I think Warrior vs Guardian, skill has a lot to do with the outcome. But if we assume equal skill, at a higher-tier, on point, Warrior will have a slight disadvantage, off point Warrior will have a major advantage. In lower-tier, Warrior will likely beat Guardian, due to the fact that Warrior is currently a much better 1v1 class, but Guardian is much better at team fights.
I would consider myself equal opportunist. I played all previous season and did pretty well, except this one. If anything I am protesting the drastic nerf on the rewards.
I am still having a blast in unranked pvp though.
For a while I was thinking of buying some gold in one of the sites thinking there were legitimately earned, and that their price were way cheaper. Upon hearing this I am glad that I didn’t do it. I am glad the OP decides to share this story, and I hope more potential gold buyers are reading this post.
I have Sunrise, but not Eternity. But even if I have Twilight, I don’t know if I will make Eternity. Something to consider, if you get Eternity you will have 1 legendary gs instead of 2. With legendary you can change states, and it also guarantees the best stats forever. Since everyone’s got ascended, I wouldn’t be surprised if Anet decided to add another tier in the future. If that happens you have 1 less gs to grind to get the best tier.
I am tier 3 gold in season 5, I can safely say I will not be joining season 6 at all. Anet really doesn’t need to reduce the shards especially when it requires the crafting tokens. Now the grind is just too much.
Don’t get me wrong I enjoy the pvp games, but I’ll just join unranked game instead. At least its not always meta builds there.
Warriors deserved to be nerfed more then they were. Expect them to be the most popular class next season.
I would say that honor still goes to DH. But warrior’s pop will prob still increase due to all the Rev jump ship to be warriors instead.
Just so you know meta pvp warrior didn’t change much with the path. At high pvp levels, warrior isn’t all that strong.
With the buff in Mesmer and Ranger, it will be hard to say whether warrior will be in a good spot.
This is the consensus of the community, I don’t think you should blame Anet for it. Personally I rather they have both “solo queue”, and “team queue” Just note that the queue time for “team queue” will take a long time. And putting them together would be really unfair for the solo queuers.
Lol, this must be how wall street sleeps at night after the financial crisis.
OP, I think you got it mixed up. This game is not about no-grinding, it is about grinding for the things you want to grind, and if you don’t care for them, you don’t need to grind for them.
I am a 38-year-old dad, with a busy job. I managed 9 lvl 80 chars, each with elite spec, 5 of these char are fully-ascended, with 1 legendary about to get the 2nd, and tier-3 gold in pvp, regularly maining around 4 different classes in both pvp and pve, and I have never set foot in fractal, or raid, only did a few dungeons when it was relevant. I play 1 to 2 hours per night at most. Most of the time I just login do a couple of pvp match and done. This is more like a stress relief from work for me. I don’t feel my experience is a grind at all.
Take level an alt, if you login regularly you will have enough tomb of experience, all you have to do click it 80 times, then it become the question of gearing it up, and getting the elite spet. This is fun imo, since I get to try different built use different abilities. If you want to get everything right away, then sure it feels like a grind, however, you don’t need to get everything, your char is no more or less effective than others with moderate effort.
Figuring out what you really want and have time for, and pace yourself.
It’s also why match quality is at a all time low now.
Actually I find the match quality to be much better than the previous 4 seasons. I often get 400+ vs 500 games, rarely I see lopsided matches. I also see more turn-around games. Rarely I can predict the outcome of the game by its class make-up (which I can in previous seasons)
I am one of these casual pvper that joined ranked only for its reward, with all previous seasons I might add.
From what I’ve personally noticed since ANet started to bribe PvEers to PvP in ranked in Season 1. GW2’s PvP match quality took a complete nose dive and has been getting worst and worst ever since. Now that is coming from a, ex dedicated GW2 PvP player who had 20 plus active PvP friends at one point. Who now sucks at this game from lack of practice, and playing.
