Guild Wars 2

I would suggest starting with a ranged weapon if you are newer. Dual melee sets will be very difficult if you cannot diagnose the openings and what combo fields to avoid.

So I wanted to put together a list of currently over tuned skills or mechanics in the game.
Now I am not saying this list does not have counter play but these are the wtf skills in gw2

Elementalists
1) Air overload- Successive strikes, large radius, massive pressure
2) Protection coefficient and damage mitigation- Hardy Conduit and Elemental Bastion Damage reduction is insane. 40% and 10% respectively means you are only doing 54% of your intended damage. lol What??
3)Obsidian flesh- traited invuln every 33 seconds- yup that’s really cool

Warrior
1) Gunflame- yeah we all know gunflame is that super untelegraphed high damage skill
2) Strength trait line- you can get a 30% damage increase every 8 seconds with correct conditions and 40% on the gs. Maybe it is needed due to the increased survival of classes, but those are some big numbers.

Ranger
1) Search and Rescue- Traited SnR on 36 second cool down. Take out quickness res, introduce class specific quickness rez. Check
2) Strength of the Pack- An over tuned Signet of Rage. The pulsing stability is much better though
Both of these abilities benefit from the reduction trait pretty well.

Necromancer
1)Plague Signet trait Plague Sending- The actual skill requires timing. Can be blocked, evaded, etc. The trait procs the skill on hit. So it doesn’t miss. GG
2) Weakening Shroud- with wanderers amulet, the weakness uptime is just too long.

Guardian
1) Wings of Resolve- Heal is very strong. Regular guard cannot do this. Align the cooldowns of the virtues
2) Shield of Courage- Same issue. stronger version of the same skill
3)Spear of Justice- practically instant cast pull ability
4) True shot- So much damage so little cool down. And it pierces. Gun flame for guardians.

Thief
1) Impact strike avoiding downstate- I guess it is intended. But who knows.
2) Dash/Bound- These are on the border. Necessary in the current state of the classes, potentially needing tweaks if other changes happen.

Engineer
1) Hammer- The whole thing is strong. But if I had to pick one thing here, I would say Shock Shield. Blocking and doing damage. A skill in a class of its own. Does any other block in this game do damage??
2) Adaptive Armor& Rapid Regeneration- All this built in mitigation and recovery when the engineer has access to protection and regeneration with one of the best AoE healing effects.

Mesmer
1) Continuum Split Moa- Let’s take on of the best skills in the game, and cut the cd in half. And Half is a rough estimate, considering the alacrity production.
Why does continuum split still affect elite skills anyway. Let’s just chop the cd of every elite in the game in half. What kind of balance does that generate?
2) Moa- Casting this skill behind you is strong. I have definitely been moa’ed by mesmers facing the wrong way.

Revenant
1) Enchanted Daggers- The charges are not used up on blocked attacks. Venoms and other charges are consumed. I guess they want to make sure you siphon that health
2)Phase Traversal unblockable effect- The skill already teleports and does damage to me. But now I have to eat the next few attacks as well? Go figure.

Again this list is a few of the over tuned things on each class. Some individual mechanics in a vacuum are not so bad and can be countered. But in matches and reality, this stuff is just flat out strong.

Run a shield set in place of hammer. Hammer was good for team fights when stability was not as abundant. At the moment, it is too easily accessible for hammer to really make an impact. Plus you have no rev protection with a hammer.

Fivedawgs.4267:

Interpret Interrupt.3824:

Day (Sunday): beat some high profile super pugs. Currently in t6 diamond. Things been going much better lately.
Finally started queing more with friends for duo ques.
Analysis: War still loses to rev 1v1, but with a helpful team, it can be good.
Just don’t take these 1v1s:
Staff rev
condi mesmer
scrapper

So power warrior can beat condi? Given that they are both skilled.

Which condi class are you referring to?
Condi warrior- Actually got to face one last night in a 1v1 situation at the mine. It was an interesting duel as I was landing a lot of damage. But seeing as condi war is mace shield, he had twice as much block potential as me. As long as you dodge headbutt it is ok. We traded hits for a while, then I went rampage and he block ran away. Came back and we traded hits some more. Fight was long enough for two active endure pains on his part before he left the node because I was winning at that point.

Condi Mesmer- This is something I am still figuring out. Usually they just moa you and end it. But they are very squishy. And if you can dodge the moa it is probably 40/60 winnable depending on the mesmer.

