Privet there. I’m usually sit in read-only, preferring just occasionally watch interesting topics, bu-ut… Approximately, from skillsystem update release (June 23 ‘15, yea) and till nowadays i’m seeing more and more people who’s complaining about warriors being “kitten”, being “unplayable class”, being “too nerfed to actually do something”, after all. I don’t really want to turn the tide, raise the holy war against popular opinions and other prophety stuff, just wanna say a few things from the viewpoint of a warriors loyal fan. Mostly this talks will be about PvP, because i’m not a big WvW fan and PvE is kinda simple, when you know what exactly can your character do, and where it fails badly.
So, it’ll start from 3 sentences that i’ve seen most often, and then i’ll end this talkie-talkies with a little overall breakdown – thus this post mostly aims for people who keeps make threads like “anet plz change muh warrior onto something more killable”.
Warriors can’t endure a pressure/being helpless prey for condibuilds/cannot do this, that, and, oh, that simultaneously/can’t rek a team of 3 enemies on their point kittenty class deleting!!!!11one
Sadly, that last sentence is not been just imagined by me, it’s a quote from a mistchat. Spent about 20 mins talking with that guy, and realized that he didn’t even trolled. Sigh. Anyways, usually people complaining on something like that (especially new players, as i can see), so, here’s a first hint: warrior is one of the most versatile classes in general, but he pays for it – keep that in mind all the time. You want to bunk all the day long? Cleric stats, shouts, water rune, warbanner with regen, and you can even damage in this build – not insanely stronk, but enough from second-line rifle supporting. Want more CC for survivability? Twin maces on swap. Or shield for direct tanking. Whatevs, traits and weapon skills are flexible enough, if you’re know, what you want to achieve with your build. Not interested in bunking? Here, take a bow, be a condi dd. And so on, it’s trivial enough to not mention all the possibilities. And here is the point when we’re heading right to the…
WARRIOR CANT DAMEDGEEEE/WARRIOR CAN DAMAGE BUT DIES RIGHT AFTER ENDURE PAIN ENDS AND IT’S NOT ENOUGH ANYWAYS ANET BUFF MUH FUNKY GREATSWORD PLOX
…to the more mistchat quotes, seriously, i didn’t made any significant changes in them. Seen a bunch of similar-themed threads here, too. Well, that’s sort of true, usually you cannot just grab longest and heaviest greatsword available and slash everything that moves to death. I mean, you can, and many amateur wars behaves exactly like that, rushing/whirling into enemy’s pack and eventually die after a few seconds of hundred blade-ing ‘em. That’s mostly because of mindset “war must be yolo-damager or he doesn’t need at all”, plaguing war community since ~2013. That’s kittening ridiculous, like, really? Can’t you kitten realize that being jack of all trades, and therefore a master of none, implies using tactics different from “waaaaargh”? Kitty kitten, even specialization that contains one of the warrior’s biggest advantages over all else called “tactics”, eh. Back to our sheeps, it’s trivial as well, but somehow large part of wars just cannot take it, this way or that: GW2 has pretty decent role difference within teams, and if you’re picked one, be prepared to act accordingly. Warrior just doesn’t have a role called “all in”, you’re lacking some abilities anyway, and most of the burst/DPS-builds usually repaying for good damage output in overall brittleness, or vulnerability to a specific offense type. Yes, this is simple as a piece of a kitten, but oh, some people just cannot take it. Just. Can’t.
Okay, next.
War is too simple, pick GS and 111111/war is too meh-tier/cannot over-dps an ele or viper engi in dungeons, therefore useless/i want to kill anything in 2-3 buttons and live on doing that, bad class, cannot do that
Finally, most funny of all whinies. Someone heard too many stereotypes about class, nvming that many of them appeared few years ago, when things been different. Some just thinks that “war = simple and easy faceroll kills (hello, almost all of the hammer/GS users, who just jumps in and starts to mash keyboard)”. And all that people makes warrior, plays a dozen of arena matches/WvW rounds/makes a two-three dungeon runs, see that their zerker MASSIV DAMAGE build can’t rek as good as they wanted, or as good as their zerker LB ranger reks, for example… and they’re start to whine, here as well. Without, sometimes, even basic understanding of “who is who”. In PvE, mostly, it’s just a side effect of a “DPS race”, and old, rusty stereotypes that rooted in the mind of a player too deep. In PvP and WvW, tho, it’s a most common reason for someone to blame war for… anything? It’s just that. And mostly it happens because warrior can do something alone only in some specific builds, many of which was been culled by celestial and sentinel amulets removal – he’s a teamplayer, and a very decent one, in some of the areas maybe even the best. This class is suited for almost everything, every situation that game can throw at you, but it’s impossible to be prepared for anything and do everything, even with skillpool being so, like, “general”. Stop being a piece of kitten and for once ask yourself – “what i’m wanted to do on the battlefield?”. And make a build suited for something different than “Cooking Mama’s Happy Hammer” minigame, as well as suicidal greatsword charges, thinking that you can score a kill till Endure Pain is active, and then Balthazar personally will save you from revenge of angry enemy teammates. Maybe even start use /team chat, but that’s spicy midtier advanced playstyle.