Again since you’ve asked this question I can only talk from my personal view. The PvE rewards mixed with the lack of PvP support in GW2 has me with a friends list of a bunch of inactive friends. And now I struggle to play GW2 for longer then one hour at a time at best.
To me the huge PvE rewards helped big time, in completely destroying PvP in GW2 for me. To the point it forced me to look for PvP elsewhere. But meh what do ANet cares, I expect this to be infracted, by the admins, and then ban me from the forums for one month, just for the kittens and giggles.
TL;DL
Bringing huge PvE rewards into PvP. Has completely made the game mode for me and my old PvP friends who no longer PvPs in GW2, boring and close to unplayable. Because the match quality was decreased by many many folds.
Wahhh, talk about being negative. You do realize there is something called MMR right? If a new PvEer doesn’t know what he is doing he will quickly get placed in low bonze. You, as an experienced PVPer can basically avoiding him the entire season except maybe the first couple of their match.
There is only 2 ways that you get to play with him again:
1. If he has gotten good enough to have the similar MMR as you, an experienced PVPer, which is what the system intended.
2. You have fallen so far down the MMR to be on his level. That’s also not bad since you don’t really want to be farmed by other more skilled PVPers.
- Revs have been appropriately nerfed (still need more nerfs/redesign but whatever)
Could you care to elaborate more in this point, please? I mean: power Rev is now probably outside the meta (I wouldn’t cover any of the 5 slots of a team with them), is arguably one of the hardest classes to master, the condition builds are subpar and is losing appeal in other departments of the game. Also, the class is mostly absent in ranked matches at gold or below. Which further nerfs would you like to see in Revenants? Should be enough once dissapears from PvP or should must also fade from PvE and WvW?
I’m tired so I don’t care to elaborate : D
Rev is badly designed. It shouldnt be any surprise that hacking its damage away has taken it out of play. Essentialy all the buttons people were using are still there, and they can still mash them away with little effort for maximum “reward”, but since they’re no longer getting an in excess of reasonable amount of damage, they’ve moved on. Nothing’s really changed with rev except for the free DPS carry, so reverting said damage isnt going to change the reason why Rev needed that nerf to begin with. I don’t know how to do it, but rev needs to be redesigned. Or, better yet in, have it disappear from the game entirely. It is just one of the many poorly thought out, over the top HoT additions that ruined the game.
Fact: The game is healthier without Rev. Season 5 has been a good indicator of that.
Hmmm, you are the mesmer main that plays “killshot mesmer”, and want to nerf Rev. That tells me a lot.
why not espot?
1. I am sick of seeing 4+ DH in the every game, just because they are not used in ESL
2. I am also sick of Rev been nerf to hell, because every team in ESL used one.
3. I am sick of 3 month balance patches
The point of esport is to attract viewers, which hopefully able to convert these viewers to players.
Here is the problem, gw2 is too complicated, too many skills to use, to many aoe.
Even for a 4-year veteran player like myself, it is hard to make out what’s going on in a team fight, how about a person who never played? If I am a new player, I’ll take look at one match, and think this is a complete mess.
So I am asking you Anet if your ESL can’t attract viewer thus new players, what good is it?
I agree, perhaps just the top 250 or 1000, for the rest of us, just display a percentile.
Another thing look at it this way, in other MMO, they raise the level cap instead. Would you try to use a lvl 60 rogue in vanilla WoW to beat a lvl 70 expansion rogue? Why don’t you try that and see how that goes.
At least in GW2 it’s not impossible.
Also IMO, HOT is well worth its full price, if you consider the continued updates, raids, fractal, living stories (new maps) Even pvp, stronghold aside, the 2 new maps in unranked is pretty fun.
Anet adding HoT is a business decision – after all they are in business to make money and HoT, and subsequent expansions, are how they do it. HoT specs are meant to be better in some ways and do out perform core specs but this is by design as an expansion so that they can continue both to function as an entertainment provider and a as thriving business. if you do not want to get HoT you will be at a disadvantage but not impossibly so and you can still enjoy sPvP (as well as other game modes) if you know this going in.
