Guild Wars 2

Fort Aspenwood vs. Maguuma

Just curious what people think of this and why.

- Which server do you think is better situated for T2?
- Which server would win in a head on match up?

FA vs. Mag….who would win?

That should be interesting match-up..

Thanks for all the posts and feedback guys. I’ve had a chance of collecting a few good contacts – and even had a chat with CD leaders. If anyone else can send me a pm of more community leaders/commanders from Fort Aspenwood and Dragonbrand – I’d really appreciate it.

These chats with the server leaders / commanders is really important in getting a feeling for the servers and ultimately to our decision.

We will be deciding this very soon – this weekend (probably tomorrow) after we’ve had a chance to talk to a few people from each server.

Thanks again for all your posts and feedback. Best of luck to everyone…all you T3 servers look great in all honesty!

Yes please send me some names…I’d like to talk to people from the servers I am looking into (CD/FA/DB) as this is an important decision that I want to get right.

hmmm CD or FA….any other info/feedback on these 2 server would really be appreciated…Also looking at Dragonbrand…I know nothing about them…

Long story short…how is the CD community? Would a decent size (250-350) guild be welcomed to join them before the lockout (yes, I know its not really a lock, but you know what I mean)?

The guilds on my current server seems to splitting left and right…most moving to T1/T2 servers, especially SoS, JQ, and SoR…which are always full. I fear we won’t be able to get everyone in before the lockout. So trying to squeeze people in there might be a challenge (potential seriously damaging the guild)…and tbh, something about joining the FoTM server seems off putting. Not to mention the issue with possible queue times.

That leads me to picking a good “up-and-coming” server, with potential to be decent in T2 and potential rise to T1 in the future (I don’t care for an easy win or being on the best server, I love a good fight and decent challenge). A server that isn’t always full and could use the help to push it further into ranks. Is Crystal Desert that server?

CD seems to be doing very well in T3 right now…and I wonder if bringing my guild there would be a good or bad choice.

Thoughts? What about Fort Aspenwood and Dragonbrand?

UPDATE: Please send me some community leader names…I’d like to talk to people from the servers I am looking into (CD/FA/DB) as this is an important decision that I want to get right.

So whats everyone plan with this build since Boon Duration Runes in PvP and Evasive Arcana blast finishers were nerfed?? Any build changes? I think I’m leaving my build at 0/10/0/30/30..but might revisit runes for pvp.

FYI – I ran EA and boon duration in sPVP and still did very well…I could still beat the usually people in 1 v 1…however, the matches were tougher/closer…def. not as easy. I’m now looking into different Runes though…I’m not sure the 20% boon duration is worth 4 rune slots anymore..might look into HP, CD, Vitality, toughness runes now.

HA! Glad to see you went my route with the Boon Duration Runes and dropped Divinity, daphoenix .

Anyways, I might change to 30 water as well…not sure..need to test it out some more to see which I like.

BTW – whats everyone thoughts on Healing Power?? Is it just me or does it not scale as well as the other stats? If so, perhaps more CD jewelry would be better…just a thought. Will test HP differences in Mist later.

@ volfie – Thanks for that attachment! I’ll look it over, when I have time.

I might of messed up somewhere..this is what I got excluding runes (divinity), what am I missing?

Traits

Air: 10 (100 Precision, 10% Critical Damage)
Earth: 10 (100 Toughness, 100 Condition Damage)
Water: 20 (200 Vitality, 200 Healing Power)
Arcane: 30

Armor (6/6)

45 + 34 + 101 + 34 + 67 + 34 = 315 (Power)
32 + 24 +72 + 24 + 48 + 24 = 224 (Toughness)
32 + 24 +72 + 24 + 48 + 24 = 224 (Vitality)

Backpack (1/1)

20 (Power)
14 (Toughness)
14 (Vitality)

Jewelry (5/5)

40 + 40 + 64 + 48 + 48 = 240 (Power)
40 + 40 + 64 + 48 + 48 = 240 (Toughness)
56 + 56 + 90 + 67 + 67 = 336 (Healing Power)

Gem Upgrades (6/6)

25 + 25 + 25 + 25 + 25 +25 =150 (Condition Damage)
15 + 15 + 15 + 15 + 15 + 15 = 90 (Power)
15 + 15 + 15 + 15 + 15 + 15 = 90 (Vitality)

