Guild Wars 2

Ilias.8647:

I ’ve played S/S-LB for quite long…

PvE wise you should (ideally) prefer Sinister armor/trinkets stat above Rampagers.

If that’s impossible to get for some reason Rampagers armor Dire/Rabid trinkets OR Carrion armor and Rampager trinkets… but really TRY to get full Sinister.

As of runes (going a bit further) I would suggest Aristocracy ones!

Thanks for this and all the other replies!

As someone who has been out of the game for months and is just coming back, I don’t know where to find gear w/ the sinister stat combo. Is it craftable? If so I will get to work on leveling my armorsmithing

Hi all, and thanks in advance to anyone taking the time to read and reply to this.

Coming back to the game and dusting off my L60 warrior, I want to level him up to 80 and play around with the new talent and skill system. The only thing I know for sure is that I really enjoy S/S gameplay (world PVE rampaging basically) and want that to be the focus for this character.

My question is, what would be the best distribution of gear for this playstyle? I was thinking a full Rampager set would work well but with the new changes, would going for more condition damage be advisable? Rampager/Rabid/Carrion mix of some kind?

Would love to hear from S/S enthusiasts on this

Been using this setup myself for a few weeks and really enjoying it.

Traits are simple enough to switch over to GS/Staff, and the damage output is very nice no matter which way you go. I prefer signet traits with bane signet, signet of judgment, and SYG for stability. Extra power and extra damage reduction is generally helpful.

And, when I want to use my one-handed weapons, just flip a few traits and utilities and it works fantastically.

As my beloved TC was working together toward glorious victory (which, for those of you who have never played with TC, is the single best reason to join the server)…

I was stuck in a hopeless overflow server with zero cooperation, teamwork. At the end, a map chat full of “WTH, I didn’t even get anything for that!” Of course not. Didn’t even make it past the first phase.

I did sneak in an early morning attempt on TC this morning and it was pretty clear that Teq was going down sooner rather than later on the homeworld. Just wish I could have been in on the action on this attempt. I’m sure there were people guesting that were keeping me from my home server as well.

I’m just going to log out for a few days and wait until people can decide to work together before trying it again because AFKers, leechers, trolls, and faceroll specialists are taking what should be a fun event and turning it into an exercise in frustration and futility.

Frustrating as it is, most importantly, CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BEST SERVER EVER on being among the first to complete the event!

I run 10-30-0-20-10 with GS/Staff.

Inscribed removal is nice since the on-use of our signets is not always super useful, and Perfect Inscriptions gives us a nice stat boost. The 10 pts in Virtues gives me the ability to spam VoJ and stack might in the process when there are a lot of small mobs, and I think every one of the traits in that first tier of Virtues is very useful and thus a good investment of points.

Nice thing is, if I ever feel like playing with my 1h weapons just for grins, a couple quick changes makes that incredibly easy. Switch Perfect Inscriptions for Right Hand Strength, switch 2H Mastery to Empowering Might, and you’re good to go with no trip to town to switch traits.

It is a nice and versatile build with a good balance of flexibility and high damage.

Just what I was looking for, thanks.

I played a Ranger a while ago, before the last patches that changed some of the pet AI things and some of the issues with Longbow (the aftercast time, projectile speed, Hunter’s Shot) were addressed.

I’m rolling a fresh ranger, and had a couple of trait questions regarding what traits to take to improve pet performance.

- Is Agility Training (Skirmishing VI) required to hit targets in PvE if they are moving, or is this more of a PvP-centric trait? I will be using longbow, so if it helps pets engage in combat faster on pet swap, that would be useful as well, but primarily I am concerned with the pet hitting its targets.

- Which other trait from the same tier of Skirmishing is the most useful for general PvE roaming?

- With regard to the first tier of Beastmaster traits, which do all of you prefer for PvE? I think with the increased vitality pets will be gaining, Master’s Bond could actually be pretty useful.

Thanks in advance for your consideration of my questions.

I was going to add earlier, that it’s pretty safe to go with more offensive stats when you’re leveling up.

At 80, I like using Knight’s gear which has high Toughness plus precision and power, and then some Berserker and Valkyrie accessories which add critical damage, precision, power, and a little bit of Vitality.

Generally, when I am leveling any new character, I go with all offensive stats until I feel squishy and then shore up wherever necessary – either by traits or by gear.

