Guild Wars 2

All healing should not be allowed in DS. However, all lifesteal should. Lifesteal as a whole should be more utilized.

Why would you give a single weapon its own special condition that functions exactly like an existing condition?

With 100% boon duration, you’ll be getting 12s of quickness on 16s cooldown. Permanent with FmW!.

Implying half-max stacks of Might is low

Again with 100% boon duration, you have permanent 12 might to your party. Sigil of Strength you get permanent 25 Might.

Commander Guardians would be like combining commander Chronomancers with PS warriors. Guardians are already extremely useful in raiding and wvw. Staff doesn’t have to be a requirement in pvp while overshadowing other game modes too.

Simonoly.4352:

Like P/P, Staff does usually descend into using the same skill over and over again.

babazhook.6805:

I disagree. That some people resort to unload over and over again on P/P or vault on the staff does not mean it has to be that way. Nothing forces that type of behaviour in the set.

This is worth considering.

P/P, especially since Daredevil, has many different potential build options. With Bounding Dodger, you could revolve around Sneak Attack instead of Unload, and either build that Power, Condi, or hybrid. Or you could revolve around Unload, or even interrupts with Head Shot.

Staff might not be quite as varied as that, but you can definitely play the set differently. Any thief build wants to revolve around one or two aspects of a weapon set. The staff offers a lot in its skills that you can build around, but not all of it has to be Vault spam. You could build around evades, general defense, Weakening Charge, or other ideas.

My particular build is built around self-healing to aid its defense, so all I really need to do is auto-attack and I can use the other skills as needed. There’s more about WvW staff that can be explored.

Burtnik.5218:

Revenants are closer to Dervish than ritualists.

Mechanically Legends pair well with Avatars, though Dervishes aren’t required to mantle Gods like Revenants are. Aesthetically Revenants pair well with Ritualists with the spirits, memories of ancient heroes, drawing power from the mists schtick. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to say Revenants were inspired by both Dervishes and Ritualists.

Guardian is perfectly fine in those areas.

I’d recommend Hammer for a lot of what you’d like to do. It offers good sustained damage and when combined with the Symbol traits, it offers constant protection plus some healing. Marauders is a good armor set. It’s pretty cheap and it gives you everything you’d need in PvE with a bit of defense. If you have HoT, then that would pair very nicely with what you’d be doing. Any combination of Hammer, Longbow, or Greatsword would give you the tools you’d need to do well and help your party.

phokus.8934:

I know someone who knows someone who’s robbed someone that said DH is going to get amazing buffs and be part of the meta.

You heard it here first.

I believe it

Just because an old class is an inspiration for a new class doesn’t mean it can’t inspire other classes. Engineers and Turrets mechanically represent the spirit build only, but aesthetically they’re nothing alike. Anet can and has mixed both mechanics and aesthetics to create whatever new things they may desire. Just because Rits borrowed from Necro and Monks doesn’t mean Rt = N/Mo.

The schools of magic are irrelevant in GW2. They no longer constrain what people can do. Magic, and the “understanding” of magic is changing. There is lore that exists now in GW2 that doesn’t in GW1. Anet themselves have said some lore is no longer relevant because of their changes in direction. Chalk it up to “science and technology over 250 years has changed the understanding of magic and how it interacts” (paraphrased).

Everything I’ve mentioned could be quoted to the Lore creators, either through interviews, posts, or otherwise. The wiki isn’t pure canon, its built by fans. Anet owns the lore, and they can change it to whatever they see fit. At any time. There is nothing actually preventing Revenant from getting a Ritualist based E-spec, possibly revolving around spirits as we once knew them.

Guess we have 25% movement speed guys, we can all stop complaining now.

All we had to do was say we had it and there we go. Now we can spend time discussing things that actually matter.

Alright. Here’s how you win every fight as a thief. Even against DH.

1. Don’t Die
2. If you die, don’t suck

So while your 7 book series was entertaining to scroll through, there are somes holes in your argument.

• The schools of magic no longer exist. That was the prevailing theory in gw1, but because science is God gw2 had debunked that theory. Not that particularly liked that they tossed out much of their lore, but I’m not in control of those decisions.

