Guild Wars 2

I suspect you are responsible for the recent deforestation of Kessex Hills; hopefully you’re building a bridge so you can GET OVER IT.

I mean, really? That’s your complaint? I’m going broke on ascended crafting, as a result I spend more time champfarming and doing JPs than anything fun, my main (guard) just had her role usurped by warrior, ranger continues to be broken and forgotten, and only time will tell if this new WvWvW season works out or is just another CF like the last shake-up, but your priority is removing one optional daily point because you don’t like it. Huh.

LeVarBurger.8642:

I used to run an AH mace/torch build I really enjoyed. It probably wasn’t the most min/maxed set of traits, but it was fun to play and I don’t think it hindered any gameplay when running dungeons.

I run that combo on my AH sometimes. I think it offers a good mix of offense and defense. Empower and symbol on my staff, swap to mace/torch, 4, 2, 5, backroll, 3. That adds up to pretty respectable DPS for a cleric 0/0/30/30/10 build while still cranking out lots of boons and heals.

This is going on right now in Devona’s Rest, as well. I just posted a bug report, hopefully they’ll get on it.

Obtena.7952:

Naranek.3467:

The problem arises when they can take our primary specialty without giving up their own.

That is a fictitious problem that people have created to justify their calls to buff VoR.

What is the concept of the Virtues? How does VoR fit in with that concept? If the mechanics of VoR don’t fit in with the concept, then there is a justification to change it. That has Sweet F All to do with what a Warrior can achieve when spec-ing themselves out for healing.

Naranek.3467:

Put a different way, why should a warrior in full berzerker gear heal only himself for more than my guardian in cleric gear who routinely soaks up allies’ conditions via SY?

I don’t know. I’m not even assuming that’s a problem. Maybe that completely fits in with whatever roadmap Anet has for the two professions. I do know one thing … even if that is a problem, the conclusion to fix it is NOT a buff to VoR. Such a problem can only be addressed at a higher level … it’s a game balance issue, not a ‘Guardian VOR’ issue.

Actually, if you’d look up the thread, you’ll notice that I was a bit skeptical of buffing VoR…And if a warrior in berzerker gear outhealing a healer is “fictitious”, can you supply numbers to that effect, as others have?

Obtena.7952:

All professions are equally capable, so it’s not unreasonable to compare them all if you wish to justify a buff to VoR with profession comparisons. I’m just wondering where your objectivity is by choosing ONLY warrior to compare to.

I already said what I think about VoR if you look earlier in the thread. If players are truly going to attempt to influence development with Anet, then the cherry picked examples aren’t really going to work. I don’t care to argue with players. I care to see something that might make a lightbulb go on in the head of a dev. Cherry picked cases don’t’ do that.

You still have not made your case. I am not great with the math, plus at the moment I can’t get the numbers in front of me, so I’ll rely on the earlier samples and instead talk in more general terms about balance and build selection.

Guardians are designed around a support/sustain philosophy, although of course they can do other things – that is one of the selling points of the game, after all. Warriors are designed around high-damage output, although again, they can do more. The problem arises when they can take our primary specialty without giving up their own. Warriors are faster, have much better range and condition attacks, have more health, and do more damage. For them to add superior healing to that list is a slap in the face. It makes us superfluous if warriors can self-sustain and still put out more damage.

This is also why comparisons to other classes haven’t been made. If you can show me, say, a necro with better group support (as in, boons, blast heals, etc.), AND can still put out condition damage and boon-stripping, you would have a valid point.

Put a different way, why should a warrior in full berzerker gear heal only himself for more than my guardian in cleric gear who routinely soaks up allies’ conditions via SY?

I would actually be opposed to this, because I think that every class needs a weakness. Guardians’ weakness is having overall the worst set of range abilities in the game (that and a lack of condi damage other than burning). It feels like a good tradeoff for what we do get: survivability, group heals/boons, CC, condition purges, and more. If the devs patch over our main drawback, either a) we become clearly OP or b) other classes get a major boost, too; while rangers desperately need one, warriors clearly don’t.

As cool as a holy bow or some such would be. Wouldn’t mind that land spear idea, but call it a halberd or glaive.

