Guild Wars 2

This is just an idea, maybe it’ll turn out good, so listen out.

People are always complaining about Hundred Blades, generally those outside of the class, and some inside. Because of Hundred Blades, Greatsword, in some people’s ideas end up becoming more of a PvE weapon. The burst is high, the cooldown is low, it can repeated a lot, but it’s easy to avoid, and this pretty much takes a good percentage of the warrior (the player doesn’t becomes useless after losing his Hundred Blades to cooldown, or the other skills to set it up)

Many people are also complaining about the use of Arcing Slice as a Burst Skill. Myself, I also find it lackluster. It has medium to average damage, and it’s effect after use is below average in my opinion. The Hammer’s Burst Skill and the Bow’s is a lot better and more viable to use. For that sole reason I ended up using a build, for both PvE and PvP which focused more on keeping my adrenaline up and increasing my power by a lot while I had full adrenaline.

Myself, I am a fan of more technical combat. For that reason, I’ve always loved counter mechanics in most MMOs, and there are plenty in GW2. I also love dashes, rushes, leap skills, gap closers, and they’re really cool in my conception. What could be done, in my opinion, to fix this issue I’m having personally, and maybe some other people, and perhaps increase a little the Greatsword’s control in order to make it more viable is the following.

1) Take out Arcing Slice from the Burst Skill slot.
2) Put Hundred Blades in the Burst Skill slot, leave it with the 10 seconds cooldown. If needed, due to the little availabilty, have Hundred Blades apply a short 1 second cripple each second so it hits more. If needed, also reduce damage by the needed percentage.
3) In the place of Hundred Blades, put a move called Hilt Counter. The skill works exactly as the name, you’re set in a stance, if hit in melee range, you will counter the attack and hit the opponent with your hilt, dazing (or stunning if preferred) for a brief duration (1/2 second is cool, but 1 second if you prefer). You can also double tap the skill in order to execute Arcing Slice, applying a 9 second Fury buff, decrease Arcing Slice’s damage for a little if required, or leave it be, as it’s damage is cool. I recommend an 8~10 seconds cooldown on this one.
4) (OPTIONAL) Change Rush’s animation with the one Rangers have (minus the eagle appearing from the character), in my opinion, it works a lot better, there is a run, and there is a leap, two cool things in one, and the response is much faster.

Comment if you want, don’t hate me, I’d like to keep the discussion civilized, tell me what you think of my ideas.

+1 for Hundred Blades becoming a burst skill.

Not so sure about what to replace it with, however.

Don’t you think the counter which can be turned into Arcing Slice a good idea, zTales?

I think a counter is a good idea, but I dunno’ about Arcing Slice. I really hate that skill, so I could just be biased. XD

Maybe an adrenaline build-up, like Riposte on the OH Sword?

I agree with the idea of swapping HB and arcing slice.

I think it really is just as simple as making HB the burst skill, have it apply a .75 second immobilize per adrenaline rank and call it good.

Put arcing slice in the 2 slot, give it the same cooldown HB had and make the numbers work as if it was used with only 1 adrenal bar.

HB spam stopped, more combat depth added (HB actually being something you build up for).

As for charge, I like how it is now for the mobility, and it actually hits for a decent amount. I use it all the time, and deal with the attack bugs. All they need to do is fix the kitten bugs and it’s fine.

Hate to burst your bubble, but a “Hundred blades with an immobilize” allready exists… Check out the burst skill for the onehanded sword

Which, by the way, is completely awesome.

/Sword n’ board warrior.

Crescendoll.7612

Hate to burst your bubble, but a “Hundred blades with an immobilize” allready exists… Check out the burst skill for the onehanded sword
Which, by the way, is completely awesome.
/Sword n’ board warrior.

Oh kitten . I’m a Sword/Axe Warrior and I completely forgot about that.

But yea, it’d basically be copying Flurry … just with more power and no conditions. Hmmm.

Edit/Fun fact: This word censor is weird. I didn’t even put in anything remotely close to a curse. O.o

Read again, Crescendoll, I said “cripple”, not “immobilize”.

Any valid thoughts or are you just “boasting”?

Read again RJMazz, i was replying to Braxxus.2904 who posted right above me, suggesting an immobilize effect.

Any valid thoughts or are you just “correcting”?

Crescendoll.7612:

Read again RJMazz, i was replying to Braxxus.2904 who posted right above me, suggesting an immobilize effect.

Any valid thoughts or are you just “correcting”?

Nah, mah mistake, apologies.

Instead of the immobilize I think a cripple would be better suiting. The burst and upfront damage is too much and is hard to be countered if immobilized. I think it’s a no no. A half second or 1 second cripple per hit would make it counterable, though harder to get off of, just enough for a suitable balance.

Also, Arcing Slice would be a much more versatile skill if it were put in a counter form. It’s two skills in one and you can choose how to activate it.

