Guild Wars 2

Warrior
We’ve taken a look at the warrior’s baseline abilities, adjusting cooldowns, damage, and in some cases even functionality. Our goal for this iteration is to give you a bit more to play with in a single weapon set so that the cooldowns feel more active and fun to play around with. Rifle has also seen a bit of a rework, gaining a more defensive nature while retaining its overall purpose of kill-shotting every enemy of Tyria. We’ll also be taking another pass at improving the berserker elite specialization, focusing on increasing its usability in various game modes and promoting more active skill use in trait design. Lastly, we’ll improve the warrior’s ability to sustain themselves in combat

Does this mean that warrior skills generally and overally will have reduced cd time on most of skills or equivalent way to let us play with one weapon set longggggger, which means they want to rather reduces the need of fast-hand trait? (which is 100% opposite way to what people asked to have fasthand baseline)

Does it mean dev want warrior more passively play with one weapon set longer rather than being away from more actively play by using 3 weapon swap that everybody wanted in warrior forum..??

Sounds like much easier mode approved…
(I actually rather wanted cs:go mode where you can swap many guns, as well as f1 to f6 skills such as baseline stance or signet or whatever… or f2 to f4 to swap many different weapons sets)

…

Do you all like this?

Why not just allow only one weapon set and make its cd like only 2sec? To be easiest. In that case i would only equip gs and only whirldwind attack tho.

Haha ya I was thinking the same thing when I read it: “Why not just give us the use of 3 weapon sets?”.

Fast hands and swapping weapon sets is what makes me feel like a warrior tbh. Using things in succession for a little bit of payoff on each then taking up a different weapon and repeating feels very vicious and desperate…..the kind of thing I like in my warrior. Fighting tooth and nail with multiple weapons and moves feels right. Hitting 1 attack and getting massive damage feels wrong. Currently it’s a case where most of our attacks can be avoided easily and they don’t do much for damage unless we go full zerker. Why not fix warrior by giving us the use of alot more of these types of attacks? There’s a show called “Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers” where the protagonist claims he is the strongest man in the world. Compared to the other heroes though he is terribly weak and doesnt have any special powers or natural genius. He uses all manner of cheap tricks to fight his enemies. It means using a ton of physical weapons to counter his opponents and dodge their attacks by the skin of his teeth each time. I like when warrior plays like that. Warriors should have a good grasp of all the types of physical weapons available in the game. And their primary strength should be found through this very broad specialization. You don’t need strong attacks or high sustain, you just need alot of versatility. We are supposed to be masters of physical weaponry (no magics) are we not?

well if 3 weapon set is confirmed i would choose weapons that is good at either one of defensive/mobility/dps tho, to be prepares to every situation i would get. And i think this kinda way how you equip which weapons from many selections would actually gonna be funny. In this theory dev need to actually rebalnce weapon sets based on many situtation whay kinda the specific weapon set is in need and maximize the weapon’s effectivenesss in such a situation and fast hand with ability to access to triple weapob set would allow us maxizing the effectiveness of weapon set based on specific situation we would have.

I still am very suspicious on war buff news, in fact, it just sounds like not funny but boring even tho it is stronger, due to losing active play through fast-hand but encouraging passive play using one weapon set longer.

Just trying to think like ArenaNet here.

They don’t want people to swap weapons every 5 seconds, since they probably think it’s a pretty boring class mechanic (I agree to some extent). Instead, they allow us to bring 3 weapon sets, which we sort of camp for a longer time (well, at least 10 seconds), depending on the situation.

Then people could bring:

A. Greatsword or Hammer (main set)
B. Sword + Warhorn or Mace + Shield (support set)
C. Rifle or Longbow (ranged set)

It would be fun, as long as we can switch sets A->B, A->C, B->A, B->C, C->A and C->B at will.

The same old story and approach.

We could have gotten something that builds up upon the already active and reactive base warrior…
They seem to be sticking to the idea that warrior is the easiest and also the beginner class, instead.

Does anyone else feel like people will still use Fast Hands even if we get a major CD reduction to our weapon skills? Some of which do indeed feel like they are from an acient time when strong skills were either single target or had a huge CD.

