Guild Wars 2

So I seem to remember in several discussions that dual axe warrior was “suboptimal”. And that Axe/mace was essentially higher DPS and “meta”.

Now according to metabattle. A/A warrior is the “meta”

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Warrior_-_Dual-Axe/GS_Farmer

Granted this is for open world content, not dungeons.

I don’t normally follow the “meta” or anything. But just found this curious as Axe OH was considered lower DPS than mace, and didn’t really do much.

That’d the idea, it’s for open world. That means it’s designed for optimal mob tagging, which mace would be inferior to.

ronpierce.2760:

That’d the idea, it’s for open world. That means it’s designed for optimal mob tagging, which mace would be inferior to.

I understand that.

I’ve been running A/A for a long time. I love it. But in several discussions on the warrior in the past it was brought up that OH axe was next to useless. I made the claim of tagging mobs, building adrenaline etc. But those were shot down as “there were better ways to do that.” And of course the discussion involved open world.
I just found it interesting. I understand the meta does change, was just curious as to how often it tends to change.

There’s nothing unusual about people who do a lot of a specific part of the game (be it dungeons, wvw, pvp or open world) who think that they speak for the whole game and every mode when discussing the best build options. People are very biased creatures. I’m fairly guilty of it as a PVP Necro, for example. Sometimes I have a hard time seeing the view of a PVE Necro. But I blame that on Necromancers being a joke in PVE. :P

ronpierce.2760:

There’s nothing unusual about people who do a lot of a specific part of the game (be it dungeons, wvw, pvp or open world) who think that they speak for the whole game and every mode when discussing the best build options. People are very biased creatures. I’m fairly guilty of it as a PVP Necro, for example. Sometimes I have a hard time seeing the view of a PVE Necro. But I blame that on Necromancers being a joke in PVE. :P

I see what you did there…. :P

I guess that makes sense. Either way I run what I enjoy playing, and all those people can kindly take a long walk off a short pier. I’ve never been excluded, VERY rarely kicked, or insulted for playing (or not playing) a certain way.

As far as PvE necros….LOVE mine in open world PvE! It’s lot of fun. Dungeons and bosses though…a very different story. :P

‘The meta’ , better known as the popularity contest or the court of popular opinion.

First, the link to the build you’re showing has the GS as main weapon. So it’s not really an “axe-meta”.

Second, i wonder why they call this a ‘meta’ ? It’s simply a pretty logical build setup if you think about it. Maximum damage output for a GS and followed up with dual axes.

As far as open world pve goes excluding the dungeons, nearly every build works for farming. Wether you go at it 1 at the time or several mobs at once, the result is the same : dead critters, lots of loot.

First of all. Just because metabattle put it in the meta category doesn’t mean that it’s consider as a meta by the community. How the website work is the build is voted on a particular category. So this build was voted as the best build for open world farming so the website put it as a meta build. But nobody would say it’s meta because there is really no meta for open world.

When you see discussion about double axe, they talk about combat. Double axe is useless in combat. But switch to solo combat and then the fury from offhand axe is worth something and then put that in a big event where tagging mob become important and tadam double axe is worth using. That doesn’t change the fact that double axe is useless in group combat. That didn’t change one bit in the last 2 years.

pdavis.8031:

So I seem to remember in several discussions that dual axe warrior was “suboptimal”. And that Axe/mace was essentially higher DPS and “meta”.

Now according to metabattle. A/A warrior is the “meta”

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Warrior_-_Dual-Axe/GS_Farmer

Granted this is for open world content, not dungeons.

I don’t normally follow the “meta” or anything. But just found this curious as Axe OH was considered lower DPS than mace, and didn’t really do much.

Axe/mace is NOT meta atm because there’s only a few people who can even make it work. It is much stronger than GS though when you’re good at the class.

Gs axe/axe is amazing for tagging add. That’s y it’s “meta”

Offhand warhorn is so significantly better for open world anything that it isn’t really comparable.

