Guild Wars 2

New Guardian Bow Specialization
http://en.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2vu3po/speculation_guardians_get_some_sort_of_bow/col6ysd

Say hello to our new Specialization which we dont have a name for yet.

But in the above link we see the Guardian with a Bow.

What sort of skills, traits, and mechanics you would like in a new bow fighter guardian?

I hope there is one called “shoot myself”. Frikking bow ><

Seemed logical. I find it hard to call Scepter a legit ranged weapon. i think it could be fun.

Obtena.7952:

I hope there is one called “shoot myself”. Frikking bow ><

What were you expecting… daggers ?

Here’s hoping it’s an offensive spec with some CC & that the arrows aren’t slow as all hell.

Hexalot.8194:

Obtena.7952:

I hope there is one called “shoot myself”. Frikking bow ><

What were you expecting… daggers ?

Daggers no

Main hand axe & or offhand warhorn could easily work though

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Hexalot.8194:

Obtena.7952:

I hope there is one called “shoot myself”. Frikking bow ><

What were you expecting… daggers ?

Daggers no

Main hand axe & or offhand warhorn could easily work though

Hold the kittening phone. You think warhorn would be more exciting than bow..?

My synopsis.
It’s not going to be offensive. Well, not more offensive than our other main hand weapons. It’ll be more of a utility weapon with a range of 900, with one skill being 1200.

It’ll play like a staff+GS but faster than both. Not as much damage as GS. Not as much supportive as Staff. It’ll be a middle point between the two. It’ll likely have 1 pull skill and 1 fire skill.

After thinking about it… I think I’d prefer a rapid fire duel pistols… or a slow shot, huge damage 1200 ranged rifle gun that could support allies with bullets.
Or the bow having that effect… idk I just want something a little more crazy and outside the box.

I love that there’s always the wrong QQ that get’s to the Dev’s attention. Why the hell would you improve upon the weakness and not on the strength of a profession is mind blowing to me. Like there’s not enough LB warriors and rangers running around.

I just hope the specialization name is not going to have anything to do with Zeal/Zealot. At least this.

i thought we would get warhorns with all the " i opened a exotic guardian box and got a warhorn" reports?

https://archive.moe/vg/thread/37561461/#37655720
It’s fairly likely that the longbow is going to have those skills (with modifications, the leak is old after all). The leak is very convincing. In fact, you might wanna put it in the opening post Knighthonor.

creepmatic.9435:

I love that there’s always the wrong QQ that get’s to the Dev’s attention. Why the hell would you improve upon the weakness and not on the strength of a profession is mind blowing to me. Like there’s not enough LB warriors and rangers running around.

Because a specialization isn’t supposed to be an upgrade, it’s supposed to be an alternative. Currently, despite being the support profession, guardians lack a long-ranged support weapon (or any proper long-ranged weapon really).
Why would you assume that LB guardians are going to be anything like LB rangers or LB warriors? Judging by the leaked skills, it’s going to be nothing like the other longbows. At the moment there is no weapon in the game which primarily provides direct support to allies from a long range, nor is there a weapon as selfless as this (2 out of 3 of its heals don’t even affect the user). The fact that it switches between DPS/offensive support and healing/defensive support also appeals to a lot of different people, and allows one to build for the longbow in interesting ways. The new longbow is awesome and I was hoping ANet would make it exactly like this.

Fashion Mage.3712:

https://archive.moe/vg/thread/37561461/#37655720
It’s fairly likely that the longbow is going to have those skills (with modifications, the leak is old after all). The leak is very convincing. In fact, you might wanna put it in the opening post Knighthonor.

creepmatic.9435:

I love that there’s always the wrong QQ that get’s to the Dev’s attention. Why the hell would you improve upon the weakness and not on the strength of a profession is mind blowing to me. Like there’s not enough LB warriors and rangers running around.

