Guild Wars 2

marnick.4305:

Dedicated graphics cards in laptops have a very strong tendency to overheat. Personally I would suggest the built in intel HD family graphics. They’ve come a long way and in laptops do their job just fine without frying your lap.

I’m sorry, but this is absolutely terrible advice and should be ignored. The Intel HD cards are great for games like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja but when it comes to actual games they are not meant for that task and are completely incapable of performing up to a reasonable level. I know many people, myself included that use Laptops with Nvidia and ATI Dedicated cards and none of us have overheat problems.

Since the question is posed here on the Guild Wars 2 forum, it’s a safe assumption that the OP is asking which is better for playing GW2 not Solitaire or Minesweeper. And to answer the original question, the Asus is indeed the superior product for gaming performance.

Glad you guys were able to get it from SoS, it’s lucky I just happened to pick that server to try.

Hopefully they get this fixed because you can’t complete the Living Story line entirely while this is bugged.

Manekk.6981:

Each to their own and I just didn’t want anyone to get it without knowing and get terribly disapointed like me.

You’re perfectly within your right to be upset, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Personally, I bought the Quiver and I’m lucky enough that it looks perfect on my Character and I’m very happy with it. It does however, need to be patched for people with your issue, for $20G/$8 it should look better then it does on your character.

I’m wondering if maybe it’s just the armor you’re wearing? I’m playing a Sylvari with a Duelist Coat and it looks really good with that. Is there any other Armor Coat you like? Maybe transmuting your coat will fix it.

Confirmed, I guested over to Sea Of Sorrows and they work. Apparently it’s just on Blackgate Server.

Thanks.

Apparently, there was an update a little while go today.

After that update, the Dead Drop locations in the Diessa Plateau are now all missing.

The Wayferer ones are fine, but Diessa are completely gone and I still need them.

Can we get this fixed please? Thanks.

If it matters, I’m on Blackgate Server. If they’re on other servers I’ll guest over.

Pretty much any Ranger Build is viable for PVE Leveling. Seriously, the class is so easy to level it’s painful. I don’t normally say people need to ‘learn to play,’ but people that can’t level a Ranger in open world PVE (non Dungeon) should probably just quit and play something else.

Just play around with your trait points and find something that suits you. Personally, I prefer the Beast Master Build, but there are several viable alternatives.

I just ran it using Brown Bear/Drake and it was quite successful. I actually ended up using the Drake about 80% of the time just because they are so well rounded. Combining his blast finisher with my Healing Spring was very beneficial as well. My Beast Master Build was quite effective, the end boss downed me twice, but never died.

I actually felt like my Ranger was a boon to my party. I had a little support, provided some tanking and still did some pretty respectable damage. The Ranger profession just might be on the right track.

Jordo.5913:

so theres this thing….called gold…that you acquire in game through playing….that you can trade for gems….to get those items in the gem store

everything i have gotten in the gem store…i got through playing the game how i want to play it….and traded gold for gems….i haven’t spent a single dollar

Same here, I wanted the Quiver Skin, traded in some gold.. boom.. done.

Not sure what the problem is here, anything you want on the Gem Store can be obtained in game. Cash is only needed if you don’t have the Gold and you want it NOW. If that’s the case, then that’s on you.

I’m glad people are finally realizing how good we can really tank.

My Ranger makes an awesome Tank even in Dungeons and people often whisper me and ask me how I’m doing it. Thing is, it’s really no big trick at all Beastmaster Build, Knights Armor/Rings, Valkyrie Accessories (just for some extra HP,) and my Great Sword. When using a tanky pet like a Bear or a Drake I can pretty much hold mobs all day.

People underestimate how tough the Ranger really can be. We can also do it while maintaining respectable damage. It’s funny how surprised some people are when they see a Ranger actually doing well. Most people think it’s just not possible.

The people that did this dungeon really showed how bad the usual ‘Dungeon Team’ is.

That’s how you do it kiddies, take some notes. By far the best dungeon in GW2 so far.

This is BY FAR the best Dungeon experience I have had in GW2. Difficulty is fine, not over the top, but hard enough to be fun. It’s well laid out and interesting and was a very enjoyable run. This is the only Dungeon so far where I was able to actually enjoy the content without being frustrated by a buggy and nonsensical mechanic of some type.

