Guild Wars 2

Thanks – I’ll check those out. Not sure why I forgot about GS – once I switched to hammer I never looked back.

Got this Sword/Focus + Staff all-Zerker guardian build from a guildie last night and I need assistance. His link only had partial assignment of Trait points (40 are still remaining in this version) and I’m wondering where to spend the rest. This so far is traited for burning+blinding and uses utility shouts.

I typically run a Hammer + Scepter/Focus build that’s traited deep into Honor (III, VII, X) for healing shouts/symbols using Cleric’s armor – I like it, but am looking to mix things up a bit. The build linked below uses Staff as the secondary weapon, but if there were a way to use HAMMER as the secondary instead, I’d prefer it – can Zerker run effectively using hammer + sword/focus? Should I not use two close-range sets? I primarily run my Guard in FotM and dungeon runs with my guild. I do *not PvP/WvW typically…

Here’s the in-progress link:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vUUQNAsdWl0ApWotCxUIEENRkLw+AArKEPA-zACBYfDZkgAk+AiKAIzsIastBFRjVXDT5iIqWQAjC-e

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

One word: KODAN!!!

Forget new classes – anyone who played GW1 will remember the massive balance challenges they had. A new race, however, would mean new quests, new personal story, new ZONES (swoon)…

The thing GW2 is really lacking is new explorable areas – this takes a LOT of dev effort, I know, but it’s what keeps the wrld feeling fresh and new. GW1 did that really well, and I miss it in GW2. I, for one, would actually pay extra $$$ for access to the new race, provided it came with the above-mentioned starter area/quests/assets.

I did (via Dulfy), but was uncertain which would be unlocked for existing Level 80s and which would need to be tracked down – I actually checked it again after your question and it’s still not terribly clear. Luckily, Lanefear’s answer confirmed what I thought I understood. Honestly, given that existing Level 80’s have already spent 3G+ for training manuals I was hoping everything would be available, but que serra serra…

So from everything I can see about 2H weapons and the way stacks of Might will go away on-swap, it’s looking like my current build (using the black cat + stacks of Might for me and my pet from constant LB/SB swapping) is going away, yes?

Is there enough data yet to start considering alternatives to this build? I’m mainly PvE and really enjoyed the damage numbers I could put up in dungeons and other group activities once my Might had built up, but I do admit that constantly swapping back and forth between LB/SB was distracting (plus when my pet died – which tends to happen in dungeons, it lost the built-up Might stacks).

Thanks!

And the 13s are only available by completing specific in-game (PvE I assume) content, OR by purchase via special vendors, correct? Thanks for the reply…

Apologies if this is covered in a different thread; if so, I couldn’t find it.

Most of my characters are already leveled to 80 and so have full Trait unlocks (even if I’m not currently using them). I’ve read the developer post re: changes to the traits and see that they want to change things back to a more GW1-type system where some specific and desirable Traits can only be “unlocked” by either completing specific in-game content (a la GW1), or by spending gold with trainers in towns.

But what about those of us who have already spent gold on each of our existing Lvl80s for training manuals? It sounds from the dev preview article that existing Lvl80s will have ALL traits available after the April patch, even the ones you have to seek out in the world to unlock – perhaps I’m mis-reading it?

Can anyone confirm that all traits will be unlocked for current Lvl80s?

Again, apologies if there’s an existing thread where this is clarified – please feel free to link if so. Thanks!

Manuhell.2759:

That’s just your opinion. I have posted actual facts – the patch notes and the ingame gui clearly explain what the goal of the event is.
And i can’t see “farming champs” or “staying afk” in any of them.

I actually disagree with this – that’s your interpretation. Having run the event many times now, it’s clear to me that the devs designed the LA invasion to be playable in many different ways for many different reasons (leveling alts; farming champs; saving civvies; running escort missions; even re-doing all the old LA stuff like the jumping puzzles at a higher challenge factor). For this, I salute A-net – good work!!

Before the invasion, I typically AVOIDED LA – loading times were much longer in and out of there due to the generally higher-than-average player counts, and things were much more spread out than in the capital cities (both Rata Sum, Divinity, and the Norn capital city have more convenient access to bank/TP/crafting provided you use the (free) waypoints).

I for one hope that LA will remain ruined/hostile territory – please make it a permanent Lvl 80 zone filled with danger and excitement. There’s a lot you could do with it in its current state or as a logical conclusion to some of the living story breadcrumbs that have been dropping… Just my 2 coppers.