I’m sorry but this is just naive, and blatantly untrue.
Anyone with any business sense in the MMO industry would not have released this expansion or would have waited a very long time to do so based just on the beta community feedback alone. And ANet was in no shape of need whatsoever to release one. ANet’s profit margins from the release in 2012 were so massive they’re still riding that revenue. It literally came down to a vocal minority whining about the lack of hard PvE/new maps/no expansions (why anyone would even actively want these I do not understand), and since it’s about PvE, ANet delivered.
Almost 70% of ANet’s revenue during the expansion-sales period on a month-by-month basis both before and after came from gem charges. The expansion sold terribly, was expected by analysts and players to sell terribly, had multiple PR nightmares before it even launched, and has factually caused large-scale disinterest in the game. ANet lost more than it gained by a very large margin due to it, so much so that even NCSoft administration has directly criticized the expansion as an economic waste/failure.
The irony of it all is that HoT was not sold to be a major PvE expansion but a functionality one (elite specs, raid tech, gliding, masteries, etc.), yet it most profoundly failed in a bulk majority of those while its redeeming facets were the PvE content that was even stated when it was first announced to be a minor player.
Basically ANet screwed themselves permanently with it by doing too much at once and not doing a good job. Colin quickly going to Amazon dodged a bullet because the expansion if not massively overhauled will straight-up kill the game as it has already started to, which would be a pretty big resume-killer without another major project/game in between looking for a new job.
@OP: Don’t bother, and don’t ever bother trusting ANet with your money again, either. Literally every single promise made about HoT was broken, down to the release of more legendary weapons.
And sorry Crinn, but aside from a few broken implementations, the state of the game’s balance at launch was by far and large astronomically better than it is now, where literally any build so long as it was founded in some sort of concept, worked.
just because things didn’t go well for HoT’s release doesn’t mean that it’s not business related, it’s naïve to think otherwise. Anet’s business saavy is not in question either, it was their decision to make and they made it, ultimately, to better their company. Furthermore, the bottom line is to get people to spend their money however they can and HoT was designed to be a part of that process. HoT specs give players incentive to buy it and all that goes with it, but that’s not a guarantee for success, that’s part of the enterprise of doing business.
HoT specs are stronger than core specs and that’s by design (it’s part of how gaming companies choose to do business – expansions and such), players can still enjoy many things at the core level, even in sPvP. The issue is should they expect to compete on the same level with the elite specs of HoT? no, HoT introduces specializations that can out preform core ones and that’s by Anet design. if elite specs of HoT didn’t offer more than core, what incentive is there to buy HoT?
Finally, if a player is aware that it is going to be difficult to compete with core specs against HoT elite specs in sPvP, then they can still enjoy gw2 sPvP (and other game modes). otherwise, they will be frustrated believing that they are on par with HoT elites. I personally enjoy gw2 but I do it realistically and with the understanding things will always be in development (my wife is a developer in another field – its always an ongoing process in web related development). so, I try not to complain.
I have to agree, a bad business decision does not mean it’s not a business decision. Also HOT is not necessarily a bad business decision, it didn’t sell poorly. As far as I remember, what did poorly was the conversion of free-to-play users to pay users.
Once you embrace the fact that (in the scrub tiers that i am) you will get AFK’ers rage quitters, salty talkers and PVE farmers
I am not sure what you consider scrub tier, but at gold it’s the same thing.
Not so sure about point 1. It’s been taking me quite some time and gold getting my necro geared in ascended, but just a week in pvp and I could get just about an entire set.
And on point 2, yes you get more pips for winning, (though if I remember correctly it is just an extra 7 or something like that, not 3 times the pips) but you can fly through matches much faster if you just afk and let your team get destroyed. Then just queue up for the next match and enjoy doing something else while you afk your matches, popping back in on occasion to keep your character active enough in the match to avoid the auto kick.
