Guild Wars 2

faunabay.9320:

I’m another that came over from WoW. I’d been frustrated with WoW for quite a while and looking for a game I could sink into and enjoy. After trying a few others I broke down, bought this one and haven’t been disappointed at all. I love this game!! I like the way it works for questing. I also really like all the jump puzzles and exploring the different areas and vistas. And while the starting areas are not difficult they’re also not face roll easy like WoW’s are.

I started with Ranger because my main from WoW was/is a hunter. I did like it but after reading what many people said I started a Guardian too. I only took both up to about lvl 10 then started a Norn Mesmer. I LOVE playing her!! I still only have her up to 17 but I’m having a ton of fun playing Mesmer.

I too came from WoW. I still play it to this day.

I started playing the game on launch because I wanted something different to play. We all get burned out on things eventually and we take a break and come back to it.

I initially started playing the game as a Guardian. I knew from the get-go I wanted to play one. I played a Dervish in GW1 which was similar to a Retribution Paladin (my old main prior to Cataclysm). I also played a Paragon a lot in GW1. The Paladin (WoW) and the two classes I played the most in GW1 helped me decide what my main was going to be. I still play my guardian.

I’ve also had a love/hate relationship with my Engineer. I liked the idea of the class. I liked what they could do. However, I could never find anything that really worked for my playstyle. I never liked grenades, and a lot of the other kits were kitten in some way compared to the others, and I could never properly build around a few kits at that time.

But then I got more and more experienced with the game. I learned how a lot of things meshed really well, and with the right gear setup, you can do just about anything you want to.

With the recent updates to the traits and everything else, I’ve come to enjoy my engineer the most out of any of my alts – I hardly ever played my alts because nothing compared to how much fun I had with my guardian.

I have to say that I get more bored with the content than I do playing my characters. My characters will always remain fun and interesting. The content is what gets old after a while. The content is what burns me out the most. Eventually you’ll see everything that the game has to offer, even if it does take a colossal amount of time to see /everything/ the game has to offer.

I guess my whole point is: Play whatever you wanna play. It doesn’t make much of a difference what it is you play. If you want it easy: Warrior, guardian, or ranger. If you want it interesting: Everything else.

Teon.5168:

Stop is a terribly overused word, imo.

Pump your brakes to a complete halt please.

YOLO isn’t a word.

Hyper Cutter.9376:

Untamed.2461:

I think part of the problem is that some people choose armor for prestige (how hard it is to get), while others go by appearance.

GW1 was the same way, so many sets of FoW armor dyed black…

I bet if they removed Black and White dyes from the game, you’d start seeing more variety.

I personally find black dyed armor to be one of, if not, the most unappealing thing in the game. It’s even worse when every single dye channel is that color.

I spin my camera in the direction I know I’m going to go if I know there’s a cliff or other hazard behind the enemy. Otherwise I dodge through the enemy then immediately spin it around.

It’s not that complicated, really.

I want Shadow Abyss dyed Balthazar armor and I want it now!

…wait.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

While the game does not have a Holy Trinity, the forum does have a Holy Quattro, which is threads about mounts, dueling, capes and complaints about other people’s posts.

So far today I’ve seen a mount thread and this one. Only 2 more to go.

Why don’t we have a duel on mounts while wearing capes? Then we can come here and complain about it so other people can complain about us complaining about our duels on mounts while wearing capes.

You following me here?

The entire genre is one giant cesspool of people who hate the game they’re playing vs the people who love the game they’re playing.

It’s a futile argument.

RoseofGilead.8907:

aophts.9862:

Guardians need a buff for speed badly, being a turtle while eveyone else is running like the wind is horrible.

It could be worse. You could be a mesmer. Poor, slow mesmers.

On my Guardian, I can use Staff 3 and GS Leap in conjunction with “Retreat!” and, if I really wanted to, I could blow “Save Yourselves!” for the additional duration increase. I can move pretty quickly between Teq and the bounce pads using this set-up.

Mesmers on the other hand… You have Blink. It’ll be okay. <3

(But seriously, running around as a mesmer is terrible.)

