Guild Wars 2

There are already rumors of alliances to get desolation out of the top3 EU. I guess the role of BB has to be see in all of this.
Tanking or not let’s hope it is gonna be fun and not a sequence of continuous double teaming (even though it is not against the rules)

Any suggested changes to builds for a frontline zerg Guardian?

hi folks, was just curios to know whether any of you has already tried ranger in zergs as part of the bombing squad (necro, ele).
Any builds?

Cygnus.6903:

The funny thing about your post is that you end it saying you will change to guardian and only use warrior for PvE, while Guardian is better in PvE in all roles.

I have noticed the same:-)
In fact, for shout warrior in WvW, I am not using Adrenaline Health NOR Cleansing Ire and I think it is just fine. yes, losing adrenaline on miss will be annoying. However, it only means you cannot spam it for the sake of it..

It is exactly in PvE that I will switch to guardian.

IMHO
For roaming: mesmer, thief, warrior would be my choices. This, however, is very personal and left to flavour/scope.

For zerging: guardian, warrior, (staff) elementalist, necromancer. These are the most common/arguably useful classes in a group of 20+

I bought the game the first week it was released and, since then, a large number of IRL friends left the game.

I quit the game for 5 months and then I restarted. for as much as I got bored by a PvP that does not have a different play-mode other than domination and a WvW that keeps not giving to players what they ask for…there is nothing else out there, yet.
All together, I still find this game the best MMO out there, for my standards.

I believe that many players feel the same and this is why they start playing or they continue to play.

I think that ascended chests respect the rule of ascended materials:. you can only find them if you are lvl 80.

they stack and are the same. Also the rewards are still the same sucky ones.

Also, you may want to get back to forums after the feature pack of 9 September which will bring changes to the warrior.

@Crius
With 5sec swapping weapons would you still consider Force > Intelligence?

@Purple Miku

Now it is clearer and I think it is a fair assessment.
I work on the assumption, though, that learning how to do dungeons/fractals (there is basically nothing else in PvE worth theory crafting for) involves a bit more survivability.
At least, that worked for me: I wasn’t doing a lot of damage, but I could make a couple of mistakes (no more than that – we all agree that stacking T/V will not keep you alive much longer anyway) and still be alive to learn from those, without triggering a carpet fest (always downed).
In brief: if I have to learn I will be glad to sacrifice damage and stay alive 5 seconds more to learn.
Then, we all agree that berserk is the way to go.
What you think?

I agree overall with the comments made and I also support Knight instead of Zealot.
However, i think it is important to notice that the OP states that he is a new player and to learn the ropes Berserk gear is not forgiving. Hence, survivability may be more important as a beginner.
How I started: Knight Armor with rubies, Cavalier trinkets with rubies and Knight/Cavalier weapons. it is also not very expensive and it helped me for the transition to full Berserker gear and more appropriate runes.
You will also notice that in dungeons: a) knowing when to dodge and b) knowing successful strategies for the bosses, will increase enormously your survivability.

@Loading
If the set Sw/Wh is mainly used to get out of a situation, wouldn’t a 2sec chill be better than a small heal (and then Sw #2 to jump out the area)?
I see for the Hammer you prefer a less dmg-based approach, so that is your personal choice. I still believe though that paralisation and stamina serve the same purpose of keeping you alive “longer”.
Just food for thought.

I do not agree that the rewards in WvW are poor overall.
If you are a new player, you will get very consistent rewards through laurels, karma and badges to build up your WvW gear (and also PvE, why not)

If you are a ‘veteran’ player:
1- You play WvW for the fun that entails, not for loot. Loot is a simple bonus.
2- You do not play WvW and rather focus on PvE which is more rewarding, loot-wise.

For Groups 20+, choose among the following.

For hammer:
1- fire (my choice)
2- paralisation
3- intelligence (my choice)
4- stamina

For sword:
1- perception (my cheap choice) – “stack” sigils need to be on your water weapon as well, ideally.
2- bloodlust

For warhorn:
1- energy (my choice. If you use it properly you’ll never change it with any other sigil)
2- hydromancy

I cannot advise for GvG, since I do not have enough experience.
As for roaming, well, the whole setup is different so that will require different gear/runes/weapons/sigils depending on a more personal taste.

get one bag of loot for every citizen rescued.

1- add a counter with “your contribution”;
2- at the end of the event every hour give as many bags as contribution (or more bags x contribution).

Tremain.4623:

The effort is very very very low compared to any other ascended back item.

exactly.
The exotic version is account bound already if i am not wrong.
No need to have the ascended one account bound, in all honesty.

