Guild Wars 2

Spartacus.3192:

Winning should be based on skill which is a combination of rotations/reactions and clever counter-play and not who gets the first hit in from stealth or range or whatever.

This is similar to my sentiment of the game post patch. The amount of burst damage the new patch introduced has made the first strike of a fight the deciding factor more often than not. Classes with teleport, range, or stealth hold the upper hand as they are able to deal burst damage all the while minimizing the risk of counterattack. Pre-patch this was countered by having high amounts of mobility and the ability to spec into a tankier build to absorb the initial barrages from burst classes.

However, the decrease in movement abilities has severely hampered the Warriors ability to stay within melee range. Having higher levels of toughness and vitality appear to be irrelevant due to the amount of damage output available to most classes.

Overall, I agree this is still very early into a new phase of the game. Specs are still being tested out. Personally, I used to run GS + S/Shield, but now I seem to be leaning towards using either rifle or longbow in order to keep my opponents engaged at all times.

Hopefully the Warrior community will keep developing new tactics and specs to counter these new challenges.

Option 2 seems to be the best damage/survive-ability balance. In a 1v1 bout you would take a long time to bring down. Damage may be a little low with hammer as your primary.