Guild Wars 2

I don’t think it’s fair to compare the two mechanics. However, I do think that DS is a mechanic that really needs to be reworked. You should be able to gain LF faster but also have it drain when out of combat and not last as long. When you don’t have LF it feels agonizing, but when you’re on another class fighting a Necro with full LF it’s not fun as well. Neither party is satisfied in the end.

Of course, this would be a huge undertaking. One of the balancing factors of power Necros is how long it takes to gain LF. If that was made easier and the current damage numbers remained unchanged then chances are it would become OP as hell. It seems like it would be a massive undertaking to get it to where it’s both fun to use and not be broken.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

aye, i support this.

for balanced stance, maybe make it prevent physical control effects that removes your feet off the ground?
- knock down
- knock back / push
- pull
- launch

does not prevent
- fear
- stun
- daze

since it would be a “stance effect” and not a boon, the protection cannot be removed.

Yah, having it be unremovable might require it not being immune to all CC. The problem would again be though that Dolyak Signet would simply be preferred.

One thing I will add is that Skull Crack DOES need a slight range increase. It is currently standard melee range but with such an obvious tell and cast time it can be nearly impossible to land against classes with a high number of evades. I want it to still be a burst that takes a lot of skill to land, but giving it a bit more range would help a lot with quality of Life, especially since Bull’s Charge loves to sometimes put you a few feet off from the target but not tell you that right away.

Neko.9021:

This sounds like a thinly veiled attempt to buff the strongest utility type Warriors have in PvP. >_>

It’s going to always be a nerf. Not being able to have 2 stances on at once is going to mean you are ALWAYS weak to SOMETHING. This should make WvWers happy, it will mean that they can’t pop all stances and escape as easily. If they pop Balanced Stance/EP they can be Immobilized, if they pop Berserkers they can be CC’d. They’ll still have strong escape, but it’ll be weaker.

I would think non-Warriors would be happy about changing Defy Pain, even when on Warrior I hate fighting against it. Even if it’s changed so that it’s just a damage reduction at a certain health threshold that means you can still kill them if you’re power based. The reason why I didn’t give any firm numbers is because it’s going to take a ton of testing finding the right amount, it’s also something the players should be involved in imo.

I want to feel as skillful playing my Warrior as I do playing medi Guard. I want to have to carefully time when I use my skills and be rewarded when I do and be punished when I don’t

Manuhell.2759:

Considering how conditions work, i don’t think changing berserker stance that way is a good idea. Whatever reduction is it, if the condition ends up being under one second, it is nullified anyway. For any condition with less than 4 seconds in duration, a 75% reduction is the same as being immune. And that’s without considering any condition reduction.
It would be likely to end up quite more powerful than it is now, due to the longer duration and reduced cooldown.

You run into the same problem as Automated Response though that if you reduce it much more it’s practically worthless. You are right though that it might be better to keep the current duration/effect the same and just slightly reduce the cooldown to compensate for the change. Most conditions builds are fairly tanky anyways so if you can’t survive 8 seconds then you probably did something wrong.

I still want EP to just be a damage reduction, or at least change the way Defy Pain works. Having both Endure Pain and Defy Pain is almost a guaranteed win against burst classes. You have EP for the first burst, OK that’s fine, you play defensive until you can burst again. However, when you hit the burst a second time they can be saved by a trait that activates AUTOMATICALLY. With the utility EP you have to activate it which means if you get caught out you may still eat most of the burst. With Defy Pain there’s 0 player input.

I think the vast majority of classes only has 1-2 viable heals, so yes I want to address many of them.

Also, Defiant Stance doesn’t gain benefit from Sure Footed if I recall correctly.

Esplen.3940:

Not all heal skills are used for hp/s. If they were, people wouldn’t run Healing Signet.

Heal Sig has a high hp/sec, it’s just weak vs burst but that’s where Endure pain comes in. The reason no one uses Healing Surge is because it punishes you for using your Adrenaline. This this upcoming change to Adren makes Surge totally worthless because if you don’t get that T3 heal you got almost nothing from it and you have a long CD. Mending also doesn’t heal enough to be viable despite you being able to trait it to be almost a full cleanse. If it had a shorter CD I could MAYBE see a Bull’s + Frenzy + 100b build with mostly offensive traits working but as it currently is the hp/sec is pitiful.

Esplen.3940:

I liked it until the end.

Longer duration on a no cast heal skill. Yehp, seems fair.

A long CD heal that is only useful if you are taking heavy damage. It would still only see use in WvW for Zerg Surfing since in PvP it would just be unreliable. Unless you’re being focused it’ll still have less HP/Sec than Heal Sig.

I’m also not talking a huge increase, just enough so that you’re more likely to get a decent benefit from it. Also, it would override any other stance you have on, so there’s still a significant downside.

It HAS to be instant to be even remotely useful. Most of the time when you’re being hit hard you are also being CC’d. Having to stun break/recover before being able to activate it is what makes it useless.

Dahkeus.8243:

I don’t think a lot of people thought about that when they heard about this change, but it’s still a fair change. Keep in mind that as it stands, Rapid Fire is not a DPS increase if you are at max range.

The ranger class has been a class that’s largely identified (some may argue that it’s also defined) by the long bow. However, the weapon is not only significantly lower DPS than melee weapons, but it’s even more so in group encounters where the ranger is stuck out of range of boons such as might and fury. This change will at least close the gap a bit, even though melee will still be the meta, even with the cooldown reduction.

Consider also that in PvP, the decreased cast time can be seen as a nerf in some ways since a single dodge can now avoid most if not all of the rapid fire, whereas it couldn’t when the cast time was 4.5 seconds. Decreasing the cooldown by 2 seconds will make this ability stronger, for sure, but longbow rangers are hardly in danger of being overpowered. =P

Reflects are also going to be really deadly to LB Rangers. You don’t see them too frequently but with the Warrior Mace AA buff you might see some with Missile Deflection. I think LB Ranger snipers are going to be a threat, but I don’t see them being OP.