The first day it cost me 30g (after selling drafted items) to get to 400-500 LW and also craft the ascended back. That was very cheap.

Agony.3542:

Daxxter.8920:

Manuelito.6081:

Daxxter.8920:

Offhand axe #5 skill is awesome if paired with the Berserker’s Power trait. Nothing comes close to it for refilling your adren faster than you can blink to get back to that 15% damage boost.

However, you lose DPS in recovering adrenaline, don’;t you? I personally very very rarely use the special attack for Axe (nor GS for that matter). It seems a loss for DPS for not much gain. IMHO>

Not really because with #5 it takes a fraction of a second to fill up and once it’s up stop spinning and start auto attacking back with the +15%.

Fraction of a second? In what kind of different dimension do you live in? Whirling axe hits 15 times over 3+ seconds. Thats HALF your adrenaline. Even with sharpened axes it would take 2 seconds (or 10 hits) granted you crit every hit.
Or are you talking about a trash fight? Where 3+ mobs are standing around? Well why bother using Evis in a trashfight? It is single target only, 2 chops on 3 mobs will already deal vastly more damage than a single evis. Sure you may find a scenario where the high attack frequency of whirling axe might be useful, but when comparing the “offensive offhand choice” mace > axe, period.
I mean sure, go for axe offhand if it pleases you. If you don’t like giving your best in a group, that can’t be helped I guess. However stop trying to impose these lies.

Amen.

Since this comment was totally uncalled for, I will just add that you do not know how I got to play the meta build. Your “seeing the discrepancy and adapting to it” seems more an excuse than anything else.

So, just to be clear, it seems to me that the difference between you and I is that I learned to play the optimal meta build, You did not.

Peace.

For the 100th time one of my guardians IS playing the meta build. Do you people even bother to read or do you just jump at anything that questions the sacred “meta” build which you all mindlessly worship? It’s like I’m trying to reason with a bunch of rabid Bieber fangirls. [/quote]

I understood that you weren’t playing Scholar runes, hence not playing the meta.

Anyway, I tried to be constructive, but it really seems you just want to feed the argument for the sake of it. For this reason, I am out.

DeathPanel.8362:

laharl.8435:

DeathPanel.8362:

Scholar runes is a ridiculous choice for any dps setup especially if you are planning on taking on serious pve content.

Why was I even paying attention to you…

You’re welcome to stop trolling here if that is your choice.

Deathpanel, mate. I will try to say it in the most polite way: probably you should stop making a fool of yourself.

We all respect the fact that there are different opinions and theory crafting is always healthy, but here when I read your comments it seems a really desperate rant against people who have proven in many ways the efficiency of the meta, etc.

Nobody is asking you to play the meta and I am interested in different opinions; however, your comments result in being misleading for new players and a waste of time for experienced players. You are really arguing against facts which have been proven in many ways (as much as a game without addons allows).

e.g. I also had problems in playing Scholar runes, but that was not due to the fact that the runes were not the optimal choice for PvE DPS.

silvermember.8941:

Manuelito.6081:

there is still no indication on how PvP/PvE items will be transferable.
Will I be able to use skins/armor from PvE to PvP and vicerersa?

This may be useful in order to spend the glory left buying armor sets.

And all it took was 2 seconds to bring up the road map.

In the months that follow, we will be working to eliminate the difference between PvP and PvE gear. Players will be able to earn gear in PvP that can be carried over to PvE and vice versa. This means that players who have carefully crafted their appearance in one area of the game will have a way to carry that look over to other areas of the game.

Still does not tell me HOW it is done and if it will be fully retroactive, which is what I really wanted to know, but thanks:-)

Rising Dusk.2408:

It’s easy to make gold in GW2; it’s not easy to acquire items that give you free levels. I spent all of my glory on those because eventually we will get a new class, and it’ll be nice to have it L80 minutes after I create it.

Agreed

Fingolfin.7451:

So i can only spend my glory on armors which means i have to spend like 100g to buy them and spend all my glory.
And what if i don’t want to buy the armors?Why they do not add a merchant where i can buy something and sell it on tp to make gold?Like wintersday gifts.
They should give it a better thought before they change it or it is just going to be annoying for most pvpers.

True, but this is what is gonna come.
I still do not know if there will be a possible conversion between PvE and PvP armors. I bought all the bags I needed and all the tomes of knowledge I wanted. If I cannot spend the rest of the Glory (or I do not want to) I will lose it. No big deal.

Daxxter.8920:

Offhand axe #5 skill is awesome if paired with the Berserker’s Power trait. Nothing comes close to it for refilling your adren faster than you can blink to get back to that 15% damage boost.

