Showing Posts For Lumines.3916:

Your Favorite Utilities

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Wall of Reflection
Sanctuary
“Stand Your Ground!”
Smite Conditions
Purging Flames (Even better if they bugfix)

[GS] I am impressed by...

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

I know you’re upset that your favorite weapon got hit with a nerf that could have been handled better or given a better rationale. That being said, can we just please get over this already, it’s starting to seem like a bunch of crying over spilled milk.

This change had some side effects on other builds not retaliation related that you nor I would agree with, but it wasn’t a nerf that completely made a spec obsolete. It’s a mior nerf at best. The biggest reason to be somewhat upset? The re-arrangement and it’s not going to take that long to adjust despite how unnatural it feels at first.

The Guardian is still pretty much a top tier class regardless of all the changes that’s happened all the way from beta til now.

Bunker retalliation build?? how to spec and gear?

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Your spec is really questionable.. you went with Soldier runes and x2 shouts yet did not pick up pure of voice. Also, you don’t have stability which is pretty much mandatory in tournament settings. Because you lack stability, you also don’t have Tome of Courage which is still a game changing elite. Renewed Focus is ok with some bunker builds but I find tome better if you can pull it off. And if you wanted retaliation, why Signet of Judgement over “Stand Your Ground!” when you’re traited for shouts?

And yes, Meditations heal for close to 2k even without any +healing investment from your amulet. That’s why people run it with Soldier’s amulet. Believe it or not, you actually have quite ample protection if you’re good with Hammer auto-attacks and smart about your blocks with Mace/Shield.

Having 14k HP is really low, it’s no wonder you got your butt bursted by a thief. You’re stacking +healing but you also pick the worst HPS heal out of the Guardian’s arsenal. +Healing generally scales pretty bad, the only one that scales 1:1 is the dodge heal trait, Selfless Daring. Putting all your stats on +Healing also means your bulk comes from getting heals off which can be easily interrupted.

If you’re not dying to condition specs, then you just haven’t faced good ones yet. Guess what rangers are doing when they spam crossfire, they’re also stacking beeds. Packing Save Yourselves! is asking to get rolled by a Necro.

(edited by Lumines.3916)

Mesmer is the best in PVP ( both Wv3 and sPvp ) OP OP

in Mesmer

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Proper use of distortion + blurred flurry goes a long way to killing thieves. If you get decent enough, it’s very possible to predict when they’re gonna strike from stealth and activate accordingly.

If you’re using a Staff, you should have no problems kiting one. Spamming Chaos Armor will negatively affect the Thief’s onslaught easily.

If you’re using Greatsword, it’s very easy to have a lock down combo from Wave > Magic Bullet > Swap > Flurry/Shatter Daze. Most thieves will not take kindly to that at all. Especially if your iBerserker is spin2winning on their butts.

Only 1 class allowed in paid Tournament?

in PvP

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

source or baseless rumor.

Guardian or Warrior

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

@Svarty

I have no idea how you have problems with thieves, if anything, they cry out about heavies the most including Guardians. Retaliation eats them, aegis can negate their backstab spec, hell just popping Shield of Wrath completely destroys their spec. Besides, just because the modifier is low does not mean you will have low HP, it’s all in your set up. My offensive pub-stomping build for hot-join has 20k hp with Knight’s Amulet but still 2.5k armor, that’s just a tad (~100) less than a clothie using Rabid. Otherwise, for bunker builds, Soldier’s Amulet is really all you need.

Necromancers can be a hard fight for Guardians, but that’s about the only redeeming factor about them at this point. Unless you use your removals really badly, you can resist for a long time. The only damaging DoT they have are Bleeds, their poisons are short in duration unlike the ones from Engineers or Thieves.

They can corrupt your boons yes but Corrupt Boon is blocked by aegis, Well of Corruption being the only true one but even then, it’s 1 boon per second for a total of 5 which you can walk out of (not always the best when defending a point but you can’t expect to face tank everything..)

If anything, it still takes a good Necromancer a good while to eat through a Guardian. Their strongest suit aside from corrupting boons? Transferring conditions which is slightly less effective against Guardians. For one Guardians can’t stack a 12+ stack bleed and watch it get bounced back like it would be for other condition specs.

Damage should interrupt someone rezzing

in PvP

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

I know from browsing thief forums that you regularly play a backstab thief. Not having an interrupt is a conscious choice you made for your build, thieves if anything have the most freedom in interrupting compared to every other class. I also know that the run of the mill backstab thief build usually has Haste but does not need it to burst, use it to secure stomps maybe?

And NO, not all classes have liberal access to stability, if anything, they’re in the few. However, there are still ways to circumvent this. Five classes can use quickness to x2 stomp/res. Engineers can use Toss Elixir S for a stealth/stability stomp or plain use the Elixir S invul. Mesmers can still use distortion to negate any interrupt from the downed foe and so forth.

The downed mechanic is something you need to account for in this game, if you aren’t considering it in part of how you use your skills, then of course someone who is more adept at taking advantage of it can screw you over.

Because the game has NO healers, if there were no downed state, the game would be the zergiest of the zerg. The only complaint you can have about downed state is the fact that the skills across all classes aren’t balanced. Thief and Mesmers are a league beyond the rest in this regard.