Even as a Warrior main, it has often bothered me how I can have multiple stances activated at once. In GW1 you could only have 1 active Stance at a time, which makes sense. Right now, Stances don’t feel like Stances, they feel like Signets with no passive. Of course, you can’t just have Stances override each other with no change to their active, it would make them far too weak. So here are some ideas I have:

• Endure Pain and Berserker Stance get longer durations. Rather than being flat immunity to one type of damage, have them be a certain % reduction. It should be fairly high in the 75-80% since you can longer activate both at the same time. I main War but I play other classes enough to know how annoying it is to have a build focused on dealing one type of damage and to be unable to do anything for a duration of the stance. Having it be a reduction means that while you aren’t doing a lot of damage to them, you’re at least doing something.

• Frenzy needs the damage taken increase to be lowered more for it to ever be seen as viable. With the buff to Brawler’s Recovery you MIGHT be able to have a build that doesn’t need Berserker Stance but as it currently is I don’t see it getting a ton of use in this upcoming patch.

• Alternatively, the CDs of Stances get a reduction to make up for the new restriction. It’s a more simple change and one I find much less interesting but probably much easier to implement.

• Balanced Stance is going to need to be an actual stance that gives the same effect as Stability. The potential problem from this is that Dolyak Signet might become the obvious choice. The CD might need a slight reduction to make it still look attractive.

• The Defy Pain and Last Stand traits would need to be changed. You don’t want a Stance being overwritten when you need it most. Last Stand could be swapped to Dolyak Signet with maybe a 5 second shorted ICD to make up for the lack of Swiftness. Or you simply have it give the Swiftness for free. I always disliked traits like Defy Pain but in keeping with the theme perhaps it could have a damage reduction vs physical damage bellow 25% health, similar to Automated Response (which got overnerfed btw).

• It would be nice to see your characters actual fighting stance change when using different stances. It gives a more obvious visual cue so you wouldn’t have to keep an eye on their health bar (something the Devs have said they want to minimize as much as possible). Some examples would be Balanced Stance being your typical L-shaped Karate stance, Berserker would be sort of hunched forward like some sort of wild animal, Endure Pain some form of macho horse-riding stance, and Frenzy as a slightly bouncing boxing stance. I know this would probably never happen because there’s multiple races so adding all those animations would be work intensive but it wold really go a long way in making it feel like your character just changed their fighting style and didn’t just get a glowy aura.

• I almost forgot about Defiant Stance…honestly it would need to be buffed before I even worry about it. I don’t like the idea of a stance with a cast time, especially when it’s so circumstantial as it is. There’s currently a little bit of synergy with Frenzy atm but it’s still not good and the new system would invalidate it. To even make it viable it needs to be instant cast so you can use it while being spiked and probably even need a longer duration to justify that CD.

a t s e.9614:

BurrTheKing.8571:

a t s e.9614:

BurrTheKing.8571:

Seeing someone complaining about Medi Guard is really baffling to me. Imo it’s the most well designed DPS specs in the game. Play well and you can beat many different builds 1v1. You can even make up for you lack of stability by using well timed blocks/blinds. It’s got more risk/reward than your average Thief build because your utilities that are a big part of your offense are also a big part of your sustain. If you catch the guy out they don’t have something like a auto pop Endure Pain to stay alive.

These are the type of builds you want to encourage! Why you would want something that already sees minimal play nerfed is beyond me. Even the blinds are designed in such a way where getting hit by them feels like you messed up as opposed to Thief or some Ele builds.

Medi guard is super easy to play. Instead of correctly using dodges you just spam defensive cooldowns. It dosent need a nerf but it didint need a buff either. Guardian is the easiest zerker class to play besides from pew pew power ranger that spams 111 from 1500 range with longbow.

Are you joking? Have you EVER played Medi Guard against someone even moderately competent? If you just spam your abilities against a Hambow, you’re going to lose. You’re going to find yourself with no defensive options and a hammer combo heading right towards your face. Same with any sort of condition build. Use Contemplation too early and you’re going to get overwhelmed. In fact if you run the more offensive x/6/6/x/x you’ll probably lose because only the 2/1/6/1/4 has enough condi removal to survive long enough 1v1.

As someone who mained War for the first year of the game, Medi Guard is much more difficult. You clearly never played Power Ranger either. Sure it can deal a good amount of ranged damage, but a Thief can also literally 3 shot you and you generally have no way to survive against multiple enemies for more than a nano second. Also in PvP sitting off point isn’t all that useful and 1 reflecting wall and you become totally worthless for the duration.

Anyways, at best the buff is a nice little boost but it’s not like it’s going to make the build able to beat builds it couldn’t before.

I said its the easiest ZERKER class to play not the easiest overall. The build/class with the most defensive cooldowns while being FULL zerk is the easiest zerker build to play. Medi guardian comes on the top followed by thief/mesmer. Ranger is also easy if you are able to keep your enemy at 1500 range, you can autoattack to death.

Of course compared to soldiers hambow medi guard is hard. But zerker Greatsword warrior is hardmode compared to medi guard.

The only Zerker GS War build I can think of as being “hard” to play is Skullcracker since the range is short and the animation is obvious. Other than that GS/Axe is strong, GS/Bow is strong and I don’t find either particularly hard. You still have high health and toughness, and if you’re a wuss Endure Pain as well. A medi guard can be exploded very quickly if you catch them out of position. As a Warrior, Medi Guad can generally beat me 1v1 if they’re good but Warrior is still an easy class to play in its current form. Once the Adren changes go through that might change but as it currently stands no war build is really that hard to play. Ironically though Skullcrack is the build that I find most reliably beats Medi Guard due to their lack of stability.

a t s e.9614:

BurrTheKing.8571:

Seeing someone complaining about Medi Guard is really baffling to me. Imo it’s the most well designed DPS specs in the game. Play well and you can beat many different builds 1v1. You can even make up for you lack of stability by using well timed blocks/blinds. It’s got more risk/reward than your average Thief build because your utilities that are a big part of your offense are also a big part of your sustain. If you catch the guy out they don’t have something like a auto pop Endure Pain to stay alive.

These are the type of builds you want to encourage! Why you would want something that already sees minimal play nerfed is beyond me. Even the blinds are designed in such a way where getting hit by them feels like you messed up as opposed to Thief or some Ele builds.

Medi guard is super easy to play. Instead of correctly using dodges you just spam defensive cooldowns. It dosent need a nerf but it didint need a buff either. Guardian is the easiest zerker class to play besides from pew pew power ranger that spams 111 from 1500 range with longbow.