• Revenants had Ritualists as their inspiration, so it wouldn’t be unlikely to have a ritualist themed spec considering Revenant is the “more advanced and progressive” ritualist.

• Ritualists existed in gw1 far before Factions was ever created. Necromancer had Ritual spells that acted nothing like actual Ritualists. Other popular builds involved N/Rt or Rt/N. None of those things have to be related.

• Gw1 Rits were a combination of Necro, Monk, Ele, and Ranger at least. Guardians are Warriors, Monks, Dervishes and Paragons combined. The way they’re mixed have nothing to do with other classes, especially when those who actually make the lore can do whatever they want. Just because you don’t think they can make a Rit based E-Spec doesn’t mean it’s actually impossible for them to make a summoning based legend.

Your headcanon means nothing.

Arcaedus.7290:

I’m pretty sure ANet hasn’t said guardians are in a good place since before the trait overhaul in June of 2015.

I don’t know the exact date, but Anet has said “Guardians are in a good place” once or twice and people haven’t let that go. Its parroted by angry people who can’t manage their anger in any better way.

No one can claim that I think Guardian (or any other class) is perfect, and I’ve offered many suggestions for change. I also spend my time going through every profession forum, so I see the forum member’s opinions of every class and how they all interact with each other. I decided long ago I wouldn’t foam at the mouth if balance didn’t go my way. I have now 19 level 80 characters, so chances are any balance patch is going to affect many of my characters.

What actually ends up getting me upset is when people rant about stupid things. If you have a logical complaint and have evidence to support your position for change, then that’s fine. You’re actually being beneficial to the community with that opinion. However, if all you have to say is, “lolol devs think guard in gud spot. fix pls”, then get ready for dripping sarcasm. Be mad, stay mad.

(Note: this isn’t directed specifically at you Arcadeus, just the subject as quoted)

alain.1659:

Really dude? Mesmer has a short cd blink and free %25 movement speed ( I do not want to include profession specific bonuses like invisibility, distortion etc.) . Blinking without target gives you the ability to jump on top of the bridges which is a perfect skill in wvw. Guardian sword? Meh. Most professions poop longer than 600 range nowadays. And that blasted sword can be useless due to the reflects.

Guardian needs a speed buff. It is already the weakest profession (not guardian with shouts, which is boring as hell, but DH). And I do not want to lose my utility slot, my weapon set and my trait line just to run. That might be my opinion but slowness is a huge con for roaming. Not to mention, it is boring as hell.

Mesmer has no such thing. You even bothered to differentiate DH and “guardian with shouts”.

I’m also going to say D/D Carrion. Carrion (or Rampagers) is the premier leveling stat array. Even though you’re level 80, still consider your situation as leveling because your character isn’t set and ready.

The number one want for leveling is aoe damage. D/D is one of the better aoe options sans Daredevil. In addition, you have fantastic single target with dagger auto. You have the power to easily both tag and kill enemies and the condition damage and base duration to kite if needed (or zerg surf larger events like in Cursed Shore). Power is ideal against enemies you out level. Condition Damage is ideal in pve when enemies out level you, or when you need to kite. Carrion and Rampagers have both. Daggers don’t require precision to apply their conditions, so the precision from Rampagers isn’t necessary.

You’re going to want DA and Trickery for Dagger Training, Potent Poison, and Uncatchable mainly. Those three traits will allow you to get your damage in against single targets (like bosses) or both damage and control mobs of enemies for xp and loot. Anything else is whatever you feel like.

Once you get Daredevil, you can switch to full power, add staff gives you your needed aoe. At that point power is a good option, but Carrion is cheaper and you won’t have to reinvent yourself midway through. You can make that decision when you get there. DD also helps conditions a lot, so there’s plenty of benefits to be had.

I think Carrion D/D can cover what you want out of pve for the time being. It gives you hybrid damage, some defense without pulling aggro, both single target and aoe damage are good, and the stat is cheap to buy/craft.

phokus.8934:

That’s how forums work and we are all in agreement. And how real life works too. It’s a scary place out there, don’t get too bent out of shape.

Well, the option to use arguments supported by evidence is still there, and just because you have cronies to back up your opinion doesn’t make it factual.

Fashion Mage.3712:

phokus.8934:

Ezrael.6859:

When I have nothing better to say I too like to name-call and vilify individuals because they do things differently

Ha ha right guys?