AC dungeon explorable (path 1 I think) in my opinion

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Protip: If you have a Guardian in the group, have them bring Tome of Courage for the defend Hodgins event. I use it all the time to top Hodgins off and make it a lot easier. Yes, the full heal can heal him too.

(edited by Lumines.3916)

What situations to use F1-F3 skills?

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Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

What Aveneo said, Aegis is terrible against multi hits but can completely negate a big hit. So use protection against multi-hits and use aegis to negate fat slow ones. Other examples I use it for would be like Kol’s stomp in Harathi, Graveling Scavenger leap (so you don’t get chain KD’d), Nightmare Husk stomps etc.

I also regularly pop it when needing to tank hits while ressing someone.

What situations to use F1-F3 skills?

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Virtue of Justice should be used very often, the burn people can apply greatly exceeds what you can do alone, the more the merrier. If you have 5pt in Radiance, it’s also a great PBAoE Blind.

Virtue of Resolve is really good especially with Absolute Resolution (trait), it’ll remove 3 conditions from you AND your allies within your vicinity. I also use it as a last resort emergency heal at times. Using it in junction with Virtue of Courage can really be all you need to get out of a bind.

Virtue of Courage is something I treat like another “Retreat!” if you will. I usually save it for Lt. Kholer’s pull in AC for example. When you absolutely need to block that hit, it’s a good way to go about it.

Guardian or Warrior

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

The ones having trouble surviving with a Guardian just haven’t fully gotten used to the class yet. Don’t care if they typed out an essay explaining their woes, the Guardian is easily the bulkiest class in the game. If you don’t think so, you’re just not as good as what you can be.

Guardians may have a lower HP modifier than Warriors, but they are very much more tanky. The main difference being the Guardian’s defenses are all active versus the Warrior who just soaks more of it up. You have protection, regen, blinds, aegis, blocks across your whole arsenal, how you time these abilities determines your mileage with them. If you pop Virtue of Courage on a normal swing, it’s going to be on CD when the big bad boss does his stomp.

Conditions are the bane of Guardians, they eat through armor and is more threatening with a lower HP pool. Time your removals better. If it’s only a 3 stack bleed, it’s not going to harm you. Removing it ~7-8 stacks means whoever applied it has to start from scratch again. Like all other defenses the Guardian has, if you blow it on the littlest things, you won’t have it when it counts. In fact, for removals, the Guardian is actually one of the best off in this department too.

The Warrior is more offensively inclined where as the Guardian takes the slow and steady finishes the race approach. Warriors pack a lot of burst (it’s their mechanic) while Guardians go by the route of having really good sustain. Don’t let their defensive facet fool you, they’re very capable of pulling out numbers.

That being said, it’s impossible to build a Guardian without having some sort of light field, and people love these. Its ability to remove conditions when combo’d makes it one of the best field effects in the game, and Guardians have it in abundance. You don’t have quite as much as the Warrior, but the Guardian has options to choose from for finishing combos too. Both the Greatsword and Hammer have self comboing potential.

Something completely unique to Guardians though is the ability to ward off areas from your foes. Once again, how effective this is is entirely in the hands of the beholder. It’s less straight forward than Warrior’s Earthshaker AoE stun, but has the potential for even more control.

The Guardian is great already by itself, but its usefulness is amplified in groups when you realize all this and the fact that they pretty much spew boons as a byproduct of doing everything.

(edited by Lumines.3916)

AC dungeon explorable (path 1 I think) in my opinion

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Burrows are bugged, sky to ground AoEs tend to rip them up though. Melee however can circumvent this issue by constantly strafing left and right to adjust for the moving hit box. Interesting fact, the smoothest runs I’ve ever had in all three AC paths were with a full on 5 heavy group.

Graveling Scavengers are the ones to look out for, they can keep you knocked down and basically take a dump on your chest if you don’t have stun breaks, blocks, stability and what not (you do it’s called Balanced Stance and Dolyak Signet). In the defend Hodgins event, the burrow in the left most corner are the ones that spawn scavengers, make sure that one goes down fast.

The only challenging path in CoF is path 3, 1 and 2 are faceroll. That being said, AC is one of the dungeons you can clear all 3 paths with a PuG easily and do it in a reasonable time frame despite the issue with burrows. If you think CoF is hard, then a lot of people will use that against you to judge your skill level and they have good reasons.

Also, if you’re getting two-shot as a heavy by a dungeon mob, then perhaps reevaluate your gearing choices, the worst thing to see in a dungeon is a Warrior who is squishier than the thief or elementalist. I regularly take people in their mid 40s or late 30s and they do fine, if they can do it, so can you.

TLDR: AC is easily do able by anyone, you’re just not used to the dungeon yet and should reevaluate a bit. After all, all those ghastly weapons people are wielding didn’t come from nothing, clearly the dungeon is impossible and they’re all hackers.

(edited by Lumines.3916)

Don't you dare touch Backstab

in Thief

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Nerf high-dps thiefs, they get destroyed by anything. oh wait..
Maybe there is a problem with toughtness then? I figured that vitality is by far more usefull atm. That needs to be tested, before nerfing kitteh out of thief.

