Guild Wars 2

Your elite spec can only be accessed by the last trait line in the pvp menu (yea, I know its weird, but oh well). You don’t have to do a lick of pve to use elite specs in pvp.

Holland.9351:

I kind of hope to see traits that enhance Regeneration. For example:

• Whenever you gain Regeneration, remove 1 condition.
• Regeneration healing scales from vitality instead of healing power.
• + 350 healing power while you have Regeneration.
• cause 5s cripple when hit while you have Regeneration (10s cooldown)
• gain 3s stealth whenever you gain Regeneration

Of course not all of them, but I think it could be very interesting. The idea mostly comes from Oakheart Salve and using it in combination.

I agree with Toumir that these are incredibly broken. Take " Whenever you gain Regeneration, remove 1 condition." for example. Not counting the many ways OTHER people can give you regen (warr inspiring banner’s for example), Healing Spring alone would remove a total of 12 conditions at the end of its duration. Traited, thats 12 conditions every 24 sec. If you really wanna turn it up to 11, take a look at a traited water spirit (despite how usless spirits are now). That’s a regen pop every 3 sec. A condi removed every 3 sec. And that’s not counting the other ways Rangers have access to regen (Oakheart salve 10 sec cd, rejuvation 18 sec cd, tree wolf f2, shout trait) AND condi removal (wilderness knowledge, bear f2). To be frank, we not only have a lot of access to regen uptime, but regen proccing as well.

Your second point is a bit broken as well, “Regeneration healing scales from vitality instead of healing power.” As it stands now, rangers have a base of 1000 vitality and 0 healing power. My current build uses Settler’s runes, which is 1200 touch, 900 healing, 900 condi dmg. What I sacrifice in dmg, I make up in survivability. Now, an alternate rune that is pretty popular in ranger condi builds in Carrion, which is 900 power, 900 vitality, and 1200 condi. This would give a total of 1900 vitality (which would translate to 1900 “healing power” for regen). Almost double of what a traditional bunker has. Hell, even making a power build with it, that would still give us 1560 vitality, legitimately making power builds OP.

I like your line of thinking though. I was thinking the druid trait line could be used more for group utility more than personal utility. Say for instance: Whenever you gain regen, grant 3-5 sec of regen to teammates; whenever you grant regen, grant 2 stacks of might. You can even go the route of :Gain vigor whenever you gain regen (10 sec cd); Or even, increase the potency of regen whenever you gain resistance (if we were to gain access to resistance), for more personal utility.

Was messing around in the mists with my builds and saw some traits that piqued my interest. Decided to see how high I could get my crit and condi damage on my own and this was the result. Could most likely get them higher if I developed a dedicated rotation, but that really wouldn’t translate to real gameplay. Played a few games though and the crit routinely got to around 80%+ and condi 1800+, not bad. Too bad I don’t have HoT yet so I could test it out with the torch. Not sure how viable this would be in more competitive play, but it was a fun little experiment nonetheless.

Just read all the replies, gonna keep tweaking my build further. Thanks for all the replies!

Midi.8359:

Thing is you take a damage hit by not running trickery. Lead attacks gives a 1-15% damage increase based on initiative. Last time I did the math running crit strikes gives a slightly greater than ~1.3x damage multiplication on targets over 50% hp vs not running crit strikes. That damage multiplication drops to 1.2x once your targets gets below 50% (Again, 1.2x relative to a build not running crit strikes. At this point executioner can kick in, but executioner would kick in even if you weren’t running crit strikes). Assuming you average around 8 initiative while fighting, that means running crit strikes only gives a ~1.22x/1.12x damage multiplication compared to running trickery.

Now you have to ask yourself, is a ~1.22x/1.12x damage multiplier worth not running Trickery? Well what do you lose from not running trickery? You don’t get 10s of fury/swiftness on steal. That swiftness synergies pretty well with the pack runes you’ve chosen to run. Crit strikes itself doesn’t really offer a good way to access fury despite it’s reliance on it (By the looks of it now you’re relying on your opponent being at 90%+ hp for unrelenting strikes to proc or pack runes to give you fury). And of course you don’t get the +3 initiative overall, +2 initiative on steal, or 35% cdr on steal.

The last one is the biggest deal here. You’ve already traited to mug, apply poison, and stealth for 3s on steal. Lowering the cd on steal as you know gives you all of those things you’ve already traited for more often. The biggest benefit to running trickery isn’t just all the things it offers on steal. It’s the fact that it offers all those things PLUS makes it to where you can get them more often.

