Guild Wars 2

Hopefully the Specialization of Thief will have actual cooldowns for abilities :P

And does better than Initiative, so that people want to play that in PvP instead of the base class lol

Conquest seems to have a huge centralizing effect on builds. There are millions of permutations of traits/sigils/amulets for each class and trying to analyze it is a huge undertaking as a newer player.

I ended up sticking with what the community says works and going from there because it appears that despite the sheer scope of combinations of elements, only a few them actually work for conquest.

For example, I was thinking about running a full melee build on Warrior. I went into practice and saw that people were using AoE all over the place and quickly realized that’s why Longbow was in ALL of the best warrior builds on metabattle. AoE is vitally important for a viable build in conquest because almost every fight you’re gonna be in has more than one person or AI to damage.

It appears that Anet wants to respond to that in HoT by going the route of Dota / LoL and giving the player so many options that this will expand the playing field by itself, instead of trying to tinker with what already exists.

What I am hoping for, but not too much, is that the base classes become more limited in scope, while the Specializations provide a different role. This would be like a cell embryo splitting into two, and with the classes more miniaturized, what appears to be a splitting into an unmanageable mess of chaos actually becomes a division of roles that can be more easily balanced.

Of course, I might be giving them too much credit, but the potential of that system is intriguing, if not a bit exciting.

If the base class is almost exactly the same, with the Specialization being an offshoot that is radically different but cannot be customized much, then that could work, but it would be a class specific situation, like some classes’ Specializations being go-to for PvE but total trash for PvP.

Some more information, even a few hints, would be greatly appreciated lol.

Well if you’re defending the point from his backcap then 1v1ing him is important. If you’re 1v1ing him because you want to and aren’t paying attention to capture points, chances are you’re wasting your time.

Yeah Thieves are annoying for a lot of reasons. They have no ability cooldowns, they teleport, stealth, and hit really hard. The dodge spamming ones are also really annoying. They also seem to be the apex predator of the Berserker amulet, killing any other class trying to use it easily except for Meditation Guardian.

That said, just make sure your nodes are under control and if he tries to 1v1 you with a build he can’t kill in seconds then he’s not being useful and you are.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Specialization

“Initially each profession will have one specialization, providing access to a new weapon, elite skill, healing skill, and a set of utility skills.”

Colin Johanson

“Specializations is a new system that allows you to take each of the professions we have in the game and grow them almost into a new sub-profession or secondary profession. An example of this is, a Ranger can become a Druid. Once a Ranger becomes a Druid, they have the ability to use the powers of the jungle and that gives them new skills, new traits, they can use a new weapon that a Ranger could never use before, and they get new profession mechanics that fundamentally change the way a Ranger plays when they become a Druid. Each of the professions will be getting one of these Specializations and this also is a framework that we’ll use to grow the professions in the future. This will be the way we add more skills, traits, and abilities to the game moving forward. That’s how we’re growing our existing professions.”

This seems like a pretty big deal for PvP. This Druid, in particular, if they possess different profession mechanics might be a better option for Rangers than the base class. I am very curious.

• how this will work for PvP unlocking. buy it with gold like traits/sigils/runes?
• whether or not these Specializations have new traits and combinations?
• if they can equip the new weapon and the other weapons the base class already has or just the new weapon
• Whether Specializations warrants limitations to the base class’ traits. Ex. a Ranger focuses on archery, traps, and pets, while a Druid gets Nature Magic and Druid..ism..ness.

This looks just as important as Stronghold but I don’t see people speculating about it or asking for more information. So I’ll ask about its role in PvP.

One thing that goes entirely against what appears to be Anet’s philosophy that I think would be of particular benefit for GW2 would be to limit the number of available build options for players based on class and game mode.

For example, a Thief with Cleric’s amulet is useless for Conquest. So they shouldn’t have access to it so someone doesn’t get the bright idea of wasting a roster spot for “creativity’s sake.”

If each class had access to certain amulets, then the permutations available would be more manageable and it would be more likely that new players would be more effective and build more intelligently.

That’s a bit hyperbolic to say the least.

I think it would be great, but they’re gonna look at a forum thread like this and not want to stir things up with people who don’t want to hear raging and cursing. I personally think competition is going to inevitably get some F bombs and passion, and that VOIP is better than no VOIP by far, but I doubt Anet is going to throw down for it.

Nice. Mad props for asking people to donate to charity. I don’t think I’ve seen that in a video by a GW2 player or Arenanet.

Loboling.5293:

Trevor Boyer.6524:

greek fire.

Is that some kind of jelly for your genit…? Apply two layers for maximum benefits.

Greek fire is written about extensively as sort of a myth, but one that could have been explained if certain fanatics didn’t destroy the Library of Alexandria and other historical records of the time.

