Guild Wars 2

Arah story mode is broken. When you get to the giants/cannons part, none of them are usable and you cannot progress.

Also, in dialogue cutscenes the audio keeps randomly cutting out, mostly with Trahearne, but I’ve noticed it happen with other characters as well. Pretty annoying because you can’t rewatch cutscenes.

But I really want to finish Arah so my characters can naturally progress to my Living Story missions. Please fix this stuff ASAP. It’s really breaking immersion and my enjoyment of the game.

I’m not sure why, but my UI keeps flickering (specifically my buffs, debuffs, and cooldown timers). I’ve got the game maxed in all settings and it runs smooth as silk (usually 50-60 fps) except for this one small thing, but it REALLY bugs me.

I’m not sure why it happens, but it seems to happen as soon as I start getting multiple conditions and/or boons that stack. The rest of my visuals (characters, enemies, environment, etc) are completely unaffected, but my UI flips out.

I have no idea what settings I could tweak to fix this (assuming there’s a fix at all). I’m running a GTX 570 graphics card and an i5-2500k processor on an Intel SSD.

The mesmer is very fun to play, at least to me. IMO it’s probably got the biggest variety of viable builds apart from the Warrior. I can spend an entire afternoon just making up new, interesting builds for it.

But yes, I agree with what’s been said already. It takes some getting used to. You need to pay attention to enemies and summon your illusions based on what needs to die first. You also need to decide if you want an illusion shattering build or a sustained illusion build. Combat requires keeping an eye on phantasm cooldowns, dodging/kiting when necessary, and in general being very aware of your surroundings. I think a lot of newbies aren’t used to that level of engagement, but really it just takes some practice.

The class is also considerably weaker than other classes (such as warrior, guardian, or elementalist) while leveling up. But at max level, when you have access to all the traits that synergize well, you have a very fun class to play. I’ve stuck with it since I first started playing GW2, and while like every class it’s got its ups and downs while Anet does weird balance changes, the core gameplay is still very strong.

Valarauka.2719:

CrazyAce.3842:

I haven’t done a lot of testing in terms of raw numbers. I can tell you my character’s relevant stats: Condition 1035, crit chance 57%, power 1380, toughness 1480, health ~17.8k.

What kind of gear are you using? Assuming a carrion/rabid gear mix (my best guess given what I can see) you can have 1800+ condmg with your traits… am I missing something? sample build

My armor is Precision/Toughness/Condition (Rabid), and my trinkets are Power/Precision/Condition (Coral). Generally I don’t use food because I forget that I even have it. I also don’t particularly like Carrion gear. I know it gives more condition damage, but I consider vitality to be a wasted stat for PvE. I would rather switch out my Coral trinkets for more Rabid stuff (but I like having the little bit of extra power since my build is really crit-heavy). I also don’t go 30 into Illusions because I like to have Mender’s Purity (Inspiration IV).

OMGimAnoobLOLOL.4730:

This profession has very strong skills in the utility slots to give up the second weapon slot. Knowing that you’ll need to get used to using F1-F4 abilities. Keybinding 6-0 into something like Shift, Q, E, R, T (that’s my set up) helps a great deal as well.
As for builds that are beginner friendly I’d say are the ones that aren’t running triple kits and even a little as possible since Engineers with lots of kits have the luxury of swapping even more freely than Elementalists (not to mention we can flat out choose our individual “attunements”)
Probably something with Elixirs would be good, since you can just choose to use them as you want the buffs instead of having to make the decisions of opportunity cost (time) involved with multiple kits.

You could also run around with a Rifle and Flamethrower for a little bit. 2 knockbacks, immobilize, aoe blind and good burst with Rifle3, 5, Flamethrower2 doubletap. Good control, damage and ease of use!

I do the same thing, but my keybindings are Shift+R/F/C/X.

Despite some of the weird things going on with this class, I still find it enjoyable. I still look askance at some utilities (Gadgets), but the elixir skills give a fantastic access to good boons and cleanses, whereas turrets give decent DPS, knockback, and meatshielding. The various kits are great for utility as well: Bombs for healing/PBAoE, Grenades for ranged AOE, Flamethrower for toughness and burning, and EG for a nice AOE heal (though EG is still a very weak kit overall).

The additional abilities + kits on the F1-F4 bar more than make up for not having a second weapon set. In fact, when I play my engie, I hardly notice it at all because I’m using so many other skills aside from my main weapon, anyway.

