Guild Wars 2

Title.

Hey there,

Certain trait lines have become a cornerstone to playstyles or a meta build – be it in increasing survival or an alternate trait line in outputting damage.
As such, there is little diversity in such places as meta battle where or even taking on traits to have forcible synergy rather than a natural synergy or a freedom of choice rather than an illusion of choice in playstyle and not being able to compete in specific content.

Naturally, meta builds will occur but at current each class seems to have at least one line and/or set of utility skills that are nigh useless to use in any higher end play, let alone natural synergies with other lines or weapon skills.

I am a little bit of a generalist in playstyle, I jump from profession to profession when playing with a friend depending on what is needed at the time.
Thus, my in depth knowledge of the class(es) may be a little rough due to either experience first hand or theory crafting with it – some grace would be appreciated.

To demonstrate this point, I’ve picked out a few classes which rely on specific trait lines.
Please note, this is not a point to say please nerf x – rather that other lines should be able to complete with or have a skill similar that allows for more freedom of builds.

Ele: water magic
Water magic has become a staple of cleansing conditions, with its only challenger being Diamond skin from earth magic.
Both air and fire have little competition in such a focus of cleansing conditions – in turn, both become an absolute focus rather than have a little freedom for what they do and meshing into other builds.

Thief: trickery
Thief seems to be balanced around trickery yet the initiative given doesn’t support that.
Base initiative forces hand and gives little freedom, sided with both physical and condition damage buff placed within the line which could very easily fit into both critical strikes and deadly arts – both of which have been gutted of various traits in the past.

Engi: Alchemy
A trait line much like ele that forces ones line with a specific focus.
Boons and condition removal.
Inventions being the other support/defence line can do little to compete with Alchemy with its stagnant playstyle and few cleanses.

Each of these three examples quite easily show the issues of a trait line become a crutch.
Now, as spoken earlier- there are trait lines or utilities that are used far less that do make it into meta but are more than likely to be neglected to a lack of strength, synergy or completeness within the line itself.

What can be done?
Particularly referring to engi;

The engineer is an enigmatic class that can do many things well but nothing great.
This is the inverse with the utilizes- one or two perform head and shoulders above others.
Turrets make this quite apparent- with a very passive play style and little interaction with the world or other players apart from afk farming or using the healing turret, Sided with the inventions lines, there is little reason for using them over shield.

Perhaps applying the guardians rework of the spirit weapons to them, allowing for temporary appearance on the battlefield with greater kick – be it in damage or utility, both in skill bar and f keys would certainly give them a reason to use such a little used family.
The new ammo system would work very well in showing the sporadic and combustible nature of such Inventions within this utility family and in turn buff the lesser used line of Inventions.

Another example is that of the guardians consecrations.

In my 5 years of playing on and off, I think I may have used them once or twice.
Thematically they suit the guardian but they have little play aside from 5-7 guardians in wvw armed with staves blocking passage of an invading force…this happened to a friend of mine – something like 5 vs 30 and the 5 couldn’t be shaken…
Rare occurance aside, they do play a roll into the natural role of the Guardian.
Consecrate an area for the betterment of allies or the damage of foes.
Such a way could occur giving small buffs, bonuses or boons to those who stay within the consecrated area surrounding the guardian – on activation, target an area to consecrate it doing x, y or z.
Trait wise, it would stay the same with the addition of keeping passive buffs on cooldown.
Sided with a consecration in the heal and elite skill and there is now a utility family which is no longer neglected or at least has a greater role than what it had previously.

Please contribute your thoughts on how lesser used trait lines or utility skills could be improved and what could be done to bring them up to par with other lines, or to even share a burden to become a hybrid of cc, condi cleanse, damage etc etc.

Thank you for reading,

-Phyrak

Amante.8109:

There a lot of things that could be done, with literally everyone suggesting for YEARS that Preparedness should be baseline. Unfortunately, all the good suggestions in the world don’t matter if they aren’t being listened to.

We need to find a way to get the attention of the devs

Thank you for your feedback

Title.

Hey there,

I more or less a lurker but do post every so often.
Thus, this post of improving how thief plays.

As was mentioned in a previous post, preparedness should be made baseline (and perhaps kleptomaniac too depending on balance)

The 15% additional raw/condi damage of trickery makes it the go to over DA or CS, let alone leaving SA in the dust.

Perhaps as a way to amend this:

DA – upon inflicting a condition from a skill that uses initiative, conditions do 15% more damage for x seconds.

CS – something along the same lines but based on raw damage to scale with the power builds that use it.