Are you joking? Have you EVER played Medi Guard against someone even moderately competent? If you just spam your abilities against a Hambow, you’re going to lose. You’re going to find yourself with no defensive options and a hammer combo heading right towards your face. Same with any sort of condition build. Use Contemplation too early and you’re going to get overwhelmed. In fact if you run the more offensive x/6/6/x/x you’ll probably lose because only the 2/1/6/1/4 has enough condi removal to survive long enough 1v1.

As someone who mained War for the first year of the game, Medi Guard is much more difficult. You clearly never played Power Ranger either. Sure it can deal a good amount of ranged damage, but a Thief can also literally 3 shot you and you generally have no way to survive against multiple enemies for more than a nano second. Also in PvP sitting off point isn’t all that useful and 1 reflecting wall and you become totally worthless for the duration.

Anyways, at best the buff is a nice little boost but it’s not like it’s going to make the build able to beat builds it couldn’t before.

Seeing someone complaining about Medi Guard is really baffling to me. Imo it’s the most well designed DPS specs in the game. Play well and you can beat many different builds 1v1. You can even make up for you lack of stability by using well timed blocks/blinds. It’s got more risk/reward than your average Thief build because your utilities that are a big part of your offense are also a big part of your sustain. If you catch the guy out they don’t have something like a auto pop Endure Pain to stay alive.

These are the type of builds you want to encourage! Why you would want something that already sees minimal play nerfed is beyond me. Even the blinds are designed in such a way where getting hit by them feels like you messed up as opposed to Thief or some Ele builds.

I’m starting to lean towards Throw Mine/Mine Field on Engi just due to how much it screws over Thieves.

• Think you’re about to get ambushed? Throw the main skill at your feet and they’ll miss their Baskstab or w/e else they were planning.

• Trying to wuss out by using Shadow Refuge? Throw it in the middle and knock them out of it.

• Use Overcharged Shot + Magnet Pull + Mine Field and and basically seal their doom if they’ve used their stun break.

• Hell, drop the Mine Field and kite around them with evades that spawn bombs and kill them while not taking any damage.

Close second is Skull Crack, leaving someone stunned for up to 3.75 seconds is always fun.

As far as AI goes Spirit Weapons are probably the most “legitimate.” They feel more like an extension of the player as opposed to something you summon and let do their own thing like Minions. They stick fairly close so they don’t feel like as bad of screen clutter like Ranger Spirits.

I don’t hate the idea of pets or AI, but I would rather they function like Spirit Weapons than minions.

EDIT: This difference is probably that Guard is generally in melee range even when using Staff or Scepter. With MM you are generally at range letting your Minions lay down pressure. With a melee class you feel a bit less swarmed imo.

GTOLegend.4175:

BurrTheKing.8571:

I personally believe that combat is the one area of the game that ANet has done the best on. It reminds me of mobas where you do not have tons of skill but have to properly use the ones you have. Your heals and utilities are like items in most cases and your elite is an Ultimate (I know a few people who refer to it as such out of habit). The addition of an evade button makes the game feel more like a hack-and-slash.

I can’t think of any other MMO that has better combat than GW2. Adding more skills means more balancing and more potential bugs. I would much rather have what we currently have be balanced and expanded upon than adding more potential problems to the mix. More is not always better.

I agree this game has the best combat “mechanics” out of any MMO to date. But the lack of diversity is stunting its potential in that regard as well. But I will admit it does has everything going for it. Beautifully drawn artwork, amazing soundtracks, wonderfully written story and a continuous living story. But will all those great qualities I feel the lack of combat diversity is really overshadowing those qualities. I play mobas as well . I play smite and league of legends so I get the quality over quantity aspect. But in those games case they make every champion feel diverse, and release new champions on a regular basis only adding to that diversification.

And that is why I never demanded a certain number of skills be added to each profession. I leave that ultimately to Anet.

As someone who likes competitive games, the idea of adding more variety on weapons skills worries me. Being able to at least have an idea how your opponent is going to fight based on their weapon set gives the game a certain amount of predictability which allows for skillful counterplay. With more skills comes more random elements which is something competitive people generally dislike.

Traits can still give you a ton of variety while still being somewhat predictable.

I’m going to again repeat what I have said many times. Conquest is a good game mode, but only if done right. Battlefield has generally done it the best. The points are large enough that you can take cover/move around without leaving the point and the team with the most players on point gets progress towards the capture.

Having small points and letting one person totally deny the cap of 2+ will always encourage tanky and AoE builds and make some builds appear stronger than they really are. Hambow in an open area is really easy to beat but when avoiding the Combustion Shot and Earthshaker means leaving the point it makes it much stronger.

I would imagine that larger points and majority cap would encourage more diverse builds and would make picking off glass builds actually matter but would also encourage their use to get the numbers advantage in those mid fights.

I personally believe that combat is the one area of the game that ANet has done the best on. It reminds me of mobas where you do not have tons of skill but have to properly use the ones you have. Your heals and utilities are like items in most cases and your elite is an Ultimate (I know a few people who refer to it as such out of habit). The addition of an evade button makes the game feel more like a hack-and-slash.

I can’t think of any other MMO that has better combat than GW2. Adding more skills means more balancing and more potential bugs. I would much rather have what we currently have be balanced and expanded upon than adding more potential problems to the mix. More is not always better.

The Minegineer build in my sig is a variant of the SD build but brings the ability to strip boons and the deadly Overcharged Shot → Magnet → Mine Field → Detonate → Pry Bar combo. It’s less instant than using Rifle Turret but blowing up the Mine Field right on top of an enemy deals WAY more damage.

For PvP I try and focus on one target at range for a few seconds to build up Bunker Down mines at my feet and then Pull the target into them which with the Mine Field can lead to 10k+ damage depending on their build. Thieves hate it and they’ll often half kill themselves on your Rune and Evade bombs. If you feel at risk of being ambushed dropping the Throw Mine on top of yourself totally screws with their rotation and gives you time to land the combo stated above.

Is it the best build for PvP? Maybe not. Will it be fun to play? Yes.

Builds don’t include Minegineer, I am insulted :P. In all seriousness though, I would say it’s a viable variant to the SD build you have and you might enjoy it if you’ve never tried it. Some of my choices probably aren’t optimal because I like to stick to my gimmick but with a few changes you should be fine. Overcharged Shot → Magnet → Minefield + Detonate → Prybar is surprisingly reliable.