Because a specialization isn’t supposed to be an upgrade, it’s supposed to be an alternative. Currently, despite being the support profession, guardians lack a long-ranged support weapon (or any proper long-ranged weapon really).
Why would you assume that LB guardians are going to be anything like LB rangers or LB warriors? Judging by the leaked skills, it’s going to be nothing like the other longbows. At the moment there is no weapon in the game which primarily provides direct support to allies from a long range, nor is there a weapon as selfless as this (2 out of 3 of its heals don’t even affect the user). The fact that it switches between DPS/offensive support and healing/defensive support also appeals to a lot of different people, and allows one to build for the longbow in interesting ways. The new longbow is awesome and I was hoping ANet would make it exactly like this.

That leak is way too old to be considered relevant.

YuiRS.8129:

That leak is way too old to be considered relevant.

The same guy got the engi hammer auto-attack correct, so this seems like the most reliable source to go on. They may have changed it significantly, but it’s certainly better than baseless speculation.

Fashion Mage.3712:

YuiRS.8129:

That leak is way too old to be considered relevant.

The same guy got the engi hammer auto-attack correct, so this seems like the most reliable source to go on. They may have changed it significantly, but it’s certainly better than baseless speculation.

I wasn’t aware he actually guessed something. Although, Engineer and Hammer were quite easy to guess, if you ask me, they go together well.

The whole “DPS/Support” stance thing just seems improbable.

YuiRS.8129:

I wasn’t aware he actually guessed something. Although, Engineer and Hammer were quite easy to guess, if you ask me, they go together well.

If he had just guessed that engis got hammers then I wouldn’t view it reliably either, but the auto-attack he described for the engi’s hammer sounds pretty much exactly like what was shown in the trailer:

http://youtu.be/IOUk2y0K2m8?t=1m40s

1. (A)Friction Swing – Swing your hammer and gather heat.
(B)Heated Swing – Swing your hammer again, gathering more heat.
©Blasting Cap – Smash the super heated hammer into the ground, detonating the blasting cap on its tip.
2. Nerve Sap – Spin and leech speed, crippling nearby foes. Gain swiftness for each foe hit.
3. Sonic Uppercut – Swing your hammer, launching a sonic wave in a line that launches foes back towards you.
4. Rocket Rush – Slide forward and collide with your target, leaving behind a line of fire that burns foes. Immobilizes on impact.
5. Surgical Strike – Point and drop an explosive rocket on the target area.

I’m not sold on the stances as our new F-key mechanic, but I guess it makes sense. Not sure what I was expecting, but just the idea of how a long bow will change the entire way our class is supposed to “feel” doesn’t get me very excited. Guardian already has access to a lot of weapons, so I guess the options are sort of limited. As will be the case for Warrior.

Anything new on guardian intrigues me after this long, and a Bowguard might just be fun with it’s ranged mechanics to play with.

MidnightSun.7964:

I’m not sold on the stances as our new F-key mechanic, but I guess it makes sense.

We don’t know anything about the specialization’s new F-key mechanic. We only know that the longbow will have a stance change mechanic (assuming the devs haven’t changed it since 2013).

If it is true that our new mechanic is stances then that’s awesome to me. Virtues by nature(signets) are very boring so having something similar to Elementalists(attunements) begs for a more active(and fun) role.

Arken.3725:

If it is true that our new mechanic is stances then that’s awesome to me. Virtues by nature(signets) are very boring so having something similar to Elementalists(attunements) begs for a more active(and fun) role.

I’m not sure why the virtues get so much hate. When properly traited the virtues are pretty awesome. Anyways, I am excited at the possibility of a new mechanic and using the longbow. Hoping we get some actual information about class specialization soon.

Drennon.7190:

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Hexalot.8194:

Obtena.7952:

I hope there is one called “shoot myself”. Frikking bow ><

What were you expecting… daggers ?

Daggers no

Main hand axe & or offhand warhorn could easily work though

Hold the kittening phone. You think warhorn would be more exciting than bow..?

I didn’t see him say ‘exciting’. For me, the axe/warhorn combination is the most interesting option we could get. Rallying allies around you with the horn makes alot of sense conceptually. More ranged weapons do not, as explained numerous times and reinforced by Anet’s own thinking. Not saying that can’t change but, personally, it’s not all that interesting and it’s not the ultimate solution people think it might be for the things that ail Guardians in WvW/PVP.

