Guild Wars 2

The problem is that people don’t pick the Scepter because they love it, they pick it because they need a ranged weapon in many cases.

Of course it’s boring when you’re forced into taking it, and when it’s a weapon with little variety. It’s basically spam ‘1’ and hit ‘2’ on cooldown, with little visual effectiveness.

I’ve been using the Hammer from 2-80, and then 100+ hours since then. I love it.

Don’t confuse your dislike of it with it being broken. For example, I don’t like the 1h Sword, but it’s still a great weapon.

I see a lot of complaints with the Hammer that stem from people simply not preferring it, rather than them seeing something as broken or underpowered.

Just make sure your suggestions aren’t simply preference, otherwise you’re basically asking for the weapon to be changed from what the current users like, to something that you probably wouldn’t even use but would just find slightly more pleasing.

In PvP I basically faceroll people. Try a heavy critical build with Hammer/Greatsword.

In PvE, I don’t struggle with damage either.

It’s harder to build for damage as a Guardian, but we still CAN do it, if you’re willing to put the effort.

Yes we can’t pull off the same level of burst (still up there actually, such as a 3.5k crit every 4s with Mighty Blow, or 4-6k Whirling Wrath/Zealot’s Defense), but our sustained damage is rather high.

Judge’s Intervention is simply a beast of a skill, for PvE/PvP/WvW.

I find Retreat to be the same. It’s has huge out of combat movement utility, but it is also a great skill in-combat. Think about it, it’s basically another Virtue of Courage except on a shorter cooldown and gives Swiftness.

For WvW you can’t go wrong with Wall of Reflection.

Then there’s Signet of Judgement. Pretty good for PvE/PvP/WvW as well. 10% more survival by default, and can be used situationally to give Retaliation and inflict Weakness. In PvP it’s obviously useful. In WvW you can use Retaliation to great effect against Arrow Carts. In PvE Retaliation can be useful, but being able to give 25-33% weakness on enemies is invaluable. I also have it traited for reduced cooldowns and to remove a condition, so that means I can remove a condition every 15s, and have 33% duration of Retaliation and Weakness.

The Focus is a great off-hand, leave it alone.

As for the Scepter, the main issues are that Smite doesn’t pulse and Orb of Wrath is just too slow.

I go almost 100% melee in explorable dungeons (I’m lv 80) and I use completely damage oriented gear with a rather damage oriented build.

If you keep moving, conserve your dodges, and mix in weakness/protection and blind/aegis, you should be able to survive pretty well. But you shouldn’t expect to “tank”.

I don’t want to sound rude, but make sure you do the math instead of assuming the damage is higher/lower than something else.

The Hammer’s ‘1’ chain has a DPS of about 1300.
The Greatsword’s ‘1’ chain has a DPS of about 1000.

The Hammer’s may “feel” weaker due to how long it takes, but if you get into the math (not that complicated, takes like 2min), you’ll find that the Hammer is superior in that respect.

I think the ‘1’ chain should simply have a slightly shorter cast time on Symbol of Protection, but have the damage decreased proportionately. That way, the DPS would be the same, but it would be a much more practical weapon. Even 0.4s change on Symbol of Protection would be good.

“This is not a game where you can devote months playing,”

Speak for yourself.

Banewrath.5107:

Yes it is horrible. That disgusting delay you get on your first chain attack is enough to discourage you from ever using a hammer normally. Unless you are going for the utility skills for specific situations or just want to use it for yucks for 5 minutes or so, there isn`t any other reason to like the hammer. I would love to to use 2handed hammers because it`s my playstyle and preference but unless you like launching bunnies like the one dude does, it really isn`t a fun or practical weapon to use.

Speak for yourself. If you can get over the ‘1’ chain taking too long, it’s an amazing weapon with utility, survival, and a LOT of damage.

Banewrath.5107:

Nonsense? every guardian I see uses a greatsword. If the hammer was so awsome you would see more people using it. Only new players use it for a few lvls until they get thier hands on a greatsword and wonder wtf they were using a hammer for. The hammer is a tactical weapon whereas all the other weapons can be used as a fulltime weapon with no problems or complaints.

If the hammer had a better 1 chain you would see more people using it. But for the most part since you can only slot two weapons, most people run a melee/ranged setup so they can kite when they need to. You are pretty much only going to see hammer users in group pvp. You won`t see too many people questing or grinding using a hammer because it isn`t practical or fun. Think about it also, if the hammer was fine and dandy, Anet wouldn`t be revamping the thing.

