Guild Wars 2

I am not a Dev so I am not going to try to rewrite the Mesmer class for the Expansion (Which won’t happen even if I was a Dev), I will just list things I would like to see.

I would like to see a Spellbook weapon added. It should be useable by Mesmers, Guardians, Necromancers and Elementalists. The 1 skill should consist of the players waving their hand over the open book and tossing out a small spell. It was my favorite weapon in Aion, Robin from Fire Emblem has one and Leon from Star Ocean 2 used one. I don’t understand why people don’t use it more often. For Mesmers in particular I think the Spellbook weapon should offer either support or AoE damage.

Tweaks to the class in terms of weapons, I really would like the Torch’s Phantasm to be reworked. The Phantasm should hold a torch above his head and sparks should fly out around them. They should deal damage and apply Confusion. When traited each time it pulses it removes a condition from the Mesmer. I am not sure how others feel about the Scepter but I would like the Ether Clone to be removed. In many fights I try to not auto attack so that useful clones arent overwritten. Some other ability needs added in its place but not sure what.

Otherwise I really would like Weapon Skill customization. The original traits were supposed to customize the skills but it was too in depth and too confusing according to them, but I think if they added it to just the weapon skills it would offer more unique builds.

The topic title is pretty straight forward. How would you play a Thief in a Support capacity in WvW. I am not a solo roamer and typically don’t enjoy DPS roles. I mostly run with a guild group taking smaller objectives. So I am curious how to play in a small group setting.

What if Mimic let you use the last Heal or Utility skill you used. So you use Mirror Image, Shatter, Mimic (Mirror Image), Shatter.

It would allow you to reuse a skill that is on cooldown already.

I don’t think the current Mimic is terrible but it fights for a valuable slot and it is dependant upon the enemy you are facing. If it could be used on an ally as well it would have more use I think. It doesn’t need to be the best skill but it does need to be competitive.

All pets, minions and turrets should take only 1/3rd damage from AoE skills. They don’t have their own AI to dodge or run out of the ring, and therefore they should take significantly less damage. I also think all pets/minions/turrets should have their own base stats as they do now and scale with all of the masters stats. Rangers should allow for additional scaling via Beast Mastery. Pet Attribute Bonus should not give a flat stat increase, but should increase how much each skill scales up to 30% additional scaling. Each pet should have their own scaling.

Example: A bear should scale with Power and Vitality more then a Moa. The Bear gets 30% of your Vitality, 20% of your Power and 30% of your Healing Power. 2 Points in Beast Mastery increases it to 40% Vitality, 30% Power and 40% Healing Power. The Moa only has 20% Vitality and 15% Power but gets 60% Healing Power. With Beast Mastery it gets 30% Vitality, 25% Power and 70% Healing Power.

I also think Ranger pets need a more advanced Pet skill bar. It should include Aggressive, Defensive and Passive modes, the ability to use all 4 pet skills directly with the auto skill acting as the Attack button, pet swap, pet boon/condition bar and the ability to stow your pet and re-summon it.

I think Rangers should have the option to keep pets stowed even in combat. Part of the Rangers scaling and stats are balanced based on the pet and if a Ranger wants to sacrifice those extra stats by choosing to not use the pet ANet should allow it. They should not create traits that support not using a pet, but they should give players the option.

The biggest thing I think all pets/minions/turrets of this list is the reduced AoE damage and scaling with all of the masters stats. It took Blizzard a long time to make Hunter pets scale, but it made a huge difference. ANet needs to do the same!

I thought the radius was 360

If Communal Defense didnt have a 20 sec internal cooldown it would synergize well with Mace. I like Maces a lot and always use one but I agree it isnt a weapon to kill with, it is a support weapon.

Is there a Profession review coming up soon? Maybe we should all petition for ANet to change it so that it will be used. It is competing with AH so it needs to be a viable option. sigh I think 5 seconds would be perfect. ANet read my post and then make the changes!

20 seconds!?! Why? That is ridiculously long! I still want to try the build, it could be fun. Why is the cooldown so long on a Grandmaster trait that blocks 1 hit. So essentially ANet spent the time coding a trait that will never see use. It should have a cooldown no more then 8 seconds. I can understand 1 second would be way too much healing. Pure of Heart heals almost 1k HP. If it was 1 second that would be a bit much, but 8 seconds sounds reasonable. ANet be REASONABLE!

Well I will try the build and see if it has uses. It probably sucks with a 20 second cooldown but maybe it wont

Has anyone tried a Communal Defenses build? I was thinking that it would make for a good WvW support build. Here is the build I was considering:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVEQNApdSlsApZo1CxUI8DNRCRl5MEgY+BZw1BwFMmA-TVCFABHcICq+AIgwZCIIlfpo+jBPQQJIAm/0QfDO7PQKAmEGB-w

I am using Exotic Items and not Ascended because I am not counting on having items with those stats.