The issue of shadow arts.
Shadow arts needs a little more oomph to be taken, perhaps along the lines of the elementalists water magic.
- above 90% hp gain x% damage
- attacks from stealth deal y% more damage
- increases duration of stealth by 66% (now 5 seconds)

These as minor traits would make it a more competitive trait line and give a reason to use it.

Taking preparedness and kleptomaniac out of trickery sort of reduces the need for it – perhaps the addition of addings boons to boons; think of an ace up the sleeves
- on gaining one boon, gain another that is similar
Ie. Gain might, gain additional fury – as both are combat boons
This along with a 2-3% damage buff per boon would allow boon thieves to continue to play as they do with an added buff to boons whilst losing preparedness and kleptomaniac.

Finally, acrobatics
A traitline the needs a bit of meat to it.

Perhaps minor additions to either crit or raw damage when effected by swiftness or vigor and a greater effect when both boons are used at once

This would play into the hyper agile aggressive play of an acrobatic thief along.

Anyhow, these are just some reflections on my past few weeks of playing and digging through the forums

All numbers are up in the air for the ideals of balance,
Suggestions are welcome

Thank you for reading,

-Phyrak

Edit:
These changes could be considered additions to minors or completely new traits depending on how they are balanced – e.g. stealth on steal is still in SA and now gains one of the three suggestions as well

Sorry if it is a little hard to read, I’ve had a long week and my brain is every which way

Probably one of the few who enjoys camping ele

This suggestion is brilliant for doing such a thing!

Title.

Hey there,

I’m a bit of a lurker and rarely post but news of the expac has got me back.

With coming back, digging into the classes and getting to know the weapons/traits associated again got me thinking.

What weapons need a new identity or some strengthening or focus to what they do?

For one, particularly with the recent 1 range nerf – Guardian staff needs an entire rework.

Perhaps taking 1-5 skills from DnD war cleric spells

What are your thoughts on such things?

Are there any weapons you would redesign?
If so, how would you reshape their workings?

Thank you for reading,

-Phyrak

My hopes are for that of a shape shifter style elite spec

Using scepter as weapon

F5 to shift – F1 to switch between 2 forms
1-5 change to suit beast and gain traits from normal traits

Boons and such are now just doubled up onto the player character

Anyhow, they’re my hopes

They should work like rev/herald signets to share out and strengthen those around – that’d see them get far greater play

Kaffeglass.5371:

Well SA should be working well with D/D imo.. They just have to adjust SA before D/D can be viable.

D/D is much harder to play, therefor stealth with D/D should be longer.

My link in the post above yours gives dd some tweaking to strengthen the chance of getting the backstab

Imo, weapons with thief are a bit more fluid and in turn need additional traits with them – ie. One condi and one power for dagger; of which would be attached to another trait which matches it perfectly or as much as it can

Ie. Power dagger would go with hidden killer or side strikes to boost the damage on backstab

Where as condi would combine leech venoms and dagger training

Thus giving greater option to how to play your daggers, especially with it being a hybrid weapon

Could this fix or help D/D somewhat?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Mirrored-weapons-thief-passive/first#post6244731

A solution perhaps?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Mirrored-weapons-thief-passive/first#post6244731

Someone who loves camping here;

Let us camp like in gw1…

PopeUrban.2578:

A better buff for d/d would be either increased end regen or a built in blind proc (similar to guardian’s passive block)

DD lacks mobility / survivability compared to other dagger sets. Daredevil creates a decent option for conditions, but power D/D doesn’t really need more stealth or damage. Adding some extra END or blind to either set would increase potency without being broken. Honestly though, I prefer the blind.

Blind should be baselined with cnd as to stop a hit going out once steath is aquired
Dd’s main problem is landing cnd on moving targets in wvw/pvp
As stated above, dp with always outshine dd in all regards
If more stealth were to be had with modifiers that are based around doing greater damage from stealth/also making it easier to get into stealth for the power based burst weapon that is main hand dagger

This would put dd on par with dp – especially considering all the reveal that was introduced

Ario.8964:

I think the idea is really cool because then it makes you have to choose if you want the buffed set or if you still think something like p/d or d/p would be a better option.

I would like to address something really quick:
Your suggested d/d buff would be ridiculous as you’d essentially be giving perma stealth to any d/d thief without having there be an animation for it. That imo would make d/d completely overpowered as it’d be the whole issue fighting the dueling d/p meta only without the bp field to give you a clue where the opponent is.

What I would suggest over the free stealth is allow CnD to blind on a successful hit and increase the hit range for the skill so it’s more reliable for d/d burst to use.

I think Lord has the right idea with p/p buff so I’ll leave that as it is.

