Guild Wars 2

I played a Guardian for the first year or so the game was out, but had to quit before HoT was released. Still trying to decide whether or not to buy it. Obviously, there have been big changes to seemingly everything in the interim, and I will seemingly need to relearn a lot. As I try to get oriented, could you help ease the transition by pointing me to some of the currently good builds that I can toy with for general roaming PVE, pvp, fractals, WvW, and… raids are a thing now?

Thanks.

I am coming back to the game after a decent break and would like to try out the thief, among other classes that I had not attempted to play. I haven’t followed every patch since, so I am wondering if anyone would be so kind as to give their assessment of the state of the thief in pve, spvp, and wvw. I am probably more interested in pve and wvw, and would like to put in the time to learn how to roam in wvw properly (something that was a pain on my old guardian main) as a thief. I am not terribly interested in min-maxing, but I would like to avoid putting time into a class that Arenanet has just drilled into an absolutely subordinated position during my absence.

Thanks.

I deleted my only Sylvari character after a while simply because I got tired of not being able to stand looking at it. Sloppy designers and a dev team that doesn’t give a crap with all of the other bugs in this game that they still haven’t fixed since beta.

I’m just looking for a clarification on how the transmutations and wardrobe work together now. Once you have acquired a skin and incorporated it into your wardrobe collection, does it still cost a transmutation charge every time you want to change the look on a piece of armor? For some reason, I was under the impression that once you had used a transmutation charge on a skin – at least for a particular piece of armor – then you would always be able to switch to that skin again without spending another charge.

Thanks for any clarification.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think that I might have been imposing unnecessary simplicity on the class when I play it, and haven’t really been playing to its strength of flexibility.

Cheers.

I have played since launch, but never (for long) with an engineer in pve. I always seem to get into a bored rut by level 20 or so… rifling trash, and occasionally switching to bomb kit for fighting larger numbers, repeat. By what level, would you say, does an engineer come into its own in terms of defining skills and traits?

I was curious if anyone knows what the official rationale is behind the vigorous precision trait change.

Hello all. I am planning on picking up the game again after a break. Guard was my main before, but I’d like to try warrior now. I had a male sylvari warrior in the mid level ranges, but realized too late how broken and sloppily designed the armor modeling is on male sylvari… the absurd “hoop skirt” effect on most leg armor, weird shoulder warping, etc. It is annoying enough to where I will re-roll a different race warrior if I can’t find a few good looking male sylvari armor setups.

I would appreciate it if people would post pics of what they consider to be the best looking armor/wep sets or combinations for male sylvari that minimize or get around their more poorly designed elements. Thanks.

Guardians still have issues that need to be addressed, but they are also better conceived and better off than many other classes. Given the quality of Anet “updates” and “attention,” we may want to be grateful that they have been leaving us relatively alone.

Much appreciated!

I figured the Guardian forums would be a good place to ask, but can anyone post a picture of themselves wielding the Zenith shield with the Aegis effect active?

Humans are ubiquitous and can get boring to look at after awhile. So, as the title says, show off your non-human necros.

Just mucking about in the swamps…

Given the problems the scepter has against more mobile targets, might it be a better idea to use sword/focus or shield in its place? Or is there something I am missing?

@mPascoal, i read your initial post as asking, in part, what an AH build even is and why Knights/Zerk armor is used often for them. Since that hasn’t been directly addressed, one of the benefits of the Altruistic Healing trait is not that it heals a lot in big chunks, but that it can heal frequently… whenever you apply a boon. Healing power can help for this, but not tremendously. What tends to help (especially given certain boon-on-critical-hit skills we have) is having more precision so that you can have critical hits more often. Knights and Zerk armor both give you a good precision score, and let you hit decently hard. Soldiers and Clerics armor do not contribute directly to precision, and thus you would have to make up for that precision elsewhere. Going for roughly 40-50% crit rate will net you a fairly constant string of small heals even with no gear investment into healing power, as long as you keep attacking and shouting.

Bump, because this is unacceptable incompetence.

bump for a serious fix

For uses across different builds, what is the most flexible armor set or set combo for Guardians to invest in if scarcity is a factor? Going Berserker rather clearly puts you into a dps role, which can be great if that is your goal and you know the content or situation well, but can constrain your options elsewhere. Going Knight or Soldier seems to give you more build wiggle room, allowing you to take more hits and potentially focus on a more durable support build, while making up some of the damage difference in trinkets/weapons. I have never used Clerics, as it, like Berserker, seems more narrowly construed… great for a support build where you are on the floor all the time and giving 1.5-2k roll heals, but lacking crit chance/damage for other roles.

Obviously one can buy different sets for different roles to experiment, but for those who can’t, or who don’t want to bother with major gear swaps when changing builds, what would you recommend?