The idea is to block as much as possible to give Aegis to allies, and then have Aegis heal allies via Pure of Heart. So Mace 3 and Shelter block to give Aegis to allies, Aegis from Virtue of Courage passive, Retreat and Valorous Defense give Aegis and all of this blocking gives my Guardian Might stacks.

What do people think of this idea?

Yay someone liked my idea! I would even be play with giving Shield of Judgement (4) a knockback. Does damage and knocks back foes, gives allies Protection or if Protection is too much (they did nerf the Protection boon because it was too powerful) have it give Aegis instead. Aegis is so integral as a Guardian it would make sense. Plus it would give Guardians another way to block attacks with the Shield.

The lame part of Guild Wars is that this game really doesn’t let you play a multitude of roles. It is all about killing, it is a shame we not longer have tanks, healers or even support roles. Either you do damage or you do condition damage. The rest is just dodge rolling and self healing. I would like to see the Guardian (and Warrior) able support teammates by acting as meat shields in WvW and PvP and play as tanks and bunker legitimately in PvP. The game promised to remove the trifecta of DPS, Heal and Tank but honestly it isn’t quite as fun without it. They need to bring in some support at least via meatshields that block for allies and support the adds boons and heals that actually matter. That is why I suggested the change to the Shield 5 skill.

Here is my list of Spirit-Weapon changes:

Traits:

Zeal:

Adept: Spirit-Weapon Mastery → Improved Spirit-Weapons – Spirit weapons have increased health (50%).
Master: Expeditious Spirit → Spirit-Weapon Mastery – Spirit-weapon command skills have reduced recharge (20%).
Grandmaster: Wrathful Spirits → Wrathful Spirits – Increases spirit-weapon damage (20%). Spirit weapons last until death.

Radiance:
Master: A Fire Inside → A Fire Inside – Spirit weapons cause burning

Virtues:
Adept: Improved Spirit-Weapon Duration → Expeditious Spirit – Reduces recharge on spirit-weapon skills (20%).

Spirit Weapons:

Hammer of Wisdom: Third hit of the three-hit chain no longer knocks back enemies. Attacks are unblockable.
- Command: Unblockable

Sword of Justice: Uses three-hit chain, 3rd attack removes a boon.
- Command: No longer applies Vulnerability. Applies Cripple.

Shield of the Avenger: No longer creates a Shield of Absorption. Has Retaliation and absorbs half of the damage the Guardian and his allies take. (Think Phantasmal Defender)
- Command: No longer attacks enemies. Now creates a Shield of Absorption at the Guardians location.

Bow of Truth: Should be moved to the Healing slot.
- Command: Is now a ground target skill.

I would also like to add two new Spirit Weapons. I have always felt like having two Tome Elite skills was lazy. They should be combined into one skill.

Javelin of Light: Elite Skill. Ranged attacks that pierce through enemies.
- Command: Five javelins pierce through enemies. Each javelin applies 3 stacks of Vulnerability. (Think of Elementalist’s “Hurl” skill)

I took the old Tome of Courage and turned it into a Spirit-Weapon. Whats cooler then a floating book?

Tome of Courage: Utility Skill. Attacks Weaken enemy.
- Command: Daze target enemy and those around them.

ANet can decide which skills they want to combine from the two Tomes if they merge them. Personally I hope if they add a new weapon into the game it is a two-handed spell book weapon. Then the Tome Elite skills can be replaced entirely. Guardians, Mesmers, Elementalist and Necros would look sweet carrying around a spell book tossing out spells. Aion has them, Leon from Star Ocean 2 has them and Robin from Fire Emblem has them.

I would like to see Shield of Absorption (5) changed to a Ward. The Guardian drops into a defensive stance (crouch and hold shield up in front), his shield creates a cone shaped wall that blocks projectiles and creates a cone shaped Ward in front of him that prevents enemies from passing through. It would still give the projectile protection but it would also allow the Guardian to body block his allies.

I would also like all Wards to get buffed so that they cause damage when an enemy passes through them with Stability so that they aren’t completely negated by one Boon (especially when you consider people can sometimes jump over the Ward). Also I would like to see a trait added that changes all Wards from a Light Combo field into a Fire Combo field and to cause Burning if an enemy passes through them with Stability. This makes Wards a little stronger while also adding additional ways to get Fire Fields.