I quit playing my necromancer months ago. I’ve barely logged on it more than 2 or 3 times since June.

I liked the Necromancer for its myriad condition options (which seemed to be unique in the sheer number of them), but they keep nerfing the conditions due to people QQing in PVP, so there’s not much point in even playing a necro unless you’re a power/healing-based Minion Master.

It’s getting to the point where I can do more condition damage using the Fire/Earth Attunements on my Elementalist. And that’s just plain sad. Corruption abilities have been so thoroughly gutted that it would take an amazing player that can perfectly rotate through cooldowns to put any meaningful condition pressure on opponents, considering all the cleanses that are easily available to just about every class.

Not to mention that now with the Staff nerfed, they even took my favorite weapon away, so I really have no desire to even use my necro character for anything but crafting.

That looks pretty good. Too bad I’m terrible at juggling my channels like a proper mantra build requires. Apparently I fail at multitasking under pressure. XD

Arikyali.5804:

How strange. I haven’t seen the glitch myself.

Granted, if I randomly summoned a jagged horror, I’d hate it. It’s not as pretty as my illusions.

They die in a matter of seconds anyway. Sometimes I don’t even notice them until they die, lol.

Actually, I think it works because it’s not the RANGER doing the actual attacking (i.e. the direct damage). It’s the pet.

Morfedel.4165:

Kyla Jane.6138:

I never used any runes or sigils that would summon it. I have only used divinity, scholar, ogre,air and perplexity so far.

But did you get some armor that HAD these runes, even if you replaced them immediately without wearing them?

I did. I have full Khilbron’s, but changed the runes to Traveller’s. For some reason I’m still occasionally summoning Jagged Horrors. It’s kind of a weird glitch.

Xyonon.3987:

If you really like the staff that much, what do you use in the other set? I doubt it’s staff + nothing/nothing Cuz staff is a very strong zerker weapon due the warlock.

It honestly depends on the situation. I usually use scepter/torch for normal PvE roaming (infinite clones :p ), but I do like running with sword/focus for WvW (Sword 2 and Focus are really invaluable for staying alive and ahead of enemy zergs, respectively).

Sometimes I also take GS just for kicks, too. It’s a power weapon, but iZerker is really awesome now that it hits consistently (that cripple rocks when I’m kiting enemies), and the GS 5 knockback is great for both gap control and interrupts. I still hate GS 3 (Mind Stab), but I hate it less than I used to before they shortened the aftercast and its other good skills mostly make up for it (though IMO the autoattack is still kinda weak even in a pure power build).

If I WERE to make a power build for sPVP (not my preferred choice, but I know the build well enough), I would use the standard cookie-cutter 10/20/0/25/15 phantasm build (I prefer the weapons sword/sword + scepter/pistol). Shatter builds are okay, but IMO they can be unreliable because illusions still get ganked by AOE a lot before they can reach their intended target. I also like phantasms that stay out because they act like “bloodhounds” and immediately seek out stealthers as soon as they pop out of stealth, allowing you to track them down and defeat them more easily.

Now you might ask why I wouldn’t use the GS in a power phantasm build. Well, I considered it, but having 2 blocks and 1 evasion with Scepter 2, Sword 4, and Sword 2 were just too good to give up just for iZerker and the knockback. Not to mention the iSwordsman is really good now that’s it’s no longer buggy and actually hits the target, making it about on par with the iDuelist (give or take). That means I’ve got 2 really good phantasms on relatively short cooldowns (both 16 seconds when traited in the Dueling line), meaning I can really pump out the illusions at an absurd rate, especially when you factor in my scepter’s autoattack.

I understand. I built my mesmer specifically to be a hybrid, so it doesn’t necessarily excel at anything in particular… I built it with leanings toward conditions simply because trying to implement a power build when I use the staff 90% of the time would be silly no matter how you look at it. (The mesmer staff is by far my favorite weapon in the GAME. )

The times when I miss the power is when I’m helping to attack gates in WvW and my damage with the GS (or any other weapon for that matter) is like slapping a wet herring against an oak tree.