Also, no I will not stop pushing this build because I think it’s hilarious.

• Build Weakness as Opposed to Class Weaknesses: One of my favorite aspects of this game is that every class can fill any role. This means that in theory if your team needs a role filled you just have to change your gear and traits as opposed to your entire class. Gone are the days of “LF Monk” for three hours. However, many classes are simply hard countered by a certain playstyle/class. The example I’m most familiar with is Necro almost hard-countering Engi. Even running with the Elixir heal and 2 others with 409 your cleansing capability is not that high. In addition, it forces you to hold on to your utilities for cleansing rather than using them for offense. Even if you do use them well a good necro will use just enough condis to force you to use your Elixirs and then drop their Signet of Spite and it’s GG Engi. With Warrior on the other hand, their counters depend on what build they are running. Any control build is countered by someone with high Stability up time since they can’t strip it. Condi is countered by anything with good cleanse. That is how I feel every class should be. You should be able to have any role you want that has its own strengths and weaknesses. It’s a tall order, but I can tell that the framework for it has been there since day one but didn’t have enough time to fully develop the concept.

• Changing the Mechanics so you have to make Fewer Changes to the Classes: GW2 isn’t like other MMOs, there is not set class trinity but the roles are still there. The capability for tanking and healing are all there, it’s just that when it comes to PvE the game doesn’t generally force people to run those specs because the agro formula is wonky and many fights boil down to “avoid the red circles or die” so healing isn’t really needed. Some bosses have tried to change that but most dungeons can be completed by raw DPS alone. I really enjoyed the Agro Bubble of GW1. The tank would go in and get all the mobs on them, the healer would keep them up while everyone else mows them down. I don’t hate the circle/dodging part of the game but as I said why bring a dedicated healer when you can avoid much of the damage by dodging. If the agro mechanics became more predictable and the damage was more equally distributed between AoE circles and actual direct attacks it might help the trinity actually come into play. Without changes to how PvE itself works I don’t think any number of buffs to support will ever make them worthwhile. There’s also the issue of conditions and CC in PvE as well. I can’t say I know if it’s as straightforward as raising the stack cap and lowering/removing CC immunity while increasing the bosses strength in over areas or if doing so would make PvE content even easier but it’s another barrier to player choice.

As for PvP, I’ve said it a bagillion times but the points are too darn small which encourages AoE and having one person being able to totally deny a cap encourages tanky builds. If these things changed I feel that both playing and watching PvP would be much more interesting.

What has kept me playing this game is that despite all its issues I can clearly see that there are so many genius ideas behind it. Rather than destroying the trinity it wanted to make classes all capable of any role but with a different spin. That’s a fantastic idea seeing as few like to play a dedicated healer but if you make it so anyone can easily get the gear to fill that role while not forcing them to do nothing but heal is cool. The combat is so much more satisfying than other MMOs that it keeps me from wanting to play any others. I like the idea of my skill/build being more important than my gear. It’s a good game, but seeing so much potential not being expanded upon can be frustrating.

I’m going to focus less on individual skills/traits and more on overall philosophy. Feel free to add your own views as well.

• MORE FREQUENT BALANCE PATCHES!: This is without a doubt the most important one. There’s letting the meta settle and then there’s letting it languish for half a year. I would be satisfied with small patches every 2 months with minor tweaks every month. I can’t claim to know how things work at ANet but I DO know that in GW1 we received patches much more frequently.

• More Variety (Especially with Heals): From what we know thus far, the next balance patch is focused around this, which is great. However, most classes are still stuck using one heal generally with the odd build taking advantage of another one. Warrior is the best example of a class that can pretty much build to be whatever you want. It may not be the best at it, but you can do it. I also want to point out that many of the games’ most interesting utility skills (imo) like Gadgets, Physical, and Tricks simply aren’t viable in most game modes. There are some exceptions but generally they simply lack utility so you see people running comparably boring utilities like Stances, Signets, and Elixirs which generally boil down to “press this for a buff” as opposed to “press this to shoot a ram on a spring and send your foe flying.”

Mending and physical utility skills are certainly what needs be focused on in the future. However, this sort of buff might make it far too strong. I would rather they start small and just reduce the CD to 15 seconds and see how it works. With Restorative Strength it would practically make it a cleanse. As a result you could afford to run something like 6/x/x/x/6 with Frenzy and actually be somewhat viable. Right now trying to run a spike build like launch leaves you vulnerable to both conditions and other glassy characters. The weakness to glass is perfectly fine, but you should be able to at least resist condition builds long enough to actually deal your damage.

I like the idea of Physical Training enhancing the actual effectiveness of the skill but I think you’re making it too strong.

• We don’t need more complaints about mobility but increasing the KD to 3 on Bull’s Charge seems pretty fair considering its telegraph and CD.

• As much fun as Kick can be I’m not sure there’s any buffs that would make it worth taking, but I think having the skill gain Cleave when traited MIGHT make you consider it over Bull’s your other changes should probably be there by default because it’s pitiful in its current state.

• The Stomp changes seem somewhat reasonable. I could actually see taking Bull’s, Frenzy, and Stomp if coupled with a Mending CD decrease and taking the traited Stability because you wouldn’t need Cleansing Ire. The skill is actually not bad in PvP for helping to clear a point or reviving an ally.

• I don’t think it’s a good idea to promote more Immob stacking. Taken with a Sword and Leg Specialist the amount of Immob would just be atrocious. Hammer + Sword/Shield can already be really strong. Perhaps something like a 1 second Daze? Even that might be too strong however.

I’m really bummed that there’s going to be no change to Warrior heals. This is a problem with many classes, they tend to have one go-to heal and maybe 1 build takes advantage of another. This upcoming patch will make Healing Surge even more useless than it currently is.

Karast.1927:

It’s not a bad build and I have run pretty much the same build before.

But it’s big weakness tends to be no elixir s or rocket boots. If you get heavy pressure, or condi spammed, that’s the fight.

Great if you got everything setup and they come to you, bad if you get attacked moving from A to B, and if you fight someone who knows what their doing, they can avoid the mines all together.

A good ambush setup, but kinda of limited elsewhere.

Pretty much.