I would like to see Shield of Absorption (5) changed to a Ward. The Guardian drops into a defensive stance (crouch and hold shield up in front), his shield creates a cone shaped wall that blocks projectiles and creates a cone shaped Ward in front of him that prevents enemies from passing through. It would still give the projectile protection but it would also allow the Guardian to body block his allies.

I would also like all Wards to get buffed so that they cause damage when an enemy passes through them with Stability so that they aren’t completely negated by one Boon (especially when you consider people can sometimes jump over the Ward). Also I would like to see a trait added that changes all Wards from a Light Combo field into a Fire Combo field and to cause Burning if an enemy passes through them with Stability. This makes Wards a little stronger while also adding additional ways to get Fire Fields.

I was thinking of trying this build…

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNUQNAV8fjMq0va9Kurw1aADhqZHEssDgGYqdWEvQKb6KvxA-T1BYABgobAHlgy9QASS9HG3fAAlf+dFACAgAMzZmMLzghO0hO0hO0m5Mn5Mn5MLFwkSjA-w

I would be in WvW mostly. I am clueless when it comes to builds, but I assume this build would stack a multitude of conditions in order to protect my damaging conditions from being removed.

I also liked having the Trapper Runes for flanking. It seems very different then what you all have posted. But I took Strider’s Defense because I was concerned about ranged attacks.

I could be going about it all wrong. Any advice is welcomed.

I read the Pyroclasm guide, and with the recent changes was interested in trying a Condition Guardian build, but was curious if it is more viable now.

This is the build I came up with:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAsdWlUgSCXFyMEf4ES2jV6AVQrHDEA5PXFoIA-jECB4iCiUFBikGMTtIasFWFRjVJjIqWpEzurIa1SBMp0I-w

If anyone has any constructive suggestions I would appreciate them.

Something I did want clarification on was whether Burn duration is needed. I was under the impression that with Sword and Virtue of Justice, I would want to proc the 1 second Burn as often as possible so that it could burn then dissipate then be reapplied instead of stacking it to then only have it removed. It would act as an additional attack instead of a long standing DoT. I also took as many Block skills as I could with the Guardian Runes to have the same effect, apply lots of short duration Burns to zerg of enemies.

I am just trying to find something new, that might revive my interest in my Guardian

I really like this build, but I am thinking of trying to utilize the runes on my Guardian and see if I can make a condition build work for the Guardian.

The reason I like the Burn via Block is that it is a short burn, which means if the attacks are a little slower, the burn does it’s damage, dissipates then is reapplied, making it difficult to cleanse.

That is why I am hoping it will work on a Guardian. The Burn proc via Virtue and via blocking should act for as an additional attack to deal extra damage but as condition damage. It is just a stop gap measure until I get a Mesmer leveled but this might renew my interest in my Guardian.

Prayer to Dwayna: Player character should shout something. I liked the idea someone had to add a knockback. The cooldown is perfect as is.

Prayer to Lyssa: Lowering to cooldown to 10 seconds would be great, but I think of all the racials this one is simple and should stay that way.

Prayer to Kormir: I cannot see the cooldown being any shorter then 30 seconds. It isn’t meant to be amazing and a 30 second cooldown is still really nice.

Reaper of Grenth: It should create a water color image of Grenth and voice over like the Prayers do… in fact it should be renamed Prayer to Grenth for consistency. It needs to be usable while on the move and it should have its cooldown reduced to 90 seconds and duration increased to 25 seconds.

Hounds of Balthazar: Perfect just needs the water color image of Balthazar upon activation and to be renamed Prayer to Balthazar for consistency

Avatar of Melandru: Should give player added armor. Needs a water color image upon activation and be renamed like the other to Prayer to Melandru

Personally I would prefer another Virtue. I do think giving Signet of Wrath passive movement speed would be great, but I also agree that if we gave Guardians passive movement speed then Mesmers, Engineers and Warriors would need it also. Plus it also forces you to give up a Utility slot.

I would prefer if we got Virtue of Celerity added as our F4 and its passive gave 15% movement speed to all nearby allies. Active would cure Immobilize, Cripple and Snare to all allies. The passive would give allies the option to not take the 25% movement speed Signet and it would give solo Guardians some roaming potential. The lower value would also not threaten those with Signets.

Inspired Virtue would have to give Speed Boost like that of Engineers. This would give Guardians a charge or flee tool.

I agree I think Healing Mist needs a boost, adding PBAoE Condition removal sounds perfect. I would also be cool with lowering the Regeneration and adding a small direct heal to it.

Engineers were designed to have only ranged weapon options for their main hand. Thus they will be stuck with only getting off-hand weapon choices.

With that said I think the Torch would be appropriate.

