Guild Wars 2

johnnymiller.5968:

Yeah, lets nerf everything. The loot so far has not been any better than you get elsewhere. At least for me. 522% magic find while running the events, which gave 2 rare items from all the bags collected. Like most other events items dropped are mostly green, blue & white. Good for increasing base magic find.
This was from a 4 hour period.

2 rare items in 4 hours? I get more than that killing moas in queensdale. such lies

Zenith.7301:

How curious that this is a dungeon thread yet nobody treats fractals as dungeons, when they are the highest level of dungeon mechanics.

lv50 fractals are a whole different ball game, because survival due to the damage output of bosses and mobs, and the total health of bosses, is far greater than any of the usual speed run explorable paths.

So the one trick pony that is an ele in a fractal becomes a liability because suddenly a melee autoattack from a mob, and especially bosses such as Mossman and Archdiviner will one shot him.

In fractals the heavy armor classes have a distinct advantage, and so do the strong AoE classes. Fire Shaman will eliminate ranger, necromancer, and mesmer from the list — all these classes have absolutely horrendous aoe capacity that makes them a liability against the elementals who need to be burst down immediately.

In all the other lv50 fractals classes with high effective HP (which is not necessarily the same thing as a large health pool, but effective mitigation mechanisms such as strong burst and sustained healing, reflection, high access to protection, etc) have the best capability to sustain DPS.

Try Archdiviner melee on a ranger or lightning hammer ele. Try dredge on those as well. Not very fun when a mob takes out over half your health in one swing and is immune to conditions which would otherwise allow you to survive.

For lv50 fractal the list easily favors guardian and warrior with a single ele, preferably a staff ele, as the only light armor class in the group. Thief is essential for speeding up the dredge and harpy fractals, and their survival comes from being able to chain pistol whip if necessary against opponents with hardhitting autoattacks.

Take a good look at paths such as the Aetherblade in TA, it also favors high effective HP classes that withstand offensive pressure better.

Engineer and Ranger might do well in regular dungeon speed runs, but they are no better than a mesmer or anyone that isn’t a Warrior/Guardian/Thief with the token ele in a fractal or aetherpath run.

It’s also no coincidence that the reason necro isn’t well loved for dungeons either is because alongside ranger their power based AoE skills are absolute trash, and this game is all about bursting AoE.

I main ele and use him in frac 50 all the time, d/f. Guardian and Warrior are easier to use IN ALL CONTENT, not just fractals. While I get what youre saying, youre wrong on some things. Necro for fire shaman is actually fine, great even, with wells and piercing life blast. Mesmer is also great for that fight for 3 reflects to stop the fire eles. Warrior is actually the class you dont need at all in that fight. Ele does fine with off hand focus, destroy projectiles and then icebow. Warrior and Guardian are for the “not that good” players. You can be great at the game and use a War or Guard, thats fine, but they are targetted for the less.. skilled people. A good example is like Virtua Fighter, they list which characters are for beginners and which are for experts, doesnt mean one is better than the other, just expert classes tend to have a higher skill cap, and can do more at that level. im ranting now, gnite

lordhelmos.7623:

Here’s my list and reasons:

TOP TIER

1.) The Guardian
-Heart of the party, most reliable reflects and defensive options without sacrificing damage (reflects, aegis, party healing). Some fights with high projectile counts (i.e. Bloomhunger, Harpy Fractal, Grawl Shaman Frac 50) are downright nightmares without a guard.

2.) The Warrior (DPS)
Highest melee dps in the game, insane buffs with indestructible banners that skyrockets the party killing power. Also able to party save and boost the group damage to 20-25+ might with Warbanner, the best PvE elite in the game.

3.) The Elementalist (Support)
-Single best support class in the game. Most reliable might stacker, high area damage, conjure frost bow is the best area aoe and structure destroyer in the game. Can grant more boons and auras than any other class.

MID TIER:

4.) The Ranger (DPS)
Very high sword melee dps. Best water field in the game. Decent damage boosters with frost spirit and spotter. Spirit of Nature is very strong in PvE. Overshadowed by warrior due to indestructable banners and the ranger’s reliance on pets. Pet insufficiency is mitigated somewhat if using drakes, which do decent damage, blast on fields, and have strong F2s. Drakes also redirect enemy damage to themselves due to high toughness in comparison to the rest of the group, some bosses can be drake tanked.

