Guild Wars 2

I personally think the staff for guardian sucks it shouldn’t be solely for support. The #1, 2, 3 skills are basically useless for damage. I also think when using Empower you shouldn’t have to be stationary to cast it you should be able to move around. Also the Line of Warding takes too long to cast.

Agree the only thing i use it for is swiftness.

Be able to move when using empower and #5 would be good.

Hmmm, nah I’ve killed a lot of people with it. The 1200 range, 2 second CD projectile is quite imba. Add the swiftness to catch up even faster to an enemy or god forbid closing his path with line of warding.

Now I’m not saying that line of warding is working right. I find it hillarious to see people walk through it after they bounce once. But at least I gained some distance, it makes me happy.

Agree about being able to move while using line of warding. Temporal Curtain is a much stronger skill and doesn’t require the caster to self root.

Staff is pretty much fine. Fix Wards so people can’t cross them so easily and I’ll be perfectly happy with it.

Move while casting Line of Warding is my only request. Being rooted for Empower is fair as it gives such a large buff and heals at the end as well.

Oh and they fix symbols to work when you already have the buff. They’d need to figure out some way to not have the symbol apply the buff more than once though.

The staff is only useful if your a full support guardian…otherwise its complete crap in my opinion.

Ravenmoon.5318:

Hmmm, nah I’ve killed a lot of people with it. The 1200 range.

is that so? and what pray tell did you kill them with? orb of light? or did they stand in your swiftness mark until they died?

i agree the staff 1 could use a buff, and line of warding cast is pretty long. staff 4 however is an amazing skill.

Cast Empower, Symbol as you run in, switch to GS.

Works just fine.

The staff has always suffered from wanting to do a bunch of things that aren’t really cohesive. As a result, it ends up in a a few niche rolls that play to part of its strengths and ignore the rest. If you’re not building around the staff, it’s pretty awful as a combat weapon. Some people just don’t like the staff playstyle.

Never had a problem with the staff. It crits for over 1k with my build. Which is decent for a spamming AoE range attack. Orb of Light is a bit hit or miss. Symbol of Swiftness does exactly was it’s suppose to. Empower is amazing.

I agree with Heinel, casting Line of Warding while moving would be nice.

Yeah sure it’s still more for support, but it does decent dmg with the right build.

1k damage isn’t great when your actually trying to kill someone in WvW, also the range of the staff 1 is basically melee range. Empower would be a good skill if you could move…dunno why you wouldn’t be able to move when using it.

Exedore.6320:

The staff has always suffered from wanting to do a bunch of things that aren’t really cohesive. As a result, it ends up in a a few niche rolls that play to part of its strengths and ignore the rest. If you’re not building around the staff, it’s pretty awful as a combat weapon. Some people just don’t like the staff playstyle.

I don’t really know what you mean by you first sentence, therefore, I must disagree.

And everything else you said…..could be said for almost all other weapons in game

Harbinger.8637:

Never had a problem with the staff. It crits for over 1k with my build. Which is decent for a spamming AoE range attack. Orb of Light is a bit hit or miss. Symbol of Swiftness does exactly was it’s suppose to. Empower is amazing.

I agree with Heinel, casting Line of Warding while moving would be nice.

Yeah sure it’s still more for support, but it does decent dmg with the right build.

A whole 1k damage at level 80!?!?!one no way! My warriors auto attacks are hitting for 3.5k…
Ha but seriously the damage is weak as hell, if they are going to make this a support weapon and make the damage suffer because of it, then It needs to be a whole lot better at doing that. Need to be able to move while casting line of warding, symbol of swiftness, should be a longer duration (doesn’t have to be a lot). The auto attack should have some effect to it (if we are sacrificing damage we should get some utility on the auto attack) like giving a boon, or crippling, or remove boons, or just make it hit harder. The orb I feel should have some AOE to it, or apply some condition if it is/is not detonated depending on how the community feels (something for utility).