Anywho, as a personal verdict I’d say that it isn’t worth running CS over Trick. The dealbreaker being that you lose the 10s of fury on steal that Trick offers. While CS really benefits from having fury, and running it isn’t worth it unless you know you’ll have a 100% fury uptime. That being said you’re good to go if you get a pack rune proc, but imo that’s too unreliable to justify running crit strikes. Personally I’m a crit strikes thief myself, but I drop SA instead of trickery for it (Also swap out BP for Signet of Agility, since I don’t clear condi’s on stealth).

Wow thanks, I wasn’t expecting such a detailed answer! I really appreciate it. I just ran some games with Crit/SA/Trick and Crit/DA/Trick and while the DA variant obviously had more dmg output, I felt wrecked by condis even with Sig of Agility and shadowstep. It felt a bit weird running a build w/o executioner, but I was happy with the dmg and survivability. I guess my next question would be is it ok to drop executioner for more competitive play? Or should I just try and get more used to Crit/DA/Trick?

New to making build for thieves. Was just wondering for serious pvp, if a build can get away with not running the thievery line and still be considered viable? The only difference in play I’ve noticed is more initiative and lower steal CD. This is the current build I’m running and have been using in hotjoin and its been working for me so far: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoaVl0MhynYpTw7Jw/EHwEFvHihdYfBL3gqTgAIDA-TpBFABCcEAe4BAIeZga2fotDBAAnAAA.
Would the damage hit from switching crit strikes to thievery be worth it in the long run?

So I tried to play the game today, and when it got to the launcher, it prompted a download. Good (or so I thought). Now I’m able to get to the character select, but then it crashes when trying to load a character…any character. Every time I try to log into a character from the character select screen, the game crashes. I haven’t been able to play this game for about a week now and I’m really frustrated. This just might prompt me to end up quiting and pick up ESO.

so and so.2143:

I’m getting a weird variant of this problem. Since the patch last week I also get a CTD, sometimes randomly at loading screens, but I just tried to make a new character (a half hour ago) and discovered that I get a CTD whenever I try to play the new character. I skipped the intro animation for a new toon and should have been deposited in the Norn starter instance, but instead, loading screen->CTD, and CTD ever since.

By the way, these CTDs are weird CTDs, where GW2 appears minimized or completed closed, but the cursor remains onscreen, but won’t interact with my desktop or background software. ALT+Tab doesn’t work. I have to CTRL+ALT+DLT and restart from there.

If this is affecting new characters for people other than me, I can imagine a particularly frustrating experience for new players.

Yes, I feel this should be the main problem ANET should be trying to fix. Its no use fixing other bugs in the game WHEN PEOPLE CAN’T LOG IN. So frustrating.

Hran.7458:

Hello. Same problem – if i leave party i see this window and game is off.

My issue is I’m not even IN a party. I can’t even log into the game! Its not even letting me get to the character select screen, when I click play on the launcher windows my screen flickers black for a few seconds and then I get the error. So frustrating.

Since the last update, my game has been crashing to the desktop. I would open up client to the launcher, login and click play, then the game would crash and I would get the error shown in the attachment.

I know its not a driver issue and a restart didn’t fix it. I can’t even log into game because of this. Any help is much appreciated.

Fluffball.8307:

Between SotF and RaO you don’t need the red moa. Drakehound is nice.

Thanks for the suggestion! Yea as I said in the OP, the specific pet was up for debate, but drakehound does seem like a good idea, nice AOE immo on a reasonable cd. How do you feel about the build otherwise?

LughLongArm.5460:

@Swiftborne.2650
What about somthing like that?
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjEq0ya/KWsQ1ag+ga9CEAjdrfw9AHEpdBreA-TVyEABCqEkNdBXfEAcS5XAPAADV/ZgLAgN7PAwhAgUAlrMC-w

Hey I modified my original build based on this one. Here it is:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjEqUya/Kusw1ag+ga9CEAjdrfw9AHEpdFrsD-T1CEABaq+j2HBgTVC6jSMCuAAMp8wgHAQH6CA4QAMgJOe2fIAACA7cn7MkCoihRA-w

What do you think?

LughLongArm.5460:

Might be OK, but passing out on read the wind and eagle eye, is big hit for your LB burst output.

Yea I was going for more survivability with this build, as it is for roaming. Do you think it is too much of a decrease in dps?