I spend a good part of the game off point then going for the Pull + Mine Field and saving my Throw Mine and Overcharged Shot for saving teammates or to ensure a cap. You do hate the Gear Shield and the Jump Shot to escape pressure though and throwing your Mine to throw off pursuit.

Zaxares.5419:

Question: Does the last “hit” include Svanir/Chieftain dying due to conditions? Or must be an actual weapon hit that does him in?

Conditions do count as far as I can tell. I’ve killed condi players attacking a mob, only for a bleed tic to steal the kill at the end.

It’s a side effect of the capture points being small and one player being able to totally deny the cap as I’ve been saying since launch.

There would be much greater (successful) build diversity with larger points and allowing the team with more players on point to capture but at a slower rate depending on the number of enemies on point. Before anyone says that would encourage zerging the correct response is to split up into a group of three and a group of 2 and cap whatever points the zerg isn’t at. Even if they left a bunker on a point while the other 4 zerg the group of 3 would still be able to take it.

I repeat this constantly but I feel it needs to be said. You can balance the game all you want but the meta isn’t going to change much so long as the mechanics stay the same.

This trait is intended to be used with Explosive Powder and Forceful Explosives. Take those with Throw Mine on a Static Discharge build like the one bellow and melee based attackers will feel the pain as you kite them. Those traits also buff the on evade bombs and the bomb from Runes of the Citadel as well.

Doing a Overcharged Shot → Magnet → Mine Field + Detonate Mine Field → Prybar deals crazy damage and if you pull them on to where you had been attacking earlier you can drag them into the Bunker Down mines in addition to those from the Minefield. You can frequently do somewhere around 10k with that combo.

Most of the changes seem fine but that torment on the scepter AA seems like a horrid idea. There’s a reason why there’s so few ways to apply the condition, it’s really kitten strong. The iLeap seems like a skill that just needed fixing because now it looks like it might almost be unavoidable.

• The Signet of Rage change is an overall nerf. A 50% buff to a small amount is still a small amount. If it was something like 150% then maybe yes, it would be a good idea to save it until a burst. However with just 50% the adrenaline gain will still be pitiful so really it just got a needless nerf in boon duration.

• I won’t touch offhand axe because a shield or sword offers way more utility. The 4 skill is also fairly lackluster as well.

• The Brawler’s Recovery change is good and I’ll probably use it on a Axe/GS or Mace/GS build so I can take more DPS focused traits while not being totally destroyed by condis.

It’s still an overall nerf and they are making it harder to not use a Longbow, which is a very bad decision. I’m OK with the Adrenaline changes, but I feel like some burst skills like Kill Shot and Skull Crack will need changes to make them more reliable.

I would also like to see Stance changes to make them more like GW1, but one thing at a time I suppose (hopefully not in 6 months).

Sagat.3285:

Is this an improve all burst skills thread if not I ’ll say the usual: War is supposed to be weak to damage conditions. How hard does engi and thief struggle with conditions? That should be close to war even with superior vitality and healing. To the one that said you lose DPS by changing build YOU GAIN SOMETHING ELSE IN RETURN YOU USED THE SKILL POINTS.

Improve all burst skills to activated CI effectively that means hit or close to hit. Most people want the game to run around condi or power burst so making the non-dps traits,skills,gear and stats wanted will increase diversity in pvp or www, pve is so zerker dps oriented I can’t see bunker related is even considered. Glass canon should be 0 survival skills zerker traditional S/F ele is not glass canon they can still have good cleansing and damage mitigation try to make the same for war.

I spend around equal time on Engi and War these days and while yes Engi is also VERY weak to conditions I also have on average more skills at my disposal. If I play well even my glass DPS Engi can beat a condi Necro if I manage my CC correctly.

On Warrior, if you aren’t running a build with a bow + CI you’re literally as useful as a dead frog after your Zerker Stance ends. It’s not being weak to conditions, it’s a one sided slaughter. Also, now that missing a Burst means you lose your adrenaline some compensation may end up needing to happen to make other burst skills a tad more reliable or Mending needs to be buffed. It’s not cool to lock a class not only into one weapon but also one heal. War’s main appeal is diversity and while I don’t hate the changes they do in many ways stifle creativity. Every patch forces me into Hambow more and more.

Cygnus.6903:

BurrTheKing.8571:

Thieve’s are still one of the best roaming classes.

Also I know it won’t be as strong AS CI, but you’ll be able to run something more DPS oriented and have enough removal to not be instantly overwhelmed so you can put those 4 points in another line.

Like what? Seriously? Let’s theorycraft here, and compare that to the old CI builds.

I can not think of a build that would mean that much of a DPS increase to account for the loss of survivability. Don’t forget, 4 in Defense also give you Dogged March/Sure Footed/Missile Reflection and Adrenal Healing.

Then, if you spend 1 more point in Defense, you get 150+ extra power. Not to mention anything/Hammer will want 6 points in Defense, always.

If you do get condibombed, that 1 condi clear is not gonna help you that much, so the next 5 seconds you will be struggling.

But you might be thinking something like 6/0/2/0/6?

Edit: about the thieves, they are still really good. But you have to know what you’re doing now, and know it well. So when people get owned by a thief, they should acknowledge that they got outplayed. This does not counteract the hatred, as it won’t with warriors when they become more ‘skillful’ to play.

I would say that Axe/GS or Rifle/GS would stand to benefit the most. Running 4/4/0/0/6 will let you (in theory) let you hit hard enough to quickly burst someone down and with Hoelbrak runes, a purity/generosity sigil, and Berserker’s Stance you should be able to mitigate enough condis to get get overwhelmed, especially if you bring Bull’s Charge and land all of your Riffle Butt’s/Shield Bashes. If the new Brawler’s Recovery has no ICD then there may even be a use for Runes of The Warrior. Of course, the best solution for the future would be a buff to Mending so you could run it with Restorative Strength.

I’m pretty tired of running builds that are in the middle of DPS and bunker and I hope these changes lead to us being able to run pure DPS without being stupidly easy to condi down.

Cygnus.6903:

BurrTheKing.8571:

Xytl.8659:

Or you could look into other means of condition removal, primarily Shake It Off, Shrug It Off, and Runes of the Trooper, losing Cleansing Ire is not going to be the end of the world. Berserker’s Stance negates condition application, and if the condition is applied by way of a physical projectile or hit (pistol/rifle auto attack/condition skills) the Shield #5 will block it from ever being applied. With all of the fast attack rate weapons we posses we could also try sigils of purity, which remove conditions on hit. Realistically, there are plenty of options, you just have to look.