Skill 4: Melt Weapons: CAoE Channel Damage + Weakness

Skill 5: Call Mortar Strike: GTAoE Damage

Call down a random mortar strike at the target location. Uses one of the 5 mortar shots randomly. Otherwise I was thinking of making it work like the Guardian’s Smite and just causing random artillery fire to rain down.

I would gladly trade speed for a great hit chance. I would like to see Guardian Scepter work like the Mesmer Scepter. The first 2 auto attacks in the chain would be semi-homing projectiles, the third auto attack would be a targeted holy lightning bolt.

I don’t think Guardians are asking for the ranged damage of other professions. I think they are merely asking for a reliable ranged weapon that allows them to take part in sieges and to engage other ranged professions.

I personally feel that Gadgets should be the Engineer version of Signets. Engineers don’t use archaic etched stones they use the most modern devices created. With that said I feel that Gadgets should have a passive effect along with their Toolbelt skill and Utility skill.

I would remove Slick Shoes and replace it with Teleporter Pad. I am of the opinion that Mesmers should not be forced to run Portal and that it should be available to other Professions to allow more diversity in groups.

Rocket Boots:
Passive – Grants a 25% increase in movement speed.
Toolbelt – Use your rocket boots to do an explosive kick that burns foes.
Utility – Fly backward, damaging foes with your rocket exhaust. Cures immobilized, crippled, and chilled.

Mine:
Passive – Improved condition duration.
Toolbelt – Plant five mines around yourself.
Utility – Throw out a remote-controlled land mine that damages, knocks back, and removes a boon from nearby foes.

Battering Ram
Passive – Improved power.
Toolbelt – Shoot out a ram’s head in front of you, crippling any struck foes.
Utility – Launch a target foe with a concealed ram head.

Utility Googles
Passive – Improved precision.
Toolbelt – Analyze a foe, applying vulnerability.
Utility – Break out of stun, gaining fury and immunity to blindness.

Teleporter Pad
Passive – Improved toughness
Toolbelt – Teleport to target area.
Utility – Create an entry portal at your location that teleports allies to your exit portal or vice-versa.

Prestige simply needs the channel removed, but I think iMage should pulse a PBAoE Burn around itself and give Retaliation to allies within the AoE.

Marz did you not generate a new link? Because your link gives the same build I have.

Is there a good Condition Elementalist build out there? I know people think of Mesmers and Necromancers for Condition Damage but I thought our combination of Burn and Bleed would be strong. Here is what I fiddled with, I would gladly take suggestions.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEUQJArYlEGazHbQ5AVCBQQxBEMekxHcIKYRpwMA;ToAgyCuoKyUkoIbRuikFNEYKA

I personally think it is a good idea to spread the “Portal” out among classes. Portal Bombing is a core WvW strategy and it forces groups to take a Mesmer. It also forces the Mesmer to take Portal thus limiting them to only 2 utility skills.

I would considering the Engineer and Necromancer to be the best options. Engineers have to have some port of portal technology. It would most likely be a Gadget skill not a Tool Kit. If they give it to Necromancers they should just improve upon their Flesh Wurm.

Of course both of those profession still wouldn’t be as effective due to their lack of Stealth compared to the Mesmer but it would still remove the Mesmer requirement for groups.

I have a few issues with this Racial, you cannot use it while moving, the aura that it gives is hardly noticeable and the player doesn’t say anything when they use it. They should shout something. The effect should start similar to Prayer to Lyssa, the gods effigy should spring forth above the player and then we should get a dark billowy, foggy aura.

I would be fine with it if it simply gave Aegis. Heals and blocks 1 hit. Or becomes a PBAoE Heal with fall off. Heals you for the maximum then heals allies based on how far they are from you. The further away they are the less they are healed.

I had a guildmate ask if male Mesmer’s clones turn into butterflies since the Mesmer he made was female. I then got the idea that ANet could add skill skins to the Gem Store. Some ideas are:

Mesmer Shatter effects: Ravens, Wisps, Screaming Spectres

Racial Warrior Banners: Sylvari Banners, Dredge Banners, Ettin Banners, etc

Racial Engineer Toolkits: Asura Tech, Dredge Tech, Sylvari Tech, Hylek Tech, etc

Primal Elementalist Elementals

Guardian Spirit Weapon Skins: Legendary Skins, Lionguard, etc

And any other possibilities ANet can come up with. The Gen Store is pretty empty in terns of things to buy, it would be cool to have more customization and I know players would be interested in buying these things. Especially male Mesmers!

