Guild Wars 2

Before you start reading, I wish for you to keep in mind that these statements are purely my opinions. Should you have anything to say on how I can use these weapons better or point out something I’ve looked over, please comment but do keep the flames out.

TLDR for those who do not like walls of text are at the very bottom of second post.

The Scepter

-LOL okay we’re done here. ANNNDDD to the next one.

The 1h Sword

Zealot’s Defense/ Skill 3: As wonderful as the skill description and the damage looks down on paper, I begun to notice it wasn’t very practical at all.

Problems

-In order to maximize potential damage with this skill, we must stay rooted for the full duration of casting (making us vulnerable to other threats OR losing ground on targets as they run away) and our target must be standing in place or moving slowly within a very close range. In PvE, of course, it is very easy to maximize your damage. However PvP tells a very different story. If our target banks left, right, or away; they have just successfully mitigated some, if not all, of the damage without having to roll-dodge.

-The blocking of ranged attacks for the skill duration are nice yes, but at what distance do most ranged characters start hitting at? If we decide to try and block any ranged attacks, we’ve just blown our most damaging skill with only minimal benefits. Any ranged player with half a brain will try their best to stay out of melee zone. The projectiles you shoot go out 600 units max and at that range, we’re better off trying to catch flies with chopsticks.

Solutions

1) Increase the range of the projectiles to 900 and give us the ability to aim the projectiles. Similar to this skill in Dragon’s Nest. Giving us the ability to aim the projectiles at range allow us to compensate for enemy movements.

OR

2) Decrease the number of projectiles to 1 blade while it retains the same amount of damage. Increase the projectile range to 900. The skill will have to charge the same amount of time and while charging, instead of blocking ranged attacks, we reflect them back to source.

Having either change will actually give Guardians better utility in the ranged fields.

The Shield

Shield of Absorption/ Skill 5: Another skill that looks great on description but again, not practical. The mechanics of the skill as of now presents many problems which are all interconnected to eachother. I like to think of the shield as giving your team/self a bit of breathing room, but the mechanics of it all barely gives us a gasp.

Problems

- Check this. Are you ready? This is going to kittening blow your kitten!! I don’t think you’re ready for this dawg but Ima go ahead and tell you anyways!

“SHIELDS DO NOT BLOCK ANYTHING!!1!!one!1” *le gasp

Now you must be thinking “dis n1g cray” but hear me out first. In a sense YES, they do block ranged attacks but that’s the work of the safety bubble, NOT the shield. Any melee or ranged hits coming from inside the bubble after the initial cast can and will hit (test this on mobs invulnerable to knockbacks). This brings up another issue which I will list next.

-Why can enemies enter our safety bubble? Is it only solid for that fraction of a second when you knock enemies back? This causes a HUGE issue because we must stay rooted to our spot in order to actually protect others. Initial mobs/players may have been pushed away but the ones not affected by the knockback or not in knockback range will enter in and f**k your kitten up if you stay rooted. We have to either risk our skins for the sake of the team or jeopardize them and save yourself. Why can’t we protect both ourselves and others? We could do both if our bubble was solid.

-Moving after casting the Shield of Absorption will dissipate your safety bubble almost immediately, giving you only fractions of a second of protection from projectiles and a wasted skill.

Solutions

1) Make our bubble shield solid throughout the duration of the cast. We will truly then be invulnerable both to projectiles and melee hits, fulfilling the purpose of a shield. However, we must stay rooted in order for the bubble shield to be solid. If we move during cast time, the bubble shield loses its ability to be solid but retains its power to absorb projectiles.

Also for kitten, this isn’t much of a problem to me, but replace Shield of Judgements offensive portion with the ability to inflict Weakness for 3 seconds or Daze for a second.

The Hammer

This weapon is a bit touchy as there are a fair amount of lovers and haters of it. Worry not, I will recommend only a slight tweak to the combo chain. I believe the 2 second casting time of the third hit in the combo chain is REASONABLE. However, I believe it is also far too easily interrupted. Let’s keep that 2 second cast time on the third hit but also give us Stability for 2 seconds. This adds to the power/feel of striking someone with a hammer and it appeases hammer haters who do not like the long casting time.