5.) Mesmer (Support)
Good portal skipping tricks, strong damage when traited right + reflects and support. Also has the second best PvE elite next to warbanner (Timewarp). Substitute support for the ele, which is better in all realms of support and damage.

6.) Thief (Damage/Support)
Good sword damage but high risk. Stealth allows for mass skipping and sometimes entire segment skipping (such as CM). Limited tricks outside of basic weapon skills but best blast finisher in the game (cluster bomb). Overshadowed by the mesmer and the ele. Both are better choices.

LOW TIER:

7.) Engineer (Damage/Support)
Good area damage with grenades and limited stealth. Can stack decent vul but has semi-dependency on conditions (most of which are overshadowed by the guardian’s 100% burning uptime). Good blast finishers, limited usefulness of utility skills and kits. No good PvE Elites, grenades have a low rate of fire and lose damage because of how long they are airborne.

NECROMANCER:

8.) Necromancer (No PvE Use)
By far the weakest class. Heavily condition dependent. Minions are useless in PvE with lack of good targeting and focus fire options. What useful power skills that they have (Lich, Wells) are on high CDs. No good autoattack options that hit multiple targets. Terrible aoe outside of wells. Needs serious PvE help.

Engi Ele and especially Thief all out melee damage a warrior, and by a lot. Ranger even hits harder, though I see why you put warrior above it.

I was there about 5 hours just doing achievements and such and got 5 stacks of dragonite ore, 140 champ bags, those rare equipment bags around 30 of them, and a kittenload of other stuff. the farm is a little too good but whatever

can you PLEASE let us dye it!!! I love this thing, always have always will, but the color is just so off. please, PLEASE!

so where are we ranking these days in PVE, damage wise. using META builds I guess, I havent really used mes for PVE in awhile

Gaile I want to run a dungeon with you

ive gotten over 25 ascended armor chests, about 4 weapon chests. youll be fine

Mesmer needs mace/axe. we already have ranged weapons, and one melee wep thats been nerfed so the point of meh

Considering almost all male armor looks like garbage, especially medium armor, be happy with what you get

Tengu or Dwarf ftw. Ogden is the only known Dwarf to be alive in his clan, but there can be many many more dwarves, just like theres humans all over

…. 90% of the female armor is hoochie restricted. Its legit the most annoying thing in video games. Every fractal I run is 3-4 human females, possibly one norn one, wearing hooch gear. I actually get excited when I see a female asura/charr… or any male. I wear phoenix armor on my male human mesmer and people dont even know what it is because so few people play light armor males, or males in general it seems (besides norn/charr warriors and guards)

Konig Des Todes.2086:

This is all preparations for extending the weapon sets for all professions. Necromancers get greatswords. Engineers get mace and torch. Ranger gets hammer. Mesmer gets main pistol and horn (with flute like skills). Warrior gets dual daggers. Elementalist gets hammer. Thief gets main sword and off-hand axe. And Guardians gets longbows.

where did… any of this come from? Why would mesmer get a pistol… Mes already has 3 ranged weapons. MH Sword for thief… they already have that. Ele getting hammer???

its been seen. We have an NPC Necro (frac) using a Hammer and now an NPC Necro with a GS. Give it to us please.

I mostly see thief/ranger/mesmer

I rarely see racism. I was hoping this was about how Charr and Sylvari make much better light armor races than the tiny weak asura. (Still mad I made an asura necro)

oh dang thats realllly good!

hmmm lemme take a gander ar the archmage and devout armor

anyone have any… wizard looking character? I have this wizard hat sitting here and I Want to make a gandalf lookin guy or something. We need more robes and such I think. anyone got pics?

jus spoke to him and got it woooot !

1- ele
2- guard
3- thief
4- war
5- ranger/engi even. Id say Engi is better overall for vuln and might stacking but spotter and frost spirit are also the truth, with good melee dps.

