Guild Wars 2

See looking at the traits it just slapped me across the face why radiance line is so jacked up. Adept traits, u can grab fury. Master traits, you can benefit from critical hits. Grandmaster minor, more precision on burning foes. Doing good so far. Grandmaster slot….aaaaaand theres not a single crit related function. Before we had right handed strength as a Grandmaster. That was there for people who wanted to do a crit build(as long as they were using scepter and sword). Now we have nothing in the grandmaster slot for dps types unless they are going Signet and we have 2 general purpose traits that are both condition related. This would be Ok if I could do 4 points into the radiance line but seeing as we have to take the whole thing that’s kind of a bad idea. Nobody wants to take a line with a grandmaster trait that does next to nothing for your build

Radiance is both the critical chance line and the condition damage line, and both Amplified Wrath and Radiant Retaliation are condition-based. So it does make sense, if you think about it. And Amplified Wrath is still going to be a good trait for both power and condition builds, even if they butchered the hell out of it.

Thats my point tho. its the condition damage AND the critical chance line. There is NOTHING to support critical chance in the grandmaster slot

Also no. Amplified wrath is going to be HORRIBLE for power builds. Remember them saying how condis are gonna be weaker unless your specced for them? We just got nerfed. And not in an appropriate way
Amplified wrath is fabulous if your going zeal or virtue or some other line that your getting synergy with your burn. But if your just trying to do some dps stuff (Which crit is an ESSENTIAL part of) that choice of grandmasters is a serious slap in the face

Amplified Wrath is extra damage. Extra damage is good for any build. I don’t really see a problem here.

The problem is that 15% of increase in condi damage should not be a grandmaster trait for a zerker

Then don’t take Radiance, geez. This isn’t rocket science.

Your right I should take that OTHER crit trait line. Oh wait there isnt one. NOT FRIGGIN ROCKET SCIENCE BRO

Edit: I just want to be able to grab some traits that support my build without looking at them and going “Wow there are going to be other guardians that are BLATENTLY stronger than me”

Get gear with precision in it. Bam, problem solved. There are much greater issues than this that have arisen with the finalized changes we’ll be receiving.

No. That doesnt change the fact that gear with condi in it is still going to be better than mine because im being forced to take a condi trait in my crit line -WHEN I HAVE NO CONDI-

We apply burning passively, its not like AW increses bleed/poison damage that forces us to change our build/playstyle to benefit from it.

Condi builds apply regular damage passively, You don’t see them getting forced into taking Grandmaster traits for that.

And again, I really don’t care about my build not being perfect. This is just something that’s blatantly in my face mocking me on how useless it is, and that I know is going to lead to balance issues.

Well, build a bridge and suck it up Mr. rocket scientist

Silhouette.5631:

Condi builds apply regular damage passively, You don’t see them getting forced into taking Grandmaster traits for that.

And again, I really don’t care about my build not being perfect. This is just something that’s blatantly in my face mocking me on how useless it is, and that I know is going to lead to balance issues.

Condition damage builds don’t receive any benefit from damage modifiers. I’d say that that’s a pretty hefty price to pay, and way more of an issue than what you’re complaining about.

Exactly. And DPS builds dont receive any benefits from Condi modifiers. The difference is Condi builds arent being forced to pick between Grandmasters that are all power based. Its a crappy pick. It needs to be changed.

Guardians don’t have a “crit” line. The closest thing to that concept would be Radiance that improves crit chance while promoting use of burning, blinds, etc. Take away the precision it currently offers, and suddenly the Spec looks more like it’s less of a critting focus. As such, if I’m going for a DPS build I wouldn’t hesitate to take radiance especially since AW has more mileage due to the burning damage rework even without any condi damage to my build. Guards naturally burn so why not augment something that we are naturally good at. Pair Radiance with Zeal (our other DPS friendly spec) and burning adds quite a bit of damage from both the damage of the condition itself as well as the other traits that synergize with it.

Off the top of my head one of the only few classes that truly spec you into a crit machine would be something like an Ele that not only boost your crit chance but has amazing synergy with ferocity and crit procs.

Honestly, I think this is a perfect example of why Stats are being pulled from Specializations. Currently, the meta builds favor the first two lines of any class due to getting Power and Precision. Now that the stats are there we are free to take Specs based on what they offer mechanically rather than numerically. Sure, we’re used to calling Radiance the Crit Line because it has a lot of crit traits and offered precision. Suddenly, the stat is gone, and we’re realizing that there is more to Radiance than just bumping our chance to crit.

Silhouette.5631:

Exactly. And DPS builds dont receive any benefits from Condi modifiers. The difference is Condi builds arent being forced to pick between Grandmasters that are all power based. Its a crappy pick. It needs to be changed.

There is no condition trait on the Adept tier of Radiance. So yes, they essentially have the same problem considering that spec lines are now going to be all-or-nothing.

There are much bigger problems with the update than the Radiance GM options. Either just take Amplified Wrath and move forward, or don’t use Radiance. It’s easily possible to get a high critical chance without it.