Increase range can only do so much imo
Compared to the increase in aoe and reveal since hot was released, dd needs a way to get into combat undetected to do the critical damage needed to take out a foe

The blind should be a baseline to allow for greater movement/damage avoidance as dp seems to always be a better option compared to dd – especially when paired with daredevil

TheLordQ.1857:

Hmmm, for P/P, let’s see….

I know!

+150 range.
50% chance each bullet bounces

Still want this back!

That would actually work really well considering that the trait was lost with the update
This would not only bring it back, but potentially bring it back stronger?

Hey there,

Thief is a unique class in the way it functions in relation to the action keys and mobility/burst potential

I was looking through the forums and wiki and came across something that may give thief some added interest

The ranger’s honed axe trait changes the skill winters bite from a single target to an aoe skill – this got me thinking, what if whilst playing paired weapons – dd/pp/ss when it comes around along with other weapons – such a buff could be applied?

Now, why passively instead of traits?
Passively allows for a more even distribution of balance compared to applying it to a trait tree – kinda how you would see an ele in water passively gaining hp back and being able to see that they are in water
If using dd – dd would be displayed and whatever buffs applied whilst wielding dd would be shown whilst hovering over the buff

The current mirrored weapons we have are dagger and pistol – I’m don’t play enough pp to have a good idea as to how one would give a passive buff to someone using pp but I’ll have a shot at dd

Dagger; whilst wielding two daggers, cloak and dagger no longer need to hit a target to gain cloak/cost is also reduced by x

Due to now being stuck with one pair of weapons, one may argue that a buff to using them for an extended period of time could also help – ie. Same thing with ele turned tempest – spend x time in the element, now click the skill again to deal greater damage
Higher back stab damage?
Unload – when you crit, your next crit will deal x% more damage

Etc

Anyhow, these are just some thoughts that I think there could be some good discussion on.

Thank you for reading,

-Phyrak

Onlysaneman.9612:

Personally, I used to quite like banners before the trait change, but then they took away the CD reduction and ability to increase the radius- and that 600 radius feels incredibly restricting when tied to a stationary object. I’d be happy just getting those options back.

That said, a banner rework would be fantastic, and would need to do one of three things, as it seems the multiple posts here can be divided into.
1) Reduce banner CD and duration, give them some notable on-summon effect.
2) Make banners easier to carry, such as just putting them on our backs and/or giving them a signet or facet style passive/active buff.
3) Make wielding a banner worthwhile, like the better engineer kits, so that you get some proper benefit out of carrying the things around.

Banners are excellent for instanced PvE, and a part of the reason- so far as I’m aware- many groups bring a warrior along, but they’re still tremendously dull and clunky for any other mode. It’s a real shame, because the skill type has such potential. Just look at some of those WvW loading screens!

Option 1/2 in combination would be the way to go imo

A non combat/hit cnd to allow for stealth without being so close would do it well imo

Let it have blind and vuln but shift the damage to backstab

Let death blossom be a mix of port and evade

So Fuzzy Pop.1384:

Phyrak.7260:

bearshaman.3421:

The quickdraw is used with bonfire. I will sometimes run this with a warhorn to use Call of the Wild for more boons, and if switched to right after using Bonfire, the blast finisher gives me an additional 3 might. CA #4 with GotL trait adds to dps, or you can use Ancient Seeds with anything that procs it for more Condi. If you feel too squishy I recommend Celestial trinkets (especially if you haven’t done the achievements to unlock the Sinister ascended trinkets) and that will boost your heals too. Heal skill is interchangeable depending on situation, and if your target is stationary, Sun Spirit is probably a better choice over Spike trap.

Interesting mix

And of raw power?

I’ve seen a few builds rocking around in maguuma with raw power

How do they fair?

I use this power build, it works well for me, especially for breakbars.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vNUQJATWnUqAlsiVsCGsAUtgl/ADet+WvrLvuMQA4pC0tGelI9xA-TRSBQBA4JAEQ1dIy+DOwE0DuEA5TXQCVJICKBviyvAAIA38mZzbGIjGqzjuzjGA-e

Looks like you can push some decent dps

Good stuff here

Wouldn’t mind giving stances some love too
They need a heap more interactions than just one button click every 40 ish seconds

Turamarth.3248:

Instead of buffing everything else and thereby introducing even more powercreep to the game I would rather see nerfs to currently overperforming skills/traits/weapons.
Obviously along with nerfs to other classes.

Anyway in my opinion the biggest discrepancy is between our weaponsets.
Compared with d/p nowadays x/d builds have an even harder time gaining stealth with all those blocks flying around. Adding the high damage and the nice gap closer/blind through shadow shot there is little reason to use another weapon for a stealth based build.
Making it harder for d/p to gain stealth or making it easier for x/d would increase diversity the most imo.

