Guild Wars 2

Call me silly but here are some things I have seen from guardians in dungeons that do not make sense to me.

- Guardian claims to be a ‘support guardian’, his main weapon set is sceptre/focus.. every now and again he uses staff empower and calls it a day.

-Guardian who doesn’t use virtues at all. Does not touch them. Now when I (politely) ask why, I am usually either
a.) Ignored
b.)Told ’I’m not traited to use them.’
c.)Told they are better off for the party if they don’t use them.
d.)Asked ‘What are virtues?’
e.) Told ‘I only use them at the very last minute when everyone’s dieing or dead.’
f.) Told ‘I don’t see the point to using them.’

-Guardian who constantly pushes things out of aoe with shield or hammer.
- The sceptre 1 spamming, sit in the back and do nothing Guardian.
-The conditions guardian running torch and sceptre as main set. Sure looks fun, but at fotm 48 I think it’s a bad idea >_>

Why? I don’t understand why people choose these options. Is there something I am missing? I mean, I see people doing these things who have up to 6k achieves.. it just baffles me.

I’m not sure how to explain alot of the time, to people that what they are doing isn’t really the best for the dungeon party. Maybe this is just my opinion, but I don’t see any of the above behaviour as very constructive and I want to be able to explain to people in a way that will change what they are doing. I feel like I’m just treading on people’s toes if I say anything to them while in the dungeon, but it just frustrates the hell out of me to watch, especially when you know the run is taking longer because of them.

swiftpaw.6397:

-Guardian who constantly pushes things out of aoe with shield or hammer.

This one really kitten es me off… Even more when the mob has defiant on it…

When I go GS, run in front, pull all mobs toguether and when Im about to go on WW for huge AoE and group might stacks, the other guard (Sw/Sh, because it looks cool) spread them around… now we are sitting in the center of a big crossed fire…
Facepalm, fall back, wait for the guardian to die and start complaining…

lLobo.7960:

swiftpaw.6397:

-Guardian who constantly pushes things out of aoe with shield or hammer.

This one really kitten es me off… Even more when the mob has defiant on it…

When I go GS, run in front, pull all mobs toguether and when Im about to go on WW for huge AoE and group might stacks, the other guard (Sw/Sh, because it looks cool) spread them around… now we are sitting in the center of a big crossed fire…
Facepalm, fall back, wait for the guardian to die and start complaining…

yeh when I’m on my guardian, I wait for them to do it, and then pull, because I can’t trust them to be logical about how they use their push after I’ve pulled em in.
It’s more difficult when I’m on my warrior and halfway through a hundred blades though >_<

Honestly, you come off as someone who doesn’t know what support even is.

You seem to have a pretty big generalization on how a particular Guardian is traited. For instance, using Scepter / Focus has the potential to provide Might on crits through EM (and if the fight calls for ranged), Chains of Light adds 3 stacks of Vulnerability, and Focus provides Blind, Regeneration, and Condition removal.

Stop worrying on how someone else is playing their character and you’ll be better off. If you’re that concerned about optimal play (a la Berserker Warrior COF 1), then join a guild, or find four others to run high level Fractals.

phokus.8934:

Honestly, you come off as someone who doesn’t know what support even is.

You seem to have a pretty big generalization on how a particular Guardian is traited. For instance, using Scepter / Focus has the potential to provide Might on crits through EM (and if the fight calls for ranged), Chains of Light adds 3 stacks of Vulnerability, and Focus provides Blind, Regeneration, and Condition removal.

Stop worrying on how someone else is playing their character and you’ll be better off. If you’re that concerned about optimal play (a la Berserker Warrior COF 1), then join a guild, or find four others to run high level Fractals.

Actually, I made no reference to berserker warriors or anything >_>
And you can get just as many, if not more crits, by using a hammer, Greatsword or mace, and actually be doing alot more for your team, and have the benefits of EM.

And I’m sorry but I am referring to people who sit on their sceptre the entire fight, be it trash mobs or bosses. I do not believe this to be very constructive at all.

Honestly you come off as someone who probably does this and thinks it’s acceptable.

I agree Swiftpaw…

I use Scepter and Torch with Hammer. I’ll caveat, I haven’t tested this rotation vs straight hammer dps, so I am not sure if I am gaining or losing much dps. I also don’t stack condition damage, doesn’t seem worth it. Instead Beserker + Knights.

Start with: Smite, Zealot’s Flame, Cleansing Flame, Smite
Swap to Hammer: Mighty Blow if a Field is up, otherwise auto attack chain and Mighty Blow for retal. If I don’t need protection from the chain, once swap is available use Mighty Blow and swap back.

Back to the loop: Smite, Cleansing Flame, Zealots Flame, Smite and swap back to Hammer.

Scepter auto attack should be filler only. Unless range is required to sit back and throw orbs seems like pure laziness – it sure isn’t very fun!

I try not to think about it too much in PuGs, but while we’re here, I’ll vent a bit.

Many “scepter” guardians I’ve seen don’t seem to understand that the weapon is meant for single target damage. Smite is distributive AoE, so if you use it on a group, it’s the equivalent to hitting each of them one at a time instead of simultaneously like most AoEs. I’ll see guardians use a scepter/offhand mix (and not swap) in the CoF p1 brazier room, messing up the gate kill because they’re kiting outside of the brazier field. Also, during the CoF p2 magg defense event, they try to use scepter 1 to hit assassins, but the orbs get intercepted by the excess mobs… Do they not realize that melee cleave kills those mobs quickly and allows you to hit more than one target at a time?

