’s at – for both of them. Lord knows I never run Valor unless I’m doing a meds build for some reason.

If I don’t feel like swapping traits, I run 15/0/0/30/25 Hammer for PvE and WvW. Sometimes I do 10/0/0/30/30 instead in order to get access to the Stability on Courage trait whose name I forget to land stomps in WvW and then switch to Permeating Wrath for PvE because it’s baller with Hammer.

That doesn’t sound bad at all, I might even try it. But Valor in WvW is a must for a defencive/support play. Full support any x/x/x/30/30 would do.
I’ll maintain my AH, love it or hate it I don’t care it works great for me, it was exactly what I wanted and thats why I mained Guardian and not Warrior (I also didn’t like the GS skills on Warrior as much as I like them on Guard).

Not to be combative, but IMO the only must for WvW is high Vigor uptime and either Swiftness or access to a lot of mobility. AH is optional. You really don’t need it. The Valor line, with the exception of Strength in Numbers (and I guess you can make an argument for the mace trait too), is completely selfish and not supportive at all. It’s introverted, compared to Honor and Virtue’s extroversion. Virtues especially brings so much more to the table than Valor in terms of support.