Guild Wars 2

I know this post is old. I am only replying to help others who are still dealing with this issue.

I started out as a shout/heal warrior and also had a hard time transitioning to a zerk build. One thing I notice is that the meta zerk warrior build and pugging don’t mix. You are right, conditions are the bane of a zerk warriors existence.

You can dodge the bosses hard hitting attacks but you can’t dodge all the attack. You can dodge some but you are going to get hit with conditions eventually . You can’t avoid them all. In pugs, you cannot rely on others to remove confit ions for you… because it’s a pug. The only thing you can count on is your traits, skills, and hope the battle ends fast enough for you to regeneration hp back.

I always run pug and have yet to make the meta zero build work for me… in bad pug groups. I am running 65300 with the permanent swiftness trait. My only condition remover is shake it off. The perma swiftness help with avoiding attacks and the adrenaline heal help counteract condition dmg. Camping gs allows me pay less attention on my rotation and more on what the boss is doing. With this build, I am able to rush head first in to battle and “dance” with boss while staying alive in pugs 99% of the time. Yes, my dps is lower than the meta build. But I can stand toe to toe with the boss longer and carry a bad pug with my dps.

ok thats fair. this build is not about getting top heal/regen.

Prysin.8542:

Do you seriously call adrenal health + heal signet “high regen”??? That’s pitiful!!!

ok what would you consider high regen?

Hi,

I been trying many builds (full zerk / 20,20,0,30,0 support / etc) and none of it seem to do it for me. I guess it just does not fit my play style…

I only play PVE and the following build work wonders for me. I mainly run PUG dungeons and PVE roam. I don’t see anyone posting a build like this so I just wanted to get some expert opinion. I like being DPS/Support (reasoning below). Is there any other way to maximize my DPS with out compromising my support/survivability? Let me know what you think about my build

War DPS/regen/support build

Before you dis me, here is why this build works for me:

1. High survivability:
With regen from healing signet and adrenal health, shout healing, heal on crit food, and high vit, I am able to stand head to head and melee bosses longer. This allows me to maximize my DPS with GS instead of falling back and ranging.

2. Group condition removal and heal:
I PUG a lot… actually all the time! I notice when I run a higher DPS build (by sacrificing survivability and/or support) my PUG group has a high chance of wiping. I really can’t rely on a PUG to keep me alive…. In fact, I cant rely on a PUG to keep themselves alive. With Trooper runes + Shout heal, I can keep the PUG from wiping.

3. Good DPS:
Good DPS??? Its not the best DPS but I think I do better than OK damage. Although I have 0 in strength, I get power/DPS through other means: full zerk armor, weapon, and trinkets, empowered allies trait, forceful greatsword trait, attack of opportunity trait, rending strikes trait. I figure going 6 into strength, you will get the following: 300 power, 10% dmg with GS, 15% dmg with max adrenaline. Even with 0 in Strength, I still get 150 power from Empowered Allies, 10% dmg on bleed foes, roughly 17 stacks of might from Forceful GS and FGJ, high crit rate with 33% chance to apply vulnerability, 33% change to apply bleed, 50% change for lighting strike (sigil), and I get roughly 50sec of fury with 10secs downtime. Also keep in mind, this build has high survivability so I can stand there and 100 Blades all day long…. not really but you get the idea.

4. Speed and mobility:
With Signet of Rage, Balanced Stance, and Shake it off, this build gets 2 stun breaker, a 10sec stability, and 50sec of swiftness. In dungeons, having stability and stun breakers are a life saver. And for those dungeon speed runs, 50sec swiftness helps you keep up with the group. Because in PUGs, you CANNOT rely on them for buffs. Also 50sec swiftness with 10sec downtime is great for doing PVE map completions.

Final Notes:
I like the GS/Longbow combo. GS for maximize DPS and Longbow for F1 fire field, kiting, and a lazy way to tag mobs for extra XP/loot/etc. Keep in mind FGJ, Balanced Stance, Shake it off, and Signet of Rage is what I normally run with, but I do switch out my skills depending on the situation.

Switch…
Balanced Stance -> On My Mark = for more group condition removal and heal for hard Bosses
Balanced Stance -> Banner of Discipline = for more group DPS.
Signet of Rage ->Battle Standard = for hard Boss fights.
FGJ -> Dolyak Signet = For long dungeon sprints through mobs.

When I push ‘O’ to open the Black Lion Trading window, game screen turns black/blank. I have tried this with both full screen with native resolution and window full.

I was running a AC dungeon yesterday and the treasure box which appears after a checkpoint/boss kill would appear and disappear right away. The treasure box icon appears on the map. In the end, I got no treasure.