Not sure what your point is here, I was actually defending the thief a bit because I know half the fools I kill and QQ about it build hella glass and shatter if anything so much as whiff in their general direction, something the thief does for the fat backstab. It’s pretty easy to kill a thief if you’re able to avoid the insta-gib.

Just having high HP but little toughness means you’ll get hit with a monster crit and get instagibbed anyway, thats when I’d stab my friend for 15k+ while heartseeker finishes the job easily with a 7k crit.

It’s just even with high toughness, it doesn’t really do all that much against a loaded backstab.

Bulky and overly muscular Guardians are soo overrated.

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Such a riveting tale, totally changed my life, would recommend to others.

Level 80 and never did a dungeon

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

I think completely refusing to do dungeons because of a lackluster LFG system is a bit extreme don’t you think? To some extent, this is a huge first world problem especially from the attitude of your OP.

Also, the way you advertise usually affects how it goes too. “LFG -insert class + dungeon- Explorables” usually won’t work as well if you just took the initiative to write “LFM -insert dungeon- Explorables” even if you’re still not in a party. The moment you get another it’s LF3M.

While I have been in disaster groups that make me want to gouge my eyes out, my experience has been overall really positive. I’ve found numerous buddies that I play with regularly both in and out of dungeons by pugging, I’ve also found myself in amazing groups that eventually led to me being recruited to a guild that had multiple dungeon groups going on. LFMing in Guild first then Pugging the rest in LA became a quick ~10 minute process max to get a dungeon group going.

I agree that the LFG tool NEEDS to be improved, it’s no wonder that no one uses it. However, they need to fix instance ownership issues before even considering what you propose. If there was a way to categorize people LFGing by instance they want to do in the current tool and just picking people from the list, then we wouldn’t need a dungeon finder. Think of it like the old raid finder interface WoW had before it became automated. It would be much better to use simply because every player is just as valuable as the next, not just Tanks and Heals.

http://s1.hubimg.com/u/2348480_f248.jpg

In the end, the biggest limiting factor in your equation right now is YOU. There are so many people complaining that GW2 and other recent release MMOs are not social games, this type of mentality is why. Because no one wants to reach out to anyone anymore.

Nightmare Court Knight

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

No matter what set up I’m running, I always switch my utilities to Sanctuary, Hallowed Ground, and “Stand Your Ground!” on my Guardian when facing the pull of knights. If anything, these guys are the hardest things in TA, Path 3 would be just as easy as the other paths if it weren’t for these guys.

I would never do this pull without Plague on Necro. I always open up with that and usually have Well of Darkness + Chilling Darkness, Spectral Armor/Walk and Spectral Grasp in slot. Being able to pull them off your buddies and chain blinding for them is sometimes all you need to do.

I know my Engineer buddy usually has Rifle, Bomb Kit, Elixir S, and Slick Shoes/Elixir R for these guys too.

This is definitely one of the pulls you should prepare your utility skills or switch to a different weapon before going in. Pulling with whatever set up you have that does nothing for this encounter is usually asking to get ROFLSTOMP’d. I know you have your build and what not, but being very inflexible/refusing to change utilities while the tools are still there for you to use is just kittening yourself.

Don't you dare touch Backstab

in Thief

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Not sure where this sentiment of backstab only destroys glass cannons is coming from. Glass cannons get destroyed by anything, they’re the ones at fault for speccing that way to begin with.

However, I can backstab my friend’s Engineer who is rocking full Rune of the Undead and Rabid Amulet (meaning hella high toughness) for 10.8k consistently every time. This is of course, with the Signet to boost as well. If you add on cloak and dagger and steal damage, if he’s not dead by the backstab, one heartseeker is enough to finish him off. This is with him going full on toughness with 17k HP.

TA needs a bit of a nerf

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

I run this with PuGs all the time, if anything the hardest thing in this dungeon is the F/F squad of Knights. Their KD combo can seriously kitten on your parade if you don’t have stun breaks, stability, or means to kite them.

Up and Forward/Up are really really easy though, doable with PuGs on my server within 40 mins each usually. Along with CoF and HotW, TA is probably one of the more popular dungeons PuGs do right now too.

The ones that have trouble with this dungeon just aren’t used to it yet. The first time you go in, the blossoms are so small, you accidentally dodge roll, kitten goes bananas.

The fact is though, you can usually 1 shot these things and you CAN RALLY OFF THEM! So sometimes while we do clear blossoms like during the nightmare vine encounter, it’s always not too bad of an idea to have one you can live off of should things go bad. Other than that, just bring condition removal.

Edit: Just noticed the post above me. Do not listen to someone like that ever. GW2 is supposed to be a game where anyone of any class or spec ran run a place just as well as the next. You shouldn’t be required to have a guardian take care of it for you. Nor should that guardian be thankful to be regulated to flower duty all the time.

Not sure how you arrived at this conclusion, it was a suggestion to the OP as a way to solve his blossom issues, it’s not some unspoken rule that you HAVE to have a Guardian to do this dungeon. Every class has ranged abilities/AoE that can make quick work of blossoms.