Hey guys! Here’s a new build I came up with recently that I’m kinda proud of. Thinking of taking it to Wvw (just getting all the mats for cavalier’s), but wanted to run it by you guys first and see what you think of it. The sigils and pets are open to change and are not set yet (save for off pet wolf). So without further ado, here it is!:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjEqUya/Kusw1aAGhqXIwNcDA3l7Is0VsyO-T1xDABbq+TTKP8QXQCKB7Z/BgUiBgJOSBcxyI-w

Just as a footnote, my only concern with this build is its lack of healing power. I know a lot of ranger survivability comes from its health regen and that the only thing that really concerns me going forward with this build. Won’t know w/o proper testing though.

Updated: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjEqUya/Kusw1ag+ga9CEAjdrfw9AHEpdFrsD-T1CEABaq+j2HBgTVC6jSMCuAAMp8wgHAQH6CA4QAMgJOe2fIAACA7cn7MkCoihRA-w

Made a few more changes, edited in the original post

Fluffball.8307:

I don’t agree with the suggestion of taking a fern hound since you already have 100% regen uptime (or at least close to, I refuse to do the math :P), and fern hounds are not very good pets. Definitely don’t lose the wolf. A bird instead of jaguar would also help with the pet not having much swiftness.

If you try it and feel you don’t have enough condi removal you can always use the other condi removal sigils. I know generosity is extremely expensive, but purity is extremely cheap. ~3 condis per 10 seconds plus the big anti-condi bomb of SoR active should be plenty.

I have a feeling you’ll wind up swapping SotW for LR though since you don’t have a stun breaker that you can use regularly.

Not a fan of soften the fall, but it’s personal preference.

I’ll think about swapping out Soften the Fall. The main reason why I have SotW is for the extra healing, and since this is in-part a BM spec, having a dmg spike for your pet is always good. And I felt having an additional source of stability for stomps would be beneficial as well. Originally I was to have SoR act as both a condi-bomb remove and a stun-break, but I can see how problems can arise with that (60 sec cd, and if I use it as a stunbreak, I lose the big condi remove). So far these are the changes I’ve made to it, but I will almost certainly be making more changes to optimize the build. Thanks everyone for the feedback, and I will keep you updated with changes!

Current ver: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAnY8fnEqQrgWxC+rAXLI4QoamB/KrA4VW4OHqha+iVKRC-TlSFABUfSASVJIAm4kR9BpUeMi+BaUhBMlY3s/gCPBACBMZNA-w

Slavi.9137:

Your lack of condition removal could be a big hindrance, especially poison since you have 1000 HP. I would swap out enlargement for Evasive Purity. Also rending attacks isn’t worth it on feline pets because you don’t get enough attacks in to stack bleeds with it, plus you already have good condition damage. Either switch it for stability training or pets prowess for some good burst. I also would swap out either your wolf pet for a fernhound or change offhand training to oakheart salve for more regeneration uptime since you invested 1000 points into HP. The sigils of renewal are not worth it IMO, they don’t heal you only your allies and having energy sigils will benefit you a lot more because of your passive health gain, troll unguent, and protection on dodge roll. This may be a bit contradictory but I personally would swap out the cleansing sigils for geomancy but thats up to you.

Thanks for the input! Yea I should have added I was debating on which sigils to use on decided on those for condi removal and my high HP. Do you think w/ evasive purity that I would have enough condi removal? (considering I have the weapon swap condi remove and signet of renewal), or should I find more ways in my build to remove condis? I’m wary of taking 10 pts out of BM traitline, b/c then I would lose faster pet switching and pet attribute bonuses. And I was thinking about energy sigils too, until I saw the price for them in the AH O.O. Thanks again.

Hey Fellow Rangers! Was trying to make a build for roaming and this is what I came up with so far. I’m pretty happy with it, but am more than welcome to criticism to it. It’s not tested yet (still getting the gold to get all the mats), so YMMV. Tell me what you think, what you would change, etc. Will probably edit this later when I get on my home computer to explain my reasoning behind the build (ex. am using settler accessories because I already have those/ don’t feel like spending money for new accessories for minimal change in stats).

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAnY8fnEqQrgWxC+rAXLGYSoaGAn6zg4VdHCdQHfxKlIB-TlSFABUfSASVJIAm4kR9ApUe87TAYE9D0oiDYKxuZ/BCBMZNA-w

Edit: current ver: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAnY8fnEqQrgWxC+rAXLI4QoamB/KrA4VW4OHqha+iVKRC-TlSFABUfSASVJIAm4kR9BpUeMi+BaUhBMlY3s/gCPBACBMZNA-w

Edit 2: Here are a couple of more tweaks I made. Couple of big changes. Took out the runes of speed for dwayna runes. Also went full Apoc and switched the jag for an eagle. The biggest change though, was switching out shout GM trait for Survival of the fittest and changing my utilities around. Was testing this build out in spvp (with settler ammy and purity sigil in place of cleansing) and it worked really well. Tell me what you guys think, happy to get more feedback on this!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAnY8fnEqQrgWxCusAVLI4QoauC/KrA4VW4OHahq+iVKQC-TVSFABUfSASVJIAm4kR9HpUeMi+BwUipwTAQk9HIEwk1A-w

(subject to change)

bhagwad.4281:

Swiftborne.2650:

bhagwad.4281:

+1. The amount of time r70s have put into the game…they could easily have earned many, many legendaries in that time.