I have all the important waypoints unlocked: world bosses, dungeons (even though its not necessarily required), etc.

If I don’t have a waypoint: Sucks to be me.

The attack animation looks slower now, so for me the damage output feels slower as well. None of the other skills feel like they were effected. However, if the actual attack speed was affected, then the vulnerability stacking will be behind, even if it’s a slight slow-down.

The attack speed is ever so much slower than before. Reading some threads earlier, someone said that it was .9, and now it’s 1.2. Whether or not that’s right or wrong, I’m not sure.

I read something about it relating to trait changes dealing with the axe.

I really hope this change was unintentional as it is, and was supposed to “ship out” with the trait changes and not this early.

Nevermind that the animation on certain character combinations looks abysmal, but that’s besides the point. Plenty of rage about that in the necro forum anyways.

The same thing is apparently happening with the engineer stealth as well.

Charr = no capes.
No charr = Problems. Probably.

If I wanted to use a scepter, I’d use a scepter.

There was nothing wrong with the animation before and it actually looked like rending claws would. I don’t see bears and the other ferocious creatures in the game waving their arms around like fairies when they’re mauling my face. Why should I look like one when I’m mauling faces?

I guess Reaper/GS will be my go-to for facemauling come HoT.

NumenorLord.6539:

This is all I have to say, watchout fellow Guardians!

Easily the best thing to come out of this whole Dragonhunter debacle.

Cheer up? Really? I’d rather dual wield shields before using a frickin’ longbow.

I can’t even. Not even a little bit.

This is…

Nope.

“Druid” for Ranger makes some sense. Chronomancer Mesmer makes some sense. But Dragonhunter? I’m not making the connection at all.

I should have said something.

I had a nice chat with Kagak about it. Based on his suggestions and my prefered playstyle, we were able to come up with something that had survivability and could dish out more damage than what I was running.

Using a half-zerker/half-PVT armor set with Power-based runes, I’m already seeing a difference. I’ve still gotta replace weapons, but it’s noticeable, which is good.

He explained why I was doing not-so-stellar damage, and pointed out different little things that synergize much better for a build I’m looking for. He told me along the lines of “If you’re using a staff, you’re already causing downtime”. Case in point: Empower. It’s a might stacking ability, but it takes 2 – 3 seconds to cast. That’s 3 seconds I could be doing damage. Sanctuary interacts much better with the blocking traits. I gain a lot more from using blast finishers (Focus 5, Hammer 2, etc) and would be better off doing that instead of using the staff.

I’ll be keeping my staff and Knight’s gear if I ever decide to jump back into WvW again. For now though: Changes. Many changes.

The scepter I’m using is from the Tequatl chest. If the increase in weapon damage is negligible, then I’ll probably swap it back to an exotic with more beneficial stats. I don’t have the necessary crafting level to being making Ascended gear, but I’m working on it.

As far as changing the build, I may try that. I’ve been slowly easing myself out of having so much Toughness, and I started looking into boosting Precision and Power. I think I’ll ditch the triple rune setup and go with the Might duration stacking set instead. I’m not going switch out all of my gear yet, however, I may try those different traits to see if I like it or not.

I was not aware of the apparent change to stat stacking sigils. I will definitely change that up. That’s news to me – I must’ve not been active when that change occured. So thanks for bringing that up.

I seldom ever run meta builds. What you see here is what I was able to come up with starting with a guide and then branching out and changing things as I saw fit.

Thanks!

Let me preface my entire post by stating that I’m not a new player, however I’ve taken a few months break over time. I have a lot of experience with the build I’ve been using for a while. I’m looking for suggestions or areas I could improve it. I believe what I’ve come up with is the best I can do for my playstyle. Based on the information below, is there anything I can do to make it more effective? I’m totally open to suggestions, but I think these traits are as good as I’m going to get without completely changing part of the build. Please understand that I mostly PvE and hardly do any WvW or PvP.

