Guild Wars 2

Thanks guys.
I suppose I will have to buy them off TP or wait for Arenanet to make that event again then.

Charrs are awesome I love their lore, society and their NPCs.
I tried a Norn and a Human and they don’t even come close. All the pansy smallfolk can have their Queensdale train, WE have the Meatoberfest!
Even my puny human friends have said the Charr lands have great quest/event chains.

(I have an 80lvl Warrior in Blood Legion→Vigil, 80lvl Thief in Ash Legion→Whispers and lvl 60+ Engineer in Iron Legion→Priory…it’s like the orders and Legions were crated for this setup…)

I love Nork the Norn. What a refreshingly good character concept
Yea, we should be able to fight shirtless. Or fully naked, only covered in woad like the Scots used to!

I read on the wiki, that the crystals were only lootable from Quartz Crystal nodes that were in an area that is now off-limits. Also, people who were playing during the time and got an achievement, do have a node in their home instance.

What about for people who have not played during that time? I’d like to be able to get those, but my Hero’s Canton is missing any node and I haven’t found any access to that area (Labyrinthine Cliffs). Is there a way to get it/there?
(Except for buying them in TP, as I do now)

Thanks for answers in advance.

Looking at BurnFall’s posts – I recognize these speech patterns.

Overabundance of buzzwords, blatant use of fallacies and the poster’s illusions of self-importance. (You can even see how he edits his posts every time someone points something completely ridiculous out, like changing the pompous “It has come to my attention” to more neutral “to many attention”)

This is just like all the (predominantly US) bullkitten-managers talk like.

Has anyone ever thought that he’s not trolling or trying to discuss something, just grinding his speech skill by taking something ridiculous and trying to convince random people?

Who looks better, Norn or Asura?

a Charr.

Hello. I have 2 mains- Thief and a Warrior.
Warrior was the first. To be honest, I play with both of them and like both of them.
They are a bit different, compared to the Thief, but yes…they are awesome.

My 2 Cents when comparing Thief vs Warrior gameplay.
- Warrs are more durable. While with a Thief, you have to constantly dodge or or drop into stealth a Warr can take some damage and require less jumping around. Also – for a Warr it’s easy to get stability boon.
-Warrs are better in a party, because half of their skills can either buff party members, heal them or utilise combo fields. (Thieves have good access to combo finishers too, but for a Warrior, it’s kitten unbelievable – almost anything you do is a combo finisher.)
-Warriors’s support is a it more party-centered than Thieves’. Warrs can provide boons (Fury,Might) and remove conditions and can have a lot of CC (Hammer warriors, I am looking at us). Not even talking about a banner regen buff or healing/cleansing shouts. Thieves’ support is more about destroying the enemy, blinding poisoning and dazing him. Or emergency-stealthing party members.
-Warr is more straight-forward, easier and sometimes a bit less fun. Their weapon skills are awesome, but I get the feel, that thier utility skills can get boring. Also – all three Thieves’ elite skills are super usable and fun. Warrs don’t have those. One is unusable (Rampage), one is boring (signet) and one is situationally-awesome (banner)
-Warrs can use more weapons and their weapon skills are all interesting and useful. Thieves’ tend to be spamming 1-2 abilities due to the initiative mechanic.

All in all, I like both. Warrior more for running with friends, Thief when soloing.
(my favourite builds: Hammer or a Banner Warrior, S/D or a Venomshare D/D Thief)

I use Sigil of Fire on my Shortbow (adds more AoE to the SB’s AoE) and on my Sword (Another Aoe to the Swords cleave autoattack).
Sigils of Lightning on some of my Daggers/Pistols, when used as primary weapon as they are single-target attack and the single-target lightning adds an extra punch.

…yeah. I have several sets of weapons and swap between them occasionally…

Also, liked the trick with the scorpion wire (kind of surprised that the range is 1200).

Please sticky this!
(And post more tricks if you have any more up your sleeve)

CookMETEnder.7582:

You can always save your buttocks with the right pair of boxers.
I suggest Superior Boxers of Orr as they provide both comfort, high mobility, and aegis.

You sir, just made my day :-)

Well. I actually like the defense tree a lot. And along with the stances for stability/endure pain traits, I like to take SunderingMace (when running with A/M) and swap to MercilessHammer (when swapping to Hammer, which is an awesome CC weapon). Adrenal health is good too…

I love it.
Actually, other MMOs have also added unarmed/fist/claw weapons after their release simply because people wanted that. WOW for example.

