Guild Wars 2

Seriously why is it that Guardians constantly get crappy Elite Spec names?
“Dragonhunter” was the worst name of all the 1st Elites, as it really sounds stupid due to the fact everyone “hunts dragons” regardless of their profession.

Now worst name of 2nd Elites is probably “Weaver” as first thing you think of when you hear it is someone who makes fabrics. But “Firebrand” comes in 2nd place, I mean what does it even mean? It makes me think of a brand on a cow made with a heated iron.
And how does it even relate to the tomes? “Dragonhunter” at least does relate to the traps, as trappers are a type of hunters.
You would think “Sage” would sound much more appropriate or “Scholar”, but I know it can’t be used as the light classes are called scholar.

I mean there are plenty good names for Guardian elites – “Paladin”, “Paragon”, “Knight”, “Templar”, “Zealot”.
So why do they constantly get such abhorrent names?

Well I don’t know. Names like Sage, Scholar, Paladin, Knight, Templar etc are really cliched names that basically every fantasy game has been throwing at us. Firebrand seems like an alright name to me. At least it is something new. Historically, the word meant a piece of wood that you would light on fire to use in a myriad of practical applications, most commonly as a means to lead the way in the dark. Nowadays, the word means a person who fights for a specific cause with a ‘fiery’ intensity. Considering Firebrand is a “booknerd gone mad” wielding an axe on the front lines burning enemies, there are probably worse names that ANet could have come up with.

Firebrand is a term, when referring to a person, used to describe someone who causes unrest or strife in a group by aggressively promoting a cause. In a religious tone, it’s someone who preaches in an aggressive way. It harkens to a period of evangelical firebrands that would call people sinners and how they’d burn in hell.

Rikimaru.7890:

Seriously why is it that Guardians constantly get crappy Elite Spec names?
“Dragonhunter” was the worst name of all the 1st Elites, as it really sounds stupid due to the fact everyone “hunts dragons” regardless of their profession.

Now worst name of 2nd Elites is probably “Weaver” as first thing you think of when you hear it is someone who makes fabrics. But “Firebrand” comes in 2nd place, I mean what does it even mean? It makes me think of a brand on a cow made with a heated iron.
And how does it even relate to the tomes? “Dragonhunter” at least does relate to the traps, as trappers are a type of hunters.
You would think “Sage” would sound much more appropriate or “Scholar”, but I know it can’t be used as the light classes are called scholar.

I mean there are plenty good names for Guardian elites – “Paladin”, “Paragon”, “Knight”, “Templar”, “Zealot”.
So why do they constantly get such abhorrent names?

Dragonhunters gained large, Magic-based traps along with their magic-utilizing longbows and big, flashy virtue actives which serve to deal damage and protect allies at range. The spec is uniquely, aesthetically made to look like its purpose is hunting dragons and other large enemies.

Firebrands are guardians entrusted with knowledge that gives them a strong purpose in liberating embattled Elona from Palawa Joko. Their faith in the histories in their care empowers them, as well as their allies. A Firebrand is a name for a person who inspires others and incites change, which is fitting for a faith-Magic support spec.

I think GW2 went with their own names for classes because they wanted to take into consideration game lore as well. A charr will never be a paladin because charr don’t pray to the gods. Likewise literally any non-human race. The other names you mentioned were sort of a grab bag of D&D Cleric/Pally analogues. I suspect Anet wanted to Step outside that box.

Net elite spec guardian as a support cause FB is more condi oriented:

Waterblower
Flowersmelter
Rainbowbreather
Mediwhisperer
Heal-o-rama

This.
I mean there are plenty good names for Guardian elites – “Paladin”, “Paragon”, “Knight”, “Templar”, “

Dragon Hunter would have hit the mark a bit better if the ‘Dragon’ theme was ran with a bit more. To me, Dragon Hunter is trying to evoke a ‘Demon Hunter’ type of idea, and this evokes in me an image of a person taking on aspects of their quarry to more effectively destroy/hunt their quarry. Dragon Hunters only have Dragon Maw. If more of their kit centered around a dragon theme, the name would be more justified.

Small things, like making Wings of Resolve dragon wings instead of angel wings, having symbol of energy have dragon claw marks engraved into it, hunter’s ward ending in dragon talons instead of fences, etc.

It’s not an awful name, I just think the theme missed it’s mark a bit.

Firebrand is quite a cool name, as Leo G mentioned:

Firebrand is a term, when referring to a person, used to describe someone who causes unrest or strife in a group by aggressively promoting a cause. In a religious tone, it’s someone who preaches in an aggressive way. It harkens to a period of evangelical firebrands that would call people sinners and how they’d burn in hell.

I think a Guardian reading from tomes and shouting mantra’s at enemies and allies alike fits the theme behind the name Firebrand. It’s definitely a better realized fantasy than Dragon Hunter was.

They could call it whatever they want as long as it’s Useful, fun to play and brings something new the table for guardian that’s all that really matters tbh.