In the case of the Guardian, there is a lot of good defense built right in to the class. Passive healing from Virtue of Resolve, Aegis, lots of Blind if you go with the Radiance traits, and a variety of ways to get passive and active condition removal. It makes it pretty easy to go with offense in your gear and not feel like you’re giving up a lot. Especially since you guys are playing together, it will be hard to get into truly tough situations as you’re out in the open world unless there are events with a lot of veterans or an overwhelming number of mobs.

Glad you have found some success with the first dungeon run – if you’re coming from WoW or Rift or another game of that ilk, the dungeons are like moving from middleweight to heavyweight.

As you are leveling, there is really no right or wrong answer. I would recommend switching traits around frequently to try out different specific traits and see how they work together or work for her play-style. Retraining traits is incredibly cheap (probably less than 2 silver at that level).

There are a few traits that I have found fun and effective as I was leveling and at 80, and I play in a duo with my wife as well so maybe they would fit for your purpose too.

15pts in Radiance + 5 Points in Virtues + Whatever else you want

Every mob you kill resets Virtue of Justice. Every time she pops Virtue of Justice, each of you get 3 stacks of might. When you’re both mowing down enemies AOE style (I use greatsword as my main weapon as well), she can give you guys both a lot of might stacks as long as she remembers to keep popping VoJ. It takes a while to get used to always popping it but it’s a pretty easy adjustment. I bound my VoJ to my middle mouse button to make it easier and more accessible.

20 points in Honor for Two-Handed Mastery (plus either larger symbols or reduced Shout cooldown)

I run with this in most builds, I really enjoy having lower cooldowns on my weapon skills because it allows for more activity. When I want to use 1h weapons, I switch out Two-Handed Mastery for Empowering Might, which stacks might on everyone in the group.

20 points in Virtues -

I use this sometimes for the 25% increase in Virtue of Resolve, which also adds condition removal. I like stashing some condition removal somewhere and the 20% boon duration you get for going this far into the Virtues tree is useful in pretty much any Guardian build. The first tier traits all have a space as well. Extra retaliation uptime, longer lasting spirit weapons, two different consecration improvements… there’s basically always something useful in there.

10 points in Zeal for Fiery Wrath

Extra 10% damage for any enemies that are on fire, which will be all of them most of the time – especially when combined with the 15point Radiance trait. It’s a pretty cheap investment of trait points for a good chunk of damage.

Hope that’s a good starting point.

For a TL;DR summary, try what sounds interesting to see what works for both of you. Guardian has a lot of useful applications in duo play that are a lot of fun. Good luck.

Feel free to send me a PM if you have questions or to let me know how it goes =D

I have no interest in crafting, so I’m going to be disappointed if that gates me from getting my mitts on some ascended weaponry.

… stockpiling MF gear so I can convert it into zerker gear at the patch and save some dough =D

I see in the update notes that Magic Find is going to be removed as a gear stat and changed to an account-wide stat.

I own an ascended neckpiece with a +20% Magic Find utility infusion. If a dev or knowledgeable player could let me know what will happen to that infusion, I would appreciate it greatly.

If I had to guess…

1.) The 20% magic find will be added to my account-wide bonuses and the infusion will be removed.

2.) The 20% magic find will not be added to my account-wide bonuses and the infusion will be changed to something else. Someone in Trade Chat mentioned +20% Boon Duration … I’d be SO OKAY with that.

3.) The infusion will be removed and 20 laurels refunded.

Thanks in advance for considering my question.

This happened to me twice as well, and to my wife at the same time. We were in a group and tried to join at the same time and got thrown into two separate PvP servers.

She’s still mad at me o.O She thinks I tried to trick her into playing sPvP!

Kal Spiro.9745:

archerT.1935:

This kind of crap makes me want to find a new hobby.

I think cosmetic stuff and convenience stuff such as the mining pick and sickle are perfect cash shop items. This RNG stuff is garbage, and I bet a large portion of the player base that is actually spending significant amounts of money on them are too young to buy lottery tickets at a gas station.

WTB paid expansion for 60 dollars with real, significant upgrades and content.

So don’t buy them. No one is forcing you. I’ve been playing since the head start and I have yet to spend a single gem on one of these boxes.