I run Battle Presence, so if they want to buff VoR’s passive, that would suit me just fine; don’t really think we need it right now, though. I’ve got plenty of peach cookies.

Perhaps horses just aren’t that useful because Tyria never made certain technological advances like stirrups or the padded horsecollar.

Stice.5204:

Staff.

Line of Warding is one of the most impactful skills in WvW. I’ve gotten 20+ enemies killed with it more times than I can count.

Empower with Altruistic Healing is like having a second heal on your skill bar.

The autoattack tags everything around me very easily for lots of loot.

It’s got the best source of swiftness available to the class for when you have to get somewhere.

What’s not to love?

Oh yeah. Enemy thinks he can sortie out and just pop back in? Nope. Slam Line of Warding down right between him and the door to collect badge. Staff is great, it’s the first one I got Ascended. Detonated Orb is also quite nice, and underrated I think.

Hammer makes a great compliment, especially for my AH with Writ of the Merciful/Writ of Exaltation. My hammer has Superior Sigil of Battle, so start the fight with staff, Empower (12 Might), switch (3), take a hit to lose Aegis (1). 16 stacks of Might from myself, plus Protection and healing on auto-attack – I could actually get it as high as 18 if I pop F1 and SY. My only regret is that some of the skills need to be faster (#5 especially).

For quaggan, I really like qoo. Alternatively, a queue or a cuddle; an ire for their enraged state.

Since krewe is a professional designation and not a biological one, the asura need something. A class of progeny and a commencement of adults. Same thing with charr (warband, legion, etc.): a glaring, maybe? A stand of sylvari and a thing of norn.

A clutch of raptors, a bask of drakes, a nest of skales. A troop of grawl. A demi-brigade of dredge.

Coldin.2840:

cranked.3812:

Maybe they could have made the champ bags drop a random amount of one of the items rather than just dropping bloodstone dust at a ridiculous rate.

Or if all of the activities all dropped a random ingredient, then players could just do whatever they wanted and eventually get enough materials together.

Oh, come on, that’s far too sensible and equitable an idea.

cranked.3812:

They are not account bound. You can sell em on the TP. So there is no true time gating. If you have enough gold and time you can farm all the mats pretty easily and buy whatever else you need. Granted, the first few days the ingots and planks were VERY expensive, but now they are about the same cost as it would take to make one.

Well, so much for that idea. See what happens when I try to give Anet credit?

Alright, so what’s the objection, then? That’s kind of stupid, but if they’re not bound, then there’s no barrier. I guess I don’t really see the problem, or at least not the one the OP does.

Why would being a WvW player hold you back from Ascended gear? I don’t do it as much as I did a few months ago, but by that time I already had full Ascended with WvW infusions on my main and one or two for my alts.

As Stooperdale suggested, definitely join a PvE guild. Or, check with your own guild and see about setting up a time when several of you can run, because I doubt you’re the only on wanting BiS weapons. Also, find a site with timers – I’d give you a link, but am at work, and blocking software is a pain; honestly I’m still surprised it lets me here, but whatever… Once a day you should certainly run Wurm, Fire Ele, Shadow Behemoth, Shatterer, and I think Maw (again, can’t check wiki at work), as those are fairly short. Possibly Eye of Zhaitan, too, although that takes more coordination. Ulgoth and Jojo are not short. They’re the most fun, but they take awhile.

I found Dragonite to be the most balanced of the three obsidian mats. Bloodstone, everyone has too much. Empyrean is fine if you’re on a big, active server that wins. I’m on a small server that, due to a string of losses, is getting smaller, resulting in fewer camps/towers taken and more money spent on repair bills.

I actually like it. I think making the ectoplasm refinement time-gated and account bound was a good idea (spirit wood and Deldrimor are account bound, right? or did I make that up?). It seems designed to ease in the new tier and prevent pay-to-win gaming. True, dark matter completely destroys the latter aspect, but that has nothing to do with the time gate – rather, it’s the account bound part. I wouldn’t mind seeing the limit raised to perhaps two per day, especially if it got paired with either lower resource cost and/or bank limits raised to 500 per stack, but generally I think it’s working well.