But please put this into suggestion forum or any other forum the devs actually look at. Class forums aren’t watched by devs at all. (Or so it seems)

Not a pro, but few notes about my play style. (I used mostly condition-build D/D+P/D while levelling and switched to S/D at lvl 80 and loving it)

- S/D goes well with power+crit stacking. Conditions less so. Only longer stun (from tactical strike) for PvP
- secondary weapon would be definitely the Shortbow for it’s utility and AoE. I have a Sigil of Fire on it for even more AoE dmg. I sometimes swap it for P/D combo when fighting champions alone. It will take a while, but they will go down.
- for evasion, go at least 15 points down the vitality tree. Also, keep in mind that the flanking strike is a built-in evasion. Time it well. Flanking strike talent is fit for the S/D combo.
- as for utilities – infiltrator strike removes conditions, so you’ll need less of utility condition removals. I usually run with haste, blinding power and ambush trap just for its fun value. I swap that for shadow refuge while in a group and sometimes put in roll for initiative if I need to evade a lot or a venom.
- gear-wise, I am aiming for a combination of Berserker’s (P/P/crit dmg) and P/V/T for high damage and some survivability.

Runes of Guardian grant T and healing and the 6th one gives 1s of burning on block.
Would it be worth to spec in Strength & Defense (power, cond. duration, toughness, healing) and have 6 of these in your armor?

Of course, weapons would include shield and mace as main set with the idea to block incoming attacks and let the enemy burn to death+Spiked Armor trait for some retaliation too…

I meant that you can use as much +healing gear/runes as you want for your build, but healing shouts need it more than banners.

Generally, warrior support (healer) builds go down the Tactics trait line (Vit,Boon duration) up to the last 2 traits and choose the lower traits either around Healing shouts or Regenerating banners.
According to my humble experience, healing shouts provide more boons and condition removal (FGJ, Shake it off), but lack other control and/or survivability skills like Endure pain or Launch. Also, you need more +healing gear.
Banners providing regeneration do less spiky healing, but longer lasting and provide other buffs that stack with boons. Also, usually one banner is enough, so you can use other 2 utility skills for something else. And you don’t need much +healing gear.

Use the rest of traits however you see fit.

Other side of support can be crowd control, but I don’t have much experience with that and I see bosses with stacks of defiance so it is much harder to knock them down or otherwise disable them. Someone with more experience should provide his insight.

• axe/mace for the vulnerability stacking and high damage against 1 tough opponent (veterans…)
• classic sword and board (or axe/shield) for cc/utility/survival
• sword/axe- a weird combo for some point-blank aoe and mobility.

Plus I like hammers and heard the axe/warhorn combo is good. Haven’t tested out yet.
I don’t touch the GS with a 2m pole and look at all the 5signet GS warrior dummies with badly-contained contempt.

Fix the bugs, make the turrets scale with player’s power or at least minimise the cooldown on them when stowing them back. A warrior can keep his banner up 98% of the time and even move it around. Why can’t the engineer move it and has to wait a longtime after stowing them back?

Question – I knew that the healing turret’s regeneration boon was crap because it never actually did benefit from your +healing. However…now when it should, has anyone tested whether it’s at least on par with the Warrior’s banner regeneration?

(I have a Warrior main and the healing banners are awesome. And regrettably much much better than Engineer’s turrets as you can easily pick them up and move them. And attack with them+provide boons… Engi turrets are a joke compared to banners.)

I take that the 2 weapon sets we currently use, should work in synergy and cover more various areas of combat. Mostly 1on1 and some AoE to be able to fight in both situations only with a swap of weapons…

One of my favourite survival weapons is condition P/D. But that is just single-enemy weapon set. What to do for an AeE? D/D DB conditions build does the trick. Is there anything else for condition stacking build?

On the other hand, some other builds like backstab D/D benefit more from power+precision. But also, that’s a single-enemy weapon set. What about power build melee? Guess S/P, right?

TL;DR: What builds/weapons combos do you use and like? And which attribute is best for that particular build?

Bad against champions…I understand. I mostly don’t have problems facing champions with this, but I am not running a GlassCannon build.

What about axe+mace / longbow (power based) then?
Axe+mace for hot 1 on 1 melee action, longbow for some ranged AOE.
Also, axe’s #2 is a whirl finisher which goes well together with our only combo field from longbow burst skill.

And a bit different Sword+axe/ rifle (condition based) go well together.
Sword+axe for melee AOE and rifle for 1on1 sniping.

(I also tested both sets and liked them both. Axe+mace and longbow a bit more as I tend to run with Powerful banner which provides good synergy)

Which one you choose is just dependant on your play style.
As warriors go, I tend to run around with ~8 weapons in pack and change sets as I wish or situation demands. Being a weaponsmith helps ;-)

EDIT: under the stun I mean mace’s #5.

