Guild Wars 2

I haven’t seen many builds being put forth with the new gear sets from HoT. Is anyone using any of them, and if so, how? General thoughts on the new sets also appreciated.

PvE ranger is only relevant as healer/support on raids, and for that you go either Zealot/Magi or Apoth/Cleric if you want to be healer/tank (not really recommended) or the good old zerker.
Cond ranger is out performed by burnzerker by a good margin , but the old a/t cond build works well with viper for raid.

For PvP, well … Anet will change amulets soon, so we better wait and see, currently Celestial is still the way to go.

Zerk meta is still in full force. You will read various things about other classes doing support better than the Druid. Who knows really at the end of the day.

GW2 Raid content != WoW’s. In this case the first go around of trying to tank, support/heal and DPS is still kitten poor so most expect zerk. Heck, there was a 10 guardian raid video posted. Sort of proves the point it doesn’t matter what you bring…

Viper – sees the top of DPS; beats Sinister
Berserker – still sees the top
Zealot – way too expansive for no real deal
Cleric/Magi – good way to carry your party
Minstrel (or any full tank set of that matter) – only viable for Commander-role in WvW.

@Tragic, I’m guessing Cleric/Magi is for healing Druid?

bearshaman.3421:

@Tragic, I’m guessing Cleric/Magi is for healing Druid?

Indeed

This patch will probably kill trap builds. (PvP)

BM builds with clerics will probably become the dominant side point build. Probably longbow staff decap since other classes will probably just switch from celestial to cleric.

Dark times are ahead for sidepoint play.

^^^ I’m guessing that’s all pvp stuff, which since I’m apparently a pacifist according to the game, I don’t play.

More interested in PVE stuff, building for dungeon/fractal/raid, but also do a lot of open world events as well.

Crapgame.6519:

GW2 Raid content != WoW’s. In this case the first go around of trying to tank, support/heal and DPS is still kitten poor so most expect zerk. Heck, there was a 10 guardian raid video posted. Sort of proves the point it doesn’t matter what you bring…

It’s not that it doesn’t matter what you bring. It’s likely raids could be completed with a full 10 of most professions. However, every profession is designed to be capable of pulling off a wide variety of (if not all) roles, but each in their own way. They likely put a lot more effort into their team composition and battle tactics than 10 Guardians, full zerker, rotate and don’t die. It may just be a testament to how strong the Guardian is, but every profession is capable of performing damage (condi and physical), support and control roles.

@Tragic, what about Minstrel for a healing Druid? I would have thought the concentration would be good from a support role.

bearshaman.3421:

@Tragic, what about Minstrel for a healing Druid? I would have thought the concentration would be good from a support role.

Well, there’s no need to.
If you have high amount of toughness – you’ll pull aggro from your tank and that’s not a good thing.

And, again, it’s too expensive for the stuff it provides.
Damage is one of the most important support roles that exist in GW2. And Druid brings all of it in auras that do not scale with boon duration (Frost Spirit, Spotter, Grace of the Land).
All the boons you bring are those that should be capped anyways (might, fury). You should have more than enough boon duration from traits and runes.

I’ve come to understand Viper’s is the way to go in raids if you want to go full condi. (If your team doesn’t have a profession which can stack conditions better).

Untill now I haven’t heard any other new gear set that has grown more popular than the already existing sets, in any game mode.