On the other hand, PvE’ers coming in with their legendaries can be mistaken for r70s.

No, what I think they should get is a unique effect – like a blue glow or something that only a PvP’er who puts in the hours and dedication can achieve. Something, anything to distinguish ourselves from the mass of PvE players flooding the place.

What’s the point of playing so much when you’re just like everyone else?

Maybe a Pvp-specific legendary?

Yeah, that would be nice. And not just restricted to r70s, but anyone who reaches the amount of rank points they’ve reached meaning anyone can get it if they play as much as they did.

But noooo…..Anet doesn’t like PvE’ers to get intimidated by the high ranking players who’ve been PvP’ing since the start of the game.

SMH Anet really shafted pvpers this patch.

bhagwad.4281:

+1. The amount of time r70s have put into the game…they could easily have earned many, many legendaries in that time.

On the other hand, PvE’ers coming in with their legendaries can be mistaken for r70s.

No, what I think they should get is a unique effect – like a blue glow or something that only a PvP’er who puts in the hours and dedication can achieve. Something, anything to distinguish ourselves from the mass of PvE players flooding the place.

What’s the point of playing so much when you’re just like everyone else?

Maybe a Pvp-specific legendary?

Probably won’t be one for a while. I know GW2skills says they won’t have one up until the 21st.

Edit: grammar

cymerdown.4103:

Honestly I don’t have as much time to keep up with this stuff as I used to. I thought no new glory would be earned after patch, not that it was disappearing completely. If I had more time to read the development posts I probably would have known, but as it stands I lost like 700k glory that I could use to get skill books for my alts to try the new traits and theory craft for my team.

Holy kitten that sucks man. I had about as much glory as you did (750k I believe?) and was able to get 5 chars to 80 (still have enough to get 2 lvl 1 chars to 80 as well) and get full Arah gear for light, med, and heavy. You got shafted hard dude.

azuzephyr.7280:

The time spent getting a legendary would equal the time spent ranking up in pvp long before rank 71.

Rank 71 pre patch would equal a minimum of three-four legendary items, if not more.

I agree with you completely man. But I can’t see Anet giving out 3-4 legendaries no matter how much it is deserved. At the very LEAST they should get 1. But like I said, I feel your pain man.

And this is coming from someone who was r51 pre-patch. I’m r71 now and honestly feel sorry for those who have shed sweat, blood and tears for their ranks pre-patch and are now on par with basically half the people in pvp. I worked hard for my rank so I can’t even imagine the level of dedication those players had. I feel they should be compensated even more for their efforts, even if a little. Not even sure how much of an impact that would be, seeing as any pve player can come in and flash their shiny Twilight in our faces. SMH.

tl;dr pre-patch r70+ should get 1 legendary of thier choice

I realize a blast finisher would be too OP, but what about a blast effect? Also, changed the topic title to reflect the change.

Atherakhia.4086:

You mean like an AE? A blast finisher is a no go for obvious reasons. As far as the arrows exploding on contact or something like that? I personally would be fine if arrows always pierced and not need the trait to do it. I know some people have stated they don’t like this idea because it’s not PvE friendly while leveling though.

Yea I realize making it a blast finisher would be too OP, but what about a blast effect like ele dagger #3, which does blast damage without making it a finisher? And I heard people actually don’t like piercing because it is awkward to use due to having to line people up.

Just a thought, but what if longbow (or shortbow as well) auto-attack had a blast finisher (probably granted through a trait). It may trigger on each auto-attack or maybe just the third attack in the chain (if every auto-attack would be too OP). That may combat the problem rangers face in large scale PvP and their lack of AOE. Thoughts on this?

Edit: Ok, maybe not a blast FINISHER, in so much as a blast effect

Ok, so I made a few tweaks to take conditions into account. here’s my updated build. I usually switch out renewal with QZ if I know I can burst a guy down. How’s this one guys?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNAR8YjIVV29VCWs2BgmCOtkz4wE9MQ1zLWpEJ-TsAg0CnIoSRljKDVSqsUNsYVyGEA

Sevans.4619:

Having no condition removal is gonna suck eggs.