Handing out rewards for losing a match is just a bad method. Besides, those bad players will be in bronze and should be able to win 50% of the time against other bad players, so they will still get the rewards. The only difference will be:
- They won’t get any benefit from afk’ing or throwing matches.
- They will have better incentive to want to win the match.
- Players will not fish the reward tracks as fast as they currently are, keeping people invested in pvp longer and sustaining population longer.
You can say keeping these players in pvp longer would be bad because they suck, but if they aren’t getting anything for losing, they will be trying harder to win, and if they are just really bad then they shouldn’t be messing up your matches since they won’t be in your division unless you yourself are also bad.
About point 1, actually you can’t get the full asc set in PvP this season alone period. You can definitely get the full asc set in a week in pve if you just join the HOT meta events and sell everything.
About point 2, you get 3 pips per lost, 10 per win, that’s 3.3333 times. come on people.
Due to point 1 and 2,
1. They are just wasting time if they go afk, so they still want to win
2. If they don’t get the reward if they lose, they will likely not bother, since they can just pve and get the same reward in a shorter amount of time
3. Not all people are as hardcore as you, since season starts I am still on reward box 4 with around 50% win rate. IMO, the current pacing is great.
The bottomline is people are already trying their best to win, if you remove reward when losing, they will not participate.
Few points:
1. If you are a dedicated PvE player and a bad PvP player you can craft ascended gear way faster if you just grind in PvE.
2. Currently the reward system already incentivize winning, since you get 3 times the pips compare to if you lose. If you take away pips if you lose, people simply won’t participate.
3. Without rewards, ranked will be dead. I am at gold, so I am not a total noob. But if it wasn’t because of the reward, I will not bother play ranked. I imagine you will get rid of almost all the population in bronze, silver, half of gold if you remove reward. Even if you are plat or Leg, you will prob get pushed to silver and gold due to bell curve.
4. I do agree that Anet should set a minimum pvp level (20 maybe) to enter ranked. But even without the min level, new players will likely be in bronze anyways, it shouldn’t affect MOST of the experienced players. And if you are experienced you shouldn’t stay there for long, I have play them before, you can 1v2, 1v3 them.
Look at the bright side, you should have easy wins from now on, therefore get these rewards faster. If not, maybe you are not as good as you thought.
Run rocket boots instead of purge, its a extra blast finisher, hammer 5 lighting field, then rocket boots while you step over it, you should have no problem with mobility.
Agreed, I am also happy that there is a cap to ascended gear you get. I really like the system this time.
I would say season 3 was probably the most balanced. Then they buffed DH……… in season 4 and 5, as well in in between seasons. I am seeing boatloads of DH, and yet they are still not getting nerf, on the other hand I am seeing very few rev, and they are still getting nerfed hard.
Anet please stop balancing the game based on ESL.
Has anyone try to change the stats?
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended_equipment#Changing_attribute_prefix
To see if there is a infusion slot?
Here is the issue, Rev’s high damage, offsets its high amount of cooldown/energy management + lack of condi cleanse. Anet take away our 2 best burst, but leave us very vulnerable still to conditions. Even if you are a high low level player, why bother? Why not pick up a class like Engineer, that can deal good damage, and able to cleanse condi, while providing group support?
Rev will not be meta after this patch. It will basically be a hard-to-play class with the least amount of viable build variety that got kick out of 2 out of 4 meta battle category, I would say anyone who is considering picking it up, should probably NOT. I for one will move to other classes, if not move to another game.
I already see very few Rev users in PvP. And I now imagine no one will use this class after the patch.
(edited by bigmonto.4215)
We will see how these things work out. Cool to see you making small PvP-focused balance tuning and hinting at more of these during seasons.
The main problem with Revenant as a whole is that when you nerf Power Revenant, you essentialy nerf all Revenant builds, no matter if Condition Mallyx or Ventari. Pretty much all PvP builds vary with 1 specialization and 1 weapon set + amulet from each other and that’s been the case for a long time.