Tron.3471:

Arken.3725:

If it is true that our new mechanic is stances then that’s awesome to me. Virtues by nature(signets) are very boring so having something similar to Elementalists(attunements) begs for a more active(and fun) role.

I’m not sure why the virtues get so much hate. When properly traited the virtues are pretty awesome. Anyways, I am excited at the possibility of a new mechanic and using the longbow. Hoping we get some actual information about class specialization soon.

Here are my issue’s with Virtues atm.

1. Incredibly long CD’s on their actives which, to me, don’t provide enough benefit unless you trait FULLY into Virtues.

2. The passive’s are terrible. Virtue’s are inherently signets and yet if you took away the passives on at least Courage/Resolve, I probably wouldn’t notice.

3. The benefits given are boring/uninteresting at best that don’t allow for more active-play.

Again, these are my opinions.

Edit: I am honestly hoping it would be like an offensive(justice), defensive(courage) and support(resolve) type of change for stances.

Arken.3725:

Tron.3471:

Arken.3725:

If it is true that our new mechanic is stances then that’s awesome to me. Virtues by nature(signets) are very boring so having something similar to Elementalists(attunements) begs for a more active(and fun) role.

I’m not sure why the virtues get so much hate. When properly traited the virtues are pretty awesome. Anyways, I am excited at the possibility of a new mechanic and using the longbow. Hoping we get some actual information about class specialization soon.

Here are my issue’s with Virtues atm.

1. Incredibly long CD’s on their actives which, to me, don’t provide enough benefit unless you trait FULLY into Virtues.

2. The passive’s are terrible. Virtue’s are inherently signets and yet if you took away the passives on at least Courage/Resolve, I probably wouldn’t notice.

3. The benefits given are boring/uninteresting at best that don’t allow for more active-play.

Again, these are my opinions.

Edit: I am honestly hoping it would be like an offensive(justice), defensive(courage) and support(resolve) type of change for stances.

Honestly, I kind of have to agree with this. VoJ is good, but both VoR and VoC suffer from high cooldowns and lackluster passive abilities. Renewed Focus aside, the only way to really make them effective is if you trait 6 into Virtues, but it’s kind of silly that you have to fully invest into a class mechanic to make it viable. Even a mesmer’s distortion shatter, which grants complete invulnerability for up to 3 seconds, is only on a 60 second base cooldown.

Guys you have to actually read the post the guy made before making claims about the stances aha
clearly the 5th skill on longbow is the way you switch between stances, its obvious that you’ll only be able to switch between stances while in longbow and it will only have an effect on the skills available to you in longbow

kitten.1685:

Guys you have to actually read the post the guy made before making claims about the stances aha
clearly the 5th skill on longbow is the way you switch between stances, its obvious that you’ll only be able to switch between stances while in longbow and it will only have an effect on the skills available to you in longbow

It would be awesome if it was anything like that. That would be a change of pace for the guardian. I’m curious what the CD would be on switching stances. Probably 30s? Guardians aren’t fast paced fighters like Ele’s Attunement switching or Engi kits.

Saiyan.1704:

kitten.1685:

Guys you have to actually read the post the guy made before making claims about the stances aha
clearly the 5th skill on longbow is the way you switch between stances, its obvious that you’ll only be able to switch between stances while in longbow and it will only have an effect on the skills available to you in longbow

It would be awesome if it was anything like that. That would be a change of pace for the guardian. I’m curious what the CD would be on switching stances. Probably 30s? Guardians aren’t fast paced fighters like Ele’s Attunement switching or Engi kits.

I suspect it will be either 1s or 5s (half the weapon swap cd). It seems like they want you to switch between the skills often otherwise there would be no real point in there being a 5 skill that changes stances, youw ould just make the skills scale with healing power and power so that your build will just make them more dps/support.

kitten.1685:

Saiyan.1704:

kitten.1685:

Guys you have to actually read the post the guy made before making claims about the stances aha
clearly the 5th skill on longbow is the way you switch between stances, its obvious that you’ll only be able to switch between stances while in longbow and it will only have an effect on the skills available to you in longbow

It would be awesome if it was anything like that. That would be a change of pace for the guardian. I’m curious what the CD would be on switching stances. Probably 30s? Guardians aren’t fast paced fighters like Ele’s Attunement switching or Engi kits.