One thing I wouldn’t mind is if they gave offhand dagger an on use invisibility rather than on hit

It still needs a way to catch up to foes but considering that invis is your engage/disengage tool – on use would make it far more useful

Tis just one thought as to bring it up to par
Maybe bring the int cost down by 1 point too

Am a bit left of field here

I’m hoping a little they make camping more viable somehow…

If camping was made viable – many a build would come
4 elements + tempest
Tempest is as close to camping as you can get whilst still having to switch elements regularly imo

But hey, I enjoy playing non meta XD

Anchoku.8142:

This is what I use for solo roaming HoT.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQJARWnMbCtbidbCW2A0biFcBjKN0G+CxVxuYYEqNFAaBA-TBSBABBcBAoZ/BKV/BgnAgZKBvS5He6Cy4QAIIABB-e

If I am in a group, then I switch out Spite for Blood Magic and use Transfusion and other healing skills. For zerging in HoT, I will also swap Berserker’s equipment for Cleric’s and focus on tagging and healing. In either case, I try to maximize the amount of time I am in Shroud.

Signet of the Locust can change to another shout or to Signet of Spite during escort events where there is plenty of swiftness and NPCs proceed slowly.

p.s.
Axe can be used in place of staff when roaming solo or with 1-2 others, as long as vulnerability does not cap and you do not need staff’s utility. HoT mobs can have boons so Unholy Feast is not completely awful. Trait axe and focus, of course, and switch Soul Marks to Speed of Shadows.

So, recommending anything with a bit of power?

Time to fiddle with the build again :P

Very much appreciated

Justine.6351:

This was my take on it before hot, but it was for warrior,

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/cavalier/first#post6116441

Very interesting

Adrenal skills mixing with mounts would be fun

OGDeadHead.8326:

I can see it work by “absorbing into the pet” like you said, rather than mounting it. Question is – should it be a spiritual thing, meaning the ranger leaves his physical body behind? Could open up for a few interesting tactical mechanics where you could jump between the ranger and their pet – leave the ranger on point while running off with the pet to attack ppl…

The spiritual aspect would make it much easier to control rather than leaving the pc to take a hit

Absorbing and controling would give additional aspects to play but again, tis just an idea on making rangers a more animal-esque style

Hey there,

I’ve been playing around in the HoT maps and my condi doesn’t seem to be pushing damage

Any recommendations?

Am currently running exotic rabid gear
Am cheap/don’t play enough to get exotic

I’ve just unlocked the first keystone of reaper

Much appreciated

-Phyrak

Dadnir.5038:

The major issue of a mount espec would be… graphical issues. I can imagine an asura mounting any ranger pet, at most I can imagine human and sylvari also doing it but by no mean can I imagine charr and norn doing it.

Hence the f5

Absorbing directing into the beast and taking direct control over it
Again, choice of the player to do so – but who wouldn’t want to directly control a wyvern or dire wolf?

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Honestly? I’m against it. Not because of you or your well-thought ideas, but because it reminds me of Black Desert Online’s summoner who does a lot of what you describe.

And I want no reminders of that mess of an MMO.

Never played black desert but heard a bit about it

How so does the summoner work like this E-spec idea?

OneHitWonder.5741:

well we can make the pets bigger already with our signet as far as i know… having bigger pets and being able to mount them with f5 would be awesome

Once the first keystone of the spec is aquired, you will be automatically mounted

F5 allows for the player to take direct control over the pet and absorb into the beast likened to wow druids

Hey there,

Though mounts may never be a thing like with other mmo’s, I was thinking that perhaps ranger could get one as an e spec specifically

This could resolve the issues of people wanting a pure ranger mode by playing that of a mounted archer or mounted skirmisher

On the contrary, this could also be a way for the ranger to directly take control over the pet – ie. Wow esque druid and have the two become one with the f5 key

As for weapons, staff one again but now used as a spear/lance, rifle or pistol or even focus to have the nature/shape shifter aspects of the e spec

F keys;
The f keys would remain more or less the same whilst mount; rather, f1 would be an offensive ability, f2 defensive and f3 utility – f4 would still allow for a mount swap
Depending on mount, as the player is using weapons to attack, the creature itself would be autamatically attacking any foes in range or at range or both depending on mount
Eg.
-Dire wolf – melee
-Bristleback – range
-Wyvern – both

F5;
The f1-3 keys are skills already associated with the pet type or altered due to having a larger/more mature beast

Due to ease of being both ranged and melee, let’s use the fire wyvern for use of f5