Adam Of Awesome.7802:

…

Your anecdotes are uninspiring and your claims are false.

I’m your analogy, you didn’t take into account what each person started with, nor did you say Mr Anetto was contractually obligated to provide each person with $200. Just because someone else gets something nice doesn’t mean you also have to get that same thing, and that doesn’t necessarily mean you end up being unequal.

Another thing to consider; perhaps Mr. Anetto wants all 9 people to have anywhere from $800 to $900 each. Each person is making their own money in addition to what Mr. Anetto has given them. Mr. Anetto doles out what he thinks will be enough money based on each individual’s different earning potential. Sometimes be guesses correctly, sometimes not. He readjusts how much money he gives out each pay period based on previous factors and future projections. At no point is he forced to make sure each person has the same dollar amount. He just tries to keep everyone in a close range.

Zenith.7301:

My experience with the greatsword auto constantly cancelling my spear cast says otherwise with how fast you are painting it to be.

He’s talking about reacting to the animation. 1/4s is unreactable even in a lagless, no latency setting. With how fast the projectile travels, you’re often not going to be able to avoid it at most ranges once lag and latency are factored in.

Regon Phoenix.8215:

The bottom of the pvp, not even in meta is a good spot? Or are you being sarcastic?

At this point if you hear anyone mention “guardians are in a good spot” ironically or not, you can sleep well knowing they’ll never make an intelligent post again.

If I wanted to live as long as possible, I might try something like Plz don’t kill me. High defensive stats, High stealth uptime, high self-healing, plentiful condition removal, high boon uptime, defensive modifiers… Pretty much everything you might want in a build designed to not die.

Here’s another build that is built for both sustain and damage. Its designed to return 15% of all your damage (because you have 100% crit chance) to health, along with Signet of Malice and staff’s multihit/aoe nature. I use this concept on my P/P-Staff thief to solo facetank camps in wvw. As long as you can attack, you can outheal a lot of things. I would absolutely run something like this in a pug pve group
100% Crit Sustain

I got you fam
http://www.icy-veins.com/wow/restoration-druid-pve-healing-gear-loot-best-in-slot

To Tank in pve you only need more toughness than the rest of your party. Usually, 401 is all that’s required. After those primary concerns are taken care of, you can put everything else into Damage.

Aeolus.3615:

Nusku.3941:

Boons doesn’t make the guardian a guardian, the ability to tank and heal itself does.

Tank? only in pve… meanwhile some classes can do that and do way more damage.

You only need more than 400 Toughness to Tank in raids. Guardians can still use Hammer and Symbols to put forth above average damage and generally don’t need to be healed, what with protection and constant self-healing streaming in.

Sword Wave

• This skill unleashes three piercing projectiles that hit up to three foes each.
• The three projectiles count as three attacks toward activating the Virtue of Justice passive effect.
• The projectiles sent out can be blocked, absorbed or reflected by fields. If this happens, the skill chain will not break, forcing the player to use it again, wasting two attacks in total (or waiting for the skill to revert to the first chain).
• Avoid using sword against objects like burrows, the projectiles will usually fail to hit them.

Wave of Wrath

Why don’t we just take the mechanics of Wave of Wrath, and put them into the parameters of Sword Wave? There’s no reason Sword Wave shouldn’t be a wave, and no reason you can’t make one 300u wave per sword in the animation. Nothing else about the skill has to change other than the projectiles becoming waves. That fixes the three problems listed in the wiki Notes section (Note #2 being a benefit that should, and would be retained with this change)

I like the idea.

JackaS.9426:

This could be solved if we had a decent might stacking.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Zealous_Scepter

huh

bearshaman.3421:

I’ve played D&D for over 25 years. The guardian has been compared to the paladin and the cleric classes from that by Anet people. Neither of those classes iconically use a longbow. Same goes in Forgotten Realms, which is just one of several campaign settings D&D has used over the years. It is precisely because I’ve played these games that I had a problem with DH. It seemed like they were merging ranger or scout into the paladin/cleric type class.

But Cleric with Zen Archery is glorious.

No. Retaliation damage is reduced by 33.33% in sPvP and WvW.