NOTES: If the context of my post is wrong or a bit radical and makes me sound like a nab, forgive me LOL. These are simply my opinions.

TLDR:
-Scepter. You already know.
-1h Sword/ Zealot’s Defense sucks. Change it.
-Shield: Doesn’t actually protect you worth kitten.
-Hammer: Add Stability to the 2 second cast on the third hit in chain combo.

Scepter projectiles are way to slow for 1200 range. Even a kid could evade it without dodge, in fact – somebody must stand still to get hit by that… its so sad, for me it is another close range weapon. Maybe te orbs fired by the scepter should be homing projectiles that can be blocked, interupted by line of sight or dodged?

Or even (dare I say it) add a small immobilize to the Scepter’s Orbs?? That would probably be OP though.

I do like the idea of Stability whilst casting the 3rd Hammer blow and the idea of a stun/daze/knockback/potato on a shield skill is nice too. Shield of Absorption is nyerked too. It’s like:
“GO AWAY FOR A SECOND! Ok, you can come in now…”

Simple solution, make orbs travel in same speed as arrows.. Problem solved.. If you try hitting someone that has swiftness he Will outrun your orbs rofl

Just gonna post my Scepter suggestions again:
#1: Make the projectiles fly faster, but give the skill a short cast-time. Also, make them projectile finishers (or alternatively, make it a 3-part chain with only the last part a projectile finisher).
#2: Make it a Symbol.

About the rest:
Sword: I never had much problems with the #3 skill, but I can understand your point. I very much like modal skills, that have various purposes, but this skill isn’t really pushing my buttons. I don’t know why, really. I don’t mind that powerful skills root you into place, but this seems to lack a bit of power. Would it be too powerful if it reflected projectiles? (Probably, yes.)
Shield: I don’t really agree. It’s more a conceptual complaint, rather than a power one. The skill is more than powerful enough as it is.
Hammer: The cast time being interruptable is probably a way of balancing the Symbol (which is the best Symbol).

If I may add something: The Staff is a good weapon in what it does, but it lacks coherence. The skills don’t work together or have similar themes, which makes it stand out. The Staff’s “thing” is support, but it doesn’t go further than that. It’s hard to put into words, but in my opinion, the Staff could use some tweaking, so that the abilities “fit” each other better.

1/ Most people will agree that #1 for scepter needs a speed increase or a rework similar to how other melee weapons combo. I probably want the the devs to make it more interesting to use so the latter.

2/ I think zealot’s defense is ok the way it is. The rooting and missing on strafing targets is annoying but the damage is causes is quite decent and really punishes rooted or stationary targets. It fits the role well of the 1sword as a more offensive option with a shield. The ability does auto target and thats enough for the time being.

3/ Shield #5. You are looking at the skill from a wrong angle. PvE It is mainly used as a interrupt and breather. The heal from the detonation is quite handy as well when you’re running out of options. The main use of #5 in PvP is node defending. The mass knockback easily sends enemies flying out of contested areas and this skill has great synergy with the Hammer abilities. It does seem odd that the shield offers no additional blocking but the play style revolves around retaliation and boons not block.

The only weapon I have a major issue with is the staff. It has strong cooldowns, but as Ynna said, they don’t work well together. For me, they’re all very niche abilities and because the #1 and #2 abilities are so weak, it feels like a cooldown stick.

The other weapons are fine, though could stand a few cooldown tweaks here and there. Scepter is fine other than it’s boring. It was never meant to hit mobile targets at 1200. It’s a mid-range weapon that was extended to 1200 solely to allow guardians to hit static objects in WvW sieges. Shield of Absorption is fine, other than the collapse secondary being buggy. However, you need to place it properly for it to reach its maximum potential. You can buy a few seconds for an ally to close distance or recover from a stun, save an ally from a stomp (in PvP), protect from projectiles, etc. Hammer seems fine as well; it just has a higher learning curve because you can’t just spam abilities and succeed.