(edited by Lumines.3916)

Will condition build be improved for Necros?

in Necromancer

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

No one is denying the synergy between precision and condition specs, even your Sigil of Earth hugely benefits from having a high crit chance. I’ve argued in other threads that Withering Precision > Lingering Curses and is reason enough to have such a pairing (despite everyone thinking weakness sucks). For a condition spec though, it’s a means to stack bleeds faster, your regular hits will hit for kitten no matter what as one so whether they crit or not is not important, your main source of damage is still your bleed stacks.

However, what makes Barbed Precision pretty weaksauce is the fact that you can’t really do much with a 1s bleed. If you went 2 Afflicted, 2 Krait and 2 Lyssa on the Engineer, you can extend that 3s bleed on crit to a 4s. Durations for damaging conditions don’t mean squat if you can’t get a full extra second out of it, because it ticks in intervals of full seconds. There’s no way you’ll ever be able to even boost Barbed Precision from a 1>2s.

Mesmer’s Sharper Images is ridiculously strong in comparison. Their illusions’s crit chance scales off the caster’s, they can have up to 3 illusions out at once. The multi-hit illusions like iDuelist are especially strong with this trait. Counting the Mesmer himself, they have 4 sources in which to stack bleeds from, and the bleeds from their illusions will last for 5s each.

Not only do Mesmers simply just have to spam auto-attack on staff for both bleeds and burns while granting themselves might/fury, when they need to use a secondary set for any reason, their bleeds do not completely fall off. Something that can easily happen to the Necro if forced to linger in Dshroud or you just plain screwed up jumping between your sets.

There’s a lot of QQ on the necro section of the forums, a lot of it too doom and gloom. It’s not exactly that and I try and mention the merits necros have, but no one can deny there are issues really hindering the necro. If you can succeed with the class, all the more power to you. But having played all the classes I can speak from a bigger standpoint and know that even what was touted as the Necro’s biggest strength, others can still manage better.

What do you think about retaliation?

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

If the tool tips are to be accurate, in a vacuum it’ll take 3s to do the 1-2-3 + Mighty Blow chain on the Hammer. Obviously, in an actual match the numbers will be different but we’ll go with that for now. The retaliation from the blast combo lasts ~3s last I checked so whenever you’re wielding a hammer, it’s nearly up all the time as long as you’re getting your auto-attack combo in.

Obviously you’re not going to sit in hammer all the time but when you have it, the window in which you don’t have retaliation is quite small. The virtues and shout can somewhat keep it coming every now and then in your other weapon set too.

If the wiki is to be believed, this is how retaliation damage is calculated.

Retaliation reflects damage based on level and scales with power, increasing damage by 1 for every 13.4 power. At level 80, base damage is 267.

With just the Soldier’s amulet and gem, not counting any buffs or what not or any bonuses from traits, your Power will be at 1839.

1839/13.4 + 267 = 404.238806

No idea how they round numbers in the end but that’s a decent hefty chunk that easily adds up.

The general sentiment is that it’s too easy to keep up and the damage feels largely unavoidable if you want to dent the Guardian at all.

The true counters really are boon removals, the best of which belong to the Mesmer and Necromancer. Null Field being the best option of course, Arcane Thievery has a cap of 3 boons that it steals. Corrupt Boon is blocked by Aegis and has issues landing regardless, I know this first hand after playing Necros as my first class. Well of Corruption does take off boons regardless of Aegis, but it has a cap of 5 boons as it ticks 1 by 1 over 5s.

I really like retaliation, it’s a huge reason why bunker guardians are such a threat. Without it, we won’t pressure as easily when fending off foes before our team comes to our rescue. But at the same time, I can totally see why people are upset over it. What I’m unsure about is does it tick for every tick of Bleed/Poison/Burn ticks? And if you’re eating 8 bleeds, do they take the damage 8 times, one for each unique bleed stack?

(edited by Lumines.3916)

Necromancer in tPVP - My favorite class

in Necromancer

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

I started as a Necromancer when I played with some friends in tPvP, I then switched to Mesmer when I was playing the condition role. When they needed a point-defender, I swapped back to Necro to give it a run, it’s not terrible when you bunker down on one, but when I swapped to first an Engy then Guard for point holding is when I saw the difference.

Survivability and life-span aside, it’s much harder to neutralize or keep people off points as a Necromancer. Engineers have a reliable way to overcharge shot > net shot, Big o’ Bomb is great when the pressure is from numerous people. Bomb spamming also means as long as they’re trying to contest the point, they have very few areas to stand in that will leave them free of damage. All classes can blend survivability and damage at the same time, and the Engineer is no exception.

Marks recently got better when they fixed them with Greater Marks, but when they’re all on CD, you either have to swap, go into DS or deal with staff auto. Wells can be extremely good at proclaiming dominance over an area, but its CDs are longer in comparison to the abilities the other two classes use to deny areas.