Or just make the weapon, a weapon, and not suck at doing damage, either or.

Staff #1 needs: Shoots in a cone rather than a flat line; either 5% damage boost or 200 range increase
Staff #2 needs: Fix bug of shooting, not detting it and having it stuck for like 15 seconds
Staff #3 needs: Actual speed boost when you lay it down, no missing and running over several times; fix stacking and resetting bug for speed boost
Staff #4 needs: Either buff it was supposed to get last patch or ability to move while casting
Staff #5 needs: Allowed to move while casting or faster cast time without moving

Of course none of these things will be done.

BlueprintLFE.2358:

Harbinger.8637:

Never had a problem with the staff. It crits for over 1k with my build. Which is decent for a spamming AoE range attack. Orb of Light is a bit hit or miss. Symbol of Swiftness does exactly was it’s suppose to. Empower is amazing.

I agree with Heinel, casting Line of Warding while moving would be nice.

Yeah sure it’s still more for support, but it does decent dmg with the right build.

A whole 1k damage at level 80!?!?!one no way! My warriors auto attacks are hitting for 3.5k…

guardian dps is not even half of what warrs can do. there’s no comparing them.

vespers.1759:

BlueprintLFE.2358:

Harbinger.8637:

Never had a problem with the staff. It crits for over 1k with my build. Which is decent for a spamming AoE range attack. Orb of Light is a bit hit or miss. Symbol of Swiftness does exactly was it’s suppose to. Empower is amazing.

I agree with Heinel, casting Line of Warding while moving would be nice.

Yeah sure it’s still more for support, but it does decent dmg with the right build.

A whole 1k damage at level 80!?!?!one no way! My warriors auto attacks are hitting for 3.5k…

guardian dps is not even half of what warrs can do. there’s no comparing them.

I know, I was just joking as people thinking 1k damage is good/acceptable it’s not really :/ I understand AOES need to do less damage, but I feel it should be made into a chain with some benefit if they are going to keep the damage so low.

JaNordy.6149:

Actual speed boost when you lay it down, no missing and running over several times; fix stacking and resetting bug for speed boost

Being unable to get more Swiftness when you run over it with Swiftness already applied is intended. Otherwise, you could run back and forth over it per tick and get ridiculous amounts of Swiftness, and it would be incredibly overpowered in comparison to skills like Retreat which aren’t GTAoE but have the capacity to add swiftness.

Although the resetting bug needs to be fixed.

Alarox.4590:

JaNordy.6149:

Actual speed boost when you lay it down, no missing and running over several times; fix stacking and resetting bug for speed boost

Being unable to get more Swiftness when you run over it with Swiftness already applied is intended. Otherwise, you could run back and forth over it per tick and get ridiculous amounts of Swiftness, and it would be incredibly overpowered in comparison to skills like Retreat which aren’t GTAoE but have the capacity to add swiftness.

Although the resetting bug needs to be fixed.

You must be misunderstanding what I said. There is a problem where you lay down Staff 3 and go run over it, and nothing happens. You gotta run back over it to even get buff working. Then another problem, when you have speed already applied and you used Staff 3, it does not add that properly to current duration. There is then also the bug that resets speed, say 20 secs of swiftness, use Staff 3, suddenly your swiftness hits 2 second mark and just vanishes.

JaNordy.6149:

Alarox.4590:

JaNordy.6149:

Actual speed boost when you lay it down, no missing and running over several times; fix stacking and resetting bug for speed boost

Being unable to get more Swiftness when you run over it with Swiftness already applied is intended. Otherwise, you could run back and forth over it per tick and get ridiculous amounts of Swiftness, and it would be incredibly overpowered in comparison to skills like Retreat which aren’t GTAoE but have the capacity to add swiftness.

Although the resetting bug needs to be fixed.

