Guild Wars 2

Dirame.8521:

Obtena.7952:

Dirame.8521:

What’s wrong with Spirit Weapons? They are the most functional of the Ai skills in the game and the only i can see wrong with them is that have a chance of getting AoE’d?

I don’t think having the most functional AI skills ingame (not even sure that’s true) is a defining factor in what makes SW’s good or not.

I think there are few things wrong with them:

1. They have the worst deficiencies of both a skill and a pet (a leashed pet that doesn’t go more than melee weapon range on top of that)
2. Are they worth a skill slot?
3. The traits to buff them (arguably mediocre) are all over the traitlines

If the only thing you see wrong with SW’s is they can be damaged with AoE, I don’t think you’ve given them enough of a chance to suck hard enough.

Well, the only time I’ve used SWs is in my Guardian burst build to get the 3 second KD. Allows you to set up a nice burst combo. In that situation, I don’t need to have it up until I’m ready to let it rip. So really, I rarely notice anything majorly wrong apart from the weapon missing when I’m within range of the target and the weapon isn’t.

So you’ve never used the shield, sword, or bow? Don’t get me started on the bow xD

@Dirame.8521
I seriously can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not. I’ll bite and assume you’re not.

Dirame.8521:

What’s wrong with Spirit Weapons? They are the most functional of the Ai skills in the game

That’s like being the shiniest kitten in the in the toilet. I don’t agree with them being the most functional either. Every class has issues with their AI, but I think Mesmers have us beat on functionality. If you want to count Ranger spirits, then them too.

Dirame.8521:

the only i can see wrong with them is that have a chance of getting AoE’d?

Just a chance? Spirit weapons are dead in no time in most situations. Limitied to basically fighting random mobs in the open world and off-point in sPvP.

Hopefully the AI will improve along with the ranger pet and engineer turrets. If so, I may start using them for fun at least… although the bow will still be useless.

I’m content. I’ve learned to not expect much from patches for Guardians.

Anet seems to be using the Guardian as their control (control as in scientific method, not CC) group when making changes to other classes. On one hand, I’m pleased that they don’t feel the need to drastically alter our current gameplay, but disappointed that they’re scared to make some of our useless skills and traits useful.

Eh, I’m pleased they at least addressed the issue of Guardian’s lacking a strong burning build. I run a burning build for fun sometimes, and that trait should help. However, going 30 into Zeal still feels dirty. I’ll assume they’re just playing it safe first and will buff it as necessary, but any lower it wouldn’t be worth going that far into Zeal.

Reasons why my guardian is great.

1. My guardian’s Wall of Reflection has saved more people than all the Seraph combined.
2. When my guardian draws a line in the sand, she means it.
3. My guardian thinks her shield is too pretty to block things with. So she uses a book instead.
4. My guardian doesn’t care if she’s caught by surprise. (Aegis)
5. When my guardian farts, she grants might to allies. (Empower)
6. My guardian doesn’t mean what she says. “Retreat!” actually means “Come back here coward!” and “Save Yourselves!” actually means “This is what happens when you kitten me off!”
7. It’s impossible for my guardian to get dizzy while wielding a greatsword.

I don’t see the issue really.

It’s either you 1) spend your time grinding for a legendary, or you 2) spend your time making money for a legendary. Either way you’ve earned it.

A legendary’s worth is relative to its owner. If you can’t find value in it, no one else will.

edit:

With that said, it definitely should be more fun. Anet would have to pay me to grind for it.

@Tetsuyja.7805
I won’t speak for OP, but I think you’re missing the point. Nerfing backstab doesn’t make fighting a player in stealth any more fun. The same goes for CC, being stunlocked, no matter how much damage is being done, isn’t any fun.

@Berk.8561
Many players don’t mind getting curb-stomped, without being able to fight back, if it means they can do the same to others. There are plenty of people that enjoy stealing the fun away, and I can only assume Anet built the game with these players in mind as well. I mainly play Guardian, I like a straight up fair fight, but I don’t expect others to feel the same.

With that said, I completely agree with you, but I think Anet will continue to try to cater to both play-styles, and things will continue to be frustrating for both sides.

1. Guardian
2. Engineer, only because I power leveled with crafting

I played a Thief in beta, but I’ve deleted every one I’ve made since then.

