Guild Wars 2

Hi all!

Thought it would be interesting to collect opinions on the changes, and how they affect our current builds/if we will change them.

Personally, I use a Hammer/GS build with 10/0/30/10/20, WvW only. I will take out the 10 in Strength and put them in Discipline. Losing the damage on dodge roll is a pity (blind removal), but the Adept traits in Strength just aren’t worth it. Not sure on the exact traits yet.

Thinking of dropping GS and picking up something like Sword/Warhorn or Sword/Shield.

A lot of changes greatly improve my build’s viability, the only thing that really hampers it is the increase in stun breaker abilities.

Anyway, other views?

It was hurt significantly by the loss of a double immobilize on Bladetrail thanks to the Leg Specialist nerf. The changes to Sword didn’t justify totally nerfing that trait into oblivion.

This patch was great for me. Longbow didn’t get any buffs, but my main set Sword/Warhorn got a huge improvement. I can put crazy pressure on people now and actually stay in the fight.

I had to move like 5 points around and the free re trait seriously impacted my life. I have to take counseling now.

The following is directed directly towards the “balance guys” at arena net.

As much as I hate to cry about this, but thanks for ruining my warrior build.

I used to run 30-10-0-20-10 with full Knight’s armor+Soldier’s runes, Berserker’s trinkets/weapons and axe+mace as main weapon-set. For the other weapon set I mostly used sword+warhorn for movement, or a bow for ranged engagements.

The 20 points in Tactics allowed for a really flexible build, while 10 points in Discipline and Arms ensured I still do a bit of (critical) damage while not using a Greatsword, like everybody else.

Well.. can’t have that anymore. In order to get a decent crit-chance (talking about ~50%), I’d have to invest 30(!) points in discipline to get a hold on Hightened Focus.
What do I get for that? Adrenaline-builders, that I don’t need or want (because I don’t hit F1, it’s just not worth it on an axe), reduced cooldown on weapon swap and a bunch of procs that will probably never trigger because their usage is really quite niche.
What do I have to drop for those 20 wasted points? Flat out 5% crit chance from Arms (and procs for bleeding and vulnerability) for starters. Additionally: 10% boon duration and a lot of diversity without Quick Breathing, Lung Capacity and Burning Arrows.

Now, I can either go play a generic greatsword build or fool around with those 10 points that will not end up in Discipline and get used to what feels like 15-20% less damage.

This is just sad. Didn’t you blog about bringing more build diversity into the game with this balance update? Well, you severely damaged at least one great build.

(But thanks for AoE looting.)

I ran 10/0/30/30/0, I will now be running 0/0/30/30/10. I use hammer – sword/warhorn also only in WvW.

I like the changes, they seem to have buffed my build, did some field tests and feels good. More testing needed ofcourse. And yea I’ll miss dealing dmg on dodge roll aswel, used it a lot as final hit to troll ^^.

And not really, stunbreakers got more spread out meaning some builds with many will now be running with less. Looking at those cantrip eles. Also mesmer blurried furry or whatever it’s called is now affected by retal. So I am getting nice buffs to deal with many classes I had troubles with.

I always favored axes and longbows and this revamp did well with them. I think I’ll respec my warhorn for a shield though and find a non shout based build.

As a Mace/Shield and Longbow ‘tanky’ warrior – the patch seems to justify the rationale behind a lot of the build choices I’ve been going for. I see almost nothing in my build as yet that I expect to be changing.

In my build leg specialist got nerfed. That’s about it.

Donut.6914:

This patch was great for me. Longbow didn’t get any buffs, but my main set Sword/Warhorn got a huge improvement. I can put crazy pressure on people now and actually stay in the fight.

Longbow didn’t get buffs!? Increased range, reduction in cooldowns… pretty awesome buffs imo and I’m stoked since I use longbow + axe/warhorn.

i got completely screwed by this patch….

docMed.7692:

Donut.6914:

This patch was great for me. Longbow didn’t get any buffs, but my main set Sword/Warhorn got a huge improvement. I can put crazy pressure on people now and actually stay in the fight.