I suspect it will be either 1s or 5s (half the weapon swap cd). It seems like they want you to switch between the skills often otherwise there would be no real point in there being a 5 skill that changes stances, youw ould just make the skills scale with healing power and power so that your build will just make them more dps/support.

Yea that makes sense o_o
It better sync well with F1 or burns just saying!

kitten.1685:

Guys you have to actually read the post the guy made before making claims about the stances aha
clearly the 5th skill on longbow is the way you switch between stances, its obvious that you’ll only be able to switch between stances while in longbow and it will only have an effect on the skills available to you in longbow

Here are the skills they have listed:

1. Puncture Shot (DPS Stance) – Fire an arrow which pierces enemies, damaging them and causing vulnerability.
1. Puncture Shot (Support Stance) – Fire an arrow which pierces enemies. When the arrow passes through an ally it will heal them for a small amount.
2. Light Arrow (DPS Stance) – Charge up energy, creating a powerful attack which pierces through enemies.
2. Light Arrow (Support Stance) – Charge up energy coating your arrow with light, causing it to heal allies which it passes through.
3. Symbol of Battle (DPS Stance) – Fire a slow arcing arrow which explodes on impact, burning targets and searing a symbol of battle into the ground.
3. Symbol of Battle (Support Stance) – Fire a slow arcing arrow which explodes on impact, healing allies and searing a symbol of energy into the ground.
4. Protector’s Chain (DPS Stance) – Fire an arrow attached with a chain of light. The chain will attach itself to the target, pulling in and crippling other nearby enemies.
4. Protector’s Chain (Support Stance) – Fire an arrow attached with a chain of light. The chain will attach itself to the target, knocking back and crippling other nearby enemies.
5. Zealot’s Retribution Stance – Zealot’s Retribution Stance changes your weapon skills to damage and debuff enemies.
5. Protector’s Light Stance – Your longbow skills focus on supporting and aiding allies.

Still rooting for an axe even tho the chance is extremely unlikely :l

Obtena.7952:

For me, the axe/warhorn combination is the most interesting option we could get. Rallying allies around you with the horn makes alot of sense conceptually.

So in other words, it’d just be more of the same: close-range with some support. Doesn’t sound interesting to me, especially considering that there are numerous other weapons which do that.
The point of the specialization isn’t to upgrade the class or provide more of the same. The point is to provide something a bit different yet still fit in thematically. A guardian spamming healing arrows, and directly supporting his/her allies (offensively or defensively) from a distance is just that.

I wanted a bow but would be happy with anything that adds synergy.

The current skill set that we see here is absolutely mind-blowing to me. Switching stances? Colour me an Elementalist! I can now do what they do by switching into Support Stance, healing myself with Symbol of Energy and rolling back into the fight like a pro!

I’ll be playing Revie at EGX but man, I feel like I have to try everything!!!!

If these skills are accurate then Longbow is going to be the new meta. Pure speculation of course but considering the abilities, it far outweighs our current range. I’d just like to see damage modifiers.

Those skills seem to fit guardian – not shooting million arrows but one meaningful and powerful. I’m only worried about healing, because if one skill’s purpose is to heal allies then it has to be really powerful healing to be useful. Stances = more skills to use, so we might not be so dependent on utility skills’ CDs as it’s now. On the other hand if it’s bow coming then we won’t see new bunkering options, but I might be wrong. Seems to me that guardian is going to get some more active playstyle, which is good. Or eventually it’s going to be more challenging to master it.

But for me it’s not so much about skills we are getting, but rather meta, which I want to be changed. I wish for more balance. I do really hope not only will they add specialization system, but also some more serious changes to current classes will happen.

Sorry for my poor English.

Black Box.9312:

Arken.3725:

Tron.3471:

Arken.3725:

If it is true that our new mechanic is stances then that’s awesome to me. Virtues by nature(signets) are very boring so having something similar to Elementalists(attunements) begs for a more active(and fun) role.