Thaddeus.4891:

First of all. Just because metabattle put it in the meta category doesn’t mean that it’s consider as a meta by the community. How the website work is the build is voted on a particular category. So this build was voted as the best build for open world farming so the website put it as a meta build. But nobody would say it’s meta because there is really no meta for open world.

When you see discussion about double axe, they talk about combat. Double axe is useless in combat. But switch to solo combat and then the fury from offhand axe is worth something and then put that in a big event where tagging mob become important and tadam double axe is worth using. That doesn’t change the fact that double axe is useless in group combat. That didn’t change one bit in the last 2 years.

Solo combat and combat is still combat.

EnderzShadow.2506:

Solo combat and combat is still combat.

?? I’m talking about solo and group combat. If you fight with a group, you don’t need the same stuff compare to when you fight alone.

BlackTruth.6813:

Axe/mace is NOT meta atm because there’s only a few people who can even make it work. It is much stronger than GS though when you’re good at the class.

What?? GS Axe/Mace IS meta right now. It most probably won’t be after the trait change, but that’s another story.

I was using Axe-Axe/Hammer on structured just a few weeks ago and honestly find it as effective or more effective then GS/Hammer.

What I think makes Axe/Axe nice is that Whirling axe can hit almost as hard as hundred blades, with out stunning you in place. While whirling axe is designed for AoE, I found it rather effective against single targets and very effective against turret engineers.

Plus the vulnerability from main hand axe is nice and the adrenaline attack is pretty powerful still.

Add that with the control of the hammer and you can put a lot of people off guard.

Thaddeus.4891:

EnderzShadow.2506:

Solo combat and combat is still combat.

?? I’m talking about solo and group combat. If you fight with a group, you don’t need the same stuff compare to when you fight alone.

Thanks. You didn’t specify what type of combat in your first post. It was confusing.

Thaddeus.4891:

BlackTruth.6813:

Axe/mace is NOT meta atm because there’s only a few people who can even make it work. It is much stronger than GS though when you’re good at the class.

What?? GS Axe/Mace IS meta right now. It most probably won’t be after the trait change, but that’s another story.

I honestly haven’t seen anyone running that in pvp.

I see 70% shoutbow (the one true meta…)
and 30% mix between Hambow/Greatbow/Axebow

Can’t recall seeing a warrior without that bow…I’m sure there have been a few I overlooked, but certainly not enough to call it a meta.

Unless you’re talking pve? Then of course it’s meta, but I don’t think that’s what Black Truth was referring to.

Black Truth was quoting a PvE build in a PvE tread. If he wanted to change from PvE to PvP he should have said so.

A build designed for farming mobs in larger open-world PvE encounters such as the Mad King’s Labyrinth.

This is a tag and bag build that has no reason to have optimal dps or vulnerability stacking since you’re in the open world anyway. It is designed to hit as many thing as possible so you can get drops from as many mobs as possible.

BlackTruth.6813:

pdavis.8031:

So I seem to remember in several discussions that dual axe warrior was “suboptimal”. And that Axe/mace was essentially higher DPS and “meta”.

Now according to metabattle. A/A warrior is the “meta”

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Warrior_-_Dual-Axe/GS_Farmer

Granted this is for open world content, not dungeons.

I don’t normally follow the “meta” or anything. But just found this curious as Axe OH was considered lower DPS than mace, and didn’t really do much.

Axe/mace is NOT meta atm because there’s only a few people who can even make it work. It is much stronger than GS though when you’re good at the class.

If I remember correctly Nike’s DPS calculations stated that PURE GS gave out the highest DPS for warriors.
Yes – I am aware Axe/Mace is the meta because it stacks vuln and increases party dps.

NikeEU.7690:

Offhand warhorn is so significantly better for open world anything that it isn’t really comparable.

If heavy amount of movement is required I would agree off hand warhorn is better. But if u r in an event like grenth then axe off hand is better