A lot of Ranger GS burst builds pour 30 points into Marksmanship for the Signet traits; They then take Signet of the Hunt and Signet of the Wild. Your initial burst is insane with this set-up.

Finally a reply! You’re right though I didn’t take condition removal into account. I also didn’t want to run a signet build (because that’s what everyone else is running). I ran this in a few rounds and I’ve gotten the burst that I wanted with a nice amount of evade. I haven’t really had trouble with condi builds, but I probably will tweak it to take condi removal into acc. Thanks for the reply though! I really appreciate it.

Edit: I also swapped companion’s might for carnivorous appetite so my pet has a bit more survivability

Hey guys I’m relatively new to theory-crafting so I thought I’d ask you guys for your opinions/suggestions on if this build is good/ways to make it better. It’s for spvp and I built it as a GS and S/D burst build. Hope you guys like it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNAR8YjIVV2RWCWs2BgmCOtkz4wE9MQ1zLWpEJ-TsAg0CnIoSRljKDVSqsUNsYZxGEA

Wow thanks for the responses guys. I’ve went ahead and made a warrior and have been leveling him thus far for now. It’s been good so far and has actually been a fun experience. I think the range thing and the ease of making builds was the deciding factor in the end. Thanks again guys.

SO I’ve narrowed down my choices for what I want to make my main down to warrior and guardian and was hoping you guys can help me make the final choice. The key things I’m looking for are: build viability/versatility. Out of the 2 proffs, which ones have a greater range of significantly different build/playstyles for spvp and pve (I’d most likely be running the same build for WvW as its more about the team then about the individual player and group dynamics are what make it interesting, but I’d like to be able to switch it up for spvp and pve). I would also like a proff that would keep me interested in the long-run, i.e. doesn’t get boring very quickly. One con I’ve heard about warriors is that although they are faceroll, they pretty much do the same thing across the board, which in turn makes them boring long-run. Their versatility in weapons, I’ve heard, does not extend to gameplay. Having a range option is also important to me, but if the guard has over the warrior the first 2 criteria I’ve listed, than that is A-ok with me. Thanks.

Ok, I revised the build a bit. Tell me what you guys think. I’m really happy with it thus far and I’ve been doing pretty well with it in spvp. Took 20 points out of BM, put 10 in skirmishing (for the 30% increased crit dmg, really makes a difference with cats as pets) and 10 more in Wilderness survival for reduced GS skills (might swap with reduced off-hand skills). I also alternate healing spells depending on whether I’m taking or defending a point. I swapped out reflex for signet of renewal for condition removal. Helped m survivability a bit. Thanks for the input guys.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBHhF6EoiugrCyvCWLEENFaySsCH6VA9uHjy/dKjnWp2E-TsAgzCmIuR5lzLzNyusdNEZJy8DA

Thanks for the feedback guys. This is for PVP/WvW Oildmetala. Maybe I am too new to theory-crafting to make a truly viable build, but the one I made right now has been working for me thus far. I’ve been winning almost all of my 1v1’s and my pet survives through group encounters. Still testing it though. Oh and I didn’t make this to be a bunker build, mostly a roaming one (hence the pet choice, and no empathic bond). The healing for the build has been pretty great and I’ve been able to bring myself back from basically dead to full health in 1 heal. Also, in terms of the guard spam, I think it does more than just grant perma-swiftness and regen, it also grant protection to my pets (seeing as they are not as tanky as other pets) letting them surviving longer. I’m probably going to move some points out of BM if it doesn’t hurt my healing too much and replace troll with the healing field. I’ll use your comments as a reference guide though, if I feel I need to make more changes.

Hey guys, so I know the latest nerfs really hit us hard. I’ve never been great (or even good) at theory-crafting, but I thought I would give it a shot since the build I was running before isn’t really effective anymore…
Here’s the link for the build I just made today it:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBHhF6EoiugrCyyCWLDEtCa69A9zq9uHjy/dKjnWp2E-TsAgzCmIuR5lzLzNyusdNEZJy8DA

(pretend the XII grandmaster trait in Nature Magic is Nature’s voice) It’s basically a shout BM build with heavy healing. Traits are 0/0/10/30/30 and I having cleric’s and healing gear on. Not sure what weapons would have been best so I went with axe+horn and GS. Would love as much feedback as possible.

XII.9401:

I’m not sure a condition warrior would be the best way to go compared to Engys. I think that is why there aren’t a lot of replies to this as it has been discussed a few times.