Whoever did this dungeon should be tasked with re-doing every singe dungeon in this game. Excellent job!

My Main is a Ranger. This patch put in a Gem Store Skin that I actually wanted and didn’t have to depend on RNG to obtain. They also introduced new content (Dungeon) and gave my class a slight boost.

Overall, 9/10. There are still some issues with my class that weren’t addressed, but step in the right direction. This is the first Patch I can remember where Rangers didn’t get hit with the Nerf bat despite being already considered a weak class by the bulk of the player base.

It’s a step in the right direction, some of the changes are nice, other changes like the Spirit ‘buff’ is completely useless.

I appreciate the fact that they are actually moving in the right direction. When it comes to ANet, I’m just happy when we go through a monthly patch without getting nerfed. As a Beastmaster Build, some of the Pet Buffs and Signet Buffs will help me out and I appreciate that.

I tried to use Spirits again today and the HP increase is completely unnoticeable. My Spirit was still dead within 5 seconds of it being summoned.

Risen have always done this, this has nothing to do with the patch. I just use my GS more when fighting Risen, and use a higher damage pet like a Jaguar or a Bird. If they want to focus on me, that’s cool but my Pet will just come up behind them and tear them up.

This is the way Risen have always functioned. I assume it’s by design, I think it’s actually kind of cool. I wish more enemies had different mechanics that required a change up in tactics to deal with them.

Until Spirits are made invulnerable like they should be (never happen,) they will always be worthless.

I did some testing with them today and the 60% HP increase did absolutely nothing. They now die in 3 hits instead of 2 and AOE kills them flat out just like it always did.

Warriors get Banners that cannot be targeted or destroyed, but the already weaker Ranger Class gets spirits that die in a sneeze. You’ll be much less frustrated if you just give up on spirits all together. Warriors are ANet’s chosen ones and we are barely an after thought.

It will never change.

Personally, I’m glad they added this.

I understand why those with Ascended Quivers might not like this, right now if you see a Quiver you know that it’s an Ascended that someone had to go out and put some effort into getting. With the Skin, now anyone can have that look, I get that.

I’m one of those people that wants the quiver look, but I wasn’t willing to get an Ascended Item just for the look. People talk about how easy the Ascended Quivers are to get, maybe I’m missing something but I found them ridiculously hard to obtain especially just for a look. To get the Ascended I have to either grind forever for 250 T6 Mats or buy them for a ton of gold. Now I can just get the skin and put it over my Exotic Guild Backpack and be done with it.

If I had dropped almost 100G on Mats to make a Quiver I might be a little put off by it, but as said before you’ll still have the stats. I can get the skin, but it’s still going to have Exotic stats so it seems fair to me. The difference in stat from the exotic to the Ascended isn’t worth the time or money to me so I’m happy with the skin.

Great idea people, lets put all our best abilities in one easy thread so ANet can just nerf them all at once.

Apparently, we’re not getting screwed enough by nerfs, now we need to help them further destroy our class. Awesome idea!

Ranger.

I have a Warrior, Guardian, Elementalist and a Mesmer as well, but I always go back to the Ranger. By far the most fun of all my characters, I have him almost completely geared out and he’s very tough.

I don’t care what anyone says, I love the Ranger class and when played well they’re a very good class.

Sebrent.3625:

Oh, perhaps you should read the news about the upcoming changes. They are allowing people to get that quiver.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/news/1119-flame-frost-retribution-updates-guild-missions-wvw-abilities-new-gem-store-items/

Enjoy.

Nice, I didn’t see that about them adding the quivers.. thanks for the link!

I already have an exotic guild back pack, do you know if Transmutation stones work on back pieces?

lordkrall.7241:

The only unacceptable thing here really is the fact that you would blame ArenaNet for your own faults.

This.

If you fell for a phishing scam or selected a weak password, then that’s no one’s fault but yours. Learn from the mistake and move on.

Sorry if that sounds insensitive, I really am sorry you lost your stuff, but blaming other people won’t help.

I just wish they would make a Quiver design that’s Exotic instead of Ascended so I can actually get it without having to farm 250 T6 mats.

OGDeadHead.8326:

Darth Llama.9217:

HotHit.6783:

I don’t understand how you can all claim the ranger is the best solo profession. They’re terrible at fighting alone.

This has to be a joke.