Longbow didn’t get buffs!? Increased range, reduction in cooldowns… pretty awesome buffs imo and I’m stoked since I use longbow + axe/warhorn.

Cool. Post us a video of how well you do in high end tourneys.

WvW and hot joins don’t count.

This patch did little to nothing to some builds and ruined a lot others.

Congrats to the Necros.

Rogees.3290:

i got completely screwed by this patch….

Same here, I was running a Crit/bleed build with my warrior and it had it’s tanky-ness to it but this patch completely ruined everything about it. thanks to this patch I have to completely redo all my armor and jewels because of this…
I was running a 15/25/0/0/30 build. now it’s in ruins beneath my feet T_T…. RIP my old build!!!!

EvegodenRaven.5107:

Rogees.3290:

i got completely screwed by this patch….

Same here, I was running a Crit/bleed build with my warrior and it had it’s tanky-ness to it but this patch completely ruined everything about it. thanks to this patch I have to completely redo all my armor and jewels because of this…
I was running a 15/25/0/0/30 build. now it’s in ruins beneath my feet T_T…. RIP my old build!!!!

ye my armor stats are useless now….waste of gold to buy different stats and transmutation stones now

I’m bloody annoyed personally. I was really quite happy with my hammer/sword&horn 10/0/20/10/30 build. But now a significant number of pieces have changed and not all for the better.

I’m not sure where I stand +dmg% wise atm. But I’m sure it’s at least a minor nerf.

The Leg Specialist nerf hurts like hell.

Not quite sure what to do with my points in Strength and Tactics.

Go 20/0/20/0/30 for extra power and because Building Momentum is awesome? But all the non-minor traits suck except maybe Death from Above and Great Fortitude, which are merely ok.

Probably going to end up with 0/0/30/10/30 taking Cleansing Ire for the additional adrenaline generation and swapping in Empowered for Leg Specialist.

Any word on if the change to Burst Mastery removed the old Adrenal Reserves effect? Or did only the -20% Burst skill CD bit get changed?

My 30/20/0/0/20 greatsword build saw the loss of Heightened Focus and Physical Training. The former is a bit of a hit, but with the buff to Berserker’s Power I’m now sitting at +25% damage with the greatsword. The latter I ran for fun; and while I’ll miss it, its absence doesn’t actually hurt my build.

My 10/0/30/0/30 wvw hammer build got a slight dmg nerf but very good survivability and QoL nerfs. The new Stomp is especially nice, particularly when traited (20/0/20/0/30).

10/0/20/10/30 hammer build just got nerfed (but also recieved some buffs, not sure yet, the nerf was to sword)
10/30/0/0/30 Longbow build nerfed
20/20/0/10/20 Axe build nerfed
20/20/0/0/30 GS build nerfed

I’ll probably be looking into:
30/20/0/0/20 mace/shield+GS
0/0/30/10/30 sword/shield+hammer

Axe sounds like a hunk of kitten now. Sword will now truly have no use outside of savage leap.

kurtosis.9526:

The new Stomp is especially nice, particularly when traited (20/0/20/0/30).

I didn’t even catch the CD on Stomp dropping to 45 seconds. I was running Physical Training for a 48 second CD and the extra damage, and was bummed to lose that trait when Berserker’s Power moved to the grandmaster tier. But the reduction in CD means I’ll only be missing out on the extra damage if I forgo PT. But with PT it would be a 36 second CD. Hmm…

Leg specialist condi build got screwed. My newfound love for axe got screwed. My killshot got nerfed.

Attic.1562:

I’m bloody annoyed personally. I was really quite happy with my hammer/sword&horn 10/0/20/10/30 build. But now a significant number of pieces have changed and not all for the better.

I’m not sure where I stand +dmg% wise atm. But I’m sure it’s at least a minor nerf.

The Leg Specialist nerf hurts like hell.

Not quite sure what to do with my points in Strength and Tactics.

Go 20/0/20/0/30 for extra power and because Building Momentum is awesome? But all the non-minor traits suck except maybe Death from Above and Great Fortitude, which are merely ok.