The problem is you don’t apply different types of conditions but just a few. The fewer the types of conditions, the easier they are to cleanse -regardless of stack-. I think that is where the warrior falls short. For example, a thief stealthing once can remove any bleed stack they have on them.

Also, you will have to be trying to close gaps to land attacks with your swords. All other classes don’t need to or don’t have a problem doing that.

Try it out but remember that other classes can easily outmatch you in condition builds. Engys mostly and Necros 2ndly.

You don’t have any kind of get out of jail card in your build. Not sure how you will deal with spike damage.

Runes of Lyssa are nice but the boons are every 60 seconds for 5 seconds. Smart players will just wait it out. You can always use that extra stability for stomping or the protection for when your focused etc. Just remember it is highly situation and is available briefly every 60 seconds.

Thanks for the reply. Pretty much everything you’ve said is true lol. I’ve been testing it out and I’ve realized spike damage is my main weakness. I’ve been winning a few 1v1s in the past day, but I’ve lost far too many for my patience. The bleeds do stack well, but people do tend to cleanse them too easily for them to do real damage. I guess it was my fault for focusing too much on bleeds and not adding in other constant conditions to the mix. Might try a necro sometime soon. Thanks for the feedback man.

Ok modded it to this: http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mMRkmo9cmRahmmRahm0xxa0cVsMRqz8khT7khG7khT7070M7kIa70V7ow18ofj
Took 10 points out of tactics and put it into defense for the extra toughness and Defy Pain, which should increase my survivability.

Hey guys, I’m new to build making so I apologize if this build is complete garbage. Basically I wanted to make a condition build for my warr with a good bit of survivability. Wanted to know your opinion if this is good, bad or just plain ugly. Tried to best represent it here: http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mMRkmo9cmRahmmRahm0xGG0cVsMRzR8khT7khG7khT7070M7kIa70V7ow18ofj

Traits: 0/30/20/20/0

Arms- deep cuts (III), rending strikes (V), Opportunist (IX)
Deep cuts is pretty self explanatory, this build is going to mainly be focusing on stacking bleeds, so the longer the bleeds last the better. I put rending strikes because I’m going to have a lot of precision in this build (65% w/o fury), and near-permanent fury through utility and traits. This grants me a fair amount of vul of the enemy. Opportunist works great w/ tactics I (which grants a 1-sec immo when I cripple, thus granting fury whenever I cripple)

Defense- Dogged march (II), last stand (VIII)
Dogged march is pretty self-explanatory. The less time I spend crippled/chilled/imo, the more time I can spend putting up bleeds on my target. last stand is pretty self-explanatory too. acts as a passive stun breaker in addition to shake it off.

Tactics- Leg specialist (I), Lung Capacity (VIII)
Leg specialist helps mini-root targets so that I can stay on them longer, and works great with Opportunist. Lung capacity seemed like a staple seeing as I’m running 2 shouts in this build.

Weapons: sword/sword and rifle
Went with these options because between the 2 of them, they each have a consistent bleed adder (skill 1 for both), and each have a cripple among to 2 of them, which works nicely with my traits. the sword/sword combo on its own can close distances with skill 2 and apply a long range bleed with skill 4. 3 out of the 5 skills can potentially add a bleed, so bleed will tend to add up nicely. The rifle further expands this builds long range capabilities, adding a steady steam of bleeds and kiting ablility if need be. Went with this combo because it’ill allow me to keep my bleeds up on the target from any range, while giving me nice single target CC.

Utilities: Mending, For Great Justice, Shake it Off, Signet of Fury, Signet of Rage
mending is self-explanatory. Best pvp heal, given that it removes 2 conditions. Both For Great Justice and Shake it off have a 20 sec cd with the shout trait, allowing them to have a fair amount of use in battle. FGJ allows me to have a consistent amount of fury and might at any given time and shake it off gives further condition removal and is another stun breaker in addition to the trait. SoF self-explanatory. SoR with the shout trait, has a 60 sec cd. Also, with Lyssa 6, it removes all conditions (with gives another condition remover on a 60 sec cd)

Armor and trinket: Lyssa for all 6 slots and Rabid
Lyssa because it increases precision and condition duration. lyssa 6 is also pretty nice. Rabid for its high codition damage and precision. The toughness also helps me last fights seeing as this is a conditon build.

I guess there it is. A LOT longer than I expected it to be. I went with high crit chance because of the arms trait which puts a bleed on 33% chance of a crit and rending strikes. The high crit chance means more bleeds. I’m open to any and all criticisms. Tried to put my methodology down so people would know why I made the choices I made. Currently testing this out right now, although I don’t think I at a skill level to really know if a build is good or not. Phew.