Ranger is by far the best class in the game at solo PVE, honestly it’s not even close. The only one that can even come close in solo survivability is a Guardian.

If you’re getting downed in PVE with a Ranger you’re doing something REALLY wrong.

Ehm, no. If we’re talking about open world pve, as in, pve outside dungeons, you simply can’t go wrong with the ranger class. It’s by far the “best” profession for that type of play.

Say hello to dungeons, and things change. A lot.

Yes, I thought I was pretty clear that I meant in open world PVE not in Dungeons. As stated earlier in the thread, for Dungeons I use a Guardian.

GuildWarsPlayer.5608:

I soloed a Guardian to 80 with little to no problem so if the Ranger comes close to that or is better I think I’m gonna jump into the profession being a person fond of soloing.

Same here. I still use my Guardian for Dungeons because Ranger doesn’t cut it in that area, but in open world PVE I run a Beast Master build and it’s crazy just how good it really is. Guardian is awesome and can match the survivability of a Ranger, just Ranger does it so much easier. On my Guardian I find myself changing up traits and weapon sets depending on the zone I’m doing while on my Ranger I don’t change anything at all. I always have my Short Bow, Great Sword and my Pets and I can handle anything that comes my way.

Taking nothing away from Guardian, that class is fantastic. I just have more fun in PVE on a Ranger.

HotHit.6783:

I don’t understand how you can all claim the ranger is the best solo profession. They’re terrible at fighting alone.

This has to be a joke.

Ranger is by far the best class in the game at solo PVE, honestly it’s not even close. The only one that can even come close in solo survivability is a Guardian.

If you’re getting downed in PVE with a Ranger you’re doing something REALLY wrong.

Because when I switch to Great Sword and fight inside my healing spring using my Drake and the #3 as blast finishers, I can tank like crazy (Wearing almost all Knights Gear.) I use SB probably 80% of the time, but the Great Sword has helped me win a few battles that I would have surely lost without the evasion and tanking ability that GS give me. Many times I have held off mobs while team mates pulled back to heal, it’s surprising how well a GS Ranger can tank.

The day they introduced that ‘service,’ would be my last day on any Arena Net Game.

This idea would be so bad it’s beyond words.

jpnova.4572:

I’m too lazy to make videos but watch this for how a ranger can dominate in WvW.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdsmOmMwXCo

I use a slight variation of this build, and it’s very strong. It works great in PVE as well.

Ranger might not be the best class for everyone, but it certainly is for me. I love the class and do quite well with it to the point that I don’t touch my Warrior, Ele or Guardian anymore. I also enjoy the fact that in high level zones the rarity of high level Rangers makes me stand out more.

Through practice and patience I have become a better player with my Ranger Beastmaster then I am with any other class. It all depends on the player.

OP, just give it a try and draw your own conclusion. If you don’t like it, you have lost nothing. It’s worth a shot.

I had someone whisper me in game and say I was ‘insanely powerful’ with a GS. It was a large group fight, I popped my healing spring and switched to my GS. Between the Drake doing blast finishers and my evade on every 3rd attack, I was able to stand strong when others had to run. I pretty much tanked a mob while everyone else fought from range.

After I got that whisper, I laughed out loud (for real, I didn’t just type ‘lol.’) I never thought I would see the day someone would call me powerful when playing a Ranger. I’m sure eventually people will start making threads that we’re too powerful, that’s always the way. Of course, no one that says we’re ‘OP’ has ever actually tired the class or they would know better.

I spent $60 USD on the game and I have spent $40 USD on Gems over the last 3-4 months.

Considering the hours of entertainment I have received from the game it’s been worth it, but I don’t plan to spend any more. $100 is at the top end of my limit on what I’ll spend on a video game. While I could spend more, that is the limit I have set for myself. If an expansion comes out with content that looks to be worth the money then I’ll reconsider the idea, but I don’t plan to spend any more on Gems.

Sounds perfect to me. Honestly, the only area I believe Rangers can’t compete it’s PVE Dungeons. They may take more skill then other classes in PvP or WvW but people do it all the time. In open world PVE we flat out own. The one area that almost everyone agrees we lack in is PVE Dungeons.

I love my Ranger, he’s my main and I play him 90% of the time I’m on, but when it comes time for Dungeon Runs I always switch to my Guardian not because I want to, but because I have to. If they follow through on this and give me something I can bring to the table in Dungeons, I’ll be one happy camper.

