Guild Wars 2

Riposte when compared to the shield block is actually quite good. It only counter attacks if the enemy is in melee range. Otherwise it keeps blocking and adds adrenaline at the end.
Adding more bleeds, don’t think that that will work. Perhaps in PvP but in other cases it will just add more over bleeds over the 25 cap.
Great sword is the damage tool, sword is a precision weapon. With some effort sword can be at 100% critical chance (and flurry at 110% ) . Combine this with some nice sigils and have fun. Although it has gotten a bit less with the increased cooldown on many sigils.

Tien is correct. The effect of Riposte depends on distance and type of attack. If the enemy is outside your reach it will continue blocking and adding might depending on nature of the attack (if it is counted as ranged or not).

Riposte is not “discharged” with a ranged attack. It also blocks and reflects ranged attacks for it’s full duration.

As I see it the place the shields fits in is with melee flurry atacks that bind you in place with a recharge over 24s. And it goes at the expense of quite some damage potential (provided that one uses conditions).
The only fight I used the shield effectively in PvE was against the captain in the AC.

The shield is by no means equal to endure pain as one is immobilised and can’t take actions any more witout breaking the shield stance. On top of that at least the warrior has an option to make attacks unblockable. A 3s interval is long enough realise the shield and to use this ability.

I really find it a pitty the dragon shield looks great it would be great to use it as my main weapon. I partially solved this by using the shield on my second spec and swap after I used the shield stance but then I don’t have ranged which can be quite painfull at times as well.

I don’t know if this is an issue in PvP or WvW as I rarely do that.
But for PvE:
I’ve been trying to use the shield for quite some time but I always end up using dual blades. It seems that the protection offered by offhand blade (Riposte) is simply better than a shield (Shield Stance).

My suggestion:
Reduce the Shield Stance recharge to the same time of the Riposte (when using the shield specialisation)
Add 1s of stability to the Shield Bash.

The main problem for me seems to be the long recharge time of 24s (with the shield specialisation). Riposte has a recharge of only 15s. This means that with riposte i can block more heavy attacks of a champion than with a shield. For example the stomp of the Giants in Cursed Shore or the ranged attack of the Golem east in Malchors Leap . Actually trying to fight the golem with the shield I won’t survive on the long run, while with riposte it is not a problem.
Although the riposte ends with a melee attack on you the block is usually only needed to block one attack. After that with riposte there is the counter attack. And if you’re not attacked it gives adrenaline. In ranged attacks the riposte is not ended. So in 99% of the cases the Riposte is both defensively and offensively better than the shield.

With the suggested changes the shield will be slightly better on the defensive side than Riposte. But it will be at the expense of damage.

Note:
If the 10% of dual wield agility also counts towards the recharge of riposte the recharge time is actually 13.5s but i’m not sure of this one.
And yes I think my chracter looks great with a shield :d

It can be a lag issue.
With dodge i can be hit in the middle of a dodge. With an immobilise I can see the chains moving with the dodging and I end up immobilised at the end of my dodge. It happens very rarely.
An other option is that an action is already going on so your action gets qeued. For example riposte of the warrior can get qeued after an auto attack, delaying it with about 1 additional second in worst case.

Precision is not counted correctly when moving through a zone with different levels.
In Malchor’s Leap I walked from east to west and my precision at lvl 80 was 1915 just before the gate to Cursed Shore (waited there for several minutes).
Moving through the gate to Cursed shore my precision is 2075.
Moving back to Malchor’s Leap my precision is 2075.
I have repeated this 3 times (walking + moving through the gate), all ending with the result above.

Using the way points to move from east to west (Pagga’s waypoint to Doric’s Waypoint): now i have 1875 precision when standing in front of the gate to Cursed Shore.
Moving through the gate and back i have again 2075 precision in Malchor’s Leap.
Also repeated this 3 times, all with the same result.

I have noticed a similar effect in Hoelbrak. My critical chance was 7% down. That was corrected after switching to the 2nd weapon set and back again. (2nd set does not have the sigil of accuracy).

I can’t check if this is only an error in the representation or if it is really affecting my precision.

Power and defence are not affected.
In order to boost my precision I use:
Sigil: Superior Sigil of Accuracy +7% Critical hit chance
Trait: Deep Strike , with 3 sigils = +120 precision
Trait: Critical Burst
Trait: Blade Master
Skill: Signet of Rage (waited for this to be ready again before looking at the stats)

I have the feel that the Sigil of Blood has been nerved a bit to much.
Currently it provides healing and damage of 7.5% of your power at kitten cooldown and 50% chance on crit.
Previously it was 452Health gain and damage a 2s cooldown and a 30% chance on crit.

For my warrior with a high critical build (i have 90% in combat) i would need about 2 hits to activate it about this costs 1.5s
That means it gives me 167 healing in 5+1.5s or 26 Hp/s

It used to be with 30% about 3 to 4 hits needed to activate it and a 2s cooldown.
So that would be 452 healing in 2+2.5s or 100 Hp/s

With this the sigil has lost its usefulness to me even though I have a mix of a survival and critical build.

Been a member for quite some time now and find myself returning to the game again after some while because of the relaxed community we have.

Also a great guild for casual gamers like me.