Changing dmg to a might buff when summoned is a great and logical idea.

Btw @Spencer.1386 check my earlier post here how to make banners usable in combat https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Full-cleric-viable/first#post1297557

Hey DemonicSpirit try this dualwielding combo:
Axe+mace / Sword+axe.

Axe+mace is best for fighting 1 on 1 (stacking vulnerability, stun and eviscerate as burst)
Sword+axe for some AOE … immobilise and bleed 3 foes and then build up adrenaline back via axe’s #5. And of course, with that much of cripple and sword’s leap, noone will run very far.

ChaK.3254:

Was thinking about those utilities :

Endure pain
Defensive banner
Tactical Banner
Elite banner

Too much in your opinion?

Most of your other questions/concerns were already answered, so I’d like to add my 2 cents about utilities.
I use the Elite banner, one other banner (depends on usage-more on that later) and utility skills #1 and #2 depending on the build/situation.
Mostly it’s 1 physical skill (launch, knockdown, kick) and 1 skill for dps/survival (endure pain, balanced stance, shake it off) … works like a charm.
Use the banner you have + elite if needed or off-cooldown.

There is also one more thing that people forget about banners and use them as shouts-place and forget.
The banners are basically environmental weapons. They have own skills that really aren’t bad.
What I do in solo play/groups, is to hold my banner and buff me/others and make extensive use of skills #4 and #2.
How?
Powerful banner – good against one powerful enemy. Run up to him with #4, slap with #2 to inflict vulnerability and then switch to your normal weapon and continue killing him. Sigils like sigil of Hydromancy work even while putting down the banner.
Defensive banner – good against more smaller enemies or for cc. Run up with #4 and then make space/interrupt with #2. Swap to weapons and proceed facemelting.
Tactical and Elite banner – use #2 to get the buff and then charge with #4. Swap weapons and go to town.
Healing banner – now that’s a bit tricky…I use this mostly in big encounters, where healing is needed and I’m ranged and buffing people with FGJ.

…learn how to use your banners. You will never be sorry about having them…

Yes, as my fellow warriors already said, reflect while blocking is hillarious especially when the ranger starts his flurry of arrows or when a rifle warrior tries to snipe you with a killshot from afar.

Ever seen anyone kill themselves while trying to cowardly kill you from a distance? And to jump in their faces and bash them down if they are still breathing to finish them? No?
Get a shield!

I like it. Especially the part about the toolbelt and how you get a stupid watered-down version of the utility skill and can’t choose. I’d have the engineer to be able to put 3 kits in by his choosing. (line Elementalist, that would make us have same amount of skillsets, because we don’t have weapon swap now)

Also, RNG is a very bad idea.

…besides, nothing is cooler / more condescending, than bashing someone on their heads with a banner :-D

[Banner warrior here]
Shouts are easier to use in moving battles and get lot of condition removal (shake it off/rune of Soldier). However, they need +healing gear to really use them effectively. Also, when running a shout build, it’s better to have all 3 most used shouts as utilities, which leaves no place for other skills.

Banners are much better when holding a position or fighting in close quarters, where you(and your peers) stay close enough to get the buff+regen buff (which stacks to really long durations). You don’t need much +healing gear and can perfectly do with 2 banners as utilities (1 banner and elite banner) leaving 2 more utilities for condition removal/control… Also, almost perma-swiftness when holding a banner and banner’s #5 is a blast finisher.
On the other hands, they can be a chore to move around and players sometimes don’t know what to do with them (leave them behind, pick them up by mistake or just steal them for the perma-swiftness and run away :-) )

…I like banners more…

Sword is less evasive in combat than daggers or other weapon sets (especially pistol whip). We already deliver weakness, something short for defense would be nice as a complement. On-crit or under special circumstances (stealth/poisoned…)

Fix turrets. (Not deployable, low damage, no durability)
Incorporate kits into weapon-swapping somehow
Let us choose our toolbelt skills.
Fix flamethrower so it doesn’t miss that often.

I’d love having a hammer. It is pretty understandable tho-engineers need hammer. Maybe just melt it with the toolkit (repairs turrets when attacking), that would actually mean we can use more than 2 attack turrets and actually do some damage. (Nowadays, you have to have a toolkit, which means you can’t have more than 2 attack towers. And the healing tower with it’s lackluster heal :-( which sucks)

If not hammer, then mace+shield (same idea)

My warrior holds the sword at the end of the handle, what is the exact opposite of how are swords wielded (RL experience). It seems, strange.