Those methods you mentioned will mean a massive loss of DPS.

That being said, the new Brawler’s Recovery looks like it will be a decent alternative. Also, hopefully these changes will make the class more skillful and eventually people will stop constantly hating on the class. I do think Stances should be looked at, I prefer the GW1 way of doing things but it would involve many changes to CD’s/Duration.

Brawler’s Recovery will be decent, but it won’t be better then CI. Thus, you will only use it if you don’t mind being at a disadvantage to other builds.

Also, the warrior hate will never die. Look at thieves. They were a plague in WvW. Now, if you so much as look at them, they die. Only the skillful thieves remain very challenging, due to their cheesy but effective mechanics. The thief-hate is as strong as it ever was though.

Thieve’s are still one of the best roaming classes.

Also I know it won’t be as strong AS CI, but you’ll be able to run something more DPS oriented and have enough removal to not be instantly overwhelmed so you can put those 4 points in another line.

Xytl.8659:

Or you could look into other means of condition removal, primarily Shake It Off, Shrug It Off, and Runes of the Trooper, losing Cleansing Ire is not going to be the end of the world. Berserker’s Stance negates condition application, and if the condition is applied by way of a physical projectile or hit (pistol/rifle auto attack/condition skills) the Shield #5 will block it from ever being applied. With all of the fast attack rate weapons we posses we could also try sigils of purity, which remove conditions on hit. Realistically, there are plenty of options, you just have to look.

Those methods you mentioned will mean a massive loss of DPS.

That being said, the new Brawler’s Recovery looks like it will be a decent alternative. Also, hopefully these changes will make the class more skillful and eventually people will stop constantly hating on the class. I do think Stances should be looked at, I prefer the GW1 way of doing things but it would involve many changes to CD’s/Duration.

LordByron.8369:

BurrTheKing.8571:

To those saying Celestial is fine…what? It received a huge buff only because of the Ferocity change. It was already a decent stat on Eles and other builds that have a wide variety of damage/sustain. However, rather than just giving the set more ferocity to compensate they buffed everything by (I believe) 6%, which is an overall HUGE buff.

Let’s compare the PvP amulets and see how many overall stat points they have:
Berserker/Valkyrie: 2340

Carrion/Cavalier/Barbarian/Cleric/Soldier/Settler/Knights/Magi/Rabid: 2208

Rampagers:2221

Celestial:3038

So Celestial has:

• 698 more than Zerk/Valk

• 830 more than most ammys

• 817 more than Rampagers

For builds like Ele D/D or Axe + Sword/Bow on Warrior and many Engi builds there’s very little reason why you wouldn’t take this ammy. I could understand having a few more stat points due to how spread out they are like Zerk/Valk/Ramp, but 700-800? Hell no. Combine this with might stacking and you have builds that simply have superior stats to other ammys.

Might stacking and being able to do so with little to no enemy interaction is the bulk of the problem, but Celestial is certainly a contributing factor. It may not hit as hard as Zerker but it gains a TON of sustain in the process.

Yeah it doesn t even hit as hard as soldier…..after the ferocity nerf celestial falled back with damage because precision and ferocity needs power, and celestial lacks it.

That is any non condition attack deals less than soldier afaik.

You’re discounting the condition damage which on most Ele builds they have a decent amount of access to. You also get a ton of team support through healing and might stacking.

To those saying Celestial is fine…what? It received a huge buff only because of the Ferocity change. It was already a decent stat on Eles and other builds that have a wide variety of damage/sustain. However, rather than just giving the set more ferocity to compensate they buffed everything by (I believe) 6%, which is an overall HUGE buff.

Let’s compare the PvP amulets and see how many overall stat points they have:
Berserker/Valkyrie: 2340

Carrion/Cavalier/Barbarian/Cleric/Soldier/Settler/Knights/Magi/Rabid: 2208

Rampagers:2221

Celestial:3038

So Celestial has:

• 698 more than Zerk/Valk

• 830 more than most ammys

• 817 more than Rampagers

For builds like Ele D/D or Axe + Sword/Bow on Warrior and many Engi builds there’s very little reason why you wouldn’t take this ammy. I could understand having a few more stat points due to how spread out they are like Zerk/Valk/Ramp, but 700-800? Hell no. Combine this with might stacking and you have builds that simply have superior stats to other ammys.

Might stacking and being able to do so with little to no enemy interaction is the bulk of the problem, but Celestial is certainly a contributing factor. It may not hit as hard as Zerker but it gains a TON of sustain in the process.

I’m not a huge fan of AI builds either. However I do think there could be a way to make the current AI builds take at least a little bit more skill and not clutter the screen so much.

• Lowering the leash range so that AI like Minions and Spirit Weapons don’t chase people around but rather make them an extension of the player. It would give the player more control while making them weaker to AoE. While currently most AI does this while idle, once combat starts

• Make the AI have a set spot they stand by the player. For example the Shield of the Avenger should be in front of the Guardian, the Hammer/Sword should be on the sides, and the Bow should be behind them.

• To counteract them being tied to the hip of the player, give some of the activatable abilities more range, like making the Hammer attack jump forward a bit then return to the player’s side or minions jumping forward to use their attacks/explode. The range/speed of the attack (even the AA) can vary depending on the AI but they should return to their spot besided the player after the attack.

Basically, make the Minions/ Spirits/ Pets etc. feel like a normal Utility skill, just one that happens to summon something next to the player that gives them a passive attack/defense. The builds would attract a lot less hate if their screen wasn’t constantly flooded by pets running around all over the place. The problem is I’m not sure this is possible with the current AI coding since we know the reason Ranger pets have the problems they do is because ANet tied them to mob AI. My ideas are a bit tricky to put into words but hopefully the message gets across.

I think the idea of having floating weapons besides you is cool, but not when it feels like I have hardly any real control over them. Same applies to MM on necro.

Hayashi.3416:

Rangers’ mechanic can’t be compared to warriors’ mechanic, they don’t function anywhere near the same way. The closest analogue to ranger pets are mesmer clones, and the closest analogue to burst skills on warriors is guardians’ virtues – provides some benefit when skills are not used, more benefit when the skills are used but removes passive effect.