Is it casual-unfriendly? Yes and no. I wouldn’t call myself casual, but I don’t play every day, sometimes not even every other day. I just finished my staff this weekend. It’s a reward for investing time and energy.

Is it alt-unfriendly? Well, yes, but…given the gold cost of making just the main weapon for my main toon, the last thing I’m thinking about now is equipping an alt. Again, it wasn’t the time gate that I had a problem with. It was the grinding and buying and salvaging exotics, often for no reward, then running around on a chest circuit (and cycling through 80s to do it) to get empyrean fragments that held me back as much as a week. And now that I have it, I’m considerably less inclined to start a second, although eventually of course I will.

Silver.8023:

Yeah man, I’m also passionate about Guardian and also run a supporty/bunker build. I agree that the mace is actually one of our most balanced weapons and has a huge amount of variability due to its many trait synergies.
It certainly is undeniable though that there are a couple of quality of life improvements that could really help the mace skills. Such as the third hit in the chain hitting three foes (not trigger the heal three times though), Protector’s Strike having a similar on-demand action on par with other profession’s counter-attack skills such as Warrior and Mesmer (possibly also Ranger). I’m fine with the symbol, the only other thing that irks me is that we hardly get any combo finishers outside of greatsword and hammer (I haven’t forgotten focus but it’s on a massive cooldown) and the one on mace is not only the worst type but is also the shortest possible of the worst type, it hardly ever procs anyway and if it does, it means you were standing there for three seconds not doing anything.

I would agree with you on the on-demand for #3, but if we don’t get hit, we grant Protection to allies. I don’t think the other professions do anything like that (although I could be wrong). So maybe it’s a balance issue. If so, I am fine with it the way it is.

Sitkaz.5463:

This animation surprised me too OP. I don’t mind the initial movement but I’m confused by how she locks into place totally still for the end of it. It makes no sense, like she’s suddenly frozen. I’d like a little more movement then so she still looks alive. The other fighting animations are so fluid and realistic (well, within game-type reality!)

Generally I don’t mind it. Although I actually have gotten frozen like that at times. And no, I don’t mean chilled or even petrified, I mean toon completely locked from the waist up. Good times.

timidobserver.7925:

I guess im the only person that can make an ascneded and still be fine with swapping off to exotics.

That’s fine in the short term, but eventually most of us would like to have the best gear, at least for our main weapons. Sword, focus, maybe even greatsword, and of course the aquatics, I can live without; the rest, though, are almost necessary. I main with a staff. I switch off to either hammer, mace/shield, or mace/torch. In WvW, I often run scepter/shield, especially in sieges. The boost of the weapon itself plus the infusion can mean a lot of difference. Too bad Anet decided to turn it into a massive money sink.

I have absolutely no interest in grimdark intruding into my GW2. It needs to be more epic at times, but there are better ways to achieve that than shooing out the clowns.

Plus I despise George Martin. The less I see of his influence, the better.

Elite skill ideas:

Wrath of the Martyr. Lose half of max HP for massive blast damage with knockback. Cause fear and/or blind. Gain Stability.

Judgement of Heaven. Targetable AoE, either Symbol or Consecration. Damage + boon stripping, grants Protection and Regeneration to allies.

ODB.6891:

Naranek.3467:

Sandra Martino.3870:

- Remove Altruistic healing and Monks focus

I sincerely hope not. I’ve grown rather fond of my AH guardian, and if devs started messing with her I’d be very put out. Especially since I’m already well on the road to getting my Theodosius staff. Nice Crest of the Magi on there, one or two WvW healing infusions… Staff #3 plus Writ of the Merciful plus Writ of Exaltation is a thing of beauty.

If they followed a previous poster’s (Sandra Martino.3870) suggestion and made a fourth virtue…and made that be the current effects of AH…that would accomplish two worthwhile things:

1. Increase sustain for offensive guardians (something sorely needed).
2. Free up tankish/low dps guardians to try some new traits and improve their damage output.

No guardian would lose anything in the process…all I see is win in that scenario.