Guardians are top bunkers for really good reasons. They kitten boons like lannisters kitten gold which your buddies love. You also have great ways to keep people off points with both the Shield and Hammer. Because of how retaliation is right now, it’s very easy to maintain a good level of damage while being extremely bulky. Rangers/Engineers popping Quickness and killing themselves is quite common. The fact that they also kitten light fields which is one of the more powerful effects AND can easily finish other combos makes them excel in team play. On my Necro, I would hesitate greatly to blast finish fields with Putrid Mark as the transfer is such a valuable CD.

Both classes also have an easier time stopping stomps, stomping others and what not. Stand Your Ground is easily one of the best skills in the game. The Engineer you can either Toss Elixir S, pop Elixir S, for resses toss elixir R, or Elixir U for fast stomp/resses. Our only source of stability is Dshroud, which also does not allow you stomp/res, so you must go in and cancel immediately AFTER investing 30 into SR to achieve a similar effect.

That being said, the Necromancer still has its merits, some of its utilities are one of a kind and I’ve had success with one in tPvP. However, this was always easier when the team was very much built with the Necromancer in mind. It’s not a bad class by any means, but some of its mechanics/bugs still holds it back compared to some of the other options you can run.

Will condition build be improved for Necros?

in Necromancer

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

It’s one of the more viable necromancer specs, don’t expect any huge buffs to it. That being said, it’s not the strongest condition spec around.

We’re balanced around the fact that we can throw conditions on us back at foes, as a result our damage output is pretty limited. Bleeds and that’s all, the poison is very short in duration unlike the Engineer or Ranger’s. If all darts hit on the Engineer’s pistol one, it’ll typically cause 6s of poison, the skill has a 10s CD. The Ranger’s poison volley depending on how many arrows hit, can also cause a decent length poison. Don’t even bother with comparing Thieves’ spider venom, with venomshare it’s ridiculous.

Barbed Precision is also extremely weak, the bleed is a 1s bleed meaning not even having +duration will really help it. Rangers are also in the same boat with a 1s bleed crit. Engineers get a 3s bleed on crit AND a 2s burn on crit. Mesmers take the cake with all illusions causing 5s bleeds on crit with Burns coming out 1/3 of their staff auto attacks. They also can transfer conditions back to other people like Necromancers though only with one skill.

Necromancers are good against other condition specs, that’s its niche right there to counter other DoT spammers; but it generally ends up not getting anywhere with specs that have a lot of removals. Even worse if it’s one running direct damage and removals, that means not only is your damage output pretty low, you really don’t have damaging conditions to redirect, only negative effects.

Don't know what to do now...

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Mace and Hammer are defensive weapons, that being said the Hammer is very capable of pumping some hard numbers. Mighty Blow hits roughly half as much as a Whirling Wrath that connects all bolts but on a much shorter CD. You can generally pull out two Mighty Blows per Whirling Wrath CD, the fact that it’s a blast finisher is just adding further points on top.

Mace just isn’t an offensive weapon, it’s a defensive one, it’s sluggish and its numbers aren’t that high, it’s not a killing machine but one to help you turtle. For one-handers, sword is probably your best bet. Its auto-attack is actually really good steady damage, the third hit on the chain hits for a small burst if you slash all three waves into your foe. Zealot’s Defense + Shield of Wrath is a burst combo you can use with Sword/Focus while remaining safe against numerous attacks.

Greatsword is your go-to weapon for AoE situations, its swing speed is fast and well, nothing wrong with spin2win.

Shield is a situational weapon that I believe people give a bit too little credit for. It may not KB bosses all the time, but an interrupt is an interrupt which has uses outside of boss fights too. The knockback is great for giving allies space on regular pulls while how you utilize the projectile absorb is entirely up to you. It’s not THE BEST but I use one way more than I do focus in dungeons.

What do you think about retaliation?

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

People that think retaliation is “worthless” do not realize how powerful it actually is in tPvP. On my bunker guard I just sit down and turtle with Mace/Shield + Hammer. My sources of retaliation are from Virtues (15pt Minor), Stand Your Ground (saved of course for needed situations, but still gives uptime), and the Hammer combo-chain.

My damage coming from weapons does not hit hard at all, in fact I’m more focused on keeping them off-point and surviving than doing damage. But I still can come out top in most 1v1s because of retaliation. Rangers/Engineers popping Quickness and killing themselves is quite common place. In 1v2s, I do the same thing as I’d do 1v1 and somewhere somehow, both will end up at ~45-50% by the time my reinforcements arrive and finish them off.

This is not even going a retaliation build, it’s just a byproduct of playing the Guardian. It’s an extremely strong boon that is essentially free damage for you if you turtle up. Without it, bunker Guardians would not have the damage to push people over the edge, but at the same time the output you can get from it is quite a bit hilarious. A thief trying to kite me can drop to 45% without me ever hitting him once.

I don’t want them to nerf it so it’s worthless, I still want it to be punishing but I can see the sentiment in why people think the up-time is too good. It’s not some LOLBURST, but the damage easily racks up.

(edited by Lumines.3916)

Legendaries Are Not Created Equal

in Crafting

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Then you look at the fact that there are in fact THREE greatsword legendaries. Twilight, Sunrise and the two combined, Eternity or something.

There is a lot of favoritism going on..

Hi people, I would like to give away Dawn.

