Guild Wars 2

Neither.

Grown Boys DHs run with berserker amulet on meditrapper or symbolic build.

Preferably Meditrapper.

EDIT: Could be marauder’s on meditrapper tho. Or mender’s on symbolic, if you’re feeling sissy.

I feel like Firebrand has too many new things that don’t work together and has nothing that works with what we had before. What we are left with is a weird gameplay with which we don’t know what we are supposed to do. Are we supposed to be frontliners doing damage? I mean, axe is melee and is purely condi (and disrupt, if you trait for it) but i guess we don’t have the survivability and our tomes are too slow to allow us to quickly react to real close combat situations.

Then i guess we are supposed to play support, right? But we don’t have any real big heals or anything and the little ones we have are on our F2 tome which has a huge cd. What if people realize that we are healing and start targeting us? We change to F3, right? But before i can finish casting anything i am dead because there is no instant survivability skill. I mean, what is the point of making F3 a stunbreaker with virtues if i can’t dodge after i use it because i need to wait for the tome to finish casting? People usually burst after they cc, you know? Am i supposed to rely on my team to watch my back constantly so i can give them the little support my F2 has?

I guess that what we are left is a power build, right? But hey, isn’t Dragonhunter much much better at that?

Nothing synergizes well on firebrand, the weapon doesn’t make sense. It would be better off if we gained dual axes and the offhand axe actually had some support/defensive skill. Or you know, tomes had some changes. But i won’t get into those since everybody already made some pretty good suggestions.

*quits reaper because doesnt like the symbol

jk

or not

This really is an issue.

And i have no idea on how to fix it. The amount of rework that would take is absurd. Practically redo all the elite specs and even some of the basic ones.

Dude, Shield is pretty much meta.

Shield of Judgement synergizes really well with almost every trait line, giving it a knockback would make it way too strong. You could easily chain Sw #3 or other combos with an extra CC like that. I like how the skill affects a cone in front of you, makes it easier to land and tbh, i dont really think it does kittenty damage, it actually hits considerably well, considering it is meant to be a defensive skill. I’ve finished off quite a few people with it.

Tbh it really triggers me how once you hit plat 2 or so you start fighting top legendary players. Is the difference THAT slim that it doesn’t matter? Or is it just straigth up the lack of players? Don’t get me started on the amount of rating lost if you lose such matches.

EDIT: I mean, i get that there might not be enough people to set up better match ups but shouldn’t the rating lost/gained on those kind of matches reflect the match up?

Isnt this thread like 2 years late?

I like it, except that the arena is full of bugs where people can shoot from upstairs and that stupid LoS bug on the little stairs in the middle.

EDIT: Why nobody is complaining about that?

It seems solid, Saiyan, ill give it a go.

Although i don’t think it can compete with current Meditrapper build, considering both have kinda the same function. Giving up Honor for a Symbol build can be a little brutal for the performance.

If you wanna really try something different try giving up those meditations and going for Zeal Honor and DH with Menders. You’ll find that your Blocks can be quite powerfull with Shattered Aegis, Pure of Heart and Hunter’s Fortification. You can even take Wrathful Spirit if you want to make the most out of your blocks. I actually run that for unrankeds sometimes and its quite an amuzing build.

Pls dont say you get salty over p/p thief and that you are top 250. Its just offensive to at least 249 people, or should be. Only class that can be cheesy at a high rank is druid.

EDIT: And maybe engi

Greatsword has better aoe burst, thats pretty much it. Idk about the sustained dps during long fights since the patch but my money is still on sword, saddly.

mrauls.6519:

Sorem.9157:

Well at least we didn’t get kitten on I’m happy to see that arenanet is concerned about greatsword, even though i think those buffs still wont make it viable on pvp.

I’ve always thought the role of GS should be to burst down 1-2 targets (in PvP) by about 30-50% of their HP depending upon how well you use it. I’m hoping it does just that now.

Why don’t you think it will be viable? What should be changed?
-I already think that GS #2 needs to lose its movement speed penalty!

Even though now it fits that ‘’dish out a lot of damage fast’’ concept it is still a VERY slow weapon that feels clunky.

I’d be much happier to see Greatsword being swifter than hitting harder. Changes such as SoW not rooting you during cast, removing the loss of movespeed from WW, making leap of faith faster and more reliable, reducing the cast time or increasing the projectile speed of BB would be MUCH more welcome than some damage modifiers and cooldown reductions.