My answer to the OP’s question is a fourth virtue. I also wouldn’t mind more elite choices. A signet elite and a shout elite come to mind. I’m not a fan of elite skills that override my normal weapon skills and/or lock out my utilities. That leaves us with nothing but renewed focus and I don’t like channeling skills.

I think that taking a Grandmaster ability and making it a basic profession mechanic would make us extremely overpowered. Especially since, as you point out, that would free up slots to pursue a more aggressive role. Much as I would like to have my cake and it, too, I don’t think this is a good idea. Guardian is nowhere near the top of the list of professions requiring a major overhaul (obviously that would be Ranger).

I will admit that a fourth virtue would be an excellent addition. Something with either Stability or Retaliation, maybe. Has the name Fortitude been used for anything yet? Let’s say that with Virtue of Fortitude the passive effect is increased Endurance recharge, and the active grants either of those boons. Dodge-healing becomes more useful.

Sandra Martino.3870:

- Remove Altruistic healing and Monks focus

I sincerely hope not. I’ve grown rather fond of my AH guardian, and if devs started messing with her I’d be very put out. Especially since I’m already well on the road to getting my Theodosius staff. Nice Crest of the Magi on there, one or two WvW healing infusions… Staff #3 plus Writ of the Merciful plus Writ of Exaltation is a thing of beauty.

Atlas.9704:

Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova’s recommendations. Ivanova is God….sorry that was by pure reflex.

They should have had the Norn call herself the Right Hand of Vengeance at least once!

Uther Deathhand.1570:

Here is a few pictures of a ascended greatsword in case you have any other questions about it.
Edit: the pictures are on the first page in case the thread gets longer.

That perfectly answers my concern. Thank you very much!

Uther Deathhand.1570:

Naranek.3467:

My question is, do they ONLY take infusions, or can you still use sigils/crests/jewels? Because if they only take infusions, then no, it is not worth it at all. Sigils tend to have a lot more utility than infusions, which are just a stat boost. I just realized that today, after wasting a lot of time and gold doing jumping puzzles and grinding/salvaging exotics.

They still have sigil slots. Also 2 handed weapons have two infusion slots just so you know.

I sure hope so. I had read about the 2 handed weapons, but only today did it hit that the word that kept getting used was “infusion” rather than “upgrade” or something.

My question is, do they ONLY take infusions, or can you still use sigils/crests/jewels? Because if they only take infusions, then no, it is not worth it at all. Sigils tend to have a lot more utility than infusions, which are just a stat boost. I just realized that today, after wasting a lot of time and gold doing jumping puzzles and grinding/salvaging exotics.

Omaris Mortuus Est.2738:

Maugrem.7608:

Why is My Little Pony still a thing? Can someone explain that to me? Not judging, honestly just curious.

Cos it’s a fun cartoon to watch.

Indeed. It’s because they put real effort into it, rather than 99% of kids’ shows that are content to be electric babysitters/merchandising tools.

Great job getting two of my favorite VAs, Anet! Second time one of my favorite games used them both (I absolutely love Tales of Symphonia). Of course, now you know what you have to do. Kevin Michael Richardson. And don’t make him a Charr, either; too obvious. I’d suggest an Asura warrior, with one of those huge Charr rifles that there is no physical way he could use. He’ll just leverage it up with the pure testosterone of his voice.

Yaki.9563:

Naranek.3467:

CptAurellian.9537:

Lemongrass? Can you provide a link? I’m always looking for amusing stuff

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Lemongrass-Food-Nerf/first

This is like the third or fourth such thread. Apparently, lemongrass food can, when combined with a ridiculous set of traits, equipment, and runes, pretty much negate condition damage. Of course, you have to ignore the facts that
1) no sane person would ever do this,
2) regular damage > condi,
3) such a build is useless for anything else.

And i say this as someone who is right now working on a condition damage mesmer; just hit 78 yesterday, time to start getting carrion exotics and grinding Twilight Arbor path 1. And stocking up lots of veggie pizza.

You know how some trolls can at least pretend to make sense? S/he is not one of them.