Although I do see the shield’s uses (I am a heavy shield user), I still do find it lacking. The cooldowns, even with traits, are far too long for the few seconds of breathing room you buy. I may have to wait for the “right” time to use it but usually, the “right” time is when someone messes up or when things get too messy too fast (aka waiting til’ the last second). We are punished with long cooldowns if we decide to use it constantly as a means to keep the team up and we are punished if we decide to hold it until the right moment. The point is that the mechanics of Shield of Absorption now only reward you in very specific instances. We, as Guardians, should work to prevent messy situations rather than react to them.

It is true that I am biased by the notion of the Shield. If used, it should protect you from melee / ranged projectiles (inside and outside the bubble) as does Warrior’s shields. The fact that you can still get hit if anything is inside your bubble when you’re rooted just doesn’t make sense to me. Anyways /endrant

I thank everyone for posting their comments so far. It has been insightful and I will continue learning how to use these weapons, as they are now, for maximum potential. Cheers.

And fix the staff 2! Thats the most broken weapon skill we have atm.

The only change I would want is to switch Focus skills with Shield skills. It makes no sense that a device specifically made for blocking can’t block, while a cowbell/electric horseshoe can get 3.

Aramanth.1546:

The only change I would want is to switch Focus skills with Shield skills. It makes no sense that a device specifically made for blocking can’t block, while a cowbell/electric horseshoe can get 3.

This is agree with, well at least the number 5 skills on them. The focus should have the bubble and the sheild should have the 3 blocks/explosion move. I mean for the love puppies the focus 5 skills makes SHEILDS!!! appear around you.

Not only is it more logical (as in the sheild has an actual block!) but i actully think they would suit each other better with the number 4 skills. I really want a proper guardian style look with a sword/sheild, but i go with the sword/focus as it acts more like an actual sheild than the sheild actully does.

I really think we should get on Anet to swap them around.
-
Ohh and yeah, orbs need to be faster.

Funny how the focus ends up being more protective than the shield.

- Reduce at least 10s off each skill of the shield.
- The Scepter is a great weapon that only needs a speed boost.
- If Staff had some proper cd’s as was mentioned already, I’d seriously consider it as my secondary.
- Hammer needs just a bit faster cast on the symbol attack, it seriously feels like it takes forever.
- Make the Sword’s 3rd skill available on the move, will make the weapon viable again.

Stability while casting 3rd hit on Hammer does sound reasonable. Its annoying when it gets interrupted. The long cast time is reasonable until it becomes a problem.

Is the third iteration of the HAMMER’s power 1 (Symbol of Protection) supposed to cancel if you move to the side while using it? I struggle to get it to cast.

I know this hasn’t been brought up much but i’d like to see might blow be a little more responsive. As it stands, there’s about a 1/2-1 second delay to when the skill actually goes off. Maybe put this in line with Leap of Faith?

Please understand the difference between the focus and shield before you complain. Focus is more for personal protection and is a bit offensive. Shield is for group defense. For warrior, shield is their personal protection weapon. Trying to turn the shield for guardian into something it isn’t is a mistake. Instead, concentrate on what makes it not work well for group protection.

That is probably the best idea I’ve heard so far about hammer. Doesn’t change the gameplay too much but make it a bit easier to use under circumstances were you might get knocked down.

Exedore.6320:

Please understand the difference between the focus and shield before you complain. Focus is more for personal protection and is a bit offensive. Shield is for group defense. For warrior, shield is their personal protection weapon. Trying to turn the shield for guardian into something it isn’t is a mistake. Instead, concentrate on what makes it not work well for group protection.

So a shield, a weapon that is designed for personel defense shouldn’t be for personel defense (something that blocks), yet a focus which would make sence as a group defence weapon should be the personel defense weapon?.

You say trying to turn the shield into something it isn’t is a mistake, i just want to turn the shield into what it actully is – a shield.
-
Also, i fully understand the difference between both weapons, that’s why i offered a suggestion that actully still keeps both styles of gameplay (group defense/personel defense) BUT actully suits each weapon better.