Daggers (2/2)

90 + 90 = 180 (Power)
64 + 64 =128 (Toughness)
64 + 64 = 128 (Vitality)

Total

Power: 315 + 20 + 240 + 90 + 180 = 845
Toughness: 100 + 224 + 14 + 240 + 128 = 706
Vitality: 200 + 224 + 14 + 90 + 128 = 656
Healing Power: 200 + 336 = 536
Condition Damage: 100 + 150 = 250
Precision: 100

FYI – I’ll check over this later today, when I get home…but if you see something – let me know. Also, I think I am going for boon duration runes instead of divinity- as I found divinity runes to have very little impact on spell effectiveness (damage/healing), when I tested in the Mist.
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Correction: I had Power and Vitality figures reversed in Armor stats above. This post has now been corrected.

@daphoenix

I did some rough calculations (excluding runes and legendary amulet) on your “planned future” build…let me know if this is in line with what you were thinking (just armor, jewelry, gems, backpack, daggers):

The build you are planning on going for mostly focuses on Power (~700 bonus stat points), Toughness (~650), and Vitality (~550). It also has a decent amount of healing power (~335). However, Condition Damage is really neglected at only around (~150) points.

I am just wondering the reasoning behind the low condition damage..I know its mostly a secondary stat for this build…but do you think it would be worth sacrificing a few points from PTV area (mostly from power, imo) to increase condition damage to at least 300 points?

In general, I really do think this “balanced” build can sacrifice power and condition damage due to the significant amount of might stacking (sigil of battle + attunement boons)..but reducing power and increase condition damage would balance the build out even further and actually provide more overall damage – no?

Thoughts?

PS: My calculations might be off..but nature of question would remain the same.
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Update: I forgot to account for trait bonuses, which would increase stat bonuses to the following:

Power: 700
Vitality: 750
Toughness: 750
Healing Power: 535
Condition Damage: 250

This is actually quite nice and well balanced..though I still think Condition Damage needs a little more boost…something closer to 700/700/700/500/385…but not bad overall…can’t have everything. I’m going to figure out a way to scrap a little from the other 4 areas and beef up condition damage, as it is quite frequent on many of our spells.

Dual.8953:

Deadfall.4601:

My question is – pve I know dagger/dagger works but say in a dungeon instance you wanted a go the range/support route. Would daggers still work or could you switch it up and use staff? I think even this build staff could be great with attunement swapping and the PTV approach. Maybe try to stay around the 35% mark with crit, sense this build/style is a more balance build stat wise.

I looked at scepter as well and focus… I donno though Staff just seems more group friendly

I don’t find this build to be very good in dungeons and find staff far more useful. It’s really best for WvW/PvP.

I heard one Ele saying he did well using D/D in dungeons, by maintaining Protection and sharing his Auras. (Wooden Potatoes on youtube)

FYI – I’ve used this build in all aspects of the game – including dungeons..and to my surprise I did extremely well in frontline…and you know what…D/D is a billion times more fun then backline staff support. lol. But that’s subjective….I just like feeling like a ninja that doesn’t take much damage. :P

Mik Hell.8206:

Protection is basically a 33% hp increase, so imho it’s well worth the stats loss from Divinity runes, same goes with fury and regeneration.

^ That’s what I am thinking…max out duration seems best for this build. This is what I have so far:

Weapon: D/D seems best for this build with Battle/Bloodlust sigil. Also you could run Life, Corruption, Accuracy on separate pairs of daggers…to get the healing power, CD damage, and/or Precision buff (250 points each) and then which to Battle + Bloodlust daggers once you’ve built up the other bonus stats. Yeah, that would be time conusimg – but possible. lol.

Traits: 0/10/10/20/30…overall I think this the best, just as daphoenix linked in OP

Utility (skill #9): Arcane Shield, Arcane Wave, or Sigil of Earth. AS’s recharge is very long, so I’m not a huge fan. AW is pretty nice as is Sigil of Earth…still deciding between these. I’m slightly leaning towards Earth’s passive 100 toughness boost and CC ability..because I tend to only look/go to my utilities for situational reasons (mist form for escape, lighting flash for churning earth/escape) – not for damage skills (just habit).