65% duration reduction takes no traits. Just runes + food. You’re nuts if you don’t think that it, in addition to 98% reduction to immobilize, chill, and cripple with just a 10 point standard trait investment, isn’t broken. I can tell you’re clueless when you say “no sane person would ever do this” while the price of the runes skyrockets and it’s the standard warrior build for WvW.

The problem isn’t Lemongrass btw, it’s the incompetently designed mechanics that give additive instead of multiplicative stacking of duration.

And I can tell you’re a follower when you cite trends, especially from an unbalanced economy, to “prove” your point. So I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

xFireize.6318:

I’ve tried AH builds with and without Empowering Allies. The self-heal difference is so big, it’s nasty. I try to avoid using it, unless I know that my guild will be facing a huuuuugeeee zerg.

I actually don’t mind if the trait gets deprecated.

Naranek.3467:

1) no sane person would ever do this,
2) regular damage > condi,
3) such a build is useless for anything else.

1) Do you WvW? I understand that it is useless in PvE most of the time. But seriously, who cares about balance in PvE?
2) Do you play a Guardian? Isn’t this a guardian subforum? It is way easier to neglect direct damage as a Guardian. Our HP pool is small, and it is small for a reason.
3) Do you WvW? My guild prefers our members to be tanky enough so they don’t die easily because it will rally the downed enemies. I think it’s a basic rule of running as a guild in WvW. Lemongrass really helps.

I run lemongrass food and Hoelbrak/Melandru on my Guardian in WvW. Do I love them? Heck yes. Will I understand if someday the food gets nerfed? Heck yes.

I main an AH guardian and do WvW all the time, first with ranger, then with guard…

I run a condition damage/duration build, and I love my scepter/pistol combo. That said, yes, it is rather slow. It probably helps that my mesmer is PvE; if I went into WvW, I would probably take a staff either in place of or in addition to scepter.

CptAurellian.9537:

Lemongrass? Can you provide a link? I’m always looking for amusing stuff

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Lemongrass-Food-Nerf/first

This is like the third or fourth such thread. Apparently, lemongrass food can, when combined with a ridiculous set of traits, equipment, and runes, pretty much negate condition damage. Of course, you have to ignore the facts that
1) no sane person would ever do this,
2) regular damage > condi,
3) such a build is useless for anything else.

And i say this as someone who is right now working on a condition damage mesmer; just hit 78 yesterday, time to start getting carrion exotics and grinding Twilight Arbor path 1. And stocking up lots of veggie pizza.

You know how some trolls can at least pretend to make sense? S/he is not one of them.

GenerationX.9178:

Are forums for entertainment? because sure seems like it =D

I like that picture, I want to go to the movies with popcorn Jesus. He could turn the giant-sized Coke into wine.

Spent I don’t know how many hours fighting GoM at the gate to the ogre camp. I do so love my guardian…

Some of the most fun I’ve had in months today. Extremely long underwater fight with 3 HoD that kept circling the bridge pillar by south BL camp that we finally won, and then immediately got into another fight when we got onto land. Too bad in our own borderlands the NS mini-zerg seemed to be following me around; I think I got killed at least 2, 3 times while waiting for a camp supervisor to debuff. Ah well, this is the kind of matchup I enjoy. I haven’t yet ventured into the JP, but I trust that these two good and honorable servers aren’t engaged in the kind of griefing that is plaguing some of the other matches.

(Really, Anet? A kite in the WvW jumping puzzle?)

Quarktastic.1027:

aelflune.8590:

Mada.5319:

If you can’t get the kite, you can’t get it. Simple as that. This isn’t a freebie. You gotta work for it.

I sincerely hope no one tells you this when you really need something you don’t have in real life.

I suspect Randroids and people with the same kind of mentality actually have a lower propensity to thrive in a healthy society.

I agree with his statement. People today are too entitled. A lot of them remind me of spoiled children. Today’s motto seems to be: If at first you don’t succeed, whine about it until someone makes it easier for you.

Ah, no. This is not entitlement, that would be the people demanding that they get the reward without any effort. This is completely different. This is a legitimate complaint about selfish trolls who are out to ruin other people’s fun just because they can.