The character absorbs into the wyvern and the dragon now gains visual aspects of the riders race – Norn gives tattoos etc

Auto attack is fire ball likened to ele staff 1 at ranges w50+ – at ranges below 250, auto will be a bite

2 will be an aoe burn – will be x% largee whilst in the air (f1)

3 will be a knockdown/launch as a wind gust (f2)

4 will be a leap blasting the area in fire (f3) – whilst in the air, extends 5 by x% but removes the aoe damage + leap

5 will be a pseudo flight allowing for a short time of actual flight – boosted duration by 4 + traits associated, also allows for greater use of 2

This is more or less a rough idea of how a mounted/aspected ranger would function considering the E-specs or at least theoretically XD

What do you think of a mounted class for ranger?

Would you like to take direct control over your pets akin to that of how druids in wow and other games can shapeshift?

What weapons/utilities would be appropriate for such an E-spec?

Would you play this sort of E-spec wherein you can be the beast? Ie. Hunt like a jaguar/ burn an area like a wyvern

This is all theoretical discussion on the potentials of a mounted spec with no actual mounts in game, rather having the mount itself being an extension of the pet mechanic associated with rangers and taking it to a larger step in the way it operates, please let there be some good discussion

The idea that got this sparked in my mind was that of the worms in gw1 with a mix of the gliders from HoT and how the pet interacts with the ranger and thought it would make for an interesting E-spec

Thank you for reading,

-Phyrak

Hey there,

As I’ve been replaying gw2 after some time away and leveling up my E specs and masteries, I found some of the core classes and their utilites lacking – both in down time and actual interaction with the skills

Playing my warrior has led me to believe that both stances and banners are in need of some sort of interaction rather than one click every so often or throwing banner in place x until foe is defeated

My guardian/dragon hunter is in much the same positions with consecrations of which I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone run

As for my ele, I play rather off the beaten track and enjoy camping rather contrary to the modern ele compared to that of gw1
Both glyphs and conjures need some meat to the bone due to the few charges + time ticking whence summons

So, with the time between release of HoT – what do you think of the core classes?

Is there power creep between core and E-specs which needs to be adressed?

Do you find any utilites lacking?
If so, how would you change said utility?

Do you hold any hopes for the next big update for new utility skills and balances of both core classes and E-specs?

Thank you for reading,

-Phyrak

(could camping be made viable like it was way back in gw1…the hopes and dreams XD
Maybe give some skills specific for camping or perhaps stat buffs too?)

Justine.6351:

That will just introduce a new problem;

3 two-handed ranged weapons,
2 one-handed melee weapons,
0 one-handed ranged weapons.

Improving mainhand axe in some way while the targeted foe is in melee range would help some. But axe AA is already fairly stacked.

Shortbow…it is not horrible, but what it has to compete AND compliment with makes it a tough pill to swallow. The obvious ideal condi build would utilize SB, axe/torch. The problem is all your survivability you have to find else where. So maybe that works for pve. But against other players…sword/dagger/axe/torch are the condi based weapons because sword and dagger also bring evades and allow there to be a mixed customized skill arrangement.

They cannot buff shortbow enough, without it becoming an absolute monster, to give it a defining role. It needs something new/wild/outside the box. Bouncing arrows is not it.

S’all good

Am kinda new to ranger and saw the discussion and wanted to metre the community on it

Also, warrior doesn’t have any one handed range either…unless you count a thrown sword

There are also E-specs which could introduce scepter or pistol into ranger to fill that niche too

Hey there,

I was reading through the forums and came across an interesting idea

Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of the user who put this idea onto the forum but I thought it was a decent one

The tweak is such;
Axe now becomes a melee weapon

Short bow now inherits the bounce between foes like the axe does or thief short bow

Again, not my idea
Just something I read on the forums and thought it may get some good discussion out of it

Thank you for reading,

-Phyrak

bearshaman.3421:

The quickdraw is used with bonfire. I will sometimes run this with a warhorn to use Call of the Wild for more boons, and if switched to right after using Bonfire, the blast finisher gives me an additional 3 might. CA #4 with GotL trait adds to dps, or you can use Ancient Seeds with anything that procs it for more Condi. If you feel too squishy I recommend Celestial trinkets (especially if you haven’t done the achievements to unlock the Sinister ascended trinkets) and that will boost your heals too. Heal skill is interchangeable depending on situation, and if your target is stationary, Sun Spirit is probably a better choice over Spike trap.

Interesting mix

And of raw power?

I’ve seen a few builds rocking around in maguuma with raw power

How do they fair?