And if I DO somehow force myself to go into sPVP, I STILL play a condition mesmer, ha! I play a glamour confusion mesmer (20/0/0/30/20; Staff + Scepter/Torch). I’m sure everyone knows that build. It’s not as popular (or OP) now that they nerfed confusion, but it still works because of how so many people in pub matches still play glass cannons and spam skills without paying attention to their conditions. It’s hilarious to see thieves kill themselves any day of the week. XD

bobomb.5209:

(But cmon, how many warriors REALLY use rifle?).

I use the Rifle.

It’s actually my favorite weapon for the warrior aside from the Greatsword and Hammer.

Personally, I’ve never had a problem with the burst skill because I use it after using “Fear Me!” and “On My Mark!”, whilst I plant myself while they’re getting feared. Works fine unless they use a stun breaker and then immediately dodge roll (or they have Aegis/Distortion). When it hits it does massive damage. And it’s certainly better than the GS’s burst skill, that’s for sure.

Even without the food the % isn’t bad at all. If you’re doing a build that is weak to conditions, it might help cover some of the downsides. Just a thought.

Xyonon.3987:

How much? Now really – I wanna know! It’s definitly lower than a engineer and even less compared to the necro. Beside that – they both also are stronger zerkers, engi even with bombs. Necro is pretty ok, he deals damage, heals a bit, nothing to complain about. Engi in my option is underrated by far, the damage is awesome in general, pretty ok in single target, nr1 in aoe. And passive damage – yes yes yes

I haven’t done a lot of testing in terms of raw numbers. I can tell you my character’s relevant stats: Condition 1035, crit chance 57%, power 1380, toughness 1480, health ~17.8k.

But that’s boring and for tryhards. I don’t play to do math, I play to have fun. I don’t really care if my stats arent perfectly maximized – I hardly play sPVP at all, anyways. And PvE is easy. The only real challenge I’ve had in this game is from fractals, and that’s assuming your group has no idea what they’re doing.

And also… have you SEEN the nerfs on necro lately (especially the Dec. 10th patch)? The vast majority of the profession’s condition skills got gutted. Ironically, the skill that was actually causing problems and making people complain about condition necros, Dhuumfire, was left untouched. It’s pretty much Anet saying to Necros, “play a Minion Master or Wellomancer or GTFO.”

And Engie certainly does good condition damage certainly, but I’ve tried it and I just don’t like it. Considering how in-your-face you need to be with the condition engie compared to a necro or mesmer, I die/get downed WAY more than I should, even using Precision/Toughness/Condition gear. From what I’ve read on the competitive engie builds (not that I pvp with my engie), power burst builds seem to be the preferred method anyway if you’re looking for raw damage.

Jeremlloyd.6837:

Yeah for condition damage u should use a necro or an engineer

Necro sucks and engineer I prefer turrets or elixirs. I don’t particularly like playing either one of those classes as a condition class because their survivability is much lower.

You’d be surprised at how much condition damage I put out on my mesmer, with clones and phantasms all stacking conditions along with me.

I used to be a power build, but I got bored with it. My Necro, Warrior, Thief, and Ranger are all power builds and I wanted some godkitten variety.

And I love the staff for mesmer. Probably my favorite weapon in the game, with a good balance of defensive abilities.

Besides, power builds often tend to be squishier, and I wanted a build I could survive anything with. I can solo most standard champions no problems with this build. There are no enrage timers in this game for bosses, so staying alive > doing damage.

Maugetarr.6823:

Interceptor.2653:

Maugetarr.6823:

1) That is not hyperbole

“Not even close” is the hyperbole. That should have been obvious from context, but I’ll be painfully clear about this for you in the future.

2)Phase retreat exists so it’s not an imaginary situation.

Phase retreat is not a Thief skill. The imaginary situation that I was referencing, was the alternate reality where the developers implemented your suggestion. That did not happen. We only have pre-patch #2, and post-patch #2.

[…] not going to help your argument.

This is not a debate.

1) Fair enough

2) Mesmers use the same magic and have very similar mechanics. Simply because it is not a thief skill does not mean that the two aren’t comparable when looking at consistency within balance across the game. My point was that my suggestion was based on similar skills that already exist within the game which have not been changed and are not gamebreaking.

3) You contend that the change to sword was justified. I contend that it wasn’t (especially in the manner they did it). Debate follows as a cause of discussing your view of the matter.