Trait/Rune Boon Duration: 30% (30 points in arcane) + 15% (2 runes of sup monk) + 15% (2 runes of sup water) + 10% (2 major runes of water/monk) = 70% longer boon duration. Lastly, if you carry some Chocolate Omnombeery Cream – you can further increase duration by 20% for 30 minutes…giving you a total of 90% longer boon duration. Not bad at all. Any way to make this longer? Did I miss something? Right now I think 90% duration time > Divinity Runes in terms of impact.

Armor/Trinket Set: This is the last part, that I personally haven’t completely figured out yet. I agree Power/Vitality/Toughness should be the main stats..followed by Condition Damage and Healing Power….but exactly how to break it down / distribute these points…I have no idea. Getting the most out of your points is key and avoiding any serious diminishing returns is also important…if anyone runs some tests/theory crafts the Armor/Trinket stats for PvE/WvW – let me know what you find out.

Thanks.

Cleansing Wave vs. Soothing Wave….hmmmm – thoughts?

Spifnar.4712:

Divinity runes vs boon duration (2x water, 2x monk, 2x earth, OR 2x water, 2x monk, 2x major water):

If you’re not as good with timing your buffs, +30% (or 40% or 50%) boon duration is amazing.

Going from 130% boon duration to 180% boon duration =

1.5s more regen on attuning to water
2.5s more protection on attuning to earth (technically 100% uptime with 9s prot boon on earth attune), and 3s more from Armor of Earth
4s more vigor from each cantrip
Fury and swiftness uptime over 100% (might also be that high without extra boon duration if you swap attunements fast enough)

Really, the extra vigor and protection durations are the biggest wins from this setup. Is that worth 300 stat points and 12% crit damage? I’m not sure.

However, you can probably run 0/10/0/30/30 like this. And either aura-share or have a lot of condition removal.

^ Awesome! This is exactly the analysis was I planning on doing myself when I had time. I am still debating Divinity vs. Boon Duration Runes. 50% increase in boon duration does sound amazing…whether its worth the lose of distributed stats (300 points; I don’t care so much about the 12% crit damage), I’m not sure either…but off the bat..I think it might be..will have to test them out and see which feels better. The fact that Divinity spreads out the stats..might not really fill in the gaps of this elem build where it is most needed – especially for that stats you have a lot of (diminishing returns, might not feel the impact as much as 50% boon duration).

The way I see it:

Boons = temporary stat increases…way more than you’ll get from Divinity alone (such as fury’s 20% increase in crit and protection’s 33% reduction in damage), yes they have to be activated and will only happen when you switch attunements/use aura…but with this build that should be very often and if they last longer – that would help fill in the gap during downtime.

@ Spifnar, how are you getting 50% boon duration? I’m only seeing 40%…15% from Sup Water + 15% from Monk + 10% from Major Water. Can you give me a breakdown to 180% (80% extra)? I know 30% cames from having 30 points in arcane. Thanks.

I’m fairly sure you have to be in combat for it work..were u in combat or just rolling around for fun?

Mik Hell.8206:

With this build i end up sacrifying Arcane Wave to get Elemental Shielding: I’m moving 10 points from Water to Earth, losing Soothing Disruption, but since I value too much Vigor I also swap Final Shield for Renewed Stamina.

Keep up the good work

Soothing Disruption says you gain vigor/regen when you use Cantrips (Mist Form/Lighting Flash) – do we know how much exactly? how beneficial is the vigor/regen? I will test when I get home from work. If it is not that impressive, yeah Elemental Shield would be nice. Though I would miss the healing power/vitality from the build (but i guess you could add back in with armor/upgrades).

It think if we all work together, we can really make even a more amazing build here – improved on what daphoenix has already done.

That said…I’m really liking the idea of going Rune of Divinity or 2xEarth/2xWater/2xMonk…also I think Rampager’s daggers aren’t really needed (precision), if you go Divinity. As mentioned, this build gives you quite a lot of fury which grants you 20% crit…so I don’t feel like we need to invest to much into precision. Save those stats for something else. Personally, I’d like to have about 13% crit chance, which would make it 33% with fury…I wonder if Divinity rune alone would give me that.