Like zombies. Looks fine at first glance, but you know there is something reaally wrong…

Truth be told – I’d say people do it mostly by mistake. The pick-up-banner message is the same color as the ‘search loot’ message and people do mash F button a lot in big fights. This is not only a warrior issue. My engineer had to learn to actually read those messages, because if you don’t watch out, you will pack your turret and put it on nasty cooldown (and thus gimp yourself removing your stationary little helper)

I like the idea of making the pick-up-something message of different color.

Goloith.6349:

In our Hero Menu right where the swap weapon slot should be, there should be a kit placement slot. Most engineers run with just one kit and those that want more kits can go ahead and equip them to their utility skill bar. As far as toolbelt skills is it really that much more to ask to give them additional skill? If its that big of deal, let the engineer pick between 4 of the 5 skills to put on the toolkit bar.

I like it. But maybe 2, not one.

Coltz.5617:

Or, we can just have weapon swaps.

And swap between our 3 possible weapon sets? Not really attractive. What could be done, would be to remove secondary skills from the toolbelt and let the player place kits in. Up the cooldown and make it 3 slots instead of 4.
It will work similar to elementalists’ attunements and we will keep versatility for the sake of also having utili skills. Face it- you take 2 kits and have 1 utility skill left. And elites? There’s just the supply drop. Nothing else.

The Elementalist truly IS a very versatile class. They have 5 weapon skills *4 = 20 weapon skills + 5 utility/heal/elite. 25 skills only an attunement change away. Yes, they can’t swap their attunements instantly like engineers do, but let’s be honest – they can cycle it. (You can’t go back to the attunement you just switched off, but you can change to another one pretty quickly. And they got 4!)

Engineer got the shaft, because for getting a different set of skills, we have to sacrifice a lot of survival and 1 utility skill slot.
Baseline engineer = 5 weapon skills + 5 utility/heal/elite skills + 4 toolbelt skills = 14
1 kit = essentially 10 weapon skills + 4 utility/heal/elite + 4 toolbelt skills. = 18
2 kits = 15 weapon skills + 3 utility/heal/elite + 4 toolbelt skills. and yes…good luck to survive with only 1 utility skill. = 22
3 kits = almost impossible to use and survive in PvP or really tough battles.

Toolbelt skills help to make up for it a bit, but…only a bit. They aren’t real skills with the same usability as normal utility skills.

Hello. A leveling thief here. Still figuring out how to play and what skills to use, what traits to choose, which +attributes to amass.
This is how I have tought about the weapon sets/playstyle. Trying to match it with the weapon/armor types and upgrades to suit particular dmg dealing style – condition or power/crit.
Please, correct me if I’m wrong, add you comments and experience. I’d appreciate that.

D/D – either go condition and spam #1+#2+#3 with venoms or critical/power with #5 stealth + backstab #1.
S/D – often overlooked, good mobility (#2), scales well with power/crit. Either go with #1 and #3 or control/stun with #5+#1 combo (daze)
S/P – ever belowed pistol-whip #3. Focused on meelee, not stealth. Scales with power/crit.
D/P – mobility and sticking to the prey. Scales with power/crit
P/D – keeping the foe at middle-range, bleeding them to death. Scales well with condition dmg, works good with poisons.
Or, just do stealth combo #5 + #1 till the target is dead. Then it scales better with power/crit. Stealth-oriented.
P/P – regarded sub-par by the thief community, scales better with condition dmg. Little stealth.
ShortBow – ranged AoE, scales with condition dmg, goes well with venom skills.

Trait lines:
Deadly Arts : venoms, condition builds + daggers
Critical Strikes : good for burst dmg. for power builds.
Shadow Arts : stealth and self-healing. Get hit, but mitigate the damage and heal it.
Acrobatics : self-buffing and dodging
Trickery : stealing, buffing others and getting more intiative

To me, the most appealing would be a tricky (mostly) meelee thief, not relying on stealth, but more on staying in the fray, dodging and evading. Again – any notes, builds and experience are most appreciated.

Hello.
To keep things short, I am leveling my thief and I actually quite like to play in PvE kind-of-support role. I don’t particularly like a glass cannon type of build that brings nothing to the party, save the DPS.
So the question is – what are your tips/tricks/builds to be actually a member in a mostly PvE party who brings some value to others too. How can we be useful to others?

(eg – I have a warrior alt, who will use shouts to buff and heal other while wrecking the mob’s faces and an engineer that likes to throw around elixirs. Looking for something similar in the thief than pure glass canon)
Thanks

my Thief is of course Ash Legion, my Engineer is proud inventor of Ghostbore musket made by Iron Legion and my warrior did not look right or left and joined the Blood legion without hesitation.

(I know…kind of traditional :-) )