I think the part I most disagree with in the description is how they compare use with Warriors. ANet stats that Warriors and Guardians are stronger in melee range which is true but the disparity between a Warrior and Guardian from range is huge. I have died countless times to a Warrior who only used his Rifle and utility skills to maintain his range advantage.

Guardians lack a means to stay on an enemy, and if they wish to stay on the enemy they have to build in a specific way, which means that in order to be most effective a player cannot deviate from a certain playstyle. We do not have a reliable way to apply Chilled, no way to apply Cripple or Stun. Swiftness has a long cooldown, and we have no passive movement speed increases. Our Wards are slow to activate and easily interrupted.

I do agree that our health pool should be smaller due to our Boons. We can apply Protection very easily which increases our health pool by 33%. Add in our naturally high Toughness and we take a lot less damage. I disagree that we feel more powerful from our Boons. We can barely stack 6-7 Might reliably and can only get Fury from Save Yourself or with a trait that requires us to be Burned. Most classes can keep 5+ Might up and apply Fury via many different methods with shorter cooldowns.

I personally feel that Guardians have a lot of room for improvement. I do not think we are balanced by any means. We are not the worst class in the game but we could use certain areas worked on.

Wards are supposed to be a unique skill of Guardians and I agree they are mostly useless and suffer from a lot of issues that further degrade them.

Line of Warding and Ring of Warding take way too long to activate. They need the activation time to be almost instant. The 1 second activation time on Line of Warding means that it is almost guaranteed to be interrupted or miss the enemy. You have to use it so preemptively that you lose some of the duration and enemies can dodge it. Likewise the 3/4 second activation time on Ring of Warding is so slow that if you use it while on top of an enemy they still have enough time to walk out of the radius. The whole point of Ring of Warding to to trap enemies in with the Guardian to keep the enemy off of allies.

In PvE Wards suffer from all bosses being immune to the knockback due to the Defiant boon. This same issue occurs in PvP when facing enemies with Stability. When facing Defiant mobs and Stable players the Wards only act as a Combo Field. I think Wards should deal damage to anyone that passes through the Wards. This would make the 5th skill on Hammer and Staff useful during boss fights. It would also make the skills not be completely negated by Stability when looking at all of the other issues faced by Wards.

I am not sure if there has been an official response from ANet about Wards being dodged through, I personally think this has to be a bug, otherwise there is no point to them. I can understand dodging out of range before the Ward has been created but to dodge out of Ring of Warding or through Line of Warding when they have been laid down makes the skills worthless. I also do not think Leap skills should allow you to pass through them since they would have to Leap through a wall. If Wards can trap the Ghosts of Ascalon then I see no reason why it should not trap teleporting enemies also. Stability should be the only way through the Ward.

As for traits I do find it sad that there are 5 traits for Spirit Weapons and 5 traits for Symbols which are two of our profession defining skills but we don’t have any traits related to our Wards. I would like to see a trait that causes our Wards to Burn enemies that pass through the Ward and also change our Wards from Light Fields into Fire Fields. Guardians have 10 Light Fields and only 2 Fire Fields from skills. That is not including the 2 traits that produce 2 more Light Fields. It would be very nice to have the option to convert 2 of our Light Fields into Fire Fields so that we can produce a variety of Fields. As a class known for it’s support it would be beneficial to be able to produce more Combo Fields in order to better support our allies.

*A bit off topic but I am also of the opinion that the skill Sanctuary should be the ultimate “ward” and thus Defiant and Stable enemies should not be able to pass through the dome.

They should remove the passive condition damage from Signet of Wrath and give it passive movement speed. All classes should have it if only to allow teams to run together without losing each other. If this game is supposed to be about grouping together to complete an objective why is movement speed one of the most selfish stats in the game?

I am not as concerned about Swiftness as passive movement speed. I have no issues with some classes having greater movement speed due to certain situations. In-combat Engineers, Stealthed Thieves etc. Mesmers have many of the same issues we do and suffer from even less Swiftness application.

They could improve our weapon traits also. Scepter Power could give 10% increased movement speed along with +5% damage. Two-Handed Mastery could cause two-handed weapons to cripple either on critical hit or when attacking enemies under 50% health or even when hitting enemies from behind when below 30% health.

The only issue I really have with the Guardian currently is his lack of ranged. I do not think Guardians need a new weapon the current selection if fine, Arenanet needs to rework them. I would like the Guardian’s Scepter #1 skill to function similarly to the Mesmer’s Scepter with semi-homing projectiles in a chain but have the 3rd attack in the chain be a targeted bolt of lightning. That is literally all the weapon needs IMO.

- This would solve the issues of the Scepter along with giving them a true ranged weapon.