Red Raven.7824:

Here’s my warrior, modeled after a certain someone from another universe..

I like the look. Is that HotW armor for chest and shoulders, Plated armor for hands and feet… what are your legs?

Until now, I haven’t really given much thought to the optimal gear combos for my guardian. I essentially started off full Knight running a common 0/0/30/30/10 AH build, and occassionally flipping over to a meditation build when I got bored. At this point I have nearly all Berzerker trinkets, a Berzerker chestpiece, and the rest still Knight. I am looking to better understand how to optimize my gear choices at this point, to know which armor pieces to replace when I do try and shift over to a different prefix-style of gear, or a new role (if I decide to move away from AH more often, for example). Are there any particularly good guides that would help me inform my gear/build/role choice combos, or provide some good full archetypes for these?

As long as you didn’t enjoy spirit weapons (devs rendered them nearly all useless for no apparent reason by taking away their invulnerability and giving them a tiny health pool instead), and don’t mind the lack of a non-bugged ranged weapon (scepter is the same… decent damage, but a buggy and slow auto-attack), things are generally good for Guardians.

This should have been fixed in the design phase. Why do they poof out in absurd ways? The human armors look like they fit, and coats/skirts on males flow logically and aesthetically with their form (for the most part). Nearly every piece of male sylvari armor looks like they are wearing a hoop skirt frame underneath, for no apparent reason. Is it really that difficult a thing to fix, because it is extremely distracting to me (especially for a game that places so much emphasis on aesthetic progression over statistical), and looks ridiculous and broken enough to where I have trouble believing that it is anything other than laziness and/or oversight.

Examples:

http://www.gw2armor.com/sylvari/male/wvw/medium/side.jpg

http://www.gw2armor.com/human/male/wvw/medium/side.jpg

Also, with cultural armor of all things…

https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/72149/gw130.jpg

And others:

https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/72944/Skinnyarmsnoweightedlegs.jpg

https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/73960/gw369.jpg

Please fix this and the host of other sylvari graphical glitches, as it is one of the primary reasons I don’t place the race more often.

Getting 4 level 80s to carry you. Trying to do AC right at 30 can be… rough, if you don’t know the dungeon well already.

I have one character slot left right now, and am considering either rolling a ranger or thief. I have tried both at some point and deleted, but I’d like to give one of them another go following the different changes accompanying the recent patch. If possible, could you all kindly give me your assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each in general pve, WvW, spvp, dungeons, etc., or even just the overall state of the classes in those areas? Also, if you have any overall thoughts or complaints about the strengths, weaknesses, or value of the classes in general I would be happy to hear them.

If you make projectiles in this game fast enough to where they have to actually be dodged in order to dodge, then there is no problem. If you are going to leave them so slow that simply jiggling the left and right buttons will allow a target to never be hit, then you need to make the projectiles track. Otherwise, your entire projectile mechanics system is simply broken.

jmatb.6307:

For gear, vendors sell weapons and equipment in level intervals of 5. Once you get to level 10 and every 5 levels, I’d take a look at your gear at these vendors and replace as you go.

NPC vendors do sell weapons and armor in these intervals, but they are invariably more expensive than the equivalent or superior equipment you can purchase from the Trading Post from other players. I wasted a few precious silver early on before figuring this out.

The mace is a lower damage weapon, and I have rarely found times when I’ve thought “Boy, I should really use a mace here”. Aesthetically, though, I’d love to try to make some of the maces work, and I like the idea of combining the regular healing in the weapon on top of other AH-oriented build heals. I see value in using it as a defensive off-set, though I am curious if it can be used as a main set as well. When and where, then, can a mace be used to the best of its potential, and are there any builds that would likely maximize this potential? Pve/Pvp/whatever…

darthsmall.8246:

Hmmm….Kinda think it’s a little bit silly that warriors aren’t effective with the shield as the traditional stereotype of a warrior is sword/shield

To be fair, shield isn’t that great on a Guardian either. Also has long cooldowns and has no “block” effect at all (only a projectile absorb). It isn’t bad, it is just a highly situational weapon that is usually outclassed in most pve by something like a Focus.

Hello all. I have limited play time, and while I have been 80 and in exotics on my guardian for awhile, I haven’t spent much time in dungeons. I would like to get the monthly achievement for dungeons. Could you provide a rough ranking of difficulty of the different dungeons so that I know which ones I will likely be able to finish more easily/quickly, and which require more practice or a higher skill cap to finish? Thank you.

yosei.9351:

how do you tank?!

I think the most important thing to take away that Tomkatt mentioned is don’t try. You can strategically try to draw aggro, but no one has the durability to be a tank in the traditional sense in this game, and no one has the ability to heal a tank like a normal “healer” class would in other MMOs. Everyone has to watch their own tail, and make sure they keep themselves alive. There are certainly ways that party members can aid each other with boons and different utilities, but you can’t approach this game with the same tank/healer/dps trinity mindset as you would in WoW, EQ2, or any other classic MMO.

