Guild Wars 2

@Dante, thank you SO much for the reply. I also use Hammer/GS for PvE, so your advice is very helpful. It makes sense to go fully into Valor, too. All of the details are extremely helpful, so I appreciate you writing out so much! I’m not happy with the ret build, so I’ll give your build and traits a try.

Do you run hammer/GS in WvWvW also? I was thinking going hammer/staff?

@KensaiZen, that’s exactly why I’m not whining. For one thing, it’s not going to change, so we’d better get used to it. Are people really going to quit the game for changing one weapon??
Using hammer main and switching to GS for WW + SoW enemies still live is a WAY better game than just using GS alone was. You still get excellent DPS, but much more utility than GS alone. I think this change honestly just put GS on the same level as all the other weapons, instead of making it the “only” DPS choice. I think they wanted to force us into more variety. I mean, 9 out of 10 PvE guardians were running almost pure GS builds for leveling.
GS is till a good weapon, but users will be switching weapons more often, which is a good thing.

Although I’m not going to whine about it, I want to point out that it did indeed cause me to change TO a retaliation build. I know that sounds odd, but I was using a GS Symbol/Cond Dmg build. Since this change kind of messed that build up, I went looking for something better. Hammer/ret build with GS or staff second weap for PvE AND Hammer/ret build with staff or possibly scepter second weapon. Basically, I’m suddenly using a hammer ret build for everything is my point, when I’d never even looked at one before.

So if their goal was to get people to stop using high ret builds, that failed. I DO think it probably caused MORE people to take high ret builds.

Interesting….

I’ve recently reached 80 on my guardian. I’ve only done a bit of WvW (I don’t intend to do much if any sPvP), and I intend to do a lot more WvW. I also want to finish soloing the PvE maps (4 or 5 zones still left to complete).

I wanted to have traits that could be used for either PvE or WvW, while only switching weapon sets. For PvP, I went with Staff/Scepter-shield. For PvE, I’ve gone with GS/Hammer. I know about the recent changes to GS, but as I had already purchased an Exotic GS, I’ll just have to live with them, won’t I?

My hope is to make a decent dps/retaliation spec, while still retaining good survivability. I don’t feel I’ve quite go it though.

Edit: Can’t seem to get the links to work, so will just say it’s a 0/15/20/20/15 spec, most stuff into Retaliation, some into 2h or shout cooldowns.

I currently have Divinity runes on my armor, which is mostly (still working on it) Draconic Vakyrie (Power, Vitality, crit dmg).

I’m looking for a critique of this idea, but also any suggestions on a possibly better spec, specifically for traits, that provides good survivability and decent (doesn’t have to be fabulous!) dps.

I really appreciate any advice. Be gentle, I’m new and I’ve tried about 10 different Trait specs, with at least 4 different weapons, and I ’m just having a VERY hard time settling on something.