Staff on the other hand needs a few changes. Channel time of Empower needs reduced 1 second and the stacks per pulse need increased by 1. The auto-attack needs to be changed to a ranged targeted attack akin to Elementalist’s Scepter auto-attack SFX but with the Guardians signature blue flames. Orb of Light should be renamed and turned into a CAoE that damages enemies and weakens them and heals allies and grants Swiftness, Symbol of Swiftness should become Symbol of Vigor. I think both Line of Warding (Ring of Warding also) need fixed so that they cannot be rolled through and those that pass through it with Stability should take damage and/or be burned. Teleports should be the only way to safely pass through.

- Staff is a great support item but with skills that are bugged/glitchy and even with fixes are still lack luster. Staff should be something that can be used to support from afar or at mid range. Changing the auto-attack from a CAoE to a single target direct attack gives Guardians a 2H ranged weapon option and makes the weapon not require the Scepter as your mandatory back-up weapon for keep takes/defenses. I moved the Swiftness buff to Skill 2 because Symbol of Swiftness was wasted as a stationary effect. You toss it for people to run through, currently it is not even used for the damage or possible healing with Traits. If you wanted a way to give Swiftness to the masses why not just give them a AoE Boon skill (hence my proposed CAoE skill). The Symbol was changed to give Vigor since Vigor is more useful in a stationary fight. You dodge roll in and out of the Symbol while fighting able to keep enemies in it for damage and have the option to heal for the players when traited.

If they were to add a completely new weapon to the game that Guardians could use I would want them to get a Spellbook/Tome. Something similar to the spellbooks used by Mages in Aion or Leon used in Star Ocean 2. It would be a 2H ranged weapon option.

Weapons I would like to see added to the game and not just for the Guardian would be Crossbows, Fist Weapons, Polearms (Halberds, Pikes), Greataxes, Whips and Throwing Weapons (Darts, Shuriken etc)

In SPvP I am running a Hammer build. So far I find it to be one of the most consistantly offensive builds with the most survival. Obviously there are builds that deal more damage and are more class cannon and tankier builds that cannot kill anyone/thing.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUEQNAS5elYgCCXGyLEf4ESmCRCBrZEPzDODN6jA;T0AA1CmoAysjYHLQOgkAt2Y4wRkNHvNA

But my concern is that the runes I have taken are not working. I am running 2 Earth Runes and 4 Grove Runes for a combined 30% Protection duration. That combined with 20 in Virtues should give me +50% Protection duration.

But when I use Save Yourself, Hold the Line or Shield of Judgement I am not seeing an increase in duration in the tooltips or from the buff itself when applied. I think I am getting a small increase from what I assume to be my Virtues traits since the tooltip for Save Yourself stats that it lasts 5 3/4 sec. But even then when I look on GW2wiki it stats that Save Yourself lasts 10 secs.

So how can I tell if I am getting the increase?

“I’ll say its okay to keep their toolbelt counterparts on the weaker end. If norns had a racial toolbelt to make them immune to damage for an extra two seconds I would start considering remaking my engineer. And a guaranteed critical hit?”

“Jokes on you man, one of the cabbage elf racial toolbelt skills is a 2s block.”

I was going to say how is burrowing underground and taking no damage for 2 seconds any different then the Sylvari Racial Toolbelt skill that gives 2 seconds of Blocking. Also I don’t think giving Norn Engineers a free Sigil of Intelligence proc every 45 seconds is OPed.

“Charr Engineers could say something about toolbelt skills being useless :p”

I think the Charr has one of the best plus all of their Toolbelt skills fit themeatically. Invigorating Roar removes Weakness and Vulnerability along with giving Vigor for 10 seconds on a 50 second cooldown which can be lowered via Traits. Plus who doesn’t want a Dual Pistol unlock skill! Looks cool and is built from the best Racial skill of all!

Asura and Sylvari have it good but Humans have it the best overall with an AoE Condition removal. Combine Prayer to Kormir, Blessing of Kormir and 409 and conditions will be so easy to keep off.

The Toolbelt skills have a few quirks to them.

First! Does anyone else think that Norn Engineers get the short end of the stick in terms of Racial Toolbelt skills? They aren’t very innovative, they just eat an egg (Owl or Wurm). And they both do very similar things. They don’t even get a cool animation.

They could have given Call Owl’s Toolbelt skill that gives a unique buff that causes the next attack to critically hit and Call Wurm should give Norn Engineers a burrow skill that makes them burrow disappear underground and become immune to damage for 2 seconds.

Now for Humans does anyone else think that Blessing of Lyssa is more powerful then the base skill Prayer to Lyssa? It does the same thing but is an AoE. It would be much cooler and equal in terms of power if it gave Stealth to the Engineer for 3 seconds instead.