Who would’ve thought different classes get different abilities? Amazing.

Step 1 is to make Retaliation feel like a threat to be played around. I don’t feel like it is currently in that state.

Step 2 is to determine whether current Retaliation giving skills and combos are effective enough at providing that threat based on opportunity cost factors and adjust accordingly.

Step 3 would be to create new sources of Retaliation and combos where Step 2 might not be appropriate.

I would:

• remove the 1/3 damage reduction from pvp and wvw
• limit the amount of times you can be affected by Retaliation per second (referencing recent Stability change)
• have Radiant Retaliation scale from both Power and Condition Damage, using Power’s current numbers

After those changes I’d look to see how Retaliation performed in general and tweak accordingly. Healer’s Retribution and Retribution are two traits I’d be looking into in particular for better functionality. In addition, I’d probably remove the Light Aura from Signets so they could have a stronger identity. Wrathful Spirit would get a name change, but otherwise its a good trait along with Virtue of Retribution.

mrauls.6519:

It is sad to see so many Guardians constantly recommend that other Guardians use [things that increase movement speed] to compensate for our sluggish movement speed.

Your build is worthless unless it’s open to criticism

Theif sneaks into traps
Attacks so that it’s revealed
Still blown up by traps and can’t restealth.

This only helps you traverse a choke point get to the other side. In almost every case there’s an alternate way around a given choke point.

I knew that if I waited just a smidgen my first post would have a bit more context.

Ezrael.6859:

Ghotistyx.6942:

Ezrael.6859:

And all the other daft power-creep we’ve had since vanilla.

Beta*

You’re a pedantic Total.Wolly.And.Tosspot.

Thank you for your kind comments. They’re much appreciated and I’ll be posting them to my fridge.

It’s worth noting, that Vanilla was merely 9 months prior, while Beta was happening about this time 4 years ago.

Skill 1 actually flies farther than 1200. There are many projectiles that act like LB1 and LB2 each.

This is a property of all professions, so complaining about Guardians being unique victims will get you nowhere.

It doesn’t necessarily make you weaker, because RS gives Retal while HD doesn’t, but yes, I think they could be slightly more different.

If I had my way, Retaliatory Subconscious would activate Virtue of Courage. That would internally synergize with Virtues better, and have the potential to be stronger than its current (comparatively) weak state.

ZoroDaOtter.3859:

…many issues that players point out and ask to be addressed are never looked at by Anet.

Demonstrably untrue.

Almost everything is looked at. Just because it’s looked at doesn’t mean it has to change, especially in the way you think it does.

Here’s what we know:

They are working on another expansion, and by extension another Elite Spec.

They are making balance changes for the next quarterly update. Quarterly updates are when big balance changes happen. We know that there are things being changed with Mace, but other than that I can’t think of much else that’s been confirmed. No profession really knows what the plan for the future is, just that it’ll happen in the quarterly updates.

I’m definitely thinking of the same bullet hell that Jack is. There are two key things to note in how bullet hell mechanics interact with Orb of Wrath.

1) Projectile count. Look at those screens in the link. There are many projectiles in every screen. Too many projectiles. You literally drown in projectiles. There everywhere. Compared to other projectile weapons, OoW had this capability. You can toss out so many projectiles all flying at the same time. The enemy’s choice is either to move, or get hit with what were some pretty damaging orbs. That brings me to the second point.

2) Motion. In bullet hell shooters, your survivability is largely determined by pattern recognition and physical avoidance. GW2 probably shouldn’t have so many projectiles that pattern recognition becomes important (at least, not from a weapon skill. It already exists as a fight mechanic). But, physical avoidance has been stated by the developers as one if the primary means of balancing OoW.

Imagine you’re fighting a Scepter Guardian, and you have to avoid the orbs. Right now it’s pretty simple. Note imaging there are the Guardians, and three times the orbs. It’s now a whole lot more difficult because there are just so many more projectiles out there. What i would want to see, is sums sort of mix between current OoW and Ele Water Scepter (releases 3 projectiles). I would want the projectiles to be released in such a way that you get a constant stream of projectiles flowing (as opposed to a 3 round burst) and that you can’t just super-strafe the projectiles, like in the YouTube video Arcades linked. I want the opponent to decide between moving, or getting hit by a ton of fairly damaging projectiles. They must be high individual damage to work (I should also mention, Scepter want nerfed in damage, it’s just that other skills like Longbow 1 surpassed it.)