2) Mesmer’s Staff 2 skill, Phase Retreat, has a 6 or 8 second cooldown depending on if the mesmer took the Staff CD reduction trait or not. Very different from thieves that could use their shadowstep/teleport 3 or 4 times back-to-back (depending on their initiative traits). Phase Retreat spawns a clone but it doesn’t cure a condition like the thief’s Sword 2. All things considered, even with the cast-time, Thief Sword 2 is still arguably quite good. Only difference is that some thieves don’t like that they can’t cheese spam their way out of stun moves now.

EVERY class has to deal with stuns in some form. Use a breaker or stop spamming dodge rolls and roll defensively… i.e. when you’re actually being attacked. If a move like Skull Crack is being telegraphed, instead of relying on a crutch like Sword 2, use your endurance tactically and save a dodge roll for when you’re in the warrior’s face. Sword 2 is meant to be a tool to control distance and assist sustainability by clearing a condition, not as a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card for when you’re not paying attention to what your opponent is doing like you should be.

I still play my thief as a 0/30/30/0/10 P/P + D/D stealth backstabber. I never took the initiative traits or S/P or S/D to begin with. I rely on my quick reflexes to dodge slower attacks and gap control (like Shadowstep) to avoid faster attacks and deal damage at range if I’m fighting a meleer. I’m certainly not the best thief player ever (I’m much more experienced with my warrior and mesmer builds), but I certainly can at least put up a good fight. Personally, I didn’t really notice the changes for this patch because none of the changes really affected my build in the first place.

phaeris.7604:

Ha!, I sense so much anger!

If I were a warrior i’d be embarrassed to admit a thief could beat me. In fact when I used to play warrior (dual swords/bow condi banner regen), the only issue I had with thieves was when they ran away after failing to drop my health below 80 percent and I couldn’t catch up.

Mesmer is pretty much regarded as the strongest 1v1 class in the game. Someone did a rough poll on all the class boards, mesmers pretty much stated the only other classes they have issues with are other mesmers and condi engineers. I could play as a cheesey perplexity p/d spamming thief build and win like that, but who wants to play that dull set up.

Don’t be so angry at your hammer nerf, you still have healing signet.

Personally I did the stun-lock physical build (mace/shield + hammer). Whenever a thief would pop out of stealth I’d stun lock them until they panicked and went into stealth, where I would then pop my heal, get back to around ~80% HP and wait for them to show themselves so I could stun lock them again. Quite funny.

Xyonon.3987:

CrazyAce.3842:

Before the nerf my build was 0/20/20/10/20. After the nerf it was 0/20/20/0/30. I’m a condition/tanky mesmer.

I just changed it back to the former build. It’s nice to have my old build back.

Do you play WvW, PvP or PvE?

Mostly PvE with a bit of WvW here and there for the variety. My build is mostly built around the Staff and survivability, and I’m almost always the last person standing when things go south.

Before the nerf my build was 0/20/20/10/20. After the nerf it was 0/20/20/0/30. I’m a condition/tanky mesmer.

I just changed it back to the former build. It’s nice to have my old build back.

Classes that kite me? I use a Rifle 90% of the time so that’s not really an issue.

If they kite me, I kite them back. Warriors aren’t that bad at fights of attrition that I need to chase them down.

Right now I’m using a hybrid build. PVT armor, zerker trinkets, soldier runes. My traits are 10/20/0/20/20. Most of the time I’m running with Axe/Warhorn + Rifle (with shouts, to go with the runes), but the way I set up my traits I can easily switch mt selected traits on the fly to, say, a Longbow or Banner support and still be moderately effective with it without having to seek out an npc vendor to reset my skill points. It’s a hybrid build and can do a bit of everything, but at the same time it doesn’t excel at either high damage or bunkering. I use it in general roaming PvE, dungeon runs, and WvW with no problems. I swap out my healing skill and elite skills depending on the situation I’m facing.

Good thing is, I hardly ever die. The warhorn’s cleanses + “Shake it Off” + soldiers runes keep me and my allies condition-free, which are the Warrior’s main weakness since our heals are a tad bit on the weaker side (in terms of healing % of our overall HP if we’re not built with lots of healing).

I’m just glad that we’re not getting nerfed into the ground like the thieves. Good thing I don’t play my thief anymore.

The moving of Illusionist’s Celerity to the Master line is fantastic. I can use my 0/20/20/10/20 build again. Recently I’ve had to use 0/20/20/5/25, and losing Mender’s Purity REALLY hurt. I was forced to either leave myself really vulnerable to conditions (which sucks hardcore if you’re solo roaming in Orr) or take Mantra of Resolve/Null Field/Arcane Thievery and sacrifice one of my preferred utilities. And I’m not a particular fan of those for PvE.