Very simple..

Those that want the Trinity should play a game that offers it and leave the rest of us alone.

These threads get old, if the game doesn’t offer the system you like, play one of the 10 thousand carbon copy MMO’s that do. Not like they’re hard to find.

Namu.5712:

Let people play how they want.

Amen!

If you don’t like these groups then don’t join them. I don’t care for them either, so I just don’t join those groups.. problem solved.

People need to learn to worry more about what they’re doing and less about what others are doing.

I can’t believe anyone is so petty that they would be offended one way or the other. Personally, I generally use punctuation even in chat, it’s simply how I was taught to write. I however, realize that it’s an informal environment where people often have to type messages quickly and therefore expect to see abbreviations, slang, and lack of proper sentence structure. It’s not like it’s a business environment or we’re writing a doctoral thesis so I couldn’t care less. The fact that your party even brought it up just shows that they’re jerks looking for a reason to complain. Seriously, that’s one of the most petty and ridiculous things I have ever heard of. It’s chat in a video game for crying out loud.. who even cares?

PetricaKerempuh.7958:

please stop already. whining because other class is better than yours in one path of one dungeon is ridiculous. calling for a nerf is stupid.

fix is not nerfing, but making content that actually rewards other styles of play except dps. focus on this instead of being jealous.

do you wanna feel useful or want others to also feel useless?

Well said.

This thread is nothing more then the daily over reaction because someone wanted a certain class that the OP wasn’t playing. I have 4 80’s, none of them are Zerker Warriors and I have never ever had any problem finding a group for any dungeon. Just another over reaction thread, if you check the LFG site you’ll see just how full of it the OP is. There are some posts wanting 1 class, but they’re the vast minority.

I guess it’s all a matter of opinion, people have valid points both ways.

Personally, I’m in a guild that requires 100% rep and I’m perfectly fine with it. I think it comes down to what the player actually gets from the guild. In my case, my Guild does regular events every week. They do regular bounties, guild trek and rush and even have a Guild Raffle once a week. I realize that things like this take time and effort from the officers to host and organize. To me just asking me to click ‘Represent’ on all my characters is a pretty fair request. My representing and gaining influence is what gives the Guild the influence it needs to even be able to do a lot of these events.

Most of them have some flexibility though. In the guild I’m in, you’re allowed to drop your rep to use your own guild if you have your own Guild Stash, they just ask that after you’re done that you go back to representing the guild.

To me, I join a Guild to be part of that Guild. When I found a Guild I liked, I dropped all my other Guilds on my account. I will say though, I don’t think it’s fair for a Guild to ask 100% Rep unless they do all events (WvW, PVE, etc.) If your Guild was PVE only for example, requiring a 100% Rep would punish players when they want to find other players for other modes like WvW. In my case I’m fine with it because my Guild does it all.

People have been screaming for more Armor skins for some time. They could even put them in the Gem Store and probably make a good bit of money off them. Not sure why this doesn’t get done, it seems to be one of the most popular and frequent requests in the game.

Personally, I like the combo of Drake and Jaguar. I use the Jaguar for big single target damage, with their stealth ability they get off some pretty nice crits. I use the Drake when I need more tanking and AOE blast finishers. So far the combo works really well for me. If I’m in a fight with a hard hitting champion and don’t want to send a pet into melee range then I change one of them (usually the Jag) to Devourer.

My selection is based on personal preference and traits. I use a Beast Master build and I have the trait Rending Attacks that gives bleeds on crit to Drake, Feline and Devourer.

Most of my play is PVE.

I love the Ranger class. I admit, I don’t take mine in Dungeons for the reasons everyone else has gone over a thousand times, but in open world PVE Ranger is nearly unstoppable. They are also really strong in PvP and WvW when skillfully played. Yes, they require a little more practice in these areas then others, but SB Rangers can bleed people for big damage and be quite effective.

Honestly, with the one exception of PVE Dungeons, I think Rangers are a very strong class. Could they use some tweaks? Of course, but if you just read this forum you would think they were completely useless and they absolutely are not. I have an 80 Warrior, Guardian, Ele and Ranger and the Ranger is my favorite by far. I love the variation in pets, and the overall survivability that the class has when played well. And I’m not even that good, some of the best Ranger players are probably dang near invincible. I would by no means consider myself an expert.