Once you have an auto attack that truly forces the enemy to move, the other skills fall into place. Smite (or Symbol of Smite, wink wink) creates another place thy enemy can’t go or eat damage, and Chains of Light forces the enemy to stop moving, or spend a resource to escape. Orb of Wrath just doesn’t quite pull enough weight. If even be willing to take a flight speed decrease. It would help create the flood of projectiles desired of paired with an increase to the amount of projectiles created.

Set.7461:

SOM works on condi pulses, not the damage. Caltrops, poison field from shortbow. It doesn’t proc from the actual condi ticks.

^

It hasn’t for the 3 years we’ve played the game. Application? sure, but not ticks, which is specifically what you mentioned.

Warhawk.7095:

Did they seriously nuke this skill to no longer include condition ticks?

Its never included condition ticks. Never ever.

Euthymias.7984:

I’m still expecting Pyre Fierceshot, if only because he was a GW1 character (much like Shiro, Mallyx, and Jalis)

and Glint, and Ventari.

Arcaedus.7290:

2. Every weapon set should have a symbol

3. Cooldown on scepter 3 should be 15s

Yes. Yes to both.

Bullet hell is more about the sheer number of projectiles rather than any amount of speed. They’re supposed to be dodge-able by proper movement, and hurt when you get hit. It was one of the most damaging ranged AAs, but that’s since changed. Anet themselves have said the design idea behind Orb of Wrath was to have high damaging orbs that were balanced by how often they actually land. Most of that is done by their flight speed, but also explains why they don’t home in on target.

If I had my way, if like to expand on that idea. Something that would make it more unique and interesting. We can both agree it doesn’t do is job well enough. I’d like to see it in a state where both it’s purpose and is performance are undeniable.

Also, unrelated fun fact: Scepter was 900 range at conception. It was changed to 1200, along with Torch 4 and Focus 4, during the public betas because Guardians didn’t have enough skills with range.

Don’t do it because I said so

I’d rather the orbs stay slow (or maybe move slower), but have the attack speed rise drastically. Like, over +100%. It would probably have to fire a burst of a few orbs power skill use to alleviate animation concerns. The Scepter auto, compared to other projectile autos, is designed to create a bullet hell effect. Saturate the field in hurt, and some will hit. At the very least you can use it to deny area by virtue of “there’s hurty stuff over there”.

The other problem is that if there’s a sudden massive increase in projectiles being created, it could have an adverse effect on the game’s performance, so there’s that to consider. But if that’s not a problem, bullet hell is the direction is like to see the Scepter move towards.

I don’t follow your rules.
Scepter is amazing in fractals

Aeolus.3615:

Its impossible to play the game differently than me

bearshaman.3421:

Interesting. I honestly thought Reaper was a rip-off of death knight from WoW (not complaining, I made a toon specifically to be a GS wielding engine of destruction). While I have a druid, the main skills I have used to heal my team have been healing spring and spirit of nature (I use CA mainly to proc Grace of the Land with the #4 skill). So I didn’t really see the heal thing as something new.

Berserker: Smash Brothers? wow….

Some of those explanations are conjecture, but many are confirmed right from the source. Reaper being inspired by horror movie villains is from Anet themselves. Same with Berserker being inspired by fighting games and DH being a more proactive form of justice.

Berserker wasn’t inspired by Smash exclusively, but fighting games as a whole.

• Smash Brawler icon comparison
• Gunflame
• Bloody Roar
• Heat the Soul
• Eternal Champion
• Primal Rage
• Last Blaze
• Savage Instinct
• Dead or Alive
• Fatal Frenzy
• King of Fires

DH being inspired by Monster Hunter was something I got almost instantly. It makes way too much sense for it to not have been a factor. Other Especs like Chronomancer or Druid don’t necessarily have to be inspired by a third-party source. There was enough GW1 lore to create those two by themselves. Then again, there’s no reason they couldn’t have been inspired by something else in addition.

If there’s something I love about games like MMOs, is that they’re chock full of references. Even better when you can make references in your design.