Just wanted to try a discussion if anyone else cares to complain or discuss these skills or other Racial skills.

The only issue I really have with the Guardian currently is his lack of ranged. I would simply like Scepter to be made like Mesmer Scepter with semi-homing projectiles in a chain but have the 3rd attack in the chain be a targeted bolt of lightning.

- This would solve the issues of the Scepter along with giving them a true ranged weapon.

Staff on the other hand needs a few changes. Channel time of Empower needs reduced 1 second and the stacks per pulse need increased by 1. The auto-attack needs to be changed to a ranged targetted attack akin to Elementalist’s Scepter auto-attack SFX but with the Guardians signature blue flames. Orb of Light should be renamed and turned into a CAoE damages enemies and weakens them and heal that grants Swiftness to allies, Symbol of Swiftness should become Symbol of Vigor. I think both Line of Warding and Ring of Warding need fixed so that they cannot be rolled through and those that pass through it with Stability should take damage and be burned. Teleports should be the only safe way to pass through (Ride the Lightning is not a Teleport)

- Staff is a great support item but with skills that are bugged/glitchy and even with fixes are still lack luster. Staff should be something that can be used to support from afar or at mid range. Changing the auto-attack from a CAoE to a single target direct attack gives Guardians a 2H ranged weapon option and makes the weapon not require the Scepter as your mandatory back-up weapon for keep takes/defenses. I moved the Swiftness buff to Skill 2 because Symbol of Swiftness was wasted as a stationary effect. You toss it for people to run through, not for the damage or possible healing with Traits. If you wanted a way to give Swiftness to the masses why not just give them a new skill such as my proposed CAoE. The Symbol was changed to give Vigor since Vigor is more useful in a stationary fight. You dodge roll in and out of the Symbol while fighting able to keep enemies in it for damage and possible healing for the player with proper Traits.

I completely agree with this thread! In fact I just posted on Sunday that I think Bow of Truth’s Command should be ground targeted! I would also like to see Sword of Justice’s “Command” be targeted. Nothing I like more then to have it floating out of range to actually hit my enemy.

Spirit Weapons overall could use some improvements. There are some weak traits, weak skills and weak mechanics.

“Wrathful Spirits” is extremely bland for a Grandmaster trait. You have to spend 30 points to do 10% more damage. Most damage increasing traits are available at 10 or 20 points. This trait should add an additional effect to the Spirit Weapon’s “Command” skill.

Sword – Cripple (4 sec.)
Hammer – Vulnerability x5 (8 sec.)
Bow – Removes Enemy Boons
Shield – Daze (2 sec.)

I am posting to bump this thread because I agree 110%

Scepter does not need a Symbol. I would rather the animation be more on par with the Mesmer’s Scepter #1. Make it a chain. 1st attack uses the current animation shooting a semi-homing projectile, 2nd attack uses a back handed swing animation that shoots a semi-homing projectile and the 3rd attack has the Guardian raise the scepter into the air and calls down a targeted lightning bolt to smite the enemy.

As for Symbol of Vigor I would love to have Staff’s Symbol of Swiftness replaced with Vigor. Other then traveling I find it to be lack luster in a fight or keep defense. In those instances Swiftness isn’t as necessary, Vigor would be more useful. I think Staff needs the biggest rework.

1: Change to a targeted damage skill akin to Elementalist’s Scepter #1 except the animation should be a blue Guardian flame.
2: Change to a frontal CAoE damage (AKA use old Staff #1 animation) skill that applies Swiftness.
3: Change to Symbol of Vigor
4: Reduce channel time by 1 second and increase stacks per second to 4
5: Cause wards to deal damage to enemies that pass through them with Stability.

I think the “Improved Spirit Weapon Duration” trait should not be combined with Spirit Weapon Mastery due to the fact that Spirit Weapons do not go on cooldown until after their duration is up.

I would rather have a Sword of Truth for 30 seconds with a 24 second cooldown then have a Sword of Truth for 45 seconds with a 24 second cooldown. Chances are the fight is over in 30 seconds and a new fight will start within 24 seconds. If I win the fight with 15 seconds left on my Spirit Weapon then I have to wait 39 seconds for the next chance to use it.

If they were to combine Improved Spirit Weapon duration with a trait it should be Eternal Spirit. This would actually make for a Grandmaster trait unlike the current Wrathful Spirits trait. I think Wrathful Spirits needs an improvement I would like to see it give additional effects to the Commands of Spirit Weapons.

Bow – Removes Boons
Sword – Cripples (4 sec.)
Hammer – Vulnerability x5 (8 sec.)
Shield – Dazes (2 sec.)