I think you guys may be jumping the gun a bit.

What I understand it to mean is they want it so you won’t need Fast Hands to be viable, not that they’re taking FH away. This would be unequivocally good. If you still want 5s weapon swaps, then it will be a choice rather than a necessity, and you’ll only need to pick up Discipline as before.

We’ll eventually see what they’ve actually cooked up when it’s released, but I see zero reason to be worried about this. Also, this is a balance patch, not a complete redesign of warrior. They’d let us know if they were planning on redesigning the warrior from the ground up in advance and, frankly, it’s almost a certainty that they aren’t going to do that.

Henry.5713:

Does anyone else feel like people will still use Fast Hands even if we get a major CD reduction to our weapon skills?

I probably will. The thing is, weapon skill CD reduction is one issue that is not related to Fast Hands, at the very least not entirely related.
Sure Fast Hands synergised really well with short weapon skills CDs, but the other major aspect of this trait is regarding on-swap sigils.

From this perspective, reducing weapon skills CDs adresses only one aspect of why is Fast Hands such a necessity.

FatRaKoon.1782:

Henry.5713:

Does anyone else feel like people will still use Fast Hands even if we get a major CD reduction to our weapon skills?

I probably will. The thing is, weapon skill CD reduction is one issue that is not related to Fast Hands, at the very least not entirely related.
Sure Fast Hands synergised really well with short weapon skills CDs, but the other major aspect of this trait is regarding on-swap sigils.

From this perspective, reducing weapon skills CDs adresses only one aspect of why is Fast Hands such a necessity.

You’re right, cds are only one part. But they also mentioned something about changing skill functionality. If they make it so more things are located on single weapons (e.g. setup and burst, damage and defense, etc), then it reduces the need for FH even more.

True, there’s still the advantage to on-swap sigils, and FH would undoubtedly remain a very good trait in its own right. But by addressing these other issues they increase the likelihood of a viable, or even optimal, build that doesn’t use Disc. Str-Arms-Bers, maybe, or Arms-Def-Bers etc.

Choppy.4183:

You’re right, cds are only one part. But they also mentioned something about changing skill functionality. If they make it so more things are located on single weapons (e.g. setup and burst, damage and defense, etc), then it reduces the need for FH even more.

True, there’s still the advantage to on-swap sigils, and FH would undoubtedly remain a very good trait in its own right. But by addressing these other issues they increase the likelihood of a viable, or even optimal, build that doesn’t use Disc. Str-Arms-Bers, maybe, or Arms-Def-Bers etc.

Swap sigils still have a 9 second cooldown, so Fast Hands doesn’t help with that.

Choppy, your earlier assessment seems about right on point.

As something I’ve said before, with more manageable cooldowns, Warrior can afford to have less powerful but more frequent skill uses. And, it edges away from “needing” Fast Hands. I personally find it convenient, but Warrior’s Sprint and Burst CD reduction are also in Discipline, so I use it consistently anyway. (Shame the rest of the trait line is still kind of lackluster. Especially Merciless Hammer…)

Hopefully the sustain/survivability they mention isn’t just a lame healing tweak. While anything helps, we need better overall options and better trait synergy.

@Rauderi
Regarding sigils, I used to think the same. But FH actually does help with sigils in that you can get the same effect with on-swap sigils on one weapon set that builds without FH would need the sigils on both sets to achieve.

For example, an FH warrior could put a Battle Sigil and an Energy sigil on one set, getting the benefit every 10s (every 2nd weapon swap). But a non-FH build would need to put those two sigils on both weapon sets to get the might and endurance every 10s. For the FH warrior, that means you have two additional sigil slots to work with (different sigils, obviously) that you wouldn’t otherwise have.

It’s actually not an insignificant benefit, but it’s not anywhere near something I’d call indispensable, and certainly not something worth investing a traitline for by itself.

Lastly, we’ll improve the warrior’s ability to sustain themselves in combat

In all honesty, for me that’s the most worrysome thing they said about what they intend to do. I mean, it’s bound to force warrior into passive regen bunker in PvP and anyway, they will go down as soon as they are focused which is already the case. It’s also bound to make the warrior even more dominant in PvE since they will need less support from allies without having to be skillfull.