I’m not sure why the virtues get so much hate. When properly traited the virtues are pretty awesome. Anyways, I am excited at the possibility of a new mechanic and using the longbow. Hoping we get some actual information about class specialization soon.

Here are my issue’s with Virtues atm.

1. Incredibly long CD’s on their actives which, to me, don’t provide enough benefit unless you trait FULLY into Virtues.

2. The passive’s are terrible. Virtue’s are inherently signets and yet if you took away the passives on at least Courage/Resolve, I probably wouldn’t notice.

3. The benefits given are boring/uninteresting at best that don’t allow for more active-play.

Again, these are my opinions.

Edit: I am honestly hoping it would be like an offensive(justice), defensive(courage) and support(resolve) type of change for stances.

Honestly, I kind of have to agree with this. VoJ is good, but both VoR and VoC suffer from high cooldowns and lackluster passive abilities. Renewed Focus aside, the only way to really make them effective is if you trait 6 into Virtues, but it’s kind of silly that you have to fully invest into a class mechanic to make it viable. Even a mesmer’s distortion shatter, which grants complete invulnerability for up to 3 seconds, is only on a 60 second base cooldown.

This brings back a point I made long ago that Guardian(and Ranger) are the only ones who have to spec heavily for their respective elite to work decently.

A ranged, high AoE/piercing longbow with flexibility of being DPS or Support is crazy good.

But it’s a bit sad that all the condition-related DPS options are being ignored (why can’t symbols stance-changed to be condition givers?). Hopefully, the alpha testers are giving feedback on this area.

Arken.3725:

Black Box.9312:

Arken.3725:

Tron.3471:

Arken.3725:

If it is true that our new mechanic is stances then that’s awesome to me. Virtues by nature(signets) are very boring so having something similar to Elementalists(attunements) begs for a more active(and fun) role.

I’m not sure why the virtues get so much hate. When properly traited the virtues are pretty awesome. Anyways, I am excited at the possibility of a new mechanic and using the longbow. Hoping we get some actual information about class specialization soon.

Here are my issue’s with Virtues atm.

1. Incredibly long CD’s on their actives which, to me, don’t provide enough benefit unless you trait FULLY into Virtues.

2. The passive’s are terrible. Virtue’s are inherently signets and yet if you took away the passives on at least Courage/Resolve, I probably wouldn’t notice.

3. The benefits given are boring/uninteresting at best that don’t allow for more active-play.

Again, these are my opinions.

Edit: I am honestly hoping it would be like an offensive(justice), defensive(courage) and support(resolve) type of change for stances.

Honestly, I kind of have to agree with this. VoJ is good, but both VoR and VoC suffer from high cooldowns and lackluster passive abilities. Renewed Focus aside, the only way to really make them effective is if you trait 6 into Virtues, but it’s kind of silly that you have to fully invest into a class mechanic to make it viable. Even a mesmer’s distortion shatter, which grants complete invulnerability for up to 3 seconds, is only on a 60 second base cooldown.

This brings back a point I made long ago that Guardian(and Ranger) are the only ones who have to spec heavily for their respective elite to work decently.

Rampage as One works great out of the box and doesn’t even have any direct traits to support it (there are a couple of synergistic traits Rangers have with the correct pet setup). Rangers also get a 60s Entangle that just gets better and better with traits especially SotF.

The problem with Guardian Elites is simple, the cooldowns are all too long (even Renewed Focus should be 60s base) for what they do.

Artaz.3819:

Arken.3725:

Black Box.9312:

Arken.3725:

Tron.3471:

Arken.3725:

If it is true that our new mechanic is stances then that’s awesome to me. Virtues by nature(signets) are very boring so having something similar to Elementalists(attunements) begs for a more active(and fun) role.

I’m not sure why the virtues get so much hate. When properly traited the virtues are pretty awesome. Anyways, I am excited at the possibility of a new mechanic and using the longbow. Hoping we get some actual information about class specialization soon.

Here are my issue’s with Virtues atm.

1. Incredibly long CD’s on their actives which, to me, don’t provide enough benefit unless you trait FULLY into Virtues.

2. The passive’s are terrible. Virtue’s are inherently signets and yet if you took away the passives on at least Courage/Resolve, I probably wouldn’t notice.