I probably wouldn’t play this game if the Guardian didn’t exist.

No, I have to completely disagree. Every skill in GW1 could be really useful in the right build. In GW2 some skills (and traits) are just flat out useless. The skill system in GW1 was only limited by your creativity. Quirky builds like Touch Ranger will never exist in GW2.

Ok I Did It.2854:

[…]I think Anet went down this road not to be unique but more so they didn’t have to worry about changing skills etc, and it allowed for easier changes etc[…]

I want to agree with that statement, but for all the things that removed from skills, they added something else.

The enchantments, hexs, and conditions system was easier to manage than the current boon and conditions system. Combo field and finishers didn’t exist. Movement was much more limited, couldn’t jump or leap for example. No underwater combat. etc.

I’ll be as specific as possible.

1. Make Smite (#2 on scepter) a symbol.

It just makes sense. The scepter’s traits are in the Zeal line where all the symbol damage traits are. Smite’s damage is too unreliable, just make it a per second tick.

2. Make the Guardian’s blue flames a separate condition.

Whenever we apply burning, if the target is already burning, we apply [insert new condition]. This way only guardians can stack burning and our burning builds become a whole lot more interesting and effective.

3. Make Shield of Absorption reduce AOE projectile damage. (Meteor Shower, Barrage, Volley)

It currently just ignores them. It’s just stupid that Barrage and Volley are completely unaffected by it.

4. Either speed up the scepter’s orbs or give the Guardian a low damage longbow.

Against moving targets at a distance farther than 600, I’d rather have lower consistent damage, than no damage at all.

When measuring the effectiveness of toughness you have to first do the math:

( tan( a * 3 ) / (v * 0.32) ) – ( ^5.254 * t ) = It’s completely worthless against condition damage.

Yes, too much is useless. Don’t focus on toughness, focus on your overall survivability. Toughness is only one factor to that. A guardian has many tools to migrate physical damage besides toughness.

Tarsius.3170:

[…] on-demand 0-cast interrupt […] Having to cancel the root on #5 is a major gripe […]

Yup, nowadays I find myself mostly using SoA for its knockback. I’ve gotten so used to backstep canceling that I end up canceling it on accident when I want to actually absorb projectiles xD

However, I find that the projectile absorption to be a crappy trade off for being rooted in the first place. I won’t ask for reflection, but blocking would be good for synergy with our traits, even if it was a percentage chance.

Remember back when you first started playing. You walked into WvW for the first time with your shield thinking you were going to protect people. Your staff can’t reach people on the walls and the scepter is slow, but you’ve got your shield ready.

Now the enemy starts firing arrow carts at your group. “Awesome!” you say as you think it’s time for you to shine! You use Shield of Absorption and your allies huddle inside where it’s “safe”.

Wait what’s happening … my health is still lowing and my allies are dieing … WTF THIS SKILL SUCKS … [rage quit]

I’m not saying that SoA should completely nullify arrow carts or other types of AOE projectiles (Meteor Shower, Barrage, Volley), but it should at least do something to them, and not just let them pass through like nothing happened.

edit:

Personally, I would like to see AOE projectiles that pass through SoA have a weakness effect added to them, make them Glancing Blows.

I understand where you’re coming from, but I don’t think looking at the Ranger for tips is good for the Guardian at all. Especially when it comes to pets.

Pets are a core functionality of the Ranger profession. The entire class including skills, traits, and stats are built around it. If you give guardians the option to toggle through spirit weapons like pets, then the whole class would need to be reevaluated.

Now if it was optional, and we gained some kind of stat debuff when we have our pets out (to even out the damage, etc), I would agree. However, Rangers don’t even have that option, it’s all or nothing.

I don’t think my heart could take it if these notes are fake. I want to view spirit weapons as an option again.

Aven.7295:

I dont know why smite isnt a symbol

because Anet likes to keep some things from making sense, it keeps us coming back to the forums

foofad.5162:

Frankly I wish they got rid of the projectile entirely and made it an instant hit like Necromancer scepter.

I agree, I would make some serious trade offs for it to be like that. I’d trade some damage, range, and the reflection-immunity for it to be near instant hit.

foofad.5162:

Cage of Light I think it’s called, on Trident. That’s an awesome looking ability.

Speaking of the trident: When I see an enemy I want to attack at range, I look for some water to jump in.