Heimdallr.7021:

I wonder if anyone at Anet read this forums, lots of good ideas to make banners more useful and fun to slot.

Same here
One real hope is for them to become akin to the heralds signets – with the hope of eternal banners as a trait, they may be put into an interesting spot as to become a more useful raid or meta item

A question for you – how would you find it if per banner equipped gain adrenaline every strike with banner # as CD?

emkelly.2371:

(Copied Warrior Redone with a little added clarification in bold)

All banners now have the same skills regardless of the banner. Where as before banners were intractable they are now summoned to your hand. When dropped they cannot be interacted with but will continue to provide their boons for the remainder of their duration. Summoning another banner drops your current banner. The idea is that when wielded banners are no longer useless but are viable weapons.

Trait
Inspiring Battle Standard
Banners deal damage when summoned and grant regeneration to allies. Reduce cool-down on Banners.
Cool-down reduced: 20%
Area: 300-400
Damage: 400(2.0)
Regeneration(3s)
Interval: 3s
Stab
Stab your foe.
Damage: 465 (2.0)
Range: 130
Attack speed: 1/2

Rally
Push back nearby foes and break out of stun.
Damage: 400 (2.0)
Radius 150
Knock Back: 180
Breaks Stun

Inspire
Inspire allies granting allies might, Swiftness and Stability.
2 Might: 5s
Swiftness: 10s
2 Stability: 5s
Range: 800

Into the Fray
Leap towards your target, taunting enemies around you.
Damage: 400 (2.0)
Taunt: 5s
Number of Targets: 5
Combo Finisher: Leap
Range: 600
Radius: 300
Cooldown on target: 30s

Plant Standard
Slam your banner into the ground with great force damaging and dazing enemies nearby.
Damage: 465(2.0)
Combo Finisher: Blast
Daze: 1s
Radius: 300

The damage upping and various minor tweaks but they would still probably be left to the side due to the passive and skill based upon banner being bound to keys rather than one being passive whilst being placed on back and the other allowing for combos to take place whilst not messing with current weapon and their given place onna build

I appreciate what you’ve done, but in the way banners work – an item of displaying prestige or strengh are rarely used for actual combat itself

bearshaman.3421:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vNIQJA3fnMqoUhKW1sY5KSWwZFzKQ1irFLGCGTAY01Agzqj10aTHIY1CSRKI79XA-TxSAQBJU9n8pBJAHUhes/A2U6BgHUQ00JANTQsQDx0UCGSlBBAQAYiTciTciBA-e

Try something along those lines. I run something similar and I never have issues running around solo in HoT maps.

Very much appreciated

Azure.8670:

Actually I think banners and their style are perfect. What needs to be changed is what happens when you pick them up. They should have an f1 attached to them that is extremely powerful but will break the banner. They also need to give each banner something somewhat devastating like icebow 4, it doesn’t have to be dps, but something like an aoe fear or taunt etc. There needs to be reason to want to hold that banner

Holding the banner itself is restrictive unless they were to make them akin to engi kits without time limit and some decent scaling

Not to mention have some additional internal snd external synergy with traits because atm, they don’t have very much and their playstyle is incredibly passive

Ross Biddle.2367:

Give banners a 20s CD (20s duration)

Keep them all blast finishers.

Make them all deal damage on summon (small radius, moderate damage)

Give them each a field (so you can create synergy taking two, but you can only blast the first off the second).

There, plenty more interesting, not a lot needed to change to make it happen.

This could be interesting if mixed with Henry’s idea below your comment

Henry.5713:

They could rework the way banners are being carried. Only allow warriors to pick them up and then place them on their backs.
Warriors could then gain a few new abilities (F2, F3, etc) on top of the banner passives.
Would like to see offensive/defensive party buffs or boons depending on which banner you are using.

I dig it – just no duration to the banner itself much like engi’s kits

Anything other than what we have now

Personally, I would love if they gave a little for those who enjoy the camping side of things…but then again I don’t like playing meta XD

As it stands, we rely a lot just to survive – much like engi’s one has to be a pianist at times to get off a nigh perfect rotation (i’ve played both kit engi and dancer ele but again, off the beaten path is what I enjoy)

Imo, damage, healing and cc/suppression needs to be spread out a little
Yes, various elements.can still outdo each other on certain aspects but the problem therein lies with the cookie cutter builds and the fact it is nigh all the same trait lines and weapons

Let earth actually have some decent bleed procs or a mix of tormet for the so called DoT tree which is easily outdone by the burns of fire and let it be able to become a group support with protection or stability

Give water a shot to do some damage likened to gw1, let it have some hard or soft cc to compete differently rather than just being the heal + bit of damage buff tree

Anyhow, they’re my probably unattainable hopes…

Zagerus.8675:

I like how banners are in their current forms. Out of all of the MMO’s that I’ve played, banners in Guild Wars 2 are pretty unique among most heavy physical professions. I could see some adjustments being made to make them easier to use mechanically, like how you’ve suggested carrying them around on our backs, but as for the static buffs I don’t know if I’d change those much.