Mistakes happen! Don’t worry bout it, sorry for biting back.

Although I do think making HB a burst skill could potentially be fun, it would still feel like a bit of a ripoff on the Flurry burst. I’d like to say something along the lines of “just keep it as it is, and redesign the burst completely”, but this’d be moot as I think having HB be so powerful makes GS a one hit wonder. I’m just not a fan of it. I think maybe I shouldn’t be in this discussion at all…

I’ll crawl back to the sword and board topic. Good luck to all you GS fanatics!

If 100B was the burst ability, odds are I’d never, ever use it in PvP. I already don’t often use 100B, though I will on occasion follow up a Bull’s Charge with a non-frenzied 100B to insure that they dodge after recovering from the stun. I’ll sometimes use it when someone is coming towards me just to make them think twice (which has backfired a few times, but oh well). I can’t imagine a scenario where I’d use anything other than the Hammer burst though, so I guess that isn’t that big of a surprise.

I do think Crescendoll makes a good point though, as there already is a very similar burst ability in the Warrior weapon sets. If they wanted to keep up with the theme of mobility, they could make the GS burst a leaping AoE “sunder” that stacks 3/6/9 Vulnerability on targets within the radius while doing moderate damage. It could have a longer range but smaller AoE than Earthshaker so it doesn’t feel the exact same. You’d have a charge, whirlwind, and a burst leap to play with for mobility, and maybe it would make the Vulnerability part of the auto feel less out of place. I might actually use that instead of Earthshaker depending on the situation.

Cogbyrn.7283:

If they wanted to keep up with the theme of mobility, they could make the GS burst a leaping AoE “sunder” that stacks 3/6/9 Vulnerability on targets within the radius while doing moderate damage. It could have a longer range but smaller AoE than Earthshaker so it doesn’t feel the exact same. You’d have a charge, whirlwind, and a burst leap to play with for mobility, and maybe it would make the Vulnerability part of the auto feel less out of place. I might actually use that instead of Earthshaker depending on the situation.

I like this!

And get rid of HB completely (a self-rooting “hurr durrrrr” channeled attack in a mobility driven weapon style is just dumb anyways) and put another basic swing attack in the 2 slot and GS would be a much better weapon to play with (I keep saying arcing slice at x1 power because it’s already coded/animated so it’d be easy to do).

BTW to the sword’n’boarder above:
I’m actually just a warrior fanatic. Personally I would love to be a sword’n’boarder warrior (it’s my favorite ‘style’ visually) but in TPvP it’s pretty meh except as a secondary defensive/mobility set. As a primary weapon set it’s just not really that viable. Hell i’d like to be a sword’n’board / rifle warrior but alas….

I wouldn’t want to lose 100b, it has great damage and there are multiple ways we can set it up. Leg specialist lets you get a few swings off with a cripple, shield stun with paralyzation rune into 100b, bulls rush with or without frenzy, bolas, mace stun, sword flurry, etc. I personally love giving my opponent multiple looks with the 100b when they are normally just waiting for the bulls charge frenzy combo.

Not only that, 100b is amazing if the other team is foolish enough to try to revive while you are around. Putting 100b as our burst would severely cripple the gs damage and combos we can pull of with our secondary set and I would probably never use the gs again. I do like the idea of a new burst skill for it though, or even changing the mechanics of 100b without losing too much damage. (cast time becomes 2s but 50% of the current damage, cast on the move with 20% less damage, etc)

I like the vulnerability idea, or even have it grant us stacks of might over fury, anything really would be an improvement.

Getting rid of Hb would be a bad idea. Primarily because GS 1 is terrible damage. Lowest Button 1 damage chain of all the weapons (apart from the longbow….)

So you sacrifice the power of using 2 signets for one signet on a 2H weapon, but with no gain in dps to compensate.

Hundred blades is the only decent damage from a greatsword, and I find most of my GS play revolves in clever way of setting up a HB move. (i’m not just talking about bullrush/frenzy/HB). A non frenzied HB is so hard to pull off as it takes so kitten long, rare that I ever get the last hit in honestly.

They do need to change the greatsword adrenal. Has anyone ever actually used it?
Even if it was might instead of fury I wouldn’t use it.

They should change it to an aoe cripple. Call it ‘Ankle slice’ or something and give it 500 radius?. So not an op’d damage ability, but allowing you to support your team, giving you a way to escape attackers more effectively etc.

I can understand not wanting the loss in DPS in PvE for those instances where you can stand and burn, but “DPS” in PvP means almost nothing. I use 100B once in a blue moon, usually as a means of controlling an area of the fight or getting someone to use a dodge. Its damage means nothing to me in PvP, as I use the GS more for the ranged cripple, charge, and Whirlwind damage-dodge-combo-of-awesome. With my weapon swap on 5 seconds anyway, I don’t need to be in GS for long before switching back to Hammer time.

