Guild Wars 2

The reason I’m excited about it after the reveal is because i feel firebrand is going to increase the skill ceiling on guardian. Unlike base guard and dh where spamming all your cds was a common strategy, firebrand requires you to judge whether you want to pace your mantras or if you are in an emergency and need the final charge. People who buttom spam get punished more. Additionally, mantras require that you judge what engagement you’re about to get into and charge your mantra beforehand.

Another aspect is the tomes, with limited page charges and a high cd, you have to make good judgements on whether you need to dps, heal or support your allies rather than just rolling your hands all over the keyboard to activate your virtues all at once. I also noticed higher cds and cast times on many of the new specializations. I presume this was in response to the spam fest that HoT specs were. This is a good thing because longer cast times means that you actually need to think about protecting your casts or ccing the enemy before you use your key skills for a set up.

All in all, I’m seeing firebrand as the new meta in wvw for stability and condi removal and the meta for burn guard in pvp.

Haha hot elites will just spam as always and you wont be able to react. Remember that some spec can dish out 15k dmg in 2 sec while you casting your spell in F3 tome. As a DH I can oneshot thieves and some classes with15-17k hp. Happily firebrand will be new one on my list with no blocking skills. Good luck with surviving anything in pvp especially in wvw when some skills in zerg fight can do 10-15k dmg from far and unblockable. Firebrand will never be meta in current state. Blocks are too valuable in high end pvp and wvw.

Considering that you can trait tome of courage to give aegis on every cast of f3, heal mantra gives up to 3 aegis and you can use mace, shield and focud to block, i really don’t see how you can say that firebrand has no blocks.

Hell, firebrand has more stunbreaks and stability than guard or dh.

Vanilla blocks suck because of all this multihitting. FB needs a trait like if an aegis activates it blocks for 0.5 seconds all incoming attacks. So blocks become similar useful to dodges.

It’s amusing to me that for like 2 years nobody thought guard was bad because it lacked channeled blocks, then all of a sudden hot hits and the entire guard forum loses it collective mind because the new elite spec isn’t a carbon copy of dh but just with hot sauce

Kuya.6495:

Considering that you can trait tome of courage to give aegis on every cast of f3, heal mantra gives up to 3 aegis and you can use mace, shield and focud to block, i really don’t see how you can say that firebrand has no blocks.

Hell, firebrand has more stunbreaks and stability than guard or dh.

Dude you realize if you go into f3 and someone is into you(thief, warrior or hammer scrapper) you wont have enough time to cast those 3/4 spells and if you wish to swap into mace and properly block there goes your 90sec cd. You cant use weapon skills when you are in F3.

And dont forget when you are in f3 you get quickness but its useless cause you dont even attack because it is a kit.

This concept of tomes is very bad with virtues cd.
Plus other elites now can strip away your boons heck even better some(most) can just took it from you.

this wont be viable as a solo or 2-3 party. Maybe in raids but chrono and druid can do it better on shorter cd.

I dont see it being usable in pvp or wvw roaming cause if someone even see you coming you will be already dead especially if they focus you, without RF you are easy meat.

I disagree completely. Firebrand will definitely be used in wvw since guard is used for stunbreaks, condition clears and stability there and the new elite has them by the truckloads. The wvw meta doesn’t even use dh so this whining about channeled blocks makes no sense.

I am less certain about pvp, but if you were running core burn guard before you will definitely upgrade to firebrand due to the elite’s higher access to condis and higher access to blocks than core guard.

I doubt firebrand will be meta in raid pve, but channeled blocks doesn’t matter there so your initial complaint is null here too.

The only thing firebrand cannot do as well as dh is be a bruiser/ 1v1 spec.

Also, if you take indomitable courage you will get a stunbreak on cast and stability on completion. you don’t have to worry about a thf when it comes to tome of courage if you take indom. You should worry about tome of resolve, but you don’t need to have focus equiped to protect the cast. simply use focus 5 and then f2.

Kuya.6495:

I disagree completely. Firebrand will definitely be used in wvw since guard is used for stunbreaks, condition clears and stability there and the new elite has them by the truckloads. The wvw meta doesn’t even use dh so this whining about channeled blocks makes no sense.

I am less certain about pvp, but if you were running core burn guard before you will definitely upgrade to firebrand due to the elite’s higher access to condis and higher access to blocks than core guard.

I doubt firebrand will be meta in raid pve, but channeled blocks doesn’t matter there so your initial complaint is null here too.

The only thing firebrand cannot do as well as dh is be a bruiser/ 1v1 spec.

Also, if you take indomitable courage you will get a stunbreak on cast and stability on completion. you don’t have to worry about a thf when it comes to tome of courage if you take indom. You should worry about tome of resolve, but you don’t need to have focus equiped to protect the cast. simply use focus 5 and then f2.