However, you lose DPS in recovering adrenaline, don’;t you? I personally very very rarely use the special attack for Axe (nor GS for that matter). It seems a loss for DPS for not much gain. IMHO>

hellsmachine.4085:

Manuelito.6081:

hellsmachine.4085:

I think we are just going to have to agree to disagree.

Just because you find offhand axe useless, doesn’t mean everyone else does.

I’ve tried all the meta builds ham/bow, dual sword/bow even gs/rifle and none of them worked for me. Probably because I didn’t enjoy the playstyle.

Dual axes works for me because it fits well with my ADHD hack n slash type of playstyle.

If you don’t like it don’t use it. Just don’t try to convince us it’s useless, because it’s not.

I am happy that it works for you, mate. However it is not nearly as useful/efficient as the Mace OH. This is objective.

Nothing wrong to state: “I know it sucks but I like it more than the Mace”.

Defending Axe OH as a valid alternative to Mace OH (or even Shield OH for that matter) is just misleading to new players and a waste of time for experienced players.
IMHO>

This is for PvE.

I’ve been testing this out a lot lately. And whilst I’ll stand by my original statement and say offhand axe is fun and viable, I’ll agree that it is definitely not the most effective offhand weapon. Either sword and mace offhand need a nerf, or offhand axe needs a buff to be on par with the rest.

Though the people that say it’s useless are exaggerating.

Fair enough, mate.

Renkencen.6127:

What I want to know is while they said they will keep that December 10 Glory vendor (the Koda who sell dungeon and cultural armours and others stuff) after the March 18 update but what is the new currency used to replace the glory needed to buy those stuff or will that Koda just accept coins only?

There better be an answer soon since I don’t want to spend hours to glory farms for the armours I want to get.

for what was previously said: gold.

You can spend it as long as the Glory vendor introduced on 10 December 2013 is there.
The Vendor will be there also AFTER 18 March, but we do not know yet when they are going to lift it from the game.
At that point, if you still have Glory, you will lose it.

Sarrs.4831:

Okay so um.

When will we be able to wear PvE gear in PvP and get PvP armors maybe for PvE?

I hope they clarify this before Glory phases out.

there is still no indication on how PvP/PvE items will be transferable.
Will I be able to use skins/armor from PvE to PvP and vicerersa?

This may be useful in order to spend the glory left buying armor sets.

hellsmachine.4085:

I think we are just going to have to agree to disagree.

Just because you find offhand axe useless, doesn’t mean everyone else does.

I’ve tried all the meta builds ham/bow, dual sword/bow even gs/rifle and none of them worked for me. Probably because I didn’t enjoy the playstyle.

Dual axes works for me because it fits well with my ADHD hack n slash type of playstyle.

If you don’t like it don’t use it. Just don’t try to convince us it’s useless, because it’s not.

I am happy that it works for you, mate. However it is not nearly as useful/efficient as the Mace OH. This is objective.

Nothing wrong to state: “I know it sucks but I like it more than the Mace”.

Defending Axe OH as a valid alternative to Mace OH (or even Shield OH for that matter) is just misleading to new players and a waste of time for experienced players.
IMHO>

This is for PvE.

Ephemeral.5409:

hellsmachine.4085:

Norjena.5172:

Dual Axe=Kick. Complet useless offhand, worst warrior offhand in all gamemodes.

In PvP Dualaxe is a Joke in WvsW they are just funny, loot to go.
And in PvE they´re rly rly weak. I don´t want to carry such a bad warrior through any dungeon/fractal.

Wrong, there are many situations where Axe offhand is useful. When 2-5 players are stacked together, or when a player is low on health and evis is on CD, or if you just want to build up adrenaline for Evis.

Your opinion is invalid.

Why would you use evis (other than to finish off a boss) and lose the 15% damage modifier from Berserker’s Power? And if you’re low on health, mace #5’s knockdown interrupting the enemies’ attack will do much more than using a skill that will have lower dps than just auto attacking.

THIS.

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

This is a classic Play How You Want Thread

1. OP mades a dubious anti-meta claim.
2. OP is challenged on it using examples/proof/etc of why the meta choice is superior.
3. OP responds with amorphous comment about how it fits with his “playstyle” as if somehow skills work differently on his client than everyone elses
4. OP is challenged that, no, it is objectively worse.
5. OP finds one tiny, infinitesimally minute circumstances where it is debatablely useful.
6. Everyone scratches their head.

So very true. I would also add: 7. Facepalm.