This type of problem occurs with other professions, too. I’ve seen so many of them, that I have just given up on PuGs unless they specifically ask for advice (which I’ll be glad to give). However, if there is a part where there’s a clear problem because of skill/weapon choice, I have to try to suggest a change politely (i.e. failing CoF p2 Magg event several times because too many people are using single target only weapons or some other inefficient setup).

When we’re doing dungeons, I think everyone has a responsibility to contribute to the efficiency of the run. Sometimes, that means using weapons or skills you don’t particularly like. I personally don’t like the feel of the hammer on guardian, but I use it to keep mobs in place after pulling with my GS. I dislike the feel of the staff, but sometimes, I use it for stacking might before getting time warped while engaging a boss. I prefer to use my shouts, but if I know a troublesome projectile encounter is coming up, you can bet I’ll put up wall of reflection and/or shield of the avenger. Dungeons are a team activity, so in my opinion, if you aren’t trying to help your team to the best of your abilities, you might as well play solo.

swiftpaw.6397:

-Guardian who doesn’t use virtues at all.

The only one I pop regularly is justice. I’ll do courage when I feel it’s needed, but I often won’t pop resolve unless I need the personal heal from it because it takes away the party regen.

But the CD on justice is relatively low, so it’s generally fine to pop that one quite often, especially if you get extra bonuses from traits.

Yamsandjams.3267:

swiftpaw.6397:

-Guardian who doesn’t use virtues at all.

The only one I pop regularly is justice. I’ll do courage when I feel it’s needed, but I often won’t pop resolve unless I need the personal heal from it because it takes away the party regen.

But the CD on justice is relatively low, so it’s generally fine to pop that one quite often, especially if you get extra bonuses from traits.

I use all 3 personally. Justice and Courage usually right away, but sometimes I hold off on Courage for things I know are comming, like say, CoF P1 Legendary Searing Effigys’ massive AoE attack.

I have Resolve traited to remove 3 conditions, so I save that for group cleansing, or emergency healing.

Justice is the only Virtue I don’t trait towards, but I still use it for the sake of extra damage coming out of my group.

Yamsandjams.3267:

swiftpaw.6397:

-Guardian who doesn’t use virtues at all.

The only one I pop regularly is justice. I’ll do courage when I feel it’s needed, but I often won’t pop resolve unless I need the personal heal from it because it takes away the party regen.

But the CD on justice is relatively low, so it’s generally fine to pop that one quite often, especially if you get extra bonuses from traits.

You sure? My allies get battle presence even if I’ve popped f2.

i think Battle Presence is bugged in a sense where your party will still get the passive, even thuogh you might not. ceratinly a good choice in dungeons if you’ve high healing, etc.

on scepter – it is rather boring gameplay if you’re just AA-ing away. perhaps the scepter as a whole could be reworked. though i will say, scepter does VERY high single-target damage. so against bosses, i don’t find it being particularly harmful. though against groups of mobs, perhaps not the best idea. at least in sPvP, the scepter torch set up can do a LOT of damage. : )))

and in regards to support – not all Guardians are built for pure support. though i will argue that no matter hwo you build, there will be some elements of support regardless, though some builds can entirely minimize that aspect. but if you’re saying Guardians you grouped with, claim to be support, then display the above mentioend actions, oh wells. : ))

swiftpaw.6397:

Call me silly but here are some things I have seen from guardians in dungeons that do not make sense to me.

- Guardian claims to be a ‘support guardian’, his main weapon set is sceptre/focus.. every now and again he uses staff empower and calls it a day.

I could do you one better. I partied with random guards too numerous to count that seems to stay indefinitely in staff and just stands there until every Empower CD.

I ask, “Don’t you have other weapons?”

They answer, “I’m built for full support and heals”

“full support and heals”

“full support and heals”

Yet no shouts, no use of swiftness symbol, no detonation of the orb either, and virtues? what’s that?

Here comes the palmtrain, next stop, my face.

Personally I always hated the idea of a full support guardian. I like the idea of support and booning your allies but hampering yourself to the point where you’re useless without them is something I do not like. When I’m roaming in wvw, this means they dont have enough dps to actually kill the other players or even come close to it. I make sure to always roam with someone who can actually kill enemy players. When I’m in dungeons, this means we do the dungeon far slower, and honestly most competent players do not need a FULL support 1700 healing power guardian keeping them alive the entire time. The valor line has critical damage in it, and I always try to make full use of that while running support in the meantime. You’d be surprised what you can accomplish.

i try to run a variety of builds – one for fun, and two, i guess just to learn as much about the Guardian class as possible. i just have so much fun with it. recently i’ve been speccing more “support” in PvE.. having gone from hybrid to damage oriented and now back to more support focused. but even then, i aim to have enough crit chance and power so i don’t hit like a paper bag with a hole in it. THOUGh still being able to give my allies some breathing room or heals when they need it, blinds or aegis to negate big attacks, or stability when it’s crucial, etc… and while buffing them with shouts or symbols or virtues. and it’s been a lot of fun. wardings are particularly of fun use and CC’s. : ))

crit damage is the one stat i chose to forgo, which i admit i miss, but like others, i make sure i’m running with someone else when i’m running builds that are more leaned towards support.