Mesmer and necro I dont like in dungeons. Necros hold their own and rarely do I even worry about them but Mesmers, no way. Mesmer was my main for a year and as much as I love them, no, just no. I enjoy the reflect and such but guards can do that and with a good thief and ele I dont need to worry about projectiles at all leaving mesmer just for timewarp and their stupid greatsword

you should get a precursor for this. a unique one that plays bohemian rhapsody whenever equipped

I mostly pve and now pvp, but wvw used to be my game type of choice. I use ele for pvp and pve so I want to do something diff for wvw so im thinking necro is the way to go.
What are good zerging and roaming builds?

Silferas.3841:

Warrior, Ele and Engi stack might fast

Mesmer, Necro and Thief meta specs all have plentiful boon stripping capabilities

Mesmer – every clone shattered removes a boon. That’s up to 9 boons stripped just by using the class mechanic, while also dealing damage

Thief – not only does thief strips boons, he steals them and grants them to his team. Along with dazing the enemy, dealing damage, closing the gap, healing himself and gaining a new skill that helps him fight said class more effectively. Every 20 something seconds.

Necro – Path of Corruption, Corrupt boon, some weapon skills as well, all of which not only remove the boons, but turn them into conditions as well…

Guardian is a special case, since DPS guardian is a strong 1v1 spec even without boon stripping and bunker guardian is unrivaled as a point holder.

I’d say current meta game is the best one we’ve had since launch. There is no big prevalence of instagib specs or condi burst mayhem, instead, we have prolonged fights where mistakes accumulate and the better player/team wins. I don’t see that as a bad thing. Another thing to mention is that there is the highest number of viable pvp builds in this game since launch as well right now.

Not saying the balance is perfect, but I would be against doing anything too drastic to shift the meta back to instagib specs or condi.

Engi and Ele probably hold points better than Guards

I still way prefer Warrior Longbow to Rangers LB. I have to say besides d/d ele, War LB is my fav weapon

Personally I prefer Warrior Longbow over Ranger

Drizzt Do’Urden is by far the most popular Ranger in fiction and he uses dual swords and a summoned pet. Just sayin.

btw, I see a lot of people want the Ranger to have a rifle… why? We have 3 ranged weapons… what would make the rifle different?

this game can easily play on xbox 1 or ps4. they handle ff14 easily and that game is graphically superior to GW2. Now, im not sure how PS4 would handle wvw internet wise, but XB1 could handle it

The Guardian is the best made profession. Its not anywhere near OP, yet its great at pvp wvw and pve. Its not the best at any single role, except possibly bunker but even that isnt so true anymore. Gaurdian fits the typical team leader lets get kitten done role. As I type this I feel like im talking about the Engi class

random but ive only been using my ranger for wvw and pve lately, decided I need a new main while I work on incin for my ele. whats the main pve build now? ty in advance, tried using the search function… jk

personally I run 3 fracs a day, about 4-6 dungeons, salvage the exos.

after that I buy whatever I need to craft a few items and sell them for profit. I dont lie logging off without making 10-20g

never and id be kittened if it did…. why would they sell a gemstore version WITHOUT the glow and add one with it?

Anymras.5729:

This sounds like an idea that would end…if not badly, not the way it was intended to.

Engineer Kits are a lot like permanent Elementalist Conjures, except they can’t be shared and don’t give stat bonuses, after all.
Engineer is also the only other class without a Weapon Swap ability, because of these. The Engineer’s hand weapons (of which they have a total of four possible combinations, counting both on land and in water) were intentionally made weak for the same reason – the versatility that Kits provide.
In essence, the class is shaped by Kits, to the point that it feels like the only reason they aren’t the profession mechanic is because the Elementalist has Attunements.
All Engineers are given almost no weapon choice, weak hand weapons, and no weapon swap (not that we have much to swap to with our whole three on-land weapon sets and one water weapon), because of an entirely optional, overemphasized skill set.

Do you want the Elementalist being nerfed into the ground because of the extra versatility permanent Conjures would provide? The balance team would add every Conjure they could to the skill bar, and then balance around the availability of the resulting forty-one or so skills.

engineer can receive swiftness on weapon/kit change. Also, Engi can get vigor whenever it gets swiftness.

I tossed the witches hat and the GW2 cap over a year ago and im still kicking myself in the kitten about it

Oxidia.8103:

Every now and then i enter a path sellers lfg and say they should be ashamed of themselves. Then exit the group.