I would imagine that it is very frustrating for Anet to keep giving new content for free only to be hit with a barrage of whines EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. This is not forced. Reward x depends on condition y. If you don’t want to do y, then you don’t get x. If you want x badly enough, you will do y.

Manekk.6981:

Naranek.3467:

I had my own thought on how to fix pets. Take out existing F4, it’s beyond useless. Replace it with a new pet ability: Sniff. And what would Sniff do? Apply x seconds of Revealed to invisible enemies in y radius.

I can already hear the wailing from the Thief board, and it is as beautiful as any symphony.

You think removing petswap seemed like a good idea huh? O.o

Ugh, no, sorry, I meant Stow. Is that F3? It’s been a while since I used my ranger.

I had my own thought on how to fix pets. Take out existing F4, it’s beyond useless. Replace it with a new pet ability: Sniff. And what would Sniff do? Apply x seconds of Revealed to invisible enemies in y radius.

I can already hear the wailing from the Thief board, and it is as beautiful as any symphony.

One thing I like to do is Empower at start of combat, then swap to my hammer with Superior Sigil of Battle. 15 stacks of Might with hammer plus 12 stacks on your allies should take most enemies down really quick.

Ibbuli.4027:

Tower Guard.5263:

Yup, I want that sword XD

Did you notice how it wobbles in the preview screen? Awesome.

Gonna get pistol + sword to my mesmer.

Oh GOD yes. Mine is usually sword/sword and scepter/pistol, and I must have that rapier and revolver.

ANet? Please please PLEASE do not put this in RNG. You already have my credit card. Just take my money already.

Amins.3710:

ODB.6891:

Ok…just to start with, this whole wow mentality of a support class you guys keep spouting needs to go in the trash.

GUARDIAN:
“Guardians are devoted fighters who protect their allies and smite their enemies by drawing from the power of their virtues. True guardians are brilliant tacticians and selfless defenders who know when to sacrifice their own defenses to empower their allies to achieve victory.”

Sounds like a DPS class to me.

• see how ridiculous that comment was Naranek?

Not really. I mean, assuming that line about “brilliant tacticians” is more than just flavor text, I would think it’s referring to crowd control, not DPS. And the “devoted fighters” bit I looked at before deciding it was ambivalent; is that devoted to their role as fighters (DPS), or devoted as in loyal to a group/cause (support)? As for virtues, two of the three are defensive, only the least useful being offensive, and all three can be activated to support nearby allies.

And now that I think about it, isn’t this the same source (profession descriptions) that refers to rangers as “masters of ranged combat”? If that’s the case I would invite you to go to the ranger forum and see how well they like longbow’s autoattack.

Teamkiller.4315:

Naranek.3467:

YYou* are trying to promote your vision of what the class “should” be

Uh, you nee to read that post he just made above.

If you have actually read the previous posts, you have seen that there are those who are trying to contradict this overall game design and telling players that guardians are only good for supporting. If you are supporting that argument that guardians are only good for support, then you are contradicting yourself in your reply to me. You said " No class has to be x, it’s just that some are much better at it than others." This is also not about “style”. Its about what is efficient. Killing stuff fast is efficient. Staying alive is also efficient, but you don’t have to sacrifice the ability to kill stuff fast to stay alive. In fact, guardians are likely the most survivable class without having to spend any trait points in survival…solely due to class mechanics. That alone frees guards up to gear/trait more for dps.

Here, I’ll highlight some points:

Its about what is efficient. Killing stuff fast is efficient. Staying alive is also efficient, but you don’t HAVE to sacrifice the ability to kill stuff fast to stay alive.

In fact, guardians are likely the most survivable class without having to spend any trait points in survival…solely due to class mechanics. That alone FREES guards UP to gear/trait more for dps.

I see him telling you what our class CAN do, not imposing his vision of what the class should do like you say

This is the very first thing s/he said:

Ok…just to start with, this whole wow mentality of a support class you guys keep spouting needs to go in the trash.