Condi Necro- easiest condi matchup. Just cannot get baited into zerker stance too early from scepter. This is where Brawler’s recovery is huge. I try to go stance when they are on staff. Make sure not to hit them while Spectral armor is up. Then proceed to punish them. While they are in scepter, if you just dodge the third auto attack, your resistance will be ok. Also, I prefer Last stand vs Cleansing ire here actually because the stability gives swiftness as well and I can power through some fears as well. With CI, I feel like I am chasing to remove conditions instead of pressuring.

Day (Sunday): beat some high profile super pugs. Currently in t6 diamond. Things been going much better lately.
Finally started queing more with friends for duo ques.
Analysis: War still loses to rev 1v1, but with a helpful team, it can be good.
Just don’t take these 1v1s:
Staff rev
condi mesmer
scrapper

All of these changes are way over the top.
The viability of many classes is contingent upon the revenant and its power level.

Changes need to be done to revenant before you change other classes/

Day(Saturday night): Got 15 pips into diamond tonight. Just que with an ele friend. Ele and warrior combo is pretty strong.

I just don’t play warrior with 3 revs now. Rev is the anti warrior.

I am normally playing in nights. I am not a morning person lol

If revenant did not exist, warrior would be in a good spot.
Lose to condi mesmers
Lose to bruiser engineers
Lose to sustainy rangers
Other matchups are reasonable.

Day (Saturday): got a nice win streak before I had to take a break. Only got 2 videos out of it. 1 win and 1 loss. I had some nice plays in both which is why they are both there.

I think as the days go by, diamond will get easier because more people will enter the division and be farmable.

Build is the same with Marauder amulet instead of berserker and hoelbrak runes instead of pack runes.

1) Win on forest- Was just playing so well. – http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/52637307
2) Loss on forest- Still playing at the same level- team just was struggling
http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/52637863

Also, I plan to make a play by play for the first video since I got some requests for it.

nicknamenick.2437:

YES!! They listed burst mastery bug.

Guys check this:
http://help.guildwars2.com/entries/98802888

I never noticed that sub forum. That is awesome. Look at all the revenant bugs lol

They still do not have berserker stance on the list

Sykper.6583:

Looking back at where Warrior shines, I believe I made a call back before the season started that Warrior would end up being best served as a ‘counter-pick’ to very particular comps. I do not think I am too far off from this.

The idea that in SPvP ranked right now is that Warriors / Necros are…I believe the focus targets. So, if you are playing a Warrior you will have to either discourage attacks against you while keeping up whatever damage pressure you have, or come in just after the engagement like a thief would and immediately flip the teamfight pressure the other direction.

….Kind of a high level talk here, but put simply, the Warrior in this current meta will have the best impact when they do not get focused (whatever means that occurs is fine) and if they can almost immediately turn the fight around, which as a counter-pick your options would be to be a CC machine. Lockdown the Necro, Lockdown the Tempest, Lockdown the Rev if it cannot keep its Stability up, Warriors are the best at single target CC and I think that’s how Warriors might be picked up competitively, against a comp that is quite susceptible to it.

Is my analysis off?

That is more or less how I have been using warrior. It is very good for counter comping folks.
Struggles against certain comps.
But in all fairness, teams with warriors should focus on smaller fights. Where the reliance on combo fields and aoe spam is smaller.
Typically the games I win are rotationally forcing smaller fights.
Also, the usually do not have more than 1 revenant.

Unfortunately the trait one will proc on condi as well.

Destruction of the empowered in the discipline line. Elementalists usually have at least 3 boons in fury might swiftness, or regen protection and stability. Usually in those group sets.

Plus thier build makes protection more effective for 40% reduction instead of 33%.

I once eviscerate an ele for 800 damage.

Some downstate autos are channels and aren’t easily stopped. I think you can weapon swap them but you cannot cancel cast them.

Day (Thursday): Made it to diamond. Was able to overcome the slump by queing with a new friend.

Fivedawgs.4267:

Day 9 = Saphire tier 4 , and 10 pip away from ruby. I noticed these waters are infested with bunker eles, so I moved from 3 2 necros to 3 2 ele. What a pain. Anywyas, planning to gain a tier tomorow.

BUILD: POWER WARRIIR … GS SW SHIELD

If you are fighting that many eles and less necromancer, you should go with DotE. Thier protection has increased effect, so the bonus damage will be worthwhile.

Thank you for posting here. Hopefully this page can connect more players together.

Thank you for the recommendations and information. I will be contacting folks in game.
Let’s try and maintain the purpose of the thread, for the possibility of future sticky.

Teams and players looking for other players, I am hoping to make this a local resource. Should be useful for players like myself who do not have a reddit account or prefer to use the game forums for game stuff.