Probably going to end up with 0/0/30/10/30 taking Cleansing Ire for the additional adrenaline generation and swapping in Empowered for Leg Specialist.

Any word on if the change to Burst Mastery removed the old Adrenal Reserves effect? Or did only the -20% Burst skill CD bit get changed?

Honestly, your build seems to have been buffed also. Leg Specialist nerf is painful, but not that bad. You still get the proc a lot, at least with hammer 3.

I just switched ten points in strength for ten points in disc to pick up HF. Can easily switch it to burst mastery if I would so desire, although HF is still good.

With DoE now being a master trait, you can counter the damage loss of berserker’s power somewhat by slotting it.

Also, weakness got a huge buff.

Cleansing Ire is sweet with 30 in disc.

I just went roaming with sword/shield and hammer and I quite enjoyed it. Too ba the pathing on sword two is epic bad. Is it worse then before? I actually missed some critters who were standing still…

Big patch.

XII.9401:

docMed.7692:

Donut.6914:

This patch was great for me. Longbow didn’t get any buffs, but my main set Sword/Warhorn got a huge improvement. I can put crazy pressure on people now and actually stay in the fight.

Longbow didn’t get buffs!? Increased range, reduction in cooldowns… pretty awesome buffs imo and I’m stoked since I use longbow + axe/warhorn.

Cool. Post us a video of how well you do in high end tourneys.

WvW and hot joins don’t count.

This patch did little to nothing to some builds and ruined a lot others.

Congrats to the Necros.

Player 1 – “Longbow didn’t get any buffs”
Player 2 – “Yes it did, here’s what was buffed”
Player 3 – “Show me high level pvp to prove it”

Do you see anything wrong with your logic here?

My build got stronger without any changes from my side. I might make some minor tweaks now though to improve it even more.

Cygnus.6903:

Attic.1562:

I’m bloody annoyed personally. I was really quite happy with my hammer/sword&horn 10/0/20/10/30 build. But now a significant number of pieces have changed and not all for the better.

I’m not sure where I stand +dmg% wise atm. But I’m sure it’s at least a minor nerf.

The Leg Specialist nerf hurts like hell.

Not quite sure what to do with my points in Strength and Tactics.

Go 20/0/20/0/30 for extra power and because Building Momentum is awesome? But all the non-minor traits suck except maybe Death from Above and Great Fortitude, which are merely ok.

Probably going to end up with 0/0/30/10/30 taking Cleansing Ire for the additional adrenaline generation and swapping in Empowered for Leg Specialist.

Any word on if the change to Burst Mastery removed the old Adrenal Reserves effect? Or did only the -20% Burst skill CD bit get changed?

Honestly, your build seems to have been buffed also. Leg Specialist nerf is painful, but not that bad. You still get the proc a lot, at least with hammer 3.

I just switched ten points in strength for ten points in disc to pick up HF. Can easily switch it to burst mastery if I would so desire, although HF is still good.

With DoE now being a master trait, you can counter the damage loss of berserker’s power somewhat by slotting it.

Also, weakness got a huge buff.

Cleansing Ire is sweet with 30 in disc.

I just went roaming with sword/shield and hammer and I quite enjoyed it. Too ba the pathing on sword two is epic bad. Is it worse then before? I actually missed some critters who were standing still…

As I said, I’m more annoyed than anything atm, just because I finally had things lined up in a way I liked and now I have to rethink a bunch of stuff. At the very least I’ll have to muck with my stat balance once again to try to stay above 2k power.

Also, the exclusion of the healing cd reductions was a great blow. With those changes the patch would be pretty much unequivocally hailed as ‘great’, whereas without them it stands firmly in the ‘bad to meh to ok depending on your spec’ end of the spectrum.

my build was 10/0/30/0/30 and now my build is destroyed thanx to anet and moving berserkers power to grandmaster . i would have accepted it being in master tier that been fine.. but to make it a grandmaster trait is completely unnecessary i had my build built around adreneline and now its broken

darkace.8925:

kurtosis.9526:

The new Stomp is especially nice, particularly when traited (20/0/20/0/30).