I tend to spend half the time at least running after orange circles for the mob spawns so I can farm supply bags, not necessarily Champs. The LA attack is one of the very best LEVELLING opportunities I’ve seen so far in this game – all my alts get levelled up to 80; the mobs give good, mass XP, and the rewards bags drop an item that can be built up and traded for Tomes of Knowlege. I understand that saving civvies also gives extra bag drops, but in my (nonscientific) tests, it seems like I’m getting more bags killing lots of trash mobs for their bag drops than I net in the big reward bags for saving civvies, and in a safer way (if I go down in a big group there’s a much better chance that some Good Samaritan will get me back up again as opposed to going down by my lonesome at the edge of the map on a civvie rescue mission).

Just saying…

+1 please – I have lots left over as well and I’ll just have to trash it otherwise.

Kal Spiro.9745:

When you upgrade it you effectively get a brand new item, so it should be account bound and soulbound when you assign the stats.

About this, Dulfy says:

“Backpiece is account bound and stays account bound even after picking stats.”

Is this not true? I haven’t picked my stats for my backpiece yet.

Please do! I’d use it…

LOL… good one.

Haven’t seen THAT one before… Ugh.

Glad to have helped… let’s get to 1,500 every time!

I’m seeing lots of rescued civvies in LA events but let’s shoot for Level V! Linked below is a Reddit thread containing a great map with civilian locations along with notes as to whether an escort (a team of 5 should suffice) is required/helpful/unnecessary. Check it out and I hope it helps…

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1yfitm/lions_arch_civilian_location_map/

skullmount.1758:

God, I wish I could get in those servers/overflows that manage to save that many in one go. Max I’ve been in is 600, and thats only a couple of times

Guest over on Fort Aspenwood – I’ve done about half a dozen runs, all in overflow, and we never got less than Tier II, usually III or even IV (and that was during the daytime – can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like in the evening and the weekend). GL!!

I’m honestly baffled as to how this is so much more convenient than just, you know, waypointing to some other city with the stuff you want/need… GW2 has s many quality of life improvements over just about every other MMO, but I guess there’s always room for improvement – how about a “Play my character for me” NPC, or the AutoLeveller 6300 that will ding you a level for the low, low price of only 1000 gems?

I’ll send A-net $50 if they stick that %$#@! kid’s head on a spear up on Scarlet’s ramparts. If it were up to me I’d kill him then raise him with my necro just so I could fry him again…

JackThisOut.4076:

Fantastic.5298:

Go to a major city

you don´t get our point.
lion´s arch was a central place in the map where everything was available, escpecially the retrainer because i change traits every single day.

It’s ALWAYS taken me longer to WP into LA than a relatively quiet major city like Rata Sum (which has fairly tightly-packed stations as well). Before the invasion, I actually AVOIDED LA whenever possible, simply to bypass the stoopid amount of time it took to use th WPs.

You’re all up in arms over losing a service that had better, faster alternatives since day 1. Have you even looked around at the world? :P

Slushey.8236:

If they are worried people will just stay in the Watchknight form the entire time…

This was EXACTLY what I wanted to do! Before I saw the cooldown and duration, I was about to make a new toon that I’d level all the way as a Clockwork. THAT would be cool. But with the 5 min. duration then a 25 minute wait… pfah.

I was pumped when I got this – finally something I’d use EVERY DAY from a big event! I was just about to go and create a new character that I’d use the tonic on constantly,…

…then I read about the 5 min. duration and 30 min. cooldown.

Now, like most of the other cra… erm, STUFF, I’ve gotten in events like this, it’s gathering dust in the bank. A-net, please fix so the tonic stays on until double-clicked, even if that’s 6 hours later. If you have to remove the effect on zoning/map traveling/instancing I understand (there’s probably a global effect that removes stuff like this based on what I’ve seen with speed boosts and the like), but at least let me “get back in character” immediately.

Thanks!

A slider that allows the user to manually set the max number of player models (full = zero culling) would be great. Personally, I’d set it somewhere around the mid-point: enough that I see a crowd, but not the swirling mass of clipped chum that I currently see. To be honest, it kind of bugs me when I see everyone all at once, particularly during events like the final “Kill Scarlet” event where everyone is massed together into a giant “amoeba of death”, with all the player models clipped inside one another – it actually makes things look far worse and serves to only break my suspension of disbelief… Just a thought.