Day (Wednesday): Turned out to be a rough night for me, with a net pip loss. I am not 13 pips from diamond instead fo the 10 or so I needed starting that day.

Analysis: Team compositions have not really changed. Just the team strategies. I have had many teams fall apart pushing far after a full team wipe.
Next time I should just let them go die I guess.

In related news, I adjusted my stream quality. Also, I have been getting a steady viewership. Thanks guys!! Hoping to continue the melee warrior dream.

When a player goes into the down state, a skill icon is shown.
If a player is stomped, the skull is shown.
If a player commits suicide or vengeance, the ankh shape is shown.
If a player is cleaved out, the skill icon is shown.
If a player bleeds out, it should also be the ankh shape or the skull. I do not remember.

This is a topic that should get sticky status.
For players looking for team formation or to join an existing team.

1) Classes played
2) Timezone and Region (Na, Eu, etc)
3) Experience metric (Rank, games played, etc)
4) Available hours

I am looking for a team to play with
K pop
Warrior, necro, and thief
Est NA
Able to do est weeknights 9pm- and weekends
Currently ruby, previous team experience, some references here. Although a little old.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/community/lookingfor/NA-K-pop-war-looking-for-team/first#post6019921

Honestly, I am looking forward to playing a tactics build. I will fool around after hitting diamond. Must focus on the prize.

Looking for a team again. I would like to play warrior still though. With the non-profession stacking warrior could work.
Willing to play necro if necessary.
Just want to play Kappa.

Dojo.1867:

Currently in first Ruby Division exclusively with this metabattle build I created:

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Warrior_-_Shoutbreak_Sage

High learning curve but really fun to play imo. The team support is actually pretty significant.

You sir have given me an idea to work on this weekend.

GS burst went from doo doo to slightly more shiny doo doo.

I just tell them off once we win. Usually something to the tune of:

“You said all those hurtful things and look what happened. Focus on improving yourself instead of worrying about my class.”

Reading through the spoiler list, I think some of these changes are flat nerfs.
While I cannot respond to everything right now, for example:
Reckless dodge change or stick and move change?
Or rampage damage nerf?

In the updated form, Rousing resilience completely outshines Last stand. At least now there are some benefits to both depending on playstyle.

But in reality any trait that will give warriors protection will be mandatory.

Day (Tuesday): No ranked progression. Win some pips, throw some pips away. I was either 0 or -1 pips for the day.

Had some good matches against Oeggs and Wakkey but we couldn’t finish. Not sure if it is on stream, I will check.

Specifically Shield Bash and eviscerate.
They are still affected by cripple chill and weakness.
I can create a video showing the distance comparison, but there is nothing special I will show that you cannot reproduce.

Fivedawgs.4267:

Lol, you are the most laid back warrior ever dude. Watching that gane made me laugh, at least you know what you can take.

Which video, the last one?
Yeah I was laughing cause I had que into that thief like 3 times and we kept winning, so it was funny.

They normalized more skills except for eviscerate and shield bash. I think it was an oversight. Submit a support ticket and open a bug thread in the bug forum section. I will reply to it when you do as well. We can even do a video.

Zuko.7132:

I was unaware that I needed to buy the 4 essences and build them to unlock the Year of Ascension Achievements and as such have completed very few of them even though I have done all the work. I got to legendary in season 1 and am currently at diamond for season 2. The three classes I used thinking I was completing the class locked achievements were Ele, Rev, and Engi. Obviously as I got to legend last season and diamond this one, I would have completed all of the achievements but they are all uncompleted because of the aforementioned reason. Is it possible for you to unlock the achievements on my account since I have done the work and don’t have them due to a lack of information regarding the essences. I have since completed all the essence achievements. If this does not happen I will be required to win 105 ranked games I have already won, kill 390 more players I have already killed, earn 225 more top stats i have already earned, gain 240,000 more rank points I have already gained, as well as recomplete my profession specific achievements. Please help me out.

The same issue happened when I realized that you cannot change years until you complete profession wins.
So last season, I had already crossed 2 divisions before doing the profession ones, and the division crossing did not count for me.

Unfortunately I think this is a learn to read issue on both our parts and you had to do it in order.

Cannot get a license without passing the driving test, even if you have been driving for years. Prereqs man. They stink.

Fivedawgs.4267:

Interpret Interrupt.3824:

Managed to salvage last night after I took a break. Hit a nice win streak and I am now in t5 ruby. Hoping to close out to diamond in the next few days.