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Your mentality is very very very different from the average joe MMO player, much kudos.

http://i.imgur.com/A2IT3.jpg

Crithammer, one way of playing with it.

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Knight’s Amulet in PvP adds VITALITY, Precision and Power. The Knight’s crafted set in PvE adds TOUGHNESS, Precision and Power.

Soldier’s Amulet is probably still the way to go for most builds in sPvP.

Why does nobody talk about Warriors?

in PvP

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

It is of my opinion that 100b does too much damage, however that doesn’t really make warriors OP. Compared to thieves, warriors are extremely predictable.

I played a Necro first then Mesmer in tPvP in this game, so it’s interesting to hear you have trouble with warriors as these two classes. For the Necromancer, despite the issues that plague it, should have no trouble with the infamous 100b combo. Even if your stun breaks are on CD, even if you don’t even have one equipped (what are you doing..), you can go into DS despite being stun or KD’d and fear them away when they’re channeling 100b.

Mesmers? Mirror Images, Decoy, and Blink, they all break stun, they’re all under a minute CD. Let’s have a hypothetical situation where again, these abilities are all on CD. You still have Phase Retreat, 8s CD (5s if traited) that ports you back. Yes, again, you can use this while stunned meaning the warrior is now flailing his blades at air, not you. Also, Mesmers kite better than any ranged, so not sure what’s happening here. Once you do get them downed, you can use Distortion while mid-stomp to make yourself invul to their hammer toss. If you let them vengeance, well they actually have to kill someone to rally otherwise they’ll falter at some point.

Not to mention, if 2/3 of their utilities are Bulls Charge and Frenzy, they have jack kitten when it comes to condition removals, which is exactly the strength of the classes you play.

This is from my experience from playing thieves. Thieves on the other hand drop their burst in a much shorter span of time than warriors. For Backstab specs, you’re comparing a full channel to one burst hit that comes near instantly after a Steal port. For the (now nerfed) Pistol Whip, the stun is part of the channel and was only extremely brutal when pairing it with Quickness meant getting chain locked to death. Not to mention the thief also has quite a few shadowsteps (instant and usable anytime) to burn mid Pistol Whip to ensure their target does not get away, the warrior cannot do this with 100b.

Both are pretty cheese in their damage, but one is way more manageable to avoid than the other.

Why do Guardians say they stink when they are a top tier class

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Guardians are great, your post is a flame bait. People QQing about guards probably havent had a lot of hands on time extensively with other classes and thus don’t know any better.

Your Favorite Dungeon Group Make Up

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

This is not a thread for arguing what is best and what is not, this is just a place to share your experiences with various group compositions and about the one that stood out for you in any sort of meaningful way. Doesn’t mean it’s all about the min-maxing, perhaps what you had the most fun with more importantly.

I randomly grouped up with some people for AC Explorable, the group ended up being 3 Guardians and 2 Warriors. Needless to say, we could be hectic and extremely careless yet no one was ever in danger.

During the bonus spider event, one of our members got too close and accidentally pulled the patrol of gravelings in that passage. If it were most group make ups, that would have been trouble. But for this group, everything was cleaved down via the melee blender that is 5 heavies four of which rocking greatswords. With three Guardians keeping boons up in addition to the bulky nature of the classes, none of our health bars even dipped below 70%.

We went for all three paths and finished without a hitch all with mindless but speedy efficiency. Was good times.

Afraid to make a Necro

in Necromancer

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Just make one if you’re interested, you lose nothin in trying it out. That being said, it is a lot more rough in the polish department. Also while there is a lot of QQ out there, it’s by no means unplayable. The valid constructive critisism are onto something though.

What Profession do you find most enjoyable?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Guardian, not only are they strong on their own, my group always enjoys my company as one.

[Discussion] On Back Item/Armor

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

You are not mistaken at all, back slots are extremely limited. I never finished the story as i heard the rewards are bugged still t the en and dont want to risk getting nothing. I bought the backpack because it looks hilarious and after gearing up, money isn’t tight. I get a lot from doing dungeons anyway.

I've hit a snare in making gold.

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Doing dungeons is a pretty easy way to make money too while cranking out some dungeon gear.

Is "Thief" Leather Armor craftable?

in Crafting

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

The same skin is just called Leather in the sPvP locker, try searching “Duelist” in the TP. Each piece is like ~50silver and really cheap.

Crithammer, one way of playing with it.

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Altruistic Healing works great with the Hammer as the symbol is from an auto-attack and is not restricted by cool down like other weapons. I’d imagine it would work fine with a Greatsword, just that the frequency in which you’d apply boons would be less especially after the recharge increase.

@ Whiskyjumper, you can blast the Symbol of Protection with Mighty blow for AoE retaliation.

Where is the Dungeon Armor i wish to have?

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Not all PvP amulet stat spreads are obtainable in PvE for some god unknown reason. Shaman’s Amulet in sPvP is Healing, Condition, Toughness, the closest in PvE also Shaman’s is Healing, Condition, Vitality.

The set you’re looking for Knight’s Amulet does not exist in PvE, the crafted PvE exotics with the Knight’s insignia is Toughness, Power, Precision, that’s probably the closest.