And IMO Mantras are still too hard for 90% of players to actually use effectively. If they increased their support range to 600 (maybe that could be put into the mantra traits) then it would be a bit more viable, thus partly offsetting their difficulty to use. And they shouldn’t bother with the toughness for Protected Mantras. It really doesn’t help all that much. Instead they should make it give Retaliation while channeling or something to discourage people from trying to interrupt. I would also be fine with it giving perma-stability. You can use mantras while channeling, but honestly they don’t really do that much damage on their own.

It’s also not like you even see any Mantra users. Anywhere. I have never once seen anyone using more than one mantra for utility in PvE or PvP. It’s just too hard to use effectively, and the minor buffs here and there have done nothing to address the incredibly high skill ceiling needed. I’m probably twice as effective spamming Staff 1 with my clones than playing full-rotation as a mantra-user.

The event itself for the cannon is still bugged, it sits at 3/5 and does nothing no matter how long you sit there killing harpies. Fix this, Anet. NOW.

What if we’re not around on May 12th? I have no idea what I might be doing that day. I did all the other story achievements, and I don’t want to miss out on my Fused Weapon Skin just because I might not be able to log in on that day.

naphack.9346:

Shout:
“GET OVER HERE!”

Actually, make this a physical utility. A spear on a chain, like the thief’s Scorpion Wire (lol that name).

Or, as other people have said, fix our rushing skills. Considering how many of our stronger attacks are self-rooting (100b, Sword F1, and Rifle F1), without convenient invulnerability like the Mesmer’s Sword 2, we need to have our mobility fixed so we’re not so kitten crippled in combat. It’s hard enough to stay alive. This crap makes it hard to kill, too.

Dolan.3071:

Aye mesmers. Though thieves can invul slash away as well (though they don’t have as good of an F ability as mesmers.)

Have you ever Tsunami Slashed someone!? That attack is beast. It’s a shame people avoid water as though its the plague, were actually pretty good in that department.

Yeah, the Tsunami autotracks. You home in on people, and in the WvWvW “Bay” keeps in the borderlands, there are frequently water fights.

In those cases, I really am glad I have my warrior. But in every other case, I always feel like I wish I had my ele (for roaming) or engineer (for sieges/defenses).

Best part of this is even despite your braindead minions you still kicked kitten

So pro. Teach me, master.

I never use mantras or signets. I still don’t understand what people like about Signet of Inspiration. I hate that skill so much. If we had a +25% movement speed Signet, I’d love it, but we don’t and none of the other signets are very reliable because of their long cooldowns. I use Signet for my Glamour-Confusion build in sPVP, but that’s it.

Mantra builds in general are great in concept, terrible in execution. For the extreme level of skill you need to play a mantra build DECENTLY, you might as well play any other build, not try as hard and do much, MUCH better. The skills themselves are balanced, but too weak in power to make the amount of constantly channeling you have to do worth it (and mantras are extremely vulnerable to interrupts).

I stopped using Arcane Thievery after the nerf. It’s really no longer worth it, considering the cooldown. The old version was much better.

I use Phantasmal Disenchanter on shatter builds. It’s short cooldown is useful for additional fodder.

Mimic is now a pretty awesome ability in its little niche. I use it sometimes in WvW during sieges.

My favorite skills that I use most often on my hybrid build:
Decoy
Blink
Mirror Images
Feedback
Null Field

Still, a nerf to Deceptive Evasion would hurt. A lot.

Mesmer’s are undeniably the slowest class because we have terrible boon uptime (namely swiftness). We really can’t escape from a fight unless we set up a Portal before the fight even starts (which is stupid in sPVP), so we need to stay alive as long as possible. Mesmer doesn’t have the mobility of the elementalist for gap control (Staff 2 and Blink help some, but we don’t have an OH S%^& button like Ride the Lightning) nor do we have the “tankiness” of the necromancer. We rely on being tricky and hard to hit through clone spam, some invisibility (depending on utilities), and our invincibility skills (F4 and Sword 2).

The recent changes to our down state (the big red arrow) and the fact that we can be marked unless we frequently pop in and out of stealth were big nerfs to our survivability. Nerfing Deceptive Evasion might make Mesmer a lot less effective in sPVP, and it would kill a lot of shatter builds that NEED those extra 2 clones for damage.