tl;dr for ppl who don’t want to read my discourse above: there is playstyles other than “i wanna be top killer so badly, even bought a twilight for gud skin – gud skill xoxo” and also weapons other than GS, hammer and bow, as well as utils contains not only stances and signets. Turn your head on and finally start work with the team, it’s very delightful when team are decent too. Yes, warrior is outdated a little, comparing to realities of HoT, but still rocks, when used right – like an old shotgun among futuristic blasters"
Aaand, a more tight-packed breakdown for those, who still can only think about GS 2 all the way when he hears “warrior”. Just because noticeable part of warriors in mistchat and other mapchats refer to this forum in their ridiculous trashtalks, maybe some of them really lurks somewhere around, idk.
- Best revive speed in the game. Sometimes it’s really, i mean, REALLY better to res your downed ally than trying to “kill that thin mesmer grill, she’s on low hp, one whirl and… ow… dazed… ow… dun hit plz… ayy(”, especially when build contains tactics traitline. It’s a simple, even dumb advice, but kitteningly kitten, almost no one never resses even in situations when it can turn the checkerboard.
- As i’ve said before, potential to fill almost any combat role, except few very specific and class-tied ones. Here’s a tip: even warhorn, that’s considered to be useless, isn’t really useless when used right. No, not only swiftspam.
- Great skillpool and passive survivability. With the cele’s removal, a good all-round build that, if played well, was been able to kill, or at least withstand opressing of anyone 1×1, sometimes even 1×3, till the friends come, is gone – but even now passive tank with ton of CC and painfully punishing interrupts, is possible to built, and it’s even viable, woo. Yes, due to being oldest and, kinda, most conservative class, war’s abilities are looking slightly faint, a bit of “nice, almost good, but not good, duh” maybe, but that’s can be overcome by more team-relying play and careful position taking in massfights. Of course, some of the traits and abilities has their flaws (recent change in the berserker’s stance mechanic, considering necros boonstrip megabuff, looks like a bad joke, and tactics minor traits look way too WvW-oriented and outdated, as well as removal of almost all banner-related traits from traitlines), but existing balance and wepskills usability is pretty solid overall.
- Stop using kitten rampage as an ultimate killing tool in every build and every situation. This is gone out of hand slightly, “when in doubt – use rampage”. And die, because, yes, you’ve became a big and scary boffo, but that enemy pack or champ has a different opinion about your nearest future. Rampage form offers a great mobility, tho – sometimes it’s really better to run, restore your HP and CDs, and take another dive into battle. Or cap that empty far point.
– Like engi, but not engi. Sometimes a defensive/supportive war can save party in the dungeon/fractals from the wipe just by doing things that, well, not really tied to a big 5-digit numbers that splat out of the enemy. Stun here, so ally can eat through breakbar faster. Banner here, that will ease the party’s task noticeable. Warhorn dood here (remember that now vigor stacks?). Kick there. Repeat. And then you can turn from your PC/laptop and shout like a real warrior: “MOM LOOK I’M USEABLE!”. Awesome.
Note that i’ve didn’t say a word about berserkers. The reasons – two – is simple: i don’t want to buy a HoT, at least now, though i’m aware of war’s changing and performance in the realms of an expansion. That’s the first one. And the second being… meh. Like, wow, berserker, like-a, angry guy that sets everything ablaze, even himself, like, aggressive playstyle, yawn… That’s just boring. I’ve seen ‘em in action. Watched gameplay videos. Read some impressions and rewievs. Still boo-ring. That’s only my opinion, though, but it is what it is.
And don’t forget to shake it off occasionally.