Cutting sword/staff also hurts all builds. Simply because there are no alternatives. Clear example of it are Mallyx builds which are forced into going Hybrid because there is no second condition weapon set other than Mace. Myself and many players highlighted that issue during BWEs after weapon swap was added to the class, I even suggested how a bonus condition weapon could work like back then, but nothing has been done. I know that this thing is probably coming in some shape or form in the next expansion, but it’s so crucial that it should’ve been baseline.
There is no going away from stacking boon duration either, because baseline Resistance uptime after nerfs is too low. It also makes Condition Revenant extremaly Energy-starved because maintaining reasonable Resistance uptime without couple allies nearby requires heavy use of Pain Absorption.
Won’t really talk about the problems with outdated Specializations, that’s not the case for PvP forum. But in general, Revenant could really use a major update.
100% agree. Anet if you are going to nerf Rev’s damage, at least give it some more tools against codi or classes with pets.
Maybe this isn’t a nerf to revenant, its a nerf to skill and skilled players?
If revenant is seen as the tricky class to master and effective in the hands of a good player, perhaps this is an attempt to prune off the best players and make a level playing field for casual pvp?
Huh, this makes no sense, nerfing a hard-to-play classes basically makes that class harder to play. There is no point a casual pvper will even bother to pick it up.
Now if Anet would say fix Rev’s other issues, like lack of condi cleanse. I can see more casual pvper’s pick it up.
It’s strange, during last season, and current mid season, I hardly see any Rev around. I mostly see DHs. Maybe all the Rev are in the uber top tier or ESL. However after this nerf, I doubt the people at top tier will use it.
We all know Rev is super damaging but very weak against condi, now Anet take away the burst, what’s left is an average damaging profession that’s hard to play and extremely weak against condi. Basically there is no point using it.
As others on the Rev thread have pointed out, perhaps this nerf is a good thing, if anything it will point out the glaring issues Revant has always had that Anet did nothing about, simply because it did great damage.
Seriously, guys, it’s only a L2P issue. No, it’s not, it’s only a “look to what you’re doing” issue.
ANet is not responsable if you start the game with the wrong weapon set, then don’t ask them to fix anything. You have all the time to change your weapons outside of the match and change your build (if you need) when you enter in. You also have all the time you need to reroll another class if you see a lot of enemies that counter you.
Just pay attention to what you’re doing.
No Anet is not responsible, but that does not mean they can’t implement a feature that should have been in the game long ago (I am talking about build templates)
Seriously Silv.9207 why are you even arguing about this? Clearly, this is just a feature request on a much desired and long-over-due quality of life enhancement. Unless you are the guy who has to implement it, it should not impact you negatively.
Cheese builds huh. Sorry man there is no dire build for Rev unfortunately. The closest build for rev is
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Herald_-_Condition_Mallyx
swapping Shiro with Glint for more survivability in wvw.
As you can see the recent nerf to Unwavering Avoidance basically killed the build.
The only thing for solo Rev is basically
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Herald_-_Power_Shiro
This is a full power build plays like a power Thief.
Let’s get this out of the way.
1. MMR => 50% win rate at ANY skill level
2. Win streak and come-back wins mean if you win 50%, your expected pip gain is > 0.
Basically the more game you play the more pip you gain regardless your skill level.. This means legend is a grind, nothing more.
You might not have a defensive ‘skill’, but you have a second life bar… aka damage sponge
Why there’s still people that think that LF=HP?
First of all, it’s at last a damage mitigation, but now that there’s no more toughness in any good amulets a necro ca use, is really easy to strip away a necro fron it’s Shroud, expecially why in Shroud lose all the insignificant “defensive” sills he can use (at last can use spectral armor to obtain protection before enter the Shroud).