From a magical warrior perspective, I think shield fits its abilities better. Personal opinion. I was more referring to changing abilities around or doing a mix and match.

The first things that i can’t understand is “Why a scepter and not a bow??”.
I’m a havy armor fighter, bow looks better than the septer… i fell like i’m playng tennis with that wepon! lol
I play only supportive, so i don’t know if the others weapon got some problems…
But speaking about support…

In my opinion the 5° shield should be improved and fixed…
Some times foe are not push back. It can’t be possible because when it happen you waste the skill.
Than, if you are under the 5° skill protection, you should gain regen.
At the end, crete a traits that increase shield skills duration.

The greatest problem is the staff. Maybe is the worst weapon in game.
1° wave – copy the mace mechanics. 3 hit and heal ally in front of you.
2° orb – fix the ground disappearing bug. Make it follow the ally direction (like the foe) or change it in a placeble area skill (like the swiftness one).
3° swift – change damage with regen
4° empower – cast it in movment. 90y and not 60.
5° warding – Fix the bug (people can jump and dodge it). If an ally cross the wall, clean all the conditions.

I’d be fine with the current shield abilities if their ridiculous recast times were reduced

Sword
1: Same
2: Should get a Leap finisher
3: Increase range to 900 and give it a projectile finisher

Mace
1: Same
2: Same
3: Should grant a Whirl finisher when an attack is Blocked, not when an attack is not Blocked.

Staff
1: Needs replaced with a targeted ranged auto-attack (Blue Guardian flame version of Elementalist Scepter auto-attack).
2: Needs replaced with a 900 range CAoE damage/heal that grants Swiftness
3: Replace Swiftness with Vigor
4: Reduce channel time by 1 second and increase stacks per pulse by 1
5: Enemies that pass through the ward should take damage (That way Stability doesn’t completely negate it’s usefulness) and lower cast time slightly.

Scepter
1: Change auto-attack into a chain (1st attack animation looks the same, 2nd attack has a backhanded swing animation, 3rd attack animation causes Guardian to raise Scepter and create a targeted lightning bolt) and increase projectile speed (Similar attack rate of Mesmer Scepter).
2: Same
3: Make this a Light Combo Field

Hammer
1: Change 3rd attack of chain to apply Daze and not Symbol of Protection
2: Same
3: Change to enemy targeted Symbol of Protection
4: Reduce cast time or allow movement while casting
5: Enemies that pass through the ward should take damage (That way Stability doesn’t completely negate it’s usefulness) and lower cast time slightly.

Greatsword
1. Same
2: Same (I am referring to the most recent changes)
3: Same (I am referring to the most recent changes)
4: Same (I am referring to the most recent changes)
5: Same

Torch
4: Should interact with Inner Fire Trait
5: Same

Focus
4: Should remove a Boon from enemies, heal allies and be ally and enemy targetable.
5: Same

Shield
4: Same
5: Same

Spear
1: Same
2: Same
3: Reduce cast time
4: Same
5: Increase range to 900

Trident
1: Same
2: Same
3: Same
4: Same
5: Same

Greatsword:

1. Same
2. Same
3. Same
4. Reduce cooldown of Symbol of Wrath back to what it was before, but tweak the retaliation aspect of it to appease Anet and their “ideas” of balance.
5. Same

Changing the third chain of the Greathammer not to produce the combofield would screw with a lot of builds. -1 to that idea. The hammer does need some love, especially with getting that third swing out, but bloody hell don’t take our Symbol of Protection away.

I kept the Symbol of Protection, I just moved it. I removed the line Immobilize that is
A: Easily dodged
B: Rarely hits additional PvP enemies
C: Pulls additional unwanted PvE enemies
Symbol of Protection can be used on an enemy and you can still use Hammer #2 to get your Blast Finisher. With Symbol of Protection attached to the Hammer auto-attack chain you rarely can get it off. This at least gives a direct 3+2 combo. Plus it gives you utility. You can use it on an enemy an ally is fighting and aid them with Boons and damage the enemy while you attack something else.

Mace and Greatsword are PBAoE, Staff is GTAoE this is merely another means to apply a Symbol.