Do you play wvw at all? If 2 ppl focus you you are dead in seconds, Dh cant die that fast cause of active blocks, with Firebrand you dont have any active blocks. You are pretty much screwed if anyone sees you are a quickness bot. Core guard support is much better cause its not locked into Tome skill F’s so you can use shouts and use active weapon skills that can save you, in Firebrand if you are focused and you jump into F3 but need to go to focus cause of constant pressure you get a 90sec lockout and not even mantra elite stunbreak stability wont help you.

Could you at least for a moment take a minute to realize I’m talking about zerg vs zerg or gvg play in wvw and you’re talking about roaming?

It’s not the same thing. If you want to roam just use dh.

There’s no doubt firebrand will be used in zergs, they are in improved version of the stability share core guards.

RabbitUp.8294:

There’s no doubt firebrand will be used in zergs, they are in improved version of the stability share core guards.

Don’t forget burn share.

Kuya.6495:

It’s amusing to me that for like 2 years nobody thought guard was bad because it lacked channeled blocks, then all of a sudden hot hits and the entire guard forum loses it collective mind because the new elite spec isn’t a carbon copy of dh but just with hot sauce

Dude it’s not about the channel it’s about the numbers of attacks that can be blocked with one aegis. Aegis doesn’t need to be like DH f3, it just needs to be like dodges to combat the powercreep in this game that also happened to enemy’s attacks (and aegis was already problematic in vanilla as well, but it didn’t matter because back then we had as much health as a Warrior).

They should fix/buff core Guard to bring it to HoT standards. Since I know they don’t touch core traits because that does not print money I said at least Firebrand should have these changes. It has absolutely nothing to do with DH being a prime example and therefore somewhat revealed as a good spec. It’s just that they didn’t fix core Guard because that does not print money. Also DH did not fix aegis just because of f3 since f3 was not about aegis for DH.

Adrenalin.5719:

Kuya.6495:

It’s amusing to me that for like 2 years nobody thought guard was bad because it lacked channeled blocks, then all of a sudden hot hits and the entire guard forum loses it collective mind because the new elite spec isn’t a carbon copy of dh but just with hot sauce

Dude it’s not about the channel it’s about the numbers of attacks that can be blocked with one aegis. Aegis doesn’t need to be like DH f3, it just needs to be like dodges to combat the powercreep in this game that also happened to enemy’s attacks (and aegis was already problematic in vanilla as well, but it didn’t matter because back then we had as much health as a Warrior).

They should fix/buff core Guard to bring it to HoT standards. Since I know they don’t touch core traits because that does not print money I said at least Firebrand should have these changes. It has absolutely nothing to do with DH being a prime example and therefore somewhat revealed as a good spec. It’s just that they didn’t fix core Guard because that does not print money. Also DH did not fix aegis just because of f3 since f3 was not about aegis for DH.

Wasn’t replying to your suggestion.

Kuya.6495:

Could you at least for a moment take a minute to realize I’m talking about zerg vs zerg or gvg play in wvw and you’re talking about roaming?

It’s not the same thing. If you want to roam just use dh.

I think you can run pretty much anything in a zerg. Especially if it’s tanky.
Doesn’t mean you’re useful.

Kuya.6495:

Adrenalin.5719:

Kuya.6495:

It’s amusing to me that for like 2 years nobody thought guard was bad because it lacked channeled blocks, then all of a sudden hot hits and the entire guard forum loses it collective mind because the new elite spec isn’t a carbon copy of dh but just with hot sauce

Dude it’s not about the channel it’s about the numbers of attacks that can be blocked with one aegis. Aegis doesn’t need to be like DH f3, it just needs to be like dodges to combat the powercreep in this game that also happened to enemy’s attacks (and aegis was already problematic in vanilla as well, but it didn’t matter because back then we had as much health as a Warrior).

They should fix/buff core Guard to bring it to HoT standards. Since I know they don’t touch core traits because that does not print money I said at least Firebrand should have these changes. It has absolutely nothing to do with DH being a prime example and therefore somewhat revealed as a good spec. It’s just that they didn’t fix core Guard because that does not print money. Also DH did not fix aegis just because of f3 since f3 was not about aegis for DH.

Wasn’t replying to your suggestion.

So you are having a monologue with your own

entire guard forum

Funny.

LetoII.3782:

Kuya.6495:

Could you at least for a moment take a minute to realize I’m talking about zerg vs zerg or gvg play in wvw and you’re talking about roaming?

It’s not the same thing. If you want to roam just use dh.

I think you can run pretty much anything in a zerg. Especially if it’s tanky.
Doesn’t mean you’re useful.

Ok. Cool.

We’re not talking about running a spirit weapon build in wvw. We’re talking about the meta core stability and stunbreak frontlinner build for guardians and how firebrand is an upgrade in every way to that.

Adrenalin.5719:

Dude it’s not about the channel it’s about the numbers of attacks that can be blocked with one aegis.