You must be misunderstanding what I said. There is a problem where you lay down Staff 3 and go run over it, and nothing happens. You gotta run back over it to even get buff working. Then another problem, when you have speed already applied and you used Staff 3, it does not add that properly to current duration. There is then also the bug that resets speed, say 20 secs of swiftness, use Staff 3, suddenly your swiftness hits 2 second mark and just vanishes.

I understand what you’re saying perfectly fine.

Your first problem is that you’re stepping on it between pulses. Your second problem is not a bug, it’s an intended aspect of GTAoE abilities that apply boons. Your third problem is an actual bug that needs to be fixed.

vespers.1759:

BlueprintLFE.2358:

Harbinger.8637:

Never had a problem with the staff. It crits for over 1k with my build. Which is decent for a spamming AoE range attack. Orb of Light is a bit hit or miss. Symbol of Swiftness does exactly was it’s suppose to. Empower is amazing.

I agree with Heinel, casting Line of Warding while moving would be nice.

Yeah sure it’s still more for support, but it does decent dmg with the right build.

A whole 1k damage at level 80!?!?!one no way! My warriors auto attacks are hitting for 3.5k…

guardian dps is not even half of what warrs can do. there’s no comparing them.

Guardian and Warriors are of the same profession (Soldiers) so they’re supposed to be compared to each other. Because of that I think guardians should get 2 decent ranged weapons that actually can do damage, like the warrior.

Guardians have a lot more dps than ppl seem to know. Maybe this is because most guardians do not often go full dps. But hammer/GS does insane damage.

Look at this video if you want to see it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdJgVZ4eAUQ

(It’s not my video btw)

Zumos.2056:

Guardians have a lot more dps than ppl seem to know. Maybe this is because most guardians do not often go full dps. But hammer/GS does insane damage.

Look at this video if you want to see it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdJgVZ4eAUQ

(It’s not my video btw)

Warrior still does significantly more damage.

Go out to the target dummies in the Mists in full berserker gear with both classes and the difference is huge, though it’s pretty much all due to 100 blades.

I love staff with scepter shield when I’m running with a keep taking crew. Staff 1 will go through doors, so I charge up with 4 like some kind of Saiyan, then hit 1 through the gate for massive damage. It’s also great for zerg support even in the open field. You can put out a ton of close range ae damage with 1 and finish someone off low with 2 on a crit. Then ae dps with speed on 3. 5 for blocking retreat or them getting into their sally port. It’s a pretty good weapon in my opinion.

Alarox.4590:

JaNordy.6149:

Alarox.4590:

JaNordy.6149:

Actual speed boost when you lay it down, no missing and running over several times; fix stacking and resetting bug for speed boost

Being unable to get more Swiftness when you run over it with Swiftness already applied is intended. Otherwise, you could run back and forth over it per tick and get ridiculous amounts of Swiftness, and it would be incredibly overpowered in comparison to skills like Retreat which aren’t GTAoE but have the capacity to add swiftness.

Although the resetting bug needs to be fixed.

You must be misunderstanding what I said. There is a problem where you lay down Staff 3 and go run over it, and nothing happens. You gotta run back over it to even get buff working. Then another problem, when you have speed already applied and you used Staff 3, it does not add that properly to current duration. There is then also the bug that resets speed, say 20 secs of swiftness, use Staff 3, suddenly your swiftness hits 2 second mark and just vanishes.

I understand what you’re saying perfectly fine.

Your first problem is that you’re stepping on it between pulses. Your second problem is not a bug, it’s an intended aspect of GTAoE abilities that apply boons. Your third problem is an actual bug that needs to be fixed.

I did not know about the “pulses” and GTAoE not adding duration. Anet must have some awful coders then if the Staff 3 “pulses”. It might also explain why they intended for those not to stack. I mean why wouldnt they have it stack duration once. It sounds like lazy dev/coder work more than actual intended features.