Crafting isn’t really needed for anything while leveling, but I’d start with either jeweler or weaponsmith since you’ll likely get everything else with karma your first time around. As for utilities, shouts are always good, but it depends on the situation really.

Simply saying it’s only good against bad players is lazy reasoning.

I agree with Harbinger though. I use it in sPvP a whole lot less. However, that’s due to other weapons being better suited for the match format, the environment, and the builds I expect to fight.

The greatsword is an opportunistic secondary to me, it’s my bag of tricks. Opportunities appear in WvW all the time, for both combatants, due to its dynamic nature. sPvP, by its very name is structured, even more so with a team. In those fights, it’s all about reliability and consistency, and that’s where the greatsword definitely lacks.

I think the torch is really fun too, but any build you create around the torch right now will be subpar.

CptAurellian.9537:

Right now, I can’t think of a single situation where I’d want to equip the torch instead of the focus […]

You can shoot Cleansing Flame through gates in WvW. That’s all it’s good for at the moment.

Jax.5261:

Kasei.8726:

Speak for yourself, I know how and when to use it, and its always been my favorite weapon on my Guardian. Sure it can be better, but so can everything.

One big reason why I love it is that Binding Blade can find targets that are in stealth. I’ve won against many thieves and mesmers with that alone.

Well when you do fight decent players you’ll find your damage missing entirely. You can come fight me if you wish and you’ll see.

Sigh, I don’t need to prove anything to you. Go find someone else to measure yourself against.

Ben K.6238:

Out of interest I decided to collate votes from pages 1-7.
Second or third votes for a class were ignored. Only one top 3 per poster, so where more than one was provided I chose buff lists where available. PvP/PvE/WvW posts I had to skip.

Class / Rank——1—-2—-3 -Total
Ranger_____150__87__39__276
Elementalist__74__78__68__220
Necromancer_43__49__56__148
Engineer_____17__47__55__119
Mesmer_____24__22__28___74
Thief _______15__23__27___65
Warrior______3__11 __13___27
Guardian_____3___2___7___12

Added formatting.

Hey Anet, can we get some CSS for these tables please?

1. Ranger
2. Engineer
3. Elementalist

vladis.9072:

guardians have great healing abilities, control, mobility.

I understand that this thread is full of opinions, but that line right there got me man xD.

Guardians have great mobility? I have to completely disagree with you there. Guardians are the slowest profession in the game. Sure guardians can provide swiftness to a zerg, but how many guardians have ever ran away from you?

Guardians have great control? No more or less than anyone else. Guardians have skills that help control the flow of battle (wards and barriers), but lack control in small skirmishes or when facing an individuals. Guardians don’t have daze, fear, stun, cripple, or confusion. A guardian can chill with a trait with 50% chance on critical only with a hammer.

I don’t know what servers you guys play on, but I can honestly say that I’ve been seeing plenty of variety lately. Personally, I used to see nothing but mesmers and thieves everywhere. However, I will say that all commanders for my server now command as either a guardian or warrior.

Your friendly neighborhood guardian.

To support ninjambo’s post I have to say traveler’s runes are a must have (for me at least) when solo roaming as a guardian. You have to sacrifice too much to have perma-swiftness as a guardian and being pigeonholed into always using staff will hurt you while roaming. Not to mention you won’t you be able to escape zergs or catch other roamers without some sort of consistent speed boost.

Columbo.5924:

As far as i know: You cannot reflect projectiles a second time. So reflecting dagger storm projectiles is probably not that helpful, because dagger storm reflects them back and WoR won’t reflect them a second time. However, if you have a secondary source of reflection (like a mesmer reflection dome) you can reflect them a second time and this time the dagger storm wont reflect. So – if you ever wanted to start a hilarious reflection battle this is how you do it…

I’m only talking about the ones that are created by Dagger storm itself. The ones that cause the cripple and bleed. Thanks for clarifying though.

Things you may not know about Wall of Reflection (or reflection in general)

WoR is not a flat plane, it’s a box that you can stand inside and it will reflect projectiles from any angle.

A projectile reflected by WoR becomes your projectile with all the same effects. A reflected Ether Clone will make a clone of you.

WoR is a light combo field. Reflected projectiles will trigger the combo finisher and remove conditions from allies.

