Guild Wars 2

I really like spirit weapons (concept) and i really hate spirit weapons, it’s a mixed bag, they are useful in a condi build, (23k dps with not everything optimized) with the zeal trait.

The animations are beautiful, but there is something lacking in my opinion:

So hoping devs will see this ill try to provide accurate feedback.

Considering spirit weapons are(besides traps) the only utility skills that do damage in a substantial way on guardians, they remind me of the famous spirit weapon artwork, a tank with magical minions that deals damage for him/her.

im not gonna comment on damage because that can be adjusted by Anet much better than me
All my opinions are on the traited version of the weapons wich reduces their CD by 20% because without it it’s even worse.

Sword:
+Pros: low cd, nice duration of 45 sec.
-Cons long cast time

Hammer:
+Pros: ok cd, amazing command skill,nice knockback,
-Cons: long cast time, (low active damage?)

Bow:
+Pros: nice command ability.
-Cons: long cast time, passive ability needs some love mby heals while autoack?,
long CD.

Shield:
+Pros: really nice command ability but situationals, maybe add protection too?
-Cons: long cast time, long

Something that would help is making them unkillable like they were some time ago.

Some sort of speedbuff/Teleport to target after using command ability? (the shield kinda does that by flying at enemies)

No balance update for us FellsBadMan

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Even with that change nobody in their right mind would use them for anything challenging outside of PvE because their would be no sustain benefit to using them.
(Not to mention the lack of stability/protection/stun breaks ext while using them)

As it stands the guardian needs the trait monks focus & at least 1 meditation if they have any hope of surviving a decent fight in PvP or WvW due to the low amount of passive sustain & low base health the guardian has.

And even with meditations and their traits guardian sustain isn’t all that great anymore given how much other classes have & or how easy it is for them to just disengage if the fight goes badly.

Yeah but being realistic, what i mentioned in the post before could be done pretty easily, without much change (i think) so i just think that’s the more “realistic” way SW can be improved atleast for now.

/offtopic

I agree on guardian surviv. u have to trade too much damage for surviving more, but i’ts a different problem of the profession, that said, i also think the guardian has a big problem, healing skills, look at engi turret, almost all sustain comes from the heal(correct me if im wrong).

Shelter has long cd for example, good blocks ofc! but does not heal a lot, only trap/signet and medi(traited) heal a lot maybe signet of courage should take the “passive sustain” (warrior style) spot it’s an awsome skill! but a heal every 10 seconds is too random and let’s not talk about the active cast time :S

if our strenght are blocks, then i think we should have more frequent blocks that i can strategically use when i need , shield of courage for example is awsome, but such a long cd, even with renewed focus, once u are out of defensive CD we are pretty much defensless, we don’t have stealth, we don’t have much mobility, and not enough passive sustain.

We got amazing condi clear from last patch with the medi buffs, and we have now multiple way to remove condis, this should be the same on how we can survive/heal/sustain,

/end offtopic

I hope the “guardian dev” is reading this thread.

I think the only thing spirit weapons need is to be untargettable/unkillable, and we are good,

they have always been bad because u were too punished for using them,

“Command skills would destroy their spirit weapons prior to the September 9, 2014 update.”

^ this was a really good change, i think SW, were always treated like engi turrets, but they are different, SW are moving "minions"with active abilities not static.

imagine the shield in a wvw zerg fight how many blocks is going to give to you?
or the hammer, stunning/knockback someone inside the zerg to burst them down,

in pve if i remember correctly npc’s do not target them, or they take way less damage.

spirit weapons deal a lot of damage too! CONDI and POWER! u can use your boons to boost their damage (staff 4 or fury from meditations)

The bow with 1200 healing power heals for 5040 ( or 2640 with bers. gear) group healing, removes a condi for 30 seconds every 5 sec. (and this is the weakes of the s. weapons)

in fact i used it in pve raid Spirit Vale clearing it, because they take less damage, and are viableo options for damage/support.

but what about pvp, well we have the answer:

“Spirit weapons couldn’t be directly attacked prior to the January 28, 2013 update.”

I don’t know if is still Karl that is working on guardian, but please just revert this ^

make them that they can’t be attacked and i think we can be happy!