Nynuwe.5893:

DavidH.7380:

I couldn’t read all 9 pages, but after reading halfway through it occurred to me that there is a really significant difference between the experience of a new player and a new character. As a new player, there is a world of stuff to figure out in the first 40 levels, as you really have no idea how the game works at all and you are busy figuring out such simple stuff as repairs, where to go in the world, karma vendors, crafting, map completion bonuses, travel, the auction house, the bank… it is all shiny and new and overwhelming. Not having to deal with traits until later may be an advantage for those truly new players.

However, when you are leveling your third or fourth alt there isn’t much new anymore other than the new class mechanics and traits to play with. I don’t think gating the experience is nearly as important for these players on new characters. I really like the idea of vendors that only sell account bound items to max level characters that allow them to move through some of this stuff more quickly. Maybe you buy and send a “tome of knowledge” to your alt that teaches them 5 trait points in advance. Or an item that grants bonuses to experience and heart quest completion so your alt levels and little faster and moves through the heart completion quests a little quicker the second time through. That way, repeat players get the streamlined experience and incentive to roll alts while the new player get the unaltered experience Anet had in mind. That could make both sides reasonably happy.

Just how careful were you to read the reviews given by new players? Already various new players came here to express their dissatisfaction. They felt nerfed. They felt confused by this change. But not a single one of them complained about the old trait system being “overwhelming”. Please do take the time to read a few more pages if you actually wish to read the reviews given by new players.

When I was new the trait system did not overwhelm me at all. Why would it? It just requires reading. I looked at the Trait window and started reading. Then some clicking. The in-game tool tips also helped because… I read them. Reading. That’s what it takes. Being new to a game should not stop you from taking your time to read tool tips and read what can be found on screen. Do you think it is unfair to expect new players to read?

At this point I am convinced that the dev’s tired old “But we just want to make it easier for the new players” excuse is nothing short of a scapegoat to appease the masses.

PS: I’m sorry if that sounded harsh, I’m just really shocked by the idea someone would be “overwhelmed” by traits. Especially given that at this point, most players have already become acquainted with the concept of “traits” in other games Not just MMOs, but some solo RPGs as well. The concept and theory behind traits as part of character progression is really not unique. So the number of new players who would disregard reading and are unacquainted with the concept of traits as part of character progression are an extreme minority. Does such a low population merit a change that negatively affects the rest? Again, as I’ve said… the whole “But we are doing it for the new players!” is really just a huge scapegoat.

I agree. I admit, I did felt overwhelm with gw2 when I first started out but this had nothing to do with the trait system. when I first started I was overwhelmed, for the first 5-10 levels, by the weapon skills and utility skills. There is a lot to choose from. But it wasn’t a big deal because I knew the game gave you enough points to unlock all the skills. The old trait system were unlocked by levels and there was always an option to reset from the the npc. this means, as a new player, you don’t have to learn everything right away and theres no pressure to choice the right build while you are still learning.

besides players are more likely to quit due to boredom than being overwhelmed with options.

DonQuack.9025:

What the people who are saying to simply buy it/arenanet are saying is

1. You should have enough money to buy it. What was once 3.10 is now 8.60.
also known as

FARM MORE!! JOIN THE ZERG TRAIN!

lol this makes me wonder if Anet even plays the game… I am a casual player with a lvl 45 char, doing just pve content. I have not seen anything more than 3g in his money bag ever.

1. they changed the trait ui. ok fine, we just need to get use to the new one.
2. they gave gave use free respecing on the fly. awesome, no complaints here.
3. they condense trait points from 70 to 14 and we fet a point ever 5-6. Ok its a kick to the shins, but at least it evens out ever 5-6 levels. its not too bad.
4. they push back the trait tiers to lvl 30, 60, and 80 to make it newbie friendly… What how does this make any sense?

Pushing back trait tiers to later levels had ruin the game for all players under 80. Non level 80 players are too kitten to hang with level 80 players in WvW and too weak to in dungeons. The only thing non level 80 players can do now is stick to open world pve until they are level 80.

I dont know about you but the reason the old trait system works is because trait compliments skills in gw2. learning how a skill works and how it can be enhanced by a trait goes hand and hand. Anet claims pushing back the trait tiers is to give new players time to learn familiarize themself with the skills before being expose to the trait system. But what is the point of learning how to use all the profession skill only to relearn how to optimize them when they are enhance by triats.

Gw2 was design so from lvl 1-79 is when players experiment and learn how to optimize their character for endgame gameplay. Now we can’t even access the gm traits till endgame?

the project manager who propose this idea show be fired.

please change the tier level cap back!!!

I just got back into gw2 and was enjoying my new level 45 warrior build due to 2 tier traits. Now I won’t even have access to those traits till I am level 60? on top of that, I won’t be able to test out the 3 tier traits until I am max level? …this just makes me want to quit all over again.

And in response to the previous post, yes my warrior feels kitten compare to what he was before. I think this change gimps everyone who is not level 80.

…Actually I quit. Let me know when the triat system gets changed back.