+1

Thank you for saying it so I don’t have to for the millionth time.

tigirius.9014:

Mines like bombs need an overhaul. They need the skills that the mobs like Aerin on Dry Top for example that throws out three mines all with wide angle trigger zones. The Fskill version could have been enhanced by making it a triangle shape in front of the engineer.

It might work for PVP but I doubt it’s helpful in PVE because of these problems.

Yah it’s probably not amazing for PvE. Although if you swap out Riffled Barrels for Precise Sights you could still stack a ton of vulnerability on a target. I used to use it by default but that makes you much weaker at range.

I do wish that the Mine Field skill was more consistent with what shape it made. While they’re always for the most part clustered together it’s in a random spot.

I see several posts saying that all instant deaths should be removed and I literally say that in my post. It also makes the Hammer much less powerful because it requires taking players off point to take 2 consoles and you can lose them. It also makes killing the guy on the hammer less of a nightmare.

I do like Kit Refinement, adding Med and Bomb Kit could be fun. I think they are affected by traits from what I can tell. Placing the Big Ol’ Bomb and swapping to bomb would be pretty funny on point, watch them get sucked in then thrown like rag dolls.

I think I still prefer Tool Kit and Static Discharge though because they play off of each other and a second block on a build with otherwise low sustain helps as well. In PvP I think you could afford not having the swiftness duration since you rarely need more than 10 seconds to get from place to place.

I hate Skyhammer.

It has some interesting ideas, but overdoes them.

There should be no way to fall to your death, but you could make falling an inconvenience.

• I think the most interesting way would be making the holes around the home and far points lead to portals that teleport you just around the corner from where you were. That would make falling into one inconvenient, but no instant death.

• The larger holes on the bottom level should be moved to above. to make the lower level still relevant I have an idea that I will elaborate on when talking about the Hammer itself.

I like the idea of the Hammer being powerful, but with the area it controls being so easy to hold and fall off on, it’s a nightmare.

• Rather than having there only be one console to control the Hammer, the current console should only control it. To actually have access to it, the lower deck area should have 2 consoles that you need to activate to have access to it. To lose access the other team has to deactivate both and then activate them again. This will make actually taking the Hammer harder.

• The Hammer platform needs to be larger and have barricades so that you can’t fall off.

I can’t claim to have any experience as a map designer, but considering how many times I’ve had to put up with this map I feel like I at least know what makes it bad. If these flaws were reduced/removed, I might actually bother playing SoloQ.

Ameno.6813:

I used a variant of this build before, and the mine field and bunker down destroys thieves. It’s like a really buffed version of retaliation, and I was also running runes of citadel at the time so it was as if they were in a boxing match with a cactus. With that said though, I had very little in the way of disengaging and I was made quick work of by mesmers and rangers.

Citadel might actually be a great addition if only for the fact that when in WvW it’s nice to have that 13sec swiftness so you don’t have that annoying 1/4th second gap after the swiftness runs out. In PvP though that’s not really a big deal. I assume the bomb is affected by the Explosive traits as well. I’m not going to lie, I feel stupid for forgetting that the rune exists because it’s a perfect fit.

This nerf was clearly intended to add counterplay when it comes to stomping. Currently if you drop BP on Warrior/Engi/Ranger/Guardian/Necro there’s almost nothing they can do about it. It’s different than popping a single blind on Virtue of Justice or Flamethrower or an Agis. Those require you to somewhat time it in order to be effective. Other ways to get a “safe” stomps (not having to stop to block/evade) involve using generally high CD Stability or Invulnerability skills. There’s also Stealth and Shadow Step.

BP is a relatively low cost for high reward as far as stomping goes. By the time the stomp finishes the Initiative is back. This change means you can strip the blind and land your 2 skill before it pulses again. I like the downed system but I think the mechanics behind need to be reexamined. Some downed states are just better than others and some classes are way better equipped to stomp than others.

This will also make it easier for close range melee CC to have a chance to walk into the field and stop them from leaping. You could do it before but this will make it more frequently possible.

Twigifire.8379:

I’ve actually seen your twitch videos Burr, and I am quite jealous of the insta-gibbing capability, however, I run a slightly different Engineer build orientated a bit more for 1v1 fights.

Can you link me to these Twitch videos? Because unless someone is stalking me I don’t have fast enough internet to play and stream, hell I can barely play for more than a half hour before my connection becomes so bad I can’t do anything without a second delay on everything. There is a Rifle Turret-Mine-Util Gogs that does something similar but I’ve never seen one with Bunker Down. Tool Kit makes the most sense to me because Pry Bar scales well with Power, you get a block, and the toolkit skill has a low CD and with Static discharge can hit up to 3 times.

As for those saying that ranged classes can take you down, it depends. You also have 1,200 range AA/Net Shot and a leap on Jump Shot. You also have the block on Tool Kit and a Pull so if you want to get close you generally can.

I actually want more people to play this because as I said my internet is so atrocious I can never get an accurate feel on how strong the build is. I’m thinking swapping runes/sigils for more defense. In PvP it’s best that you aren’t the first one in. I use all the Took Kit skills to cause AoE damage with Static discharge, which makes a pile of Bunker Down Mines at your feet. Then I drop the Mine Field and pick a vulnerable foe and drag them through all the mines. You can get in on the mid fight but it’s much more risky. Thieves can burst you down fast which is why you want to have the Throw Mine at your feet because it totally throws off S/D Thieves since they teleport in then instantly get knocked on their rear.

A really cool Rifle combo you can do is hitting Net Shot, then toss Throw Mine behind your target, detonate it which will send them towards you which lets you land Blunderbuss and Overcharged Shot or both the jump and landing of Jump Shot.

Raiff.6742:

Maybe it is my lack of experience, but I do not see the strength of this build. WvW it lacks stun breakers, Codi. Dmg., cleanses, really anything useful. Not even that great of Dps. Could you explain it a bit more for the uneducated?