An activation mechanic would be interesting for smaller combat scenarios, but in Raid scenarios for example the active would probably never be touched until the banner is about to expire. You would want the static buff to be up as long as possible because the length of the fight would prefer that you keep the sustained buff over the active one.

As for the wielded skills I actually quite like those as well. Inspire is beautiful for in-between moments, and the unique slot 2 skill can be a decent compliment to open the next fight with.*

Mechanically unique yes, useful aside for just placing down….no

Pulsing stat buffs and boons sided with the activation will allow for actual play to be had with banners rather than a use once object

All I ever use when someone drops a banner and I pick it up is the charge ability which can be outshined by plenty of others for travel and entrance to combat
With the changes in mind, not only would stat buffs and boons be kept and shared – there would be a change of playstyle when you equip them too

Caedmon.6798:

Banners need to act like the pulsing boons from rev to make them viable.

Pretty much this
Both the minor buffs gained need some tweaking to get some larger buff gains – then have the actibations do something dramatic

Zsymon.8457:

You can’t trait for banners to have a lower CD. The only thing the banner trait does is add the regeneration boon.

Your idea would definitely be an improvement. My own suggestion would be to simply improve all current aspects of the banners. When you pick up a banner it should be useful for solo play, giving you powerful offensive and defensive active skills.. and when you plant the banner, it needs to give more stats and more boons.

In turn I would reduce the length each banner is active, from 60 seconds to 30 seconds. A strong 30 second boost is better than a really weak 60 second one.

The lack of CD is a key issue imo

To have them like rev signets would be the best way to explain it as the below poster has said which I think is a pretty good way to put it

Hey there,

Am leveling up my ranger and am wondering sorta build would be a good beginning for PvE solo in HoT maps/ a little WvW here and there? (20 levels to go til 80 and am spamming map completion)

My playstyle is rather aggressive and up in the face – though, am not great with my dodging

I prefer higher sustain to keep the attack

My thoughts are that of druid to help with self sustain + pet healing for additional dps + beast mastery to improve pet survival and dps

What else could I go where in I and my pet have decent shared damage and sustain?

Thank you for reading,

-Phyrak

Hey there,

After recently maxing my warrior and taking him to fight the hippy dragon, I was toying around with the skills and found banners lacking somewhat

In their playstyle, they are even more passive then that of signets – ie. Activating a signet grants 100 precision + whatever buffs came along with and put it onto a reasonable to short CD

Banners on the other hand are placed down for the passive buff and left there – then have a 2 minute CD per banner/a little less when traited…

My thoughts are that they need a more interactive playstyle and to actually have them ‘on display’
There will also be a massive to change to how the trait is now applied – eternal banners; banners no longer need to regenerate on use, also grant 5-15% (balance) boon duration for each in skill bar

The changes I wish to see if they were ever to occurr;

Behave like signets:
Now, considering the above, it may sound odd that I say that they should behave like signets but it would make them far more useful.
Ie. Banners will no longer be held as objects, rather are stuck to your characters back giving minor buffs to you and those around you – activating a banner will now give out additional boons, debuff foes or even cc in an area

With this in mind, lets looks at the banner which should belong to the healing slot – banner of tactics

Currently: place a banner doing boosting healing power + boon duration – lasts 90 seconds for 120 second CD

With tweaks: increases healing power + periodically apply regeneration to you and surrounding allies

On activation: release a blast of energy stored within the banner, consuming it in the process – allies are healed, foes are knocked down for .5-1.5 (balance) seconds

The tweaks of the above would be much the same as that – production of boons/stat buffs with some way of greater interaction with both friend and foe on the field

Do you believe banners needs tweaks/why do you think they do or don’t need them?

Would you use banners more often rather than just for group content if they were changed with the above tweaks?

How do you find current banners and their playstyle in comparison to the above tweaks?

Thank you for reading,

-Phyrak

Lilly Satou.1482:

I’ve always wanted a death themed rifle on necro. It would be the long range damage that we have been asking for while also giving the forgotten rifle some love.

I wrote up a partial concept for a rifle e spec if you wanna check it out
:P

bearshaman.3421:

I think this would be an interesting possibility at least thematically. especially if this came with a crossbow skin for the rifle. I like the idea of gadgets for this, though I’m confused by what you mean with the top/middle/bottom/passive part.