Yeah I’d bug it… my understanding is it’s supposed to be 100% as well (but I may be wrong; hopefully someone who knows for sure can weight in).

LOL… glad we could help.

Get another communicator from Vorp? If you talk to him there should be a “I need another communicator” dialog option (I did the closing ceremony accidentally with a Lvl 5 with almost no WPs and needed another for my Lvl80 with most completed).

From how you describe it, that SHOULD fix your issue (I hope).

Oh please oh please oh please make it +20 levels…

You changed the setting in the WvW section? I reading another thread that it was mis-labeled, so for now that’s where you need to reduce settings. Should be clearer once they patch the patch… heh.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Isn’t it one map per day per map zone? I have no idea how the maps repeat or are chosen for invasion.

I’m confused as well (but my only experience with this event so far was the horribly FUBAR run last night that got terminated mid-invasion by the forced server restart, which caused me to abandon the effort rather than wait an hour for the timer to reset).

Update on: #130812-001066 – RESOLVED!

We got in after the new password reset. thanks so much for taking care of it for us.

Found the ticket! It was under #130812-001066

She got a reset link, but when using it to set a new password we get an error:

“Failure

We weren’t able to change your password. Try following the link from your e-mail again."

Perhaps the link expired? What should we do now? Thanks for your help!

PS – Updated support ticket as well…

I submitted a ticket several days ago (don’t have the ticket number, unfortunately), to check the status of my wife’s GW2 account. It was activated on 4/24/2012, but has not been used since early on. Now she wants to play, but the login info I wrote down in my password document is not working (perhaps it expired due to inactivity?) I have the activation email from 4/24 with the user ID (don’t want to post it in open forum just in case). What should I do? Please contact me for additional details – thanks so much!

Entropy.4732:

Finally I can post my own Evil Guardian. Thank you guys for all the stellar examples.

Meet her dark majesty “Lady of Tears”. She’s the baddest of the bad. Oh yes she is.

What pieces are those (assume it’s a mixed set)?

I think I see what you’re getting at, Seetoo about wanting to avoid damage… but I’m not sure I agree. Sometimes, based on play style, a person may want to just absorb incoming damage than actively try to avoid it. You asked:

• “How do toughness and vit help everyone else in the group when you aren’t taking hits (something that is completely possible)? How is healing power helping everyone else in the group when no one is missing HP (something that is completely possible)?” *

It helps (it seems to me) because if the Guardian is able to absorb a hit, they can do SOMETHING ELSE (apply a boon… drop a symbol… attack/set stuff on fire… etc.) instead of worrying about dodging/blinding/invoking a shout/whatever to avoid taking the hit.

By the same token, sending out constant heals only helps when folks in your party are down on HP, I agree, but when people miss dodges/step accidentally into a red circle/run out of End and get smacked with a huge hit/whatever, then it REALLY MATTERS ALL OF A SUDDEN I find… having it constantly available without necessarily having to worry about it, just like having Tough/Vit, allows the Guardian to do other things, like, say, hit things in the face.

Map Complete FTW!!!

Amins.3710:

Why would I care if more pve’rs come into wvw?

And you think I don’t have 1000+ support tokens still in my bag? What a fk’n joke.

My point, since you obviously mis-read what I said, was that the devs obviously DO think WvW is important and are actively trying to pull people into that area of the game by barraging players like me (who are largely uninterested in the entire concept of “beating” another human being) with reward items that can ONLY be used in PvP/WvW.

If they’re currently adding more staff to build PvE content (which seems like a valid conclusion, seeing as how they are releasing PvE content so frequently), it’s for one reason only: because the devs are looking at user behavior data that leads them to the conclusion that more players want PvE content than anything else.

Successful software companies remain profitable by creating products that users will actually… well, USE. Not because they “dislike” any particular sub-set of customers. If more people start playing WvW, then they’ll be more motivated to develop additional rewards for that type of play as well…

Bhima.9518:

Also… I think 2 of the best balanced rune choices for the Guardian: 2xsuperior Monk, 2xSuperior Water 2x major Wate for boon duration is very useful to you and those around you. The other is pure soldier runes but they are only good if you run shouts.