I didn’t even catch the CD on Stomp dropping to 45 seconds. I was running Physical Training for a 48 second CD and the extra damage, and was bummed to lose that trait when Berserker’s Power moved to the grandmaster tier. But the reduction in CD means I’ll only be missing out on the extra damage if I forgo PT. But with PT it would be a 36 second CD. Hmm…

Yup. 36s, double damage, breaks stuns, provides Stability for the cast duration, sends all nearby enemies flying. Throw in Death From Above, EarthShaker, and Heightened Focus, and Fury and you can really cause havoc in keep defenses.

i mainly used to run gs/lb with 20/20/30/0/0

now gs/s+w im running 30/20/20/0/0

little more dmg for a little less defense.

i was outraged at first, but playing with my ele and engi buddy and taking on constant 3v6-10 and winning in wvw last night, ive cooled down a bit on the changes.

i just have to alter my play style a little bit.

I lost about 15% dmg + the axe mh reduction, had to buy new runes and gems. But I am sort-of happy, since now I am practically unkillable in up to 4vs1. Wouldn’t mind the healing skills to go down 5s in cd as stated in “leaked” patch notes. But yeah, I’m OK with it. Now using 10/0/30/30/0 giving me 32,6k hp and 3.5k armor with shouts healing and removing conditions and with my buffs and BL stacked up about 3.6k attack. I’m content.

It was ruined.
Ever since the patch, LB Warriors have to spend 20 points in Tactics, a completely useless tree, in order to pick up the 20% cd reduction. Furthermore, as LB F1 being the only F1 skill that uses adrenaline bars even if missing, taking up cleansing ire is a pretty good idea. But that’s 20 points into defense, which I don’t really benefit from over another tree, such as arms.

JoakimFA.4713:

It was ruined.
Ever since the patch, LB Warriors have to spend 20 points in Tactics, a completely useless tree, in order to pick up the 20% cd reduction. Furthermore, as LB F1 being the only F1 skill that uses adrenaline bars even if missing, taking up cleansing ire is a pretty good idea. But that’s 20 points into defense, which I don’t really benefit from over another tree, such as arms.

I’m missing the reason as to why you HAVE TO. Aren’t you happy just to have more options?

I don’t think the patch got warrior out of the bottom of the pvp depths. But in WvW, I think we’re not the free loot bags anymore.

Cygnus.6903:

JoakimFA.4713:

It was ruined.
Ever since the patch, LB Warriors have to spend 20 points in Tactics, a completely useless tree, in order to pick up the 20% cd reduction. Furthermore, as LB F1 being the only F1 skill that uses adrenaline bars even if missing, taking up cleansing ire is a pretty good idea. But that’s 20 points into defense, which I don’t really benefit from over another tree, such as arms.

I’m missing the reason as to why you HAVE TO. Aren’t you happy just to have more options?

I don’t think the patch got warrior out of the bottom of the pvp depths. But in WvW, I think we’re not the free loot bags anymore.

Maybe “have” to was too much of the wrong word then. But in all honesty, why wouldn’t you? its 20% reduction in our skills which, as I see it, more damage output over time. My point was that the trait itself was situated in a tree which doesn’t benefit LB in any-which way. Unless I’m wrong, please show me a viable tpvp LB build which benefits from Vitality and Boon Duration, as well as gaining benefits when reviving people.

JoakimFA.4713:

It was ruined.
Ever since the patch, LB Warriors have to spend 20 points in Tactics, a completely useless tree, in order to pick up the 20% cd reduction. Furthermore, as LB F1 being the only F1 skill that uses adrenaline bars even if missing, taking up cleansing ire is a pretty good idea. But that’s 20 points into defense, which I don’t really benefit from over another tree, such as arms.

Being forced down a trait line you don’t particularly care for to get a specific trait for a specific build is far from a warrior-only problem. All professions have one build or another that shares this dilemma.

My build with the new patch is really bad right now. I have to change the build completely ._. Hope I’ll get a new and better build in a short time.