Perhaps getting rid of 100B could spark an increase in Auto damage to help boost it up in PvE. I do understand the PvE concern of losing 100B, but then again, if the burst could stack more vulnerability, perhaps that would help compensate as well.

Cogbyrn

I can understand not wanting the loss in DPS in PvE for those instances where you can stand and burn, but “DPS” in PvP means almost nothing. I use 100B once in a blue moon, usually as a means of controlling an area of the fight or getting someone to use a dodge. Its damage means nothing to me in PvP, as I use the GS more for the ranged cripple, charge, and Whirlwind damage-dodge-combo-of-awesome. With my weapon swap on 5 seconds anyway, I don’t need to be in GS for long before switching back to Hammer time.

Perhaps getting rid of 100B could spark an increase in Auto damage to help boost it up in PvE. I do understand the PvE concern of losing 100B, but then again, if the burst could stack more vulnerability, perhaps that would help compensate as well.

I agree with Cog here. I hardly EVER use HB in PvP unless it’s a sure-fire completion. I play to the GS strength which is mobility. HB is not our only burst btw, unless you count every hit connecting in a full channel. However hit for hit sword 3, 4 and 5 all deal very respectable damage (yes 5 is buggy about hitting, I know) and I actually find myself using the 1 attack chain quite often simply because it stacks vunerability and keeps me mobile. With the 20% CD reduction in GS abilities I can 3,4,5 often and will pop frenzy purely to increase my mobile damage rather than go for the HB.

I will however use HB once in a while for situations like Cog mentioned, to force a dodge or when the enemy groups up like lemmings to revive or whatnot. I also use it to finish downed thieves and mesmers as most of them will save their teleport for when they see you stomp, so I can actually just cleave them apart faster than dealing with that noise in most cases.

TLDR: In my experience (not pro, only rank 25 war working my way to the 30’s) HB is our crappiest ability (other than our burst attack) and requires far too much setup and situational perfection to be worth the spot on our attack bar.

If you think 100B is useless in PVP, read this thread again.

Hint: the Sword burst skill applies its immobilize at the beginning of the cast, and doesn’t go away if you switch weapons.

I didn’t say useless, it’s just more situational and, in my opinion, worse than the other GS abilities. I used it most often to cleave down illusions, and I even had an opportunity the other day to use it on Thieves Guild after LoSing the mobs to line ’em up. The duel with that thief lasted at least 2.5 to 3 minutes (I prioritized point defense, and he seemed spec with all sorts of stealthiness in mind), only ending when one of his teammates came (none of mine showed up). I thought we were destined to fight forever.

Anyway, 100B has its place. If it was removed, I wouldn’t miss it. That’s all.

Fantom.9217:

If you think 100B is useless in PVP, read this thread again.

Hint: the Sword burst skill applies its immobilize at the beginning of the cast, and doesn’t go away if you switch weapons.

Shhhhh!

All I would love for my HB is it to deal half damage (4 hits + final) but no lock in place.
Pretty much like Guardian’s Whirl skill, normal damage but mobile and fast.
Of course CD should also be reduced to 4s (3s traited).

The damage loss could be given into Arcing Slice, and make the effect (fury) also apply to nearby allies.

RJmass

I think your solution is a little overly complex. It’s been suggested before btw.

What I would personally like to see is hundred blades damage toned down by around 20-30% and being able to move while using it. This would still make it a great skill around 7-10k if everything hits but not a wtf pawn if it does either. Also provides mobility which is sorely needed. Everyone wins.

As far at arcing slice goes I personally don’t care for it either but I see no reason to change it just for the sake of change. If we really wanted to do something with it and we made the change I recommend to 100 blades I would personally love to see it as our gap closer/finisher similar to eviserate/heartseeker. It’s tied to adrenaline so it shouldn’t be OP that’s kinda our only resource and right now is generally mediocre. Lower damage but mobile 100B would synergize well with the other skills and if arcing slice was changed to a finisher it would fit perfectly.

Changing 100B to the adrenaline skill in it’s current form is not a great idea imo and would hurt the class a lot in both pvp and pve.

Proeliator.8740:

RJmass

I think your solution is a little overly complex. It’s been suggested before btw.

What I would personally like to see is hundred blades damage toned down by around 20-30% and being able to move while using it. This would still make it a great skill around 7-10k if everything hits but not a wtf pawn if it does either. Also provides mobility which is sorely needed. Everyone wins.

As far at arcing slice goes I personally don’t care for it either but I see no reason to change it just for the sake of change. If we really wanted to do something with it and we made the change I recommend to 100 blades I would personally love to see it as our gap closer/finisher similar to eviserate/heartseeker. It’s tied to adrenaline so it shouldn’t be OP that’s kinda our only resource and right now is generally mediocre. Lower damage but mobile 100B would synergize well with the other skills and if arcing slice was changed to a finisher it would fit perfectly.