And yes, I don’t know why its not consistent across both aspects of the game, don’t ask me why, I think it’s stupid too.

Melee vs Ranged vs Weapon Sets

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Melee is not hard in this game, it simply requires more awareness. Particle effects may blind you, but that’s only in the open world. In dungeons with a group of 5, it’s very easy to still make out the tells of the boss and avoid as such.

A lot of people that play melee happen to tunnel vision a lot more, it’s a bad habit you pick up from meleeing in most other games. I know I definitely tunneled as a warrior in WoW and I see it all the time even in this game too.

Lastly, meleeing in this game forces you to be more honest about your capabilities than most other games. If you can’t dodge everything with reflexes like a ninja and always pay attention to your surroundings, don’t roll full Berserker’s, you’re not helping anyone. I had a Guardian in my group that had only 900 toughness but it was ok because he had “crazy crits!” he died more, like x10 more than my thief buddy who was rocking full Knights. Who did more damage in the end? The one who’s alive.

Going full berserker’s is going glass cannon, and you cannot blame the game for “being too hard” when you set yourself up like that, everyone loves pumping out max damage but if you can’t handle it, don’t do it. There are lots of viable gear alternatives for a damage focused role that won’t end with you getting 1shot from everything.

Lastly, more than any other game, they tried to blur the line between melee and ranged classes. There are still classes that focus on one more than the other but the distinction is weaker than ever. I don’t know why people refuse to take advantage of this. Any ranged abilities on a traditional melee class in any other game will be see as a godsend and gives you more flexibility. They gave you that in this game but why do people refuse to touch it, my question is why?

I think a pure melee set definitely does work, I have done it plenty of times in dungeons and what not, but that entails being locked out of your damage sometimes when mechanics force you out of range. Hammer + Sword/Focus on my guard gives a lot of staying power in melee range, but it also means my effective range is really short.

Full on melee also means you need to prepare more for taking hits than most specs. All of it is possible, but it really is up to the player to make it work. A lot of it is really common sense, and they give you all the tools to succeed as a melee in this game, just half the fools I see running around with Greatswords choose to ignore it.

And if anything, dual melee set is EASIEST to run in PvP (just not WvW) out of all the areas of the game too.

(edited by Lumines.3916)

Is a Pure Melee Guardian Viable?

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

I think more than greatsword, sword/focus or mace/focus gives you incredible stayin power for melee. The same can also be said for hammer being able to give you protection from its chain. Like others stated do keep a scepter just in case but i see no reason why either of those two focus sets plus hammer wouldn’t work.

Ultimate Dungeon Guide

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

You don’t need to be fully geared in 80 exotics, you just need gear FOR YOUR LEVEL. If you’re level 45 but half your outfit is still 38’s, you’re going to have a bad time.

Need Tactics for TA Forward Up - final boss

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

This is an encounter where a Guardian should really bring Wall of Reflection, I always do for this fight. A well placed wall will kill all but the silver spiders while greatly reducing the damage your group takes when these buggers crawl around and try and ruin your day.

Crithammer, one way of playing with it.

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

@Brutaly

I agree, I think this is a really solid path for Guardians who aren’t content with being just “support,” with this path, you are indeed the jack of all trades, you have pretty good support as the by-product of your playstyle, your damage is by no means lackluster and you will out last all glass cannons and probably most other specs. My post was obviously me nitpicking at details which really in the end is up to the individual.

That being said, aside from Orrian gear offering that spread, I’m currently in the process of collecting TA cabbage armor that carry precision/vitality/healing, i’ll perhaps provide more input when I can actually make a build with that.

What is my Asura saying?

in Asura

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Male asura necro
When jagged horrors die..
“I will always remember you.. blah blah something”
“These things should really come with a warranty.”

Why the need to make everyone PvP?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

The “right” to legendary was promised to all by Anet. They implied it is open to all.
Yes it should be a struggle to acheive. But it should not exlude those that do not find enjoyment though PvP.

It is open to all, the only limiting factor for your situation is your mind set. ANet did not restrict anyone from freely entering WvW. If you had to pay extra to play WvW and it was still part of map completion, then you’ve got an argument.

I have a lot of long time mmo friends who enjoyed the primarily PvE side of things and wouldn’t touch PvP in most games. They did not like the atmosphere nor the pressure if you will. However, when I urged them to try out WvW, they came out enjoying it. WvW is NOT FUN if you’re solo and running with a zerg, but it’s an absolute blast if you have a group that can watch your back and you watch theirs. It’s far from the tense atmosphere in most pvp games and has a lot of other elements inside it for different crowds. Ultimately though, it’s the crowd you’re with that will make anything you do in the game entertaining, it is an MMO after all.

I don’t think they should cater to this attitude, because the only limiting factor in this situation is the player. You don’t NEED the legendary, it does not have the best stats, so they’re not limiting your potential like WoW essentially forcing you to raid if you want to be competitive in arenas. When you see someone with a legendary with these prerequisites, you’ll know not only did they put in a considerable amount of time in acquiring it, they’ve also dabbled in multiple aspects of the game.

Crithammer, one way of playing with it.