Then, the more defensive class in the game at the moment is the Full Block Guardian, that have 17k hp, 10k lesser than the necromancer. Add another 10k with no block/immunity/evase skills to use is more or less useless against an enemy that with a single sword skill can hit you for 14k (while totally invulnerable then unstoppable).Frequently the revenants that I find and I kill are rev that think that I can inflict them huge damage with my conditions. But i Can’t inflict huge damage with conditions. The only combo to inflict damage is RS5+RS4, that is the easier combo to see and evade. They simply active the shield and I waste my only offensive combination. Then I need 1,5 sec to inflict 3 bleed and a poison, that is more or less 2400 damage over 6 seconds. That’s 400/sec of damage. If I use also the scepter skill 2 I can inflict you 4400 damage over 6 second (733/sec) using 2,25 second.
You in a single hit with the sword can inflict me 2k or more. more or less 14 with a single 3/4sec skill (sword 3).Basicly, staff5+sword3 and the necromancer is dead.
I really don’t see the way a good revenant can lose against a necromancer. I tried and a necromancer is seriously a free kill for a revenant. So much immunity and block skills and CC that there’s no way for a necro to survive to a revenant.
I will try to use a MM build, but I will become more or less useless for my team, only to be able to fight a little better a single class that will ill me anyway.
If your Necro can’t beat a Rev, you should check your built, and try to learn how.
Meta Necro definitely has a advantage for Meta Rev at this time, unless of course the Rev simply plays much better than the necro. I am not going to tell you how, you should ask around in the Necro forum or do some research, the answer is obvious.
Every class has some sort of counter, as a rev, I will lose against any Mesmer, condi warrior, condi ranger, condi necro. In fact in 1v1 the odds are stacked against me against most of the meta build. The only reason why Rev is decent this season is that we are a decent counter to Guard, and there are a boat load of Guards this season. And the only reason we are decent in previous season is because of you (ele) pull condi off of us.
You are awesome.
Just yesterday we had someone DCed, by the time he returned we had lost 100 points, and we still lost a pip. I wish he had just stay DCed.
hitting like a wet noodle when on Sword/Shield is probably due to the Sage’s amu. I used that exact same build Glint/Mel in unranked in between season 3 and 4. I had harder time, until I switched Shiro/Mel with either viper or destroyers.
I find myself able to kill faster and survive better, strange right? The old saying that “the best offence is a good defense” is really true on this one. With Shiro/Mel I can be so in-your-face aggressive that it force people to defend, where as Glint/Mel with sage, I don’t do damage fast enough that people can more often than not chase me down and kill me.
Either way it’s good to try both and see which playstyle suits you.
Shiro/Mallyx with viper/destroyer is basically the original Season1 Condi Rev. Yes thats a good build and was def good with durability runes a later with mercenary amulet. With Viper dont you find it very squishy and also very slow? Phase traversal cant be spammed anymore and you have no access to swiftness (only quickness via shiro)
It’s very interesting, I do notice it was very squishy in s2 and s3, that’s why I back off from it, but I find it very survivable this pre-season and s4. It could be that there are more people running pure condi builds, or the lack of ele makes the condi stick better. Still early in the season so time will tell.
Oh another possibility is the nerf of thief and Guardian meta is no longer ranged. Guard was never an issue 1v1 but when you have a team fight with a guard sniping, you get bursted down at times if you run purely offensive.
(edited by bigmonto.4215)
checkout:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki
You will notice that Rev is in the current meta for all modes. In fact you can almost do all game modes with similar gear/stat combination.
I have mained 4 classes so far (rev is the latest) I have to say people in the rev fourm is by far the most pessimistic. Don’t listen to people here.
(edited by bigmonto.4215)
hitting like a wet noodle when on Sword/Shield is probably due to the Sage’s amu. I used that exact same build Glint/Mel in unranked in between season 3 and 4. I had harder time, until I switched Shiro/Mel with either viper or destroyers.
I find myself able to kill faster and survive better, strange right? The old saying that “the best offence is a good defense” is really true on this one. With Shiro/Mel I can be so in-your-face aggressive that it force people to defend, where as Glint/Mel with sage, I don’t do damage fast enough that people can more often than not chase me down and kill me.
Either way it’s good to try both and see which playstyle suits you.
I thought its 3 condi period, no more time limit. Otherwise it was a huge nerf, since it used to copy all your condi.