Hm, this skill has a problem that was at most a minor annoyance to a few people. Better destroy its viability entirely to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

The engineer class seems to have had it pretty rough. With the changes to kits and (part of) the turrets, is this update any significant boost in areas of concern or just a minor alteration? I have only a limited time to play, which is why I have been hesitant to jump onboard with a neglected class, but it is still piquing my interest.

I transferred from a WvW guild on CD to NSP to play PVE with some rl friends. What with guesting coming soon, I’m trying to decide whether to stay on NSP. I figured I’d give it a go with one of the larger guilds. What are some of the more prominent/larger/organized WvW guilds on NSP to look into?

The Gates Assassin.9827:

Seriously. I’ve been playing engineer…

foofad.5162:

Look, I realize you want to be right, but there’s a lot of Guardians in this thread

OP, you are just looking at a slate of skills and ignoring how any combination of them can be effectively played. Being a healer is not possible as a Guardian. Some good defensive utility can be used. This does not a healer make. Some control skills can be used. It is just silly to compare their effectiveness to the aggro control of a tank in an MMO with the trinity in tact. The Guardian is one of the best defensive supporters. Others excel in different forms of support.

The Engineer is hardly in a great place right now, so your comparisons between the two classes are likely misplaced. Unless you actually expected all classes to be equally capable at all things, with only slight rearrangements of button icons, skill names, and class aesthetics, I’m not sure what you are really upset about, because it doesn’t seem to square with the experiences of all of the people who posted above me (and myself) who have actually played this class.

You can develop roles in dungeons, certainly, with a Guardian or Ele being assigned to condition removal during particularly onerous parts of specific dungeons, or a Mesmer being assigned to make sure to use Feedback for particularly painful turrets, for example, but you will have to more or less abandon the notion of “roles” in the sense held by traditional MMOs. You can heal as an ele, but you certainly can’t be a healer. No one can put out enough regular healing in a way that would make that role possible. There are informal aggro mechanics that can be manipulated, but no one really has the tools to reliably “tank” in the traditional sense (so yes, you and everyone else will need to be kiting, dodging, etc. actively). So, group organization and role coordination means something different in this game. Everyone needs to be doing damage, everyone needs to be bringing some tools for personal survivability (since no one is really strong enough to “save” someone from major mistakes), and everyone needs to know how to manage their own character with dodging, using combo fields, and watching bosses in order to identify and avoid major attacks. Everyone thus needs to be more self-reliant than in traditional MMOs, but that doesn’t mean acting without coordination. The lines between tradition roles are just blurred and overlapped, and more flexibility is required.

Also, AC is a far more painful dungeon than some other ones if you don’t have someone along who knows what to expect and help coordinate actions, especially when playing it at the early levels. Having a bad group will only exacerbate this.

Just curious if anyone knows.

BringBackMonks.7068:

He was somehow managing to block my cc every 30 seconds also.

With a common trait, especially for bunkers, they could be using Stand Your Ground! at 24 second recharge, and/or Save Yourselves! at 40-something seconds, and/or Judge’s Intervention. You would need to use some back-to-back-to-back, or coordinated CC if they have more than one of these equipped. Guardians can also have decent passive anti-condition alongside these, or active, depending on the rest of their load out.

Overall, though, I will reiterate the main point: you just got outplayed, especially if it was five of you in a PUG. It happens. If the guard played their maneuvering properly, had the right weapons/utilities for bunkering, and didn’t panic and blow their cooldowns, staying alive for 2 minutes against an uncoordinated gaggle is doable and hardly unfair given how simple it is to actually counter with any level of coordination via repeated conditions and CC, and how much the guard probably had to give up in terms of offensive power.

Thank you for the feedback everyone. I do enjoy the things that a guardian can bring in terms of defensive utility, but I still would like to try something with a bit more ranged offensive flair. I can always use my guardian for brawling if I get the urge. I may still try a warrior, but I’ll go looking around for a bit first before sinking too much time into one.

I have a guardian main which I enjoy in general pve, dungeons, and most of the time in spvp, but am less than pleased at their limited uses in WvW combat. The lack of range is a pain. Consequently, I was thinking about trying a warrior primarily for pve and wvw. How is the class faring in these areas? Anything I should note in terms of play difference versus guardians overall, or things to beware/take advantage of? Am I off the mark here and should just roll something else more fitting for wvw?

Sylvari, Male, Thief

The starting hood for the thief has some weird graphical issues occurring. As you can see in the image, the side of the hood will jut out as if disconnected from the rest of hood. The top of the hood also seems a bit pointier than I thought I had seen on human models, though I could be mistaken there. It is noticeable at rest, but is especially glaring while in a combat stance.