I haven’t, and won’t spend any money on the boxes.

My issue is with the fact that so many of their events/“new content” is just using casino psychology to separate people from their money, with little emphasis on fresh, new, and entertaining content… for which I’d gladly open my wallet.

I’m just lamenting out loud that I’m in the minority of the market on that one. Maybe I’m just old fashioned.

/wheniwasyourageiwalkeduphilltoschoolinthesnowinbothdirections

This kind of crap makes me want to find a new hobby.

I think cosmetic stuff and convenience stuff such as the mining pick and sickle are perfect cash shop items. This RNG stuff is garbage, and I bet a large portion of the player base that is actually spending significant amounts of money on them are too young to buy lottery tickets at a gas station.

WTB paid expansion for 60 dollars with real, significant upgrades and content.

The best advice, and it goes for all characters (not just Guardian), is that it’s good to be flexible. It sounds like you don’t have an issue with this but I’ll still explain why it’s useful.

Different situations and different enemy types require different tactics. While you are out of combat, you can switch up your major traits, utility skills, and weapon sets to best fit the situation.

Enemies using lots of bleeding and poison? Throw in some traits or utility skills that have condition removal. Doing an event with a lot of other players? Throw a Staff in your weapon set and use #4 to give everybody HUGE stacks of might.

Also, Gary (a few posts above) nailed it on trait selecting – the stats are important now while you are low level, but by the time you are more advanced, you’ll be using gear to mold your stat distribution. Look at the stats as a bonus and pick by the traits that are the most interesting to you.

Good luck =D

Hi all, thanks in advance for reading this thread and helping me answer a couple of questions about my planned level 80 Guardian build.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.3|1.1k.h4|2.1n.h1f|1n.7m.1n.7m.1n.7m.1n.7m.1n.7m.1n.7m|1k.68.1k.68.1k.68.1k.68.1k.68.8a.68|0.k00.0.u29c.k29|a.7|w.z.19.16.1j|e

There’s a link to what I am planning on using on gw2buildcraft.com – it is mostly complete. For those who want the quick and dirty version here, it looks like this.

WEAPONS: GS/_ (Hammer/Staff/Other – I like to bring an arsenal with me)
ARMOR: 6x Knight’s with 6x Dolyak runes
ACCESSORIES: All Cleric’s with Cleric jewels
TRAITS: 15 Radiance (VI) / 30 Honor (II,IX,XII) / 25 Virtues ( II / IX)

Key points: ~1k Healing Power, ~30% Critical Chance, +25% Boon Duration and Virtue Recharge

It is intended to be high on toughness and healing power with over 3k armor, along with the Absolute Resolution trait to beef up passive healing and add condition removal. I like changing utilities often, but generally run with a couple of shouts and Purifying Flames or Signet of Judgment for the passive damage reduction. I also would be popping Virtue of Justice as often as possible, where the 15 points in Radiance are to keep it recharging. Damage would be pretty moderate with high Retaliation uptime.

MY SPECIFIC QUESTIONS:

What sigils would you recommend on weapons (non-killstacking variety) ?

Is 1k healing power enough to make a noticeable difference in VoR and healing skill efficiency?

Are the Dolyak runes overkill on toughness and regen and, if so, what would you recommend? Defensive rune categories preferred.

Thank you again for your feedback.

Trickery is a great trait line, which has some great initiative management traits in Hastened Replenishment, Initial Strike, Preparedness, and Kleptomaniac.

I like that Steal can be traited in other lines, and the cooldown reduction is useful as you trait Steal to do more things. You usually don’t need to do EVERYTHING you can trait Steal to do all at one time, but you can use it to do a very wide variety of things.

For my build personally, I go with 20 into Trickery and trait Mug, Thrill of the Crime, and sometimes Bountiful Theft. So, combined with the shadowstep effect and the +3 initiative on steal, it’s pretty useful in a lot of different ways.

I find it far more active and engaging than any Ranger, Guardian, Warrior, or Necromancer class mechanic’s use and Steal + Initiative are the difference-making class features that make it my favorite character by far.

deepwinter.9015:

Just allow us to have dodge rolls interrupt the chain. That’s all I ask.

If we can’t move normally because we’re “stuck” to a target, fine. I get that. In fact, I like being stuck to my target. All I ask is that if other abilities can stop the chain, why can’t a dodge roll?