Alarox.4590:

JaNordy.6149:

Alarox.4590:

JaNordy.6149:

Actual speed boost when you lay it down, no missing and running over several times; fix stacking and resetting bug for speed boost

Being unable to get more Swiftness when you run over it with Swiftness already applied is intended. Otherwise, you could run back and forth over it per tick and get ridiculous amounts of Swiftness, and it would be incredibly overpowered in comparison to skills like Retreat which aren’t GTAoE but have the capacity to add swiftness.

Although the resetting bug needs to be fixed.

You must be misunderstanding what I said. There is a problem where you lay down Staff 3 and go run over it, and nothing happens. You gotta run back over it to even get buff working. Then another problem, when you have speed already applied and you used Staff 3, it does not add that properly to current duration. There is then also the bug that resets speed, say 20 secs of swiftness, use Staff 3, suddenly your swiftness hits 2 second mark and just vanishes.

I understand what you’re saying perfectly fine.

Your first problem is that you’re stepping on it between pulses. Your second problem is not a bug, it’s an intended aspect of GTAoE abilities that apply boons. Your third problem is an actual bug that needs to be fixed.

You sure about that? The mace symbol applies 1s duration regen, so you’re saying it is completely worthless and doesn’t extend regen duration to people who already have it?

Vitu.3580:

Exedore.6320:

The staff has always suffered from wanting to do a bunch of things that aren’t really cohesive. As a result, it ends up in a a few niche rolls that play to part of its strengths and ignore the rest. If you’re not building around the staff, it’s pretty awful as a combat weapon. Some people just don’t like the staff playstyle.

I don’t really know what you mean by you first sentence, therefore, I must disagree.

And everything else you said…..could be said for almost all other weapons in game

The staff #1 is a weak AoE damage ability that is useless if you’re using it as support, but some builds that focus on damage have turned it into a great weapon. The #4 and #5 ability are great for support, but their stationary aspect hinders using the staff as a DPS weapon because they leave you vulnerable. Basically, it’s half support and half offense, but the same build can’t do both.

The staff symbol works differently from all the other weapon symbols. In the BWEs, the staff #3 used to work the same and pulsed a short duration swiftness every few seconds that was additive. However, since you’re generally moving when you want a swiftness boon, you’d end up only getting a few seconds of swiftness from the staff symbol, making it near worthless. To address that, ANet changed the staff symbol to apply the full duration, but due to game mechanic limitations, it doesn’t stack with other swiftness, just refreshes itself.

Exedore.6320:

The staff symbol works differently from all the other weapon symbols. In the BWEs, the staff #3 used to work the same and pulsed a short duration swiftness every few seconds that was additive. However, since you’re generally moving when you want a swiftness boon, you’d end up only getting a few seconds of swiftness from the staff symbol, making it near worthless. To address that, ANet changed the staff symbol to apply the full duration, but due to game mechanic limitations, it doesn’t stack with other swiftness, just refreshes itself.

All the more reason to delete that symbol and replace it with something else, then give us a viable swiftness utility alternative.

The biggest problem with staff is how often #1 misses if used while turning.
After that, need to make #5 Line of Warding stop dodges, etc (ditto for other classes movement restriction skills), and allow moving while casting #4 (3.5s of no movement for Empower is excessive) and #5.

Zenguy.6421:

The biggest problem with staff is how often #1 misses if used while turning.

Turn off melee assist and auto target and you will start to hit where you aim.

BlueprintLFE.2358:

I know, I was just joking as people thinking 1k damage is good/acceptable it’s not really :/ I understand AOES need to do less damage, but I feel it should be made into a chain with some benefit if they are going to keep the damage so low.

the problem is exacerbated by the fact that many of us using the staff are running heavy support builds. my staff #1 damage is closer to 500 than 1000.

I cannot understand why they do not want us doing damage with the staff. I especially cannot understand why they do not want me getting kill credit, which i seem to have trouble getting with my staff. You would think an AOE based auto-attack would be good at that but no, it isn’t. Maybe in berserker gear.. as if i’m going to run a glass cannon staff guardian!

tom.7468:

Agree the only thing i use it for is swiftness.

eh?