When we are looking at PvP, Greatsword doesn’t lose to Sword just because it does less damage and keeps you from using a defensive offhand, but because you can easily avoid its burst.

Well at least we didn’t get kitten on I’m happy to see that arenanet is concerned about greatsword, even though i think those buffs still wont make it viable on pvp.

Ofkittenany of wrath and receive the light still wont be used despite the purification nerf.

Deflecting Shot qol improve is great, it was seriously annoying to land and sometimes it would just go right through the target and do nothing.

Lets not forget that blasting on light field removes one condition now. Might be an interesting change for hammer specially

I have killed so many golems and asura engineers i don’t even know what it is like to feel anymore…

Do whatever you want but don’t mix solo/duo queue with team queue.

Edit: AND RATING ! Don’t mix the both queues’ ratings or MMR.

Please? Since the ascended items are going to be requiring crafted tokens soon it seems like a good idea.

Loading lion’s arch takes forever

I’d throw in a mystic forge/miyanni like npc aswell but that could be too much to ask

Evan Lesh.3295:

Sorem.9157:

A few doubts come to mind:

Will saying YES to this mean that

A) I am voting for not being able to switch classes at that ‘’Waiting for Players’’ period that is to ‘’Narrow down your strategy’’? or

B) I am voting for not being able to switch classes once the match has effectively started and players are allowed to cap points?

You said that this polls will allow us to have profession specific ladders but I don’t see why A) would allow this and wouldn’t. I can only see it not being able to be done if neither options get accepted. The system already considers the class that you were playing at the end of the match the ‘’class of the match’’ anyway, if we lock what we play once the match effectivelly starts instead of at the let’s call it ‘’waiting for players’’ period that should be able to be done already.

If professions aren’t locked when you queue, then people would queue on a low MMR profession, then switch to their main profession before the match starts in order to game matchmaking. This is why we cannot currently use profession MMR.

Makes sense, thanks

I feel like profession specific ladder is a big step on the right direction to the game because it doesn’t force you to play the one you’re best at in order to gain rating. Last season i felt forced to play guardian, for example, and that me feel very trapped, specially because unrankeds weren’t enough for me to practice for my ranked matches on different classes.

Either way, if saying YES to this guarantees that we get separate ladders for each profession eventually then to me yes it is, but if it’s just another ’’maybe’’ or ’’it’s possible but we are not sure if we are gonna do it’’ then this is not worth at all. All it will bring me is being forced to play say necromancer against 3 warrior comps.

A few doubts come to mind:

Will saying YES to this mean that

A) I am voting for not being able to switch classes at that ‘’Waiting for Players’’ period that is to ‘’Narrow down your strategy’’? or

B) I am voting for not being able to switch classes once the match has effectively started and players are allowed to cap points?

You said that this polls will allow us to have profession specific ladders but I don’t see why A) would allow this and B) wouldn’t. I can only see it not being able to be done if neither options get accepted. The system already considers the class that you were playing at the end of the match the ‘’class of the match’’ anyway, if we lock what we play once the match effectivelly starts instead of at the let’s call it ‘’waiting for players’’ period that should be able to be done already.

OriOri.8724:

Its definitely annoying when you can’t/don’t stop a rez and you get +1’ed while your health is low and CDs are up, however I don’t agree with removing downstate from PvP. If ANet does nerf the downstate they could have it apply 5-10 sec of a new effect similar to weakness. It would decrease endurance regen, have all attacks be glancing blows, and lower your outgoing condi damage by 50% until its up. This is enough to keep revived/rallied players from immediately pressuring you. Even then though I’m not sold on the idea that downstate needs a nerf in PvP yet

This is actually a quite good idea. Maybe a movement speed debuff?

Maybe increase the duration of Spectral Walk? Or a bigger time window to allow us to return to the point of use? Or maybe don’t actually burn the spectral walk once you return once, creating the possibility of multiple port backs.

Just throwing some extra ideas here.

Not sure if it is viable or not. It is definetly not meta though, i dont think i’ve seen anyone using it since HOT release. Path of Corruption is a lot more popular.

I feel like sPvP is never gonna be as popular as it was right at release, even though now there are much much much more rewards (any multiplier is an infinity when compared to 0). Probably because the raw number of players was much higher back then.

I will say this though: with season 5’s new system the numbers did seem to increase and HOTM seems to be getting more crowded, but as Shaogin said, it is all speculation, we don’t have any real data.