I am wearing a starter leather vest, req lvl 4 rawhide leggings, req lvl 2 rawhide boots, and superior studded gloves along with my starter hood. The effect occurs even when wearing nothing but the hood, however.

The starting subterfuge hood on my sylvari male thief has odd graphics issues. Part of the side just sort of juts out, most notably when I am in a combat-ready stance. It is really annoying. Is this an issue of poor design, or a fixable glitch?

I was just curious if people with experience, preferably with both classes, could give me a cursory overview of the play experience of the two classes and their differences. I have one slot left ankittenrying to choose. By play experience, I mean general playstyle characterizations… active, repetitive, squishy, bursty, diverse… as well as some overall judgments as to where they stand, both alone and comparatively, in the different aspects of the game (general PvE, dungeons, WvW, SPvP, etc.). Other concerns about the state of the classes are certainly welcome. I’m not concerned with min-maxing as much as general experience, and am looking for something different than my Guardian main. As a minor point, I might like something that can be a bit more… proactive than my range-limited and less-mobile Guardian has been in WvW, and I imagine both Ranger and Thief could fill this goal.

Sin, greatsword is far and away one of the best weapons for the class, so you won’t go wrong there. One-handed sword is good as well with nice damage, a blind/blink attack, and projectile blocking, but shield is less popular. Its best uses are more situational, while something like a focus tends to be more useful for defense in most of the general pve you will encounter. If you prefer wielding a shield, by all means go for it though.

Guardian general play will be different from your thief. You won’t even blink an eye at being able to kill 4-6 regular mobs once you know what you are doing with the class, how to use blinds, shouts, protection skills, virtues, and traiting properly. You have high toughness, and can take a hit, but what makes a guardian tanky is that it has ways of not having to take the hit at all, or lessening the blow and countering with healing. This is also why guardians have the lowest health pool, yet are still generally considered more durable than a warrior.

Guardians do well in most all aspects of pve and pvp, but less so in WvW. It isn’t that you can’t perform there, but you have no real reliable ranged weapons, something important to WvW, so while you will certainly help the group you are with with buffs and protection, it will be harder for you to kill a lot of kill credit and badges when compared to some other classes.

For my general pve build I use a 0/15/30/20/5 build with gear focused on power/precision/toughness (and a handful of pieces with some vitality in accessories). I generally use a greatsword/sword+focus, though I sometimes use a hammer for groups.

For more specific advice, I recommend the Guardian 101 text by Eveningstar posted at the top of this forum.

For leveling, I focused on gear with Power, then Precision and/or toughness. Get some jewelry with toughness and vitality if you feel like you are too squishy.

For early money, learn what sells well on the trading post instead of just selling everything to the merchants (don’t bother salvaging). Most blue gear dropped can just be sold to the merchant, but almost all low-level cloth armor, rags, and crafting supplies (blood, poison, totems, claws, etc.) will sell for 20-50 copper a piece, depending on the market.

You haven’t started really playing any class only 10 levels in, so try to avoid snap judgments. Several classes only begin to shine halfway to 80. That said, if you are using at least blue gear close to your level as a Guardian, and you are playing it properly (using your blinds, using shouts and virtues properly, traiting properly, dodging intelligently, etc), you should fairly soon have no problem running into a group of half a dozen normal foes, kill them, and walk away close to unscathed. Veterans and champions are similar, but just take longer. This is a very durable class that can also do decent damage, and brings fantastic support (while doing damage) in dungeons and “end game”.

@escherbach
Hm, I hadn’t really considered or observed that effect. What color/hair setup do you use to get that feel?

Billza.8361:

Sylvari Engineer represent!

http://i.imgur.com/ClWLU.jpg
http://imgur.com/NJSsR.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/4rUYf.jpg

That really is the best face/hair combo for male Sylvari (though I prefer different colors). I don’t know why people always pick the ghastly bark-face models; they look awful to me. I also enjoyed your mix of leather and plant armors. I’ll have to incorporate some of that if I level my Sylvari engineer further.

Drakent, I can’t speak with much specificity on the matter (not my primary class), but my general impression is that in spite of the brokenness of much of the Necro class, when played properly it is actually very durable, and capable of killing large groups of enemies (if more slowly). I’ve certainly seen this in action, and seen several guides in this forum demonstrating as much. Perhaps there are some playstyle tips other could provide for you to help you adjust to what the Necro actually is, as opposed to what you thought it might be? One thing worth noting is the relative crappiness of Necro pets right now, and thus the weakness of minion-focused builds as opposed to condition or power focused builds.

The Krytan Sword skin is probably your best bet, though they are still not quite thin enough. They are cheap and everywhere in human areas.