They should change the Juggernaut trait to include the Elixir Gun. That would actually make that weapon relevant.

I like the idea. #2 Especially. But I think instead of changing Autotool Installation, you should just change the existing GM trait instead. Otherwise it would almost REQUIRE you to take the toolkit, which would kinda suck if you wanted to go pure turrets. Also, the way the stacks work should be tweaked a little as pointed out by Electro so that you don’t have to get a certain number of stacks to get any benefit at all.

Perhaps each stack on the Flame turret could increase its range by 1% and for the Thumper each stack could increase its armor by 1%. Or something like that.

But other than that, YES! If such changes were implemented, I might actually use turrets again.

At the very least, I want overcharges to activate instantly. Too many times I need that overcharge but my turret gets DESTROYED before the effect kicks in. That’s unacceptable. If the overcharge needs to reset the turret’s rate of fire for balance issues, that’s fine, but just make it instant.

Kholdstare.9608:

A less expensive alternative would use your current setup, just changing traits around. I’m guessing you’re swimming in power, but not any other offensive stats, and this build is fine to work with your current gear.
Rampager bunker guardian

Oh, I like that one.

I tried out the Paladin build, but it lacked decent boon uptime (I prefer shouts over meditations or consecrations) and also didn’t work at all with my stats. That build looks easier to ease into (also closer to my current play style).

Thanks a lot for the suggestion!

tom.7468:

Theif
15 characters

I disagree. Thieves are most powerful working with other thieves. The burst damage in those scenarios is scary.

I’m not hurt at all. The skill is fine as is. Don’t make threads for skills that work well for what they’re intended for.

If you want group-oriented support elites, use your Tomes. That’s what they’re there for.

Lies. This skill has saved my skin so many times when s*** hits the fan it’s not even funny.

They already buffed it so you are no longer rooted for the duration. It gives you 3 seconds complete invulnerability plus renews your Virtues, all on a relatively short cooldown of 90 seconds, one of the shorter Elites in the game.

What more do you want?

Don’t go Necromancer unless you want to be stuck using a condition-based class, or want to be mostly AOE-support. Minion builds are subpar in endgame content, and tanking is BORING (if I want to tank, I go to my Guardian).

If you do more solo-play, go for the Elementalist. They are the current kings of the metagame. Good boons, the best mobility of all the classes, and a decent mix of power and condition damage (and good self-healing and condition removal, depending on how you spec). Dagger/Dagger for in-your-face offensive power, or Staff for lots of AOE and support skills. Scepter is there for a medium range skill set that’s kind of a mix of dagger and staff.

Mesmer is tons of fun, and arguably the class with the best variety of possible builds, since hybrids are just as good as pure builds for Mesmer. Very hard to level and master, but once you do, you will be arguably the hardest class to kill aside from Thieves and Elementalists (and tanky Guardians). They can be power or condition based, depending on what weapons you choose to main with.

Dasorine.1964:

Because having access to almost an entire skill set on top of utility slots wouldn’t be too strong? Imagine if elementalists had access to cantrips AND the rest of their utility slots…

Sorry but just like so many of your suggestions its just not that well thought through nor balanced in anyway.

I completely agree. If you want to be stealthy, you have to trait and equip utilities for it like any other class that wants to fulfill a certain role.

If this is gonna be the case, I want Warrior Shouts to take up the F2-F4 slots and Engineer Elixir/Turrets to take up the toolbelt slots.

Do you guys not understand that doing stuff like that would break the game’s already precarious balance? It’s bad enough that metagame is already getting skewed by nerfs to professions like the Engineer and Necromancer.

If Anet wants to buff thieves, they should make Venoms hit harder so that thieves aren’t REQUIRED to take stealth utilities in order to get decent damage. It would add variety to the class in the same way that mesmers have (because mesmers have tons of build possibilities – I love that class).

I personally would say the Guardian is about on par when it comes to solo play, considering their decent balance of inherent defensive abilities and decent damage output.

TooBz.3065:

Lightrayne.7829:

Based on the dev views of a guardian:
… “but share the Warrior’s need to be in melee range to dole out maximum damage.”

Thanks, I needed a good laugh.

That is pretty funny. My Warrior’s main way of dealing damage is with the RIFLE. It utterly wrecks face.

