Guild Wars 2

When it comes to ranged power, I realize that Guardians are probably the weakest of all classes. I think that the Guardian should get some more ranged options, but honestly, the scepter isn’t all that bad.
Its auto attack is slow, its two has to be chained with its three to hit at all, but its damage isn’t that bad. I made a build that focused on crit damage with a sword and a scepter. The sword did some nice damage, and the scepter wasn’t that bad either. Smite did quite a bit of damage, and shredded with the added immobilize. And the auto attacks weren’t the hardest hitters, but there are far worse ranged weapons out there.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is to encourage new players who want to play the guardian, or even veteran ones.
The Guardian is probably the weakest ranged class, but they aren’t hopeless. You will never go toe to toe with a ranger, or a warrior, but you’re not limited to throwing sticks at people. Just hang in there until we get some more weapons and in the mean while, the scepter is a fairly decent weapon.

Magical tennis racquet.

You try AOE using #2 on a group of mobs during a event using a scepter. You get 0 exp and 0 drops because it’s damage is too low. Try using #1 from a distance. The mob is most probably dead before that tennis ball hit the mob or the damage is too low to gain any exp or drops.

Wel.. on the scepter it realy only the 3. attack thats is ok.

Wel.. on the scepter it realy only the 3. attack thats is ok.Pick a weapon for a Immobilize on 20 sec CD feels wrong for me.

Scepter is nice becomes it can be paired with a good offhand.

LordYz.8941:

You try AOE using #2 on a group of mobs during a event using a scepter. You get 0 exp and 0 drops because it’s damage is too low. Try using #1 from a distance. The mob is most probably dead before that tennis ball hit the mob or the damage is too low to gain any exp or drops.

I’ve never had that experience, I feel like the #2 skill is awesome. It really melts things and is rather spammable. The autoattack is rather underwhelming but I think Smite is great. Tears down siege machines and gates in WvW better than a lot of alternatives.

I’ll give you that the Immobilize is the reason I tried it in the first place though. Tried it for the 3 skill, stayed for the 2 skill. I often have a lot of trouble choosing other weapons over it honestly, I usually end up going Scepter Shield / Staff.

The Scepter isn’t bad, but it is boring and should be more effective given that it’s our only real ranged option.

If only scepter auto-attack was like pally fist of heaven from d2, that would be cool and you’ll really feel like you’re smiting something..

scepter suck auto-attack can be easy dodge and aoe suck hard (15 hits in area) but if you try on golem he take 5-8 hits my max is 11hits after 50x using vs other aoe skill where take full damage when you stay in its badly

The Scepter does pathetic damage. Go fire a warrior rifle and you will see how sad it is. Not to mention that it can easily be dodged and you basically have to fire off 2 skills to get an ineffective AOE attack. Its the most pathetic weapon I have ever experienced in an MMO.

The Staff is not much better.

i just made today an 1 vs 1 in wvw for over 10 minutes, because any decent player with over 30 fps can dodge all my scepter attacks, and other weapon i had equiped was staf.
scepter is eficient vs players who refuse to move .

For the low hit chance of both the ae and the orb the damage is way too low imho. I might be right if you had 100% chance to hit (direct attack rather than orb), but just maybe…

If you’re stuck with scepter in WvW (can’t change weapon due to being in combat mode) you better get in melee range for the orbs to hit. But really you should be using Smite whenever it’s ready. And if you have torch off hand, spam skill 4 and 5 too when they’re ready. On a different note, I think Scepter + Torch is great for PVE farming.

Scepter auto attack kills it for me, hard.

I changed about a week ago to the Scepter/Torch weapon set for PvE. This is a great combo with the scepter pulling mobs and the torch 4 & 5 skills burning them when close. I do use a major sigil of bloodlust on the scepter – having 25 stacks of +7 power helps a lot – lol.

“Magical tennis racquet.”

I lol’d

SilverRule.7426:

Just hang in there until we get some more weapons and in the mean while, the scepter is a fairly decent weapon.

I lolled. After all the positivity in your post, you caved on the last sentence! You suggest that it’s inevitable that we will get more weapons! Newsflash: it isn’t. That’s why the posts are happening (the “hating” as you put it), and are likely to continue to happen until the Guardian does get some ranged attention.

So true Svarty. We are the only class that dont have a ranged weapon. ( we have scepter and staff but they are so broke that its almost like we dont have any chooice).

Like mention alot in this thread – the skill 1 is just way to slow and so boring that i whant to log out and go to sleep and the skill 2 is just to small area on the aoe. I rarely get more then 4-6 hits of it.

This is from PvP/WvW, where we realy needed a ranged option. My lvl 6 ranger bring more keep defence then my lvl 62 Guardian. (not always i can play at prime time with friends/guildy/zerg you know)

But i do love this class to much to stop playing it, just hope they could tweak our ranged abilites abit to make it perfect

I’m a Thief, and I’ll say, Guardian needs a much better ranged weapon. I feel sorry for you guys.

Yea it looks and feels lame to use, but those are its only problems. Many people think you can dodge its auto attack by side strafing — you can’t, if they are still in range they will be hit even if it is a mile away. Sure they can escape the projectiles by fleeing more easily, but that’s the price we pay for being the toughest melee profession.

The damage is fine and completely comparable to our melee weapons because of its high rate of attack and lack of delay between chains (less dmg obviously, because it is ranged). It is not fair to compare it to a 2 handed weapon with 5 skills; consider what people have said — if you want more damage take torch and throw fireballs that hit like missiles. Anybody who stays in range of a guard (that is not defense spec’d) and is taking hits from the orbs will quickly find themselves in trouble, and the multiple hits / low CD from scepter 2 will proc virtue and crit abilities very reliably.