You mean you don’t use empower or auto for aoe?

Missing out on arguably the best parts of staff. Auto in a WvW zerg = badges out the whazzoo.

I’m about 70/30 dps/support, so I guess I can understand those running full support who don’t like it, but seriously if you are the least bit dps spec’d you should give it a try.

The Staff has been a problematic weapon since Beta and it only ever gotten minor tweaks that didn’t address the main problems.

The first problem is that the Staff has no internal theme, like the other weapons have. Other weapons have a clear niche (Aoe-Damage, Control, Defense…) but the Staff’s abilities don’t work together, at all. It has AoE-damage, control, defensive support, offensive support and all those different abilities have no internal synergy whatsoever.

The second problem is that the niche the Staff is supposed to fill is rather useless most of the time. The Staff is a support weapon, but going heavily into support isn’t really that good (sometimes it is, but most of the time it isn’t).

How would I change things? I have no idea, really. Redevelop it from scratch, maybe? Keep what works and change or replace what doesn’t and make sure the weapon has some internal synergy (giving it a projectile finisher might work).
The problem with doing an overhaul is that some players will have gotten used at the skills of the Staff and build a strategy out of it, and those are going to be annoyed.

somsom.5201:

tom.7468:

Agree the only thing i use it for is swiftness.

eh?

You mean you don’t use empower or auto for aoe?

Missing out on arguably the best parts of staff. Auto in a WvW zerg = badges out the whazzoo.

I’m about 70/30 dps/support, so I guess I can understand those running full support who don’t like it, but seriously if you are the least bit dps spec’d you should give it a try.

Spamming 1-2k damage with the staff’s auto attack isn’t considered dps. Empower and Line of Warding is flawed 3 seconds of no mobility just to finish of the skill is kind of stupid. The #2 skill does kind of bad damage and misses a good amount of the time because it moves to slowly (also don’t like the detonation). Most guardians I see only use it for the Symbol of Swiftness. All in all the staff is a bad weapon and it needs some work done on it

Staff is fine. Played as a guardian and only a guardian nearly every day multiple hours a day since the game was released. Staff is my favorite weapon to date. Empower is a very strong skill. Being able to use it and move would be op. Arenanet hit the nail on the head with staff like many other things.

If anything I’d say staff is closer to op than underpowered. Just because you personally don’t know how to use it, doesn’t make it weak.

I’ve been playing guardian since release too, doesn’t change the fact that the staff is flawed. If it wasn’t there wouldn’t be any complaints about it on this thread. So obviously you’re wrong.

FoopOplo.7914:

Staff is fine. Played as a guardian and only a guardian nearly every day multiple hours a day since the game was released. Staff is my favorite weapon to date. Empower is a very strong skill. Being able to use it and move would be op. Arenanet hit the nail on the head with staff like many other things.

If anything I’d say staff is closer to op than underpowered. Just because you personally don’t know how to use it, doesn’t make it weak.

Many people who say staff is no good not only play a guardian as main, but also have played many other classes and know where the actual benchmark is. You will only know whether something is good or bad when there’s something to compare it to.

I also think an ability like Empower should self root, if it should exist at all. Currently, Empower is likely balanced with Altruistic Healing in mind. It is a powerful self heal, also the quickest recharging self heal for the Guardian, as long as you’re in a group. Not bad for a support weapon you might think? Well, the staff is a support weapon for necros and mesmers too. But both of them can also use it as an effective solo weapon. They fit many different situations and battle scenarios. Not the case with the Guardian’s staff.

Part of the reasoning Anet gives for having skills tied in to weapons is so that there’s no way to choose wrong, unsynergistic skills (like is the case easily in GW1), this doesn’t apply to the staff at all. It not only requires AH and massed boon duration for a good build, but no doubt many has tried to come up with some sort of symbol builds around it only to get a gimped character in return. The rest of the bar is just a bunch of random whatevers.