This.

To expand, a couple things… first, Hornet’s Sting is much more situational than dodge-rolling due to terrain restraints and the need to use its follow-up skill as a leap back in to combat. The Monarch’s Leap skill also has a relatively short window of effective use and there have been many times where I have tried to use Sting —> Warhorn #4 (birdswarm thing) --→ Monarch’s Leap , and been unable to do so because the timer on the #2 attack chain had expired. Tactically, you basically have to use Sting—>Leap almost back-to-back. Your other alternative is to use Hornet’s Sting and switch to a ranged weapon once the animation is complete. It is, in most ways, NOT a functional replacement to a dodge roll – the basic evasive maneuver of all classes where the only restriction is player endurance.

Serpent’s Strike is less problematic, but still feels unresponsive as a dodge/attack built in to one button. On my Thief main (D/D condition build), I can time my Leaping Death Blossoms and they feel almost immediately responsive when compared to SS. If we weren’t supposed to use dodge roll while using the sword’s #1 chain, they could have made 2 and 3 more responsive.

So, TLDR… Sword 2 and 3 are not replacements for the inability to dodge, they are different tactical maneuvers with different limitations and potential applications. And not being able to dodge within the main attack chain is bad, and aNet should feel bad that this is still the case so far into the game’s growth.

P.S. Save my pet names while you’re at it!

I am in my mid-60’s on my Thief and beginning to plan out which build I will use at level 80. As I don’t have any level 80 characters, I don’t really know what types of builds excel at end-game content. I have a couple of ideas and would like some advice and commentary from the more experienced thieves out there to help me finish out my build in the most efficient way.

This build would be for PvE – open-world farming and events, and for dungeons. I am not interested in fractals.

I primarily enjoy D/D and SB as my two weapons, and would like to focus on a bleed-based build using caltrops, dodge-trops, and Dagger Storm as my elite. I plan on putting 20 points in both Trickery and Acrobatics, which will allow me to switch out traits for solo-oriented and group-oriented play.

My main hang-up is on where to put the remaining thirty points.

Deadly Arts allows for consistent weakness application with both weapons, which would be great for a lot of group comps, and also offers the very handy bonus to condition duration. The downside is that the major traits are, by and large, not very exciting to me.

Critical Strikes allows for more appealing major traits at every level, but has less synergy with a condition-based build. First glance, I would likely take the Side Strike, Combo Critical Chance, and Executioner traits. I would also likely use a Sigil of Earth on my weapon to help apply higher stacks of bleeding.

So, here are the specific things I would like some insight on as I move toward 80 and plan out my gear acquisition and build.

1.) I have been using a weapon sigil that adds to my condition damage after each kill, but am wondering if maybe a sigil that adds power would be more generally effective? At level 80, is the difference in damage noticeable if you stack for high condition damage?

2.) In a bleed-based build, how often do you run up against issues with hitting the 25-stack bleed cap at max level? I would imagine it happens frequently with world events just due to the sheer number of people, but what about in small instance groups?

3.) Is it viable/advisable to try and split Condition Damage and Power instead of stacking condition damage? This would basically be a hedge against running into bleed cap issues and adding to direct damage caused by having lots of critical strikes.

4.) I am looking at Whispers and Carrion armor specifically as being well-tailored to my playstyle. I am not familiar with all of the armor types, is there another type you would advise looking at?

5.) In groups, I pay attention to my positioning and flank as often as possible and will likely go with 6x Thief runes. Is there another option that you would suggest? Specifically, those that increase bleed duration to maximize their effectiveness?

Thank you in advance for your replies, I am looking forward to hearing some great advice from all of you. I will be monitoring this thread so if you have questions about my playstyle that could help you give a better answer, please ask so I can help you help me

Had this problem on a couple of my characters, it is especially noticeable with gray and blonde hair color variants.

It is incredibly annoying.

Very excited to see the big update coming, as well as the devs monitoring this thread.

If one of the mods could answer… it is not specifically listed in the preview, but will there be bug fixes and class balance changes (stick with the broadest definition for this one, I don’t want to start an argument about specific things to be changed, added) or other maintenance things rolled into this patch?

And if you’re feeling generous, are you guys working on changes to improve the gameplay and feel of the classes?