Still… make it look less like a magical tennis racket

I would rater have 50% less dmg and 50% faster attack speed

Maby not 50/50 since that wil scale bether with crit. Maby 50/35?!

I would gladly take less damage per hit and zero travel time, like the Necromancer’s scepter attack. Then it would be useful.

Depending on how you spec, scepter damage can actually be very good. The main problem which everyone has a problem with is the speed of the projectiles and how easy they are to dodge. If they would just speed up the travel speed of our orbs I would be completely happy with the scepter.

I’m actually specced for scepter in pvp and even there I despise it. I treat it more like an extension of my utility bar.

a few things on my mind:

- the scepter CAN do very good dmg. but like most have pointed out. #2 seems to have to be paired with #3 for it to be affected.unless if you find stationary bosses or if your party can somehow stunlock them, then #2 frigging shines! or vs a player who doesn’t know or care to move. when in WvW defending, when i drop a #2, people peace out like no other, especially when it crits. but again, can be situational. it works when you throw it up against wall while zerging and helps push archers back from the walls.

- lol magical tennis racquet. that’s one of the reasons i love the scepter too. ha.

- that being said, if they’d switch out the orbs, or animation so that it at least SEEMS like t’s doing legit damage. or just up the DPS in general. what of it instead of being orbs popping out (i can’t even use the word shoot properly here), it’d fire a lazer that tags on to enemies but not work seeing as it’s an “auto attack” skill but maybe as long as it’s in range, then it does damage

- again, THAT being said, i saw on map chat once that shatterer was up. i’d never done seent him befo so i rushed across half a map to get there. everyone was like he’s still 80% come one come all! and i was liek sweet i should make it in time. got there, he was on his deathbed already! i quickly switched to scepter, spammed, and got one crit hit in. bronze. chest. not bad. lol

- not helping the scepter’s case here, but i switch to scepter (and staff) when in low levels (going for map completion) so i don’t overkill (when others are around)… but i’ll definitely have scepter equipped when running dungeons. not sure if it’s dealing with what i’m given or i actually enjoy using it sometimes. usually i feel it’s the latter. but against experienced players, scepter is slightly tough. then, again, i feel Guardians shine most when in melee range.
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I use the sceptre as my ranged option. It’s okay but not great. The beauty of the sceptre is that it leaves the off-hand free to pair with something more interesting. But on its own it needs a buff.

I understand our inner monk demands we not be given bows or guns but I don’t think we would be complaining so much if the actual skills on the sceptre weren’t so lackluster.

I mean, I like ethereal chain but would like it to last a little longer and possible needs a shorter recharge time. Although I would happily accept just a shorter recharge time. 1 is fine for an auto attack thing.

But 2 needs to be rethought. I mean just changing it to a symbol, aka symbol of smite, alone would make #2 better. You know “Place a symbol of smite on the ground that strike foes in the area repeatedly and grants retaliation on allies” or something like that. Suddenly sceptre can be used in symbol builds and just becomes more useful! In fact, I am actually surprised that #2 isn’t a symbol already.

I’d like to see #2 replaced. I fail to see how it fits the Guardian theme, and it’s not a particularly useful skill in general. I’d prefer if it were a faster moving projectile that applied a condition or boon around the target — Burning, Vulnerability, Protection, or Retaliation. It’d be even more awesome if it was a Symbol that applied a boon or condition.

My form if ranged combat is 3 fold. Either hop at enemy with GS, Pull enemy to me with GS, or if I don’t want to deal with ranged yet throw up a huge barrier to protect me and throw damage back at them.

With Great Hammer, I can sorta hop at enemy and I can also hamstring them, I can also block them from escaping my circle of death O-o

I am a PvE guardian

I hate play tennis. :P

Because it’s a ranged weapon that can’t function at range. Even NPCs dodge our blue balls at anything past 900 range.

i feel a lot of it has to do with the animation and the weaponskins that come with scepters. i find both of it not very well suited for my charr gaurdian.

i do like smite but the fist animation looks childish too. could be a lot cooler (gimme thane aoe from daoc … )

i do like the mechanics though. scepter/torch is just very well rounded.

i say make the projectiles 30% faster
and the lower the swingseed accordingly.
also remove the tennis animation and replace it wiht a thrust or something
make the proectiles arrows of light and not bouncy and i am happy camper.

on the other hand that would take some of the uniqueness from gw2 abilities

i guess the tennis is cool for female toons but hey…

If they just made the smite count as a symbol so it gains the symbol traits (larger area, heals, longer lasting, applies vulnerability) that alone would make me happy. I agree something needs to be done for the orb.

Scepter is boring to use, compared to the other weapons we have.

Scepter by itself = boring. Scepter w/ Focus = Good CC & dmg mitigation.

It doesnt seem like the scepter is a ranged weapon at all, just a melee weapon that can hit slightly out of melee range or someone thats standing still which people dont do in pvp at all. The only good thing about the scepter is number 3, otherwise it needs a rework like the staff #1.

Scepter is a melee weapon that got stuck with a 900 range in beta. Then they moved it to a 1200 when we pointed out we could really use a solid 1200 range weapon designed for damage. Unfortunately they’ve never got around to changing the weapon to actually be functional at anything outside melee range.

1. needs to hit reliably, I think the best suggestion is still to change it to a beam attack(similar to mesmer GS) it would need a damage reduction but actually hitting is necessary. #2 should be a symbol, similar damage to SoS but instead grant say… might? or stack vuln or enemies?