A short history of my experience with the Guardian:

I’ve mained the guardian since Pre-release launch. I struggled to choose a race, and ultimately chose a sylvari after I found charr to be too bulky and hard to control in certain situations, jumping puzzles for example. I wanted something akin to the dervish or Retribution Paladin (WoW), and something that could fill that protective support role like the Paragon in GW1. So, the Guardian was a perfect (or nearly perfect) match for me. I leveled up my Sylvari Guardian to 80, doing map completion, I almost exclusively avoided dungeons. I found I died a lot playing as a GS/Berserker Guardian. I knew something was wrong, so I went to the drawing board and reviewed everything. I didn’t know where to start, so I ventured to the forums in search for something that could combine DPS, with tanking ability, that focused largely on Support. I found that Brutaly’s Hammer guide was a good starting point. That’s what my build was based on, and it still is, somewhat, though I don’t use a hammer at all.

What I looked for in the build:

-Good DPS (Not Major DPS)
-Good/Excellent Support Capability
-Good/Excellent Survivability

Build link since I can’t get the formatting to work properly: http://bit.ly/1DAaRpa

I’ve left utility slots 8 and 9 open on purpose as I change them depending on the encounter. Generally speaking, I’ll use “Hold The Line!” or “Stand Your Ground!” in conjunction with Purging Flames or Hallowed Ground. The gear setup shows as I’m currently geared, instead of full Ascended gear (which I don’t have).

I’ve found through time that Knight’s gear was the best bang I was going to get for what I was looking for. Plenty of Power to whack things with, Plenty of Precision to interact with traits and abilities, and enough Toughness where it would keep me alive, since Guardians were somewhat squishy at the start of the game, with their low health pool. I chose to go with the condition removal traits and skills, so I can consistantly cycle boons while removing conditions with shout abilities. This works great for me. Initially I was using 6-set Lyssa runes, but somewhere along the way, the set bonus was nerfed (I think), so I switched over to 2x Monk, 2x Water, 2x Traveler for the boon duration increase – since I was constantly using boons, I may as well play to that increase the duration of them.

I’ve tried just about all weapons with the build, so I can switch them on the fly. I’m considering dropping Empowering Might for Two Handed Mastery, but we’ll get back to that in a bit. I use a staff for most content. I swap to scepter/offhand (which offhand depends largely on the encounter) if the encounter calls for ranged damage. I don’t have any of the weapon traits.

I’ve chosen to stick with Shouts/Consecrations with Altruistic Healing, as opposed to Meditation builds. I don’t use the Tome elite skills because I don’t find them to be nearly as useful as Renewed Focus. I abuse Virtue activation for obvious reasons.

The build works with all races as it doesn’t call for any racial abilities. I currently have a Sylvari and Human at level cap and I’m slowly working on the other races as I find the patience to level them.

I have one infused ring and my backpiece is also infused. For whatever reason the calculator doesn’t show that. I have a total of 50 AR with the staff equipped.

I’m considering trying out a PVT gear setup and swapping out Empowering Might for Two-Handed Mastery with the Staff. I don’t know how much if a difference that recharge would be to change the traits like that. I’m considering using Rune of the Trooper in place of the condition removal traits and picking something else, since I’m already using Shouts with the build.

I’m also considering a Cleric’s gear setup as well. However, I don’t know how effective Healing Power is nowadays (It’s been quite some time since the Healing Power change). I’ve been told that it’s a good gear setup to choose for high-level Fractals, but otherwise it’s not really worthwhile.

I’m working on a legendary and I’ve considered using AR/stat infusions once I’ve obtained everything else I wish to obtain.

I had it set to Low by accident after reverting to my old settings.

Thanks so much!

It appears on mouse-over.

Is this normal? Can it be disabled? It’s incredibly distracting and is very annoying.

I don’t recall it appearing before. Now I can’t get it to go away no matter what I do. I’ve tried to change a bunch of graphic settings and other settings it didn’t do anything.

I’ve played on lower settings since getting the game and never noticed it prior to today’s patch.

Help?

All right. I’ve respecced and I think I’ll start working on gathering materials for a proper armor set later tonight. Thanks for the help, everyone.

DangerMickey.2401:

5 in zeal? There’s your problem. On a serious, note try putting points into virtues, honor and valor, the traits and the utilities tied to them offer more support, you’ll have incredible survivability and will allow you to focus more on attributes that affect damage. I personally run 0/0/30/30/10, I run a mix of berserker and soldier armor.