And just a small request I think the Bow of Truth’s Command should be Ground Targeted.

I went Human, but I wanted my main to relate to my personal self. My alts all fit a personal aesthetic. As for Norn… I would gladly get one drunk for a chance to shiver his peak! (Get the pun?)

I have trouble with Mesmers also but that is since I went Mace/Shield and Scepter. I didn’t have as many issues when I was Scepter/Shield and Hammer. The small leap on our AoE allowed to me to stay on the Mesmer while blowing his Illusions up faster then he could create them.

You need a bursty build not a tanky build for Mesmers. Greatsword or Sword/Torch would also be a good option.

If you enjoy Hammer why not switch to Greatsword? It gets a leap, symbol, cripple/pull and excellent Whirl combo.

Mace I felt gave extra survivability while leveling but Sword allowed for faster kills which was better. Kill slower and live longer… or kill faster and not need to live longer. Faster kills means more XP.

I think your best bet for an AoE build will be using Greatsword. Staff gets a short range CAoE also but doesn’t do nearly as much damage. And Hammer gets decent stationary AoE with Symbol of Protection and his AoE hammer smash.

If you want AoE you will have to make a Ranger or Elementalist.

1: No, I would rather the animation be more on par with the Mesmer’s Scepter #1. Make it a chain. 1st attack uses the current animation shooting a semi-homing projectile, 2nd attack uses a back handed swing animation that shoots a semi-homing projectile and the 3rd attack has the Guardian raise the scepter into the air and calls down a targetted lightning bolt to smite the enemy.

2: No, it needs an improvement but it would become overpowered if it was a Symbol. It would be too much for it to get increased damage from both Symbolic Power and Scepter Power, apply Vulnerability with Symbolic Exposure, increase the radius with Writ of Exaltation, increase the duration with Writ of Persistence and heal everyone with Writ of the Merciful. All of that combined would be an immense damage boost for it and make the weapon almost required.

3: Agree it needs no changes.

4: I only wish that this skill worked with Inner Fire. Kind of sucks that you light yourself on fire but do not get the Fury boon since you technically do not have the Burning condition on you.

5: No, perfect skill as is! Great damage and has wonderful group synergy.

I would like to see the Scepter Power trait get boosted so that it gives a 15% movement speed boost. We are one of the few classes with no passive way to increase our movement speed and we overall are one of the slowest moving professions which seems detrimental since we are a tank and should be able to get to our allies quickly so as to aid them!

I also think the Radiant Fire trait for the Torch should increase Endurance recovery. The soothing warmth of the Torch would make sense to give Guardians greater Endurance regain.

My only complaint about Sanctuary is that people can still pass through the bubble. Line/Ring of Warding I am okay with enemies passing through with Stability but Sanctuary should be un-passable. It is a 0h-kittenkill. Line/Ring of Warding should do damage to enemies when they pass through with Stability to give it a purpose when fighting bosses.

So Temporal Curtain creates 2 walls now? Or just that the projectile reflection area doesn’t match and visual effect size?

I use the Torch as my Off-hand of choice for SPvP. Having Decoy and Prestige is great for resetting a fight. I use a Confusion/Shatter build though.

I take Pistol as my secondary for the range. So I will set up from afar then switch to Torch if I am engaged or need to maneuver while the fight is going on.

Does the Warden’s Feedback trait only affect the Phantasmal Warden, or does it also affect the Temporal Curtain?

I assume that due to the name and that the Phantasmal Warden blocks projectiles that it only affects the Warden but I was curious if it turns Temporal Curtain into a wall that reflects projectiles along with its previous abilities.

The wording of the trait is very broad which is why I ask. And SPvP moves to quickly for me to notice anything. I haven’t actually noticed the Phantasmal Warden do anything at all but spin in place. I have never seen it do damage or block projectiles much less reflect them.

So if someone could please answer this question I would greatly appreciate it!

ArenaNet has now decided that Retaliation should be used as a counter to Multi-hit attacks not something that is used all the time for things like auto-attacks or 1 hit skills. So basically now if you have someone using a Multi-hit attack you pop Retaliation re-actively not preemptively.

This will hurt tank/support Guardians since this was their means of damage and countering high Crit enemies with Multi-hit attacks. The enemies won’t kill themselves from from their combined auto-attacks and Multi-hit skills now.

So basically it is another buff for Crit builds and another nerf for everyone else. It is a bigger nerf for Guardians since our health pool is smaller and their Toughness while combined with Protection doesn’t mean much when an enemy has a 70%+ chance to critically hit 6-9 times in 2 seconds with a Multi-hit attack.