If looking at percentage wise i don’t really know what to tell you.

Do Unranked Matches take into consideration your MMR when pairing you up with players?

As a high platinum player i struggle practicing on unranked matches in order to learn new professions to use in rankeds, simply because the level of the players seems to be MUCH MUCH lower on these matches.

I am not talking about players that seem to be ‘’good at the game but bad with that profession’’, they really frequently seem to be simply unexperienced or just bad. I am not saying this is 100% of what i see on Unrankeds but it does reflect the majority.

How am i supposed to practice new professions? I feel like im being forced to play the one i am best at without having the chance to be able to even practice different professions in order to be able to compete at my rank with them.

The game is getting repetitive and boring.

Shouldnt it be a way to learn new professions that resembles the level of dificulty i find in rankeds? Or maybe ranked system should be profession based?

Before anything, i’d like to say that this season seems to have the best mindset behind it’s ranking system so far on this game.

But it is extremely annoying how the rating gain/loss after a match is calculated. It is currently requiring me an above 50% win/loss ratio to maintain my position. And it has been like that for awhile now.

I have no idea how do you calculate the rating variations after a match but it needs some serious look. The system is too volatile. How can i be on position #42 of the ladder and 3 games later i am #213? Did my skill level drastically decrease within 1 hour? It isn’t rewarding at all to be ’’good’’ with this kind of system because you’re always severely punished for losing a match on a 5v5 conquest system.

I’m linking a picture of the typical rating gain/loss im experiencing this season. Currently I am losing 2.5~1.5x more rating per loss than i am winning per win.

PvP already is one of the worst ways to make money. The second it gets something new and unique people start complaining its unfair? PvP didn’t even have rewards for over an YEAR! All we had was silly little skins that we couldn’t even wear outside of HOTM.

Oh, bite me

Please, instead of asking for them to remove PvP rewards, acknowledge the fact that wvw is much more favored when it comes to rewards. SPECIALLY when you take into consideration that you’re ‘’time gated’’ to get decent rewards out of PvP because you can’t reach those rewards on offseason

Its unfair, QQ.QQ.QQ.

Make terrormancer great again

Silly pleb DHs complaining about unblockeable signet warrior, please.

The real danger is condi warrior.

UBcktieDL.5318:

6. Fixed a bug allowing players to create an engineer.

Love it

Srsly i need to maintain a 2:1 winratio only to maintain my rank, idk what the hell is up with the way they provide rating

I was duoing with a warrior friend and we were both at 1809 rating. We won. He won 22 rating, i won 10.

Beats me

EDIT: PS: I’m DH.

Please?

We can all agree that greatsword is pretty low when it comes to PvP. Some tweaking could make it great again

Maybe making Whirling Wrath instant cast without lowering the user’s movespeed and allowing Symbol of Wrath to be usuable while moving could allow the greatsword to show its face more often now that sword is so dominant

I’d also throw maybe lowering the cast time of binding blades to 1/2s and some damage tweaks but that might be just a little bit too greedy

Again,

please?

PS: I just made a Sunrise and i really really want to use it

I’m curious to know what is your opinion on Revenant 1v1 potential after the nerf.

I’ve been struggling A LOT more against pretty much all matchups but i’m wondering if it is just a git gud issue or is revenant really not a good duelist anymore?

Feedback please

Great post

I am really enjoying this season’s matchmaking. Anet has done a great job and so have you analizing it

Kuddos

ArchonWing.9480:

Make unscathed contender also grant a movement boost when aegis is up. xD

This would be strictly a convenience.

This kitten needs some voice, its a great idea :0

Cal Cohen.3527:

Lots of great feedback in this thread! I see a lot of concern about the nerfs to revenant so I would like to discuss those a bit more.

Surge of the Mists is a skill that does everything. It evades attacks, is a massive cc, and does a huge amount of damage. The defensive capability and cc fit well with the rest of the staff set, so we felt the damage was the best spot to bring the skill down a bit. 50% is certainly a big reduction, but consider just how much damage this skill does right now. Even after the nerf it will still take a chunk out of a squishy’s health bar, in addition to providing cc setup for another skill (and teammates).

Precision Strike is another skill that we felt did too much damage on its own, particularly when all 3 projectiles hit one player. This is another case of a big reduction on a skill that does a ton of damage, resulting in a skill that still does a reasonable amount of damage.