Wanna use axe OH? Be my guest, but please do not try to tell me that it is overall better than mace OH.

AH is proven to be suboptimal in both terms of DPS and support for the party.

As I said before, if you wanna run AH and be suboptimal: it is a free world.

Also, if you think that by running AH you will have more survivability remember: you are not helping your party that much + you could obtain the same survivability by learning how to better use your Guardian’s skills (including dodge).

I also thought that AH was a powerhouse for dungeons and that I would be immortal with it and hence I could survive the longest and hence help more my party.
I was wrong.

I do not see all the fuss about this topic.

You can play this game in dungeons/fractals by stacking/skipping/meleeing but also the other way around: not stacking/ killing everything/ranging.

Surely, there is a more efficient way to do it, but not necessarily the only way.

So feel free to choose your own way and do not necessarily criticize who does not do it your way.

In brief I would just like to add for the OP’s sake that the core point of discussion here is the definition of a “viable” build.

If you consider “viable” everything that you can play (literally), then there will be a lot of options. In this case, yes, you can play AH in dungeons/fractals.

If you consider “viable” only the highest DPS (still with good support/survival), then you have very limited alternatives and AH is not one of them.

If you consider “viable” a build that will allow you to perform still very well in terms of DPS output and support but not the highest DPS build; then my answer is to play with a Hammer (with an appropriate build) and in case of desperate need: use Knight stats. And no, AH is not viable in this category.

Please check this link for the builds: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-DPS-Guardian-for-PVE/page/3#post3422624

Just my two cents.

Just to clarify: that is an assumption (toughness = threat) that was made some time ago and never been confirmed. Also, nobody is stating that in the high-end fractals the job of a full-zerk warrior with 30-25-0-0-15 is easy; nonetheless I always felt that the better I play the less problems I have.
I do not think there was any offensive intention coming from Nike (or at least, I did not perceive it as such). It is true that to manage a glass cannon one has to play it very well. So, to me, the comment sounded pretty objective.
Just my two cents

it is also true that often the presence of a trinity involves not stacking. GW2 not having a trinity system, favors another kind of play.
I do not say it is pretty to watch all this stacking, but nobody forces you to do so.
What I mean is: you can play it however you prefer, I do not see the reason to criticize in general a system which allows you to choose your way to fight mobs.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/83915-axemace-dps-build-for-dungeons-and-fractals-101513/

u r welcome

I would have expected also the other way around: skins acquired in PvP to be brought into PvE.

Kaineng.9374:

I have no idea what all these folks are on about, but you can run a 0/0/30/30/10 build with Knight’s gear, and get the job done for all three.

For PvE/Dungeons/Fractals, what will really save you against hard hitting mobs and bosses will be your ability to dodge, reflect, and block. Sword/Focus is good for this because you get a teleport/blind in your #2, reflect in your #3, a blind in your #4, and 3 blocks in your #5. Hammer is a good secondary weapon for this because you get protection from your auto-attack, because you probably won’t be able to block every hit coming your way. So might as well reduce all incoming damage by 33%. You won’t put out the same dps as a zerker, but it gets the job done which is all you’re looking for.

For WvW, your utilities are the important part. Wall of Reflection, Stand your Ground are the big ones to have. And when you’re travelling in a zerg, just remember stability and staff #1

Roaming WvW on the other hand, is a bit different. I run a full set of 6 traveler runes, which gives me 25% movement speed buff, which is very important for chasing down runners. I run a kittenized version of a triple meditation build, and run Shelter, Judge’s intervention, Smite Condition, and Stand your Ground, and Renewed Focus. Be sure to trait for meditation builds as well, but because you’re probably running 0/0/30/30/10, you don’t have to visit a retraiter. These skills will give you plenty of burst damage, and you’ll be able to probably take out half the health of an enemy within seconds. Plus it gives you a combined total of 5 seconds of invulnerability, giving you plenty of leeway to high-tail it out of there. You also get a couple of boon buffs, and celestial stats with these runes, and you’ll pretty much win every fight. That is unless you’re fighting a condition necromancer/mesmer/engineer. Then you’re screwed either way, because of the small health pool that guardians have.

You cannot run a build, in my opinion, that will allow you to be well off in both PvE and WvW. If you want an average build which will allow you to be OK, then prolly Knight gear + 0/0/30/30/10 will get you there. If you want to be more than OK, then you should change build/gear for the two different environments.

In brief: the major difference you are looking at is between PvE and WvW.
If you have a good/optimal dungeon-fractals gear/build you can do easily also open world. This sums it up for the PvE part.

