Guild Wars 2

So now that staff&trait got wrekt what will replace it?

Mace/Shield?

Reroll to different class?

Yeah I guess if they don’t change this back then guardians will just purely be a melee class in WvW… Tis a sad day for guardians.

So people don’t use hammers anymore? I’ll be honest, I only whipped out the lootstick when we were decimating/chasing an enemy as using one with build I had for WvW made it practically useless. The staff also still has access to Empower and Line of Warding so it’s not like it has lost all function. If you’re really that desperate for a replacement, I guess you could go with the greatsword.

So Staff 3 speed symbol is just never used anymore to buff teams?

How does a core game guard get around? Just use the now pretty much castrated stick and only have one weapon for DPS?

Is this just a blunt instrument to force us to go DH or the new one?

I am really confused as to what to slot for WvW if I ever start regular play again.

Think it was staff/hammer for Frontlining support.

Pretty sure this change was to force support off staff in prep for Firebrand specialization.

Scepter/shield………..

if shield was on virtues ….. instead of hammer…

I guess they didn’t want the staff to have an auto-attack at all.

The staff nerf was to stop burn guard in WvW, which is really popular in T1 servers. The sub par damage from staff was irrelevant since the easy 5 targets proc for Permeating Wrath was all the weapon was about, they buffed the other abilities of the staff so it would stay relevant on frontline guard.

Frontline still has a good option but now staff doesn’t have an auto attack anymore and lost anyway to create pressure in a choke point making frontline guardian purely melee. Whats different now ? After using #2-3-4-5 you have to wait 4-6 sec with a worthless weapon in your hands and wait for weapon swap to come up and use most likely hammer or gs.

Burn guard goes somewhat unchanged since they will just swap to Longbow and probably lose some dps

Honorable staff now gives less boon duration but its permanent regardless of weapon equipped or in use, am guessing its an attempt to keep staff relevant

If I must speculate, its maybe to keep the ground clear for the proper condi spec which will be coming soon and it seems it will give even more utility so burn guard could become the new norm. I would assume they would ditch the staff anyways for the axe/x + scepter/torch

Sherman.4631:

The staff nerf was to stop burn guard in WvW, which is really popular in T1 servers. The sub par damage from staff was irrelevant since the easy 5 targets proc for Permeating Wrath was all the weapon was about, they buffed the other abilities of the staff so it would stay relevant on frontline guard.

Frontline still has a good option but now staff doesn’t have an auto attack anymore and lost anyway to create pressure in a choke point making frontline guardian purely melee. Whats different now ? After using #2-3-4-5 you have to wait 4-6 sec with a worthless weapon in your hands and wait for weapon swap to come up and use most likely hammer or gs.

Burn guard goes somewhat unchanged since they will just swap to Longbow and probably lose some dps

Honorable staff now gives less boon duration but its permanent regardless of weapon equipped or in use, am guessing its an attempt to keep staff relevant

If I must speculate, its maybe to keep the ground clear for the proper condi spec which will be coming soon and it seems it will give even more utility so burn guard could become the new norm. I would assume they would ditch the staff anyways for the axe/x + scepter/torch

Excellent writing and i agree 100% with your analysis. They basically killed staff in the only game mode it had a significant role in to make room for the axe.

The bizarre thing in this community is that a lot of people actually think it got nerfed due to being a loot stick. They base their analysis on jealousy which is kind of funny tbh.

The hysterical part is that swapping to the staff means that you dont even have skill to cast until swap so basically you will be standing there waiting until the swap comes off cd.

staff was always a awfull weapon, it was only for the empower rotations that even it clutches players while casting where they could be CC’ed or AOE’ed easilly.

I really hope ANet instead of put staff back improves it after fix the bugs they added to guard…

None. Hammer/Staff is the most useful combination due to hammer skill 3 and 5, same with staff 3, 4 and 5. It is the main might stacking and cc in any zerg.
Now you just cant 1-1-1 rams and have more downtime on weapon swap.

And if you used staff for lootsticking on enemy retreat instead of hammer cc… well you are just bad teamplayer.

Yakez.7561:

None. Hammer/Staff is the most useful combination due to hammer skill 3 and 5, same with staff 3 and 5. It is the main might stacking and cc in any zerg.
Now you just cant 1-1-1 rams and have more downtime on weapon swap.

And if you used staff for lootsticking on enemy retreat instead of hammer cc… well you are just bad teamplayer.

As a mace/shield guard thats the staff 5 function, they need to change staff 2 as the main atack and give a 1 sec dome cast as a aoe skill, with 2-3 sec recharge on staff 2 xD since they borked up SW SoA….even more..since ANet copy pastaDiablo barbarian hammer of wisdom cast…to all SW… wth ANet…

Simboldofswiftness, its useless alone, rev’s have it as a passive aoe pulse, i would request a better simbol, Staff 5 needs to give slow

this would be the simple changes i request for staff….

Aeolus.3615:

Yakez.7561:

None. Hammer/Staff is the most useful combination due to hammer skill 3 and 5, same with staff 3 and 5. It is the main might stacking and cc in any zerg.
Now you just cant 1-1-1 rams and have more downtime on weapon swap.

And if you used staff for lootsticking on enemy retreat instead of hammer cc… well you are just bad teamplayer.

As a mace/shield guard thats the staff 5 function, they need to change staff 2 as the main atack and give a 1 sec dome cast as a aoe skill, with 2-3 sec recharge on staff 2 xD since they borked up SW SoA….even more..since ANet copy pastaDiablo barbarian hammer of wisdom cast…to all SW… wth ANet…

Simboldofswiftness, its useless alone, rev’s have it as a passive aoe pulse, i would request a better simbol, Staff 5 needs to give slow

this would be the simple changes i request for staff….

You need at least one staff guardian for every 5 squad members to apply might. How you stack might with mace/shield? Staff 3 is usefull for wall bombing. Staff 5 is really great thing to cut off portals.

i use(ed) empower for might… not every one uses gimmicks 1111111 crit builds if that is what ur referencing (empowering might trait).

Lots of people already dropped staff long before the auto nerf. Mace/shield, hammer seemed to be the current trend for many FA guardians.

For people asking how to get might in WvW for your group – you use one of the 10,000,000 fire field skills & blast them. The might lasts longer too.

If Anet is doing this to Guardian many people will no longer run with staff in WVW. Some guards only get their speed from a staff and as a class we have no perma swiftness like other classes. I think it’s only fair we get that now so we aren’t forced in to using weapons we don’t want. Anet please think about this, I think it’s time.