If I were to try this build, what traits would I be using? The numbers don’t really tell me anything.

I’m just having a hard time with it. I -love- this class more than any other class in the game by far, but I feel so useless no matter what I do.

I run a Greatsword build. I’ve tried Zeal/Radiance and that was too glass-cannon for my taste. I’m trying 5-30-30-0-5 currently, still using the Greatsword and trying to do some supporting. Traits I’m using for Radiance are: II, VI, and XII. Traits I’m using for Valor are: I, VI, and IV. I have Scepter/Shield for my offset. So far it’s offered more survivability and less in the way of damage, but I still feel like I’m not performing well.

I’m having a hard time gearing my character, too. I feel like I’m gimping my damage by stacking Toughness. I feel like I’m losing a buttload of survivability if I were to run Berserker’s gear. I guess, really, I have no idea what to do with my gear at this point. I feel like I’d benefit more from Knight’s gear or Carrion gear instead of Berserker’s or Rampager’s.

I ran Arah Explorable Mode a little while ago. I felt okay using the GS as usual. Then we got to Giganticus Lupicus. I swapped to Staff Main-set, Scepter/Shield Off-set. I used the Spirit Sword to make up for my apparently atrocious ranged damage. It was wipe after wipe after wipe.

I guess I’m just kinda stuck and I don’t know what to do at this point. I almost feel like rerolling to something else out of pure frustration – I really don’t want to do that because that would be a whole lot of dedication for nothing.

Maybe I’m just being too hard on myself. I don’t know.

Any help or suggestions is/are much appreciated.

I’ve run GPU-Z and my temperatures on the GPU say they’re right around 45 degrees Celcius. My guildmate says that’s about normal, so I don’t think it’s the GPU. I think it could be the motherboard because that area feels warm, but I don’t know. The smell seems to eminate from the PSU. My PSU is near the bottom of the tower.

I wish I knew more about computer hardware, but I don’t.

I guess I’ll keep trying to identify the problem.

Until then, thanks again.

Marmalade.9750:

Check the fan of the ATI card. They are usually quite loud. The absence of noise would point to a faulty fan. Coincidenataly, this will crash your PC when the card is taxed, as the temp. will go beyond the safe point very quickly while you are playing – then the system will experience issues that one would classify as a crash.

Hmm. Okay. I’ll take a look at the fans, but I’m still worried about the PSU, however. I find it strange that this stuff suddenly stops working when my old ATI stuff still worked after 5 or 6 years.

I’ll report back at some point.

Thanks guys.

Hello,

I’ve been having an issue very recently, as of last night.

I was playing the game just fine and dandy and then suddenly, out of nowhere, my computer crashed. I checked the cords and everything. I pushed my power cord into the rig because it was loose.

Everything seemed okay for the 6 hours I played before logging off for the night after restarting. Then when I logged in today, I was able to play for about 30 minutes until my computer would shut off by itself. No BSODs, no error codes, just black screen to power off.

I believe it’s my PSU acting up because I was running the game totally fine until yesterday/today. My machine is usually loud for whatever reason. It hasn’t been that way recently, so I suspect something is wrong. The machine was always loud, right out of the box. I thought nothing of it. Here is what I’m using, as it is here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229287

The only upgrading I did was more HDD space, and additional 8GB RAM. Nothing more than that.

The weird issue is: The machine runs cool, right now in fact, it’s running fine, besides the absense of the loud fans. After it crashes, -then- a big stink comes from the area of the PSU, so I’m pretty sure that’s the issue. I’m almost sure that it isn’t a software issue as I’ve not downloaded anything other than GW2 updates recently. I don’t use my computer for anything else besides GW2, so no Facebook, etc. So I highly doubt it’s a virus causing this.

I’d test my old computer, but my PSU in that machine is dead.

I’ve contacted my tech-savvy friend, but he’s busy so I haven’t gotten ahold of him to see what I should do. Chances are, I may just RMA the machine. I really hope this isn’t the case.

Any help is much appreciated.