I know the friends list has a tab called ‘followers.’ You can click on this to see who’s added you but isn’t on your list. Can you block them from there? or delete them from followers?

Shifty.5187:

From a psychological perspective it is nonsense to ask people to change what they want. It is not strange people want the best gear, and dailies are one of the quickest/easiest ways to get them; it also not strange they want to finish a collection (mini’s), so considering what people want, dailies force them to login every day and do the dailies.

Nothing is ‘forcing’ them to log in every single day. I get what you’re saying, they want that stuff, and that’s cool. But there is no penalty for taking a day off, you just don’t get a laurel for that 1 single day. Taking a day or two off doesn’t disqualify you from getting anything, you don’t lose your progress, you aren’t set back in any way.

If you want it bad enough, you log in to get it. In my case, I want all that stuff, but I also put a value on my time so I do it in moderation. If I don’t have time to log in for a day here or there it’s simply not a big deal. You’re only ‘forced’ to log in daily if it’s important to you to get the things you mentioned as soon as humanly possible. If that’s the case then you’re probably getting the stuff through other methods anyway since there are faster ways then doing dailies.

Dailies are for people that play causally and are happy getting the stuff and a slower but more casual pace. If you’re dead set on that Ascended Item, you’ll grind Fractals until you get it. If you’re not chomping at the bit to get it right away, you’ll get it through dailies when it’s convenient for you. No one is being forced to do anything.

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

It’s pretty remarkable how free you’ll feel once you let go of that whole “needing things” in a virtual world.

No, you don’t need laurels. You don’t need to do your dailies. You don’t need to do fractals. If you do, you really need to revise the way (and why) you play games.

Agreed completely. The problem here is with the people that feel they NEED to do these things for whatever reason. Personally, I like the Dailies and I usually do them. Yesterday though, I didn’t feel like it so I skipped it. What did it hurt? I’m going to get my Ascended Amulet on Friday now instead of Thursday. Yet somehow, my life will go on and my character will still be perfectly viable for all the things he already does all the time like Guild Missions, Dungeons, PVE and WvW. Skipping that daily isn’t going to hinder my game play in any way.

marnick.4305:

It takes me less time to finish the new dailies than it takes for my fiancée to watch her 20 minutes daily soap opera. I don’t see the problem.

So true. My dailies take me between 15-25 minutes tops even at a casual pace. It doesn’t take long before you learn where to go to complete certain tasks for your daily.

If I decide I want to do it fast I can finish my daily before I can hard boil an egg.

I’m going to add another vote for Engineer, I hardly ever see them.

Necro and Rangers are rare above level 45, but highly common at low levels. I see a lot of these classes (especially Ranger) at lower level but they drop off quite a bit at higher levels.

Engineers seem to be as rare as it gets at every level range.

Add one more polite request for moderation to make this a sticky please. This thread is great for finding everything in one place.

Thank you jubskie on behalf of the Ranger community for the time you have put into this. We appreciate you going through threads and putting things all in one place. If we have to keep bumping it, we will.. great thread.

Dirus.8941:

Well, one thing people should understand is that rangers are not “the” archers. For that there should be a profession called “Marksman” or simply “Archer”. Rangers are basically “Warriors of the wilds” I would consider them as the counterpart of the paladins which are the “Warriors of the order” or holy warriors. Now if you consider the classic AD&D rules, rangers should indeed be as tough or close to what we call "fighter class " and when paladins come with powerful offensive and defensive abilities, rangers should come with more tactical abilities like a fearsome pet, poisons, stealth, traps and long range weaponry to initiate combat and when things get up close and personal, they use their dual wielding swords or greatsword or any of the “martial” weapon kits. Now, we know that in an mmorpg especially a dynamic one such as GW2, tactics and preparations are hard to implement. So what I suggest is that rangers get buffed furthermore to match the toughness of warriors and guardians in certain areas (considering pets too), because hey, GW2 was supposed to give you the opportunity to build your class they way you see fit and for that you need some backbone to rely on.

Well said.. spot on.. every word!

I would love to see the Ranger skills adjusted to be more in line with this definition. The Ranger should have a great deal of versatility to make up for the durability that’s lost in the fact that they don’t wear heavy armor. I do believe this was the intent on design with things like traps and some of the skills the class has, the problem is the skills either fall short of other classes or just don’t work right.