Anet has themselves admitted in the beta forums that the staff and scepter were not “ideal” but they ran out of time so there needs to be some concessions. Back then, the staff was only used for Martyr. After they moved Martyr to the utility slots as Save Yourselves, they replace with yet another OP utility called Empower. Did the original problem got fixed? Not at all. Oh, and they also stealth nerfed the setup time of Line of Warding by making it ground targeted, so now not only do you need to wait for it to come out, but also spent a split second before to make sure it’s facing the right way.

Anyway, if anyone thinks the staff is adequate as a weapon choice, I’d really like to hear some solid justifications.

that number 2 skill need to be revamped. and Ward need a revamp to heal allies around it, and to actually stop enemies from crossing it.

Staff is a very situational weapon, it can be very useful in certain circumstances. E.g. keep defense/front line zerg fights in WvW, Dynamic events in PVE, and in PVP staff 1 is very useful against mesmers.
But I do agree that it needs more buff, Staff 2 is still bad even after speed buffs, Staff 5 sounds amazing but practically its long cast time kill this skill.

Ynna.8769:

The Staff has been a problematic weapon since Beta and it only ever gotten minor tweaks that didn’t address the main problems.

The first problem is that the Staff has no internal theme, like the other weapons have. Other weapons have a clear niche (Aoe-Damage, Control, Defense…) but the Staff’s abilities don’t work together, at all. It has AoE-damage, control, defensive support, offensive support and all those different abilities have no internal synergy whatsoever.

The second problem is that the niche the Staff is supposed to fill is rather useless most of the time. The Staff is a support weapon, but going heavily into support isn’t really that good (sometimes it is, but most of the time it isn’t).

How would I change things? I have no idea, really. Redevelop it from scratch, maybe? Keep what works and change or replace what doesn’t and make sure the weapon has some internal synergy (giving it a projectile finisher might work).
The problem with doing an overhaul is that some players will have gotten used at the skills of the Staff and build a strategy out of it, and those are going to be annoyed.

QFT.

I have my hopes high for staff and scepter total overhauls or tweaks with additional viable weapon added to this amazing profession.

Honestly the staff only has two purposes in its current state:

1) Protecting a keep in WvW. With LoW and moves that can go through doors, it’s very useful for that single rare instance.

2) Buff stick. Because, you know, it’s worth having a weapon slot taken for a temporary might and swiftness buff. Or you could just do what I do and drop in the empower and symbol before a big fight and switch it back to a real 2-hander.

Other than that, I find it to be one of the worst weapons. It’s #1 attack is only mid-range, non-combo and weak. #2 attack is also only a close range attack as you are never going to hit a long range target with that slow ball. RoW is 10 times better cc than LoW (casts faster, works in open fields as it blocks all sides, can still be used to block narrow areas, same cooldown). Symbol of Swiftness I find to be one of the weaker symbols (and multiple shouts grant swiftness). I just can’t think of a single reason other than my first one I listed you would EVER use staff over hammer or pretty much any other weapon.

Suggestions for changes to the staff skills:
1) Wave of Wrath: 10 to 25% buff in damage

2) Orb of Light: Add a slight homing. Make it take more than stepping to the side to avoid it’s damage.

3) Symbol of Swiftness: Have it also add vigor

4) Empower: No change. Plenty useful, and a no-moving cast is a balanced penalty for the buff.

5) Line of Warding: This is our tongue in cheek “You Shall Not Pass!” move. Sadly it’s quite easy to pass as stability ignores (something most bosses/champions haves as well as most PvPers), plus unless you’re on a narrow path… you just go around. Would like to have it punish people for trying to pass – burn or shock (or even holy/light? gasps) damage for passing through or bouncing off it. Sure, you can still go around, but it gives it purpose beyond extremely situational cc.

FoopOplo.7914:

Staff is fine. Played as a Guardian and only a Guardian nearly every day multiple hours a day since the game was released. Staff is my favorite weapon to date. Empower is a very strong skill. Being able to use it and move would be op. Arenanet hit the nail on the head with staff like many other things.