Revent has more mobility option than you think.
- about fact + Riposting Shadows is good at running away while clearing soft cc
- Impossible Odds speed you up as well
- if you run Mel you also have Unyielding Anguish, a range 600 leap
- also activate Pain Absorption so you are not soft cced.
Revenant is definitely better at chasing people down than running away. But then most classes are not good at running away except stealth classes. Even s+gs warrior can be soft cced and chased down by mobs.
Pve: bad unless enemy moves a lot for more torment damage
Pvp: i think its okay. maybe not as good as power but handles enemy conditions infinitely better than its power version.
wvw: bad. you really feel the lack of mobility . Still great for duels though.He is basically saying it is bad. In pvp it isnt worth taking because glint heal makes not having an escape manageable which you dont get unless you want to sabotage yourself and go no mobility with glint mallyx.
Im guessing you are asking to decide on your gear. i would suggest you dont stat for condi. Just play glint shiro like everyone else. you are free to experiment but everything has been tried already and nothing else works no where near as well as shiro glint despite its cleansing issues.
I know one player who 100% solo q to legend last season with Glint/Mallyx Rev.
i know one player who solo’d with power warrior before the buffs. Doesnt mean it was a good build at that time does it?
Correct solo q to legend certainly doesn’t indicate a good build. However condi-hybrid build has been on meta-battle since the release of hot, and it has always fluctuates between meta and great build. So I don’t think anyone can say it’s bad or even average.
I found that destroyer amu in pvp work extremely well with Shiro/Mal. Time your Pain Absorption, you are largely immune to conditions, 2 stacks of stability on dodge means you are not getting CCed. I would say this is the best pug pvp build at this point. I wouldn’t be surprised if this gets bumped to meta in s4 now that support ele is out.
Condi is fine, depends on what mode
Pvp: great, in a good group not as good as power (assuming someone is pulling condi off of you) but in pugs, condi/hybrid is actually better giving the # of condi users out there.
Pve: for group content, don’t period. for solo stuff, it’s totally fine.
Wvw: It’s good, for normal travel or roam with group run Glint/Mal, for 1v1 do Shiro/Mal.
If you are like me who don’t care about group pve content, I would simply do cele armor, and zerker sword/shield/sword, viper mace/axe, zerker staff, keep a set of zerker acc. and a set of condi/hybrid acc, and swap when you want to do power or condi/hybrid. For my hybrid build I have around 2k power 900+ condi, 2.9k armor, 21k+ health, 37% crit, 190 crit dam. decent amount of boon and condi dur.
If you care about group pve, then zerker all the way.
I have a decent amount of experience with warrior, guardian, and rev.
IMO, warrior and rev are prob the most versatile right now, that is they are good in all 3 game modes. However, having to live thru multiple patches as a warrior main taught me that Anet seems to always either over buff or over nerf warriors in general. I believe this is due to warrior’s simplistic playstyle.
In terms of Guardian, its most powerful spec now is part ranged (so is warrior depends on game mode). So it might not be your cup of tea. I didn’t quite enjoy its melee skills when I was playing it, you just don’t feel having the same power as that of Warrior. If you like a strong melee spec, I would also recommend Engineer (scrapper)
However IMO the best class right now is Rev. It kind of combine warrior, guardian and thief. And if you want conditional pressure, you can spec that too.
I don’t know why people say GW2 is dying, it is consistently being the top 2 or 3 most played MMO in the US.
As for PvP, there are actually more people playing it then any time before due to the league system. Of course the more people played the more complain you are going to get, so it feel like the world is going to end.
For me the no button after the match is grey out. Why? This seem like a bug to me.
I am ok with them add a join group button, but not ok if we cannot refuse it and leave the map. How about allowing us to leave after we click no.
In that case, please allow Spirit Shards track to be selectable. Personally I just don’t have enough mastery points, and I don’t play fractals, so I don’t care about any of the fractal lines. I rather go back to earn Spirit Shards.