Rikimaru.7890:

Seriously why is it that Guardians constantly get crappy Elite Spec names?
“Dragonhunter” was the worst name of all the 1st Elites, as it really sounds stupid due to the fact everyone “hunts dragons” regardless of their profession.

Now worst name of 2nd Elites is probably “Weaver” as first thing you think of when you hear it is someone who makes fabrics. But “Firebrand” comes in 2nd place, I mean what does it even mean? It makes me think of a brand on a cow made with a heated iron.
And how does it even relate to the tomes? “Dragonhunter” at least does relate to the traps, as trappers are a type of hunters.
You would think “Sage” would sound much more appropriate or “Scholar”, but I know it can’t be used as the light classes are called scholar.

I mean there are plenty good names for Guardian elites – “Paladin”, “Paragon”, “Knight”, “Templar”, “Zealot”.
So why do they constantly get such abhorrent names?

Aside from the overused quality of those names as someone has already pointed out, your opinion that we got the worst elite spec name in HoT is purely subjective. It’s an opinion, not fact, and not an opinion I share. I think several of the names were pretty meh (again thanks to overuse), and the only ones close to being original were scrapper and tempest. All the others have been used to death in other games.

Have to agree with the above. Firebrand is a unique name and class of its own. Sure we could be called… Paladins, or Monks, or Paragons, but that’s boring.

Malthurius.6870:

Firebrand is quite a cool name, as Leo G mentioned:

Firebrand is a term, when referring to a person, used to describe someone who causes unrest or strife in a group by aggressively promoting a cause. In a religious tone, it’s someone who preaches in an aggressive way. It harkens to a period of evangelical firebrands that would call people sinners and how they’d burn in hell.

I think a Guardian reading from tomes and shouting mantra’s at enemies and allies alike fits the theme behind the name Firebrand. It’s definitely a better realized fantasy than Dragon Hunter was.

Malthurius.6870:

Dragon Hunter would have hit the mark a bit better if the ‘Dragon’ theme was ran with a bit more. To me, Dragon Hunter is trying to evoke a ‘Demon Hunter’ type of idea, and this evokes in me an image of a person taking on aspects of their quarry to more effectively destroy/hunt their quarry. Dragon Hunters only have Dragon Maw. If more of their kit centered around a dragon theme, the name would be more justified.

Small things, like making Wings of Resolve dragon wings instead of angel wings, having symbol of energy have dragon claw marks engraved into it, hunter’s ward ending in dragon talons instead of fences, etc.

It’s not an awful name, I just think the theme missed it’s mark a bit.

I thought the exact same thing back when HoT was being revealed! I was behind the people suggesting a change to Dragonhunter but I also backed the side of just giving more draconic flavor to the spec so at the very least, it was using something to link it back to the spec’s theme. Definitely the dragon wings for Wings of Resolve, perhaps teeth instead of blades for Test of Faith, give one of the longbow skills a dragon look (like #2), etc. I still think they could make that change for a better theme but I’m overall over it now.

Last round of Elites, I had beef with 3 of the names; Dragonhunter, Berserker and to a lesser extent Druid. Druid was mainly because the lore behind druid wasn’t as explored and felt tacked onto Ranger (maybe it was touched upon in raids, but I haven’t played any raids), Berserker because it was just a bland name and we equate berserker to a stat combo (and no lore could or is linked with the spec; the spec could definitely use more of an identity as well) and as mentioned above, Dragonhunter.

This round of elite specs, I actually like all the names. Even if not linked to lore, at the very least the name makes sense thematically.

What’s wrong with Failbland?

LetoII.3782:

What’s wrong with Failbland?

Would be at least honest.

When you have names like Weaver and Soulbeast, I would never complain about Firebrand’s name.

Leo G.4501:

Firebrand is a term, when referring to a person, used to describe someone who causes unrest or strife in a group by aggressively promoting a cause. In a religious tone, it’s someone who preaches in an aggressive way. It harkens to a period of evangelical firebrands that would call people sinners and how they’d burn in hell.

A good reason to call it that as far as lore is concerned as the Guildwars 2 Firebrand projects those evangelical desires in the name of protecting the ancient texts of elona.

In this case the name kills two birds with one stone.

Brand in pen and paper or JRPGs like final fantasy also refers to enchanting weapons with elemental effects like icebrand or lightningbrand.

Guess how the firebrand deals damage? via enchanted fire axe attacks.

Firebrand is probably one of the best possible names for this elite spec due to its historical and fantasy nature.

Ragnarox.9601:

Net elite spec guardian as a support cause FB is more condi oriented:

Waterblower
Flowersmelter
Rainbowbreather
Mediwhisperer
Heal-o-rama

That is just sad how you came up with that.

Unless a guard is throwin’ spears we need to save Paragon! Firebrand is a good name but Dragonhunter was a bit underwhelming.

Purifier would have sounded better, than Firebrand, but its ok. If we compare with Dragonhunter, at least we are not a cliche name class.

Not gonna lie, if they named the spec Purifier, I’d have laughed my kitten off. The first thing that would pop into my mind is one of those things that you pop onto a faucet or those special water pitchers.