Every time i see a staff ele i force myself not to vote kick it from a dungeon, instead i grind my teeth and watch it how he/she spams fireballs with no attument switch ever and then die max range from all of us. Then i don’t res him/her the whole run because f you start using dodge and stop checking your facebook.

I do the same from above when a necro is in a group. Or a ranger. Because max range-spamming 1 rocks.

I change my armor’s apperance way to often. Sometimes weekly.

After i flushed 200gold in mystic forge and only got a few pearl exotics i quit playing for 2 months.

I like like world completion it relaxes me.

I strongly resent people who ping precursor drops on world boss event. I’m jelous besause in 2 years of playing the most expensive item that dropped to me is a hammer worth 20 gold.

I like running fractals even tho i know i’m going to get a uninfused ring on lvl 50.

Once i vote kicked afk-er on the phone after being afk for 10 min because i wanted to finish asuran fractal because Mentalist was on in 30 min on tv and i wanted to watch it.

everything on this list is me except I dont kick anyone, although I used to hate playing with rangers and necros. Also, add another 0 to that 200 on the forge.

his name is Sea Dragon

I have to agree with post above me, you described the longbow completely. However I wouldnt mind the rifle at all, id prefer a melee staff though. I think the Ranger either is at a stage where its fine power wise and needs to embrace its druid like tendencies.

predator is absolutely awesome, I Was going to get it for my warrior but I dont use rifle on warrior. On engi, its been a toss up. Its def awesome, but like I said, I have Bolt and I feel like not using it is a crime. I use 1h sword on basically every class that can use it and I have bolt overload.

Engi has Mesmer beat in almost every catergory, even reflect

dude the phoenix rifle is gangster. Predator is one of the few legendary weapons I like though so its a toss up. I personally use the fractal rifle because I have SO little luck getting frac skins, every frac skin I get I use. If I Was you id honestly just blow 500g on Scarlets kiss because THAT is a real rifle, although phoenix is awesome as well. I got Bolt and was the happiest person on earth for awhile, but all these new exotic skins come out and I feel like I HAVE to use bolt… its annoying. Incinerator is the only other Legendary I Want for my ele, besides that dude, rock out how you are

was just reading this over… since when is flamethrower stronger than bombkit?

I never ever ever tried toolkit underwater, but bomb and grenade kit decimate underwater

John Smith.4610:

I think this thread is pretty good evidence that the value of skins is incredibly subjective. Sometimes a cool skin is going to be basic, gritty, realistic or plain. Other times a god’s hand come from the sky to hand you a universe tearing, light sparkling, night glowing mace that may not compel awe as much as it will force other around you to dance until the stubs of their bones beat a catchy cadence for your amusement.

I see mace and dance in the same sentence…

please make a new mace legendary, we beg you

This game is great but Ultima Online is the best MMO ever, and by a large amount.

I love it for everything except stacking

Voidrunner.5093:

I seriously want to be sauron at some point.
but what would a hammer necro do?

well maybe AoE lifedrain.
Aoe Blindness?
Applies torment?

Does anyone want hammer necro?

What about greatsword necro? sword necro?

What about Focus/focus hokus pokus necro? WITH MINION weapon skills YASSSS

Torch necro?
adds burning to the mix

I just want MOAR MINIONS

Sauron? Sauron is a god of blacksmithing

bring dhuumfire back

Solori.6025:

MonMalthias.4763:

Prysin.8542:

MonMalthias.4763:

snip of own post

There is the other side too namely setups that counter the very strong “general” builds such as DD ele and engi.
Among them is most condi ranger builds due to massive poison uptime which helps shut down the healing. However condi ranger is against countered by burst thief which is countered by DD ele which is countered by condi ranger again.
So while it may not look like it, there is a “circle of power” that may not be as obvious unless you know how every build on every profession works.

I am not saying rangers hardcounter eles, but give the ranger and ele equal skill and a ST AD rabid/celestial ranger will outperform the ele due to evasion, CC and poison. The other conditions is on low cooldowns allowing for several condition bursts if played correctly. The low HP pool of eles cannot take this treatment, and usually you can burn through all the cleanses a ele got within 12-15 seconds if playing your cards right.