I had the same idea some time ago, but with a difference, i used power instead of condition.

But what i can comment on is: mace/shield with:
HONOR: invigorated bulwark(+healing on block)——pure of heart(heal on aegis block—-writh of persistence(heal while on symbols)

plus stalwart defender (shield trait +240 thoug.) from VALOR,

i had so much fun in wvw frontline fights, if u can properly time your blocking skills u have atleast 450 perma healing, when i play that build with defensive gear im always one of the last to be killed while we wipe in wvw,

For a more offensive (berserker with trapper runes) build i running dragonhunter for LB/ Mace+shield = virtue leap in→land traps→ block and run TP to the backline with merciful intervention!

Another thing i could suggest to you, if change sword for something else or swap judge intervention with smite conditions or contemplation of purity,

u already have a “leap”(sword 2), and merciful intervention to TP in the back and if u are going to be frontlike wvw, u are going to need something more defensive(smite condition low CD healing/condi remover) or a defensive stunbreak (contemplation of purity)

As for the DH one, maybe is something im gonna try but in a different way :

i will concentrate on aoe burning (VALOR burn from symbols) and maybe it’s fun!
or maybe it’s not! we’ll see.

WHAT?!!! is this the same class as bw2? :P , but seriously now, it’s really good, the block from Virtue of Courage is really good!, Longbow is nice now!, traits too but but….

Traps!
As i said in BW2 feedback:

Test of faith needs something more i feel, as i hinted last time it lacks something we can chain from other specs.

Maybe put a symbol inside of it that pulses some boon, maybe protection so we have a reason to stay inside of it and also synergizes well with other specializations,

the same kind of synergie exist with Fragments of faith with honor spec. for example.

Procession of Blades needs some love too, but it’s very low cd so i don’t know about that, it can be used as good burst damage so it’s a hate/love situation here.

In general, some traps are awsome, and some needs something more to make them special and unique.

but In the end, it’s a good direction Karl!

Irenio, Druid is amazing, it’s perfect for what it does, i just wish one thing:

To have some damage from Celestial Avatar, maybe from #1 Cosmic Ray

Not huge damage like from staff or other weapons, just a bit, to have an offensive option

xinkspillx.3914:

Just a quick note:
I may be in the minority here, but I see tons of potential from Fragments of Faith. This skill has so much synergy with the Guardian’s Aegis and block based traits. With the upcoming change to Hunter’s Fortification, this skill could be a powerhouse.

I’m already really enjoying its use and the CD (when traited) feels quite appropriate to me. If the other traps were as well thought out as this one, Dragonhunter would be excellent (at least with some of the better recent trait changes).

P.S. passive knockback still sucks though . . .

I also agree on this, Fragments of faith is the best trap, it’s like a supply drop from heaven! haha

I was thinking this: since as guardians we have symbols, why not make
Test of faith
that is basically, from my experience in the beta, the worst trap, have a symbol inside the circle of blades that deals damage pulses maybe protection

(symbol of protection from hammer #1) or well even vigor
(vigor might be rendundant with LB n°4), but u got the idea.

It synergizes so well with other specializations, adds a bit of damage inside the circle, and a supportive nature to help allies, plus adding a more defensive nature on that trap.

Wich, also comboes perfectly with the whirl finisher from Procession of blades, thus making traps not only good for damage but also for support.

Increasing 1: fun of traps in general, 2: can be used by more variety of builds. (condi with symbolic power, “Symbols have increased damage and a chance to burn enemies.”).

Or maybe add this “symbolistic” feature in the trap trait, something that makes traps good, adding a support, and also different playstyles.

1. a) by leaving the trap there and the guardian is far in the distance to benefit from the damage.
   OR
2. b) stay near the trap to benefit from the symbol/s boons but with the risk of taking damage.

What i feel about dragonhunter:

1. Spear of justice: pretty nice can’t complain but i would like to see to do a bit more direct damage,

1. Wings of resolve: with the buff to 900 range, should be fine.

1. Shield of courage: this virtue (even the “vanilla” one) needs some buff, the standard one without the virtues spec.

its just an aegis, i would like to see more active gameplay on this, since its really good, or very bland and not fun in general.

maybe reduce the aegis CD as passive, and protection when we activate that, or just make that aegis stacks up to 2, or even more, lower the cd of activation to make it more fun.