The legend goes that the Greeks had some kind of chemical weapon that set fires that were so intense they could burn down entire villages and temples to ash in short periods of time. There’s a Steve Berry book (historical thriller stuff) that has a fictitious Central Asian dictator who unites the southern part of the former Soviet Union into a totalitarian state that uses Greek Fire and biological weapons, threatening to conquer the Middle East and end the Western wars and expand her territory.

It’s actually a pretty scary thought if the myths were true. It is a myth for a reason tho.

glock.6590:

Shoutbow isint that OP its just super easy to play like turret engi. In 1v1 they seem to be OP because of the fire field that covers the entire PvP point.

The build actually isn’t that great against ranged opponents. Most of the dmg comes from weapon swaps and if they kite you, your pressure drops considerably. In a 1v1 at least, but a support build like this shouldn’t be 1v1ing very much.

Obviously people who use melee builds are gonna eat the damage if they are hit consistently by the conditions and Final Strike. Standing in the AoE also builds up adrenaline so people don’t seem to realize how it works and let the Warrior dictate to them.

Shoutbow is a lot stronger overall than GS/LB. As a new player I’ve been winning more than 65% of my unranked queues with it, making sure I res teammates and fight where all the action is.

I usually play Shoutbow so I’ll stick with NPCs for a while then try GS/LB for objective stuff.

I don’t know how much my opinion will matter, but as a brand new player who is trying to take PvP seriously I am not surprised that people are this angry about it. The exploit with the turrets in midair makes it even more annoying to think about.

I really like this game’s pvp so far. I am learning a lot about warrior doing unranked queues, but if ppl are running turret engineer so much in ranked I don’t think i’ll participate in that until I know that at least this midair exploit is addressed.

It’s disappointing to see this kind of thing in an MMO with as much critical acclaim as GW2 has.

Thanks for the link I actually went to Rom’s channel. He seems like a cool dude. Looks like a viking lol

So I am planning on playing a lot of PvP and I have some questions about Warrior.

First, I did some analysis of how people play other classes and I have worked on a list of what I should do against other classes.

Engineer – most builds are susceptible to CC, since almost all of the builds I’ve seen have windows between stun breaks and little to no stability. Hambow and Mace/Sword Longbow seem strong here.

Necromancer – all builds are susceptible to CC, since they almost all depend on Flesh Wurm to get out of trouble. Hambow and Mace/Sword Longbow seem good here.

Elementalist – their builds are centered mainly around supporting while doing damage, but usually have good CC defense, so firepower is what’s needed there, like Axebow, or providing a similar amount of support for teammates to match theirs.

Mesmer – their builds seem very slippery against melee and CC. Almost all focus on burst, so it looks like I need to drag the fight out longer against them, like taking Endure Pain and the Defy Pain trait. Their condition defense looks really weak, so I’m thinking Sword/Sword Longbow is stronger against them.

Ranger – their CC defense seems more sturdy than others because of how much they can dodge and what seems like an unreadable CC immunity because of their Wilderness Survival trait. It seems like I’d best be prepared for both Power and Conditions by having Endure Pain and Berserker Stance and to use LOS to prevent them from getting easy bow shots, getting up close to fight them. Seems like I can go with any build so long as I keep up counterpressure, but I don’t want to underestimate Ranger players.

Guardian – it seems like they have a Warrior’s number in 1v1s because of their blocks, blinds, and boons. Conditions seem like the best choice to deal with them, so Sword/Sword Longbow with a Condition damage oriented amulet like Rabid makes sense. It seems like it’s too easy for a Guardian to counter direct damage in 1v1s, hence why they’re considered strong against Thieves and other direct damage builds.

Thief – this one makes me nervous. They seem to be very strong in 1v1s, especially with how they can go from stealth to instantly doing huge damage to teleporting away from you. If it’s not that, it looks like they will evade spam. I think I’m going to feed kills against Thief until I learn how to predict them because of experience. That said, they seem to be weaker against conditions so perhaps Mace/Sword is the best choice with them since they don’t seem to have very good CC defense either.

Warriors – May the better warrior win lol. I guess it’s just a matter of taking advantage of windows of Berserker Stance or Endure Pain being down, making them miss key skills, and trying to keep Poison on them through weapon swaps because of our universal use of Healing Signet.

My questions after that text wall are:

1) Am I thinking along the right lines with the analysis?
2) What am I missing in individual matchups (i.e. some protips from more experienced players who are feeling charitable lol)
3) I’m aware that rotating to allies and winnable fights are a good start, but what are some Warrior-specific node rotation tips that can expand on that?
4) Are there any diamond in the rough type builds that aren’t on metabattle / intothemists? It seems like there aren’t that many builds on any class to choose from, albeit with what is certainly going to be a challenge in mastering them.

Thanks.
Alexander Gorik