Right, but the build you just mentioned ( I presume you mean something like this? ) is, as you yourselkittennowledged, a soft counter to generalists like Cele D/D 00266 Ele. The matchups that I am referring to are the insuperable ones; as in; matchups that require too many circumstantial advantages for the “losing side” and a large skill advantage over the “winning side” to be concievably winnable.

I feel that more builds and circumstances like your Condi Bleed ranger against Cele Ele should be in game as opposed to some extremely lopsided matchups in game right now, like DPS Guard vs Zerker Thief; or Shatter Mesmer vs Staff Ele or the classic “hardest of counters” Condi Necro vs most meta Engineer builds. That so many of these matchups put almost all the burden of skill on the defender is a worrying trend. It’s circumstances like these that will inevitably put the meta back into 2012-2013 – where at least 1-2 classes languished every single meta. (Warrior post Quickness Nerf; into Ranger post Spirits nerf, into Elementalist post Water Magic nerf(s)).

The meta’s the healthiest it’s ever been; with all 8 classes boasting at least 1 build that makes them meta worthy. That’s something that Arenanet could not possibly even hope to claim last year; and I applaud them for their achievement. But again, the contemptuous ease by which this fragile detente can be shattered is very real. Thief and Warrior, so long being top dog; are fading. Bunker Guardian, so long a staple of Conquest, may well be sidelined altogether in the face of Lord Rush that from what has been seen so far, emphasises mobility. It’s being sidelined even now in fact, due to Cele Ele.

I think that the QoL changes this patch are great, safe, and nicely conservative. But again, that hasn’t stopped Anet from dropping meta-shattering changes that went relatively undocumented until extremely late in the Patch Preview process. (See: Deceptive Evasion last year until shouted down, or the Eleventh hour reprieve against Perplexity Runes being introduced to PvP in April).

To corrupt a certain statesman’s phrase, the price of balance is eternal vigilance; and we as a community have at times not been vigilant. (See: Warrior becoming OP not immediately after Dhuumfire, but being demonstrated to be OP in September, at PAX; by which it then was another 11 more months of Warrior domination until just recently. That Runes and Sigils are now so powerful, so build defining; so multiplicative, only adds to the balance minefield that Anet has to navigate.

Clearly the way forward is to reduce the power creep of Runes and Sigils. The QoL changes don’t really change the meta significantly; but that’s because the outlier combos haven’t been touched.

This is quite possibly the most beautiful post i have read today..
Very nice

+1
also, Rangers need to go back to condi, the LB buff has people forgetting that the Ranger was already powerful

zapv.8051:

Necro: Sword, Hammer, or greatsword

Elementalist: Sword, torch, axe or a bow

Mesmer: Pistol Mainhand, shortbow, or daggers

Ranger: Rifle and pistols

Thief: Sword offhand, axe maybe

Engineer: Hammer, mace

Guardian: Axe

Warrior: they don’t have much left honestly.

I have the same list, except id also give Ranger a staff for CC melee

Tryxtr.6295:

I think it’s much more likely that Anet allows classes to use more pre-existing weapons before they introduce a couple brand new ones, but honestly they should do both.

This is a list of the existing weapons I think professions should already be able to use, plus new weapons

Elementalist: Axe (MH/OH), Torch
Engineer: Mace, Crossbow (new)
Guardian: Warhorn, Battleaxe (new), Javelin (new)
Mesmer: Warhorn, Javelin (new)
Necromancer: Axe (OH), Torch
Ranger: Rifle, Javelin (new), Crossbow (new)
Thief: Axe (MH/OH), Crossbow (new)
Warrior: Battleaxe (new), Javelin (new)

And, just for fun, here’s some weapons that I think SHOULD NOT be available on certain classes because I don’t think they fit with the image of the class:

Mesmer: Pistol
Ranger: Greatsword
Warrior: Rifle

Rangers use greatswords in nearly all fiction. They favor greatswords or dual wielding. Usually its not called a “great” sword, they fight with a single sword but with two hands, no shield. See Elbryan Wyndon or Aragon or LOTR fame. Also, Dungeons and Dragons rangers use GS.