Hmmmm…need to play around with stats/gear more…I would love to make this build even more survivable. The trait build looks very solid to me, though Elemental Shielding (3 sec Protection on auras) as mentioned by Muchkin does sound nice with 2xEarth/2xWater/2xMonk (boon duration). However, I’m not a huge fan of Aura builds, since they aren’t constantly triggered.

We only have 2 auras that are really easy to activate. The other requires combo and the 4th is from going all Rune of Earth (Magnetic Shield) and only activated at 20% HP…doesn’t seem as useful. I rather have a build that makes use of the boons/stats/traits as often as possible.

Since this build is very boon based, having the increased duration from 2xEarth/2xWater/2xMonk (30%) might be very nice…though yeah, not as many stat increases as Divinity. Nevertheless, a very solid idea..I’m kind of leaning toward this right now.

Also in practice, I think Glyph of Elemental Harmony (has boons also) will probably work better than Signet of Restoration. I’d like to hear others opinion on this. Also, I’m thinking of switching out Arcane Wave for something else…not sure yet.

If you guys end up doing some theory crafting to figure out which stats are most important for this build, and how much should be invested based on diminishing return – please report back. I’m really interested in seeing how much healing power is ideal.

This is what I am currently thinking:

High Investment: Vit/Toughness/Power/Condition Damage (boons for extra boost)
Medium Investment: Healing Power (defensive boons to help mitigate damage)
Low Investment: Precision (Crit Damage/Crit Chance – fury boon to fill in gap)

What’s your thoughts on Vitality vs. Toughness on elem..balance is best, but which is more important normally?

Creating a balanced build + using constant boons to improve stats overall…sounds like the best way to make an elem – versatile and fun with all our weapons. How to exactly balance these stats for optimum usages is the real question.

Thanks.

PS: Has anyone tried this build with another weapon swap Sigil (along with Sigil of Battle)?

Sigil of Intelligence: Your next attack after swapping to this weapon while in combat has a 100% chance to critical. (No cool down!?)

Sigil of Hydromancy: You freeze nearby foes for 1 / 2 / 3 seconds when you swap to this weapon while in combat. (This effect cannot trigger more than once every 9s)

Sigil of Leeching: Your next attack after swapping to this weapon while in combat steals some health. (This effect cannot trigger more than once every 9s) (Ingame tooltip lacks information) <— anyone know how much this steals? This link:http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Life_stealing mentions “Life stealing triggered by Sigil of Superior Leeching heals for 975 health at Lvl 80.” That seems very nice – 1k heal + 1k damage..might be a good healing power gap filler.

Well I’ve played around with this build in PvE and I like it quite a lot / extremely fun (using Carrion armor + Cleric accessories, I wasn’t going to farm gold to redo my armor set) – I still need to test it in WvW and Dungeons. I’m not 100% sure if the damage is enough for me, but its a very balanced build that seems to last well in the frontline…the boons really make up for the what a balanced build might lack, such as enough crit (fury) or power (might stack). I personally like defense over offensive in GW2…so I’m ok with it. I might tweak it a little, once I play around with it some more.

I ended up using Rune of Dolyak..cost like 7.5g (getting more and more expensive now), but if you guys think Divinity, Undead, or Earth works better..let me know – will need to farm for the cash again. :P

BTW – how much regen does Dolyak do? Also, with a good amount in healing power that this build has..I personally thought having regen would be nice…I am pretty sure the hp regen from Dolyak runes get a boost from healing power…so I wonder how much the standard amount of regen is…and how much it is with like 600+ healing power. With the significant investing into healing power…you might as well make the most of it..no? Unlike the other stats, healing power isn’t consistently being utilized, so the passive effect might be nice.

Lastly, I tried out Signet of Restoration for a quick minute (10% of Healing Power is gained as bonus healing for the passive effect healing)…hmmmm not sure. Will need to test further, didn’t have much time last night. Not a bad idea..though I don’t think it will work against spike damage as well as Glyph of Elemental Harmony.

Do let me know if you like Rune of Divinity, Undead, or Earth better.

Thanks,
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UPDATE: Rune of Dolyak – “When gaining health, Regeneration ticks every second and adds 30 health per tick. The amount of health added per tick cannot be increased with Healing Power.” : ( #sadface

~ Arcadian