As for the WvW part, for as much as I would love it, you cannot use the same gear/build you use in PvE, UNLESS you want to play really a suboptimal toon.

Yes, you could go with celestial gear and be mediocre in both, practically (even though probably in WvW it wouldn’t be as bad); however, you would need to re-trait any time you switch between PvE-WvW. IMHO>

Also, as a good Guardian you should carry almost all the weapons you can use for different situations. The ones I personally do not carry are: torch, mace and shield.

It would be great to know whether a transfer of skins PVP / PvE or viceversa will be possible….
I guess we’ll have to wait and see…

Dear all,

Are there any news on how/when Anet intends to take out Glory from the game?

Any news on the possibility to transfer items/skins between PvP/PvE or viceversa?

Noah.4756:

The person she responded to was referring to pugs. So I was simply assuming these so-called flawless runs were with pugs. I also pugged as a dps guard (sword/focus build) before and I could definitely tell these runs were far from smooth. Still I rather fall back on a hammer build to give my team some extra support.

I feel that in the case of high fractals a Hammer (Guardian) will be sufficient if you know what to do and yes, still in berserker gear.

Hunter.4783:

im calling you all zerker drones because you are unwilling to look for other options which might open after this patch, zerker is best for running CoF p1 or for bragging about lupi solo kills.

Not so optimal when u do dredge fractal 49.

PS: I love your comeback about cleric gear. Shows your ignorance. There is more than just full zerker and cleric to this game

I am unwilling to look for suboptimal options. Once I will feel that my gear in full berserker is suboptimal, I will look for alternatives.
Using full berserker gear also requires experience and skill; it is not facerolling every boss.
If someone still is learning the ropes it is possible to find some mixed gear combinations which might give more survivability and forgive some mistakes. In the end though, if you know what to do and want to be more efficient: berserker gear.

Anymras.5729:

Manuelito.6081:

Natsu Dragneel.1625:

If berserker gear becomes useless in PvE (It will most likely still be king) I will be sending support a rather long letter, basically demanding my 200+ laurels and 800g+ which has been spent on ascended berserker gear :’(

All nerfing berserker gear will do is punish better players, not make other gear more viable.

Shouldn’t you be buffing up the other gear sets to be on-par with berserker gear? we all know conditions and support need a lot of love for PvE, however, nerfing berserker gear is NOT the answer.

there might be a base for a law sue as well.

Basis for a lawsuit my hairy left butt-cheek. If there isn’t something in the End User License Agreement going “We can do whatever we want with this game,” I’ll be surprised – as far as I know, that’s pretty much standard procedure, especially in MMOs where people might otherwise go “Hey, they made a change I don’t like! I’ll sue them until they undo it!”

ye, obviously I was joking.

Natsu Dragneel.1625:

If berserker gear becomes useless in PvE (It will most likely still be king) I will be sending support a rather long letter, basically demanding my 200+ laurels and 800g+ which has been spent on ascended berserker gear :’(

All nerfing berserker gear will do is punish better players, not make other gear more viable.

Shouldn’t you be buffing up the other gear sets to be on-par with berserker gear? we all know conditions and support need a lot of love for PvE, however, nerfing berserker gear is NOT the answer.

there might be a base for a law sue as well.

Cries Of Sorrow.5864:

Eir Jordan.2156:

I hope the changes are actually positive for the longevity of GW 2 but with Anet’s track record I have my doubts

this is actually going against longevity as many players will decide to leave if they mess this up.

If they mess this up the frustration will lead players to other games which are in competition with GW2…so…let’s wait and see

AsmallChicken.9634:

Aza.2105:

AsmallChicken.9634:

Aza.2105:

AsmallChicken.9634:

And yet the WvW meta involves wearing full defensive gear and still steamrolling everything in your path. Buffing defense will just make this dumb meta even more lolworthy.

Pvt gear probably became popular to survive the insane amount of burst damage in pve. If they change zerker in the way I think they will then there would probably be a shift in meta since the disproportionate burst damage will be gone.

But they are surviving this “insane” burst damage and thriving in it. So if you nerf burst down, they will become unkillable now.

This doesn’t really make sense, if all zergs are wearing pvt gear then it will be a pvt zerg vs a pvt zerg. So what will change? Unless you are saying there are zerker zergs running around.

The point is that if you’re going to nerf a stat set because it is so predominant in one game mode, then you should also nerf stat sets and other game modes because they are also the “meta”.

This is so true that I needed to bump it.
Berserker gear is largely used for dungeons/fractals which are not even the entire PvE world.
Then re-balance PVT in WVW please. Yes, that sounds weird uh?