Favorite match from last night.
1)Forest win- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/51760130

Analysis:
I switched to marauder amulet and Hoelbrook runes. I found that my current ruby teammates were relying on me taking 1v1s vs scrappers and revs more often. So I had to water my damage in order to survive long enough in those fights. Not what I would like to do but I must adapt. Versus 2+ necro teams, I am just dropping shield mastery for dogged march. Unblockable marks makes it more of a liability than a help.

Unblockable mark?? You mean signet of might?

I mean the marks from necromancers are unblockable. So I dropped that shield mastery for dogged march when facing 2+ necros. edited for clarity.

Do which ever one you need achievements for. In my case I do the dungeon tracks. The rewards are based off the regions. So if you want something from a specific region, do the track associated with that area.
Certain stat combinations for example. etc.

The word is thrown around a lot on these forums. Why don’t we call it like it is.
Damage while supplying Healing and Protection.
If your class has sustain, I guarantee it is due to those two things.
It isn’t some magic “sustain” that makes classes better.
It is literally access to those two things.
Consistent pressure damage while healing yourself and access to protection boon.

Managed to salvage last night after I took a break. Hit a nice win streak and I am now in t5 ruby. Hoping to close out to diamond in the next few days.

Favorite match from last night.
1)Forest win- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/51760130

Analysis:
I switched to marauder amulet and Hoelbrook runes. I found that my current ruby teammates were relying on me taking 1v1s vs scrappers and revs more often. So I had to water my damage in order to survive long enough in those fights. Not what I would like to do but I must adapt. Versus 2+ necro teams, I am just dropping shield mastery for dogged march. Unblockable marks trait from necros makes shield mastery more of a liability than a help since I get more effects from dogged march and blocking is useless in this matchup.

Just out rotate them.
Nothing special needed here.
3 node and properly place your anchor spec. Take advantage of bleed timer and ensure that your team at far is aware of when players are on respawn timer.

What a terrible day today. I have lost 9 of my last 10. Its so frustrating because I got teams that want to 3 point with no anchor spec. No one trying to stomp my downed targets. Getting back capped every 20 seconds be the slowest classes, when we have a mesmer portal. A freaking portal.

I think I should stop before I throw away all my ruby pips. I can’t bring myself to stream when its like this.

Fivedawgs.4267:

Day 6- failed to get to saphire t3 but made it saphire t2. The 2 bunker ele meta is pretty strong up here; kept on losing 1 vs 1 against malice thieves… I guess thats the next hurdle for me.

BUILD = POWER WARRIOR ..

Is malice thief the venoms?
I have run into a few venom thieves lately myself. The thing about bunker ele is that you can do like 75% of the pressure yourself in a skirmish, but it is nearly impossible to kill without another player.
Two ele teams you probably have to convince your team to play sides.

I just want to point out, that in ranked play the reason matches become so one sided at times is because of mistakes.

a 250-500 game is actually pretty close.
It could be your team made 1 major mistake that resulted in a 2 cap for the enemy that you could not recover.
Maybe you did not regroup as a unit, but trickle fed a node.
Maybe someone went for a decap instead of +1 a fight and the even sided team lost the fight.

These things in a match may not seem like the reason a game is loss, but it actually is. There are several decisions that decide your final score as a team.

Very even games 490-500 for example are usually both sides making the same amount of mistakes/ same amount of good plays.

Only time I would consider a match a crushing loss is 150 or less points. Meaning your team did not maintain a 1 cap most of the match.

I always wondered why slick shoes was not like this.
The skill itself is not imbalanced.
The issue is when the engi runs a circle around your body. You cannot move or dodge out of the knockdown. That is the main issue. Probably the only issue with the skill.

Fivedawgs.4267:

It’s discipline, and he is running rampage instead of headbut so its no brainer. But yeah, …

I would love to run headbutt over rampage with this build. Such a better elite for skirmishes.

Starbreaker.6507:

Fivedawgs.4267:

It’s discipline, and he is running rampage instead of headbut so its no brainer. But yeah, …

I know that – maybe I should have asked “why did you choose to not run the elite trait line”?

Was my question unclear?

I have looked into the berserker trait line. It appears to compliment certain play styles.

1) Condition warrior builds are greatly amplified by the trait line, and if you play any condition spec, I would advise to use it.

2) rifle specs are also enhanced by the new trait line. Gunflame damage is insane enough that it just makes that one skill worth it.