TL;DR
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mMRkmo9cmRahmmRahm0xGG0cVsMRzR8khT7khG7khT7070M7kIa70V7ow18ofj

Like the title suggests, I’m looking for a laid back guild on Crystal Desert. Doesn’t have to necessarily be “big”, but I would like for it to be relatively active. I haven’t experienced any content past level 30 (currently a level 33 Elementalist), so I would also like a guild which is friendly and and would be willingly to show me the ropes. I don’t really want a guild that takes itself too seriously, but there still has to be an amount of respect/maturity amongst its players.

cpg.7140:

Does Dagger/Dagger elementalist not suit your playstyle? They’re still squishy, but the power is there. The inability to switch from melee to ranged on the fly is the biggest drawback I can see there though.

I can’t tell you whether a class will get boring, because most of them I’ve only taken to 20-40 or so (took and engineer and guardian to 80, had fun with both albeit changing builds multiple times while leveling). Warrior is fun because stuff just dies fast, and it really does sound like the best description of what you want if ranged combat is important. Guardian would be almost perfect if not for the lack of ranged options.

I will add that a pistol, interrupt (mines/ram) based engineer can be a fun, sort of tactical solo experience rather than a support player. It’s not really what you’ve described as wanting to main but IMO is worth serious time on an alt if you get the chance.

Although keep in mind that I have found Ranger a bit boring even from the start, so I’m probably not giving it fair consideration.

I’ve been trying out dagger ele and its really interesting. It does have the drawback you mention, but I feel its really something I can find myself playing longterm, probably switching between daggers and scepter from time to time. It does have the drawback of not having the long range option, but I think if I go with frost arrow I can sort of account for that. My only real gripe with it is the squishyness. I don’t like squishy classes xD. Will continue to test it out and decide from there. Thanks for the suggestion.

Backtrap.1807:

I cant speak much for the other classes, but I have played a Guardian and Ranger so far (lvl15). I know not very high, so I may not be much help.

I started out Guardian because I like the Knight feel and want to help others, but he has no real ranged attacks to pull mobs.

So I tried Ranger and I am LOVING IT!! so far…. I am now 19 and I love the ranged / melee ability. It really changes things up.

We are not melee masters, but I will attack from afar and normally my pet is enough to hold them off, but if they get close I switch to Greatsword (Love the animations) and finish them off.

I just love the fact that it can do both ranged and melee… (just remember your not a warrior, do not try to go straight melee)

Also, if you go Ranger, get a bear pet quickly… they make great tanks… cats seem to squishy.

Whatever class you pick, have fun:)

I’ve been trying out the ranger so far, but it just doesn’t hold my interest as much as I want it to. It is a great class though.

Hey guys, as the title suggests, I need help with choosing a main profession. I’ve narrowed my choices down to: Warrior, Ranger, and Necromancer (although if someone has a convincing argument for another profession they think I should play, I’m all ears). I like a mix of melee and range capabilities and want a pretty engaging, active gameplay. I would say my play style is mainly as a direct damage dealer, but I would like a lot of room to implement strategies as well (something I think ranger and necro has over warrior). I can see myself playing mainly in melee and mid-range. I’d also want a class that doesn’t get boring over time. In other MMO’s I’ve played, there would be a few classes that people would consider OP, but the actual gameplay was uninteresting and people would only roll them because they wanted to win, not because it actually interested them. I want a profession that would hold my interest over time and can hold their own in PVP and PVE settings (but they don’t have to be ZOMG LOOK AT ME SOOO OVERPOWERED I CAN FISTkitten SUPERMAN IN THE FACE). Although I don’t need an OP profession, I would like them to be viable at least, with not a great amount of bugs, or bugs that hinder gameplay. I guess it goes without saying, the less bugs the better (something that I think is preventing me from really getting into the necromancer) In terms of play style, I find myself mostly at the front lines dealing damage in big zeros, but in smaller groups or solo 1v1, I’d like the option to kite and put some distance in-between me and who I’m fighting.

Here’s a breakdown of my impressions of all the classes in general:
Professions:

Warrior-
cons: seems like it would get too repetitive over time, not too fond of straight up hack and slash gameplay, despite its range of weapons it seems like it can get boring over time

pros: range of weapons is amazing. They seem like the most forward, damage dealing class. They’re range options are not bad as well.