3. The benefits given are boring/uninteresting at best that don’t allow for more active-play.

Again, these are my opinions.

Edit: I am honestly hoping it would be like an offensive(justice), defensive(courage) and support(resolve) type of change for stances.

Honestly, I kind of have to agree with this. VoJ is good, but both VoR and VoC suffer from high cooldowns and lackluster passive abilities. Renewed Focus aside, the only way to really make them effective is if you trait 6 into Virtues, but it’s kind of silly that you have to fully invest into a class mechanic to make it viable. Even a mesmer’s distortion shatter, which grants complete invulnerability for up to 3 seconds, is only on a 60 second base cooldown.

This brings back a point I made long ago that Guardian(and Ranger) are the only ones who have to spec heavily for their respective elite to work decently.

Rampage as One works great out of the box and doesn’t even have any direct traits to support it (there are a couple of synergistic traits Rangers have with the correct pet setup). Rangers also get a 60s Entangle that just gets better and better with traits especially SotF.

The problem with Guardian Elites is simple, the cooldowns are all too long (even Renewed Focus should be 60s base) for what they do.

It’s interesting because you could compare similar invulnerabilities and still find some of them to be superior in nature(Obsidian flesh being one) without sacrificing their elite slot.

@Fashion Mage

Assuming those skills are the ones that our LB will receive, just a try hard poor version IMO of what the other classes can already do without specializing LOL.

Staff ele, Necro, Ranger already covers our LB skills and then some.

I’m sorry, If you want LB on guard just for the sake of having range “support”. C’mmon?

Can’t wait to see LB guards in dungeons…

creepmatic.9435:

@Fashion Mage

Assuming those skills are the ones that our LB will receive, just a try hard poor version IMO of what the other classes can already do without specializing LOL.

Staff ele, Necro, Ranger already covers our LB skills and then some.

I’m sorry, If you want LB on guard just for the sake of having range “support”. C’mmon?

Can’t wait to see LB guards in dungeons…

What makes it a “try hard poor version” of other weapons exactly? Is there any reason why guardians should be able to do what other classes can do without specialization?

I fail to see how the longbow listed here is similar to anything the necro can do and I fail to see how it’s even similar to the ranger’s longbow. If you’re comparing it to the necro’s staff, I’m not even going to bother wasting the energy arguing about that, because they’re not similar in the slightest. As for the ranger’s longbow, it’s a single-target long-ranged DPS weapon which pretty much offers 0 support. The guardian’s longbow listed here offers support even in its offensive stance.
I can agree that the support stance is somewhat like the water attunement on the staff, even though that attunement is usually just used for bunkering in sPvP, whereas the longbow listed here seems more focused on healing allies specifically and can only heal the user with one of its skills (Symbol of Energy). The support stance on this longbow also seems more focused on healing than even the water staff.

It’s certainly not the only reason I want it, but that reason really is enough. The range restrictions placed on guardians have always annoyed me and I’ve never agreed with them; I’ll gladly trade away whatever I need to in order to use this specialization and gain some ranged potency. If you think that reason is ridiculous, then what do you want, and what are your reasons?

I’m talking about roles mainly not skill copying which comes in different forms.
You want AoE range healing? Can’t beat staff ele, even necro can with wells.
Range CC? LB Ranger, Staff Ele, Staff Necro
Range pull? Necro, Engie, Thief
Range DPS? Staff Ele, Ranger, Necro
Range vuln? Engie

See where i’m trying to get at? It’s not that the weapon is similar, it’s the role of the LB guardian (“role” being the keyword)

It will just become a niche weapon, like the shield, with lost identity struggling to be both DPS and healing resulting once again in our profession getting the middle finger.

Don’t get me wrong, I hope it’s really good, but I’ve seen what “big changes” we got in those years of “balance patches”.

~Death into Life pls

Honestly not enough info to really speculate how this can play out, obviously it seems like theyre just going for more celestial viable builds (how we can support and do dmg at the same time). But we really need to see modifiers and traits before we can say anything..