I actually believe the GW2 Ranger is just a few tweaks away as opposed to requiring a complete re-work.

DeWolfe.2174:

I’m getting a kick out of people wanting to Melee on a Ranger. If it’s not incredibly obvious what the class name describes their power to be in?

Rangers are named after the Range as in ‘Home on the Range,’ not after Range as in ‘from far away.’

The 3 most famous Rangers of legend are Aragorn from Lord of the Rings, Robin Hood, and Drizzt Do’Urden from Dungeons and Dragons Lore. Of those 3 famous Rangers only one of them is known to favor the bow. Rangers are woodsman, hunters, and survivalists, their name has nothing to do with their fighting style or what type of weapon they use.

stof.9341:

Darth Llama.9217:

So, I look around the net and I can’t find anywhere that ANet has ever verified that there will be Ascended Gear beyond trinkets. Have they ever actually said that there will be Ascended Armor and Weapons?

Yes. They said :
- Legendaries will have improved stats to match Ascended weapons cause Legendaries are supposed to be the best. The fact the improved stats were available (as a mistake) for one day when the first ascended items were released is proof enough they well intend to do it.
- Some ANet dev said they’ll be releasing ascended weapons for guild commendations.

I’m sure there are other examples.

Is there a source where someone from ANet officially said this? Not calling you a liar or anything, just that the only news I have seen like this is from people on forums. I have never seen anything on this from ANet.

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

marnick.4305:

I repeat. 100 rings don’t buy you a life.

And being unnecessarily hostile doesn’t serve any purpose at all.

We’re not in High School here people (maybe some of us are) can we quit taking shots at people for just asking a simple question? Who cares how he got them? He has them and he wants to know if he’ll ever be able to do anything with them before he destroys them to clear space.

Seems like a valid question.

So, I look around the net and I can’t find anywhere that ANet has ever verified that there will be Ascended Gear beyond trinkets. Have they ever actually said that there will be Ascended Armor and Weapons?

I’m hoping that they won’t, I’m actually happy with the minimal time investment required to acquire Exotics in GW2. The only real thing you have to sink a ton of time into is Legendaries and those are just skins.

I hope they never do Ascended Armor and Weapons, that has ‘just another grind’ written all over it. Is there an article anywhere that confirms that they’re even implementing Ascended items beyond Rings, Accessories and Amulets?

Shiren.9532:

If you learn how to use the short bow properly, you won’t feel the need to swap to the great sword to hit multiple targets.

Well, thanks for the incredible amount of condensation and arrogance, that’s very kind of you.

You’re aware that there are such things as different builds and styles of play right? You asked why anyone would use Great Sword, I told you what I use it for, there is no need to be a total kitten about it. I am more then proficient with my build and never said I was having any problems with PVE, in fact the exact opposite is true. I have a different method of dealing with mobs then you do, doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing. I prefer the GS for groups because it doesn’t require me to line everyone up to properly use a penetrating shot, it’s just an alternate way of doing group damage.

I’m so sick of arrogant fools like you that think their way is the only ‘right way’ to play the game. My method works for me, yours works for you. Don’t ask questions if you’re just going to talk down to people when they type a reply and offer any point of view that’s in any way different then yours.

Shiren.9532:

The problem is, if the shortbow is still doing more damage, why bother going into melee at all? Why risk getting closer to the target if you can do superior damage while staying away from them? What is the advantage of the great sword? You don’t need to block or evade when your target can’t even reach you.

The Great Sword is superior when you have multiple enemies, especially in close range. You cannot always keep enemies at bay and the Short Bow has nothing for dealing with groups, it’s a single target only weapon. Yes, it has that silly poison spread on #2 that never seems to hit anything anyway, but it’s mostly focused on a single foe.

The Great Sword is nice because you can swing it in a wide arc and damage many foes at once. I normally stick with my SB and let my pet ‘tank’ for me. Once he gets swamped and I believe he’s in actual danger, I swap to GS, swoop in with 3, drop my healing spring and start hacking away with the GS. The Maul ability on #2 will hit multiple foes and the #5 can stun multiple foes when they have their backs to you. Sometimes monsters actually run past your pet and swarm you and when this happens the GS can be the difference between winning the fight and having to respawn.

I probably use my SB 70% of the time and the GS the rest of the time. Both weapons are very useful to me.