Ranger-

cons: don’t like the fact that it is mainly pet class, the attacks on the weapons seem a bit clunky to me. I’ve heard that the ranger is the class that people tend to become bored of very quickly and that it doesn’t have a great amount of versatility

pros: best mix between range and melee imo. Although I don’t like pets, I can see myself using the pets strategically and in general, pets are a big help. More complicated than the warrior, but still has some simplicity to it.

Elementalist-

cons: not enough melee capabilities, too squishy, too much focus on AOE (want more single-target options)

pros: versatility is GREAT. I can see myself not getting tired of this class in the long run. I think it would be cool to try and master all the different play styles as well. Theme is cool as well.

Mesmer-

cons: don’t like the play style, too confusing

pros: I just really didn’t enjoy playing the mesmer. It’s probably because of the steep learning curve. I might give it some more time later though.

Necromancer- large amount of ground-targeting skills, not good damage output/only viable builds seem to be focused on condition damage, too many bugs to play effectively

pros: I think I enjoyed playing the necromancer the most. I usually don’t like the dark arts classes, but the necro profession drew me in. I like the progression of range of the weapons (from melee, to 600, to 900, to 1200 in #1 attacks, really allows for varied gameplay). I also liked the attacks as well, although it does have too much ground-targeting for my tastes.

Engineer-

cons: like a more direct damage dealer, seems like too much of a support class, too many bugs to play effectively

pros: really fun class, even though I feel it isn’t the class for me.

Thief-

cons: don’t like the theme, too squishy, don’t like the in and out gameplay

pros: seemed like the best in terms of damage and it has viable long range weapons via the short bow and the pistols, but I just don’t like thief classes in general

Guardian-

cons: not enough ranged abilities, focused too much on defense

pros: its melee capabilities are great and I like the amount of support you can give your allies.

Also, these are just my perceptions about each class based on personal experience, observation and browsing the forums, thus these perceptions may not be true and I would LOVE for someone to disprove any of them (with proof if possible) as it would help me make my decision.

Holy kitten thats a lot. Cudos to anyone who’s read the whole thing and can offer to help. I really appreciate it guys. Happy New Year.

my advice is look for a social guild. It took me a bit of time to find one that is pretty active, but once you do, the game becomes a blast. Even when I am soloing, I have gchat on and can carry a convo with my guildies while playing. Sure there are times when I can hear crickets in gchat, but for most of the time the guild is pretty lively.

Thinking about rolling a guard as a main and just wanted to know how versatile the guardian is in terms of changes to gameplay. Can I, on a whim, drastically change how I play my guardian (akin to that of an ele or an engineer), or is the guardian one of the least versatile classes. Thanks for the input guys.

P.S. I think I’m going to go with Necro now, because even though it doesn’t have much in terms of melee, it has more of an in the think of battle feeling to it and its been fun playing with it thus far. Any input though is greatly appreciated.

Hey guys, as the topic suggests, I need help deciding a main character, somebody who I plan to spend most of my time on. So, a little about what I am looking for: 1) The proff would have to, have to, have to be at least somewhat versatile. I would want to be able to change up my play style whenever I felt like doing so as to keep the proff fresh and exciting. 2) I would like it if the proff’s weapon choice was split somewhat down the middle between melee and range. It does not have to excel at both, but maybe a jack of all trades master of none weapon choice would be great. I know that not one proff has such an even split, but as close enough would be greatly appreciated. It would HAVE to be viable in melee though. 3) I would like a nice bit of survivability in my proff (dunno just hate dying). 4) In terms of my favorite playstyle, I like both being able to take my time and kill someone (sustained dmg) and still being able to make a build to burst someone down quickly. I wasn’t really a fan of DoT’s, but I never hated them either (sorry for being so picky). Overall though, what is most important to me is the versatility, and the ability to be equally viable in melee and ranged.

I currently have a 22 warrior and although it is a blast, I feel somewhat limited in the range department. I have tried in the PvP section most of the classes and really haven’t felt myself swayed in one or the other. I felt ranger to be a bit lack luster tbh and I could see it not having the versatility I want (even though it probably has the split of range and melee that I’m looking for). Mesmer was a bit too confusing for me and I’ve heard that they are one of the harder proffs to play in WvW. The most enjoyable in terms of difference in potential play style and broadness of skills were the elementalist and necromancer for me. Engineer was a blast, but I just can’t see it being a main for me. I’m turned off a bit to the ele for the simple fact that it is a nearly all ranged class. I like the chase that comes with melee. Necro was more “in your face, you better run son” than the ele was. Haven’t tried guardian because I’ve read they are even more limited in range than warriors are. Phew that was long. Props to anyone that read all that. Even more props to anyone that can help me.