If anything I’d say staff is closer to overpowered than underpowered. Just because you personally don’t know how to use it, doesn’t make it weak.

I don’t think how much you played this profession matters. The Staff is an inferior weapon no matter how much experience you have with it. It’s not that it’s abilities are overly weak. Wave of Wrath is decent at doing mid-range AoE damage (but I’m rarely in situations where I’d actually want to do mid-range AoE damage), Orb of Light is pretty mediocre and has issues actually reaching the target. Symbol of Swiftness is fine, and I like a Symbol that I can target. Empower is okay at best, unless you use it with Altruistic Healing, in which case it goes towards the overpowered side, but not every Guardian who could benefit from a Staff uses Altruistic Healing. Line of Warding is awesome, but has a couple of effectiveness issues that all Wards have.

And I love how you say that the Staff is good when you use it properly, but never elaborate on how to use it properly.

Here’s how I’ve used it (effectively) so far:

• Paired with a Greatsword: Use Empower, switch to Greatsword and activate all my cooldowns: Does great damage, but if after that, you’re left auto-attacking
• Defending a keep
• Point-control Guardian with Altruistic Healing, but using a Hammer would have probably served me better
  [quote=1212490;Razor.9132:]QFT.

I have my hopes high for staff and scepter total overhauls or tweaks with additional viable weapon added to this amazing profession.[/quote]
Glad you liked my post I’ve been saying the same thing since Beta. For the Scepter (without wanting to derail too much) the fixes are easy. Make the #1 a projectile finisher (and if that’s too powerful a chain-attack with the last one a projectile finisher) or make the attack animation slower (with a short cast-bar) and the projectile speed higher. The #2 should become a Symbol. The #3 is fine.

I like staff on my guardian in its current form, I dont demand buffs but I’ll gladly take them.

I run a damage spec with meditation healing fully traited.

With 3.2k attack staff isnt hitting for major numbers with #1, however it does crit for around 2k with 108% crit damage. It also attacks fast and is a mid ranged weapon. #2 does hit for a nice amount. It’s just that staff is a support centered weapon, and fills that mission well no matter the spec.

It brings extra combo fields that syncs well with GS. I wouldnt mind seeing #1 range buffed to 900 yards.

Currently it does however work the way it is with my spec. I use it as a setup for greatsword aswell as a nice support weapon in group fights and PvE. It fills the same job as scepter does, but it has the addition of swiftness and combo fields that scepter lacks. Scepter is nice along with a torch though for damage.

600 range is just enough when facing melee and you need to keep some distance, however its too short if you wanna try and damage ranged who wants to keep distance to you.

The staff is fine. You trade half the range of the Scepter, but can hit up to five targets simultaneously with 3 out of 5 abilities.

Empower is a great support ability and with AH it gives you gigantic amounts of health back. Line of Warding is pretty much win in WvW.

Staff is incredibly viable and effective, and a very good weapon. Especially when stacked with altruistic healing with your 3 and 4, learning when and when not to detonate your 2, 5 target aoe for 1 and guardian wall.

It seems very weak at first, but once you have the right template and playstyle the staff becomes a mighty weapon to lead your army with.

Garillo.1349:

Staff is incredibly viable and effective, and a very good weapon. Especially when stacked with Altruistic Healing with your 3 and 4, learning when and when not to detonate your 2, 5 target AoE for 1 and guardian wall.

This is where I think the discussion comes from. With Altruistic Healing, the Staff is very, very good. Without it, it’s less than mediocre.

A bit of a love-hate relationship for the staff

I hate how little it hits for

But during siege defense i feel its awesome since i can be ram killer

And i have pretty much built my WvW playstyle around charging up with staff 4 before blinking into the enemy zerg to do some major damage

To sum it up. Soooo useful, yet also sooooo useless

I use GS to kill rams in keep defence, you can also use the retaliation symbol to kill engis trying to burn you through the gate.