Actually AW is going to have less milage because base condition damage is getting nerfed. Also Radiance IS the critical and condition line. It’s supposed to be those two things correlating with each other. The issue with AW being the only viable option in grandmaster tier is that 1. I have a choice of 1 kitten option and 2. Its heavily favorable to condi builds. Seriously a condi build gets a 15% damage buff and I’m getting….Lets see…a sneeze in the right direction? It is probably less useful than the adept traits in the tier. Also pairing with zeal is only good if 1. Your taking zeal and 2. Your taking traits in zeal that actually synergize with the burning.

I’m not saying its not a good trait. I’m saying it can be a horribly bum trait and that there needs to be better options for people who aren’t speccing burn somewhere else, and still need to take that line for its critical abilities.

@ Black Box- I know there are ALOT of problems, but trying to bust mine from getting fixed isnt going to help yours

Also to your comment about the adept tier. Instead of me saying something constructive and helpful, let me use your own arguement against you. Just take Virtue trait line bro. What? What its just a whole nother trait line. Just do something else if what you wana spec is broken

Whatever, man. Go ahead and drown in your own ignorance.

Black Box.9312:

Whatever, man. Go ahead and drown in your own ignorance.

In DnD terms we seem to be running into an issue of Read as Worded vs Read as Intended with this guy.

Anyways, be right back, I need to go melt Lupi real quick.

u know, in some ways honor could be a crit line

Vigorous Precision 10 Gain vigor when you deliver a critical hit.
Empowering Might 1 You and nearby allies gain might when you land a critical hit.

just a lot of other trash that isn’t going to help you crit

Nothing needs to be in the GM slot to support crits in Radiance; this line is ALREADY stupid with all the crits it so freely hands out. I’m a little disappointed it’s so strong in crits and little else considering the lines no longer have stats attached to them.

Ya know I cant disagree with you there. The line is stupid strong with its critical buffs. But that being said if it has enough to support zerkers without a grandmaster than truly how much stronger are the people running that with the signets trait going to be? Balance issues~

If the question is about balance of signet/crit build, I don’t think Perfect Inscriptions really unbalances such a build. That trait is just kind of there. I don’t think it has the same impact on the game as Monk’s Focus.

Zeal – dmg – +dmgmods – symbols
Radiance – Crits + Burns (/cough – condi)
Valor – Sustain
Honor – Support
Virtues – Class Designation
DH – idunotf /range

Thank you Amins. My original point was that it is no longer acting as a crit line. If your not running condi the only GM trait for you is signets. If your not running signets none of the GMs are good. If your running sword you can’t go to the zeal line without gimping yourself. So if your a sword user that doesn’t use signets your kinda boned. Radiance is a crit line, It needs to have a grandmaster that reflects that. Its not a GIANT issue, but for me personally running 1h sword with meditations, looking at the numbers, I know that I WILL be nerfed compared to my fellow guardians

I don’t see how a sword user boned if they don’t use signets; Amplified Wrath and Radiant Power have excellent synergy and it’s very easy to imagine a build criting and burning it’s way around using sword … and that’s just done in a single trait line to achieve that. There are two more to polish that kind of a build off.

I don’t see why anyone would want to do Zeal with a sword. If I was sword in PVP, I would be thinking something along this:

http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgIEvAKkA_g~

A condition user is getting 10x more power out of amplified wrath than me. They are more powerful than me, they will kill me. Balance issues. I am nerfed until there is a better option.

Now if Amplified Wrath gave a static ammount of condi power to burn. that would be different, but its PERCENTILE. which means i get 3 more damage a tick, they get 30. Mucho differenco. (It then however would not scale properly with might)

You’re talking about Kindred Zeal combined with AW? I will admit that I haven’t done any math with the new condition conversions and stat changes to calculate absolute numbers but I think you have made the numbers seem more significant than they are.

KD gives a Condi damage buff based on 10% of power. That’s not a whole lot if you look at what that means in real burning damage. The difference between 3 and 30 for actual damage increase is not a deal breaker considering people have HP in the range of 7000 and up.

Besides, is that difference in damage not offset by what you might get from choosing another line? I think it’s hard to say it’s not until you play it. Forest vs. the tress thing here.

Silhouette.5631:

Thank you Amins. My original point was that it is no longer acting as a crit line.

No offense, I mean this in the best possible light…

I think you’re going to have to change the way you perceive build creation.

Maybe think of Radiance as a Crit/Condi build, where your “Crit” is for sigils/runes proc’s…. I’m not sure if DH has any “on crit: gain condi” type function… I’ve been pretty PO’d about guardian and looking at other classes and haven’t even bothered to look at it anymore than a first glance /shrug, tbh.

But you are right, the GM Radiance trait doesn’t lend themselves to Melee very well outside of a Hybrid build or signet… which, lets be honest, will only be used for the new signet elites….. meaning no more RF. lol

Hambow – Zeal, Valor, DH. /pukes.