Utility Goggles is a stun breaker, it also has a toolbelt skill well suited for Static Discharge seeing as it’s instant and give 10 stacks of vuln. In fact, all of the toolbelt skills have fairly short CDs. The Static Discharge blasts also bounce, giving you AoE damage on top of your mines. The amount of damage that Minefield can deal is huge. Each mine created by Bunker Down is around 1k+, not bad for something with a 2 second ICD. They are also buffed by both of the explosives traits, which doesn’t show on the builder but does in game. Let’s also not forget how hard the Rifle combo hits.

Condi Cleanse is a problem in most Engi builds, it’s a major class weakness. Even HGH builds with 3 Elixirs only gives you around 6 one condi clears and most are on a long CD. That being said, Overcharged Shot removes movement impairing conditions, and Goggles give you immunity to blind when activated. Throw Mine is an unblockable, knockback, and a boon strip. Place it in a choke point or use it to deny a stomp (potentially from multiple targets).

It’s really strong against Thieves, place the mine at your feet and they’ll almost always screw up their attack because most sit in stealth for as long as possible and after they get knocked back they don’t have enough time for a second attack. Backing up while you fire creates mines in your wake so melee fighters often stumble over them constantly.

Ranged fighters can be a pain but you have 1,200 range yourself and the ability to pull with Magnet. The best combo you have is laying down your MineField toolbelt skill, backing up while using Magnet, then pop all the mines at once while smacking them with Prybar. Set it up right and you’ll also drag them through several Bunker Down mines in the process.

It’s basically a varient of the old Static Discharge build but if played right has much higher damage. In PvP the small points means there’s basically no avoiding all the AoE and you can also just sit off point AAing/using toolbelt skills, create a pile of mines, and pull the most vulnerable target.

One thing I’m debating is using A.E.D over Healing Turret. ATM I would say no but next patch it will remove conditions so it might be good. It also has a Toolbelt skill that doesn’t have a bad habit of firing the Static Discharge shot into the ground. Sometimes Regenerating Mist goes towards your target and other times it doesn’t. It’s something that could use fixing. Also, the Explosions damage trait actually makes Detonate Healing Turret do more damage and you can Throw Mine and use Jump Shot in the water field for a sizable heal.

I’m actually pretty happy with Bunker Down as it currently is. It seems made to be run with both Forceful Explosives and Explosive Powder and Throw Mine. All of these skills become much more potent with that investment. Pair it with Tool Kit and Utility Goggles and Static Discharge and your DPS can be massive when timed right.

Bunker Down is the focus of the build in my sig. I think any buffs would potentially make the skill too strong.

So, I wrote a nice long explanation of my build and what I think could be improved and I was rather happy with it…then the game decided to not save it and going back doesn’t revive it. I really can’t bring myself to write it all again so I will just post it here and ask for your feedback. I’m looking forward to the buffs this build will receive in the future based on Skill Bar but I also want to improve it’s current state so I can be as useful to my team as possible. It’s primarily for PvP but I’m seeming good WvW results as well.

The Minegineer

Thank you for your feedback in advance.

EDIT: OK so after some feedback I have slightly modified the build.

The Minegineer Update 1

I swapped out to runes of the Citadel for an extra explosive. I think Air/Pack is still viable but I also subbed out Sigil of Air for Energy so that you have more dodges that produce bombs that can crit and create more mines and then if you get hit you create yet another bomb.

I love theme/gimmick builds, they keep me playing.

sMihaly.1492:

BurrTheKing.8571:

I certainly expected worse. Thoughts:

• I still won’t use offhand Axe until it has a reflect. Sword offhand has a block and Shield has a block and a stun. Trading that sort of utility/sustain for a a damage skill that has a really obvious animation.

reflect would be too strong considering ranger has an axe skills doing the same but locked in place.
50% block could be nice tho

Different class, different skills. I would rather have lower damage and a reflect than just damage.

Juba.8406:

Arcades.4689:

Mayama.1854:

Juba.8406:

we the other group of warriors NEED this mobility to even be close enough to Thieves and Mesmers, to be able to have a chance against them.

nerfing Warrior mobility will hurt this group of warriors, but those who flee will just have to do it earlier.

This is a joke right? We are talking about WvW here and every warrior can sit on my face 90% of the time because dogged march, buff food and runes make him almost invincible against any form of soft CC. They dont even need a greatsword for that.

1v1 roaming in wvw isn’t balanced and will never be. Cond thief, engi or mesmer curbstomp any warrior out there, but nobody cares.

actually as a warrior they can be beaten but you need every bit of mobility that Warrior can offer.

as i said before this mobility is NEEDED to be able to stand on par with these professions, but some BAD warriors can abuse it just to flee from fights, so do we punish the good warriors because of them ?

but also what is the big deal about warrior running ? so what if he does ? thief & mesmer can do it with a push of a button, why is it ok for them but not ok for warrior ? is it just because you see the warrior running visually but the other two do it in stealth ?

For me it’s the opposite. If a Warrior (or any non-stealth class) runs away from me I get to do /laugh @ while saying to myself “Yes! Flee you coward!” When a Thief/Mesmer Stealths I still /laugh but I have no idea if they actually ran away or if they’re just waiting to heal up and come at me again. I made that mine build in my sig to specifically try and give me some warning when they’re sneaking up on me. Can’t wait for the Reveal buff on Goggles.

NinjaEd.3946:

BurrTheKing.8571:

You CAN counter a Stab stomp, not as the guy getting downed but your team can strip it off and CC. Often you can do this in one motion, like with Throw Mine or Corrupt Boon. I’m NOT OK with immunity stomps, there’s no counterplay to it except to revive the player before the stomp lands.

How is that any different from a teammate of yours cc’ing the thief while they blind stomp? Or your teammate killing the thief before they can get the stomp off?

People running x/p aren’t tanky, you should tell your team to use their noggin if they can’t figure out how to counter a localized blind field that can be safely cleaved on the outside with melee.

Smoke field =/= immunity

You can just reuse BP again. If you pop Stability and got it stripped, chances are you don’t have any more access to it without a Guard (maybe Engi) giving it to you. You lost something significant. In they time you’re stomping most of the cost for BP regens. Some builds have the stun on Steal so if you get CC’d by just 1 person then you can interrupt the heal and bind both of them and try again.

I think that the relative cost for a free stomp should be as close to equal across all class. In PvP and WvW getting that stomp is THE MOST IMPORTANT PART of a fight, and being able to do it easily isn’t OK whether it’s perma blind or invuln.