Now with my particular build, we can analyze what the berseker benefits would be vs the loses.
Currently Strength/ Discipline/ Defense
-Strength- Raw damage multipliers axe up to 30% and GS up to 40%
Discipline- weapon swap speed, quickness procs, all sorts of on weapon swap procs
Defense- stability, auto endure pain and my shield cd reduction
Berserker- boons on activation, damage multiplier, stun breaks

The limitation for zerke with gs/ axe shield is that my burst skills do not get better per say.
Primal eviscerate is less single target damage. Arc divider is better than arc slice, but with my play style I burst far too much to use primal form effectively.

The end all on why I don’t use the line is because I could not find one of the original 3 lines to give up. Losing strength gives up too much damage, discipline would give up too much versatility, and defense gives up too much personal support.

Dead or Alive, although similar to auto proc endure pain, requires you be in primal mode.

TLDR it just does not work well with these weapon sets in this type of build.

Remember that the enemy has condition duration increases as well.

Day (Saturday)- Made it as high as tier 4 ruby before falling to t3 ruby
Couple of team thrown matches messed up my win streak bonus.

Got yelled at by so pro league players about playing warrior in their matches. Got frustrated and stopped playing for the night. I got some good warrior footage for today. I think I will put the broadcast link and maybe later cut some match films from it like earlier.

1)Foefire, sloppy but good enough- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/51296444
2) Khylo, mind games to secure 2 nodes- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/51296613

3)Forest throw game away with the beast. I probably should have bled that necro at the end.- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/51296976

4) Legacy, rotational failure at the lords for the loss.- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/51297282

Anaylsis: When not fighting 3-4-5 ques, I am facing at least 2 necros a match. I swapped to cleasing ire to help but then the CC is so terrible without last stand. I rather use last stand.

I need to que with pro leaguers are not playing. So much rage and hate. Its just a game, I can play ranked warrior if I want to.

Day 4 (Friday)- 1 tier of Ruby completed.

It is becoming painful to continue. I think I will fractal.

Warlord.9074:

Day 1 through amber in almost 2 hours into T2 Emerald.
Day 2 through emerald in about 3 hours of actually playing, not including breaks.
Day 2 Sapphire to be continued.

Build.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR5enMdAVhgdhAmkCElilqATpHE7yBvj2W7sFpA0ACAA-TpBCABYcQAc4CA4eZgY2fAgjAADPAAA

Also I been experimenting with rune of Svarnir+Dogged March when I F12 and see 2 or more Reapers. Seems pretty anti reaper. -83% Chill duration.

If I could squeeze out some reliable condi clear from runes, I would drop brawlers recovery for DotE in a heartbeat.

Let’s put some perspective to this to make it clearer.
A node rewards 1 point for every 2 seconds.
Suppose we fight off the node for 30 seconds before moving to the node.
That is only worth 15 points. However, if we secure the map in those 30 seconds better by say fighting in the doorway choke point or fighting at the bottom of keep, then the kills we pick up will balance the 15 points lost in the 30 seconds.

TLDR fight off node has some advantage in this burst meta. nodes lead to blanket cast skills

Wouldn’t an MMR reset be kinda worse because everyone would be at average tier and it would be just luck if you got the good average or the bad average players.

Day 3 (Thursday)- completed tier 4 sapphire. (3 pips to ruby division)

Analysis: Pushing the cusp of the rank frontier, I am getting at least 2 pro league matches a night. I would say the quality of player is better in this tier, but you still have your outliers. This is a big problem when you have players partied with lower division players who are not up to the MMR standard.

Compositions tonight had several necro and rev teams. Felt like every match was 1-2 revs. I did play thief and necro as well this day.
Search and rescue at this level is still a big issue. Teams like to focus the necro just for the ranger to safely rez him.
Also much more 3 point strats at this level. Many more bodies being left for bleed.

Summary: War build still viable against the right comps. This tier is where rotations are starting to become more important that individual skill. getting closer to the 60/40 mark imo.

VOD links:

1) Legacy War warm up- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/50951907
2)Legacy War 2 after warm up- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/50952386
3) Khylo Me getting owned by true shot lol- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/50952643
4) Legacy War lord rush as usual- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/50953867
5) Massive necros in the forest- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/50954421
6) Forest with some rev and engi- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/50955486
7) loss on Forest- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/50956167

8) Thief rotation plays, because the matchup was all engis- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/50957984
9) Another thief on forest map. Win by the skin on our teeth- http://www.twitch.tv/interpretinterrupt/v/50959785

I decided to stream and got up to 9 viewers (YAY!). I will cut some of the VODs for the warrior matches and put them here for people to watch. Quality is a little low, but the idea is there and can be made out.
Willing to do commentary if someone is interested.