One aegis, one block, just like one blind, one miss. Changing aegis to block multiple attacks would not go over well in PvP or WvW game types. A 1/4 second long block that can be granted to a zerg or an entire team is insanely powerful. As it stands now, aegis and blind are used to avoid large single hit attacks and are countered by multiple smaller attacks. This is fine, as guardian survivability does not revolve around aegis alone, it revolves around having heavy armor and many sources of healing as well has aegis in combination with blind.

Adrenalin.5719:

Aegis doesn’t need to be like DH f3, it just needs to be like dodges to combat the powercreep in this game that also happened to enemy’s attacks (and aegis was already problematic in vanilla as well, but it didn’t matter because back then we had as much health as a Warrior).

Give up on having a build without an elite be as powerful as one with, that’s clearly not their goal for balance. And guardians never had as much health as a warrior… are you high? Guardians, as well as thieves and elementalists, have always had the lowest health pools in the game.

Adrenalin.5719:

They should fix/buff core Guard to bring it to HoT standards. Since I know they don’t touch core traits because that does not print money I said at least Firebrand should have these changes.

I’d like to remind you that in preparation for the launch of HoT, the entire trait system got reworked. Remember when trait lines had stats on them and you picked your traits from a list of about 8 or 10 per line and you had to spend trait points to unlock further down the lines 30/20/20/0/0… that kind of thing? Yeah, this was done while the elite specializations were being worked on, not to mention all the changes that were made during HoT. Not to mention, we know there’s a large balance patch coming out before Path of Fire that’ll add new mechanics to the core classes… like the new barrier mechanic and charges to existing utility skills. Guardians could very well get barrier as a mechanic on some of their core abilities and traits before the expansion launches.

Core professions have not been neglected; but like I said before, 3 core trait lines is never going to be as strong as 2 core and 1 elite, that’s just how this is being balanced.

Malthurius.6870:

Adrenalin.5719:

Dude it’s not about the channel it’s about the numbers of attacks that can be blocked with one aegis.

One aegis, one block, just like one blind, one miss. Changing aegis to block multiple attacks would not go over well in PvP or WvW game types. A 1/4 second long block that can be granted to a zerg or an entire team is insanely powerful. As it stands now, aegis and blind are used to avoid large single hit attacks and are countered by multiple smaller attacks. This is fine, as guardian survivability does not revolve around aegis alone, it revolves around having heavy armor and many sources of healing as well has aegis in combination with blind.

Adrenalin.5719:

Aegis doesn’t need to be like DH f3, it just needs to be like dodges to combat the powercreep in this game that also happened to enemy’s attacks (and aegis was already problematic in vanilla as well, but it didn’t matter because back then we had as much health as a Warrior).

Give up on having a build without an elite be as powerful as one with, that’s clearly not their goal for balance. And guardians never had as much health as a warrior… are you high? Guardians, as well as thieves and elementalists, have always had the lowest health pools in the game.

Adrenalin.5719:

They should fix/buff core Guard to bring it to HoT standards. Since I know they don’t touch core traits because that does not print money I said at least Firebrand should have these changes.

I’d like to remind you that in preparation for the launch of HoT, the entire trait system got reworked. Remember when trait lines had stats on them and you picked your traits from a list of about 8 or 10 per line and you had to spend trait points to unlock further down the lines 30/20/20/0/0… that kind of thing? Yeah, this was done while the elite specializations were being worked on, not to mention all the changes that were made during HoT. Not to mention, we know there’s a large balance patch coming out before Path of Fire that’ll add new mechanics to the core classes… like the new barrier mechanic and charges to existing utility skills. Guardians could very well get barrier as a mechanic on some of their core abilities and traits before the expansion launches.

Core professions have not been neglected; but like I said before, 3 core trait lines is never going to be as strong as 2 core and 1 elite, that’s just how this is being balanced.

You got no clue lol, Guard had max health pool in vanilla. Besides blinds being kittenty doesn’t make aegis being kittenty better. Both are underpowered compared to dodge spamming and facetanking.

Adrenalin.5719:

You got no clue lol, Guard had max health pool in vanilla.

Have you even played this game since beta?

Guardians have always had the lowest health pool alongside eles and thieves, even in the beta as far as I’m aware of.

Adrenalin.5719:

You got no clue lol, Guard had max health pool in vanilla. Besides blinds being kittenty doesn’t make aegis being kittenty better. Both are underpowered compared to dodge spamming and facetanking.

I think you’re trolling me; I’ve mained guardian since beta and their health pool has always been about 12,000 base.

And it’s fine that blind and aegis are weaker than dodge spamming and facetanking… since you can do all 4 at the same time. Maybe you’d have a point if you had to choose between dodging or getting an aegis.

In the earliest version of base GW, Guards had the same health pool as warriors and the testers collectively lost their kitten because of how tanky it was.

So it was nerfed to the lowest health pool in the betas and remained so ever since.

We did used to get 200 vitality from honor, which everyone took