Crossbow sounds rad

Top/middle/bottom are refering to the trait tree
Passive are the ones that are given automatically when you select teirs of the tree

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

Phyrak.7260:

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

Phyrak.7260:

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

I think I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve suggested sword changes in guardian threads. The devs simply seem to overlook it completely, despite years worth of suggestions and complaints about the sword’s performance in the community.

Compared to sword skills on other classes, it’s easy to see where the guardian sword is lacking. It’s damage is mediocre at best, and it offers very little utility to make up for it. If you were to compare it to Revenant sword skills for example, it loses on both fronts.

The problem therein is that no matter what I can think of to suggest for sword improvements, I simply feel far too pessimistic regarding any chance of such feedback being even heeded by the devs, much less acted upon, to even bother anymore.

One may hope to summon Gaile and get to her get some discussion with the class devs about moving community opinion of the variety of weapons per class that need to be buffed to par with the HoT power creep

The sad part is while other classes are enjoying power creep, the guardian continues to be nerfed into an ever-increasingly dire state. We have mediocre performance from both a damage and support point of view, and our sword skills are really just the cherry on top of the salt laden cake, so to speak.

I feel sad as someone who has been a guardian main for this long.

Its fine really…if you play this really really really specific build and min max it /s

Still needs a buff or a skill swap with focus
That and give spirit weapons a purpose – engi style kit imo
Give signets a perma effect and buff similar to ele

Sided with bug fixes and baselining bits and pieces and we’re hopefully on par with the power creep

I don’t think it’s really fine at all. I can’t think of any kind of build that a guardian can focus on that another class cannot do better. The only remotely unique support mechanic we have going for us is aegis, and even then it doesn’t really perform well enough to build around without sacrificing too much performance in other areas.

I wouldn’t say guardians are terrible to the point of being unusable, but they’re certainly not up to par.

They’re still very much in need of a buff though, or at least some parts are…

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

Phyrak.7260:

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

I think I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve suggested sword changes in guardian threads. The devs simply seem to overlook it completely, despite years worth of suggestions and complaints about the sword’s performance in the community.

Compared to sword skills on other classes, it’s easy to see where the guardian sword is lacking. It’s damage is mediocre at best, and it offers very little utility to make up for it. If you were to compare it to Revenant sword skills for example, it loses on both fronts.

The problem therein is that no matter what I can think of to suggest for sword improvements, I simply feel far too pessimistic regarding any chance of such feedback being even heeded by the devs, much less acted upon, to even bother anymore.

One may hope to summon Gaile and get to her get some discussion with the class devs about moving community opinion of the variety of weapons per class that need to be buffed to par with the HoT power creep

The sad part is while other classes are enjoying power creep, the guardian continues to be nerfed into an ever-increasingly dire state. We have mediocre performance from both a damage and support point of view, and our sword skills are really just the cherry on top of the salt laden cake, so to speak.

I feel sad as someone who has been a guardian main for this long.

Its fine really…if you play this really really really specific build and min max it /s

Still needs a buff or a skill swap with focus
That and give spirit weapons a purpose – engi style kit imo
Give signets a perma effect and buff similar to ele

Sided with bug fixes and baselining bits and pieces and we’re hopefully on par with the power creep

Arcaedus.7290:

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

I think I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve suggested sword changes in guardian threads. The devs simply seem to overlook it completely, despite years worth of suggestions and complaints about the sword’s performance in the community.

Compared to sword skills on other classes, it’s easy to see where the guardian sword is lacking. It’s damage is mediocre at best, and it offers very little utility to make up for it. If you were to compare it to Revenant sword skills for example, it loses on both fronts.

The problem therein is that no matter what I can think of to suggest for sword improvements, I simply feel far too pessimistic regarding any chance of such feedback being even heeded by the devs, much less acted upon, to even bother anymore.

Could not have said it better myself. I’m glad more people like Phyrak are joining the fixguardiansword movement here. It just goes to show that nearly everyone who makes these suggestions for guardian sword realizes it is an underwhelming weapon and needs either fixes or added functionality to bring it back in line with the weapon skills of other classes.

P.S. Phyrak, I think bleeds/cripple on sword auto chain (as cover condis) are a great idea, and if a symbol was added to sword 2 and sword 3 was mobile, then sword would be a much better burn applier!

Cheers
It needs to be a harrier-esque style weapon to persue foes
Combined with a symbol on 2 would give more synergy with other trait lines – symbol of burning light (new 2) port to foe, blinding and burning within area x – pulses cripple/torment (whatever is balanced)