Fashion Mage.3712:

Obtena.7952:

For me, the axe/warhorn combination is the most interesting option we could get. Rallying allies around you with the horn makes alot of sense conceptually.

So in other words, it’d just be more of the same: close-range with some support. Doesn’t sound interesting to me, especially considering that there are numerous other weapons which do that.
The point of the specialization isn’t to upgrade the class or provide more of the same. The point is to provide something a bit different yet still fit in thematically. A guardian spamming healing arrows, and directly supporting his/her allies (offensively or defensively) from a distance is just that.

You don’t know what it do, so how can you conclude it doesn’t sound interesting or it would be similar to what we already have simply based on the idea that they are melee weapons? That’s a pretty big stretch in logic.

On the other hand, I feel axe or warhorn is interesting because it sticks with the concept of the class and reinforces it. I don’t want to see Anet try and bolster a poorly supported and out-of-concept idea for the class. Anet already indicated why the concept doesn’t include a strong ranged component to begin with. I agree and I think changing that would just make the class lose some identity.

Obtena.7952:

On the other hand, I feel axe or warhorn is interesting because it sticks with the concept of the class and reinforces it.

Warhorns suit guardians, but axes don’t suit guardians at all really. I don’t think it’s that hard to imagine what either of those would do on a guardian either. Warhorn skills would probably just be weapon equivalents of shouts (more of the same), and axe skills would be close-ranged DPS abilities (more of the same) or condition abilities (so guardians would get bleeding or something).

As far as I know, guardians don’t have strong ranged capabilities because a range restriction was placed upon them for thematic reasons. From the looks of things, that restriction is being removed by the specialization. Considering that guardians are based heavily on monks, I never agreed with that restriction either. I would imagine the new specialization is focusing more on the monk-y parts of the guardian.

Maybe, but I do know that bow doesn’t fit the concept at all. You can imagine many things that axe, warhorn or bows could do. I don’t see how any of that makes a convincing argument that one is more interesting than the other.

On the other hand, the argument that a weapon may fit the concept or enhance the melee landscape the Guardian fills is a much more compelling reason to think it’s interesting. The ranged capability is missing from the Guardian toolset because Anet wants Guardians to be ‘first in, last out’ and ‘leading the charge’. It’s got nothing to do with a thematic reasoning; it’s completely based on the class concept that Anet wants the class to follow.

Obtena.7952:

Maybe, but I do know that bow doesn’t fit the concept at all.

Yes GS fits mesmers so well,shield as well,Revenants are getting ranged hammer. Don’t limit your imagination LB has been forever asked. I feel like they are filling missing holes so the least expected but most wanted makes more sense.

You don’t get it … I’m not using my imagination because it’s not relevant. Bow is simply not based on the class concept that Anet has defined. It’s not relevant if people want it either. People wanted it 2 years ago and Anet came out with a definitive statement on why Guardians aren’t getting it.

Those example you provide fit those classes because Anet says they do, not because of preconceived notions of what players think. You’re examples actually reinforce my point; ANET decides, even if those decisions make you go “WUT?!”

Maybe Anet has changed their mind. I hope they don’t because giving Guardians bow would be as bad for the identity of the class now as it would have been last year when Anet explained why we shouldn’t get it.

so far all of the spirit weapons are weapons a guardian can wield, all except the bow. Maybe that is more of a reason that guardians are getting a bow. I can also imagine an aoe skill that places a symbol.

I just hope the bow is an offensive weapon with some CC. (stun/daze/knockdown/knockback etc…)

Heck even a hybrid physical/condi damage weapon with some CC would be great and new for guardians. (hopefully has some real AOE as well)

If it turns out to be a support/healy weapon however I and likely most of the guardian playerbase will be kittened. Guards already have enough of that & while not all of it works perfectly guards don’t need more of it.

I really hope not…

Out of everything we could have gotten… a freak’n bow…

We already have a Bow…. BOW OF TRUTH… and it’s lame! Don’t add to the lame’ness!

Phffffttt…. Bow Schmoe. I’m holding out hope for duel wield shields. Its dangerous to go out in WvW alone. My guard wants metal floaties.