In general, revenant isn’t lacking in sources of damage. Unrelenting Assault, Facets of Strength, Elements, and Chaos, Equilibrium, and sword autoattack are all strong damage skills as well. Precision Strike and Surge of the Mists will continue to bring relevant damage to the table, so rev should still have plenty of damage to go around.

With that said, we will definitely be keeping a close eye on things going into the season.

Why not implement the changes RIGHT AFTER one season and then do another balance patch RIGHT BEFORE the next one, taking in consideration the feedback of off-season changes?

I doubt you haven’t thought of that, yet i cant figure out why it isnt done

Buran.3796:

Sorem.9157:

That balance patch should be charged for murder, really.

For me that was the October 18th patch. I was using the condi build and that one destroyed any sort of viability of condi Herald.

Due I don’t like the power Herald (I left that boat in June) as soon as the October patch killed the Glint-Mallyx build I stopped playing the class (all fronts) in the game. I care 0 about the new patch: condi is still useless, hammer is still useless, and sword and staff were previously nerfed in several occasions (Warding Rift cd went from 10s to 12 to 15 now; Surge of the Mist lost 15% damage, then another 15% and now another 50%), Precision Strike got butchered (from 600 to 450 range, from 4s cd to 5 then 6, now 33% less damage), and so on…

The Herald ranged game is a joke, the condition cleansing non-existent, the stability access is banned… The legend system makes the class unflexible, sclerotic, unable to adapt and entirely reliant on the team support. Now the “top build” is very close to lose his “competitive” status, but for months has remained unappealing to me.

Revenant is now hard to play AND unrewarding

Indeed, they nerfed both main builds one at a time

I really hope ArenaNet notices how much negative feedback the changes on revenant are having and decides not to go that way.

By the way, it is a very good idea to launch the patch notes before you actually implement it so that the community can give some feedback on it.

That balance patch should be charged for murder, really.

First of all, Cuddos on splitting balance though. Great Call. But i can’t help but to show my frustration on the notes itself

Why would you do this kind of “balance” to a class that has a high skill ceiling such as revenant? Seriously. The class is hard to play, you said it yourself, so it should be rewarding. This kind of nerf you cant ‘’work your way around’’ with skill. Youre punishing both the experienced and the unexperienced revenant for rev being too strong on high level. A good balance to a class that is hard to play tho too overpowered if mastered should involve making it easier to play yet nerfing characteristics that only high level revenants can take advantage of.

Im not saying i agree with nerfing revenant at all. Im saying that if youre gonna do it, do it the right way.

I think its way too complex. Attacker/Defender roles will be troublesome with classes that heavily outranges other classes. Keep working on it, though, i like where it is headed.

Despite the horrible thread structure he does have a point

This is a western MMORPG and here things get much more ’’personal’’ than any other region. A 1v1 arena only makes sense. It shouldnt be too hard to create either.

I’d suggest adding a damage count at the end of every 2 minutes in case nobody dies and whoever deals the most damage wins the round. You know, to punish those who go full cheese. Its a deathmatch, you shouldnt be there looking to outlive, you should be looking to kill while not being killed.

Yes, it requires a different kind of balance but i am feeling that developers are starting to head that way with the removal of full tank amulets. An even better way to deal with this is allowing the balance team be split from the PvE team of developers, giving them more freedom to change things around in order to provide the class harmony to make deathmatches fun and fair. Most matchups right now (thinking of class, not builds) are quite balanced to be honest, but a few exceptions come to mind such as revenant vs mesmer or thief vs dragonhunter, which are usually uphill battles.

1v1 Arenas are also a great way to incentive development of personal skill while providing decent rewards for it. I mean, come on, the rosters are filled with 1v1 Dueling Rooms, obviously there is a community for it.

Plus, conquest is getting old and boring. Some players would rather have a more straightforward and simple game mode where they can flex their epen.

Please no hidden names bullkitten either. Its ok to block on the map but you gotta know who it is that you’re fighting. It doesn’t feel as rewarding otherwise. Don’t try to keep a competitive situation from being competitive.

How do you feel about going Retribution Invocation and Herald?

Great video, by the away

Play Power Reaper on sPvP? I can’t seem to make it work anymore

If so, please share build and tips

Maybe Retributive Armor isn’t that great of a go either, considering you’re running Crusader Amulet and that doesn’t offer any precision, making the ferocity close to useless when added to the fact that the build doesn’t have any inherent fury. I think Altruistic Healing might be a better option on this scenario, or Monks Focus if you want to tweak the build and add a couple meds.