WoR will reflect all projectiles of a skill. If a Ranger shoots a Poison Volley at WoR, all five projectiles will be reflected back to the Ranger.

The projectiles from Zealot’s Defense, Whirling Wrath, and Dagger Storm can be reflected. Many players don’t expect WoR to be cast in melee combat.

Trebuchet boulders can be reflected back through the sky, across the map, and one-shot the siege operator… I wish.

Speak for yourself, I know how and when to use it, and its always been my favorite weapon on my Guardian. Sure it can be better, but so can everything.

One big reason why I love it is that Binding Blade can find targets that are in stealth. I’ve won against many thieves and mesmers with that alone.

I found the hammer was only worthwhile spirit weapon in sPvP. However, that was back when they were invulnerable, now that they can die, they’re dead (heh heh) to me.

Anything can be useful in the right situation in PvE, so I don’t care to discuss that. The long cast times and long recharge times kill the Tomes for me.

Tome of Wrath is useless in WvW/sPvP since you just make you yourself a target: “look at me, I have a big boon book, kill me now!” However, I remember busting up a few zergs with it when no one knew what I was doing, when the game first started xD.

Tome of Courage is good, but doesn’t fit my plays style. Even when I’m support, I’m usually in the front of the pack. As a result I always choose to take Renewed Focus with trait boosted virtues over it any day.

Thief and ranger for my play styles.

I grab all the attention, while the thief does sneak attacks. I imagine it’s hard to concentrate on a thief when a guardian is raging.

I had a good run with a ranger when I was running support. I handled anyone who came close while using consecrations, and she handled anyone who attacked from afar.

anking.6245:

Yeessssssssss.

Finally, I’ll be able to catch things without needed to run staff or Retreat.

THIS -> INSTANT BUY

The staff is still very useful in WvW, but now I don’t feel like I need to take it.

Is there any server that has at least two other people that want to cap Lyssa, let alone have it open? (US)

None, I’ll probably stay with my exotics forever unless an Ascended just lands on my lap, or if I can eventually buy them with badges.

Ditto. I want the Lyssa set (for the runes). Lately, I only log in to check if it’s uncontested, but no one has touched it for a week as far as I can tell. I got fed up and was soloing it, before I ran out of time and had to do something else…

Longbow on Guardian. They have a spirit weapon bow, and how many times have we seen arrows of light.

I would like to see the spear being used on land.

I also want a bo staff, or just have the staff being used in melee combat. Seems like a good fit for rangers and mesmers.

Warriors shouldn’t get anything

foofad.5162:

I hear Hounds of Balthazar are pretty good, and the Asura utilities can be useful since they apply conditions.

They’re awesome, but their health is far too low.

Reaper of Grenth is great for keeping people close now that you can cast it on the move.

I rarely play the tanky classes, but the guardian just felt right. I was originally deadset on having my main character being an sylvari engineer, but neither the sylvari nor the engineer clicked with me. I played an assassin in GW1 and loved the build diversity, but I found the thief boring in comparison.

I love blue flames. I love using consecrations. I love the way plate armor looks in this game (way better than the leather). I love having a lot of weapon choices (even if some are lackluster).

I made my guardian female, because I like strong women.

Story time!

My character’s ancestor was born from a Elonan mother (paragon) and an Canthan father (ritualist). My guardian shares some of the same ethnic features from those groups.

Although humanity seemingly stands united, many of Krytas nobles maintain a distaste for those of either Elonan or Canthan descent viewing them as refugees. My guardian grew up in the slums of Divinity’s Reach as a result. Blessed by Kormir due to her ties to Elona’s paragons, she always remains true to herself.

Nightia.5894:

I have found that I like playing my guardian. […] I dont want to be the most rolled profession… ever.

So you’ll stop playing a class you enjoy, because other people enjoy it too?

This one is really out of date, but here ya go anyway.

Screw AH, I’m pro. I solo roam EB traitless with a only a shield and can win 2v1s vs every class. No runes either, because runes are for losers.

One of my builds that doesn’t use AH is with a Mace+Focus for blocks, regen, a blind, and retaliation (via blast finisher). I invest in deeply in Radiance for Right-Hand Strength which helps keep high vigor uptime for constant dodge heals from 15 in Honor. Everything else depends on what the situation calls for. Staff is always on swap.