Choppy.4183:

@Rauderi
Regarding sigils, I used to think the same. But FH actually does help with sigils in that you can get the same effect with on-swap sigils on one weapon set that builds without FH would need the sigils on both sets to achieve.

For example, an FH warrior could put a Battle Sigil and an Energy sigil on one set, getting the benefit every 10s (every 2nd weapon swap). But a non-FH build would need to put those two sigils on both weapon sets to get the might and endurance every 10s. For the FH warrior, that means you have two additional sigil slots to work with (different sigils, obviously) that you wouldn’t otherwise have.

It’s actually not an insignificant benefit, but it’s not anywhere near something I’d call indispensable, and certainly not something worth investing a traitline for by itself.

I see! That’s rather wily. Thanks for the useful tip!

Guys, guys, you might want to all calm down a bit. Firstly, while the ideas being tossed around regarding putting stances or extra weapon sets on the f-keys were interesting (and might make a very nice theme for a future elite spec), a change like that is an immense change to warrior’s core mechanics, likely far too much for a balance patch. At no point was there any indication that we were going to get that sort of change, and most of the topics on it were wishful thinking (not that I object to them- there’s no harm so long as you don’t assume the suggestions will be taken).

Secondly, one of the major problems with warrior right now is that many people feel forced to take Discipline primarily for Fast Hands. To fix this, there are two options: give FH baseline to warriors or retool the warrior’s weapon sets so they can be effectively used individually rather than requiring frequent swapping to land any significant hits. A-net seems to be choosing the latter. It does not mean you will -have- to camp one weapon set forever, it just increases the viability of not constantly juggling between them.

Though, we can’t say anything for sure until the patch goes live.

Although, it’s good to have CD’s shorter …. I don’t think it’s gonna make FH’s less interesting… tbh, it’s gonna make FH more interesting and a requirement : if CD’s short + FH => more possibilities, more plays you can do => FH, you still gonna need it. Anyway I love it, I’d take FH anyway.

Choppy.4183:

FatRaKoon.1782:

Henry.5713:

Does anyone else feel like people will still use Fast Hands even if we get a major CD reduction to our weapon skills?

I probably will. The thing is, weapon skill CD reduction is one issue that is not related to Fast Hands, at the very least not entirely related.
Sure Fast Hands synergised really well with short weapon skills CDs, but the other major aspect of this trait is regarding on-swap sigils.

From this perspective, reducing weapon skills CDs adresses only one aspect of why is Fast Hands such a necessity.

You’re right, cds are only one part. But they also mentioned something about changing skill functionality. If they make it so more things are located on single weapons (e.g. setup and burst, damage and defense, etc), then it reduces the need for FH even more.

True, there’s still the advantage to on-swap sigils, and FH would undoubtedly remain a very good trait in its own right. But by addressing these other issues they increase the likelihood of a viable, or even optimal, build that doesn’t use Disc. Str-Arms-Bers, maybe, or Arms-Def-Bers etc.

Gain might and burst skills recharge 15% faster on weapon swap.-Versatile Power
Clear condition on weapon swap.-Brawlers recovery
Gain adrenaline on weapon swap.-Versatile rage
Sigil of battle-Gain might on weapon swap.
Sigil of intelligence. -next 3 attacks are all critical after weapon swap.

Simple answer is yes. Fast hands will still be used in 95% of builds.
As long as fast hands, warrior sprint, versatile rage, versatile power, brawlers recovery remain in that line it will be taken. Without these traits all it would take is one weaken and you’re pretty much screwed for the next 10 seconds. One cripple and your reduced to swinging at a pure kiting target for the next 10 seconds. This is what made brawlers recovery a must. You could shake off a nuisance condition right before a snare or burst and be rewarded with extra adrenaline, might and recharged burst for playing smart.

Well, this is where we have to wait and see what they’ve come up with. It’s premature to speculate how many builds will still run Disc. I like the line, but I’ll drop it if I like something better….

I hope shouts will get a shorter cd aswell ^^

Onlysaneman.9612 > i totally agree you ~_~

We will see later. Hope it become enjoyable even tho we stay at one weapon set longer.