Changing 100B to the adrenaline skill in it’s current form is not a great idea imo and would hurt the class a lot in both pvp and pve.

It’s RJMazz, with 2 "z"s.

Also, I don’t think ANet has ever worried about too complex. They waited for years more so they could develop a more complex game. So long as it’s the best solution, it should be applied, and I can wait.

Not sure what you guys are doing then, if you aren’t using leg specialist, sword, mace, shield stun, or bolas for extra opportunities to land hundred blades, you are better off with axe/mace and switching weapons out of combat for roaming. It is far from our worst ability, just takes skill to setup and sometimes coordination with your team. Any ability that can instantly take someone out of a fight when landed is not terrible, sorry.

I personally run gs axe/shield roaming burst build and often switch out frenzy for bolas, giving me 2 utilities, leg specialist cripple, and shield stun to land full or partial 100b. Switching 100b to the gs burst would be pointless when we have eviscerate, and hurt our weapon combinations with gs and overall damage.

Rank 32 95% games on warrior.

As I’m fan of HB, its only good downed players.

Ship.3612:

Not sure what you guys are doing then, if you aren’t using leg specialist, sword, mace, shield stun, or bolas for extra opportunities to land hundred blades, you are better off with axe/mace and switching weapons out of combat for roaming. It is far from our worst ability, just takes skill to setup and sometimes coordination with your team. Any ability that can instantly take someone out of a fight when landed is not terrible, sorry.

I personally run gs axe/shield roaming burst build and often switch out frenzy for bolas, giving me 2 utilities, leg specialist cripple, and shield stun to land full or partial 100b. Switching 100b to the gs burst would be pointless when we have eviscerate, and hurt our weapon combinations with gs and overall damage.

Rank 32 95% games on warrior.

100B itself can’t instantly take anyone out of a fight, and you don’t have to apologize when I know you aren’t sorry. Most times you need at least two utilities to set it up for the “instant” kill, whereas Whirlwind Attack, Bladetrail, and Rush are always useful completely on their own. I don’t use GS for roaming, I use it for mobility. We’ll also have to agree to disagree that setting up 100B with an immobilize takes skill.

I run Hammer/GS, and I can’t imagine playing anything else considering the fun I have in fights. You can keep your axe/shield.

Cogbyrn.7283:

Ship.3612:

Not sure what you guys are doing then, if you aren’t using leg specialist, sword, mace, shield stun, or bolas for extra opportunities to land hundred blades, you are better off with axe/mace and switching weapons out of combat for roaming. It is far from our worst ability, just takes skill to setup and sometimes coordination with your team. Any ability that can instantly take someone out of a fight when landed is not terrible, sorry.

I personally run gs axe/shield roaming burst build and often switch out frenzy for bolas, giving me 2 utilities, leg specialist cripple, and shield stun to land full or partial 100b. Switching 100b to the gs burst would be pointless when we have eviscerate, and hurt our weapon combinations with gs and overall damage.

Rank 32 95% games on warrior.

100B itself can’t instantly take anyone out of a fight, and you don’t have to apologize when I know you aren’t sorry. Most times you need at least two utilities to set it up for the “instant” kill, whereas Whirlwind Attack, Bladetrail, and Rush are always useful completely on their own. I don’t use GS for roaming, I use it for mobility. We’ll also have to agree to disagree that setting up 100B with an immobilize takes skill.

I run Hammer/GS, and I can’t imagine playing anything else considering the fun I have in fights. You can keep your axe/shield.

I agree with Cog yet again here (I swear I’m not being some creepy e-perv on ya). HB BY ITSELF is a pretty sad ability in most cases. The fact that it requires a stun/immobilize and often times frenzy to see the return from it is a testament to that.

Also you can keep the Axe/Shield cookie cutter GS spec. I either run with sword/shield for the aforementioned immobilize + extra mobility (which I trait for to remove immobilizes) or more often nowadays a rifle to put the pressure on kiters a bit more (and rifle seems to be fairly good at taking down engi’s for whatever reason). Using “eviscerate” as an excuse NOT to put HB on the burst skill is basically trying to pigeon-hole every other GS user into using axe/something in their 2ndary weapon slot.

But different strokes and all. I can’t stand building around one gimmicky ability and so try not to run with all my utilities and burst choices built around making HB worth using.

Axe is probably the worst 2ndry slot.

You lose the sword mobility + immobilise, with mace you get the stun + mace 3 and block.

With axe yes you get an eviscerate, but sometimes that hit for 2-3k max and i’;ve just lost a full adrenal bar.

Glass cannon builds are not the way to go as a warrior. I can’t count the times sword leap has gotten me out of danger.