I agree OP, and Anet already knows how to make what you want. They created back in GW1. It was called Fort Aspenwood. 16 players per game, attacking and defending, both PvE and PvP characters could participate, siege weapons, etc. I spent the vast majority of my time playing on that map, and it never got old.

The same mechanics used in FA won’t work in GW2 (no monks), but I think a map inspired by Fort Aspenwood would be very popular.

You’ll probably have to buy a new account to do that.

kellyjac.4389:

Also Signet of Resolve is nice and all but Shelter can really save your kitten in WvW at times.

I was just about to say that. In WvW Shelter will block a whole lot more damage than Signet of Resolve will ever heal.

For some reason the idea of my guardian putting out bleeding feels dirty :S, but I’m all for giving us some sort of condition damage variety.

I would love to see guardian be able to apply Torment though.

Asmodal.6489:

/clap

you really showed us that the glass is indeed half empty and that you do not read full posts.
I suggest you start crying right away.

What’s with the attitude? O.o

Anyway I’m trying to understand where you’re coming from with this. It has nothing to do with seeing things half-empty rather than simply seeing the truth.

Asmodal.6489:

yes our activation is a little more “clumsy” but its there.

The two skill sets don’t equate well for escaping at all, and I pointed that out. Clumsy has nothing to do with it.

Asmodal.6489:

ride the lightning – judges intervention

Ride the Lightning doesn’t need a target

mist form – Renewd focus

Mist Form is a utility, a stun breaker, and has a 15 second less cooldown

lightning flash – GS leap

Lightning Flash has 300 more range and casts instantly

fire 3 – sword teleport

Burning Speed doesn’t need a target to move

air 5 – bane signet

Updraft is an AOE knockback and grants swiftness

In the context of escaping, every single one of those elementalist skills beats the guardian counterpart. So yeah, I don’t see your point.

Use Flashing Blade and Judge’s Intervention on distant critters. Trap people inside Rind of Warding, and hope they don’t have stability. /dance, and go down in style.

The large majority of my hours in this game have been with my guardian. As a result, I can usually predict what another guardian will do, and I know they probably feel the same way.

I usually run into three types of guardians:

1. Greatsword / Sword+Focus Berserker
2. Hammer Knight/Soldier
3. Mace Bunker

I just treat berserkers like thieves, except I know when every attack will come :/ I always try to do the unexpected, such as dropping a Wall of Reflection on someone who’s starting up Whirling Wrath. However, I usually just end up dueling the other two until we both /bow and walk away.

So what strategy do you use when fighting other guardians in the wild?

I really enjoy the open world Queen’s Champion that test you. Fighting Champion of the Lightning Blade was very fun! We were teleporting around everywhere and knocking each other around left and right, I should’ve recorded it! I wish more NPCs were as fast and responsive as these champions.

Next up is Stony Shield!

edit:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IHI2_Mp47g

Note: I’m not trying to show off, just having fun, don’t take it too seriously.

I agree I always felt that defense was lacking in WvW. However, Anet wants players to be able to join in at any time and get a feel of accomplishment as soon as possible. That’s why towers can be flipped so darn quickly.

Where’s the defensive version of the breakout event when outnumbered?

As you’ve described, there aren’t enough defensive counters. How does a group counter a treb that is at a higher vantage point? You don’t, you sit there and let the tower fall apart around you. Trebs take the fun out of WvW IMO, especially when players can take supply from other maps to build them.

I had a good laugh when I saw this image on The Queen’s Speech page.
https://d3b4yo2b5lbfy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/c27c905-Trebuchet.jpg

If Anet solves the defense problem, they will solve the zerg problem. Once a tower is captured, there is almost no reason to stay there and defend it. Servers should have to be attacking and defending more than one area of the map at once or risk losing everything.

I would like to see all walls and gates become weaker, but give the players the tools and weapons needed to defend it well. Make it so that when no one is defending, a tower would become paper, but when people are actively defending, it becomes a fortress.

What if we could build a weapon that shot treb shots out of the sky, but only worked at a high angle?

What if a flame ram could break down a gate in five hits unless someone on the other side was activating the gate’s barrier at the right time to reinforce it?

What if the gate’s barrier could be damaged by catapults?

What if catapults were very weak to player damage?