Aberrant.6749:

Not being an ideal ranged class is one thing. Not being able to hit anything that’s moving at range or running away is another….

I’m just trying to keep people’s expectations low. I highly doubt Anet is going to fix this anytime soon, if at all.

I always run with full Precision/Toughness/Condition stuff.

Main weapon is a staff (what’s not to love about the staff as a condition mesmer? NOTHING.), secondary set is Sword/Pistol, largely for the stun/daze and invincibility.

My bouncing attacks bounce and additional time so my staff stacks up A LOT of conditions very quickly, especially with 3 clones spamming the same attack.

KrisHQ.4719:

And please don’t put guardian in the same tier as Mesmers. Every good mesmer will tell you that Guardians are the easiest targets.

Wrong. Warriors are the easiest targets. I love fighting warriors. It’s like a free kill in 90% of the fights I’ve been in.

Then again it’s probably because those players were bad. Good players know not to go into sPVP with a Warrior, lol.

I never used GS anyway because the Skill 3 always has been and continues to be, utterly terrible.

Zero.8712:

This is one of the main reasons why i stopped playing my Guard. I kept going into dungeons trying to melee the bosses, but kept dying. so then i realized i needed ranged. i used a staff and just hated it. i used a scepter and it was ok, but it missed wayyyyy to much. That is what made me switch to a engi.

Finally now im coming back to guardian, because i love the heavy armor. But im scared that i will learn to hate this class again, due to the lack of range.

I think something needes to be changed with this, they can make it slow as they want but i just want to hit my target.

Well, if you’re looking for a ranged class, you’re not looking in the right place. I don’t know why you’d be playing a Guardian in the first place, if you prefer ranged. Warrior is leagues above Guardian in ranged combat because of the Rifle alone. If I need ranged combat I don’t go to the Guardian. I’d go to the Warrior, Ele, Engie, or Ranger.

Having a decent ranged option is preferable, but I can kinda understand why Guardian’s scepter is being ignored. After all, the GS, Hammer, Staff, Sword, Shield, and Mace all work great within their own purposes. And the majority of Guardians seem to prefer melee anyway (though whether that’s a cause or a symptom of the scepter’s lackluster auto-attack, or just because of the mentality of people who prefer Guardians, I have no idea).

Not saying it doesn’t need to be fixed, but considering all the people kittening about balance issues of the top tier classes (i.e. ele & mesmer), Guardian scepter is pretty low on the list right now.

Sandra Martino.3870:

CrazyAce.3842:

What are you guys talking about? The skill is fine.

…As long as the target is standing still.

Which is the whole problem lol, players never stand still :P

That was the joke. XD

But yeah, it’s really sad when a weapon’s auto-attack is that bad. I mean, it’s even worse than the Necromancer’s staff auto-attack. And that is seriously saying something.

Looking for a new build. I am level 80 and run with a pure-Cleric/Sapphire Guardian tank. My current build is 0/0/30/30/10 with supporting shouts.

I enjoy tanking, but I’m looking for a bit more variety in my Guardian gameplay, since I don’t play it as much as I do my other classes.

I’d like a hybrid build that I can ease into without having to rebuy/regrind ALL my exotic gear. I’m also willing to look at Karma gear from Orr for those stats if I need to, since I have plenty of extra karma on this toon. (If such is the case, please tell me which vendor I need to go to, it would be much appreciated.)

Thanks guys.

What are you guys talking about? The skill is fine.

…As long as the target is standing still.

I use an elixir FT build for PvE: 0/30/0/30/10.

Traits – Precise Sights, Fireforged Trigger, and Juggernaut for the Firearms trait line. I grab Invigorating Speed, Cleaning Formula 409 and HGH for even more might stacking and condition removal in the Alchemy trait line. Finally, I grab Speedy Kits in the Tools trait line which essentially gives me on-demand vigor and swiftness. Very useful for both getting around and overall survivability.

Utilities: Elixir S, Elixir B, and FT (you can change the elixirs to suit your playstyle, whether its aggressive or defensive). Healing: Any work, but I use Elixir H. Elite: Supply Crate OR Elixir X.

For your weapon set it really doesn’t matter. It’s whatever you prefer, but I prefer dual pistols. I use Superior Sigil of Fire (Air works too, but I like the additional AOE) and Superior Sigil of Bloodlust.