The DH one is good but please consider adding block also to melee attacks, or add it as a bonus in the traits.

Longbow:

1. 1 can’t comment really because changes are not implemented but, let’s hope will be better because it’s almost non existant, the damage seems also low

1. 2 same as above for changes, make it do very good damage, or just remove the root effect, but it feels good WHEN it crits.

1. 3 will wait for changes to go live in next beta weekend, but it’s a nieche skill so it is not bad to have it.

1. 4 Karl. if u are readin this… its very and i mean VERY satisfying to use this skill with burning, atleast leave the animation how it is, its really good and synergizes well with other trait lines, just a bit more dmg.

1. 5 maybe lower the cast time, its really long, or, make it do more damage in the casting phase.

Traits:

i don’t know about this one, some of them are good, like hunter’s fortification, because of protection, but if it’s getting removed, make the “bulwark” trait to also block melee attacks on shield of courage so we have a more powerful trait, freeing another one, and it deals with the fact of mitigating direct damage,

but others like “dulled senses” for me, they just seems to be rendundant with the other traits from zeal that applyes vulnerability or with light judgement.

Traps:

1. the heal, is really good! it heals a lot.
2. test of faith: it’s a nice idea, but let it do a bit of damage when enemyes are inside of it
3. procession of blades: its a nice whirl finisher to clean condi with LB number 4, a bit more damage and its sweet
4. fragments of faith: my favourite! it’s awsome! aegis synergizes perfectly with pure of heart from honor and shattered aegis.
5. light’s judgement, i guess is good because of vul. but as i said, its rendundant with the major trait.
6. dragon maw: it’s nice, animation is really good!, but idk renewed focus it’s hard to replace. but it’s in a good spot for cc, maybe buff the damage

Cheers !

It’s nice devs listen to our feedback, much love! ty Karl!

Karl McLain.5604:

Hey all,
I’ve passed it on to the audio team, where they’ve also been talking about making additional changes to the guardian’s longbow sounds. Thanks for the constructive feedback!
Cheers,
-Karl

Thank you Karl!

Let’s hope devs see this topic , atleast make torch 5 remove 1 condi on self :|, once every 15 sec it’s really good.

From what i can find on wiki, only guardian’s minor traits, doesn’t specify that u can now use a longbow:

(“The guardian’s resolve has further increased, allowing virtues to be manifested as physical aspects.”)

no mention of it compared to for example the chronomancer:

(“You can equip shields and gain access to chronomancer wells. Gain access to continuum split/shift, which allows you to revert to an earlier point in time.”)

I hoped that was something baseline for all professions, but with new weapons being tied to the elite spec, we will be forced to use it if that’s true.

For what i see in this case, this seems that elite specs are an upgrade to current one, or will just take a slot in specializations if u want to use the new weapon each profession gets.

I understood that u could use the new weapon when u have learned the elite specc, but not to it being tied exclusively.

i wonder if this was a design change or guardians are, at the moment the only exception, by my point of view i see a disadvantage having a new 2hand weapon, and not being able to use it with other specializations, (same thing for necros),

because switching an offhand weapon with another is replacing it with something else, that’s because you have more combinations, but switching a 2h weapon for something else is removing it entirelly.

I wish atleast the autoattack, was some sort of magical blue arrow, like the one u see from the skill #5 shooted in the sky,

1. LB 2 feel needs more color, it’s very “transparent” lol,
2. LB 3 flies very fast so i guess that’s the main problem,
3. LB 4 and 5 are awsome,

Traps: dragon’s maw: well we know its awsome!,

Test of faith and Procession of blades seems like they use other animation from spirit weapons skills :\ they need some love

Virtues they are really good!, but if shield of courage was actually a shield would be sweet!
can’t complain for sound effects, those are really good!

I think it’s a good change, but i would like to keep the 5 of tome of wrath!, atleast the animation, it’s the best in the game really, it feels so powerful, if “Feel My Wrath” has that, well it would be awsome