Guild Wars 2

So I’ve played now a few hours (since the BWE start)

I tried a few different builds now and staff seems pretty useless compared to s/x. Let me explain why.

The AA chain seems quite similar but I think sword does a little bit more dmg. Hook Strike ist stronger than Tactical Strike, but Staff has no access to stealth by itself so it’s pretty useless.

It’s hard to hit completly with the second skill of the staff, it doesn’t move towards your target, but in the direction you look. It’s even not that good for a gap closer (it’s no gap closer, but an enemy can simply strafe away)

The 3rd skill, the evade is imo really bad compared to sword. First, you hit before you evade. That means there is a window where you activate the skill, and you are vulnarable, because first, you hit the enemy. That’s pretty bad for an evade. Second is, you evade backwards and don’t stay in melee range like sword.

The 4th skill seems completely useless. Skills are getting spammed. I mean against what class would you use this? D/P #3 does damage and is a gap closer and blinds.

The 5th skill is the only one that seems pretty dangerous. So it has one of the best telegraphed animations. It’s imo the only thing someone has to dodge, blind, interrupt, block etc. For 6 initative.

Summary:
I really like the concept and the idea of the daredevil. But if you compare the staff with the sword, espacially s/d it’s awful. You don’t have a condiremove, your overall mobility is really bad and you hit like a wet noodle (against anything that knows how to play). ATM I have no idea what the staff should offer compared to sword.

BTW: The new traitline is awesome and I like the physical skills.

EDIT: The request in the stream was how the survivability is especially against multiple targets. Imo it has the worst survivability of all weaponsets, beside p/p. It’s really slow compared to anything (again, beside p/p) and it has no access to stealth.

I agree with just about all of this.
Staff#3 I don’t have too much issue with as is.
Staff#5 I think should have a little more range or something. It’s not an instant teleport like SB5, and is quite telling. It could use something to help but out a bit though. The dmg isnt bad at all though.

The rest, I basically agree with. It felt like the least survivable weaponset to me. Whether I was one on one, +1’ing or even attempting to contribute to a team fight (only real place where staff5 shines), I basically got to the point where I decided I had no need for the staff. Basically, everything it could do, I had access to on another weapon set. The vuln and weakness is kinda nice, but also a little bit token. Its not enough to save the skillset.

Additionally, the animations, and really in particular, the way one holds the staff just didnt feel tight. As many others have commented, it feels more like a hammer than a staff.

I want so badly to like it. I love the ideas behind it all, but it felt pretty much useless to me.

Edit:bah.. Still getting used to posting. Numbers turned int o a list!