It IS practical, and it IS a load of fun. Just because YOU don’t like it, it doesn’t mean it is crap. Yeah most people use the Greatsword, but it’s not because the 1h Sword, Staff, Hammer, and Mace are “impractical”, it’s because the Greatsword is 100% offensive and because it is the MOST POPULAR AESTHETIC IN RPGS.

Hammer, hands down.

Great damage, good survival, has substantial utility.

They’re boxes that can give a random item. ANY item. From a lv 5 Common to a lv 80 Legendary.

I got 1 Common, 2 Blues, 1 Masterwork, (all previous of various levels) and a lv 80 Rare.

He’s a heavily introverted character.

I see a lot of complaints about him being a static character, but he actually goes through a lot of changes.

Top of Longview/Sunny Tower on the borderlands, where the vista is. To get there, you have to climb up a platforming challenge. I place catapults there when defending.

When enemies break through, I can just chill up there until they notice me. Then the fun starts.

I pull out my Hammer and wait for my victims. My record is a 3v1 so far, 3x kills with Banish. I recommend all Guardians to try this.

Stability, AoE, and non-protectile ranged attacks will all get you. That includes arrow carts.

If you are good at melee, you CAN play most of the dungeon in melee range. However, you’ve got to make sure you have some defensive abilities (other than dodge) to use when you’re in a bind, and you should have a ranged weapon on your other set.

With those prerequisites fulfilled, you should be fine.

WingLegacy.7159:

If prestige is for everybody then it loses its value….. These people complaint because they cant handle it. It takes group skills to do dungeon runs not some pugs running like headless chicken and to kill evrythng. Prestige=hard to get

Nobody is asking for it to be for everyone. They’re asking for it to not take a ridiculous amount of time to get, to the point where it stops becoming enjoyable.

It’s not even about the difficulty, it’s about the time. I can run TA explorable and nail it in an hour with PUGs. I’m not willing to run it 16 times for a single item. It’s not because I can’t handle it, it’s because the FUN is killed well below 16 times.

The “trash” mobs are part of the dungeon. This is Guild Wars 2, not whatever other game you’re coming from. The design of the dungeon is that normal enemies are meant to be a challenge, not something placed to artificially make you waste time so you pay for another month.

Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.

Most of the time it’ll keep an enemy out, but you have those cases where an enemy falls down, and gets up and is already past the ring/line because they fell OVER the ring/line.

Just don’t touch Banish >.>

If you have experienced the thrill of knocking enemy players 20 feet over the side of a cliff, after a massive windup smash to the chin, you understand.

Games are meant to be fun.

This zone is fun. If you don’t care about fun, “you’re doing it wrong”.

I think the issue is this:

I, and I think many people, would be willing to do a few runs (3) for a piece of armor like a helm, or gloves. I might even do 6 for that awesome chest piece/2h weapon. But I’m not going to do 13 runs for one chest piece, 16 runs for a 2h, and about half of that for each other item.

The Hammer’s ‘1’ chain deals more DPS than the Greatsword, and Mighty Blow is roughly the same as Whirling Wrath.

I love the Hammer’s ‘1’ chain, and if you trait for symbol size/duration you’ll see why. It’s basically a massive AoE that lasts for most of your next ‘1’ chain that hits 3+ enemies, grants a potential 100% duration of Protection on yourself, and creates a self-combo with Mighty Blow that gives AoE Retaliation.

As for gap closing, it can be a little rough, but the Hammer excels at keeping enemies near you. If you can get near the enemy, you can bet they won’t get away. I recommend using Judge’s Intervention and Retreat if it’s too frustrating.

The staff is strange since it has partly good usefulness at close range, and then the rest is long-range support.

The Scepter is actually pretty good, but it fails in two severe ways. One, the orb can be easily avoided, and often enemies do without trying. Secondly, Smite does not pulse or hit more than 1-2 enemies at a time. It even misses enemies when you place it on them as the ‘fists’ are random.

If the scepter’s orb was faster moving and Smite pulsed, it would be much, much more viable.

My experience: I’ve done multiple explorables and every story mode but Arah.

I actually go for maximum damage with an above average amount of control/support. If you use CC and boons/defensive abilities situationally, you can focus entirely on damage, especially if you buff your Virtues.

The downed state definitely helps. Maybe our experienced have just been different, but I’ve put many hours into WvW already and I’ve lost plenty of kills and have been saved multiple times thanks to the downed state.

Mainly, it alleviates the issues with bursting people down. Even if 20 people focus you, your allies then have time to react to save you, which is much better than simply insta-death. It also means an attacking force can’t simply spam and run through your group as easily as people don’t instantly drop dead.