Another important note is that you don’t have any instant on demand multiple condition clear, making you heavily dependant on the blocks to clear condis. Considering Hunter’s Fortification has 1s icd it might not be enough to be the only condition removal resource. I’d suggest adding contemplation of purity instead of retreat or test of faith.

Sigil choise can be improved too, maybe energy would be a good call to be added

mbhalo.1547:

HotM needs face lift for sure. Its’ dark and gloomy with grim music. People spend hours there waiting for their match. Make it something like fractals lobby, a bit more cheerful place.

Let’s not forget the forge and stations

Morwath.9817:

Incoming patch notes:

*Players can gain pip in their League progression every 10.000 Golems killed in Heart of the Mists, we hope you will enjoy your stay!

Bonus with title: Golemslapper.

Maybe since we are forced to stay there so we don’t screw up other contents by having to leave due to a pvp queue pop it would be nice if we could have a crafting station and mystic forge at pvp lobby.

You know, getting tired of bashing golems for no reason.

SamTheGuardian.2938:

Velosth.4573:

GAME TO 3 YEARS IN PVP AND L ’ I HATED I NEVER SO MUCH! SINCE THERE ARE NEW BRANCHES IN BUILD YOU CREATED A UNBALANCING is monstrous , MY BUILD FROM RANGER BERSERKER HAS ALWAYS WORKED WELL , NOW I CAN NOT OWN THE GAME , PVP POPULATED BY TANK bestial YOU HOW TO EXPLODE NECRO NEW SPEC , SPEC NEW ENGINEER , And RAVENANT SWORD SHIELD , NOT TO MENTION THE DRUIDS , IN 3 A fight one , WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED ? is USELESS EVEN FIGHT 1 VS 1 CLASSES ABOVE YOU EXPLODE AND THERE ’ is WAY knock them down , I CAN USE MORE MY FAVORITE CLASS , THE FACT THAT RANGER THAN NOT COME EVEN MORE fun insulted by ALLY TEAM, PURE HATRED

Just want to say I understand your rage… There is no question about what ArenaNet has done. They took a really strong, fairly well balanced meta that offered something to all player types and they completely destroyed it. They’ve made the Elite Specs OP on purpose to drive Heart of Thorns product sells and as a result have wiped all previous pvp meta, effectively destroying the old PvP in GW2.

The conquest maps are the same, but when you play today vs two months ago (pre-HoT release) it’s an entirely different play mechanic you’ll be using. What’s more, if solo queuing you’ll often find pug team members who are still learning this running outdated meta builds aiding in your loss and aiding in serving free ranked wins to the opposing team. This is the state of GW2 sPvP in late 2015.

It was an asinine decision made in the name of profits over game integrity, balance and stability. This is not an opinion, it’s something that’s proven by the current meta vs the pre HoT meta. As a community should we really forgive them for this and give them a chance to make it right or should we move on to other games? Many I know have left. Pretty much everyone I know playing is contemplating leave PvP. It’s just that bad. I would go so far as to say League implementation combined with the decision to blance Elite Specs to be greater than core game specs were collectively the worst decisions ArenaNet has made with GW2. They will pay for this though loss of players.

ArenaNet has taken our favorite aspect of the game and they decided to destroy it. It’s their game, not ours. That is the one theme that has been reoccurring since GW2 launched. I’ve already said too much about other games so I’ll just say this. If you want a great, balanced Structured team based PvP experience there are other famous MMO game studios who have product out there worth exploring. In those games you will find things like solo queue vs team queue and the ability to rewatch past matches to learn from mistakes and relive great plays. Good design does exist and there’s plenty of it out there for ArenaNet to model after should they choose to put more money into the sPvP play experience. Perhaps they should do that instead of dropping hundreds of grand into ESL promotion for a game that is largely broken? I don’t know. Maybe I ask too much.

Can you be president of the world, please?

I kittening love you.

As much as i hardly like to QQ about this or that class being OP

Feels to me like the Revenant thing is out of control though.

Too little efford for too much reward.

Am i the only one hating it’s effect on sigils ?

It makes the greatsword more clunky on PvP because it’s harder to rely on Intelligence sigils to crit that Gravedigger or Hydromancy to maintain range