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Managed to put together a set up that had the following stats:

Attack 2820
Crit chance: 51%
Crit dmg: 42%
Armor: 3224
HP: 14875

My traits were set up as 0/0/30/30/10 (ground target Wall of Reflection or Sanctuary is boss).

It’s not too bad, I see the merits in the thought behind the build and took it for a spin in a few explorable modes and a WvW session to get a good judgement of its performance. I’m comparing this to my set up in Power/Vit/Tough and Cleric Accessories with a spread of 0/10/10/30/20.

Compared to my previous set up, I do considerable more damage. The higher crit chance and damage % made a huge difference, seeing as my previous set up left me with 16% crit and 12% crit dmg. So far so good, I expected as much.

It was hard to tell whether I had more endurance up due to vigor(theory points to yes) as I ran Sigil of Energy on my weapons, I never had a problem with dodging even before I changed builds, but I can assume that for most people, this is also an upgrade.

Now I will talk about some of the trade offs, the things I had to give up. Selfless Daring noticeably heals a lot less than before. It went from ~900-1k (depending on weapon, my staff was Cleric’s while others were Knight’s) to healing ~425. This was to be expected as this heal is probably our best scaling heal. My Signet of Resolve also is untraited in this set up, I got spoiled by the 32s CD forreals!

My max HP pool also went from 17k down to the above listed amount of just a smidgen under 15k. Wasn’t a huge deal in PvE but I noticed it more when I was in WvW.

I guess the biggest trade off for me was losing Absolute Resolution. I weigh this pretty heavily as I think a) Virtues has great attribute bonuses (boon duration+recharge) b) Some of condition removals are somewhat bugged for the Guardian. Purging Flames and 2/4 shouts not working with Pure of Voice. Being vulnerable to conditions was something I did not like as the Guardian also has a much smaller HP pool than most classes. I also really liked absolute resolution for the fact that I can save my shouts to remove conditions for allies and still have a reliable way to cleanse myself.

TLDR: Overall, I found my life-span in both builds to be about the same, no matter how you build it, Guardians just don’t go down easily! I found a noticeable increase in damage output but found myself more vulnerable to conditions (bigger issue in PvP). This is probably one of the most viable ways to be a “Tanky DPS” Guardian if you will.

For now though, my values still lean towards the more defensive side of things and will probably go back to my previous build for the time being. I see myself taking this build out for a ride when I want a change of pace and when they fix bugged condition removal skills though.

(edited by Lumines.3916)

I was gonna switch to hammer anyway.

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Easily my favorite Guardian weapon. Has a a really good emphasis on control, a style of play I identify more with. Mighty Blow makes you a comboing machine while your backline will love you for being able to ward off mobs and what not. Banish is slightly sluggish but is probably the interrupt the Guardian can use most frequently. It’s also the only melee weapon the Guardian has that packs a snare (in a line too).

The auto-attack turns it off for a lot of people and I’ll admit myself initially too. But this is really a case of being able to get used to it. Once you’re comfortable with the pace, it’s an extremely easy weapon to use and a powerful one at that.

I’ve been trying out the crithammer build now that I had my main set completed, but I can’t say I’m that impressed. It’s not a bad build by any means, but it’s a lot more vulnerable to conditions than the build I’m used to. 30 pts in valor means there’s little room to pump points into virtues. I think Absolute Resolution (resolve removes 3 conditions) is too good to pass up especially when considering a lot of our condition removals are bugged right now. Pure of Voice does not work with Hold the Line or Save Yourselves, Purging Flames is also not removing all conditions like it said it would on the wiki, it only removes 1.

You’ll find the hammer is fine even without having to go crithammer style, that is one viable way to go about it and in the end all comes down to what you weigh as more important.

(edited by Lumines.3916)

Crithammer, one way of playing with it.

in Guardian

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

Been slowly building up a Knight’s set on the side. My question is this though, how do you still break 15k+ HP wearing Knight’s Gear. Don’t really see anything other than Valk accessories, is that what’s being used?

First time I've felt "desolate" in this game

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

All they need to do is get the karma farming train out of Orr and into the world more (like they advertised in the first place). Most people chasing legendaries after getting a 100% log in and farm Cursed Shore and or other Orr zones. The event web is more dense and they happen really frequently, they also reward the most karma per event.

If you go to any other zone, you’re rewarded with karma according to your SCALED level and not your actual level. If people got karma regardless of zone/scaled level but their actual level, you’d see more people moving around. Frankly not everyone wants to stomach cursed shore but believe it is most efficient for their goals.

In my opinion, character creation needs improvement

in Suggestions

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

This is a complaint I see in all the games that have one, yet I think this is one they did extremely well. Perhaps the only complaint I can have is lack of hairstyles (horns whatever) for some of the races not human or norn.

What do you think about Legendary Weapons?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Lumines.3916

Lumines.3916

I think they’re worthy goals for people that like them, if you don’t like the skin, you don’t have to chase it. I know some people think unicorn rainbow bows are too “troll” while others love it, it’s all subjective.

I myself can’t stomach trying to get that much karma (lol cursed shore) so I won’t go for one. Some people however, are ok with this stuff and what you think is overrated they think of as prestige.