A *very skilled Guardian in my guild runs this setup – never heard of mix-and-matching incomplete and mismatched Sup/Major sets of runes like this before he told me about it, but upon reflection, it makes a LOT of sense for the added boon duration. As he puts it:

“You get bigger boosts running full sets, but they’re not the best boosts you can have for especially group play, plus this works OK even when running solo”. Genius!

Yes, please point it out… I personally haven’t use the Wall very much up to my current level (74) because as a solo player there are more “bang for the buck” skills that need to be in my bar. I assume you’re running with PUGs which are hard enough to get a handle on (bad communications, players you’re not familiar with, etc. etc.), so any POLITE suggestions and assistance always help! A quick “Hey… did you know you could Reflect those ice bolts? Give it a try next time, assuming you have the skill unlocked” wouldn’t get my hackles up, anyway…

Bash.7291:

See thats part of the issue right now, there is pretty much one build for dungeons, 0/x/30/30/x with zerkers gear. There is no real deviation from that at all in terms of effectiveness.

Says who? I dungeon-run with guildies typically, and the “anchor man” for the entire group is a Guardian running Cleric’s gear (not Zerker) with a spread of traits that encompass 4 of the 5 lines with only a Grandmaster ranking in Honor (along with 15 in Radiance, 20 in Zeal and only 5 in Virtues). I love playing in that group: we’ve always got tons of Might, symbols all over the place we can build off of and combo from, healing, the works.

I might not know everything, but I know enough about Guild Wars to say without hesitation that there’s no such thing as a single way to play ANY of the classes (only the best way that meshes with a particular player’s style).

Amins.3710:

2) Preaching a player vs player focused game: Clearly it is not as they just hired 4x’s thier current “Living World” (PVE) development team while WvW / PvP only see updates every 2-3 months (where pve see’s full content + updates every month, sometimes twice).

I’m sure A-net is adding head count to the areas seeing the most player traffic, in this case, PvE (it’s why I play GW2 – I’ve only played WvW 2 or 3 times since launch, and NEVER ONCE played PvP).

As a PvP player, you should be thanking the devs for obviously doing everything they can to tempt players into the PvP/WvW areas – I mean, EVERY ONE of the A-net Point reward chests I just got in the last update was crammed with PvP weapon and armor skins, WvW reward tokens, blueprints, and other gear clearly intended to tempt players like me into the WvW/PvP area. Quite honestly it was kitten ing me off, until I realized that they were just trying to make sure more players got to see the content they designed for that area.

I assume you’re 80, and have full access to all trait points, right?

If so, honestly I never saw much value in any of the stealth-related skills or traits in PvE… I know it’s not that way at all in WvW/PvP, but in PvE honestly the most important thing (IMHO) is killing stuff as fast as possible all while constantly healing the steady stream of damage flowing into your medium-armored body. That means as much Condition damage as humanly possible for as long as humanly possible to as many mobs as humanly possible.

My fave for this type of play is, without a doubt, Dagger/Dagger with traits set up for 3 dodges + caltrops-on-dodge (all of which trigger Signet of Malice, your constant-healing little friend). You MUST dodge the big incoming attacks… MUST! Damage avoidance via dodging (while dropping caltrops that bleed and trigger your healing signet) is the key. I typically also run the full Caltrops skill for times that I round up 3-6 trash mobs and group them around me (the big patch gets them all and really fires the healing signet, add more with dodges). Death Blossom is even more avoidance + more condition bleeds. When done right, you should be able to apply so many stacks of bleed so fast that trash mobs melt like butter and even Vets are no problem whatsoever solo between your dodge avoidance and constant stacks of conditions. Obviously, armor and trinkets choice is heavily loaded towards the +Condition Damage variety plus I add full sets of Superior Runes of the Lich or something along those lines to add even more bleed damage.

As far as a backup weapon, I generally carry Pistol/Pistol or the Shortbow for times when I’m all out of Initiative and am in a tough Champ fight – I drop all my remaining caltrops, use Dagger #5 (the only stealth skill I occasionally use) to break off, use Roll for Initiative to get back part of my Init. pool (plus get a good amount of distance quickly), then spam Blinds with pistol or AOE with SB until I refil, then back to the D/D fury.

It’s stupid fun, works in all PvE content (even dungeons and fractals) and makes me feel powerful.

…and even when you screw up while leveling, the only real consequence is a few coppers or silver in repairs and a trip back from the nearest waypoint. Tarsius is right that Guardians have lots of good, viable weapons choices at end-game – what really matters most is your play style, so the advice to try out as many weapons combos as possible while leveling up is a very good one IMHO. Good luck and happy hunting!

I’m currently 75 and have used GS/Scepter+Focus for most of the way. Around now, Staff is really starting to come into its own in big group play, but I keep the GS for its blind/AOE/multi-target damage ability. I’m starting to use Mace as well.

I used a version of this build, raising traits in Radiance first, then Honor, then Zeal. Having access to stringer, larger symbols + additional damage when you’re low on endurance, also Virtue of Justice is up quite often as well so use it as soon as something dies and it recharges for burning+vulnerability. Lots of other damage avoidance here – the trick is knowing when to pop GS 3 (blind), F3 (Aegis) and the variety of shouts available that give damage mitigation (Save Yourselves, Retreat, etc.).

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUIQJARWlYgiC33RFEgIFRuA7DAsSR8uH2DN6xPC-jgCBoNBiaAgcAKLqIasltht6KalXBRNjIqWZDzIuIa1iAYGD-e

My guildmate swears by this build, which he calls Zealous Symbols – lots of buffs to symbols, good for everything (solo PvE, fractals, dungeons, etc.) Mainly a GS/Staff with groups or even Hammer… I’m 73 and have re-specced for this build ans so far I’m really liking it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUIQJARWlYgKCHGyvDfIFRuA7DAsSR8uH2DN6xPC-jgCBoNBiaAgcAKLqIasltht6KalXBRNjIqWZDzIuIa1iAYGD-e

PS – as far as effectiveness, I can’t count the number of times this build has kept up and on its feet, even when we screwed up and almost wiped in fractals or dungeons, leaving the guardian to save our butts… I can vouch (as someone watching this build from the outside) that it’s great in party situations. Obviously can’t tell you how it does in end-game solo PvE yet, but sop far I’ve been able to do +2 or even +3 level story missions with this mainly due to the ability to do greater damage at low endurance + buffed symbols (which help me as well as parties I’m in).

darkace.8925:

Seetoo.9316:

There is just as much that can’t see past pve.

I don’t think there is. I think the PvE player recognize the desire PvP and WvW players have for stealth. The thing is they robbed Peter to pay Paul, and I think it’s pretty clear who’s Peter and who’s Paul in this situation.

As a PvE player, I agree with you – I CAN’T see it because I DON’T PLAY IT. ATM, from my perspective, it feels like my PvE play style has been somewhat nerfed by this change (particularly the decreased Vulnerability) so you could have Stealth (something that feels USELESS to me as a perma-might SB/LB constant-swap archer who relies on my pet for damage while I stand at range).

Seems like the earlier idea re: “allow Rangers to utilize stealth via Traits instead of as core skills” would be the best thing: that way, I can (hopefully) build a PvE character I like and YOU can build a WvW/PvP/Whatever character you like. You’ll not get much traction with long-time PvE MMO players though making a “I just want to feel more powerful in PVP!” argumement, seeing as how virtually EVERY MMO I’ve played in the last 8-10 years has been FUBARed on the PvE side by changes intended for the PvP crowd…

I’d like to add my support for MORE ACTUAL PERMANENT CONTENT and LESS MINIGAMES please!!! Honestly the minigames do not have the same “polished” feel as the core game (to me, anyway), I’ve spent hours and hours (and hours!) building my actual character’s skills and abilities, and I’d rather actually open up a new, permament area of the game than scramble to learn new rules and mechanics just to play Mario Cart or 8-bit Legend of Zelda or whatever game the devs fancy at the moment for a few weeks. Honestly, after playing almost all the minigames I usually abandon them and go back to exploring the world and leveling alts.

Not trying to be harsh, and I *do appreciate that you’re adding new stuff, A-net (really, I do!), but I agree with the earlier comments on there still being lots of permanent areas that could use more stuff/monsters/challenges/content. Thanks!

You guys are the best – thanks for the tip. That makes a lot more sense now…

JustTrogdor.7892:

Too add, when aiming the lightning pull at a target where it is some poles with rope around them (usually a point where two poles meet), try to center the target just above the knot on the rope. Often if you aim lower you bounce off and fall and if you aim higher you fly past and fall. It is a pretty small target area so take a few seconds to adjust aim. The spot just above the knot seemed to almost always work for me.

Awesome tip… thanks!!!