Later this charming individual goes on incoherent rants about “efficiency”, as if I cared about the numbers some munchkin pulled off a min/max chart somewhere. So yes, it does sound like s/he is only interested in the “right” path. Also, where did I say that you can’t make any build you want? Yet I’m the one supposedly putting words in other people’s mouths.

AlietteFaye.7316:

When you repeat it, it’s not new, and it’s something you have done before. So why do it? There has to be something in it for the player to keep them invested and interested. That’s what rewards are for. For retaining interest and playtime over a course of content being repeated.

Roleplaying, using different characters, helping out your fellow players, and just basic enjoyment? You make it sound like you’ll only play through something twice if you’re being bribed to do so. If that is the case, you should probably take a look at whether this game is for you, or indeed, if gaming is for you. I’ve beaten most of the Zelda series more times than I can count, yet I still go back through it despite it a) not changing and b) never giving me any kind of reward. It’s just fun.

Question. Does this work with transferred conditions? Because if it does, I am making about 100 and giving them to my guardian; “Save Yourselves!” in the middle of a zerg just got a lot better!

Yes, I read everything, and no, I’m not contradicting myself at all. You are trying to promote your vision of what the class “should” be, not me, and that everyone else is by extension “wrong”, showing how much you really value player choice. I couldn’t care less what you think is/is not “efficient”, which you try to claim is “logic”; you seem like the kind of person who would kick a ranger from a dungeon group for no other reason than that they’re a ranger.

ODB.6891:

Ok…just to start with, this whole wow mentality of a support class you guys keep spouting needs to go in the trash.

GUARDIAN:
“Guardians are devoted fighters who protect their allies and smite their enemies by drawing from the power of their virtues. True guardians are brilliant tacticians and selfless defenders who know when to sacrifice their own defenses to empower their allies to achieve victory.”

That sounds pretty support-based to me. And no, I don’t appreciate being told that I should change my mentality just because I choose to play a certain way that you don’t. Like your own style? Great. Why don’t you go do that instead of showing that, actually, you are the one who doesn’t understand Anet’s vision? No class has to be x, it’s just that some are much better at it than others. You can play a condi damage guardian, just like you can play a support/tanky thief, it’s just that you could probably get better results the other way around.

ilr.9675:

The sheer volume of Bronies on the internet instantly invalidates the OP’s somewhat sexist attention-getting Subject line.

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Definitely. But just one, MAYBE 2. I bought like 5 picks but only one sickle, since I’ve mostly got low chars and am overflowing with onions and carrots already. Although I do have to admit that the ax might see the least use, as I am also maxed out on elder wood (my main being a armorsmith/jeweler). I think the best use for these tools is that because of their unlimited uses, it means I no longer have to swap. I used to carry one set of mithril and one of orichalcum, going back and forth depending on the node which was ANNOYING, but I didn’t want to waste the expensive tool’s charge.

Oh, and the special ones look cool, too!

Bash.7291:

Except you dont? Look at my most recent build thread, there is more than one way to get the self healing without AH or MF. And people do try non AH/MF builds, its just a point that more people really need to get out there and try something other than those two.

Edit: trying to fix typing errors, hate posting on a phone :/

I actually just discovered AH yesterday, and demand to know why I was not informed of this awesomeness. There certainly are other builds, but that’s the one that I’ve decided I like the best. I ran it for bounty hunts, Karka Queen, Claw of Jormag, and AC story mode. My favorite was against JoJo’s first phase; I didn’t even grab a bazooka, just stood on the ledge spamming staff heals and popping SYG when he used Fear. I’d love to try it in WvW, but due to the brilliant new matchup system, one server is regularly getting 600 points per round.

tl;dr: you’re right, people should experiment, but I hear a lot of people just dismiss Altruistic Healing out of hand.

Of the thousands of times my guardian has been killed in WvW, not once have I thought it was because I needed a higher HP pool. If anything it’s because a) we’re slow, b) my server isn’t very good, c) my build/equipment needs a tweak, and d) I really shouldn’t be running alone, as I suck at dueling; I’m a heal/support, and that’s exactly what I want to be.

I think people overuse the word “zerg”. Personally, I like big battles; that’s what I signed on for. If I wanted more gladiatorial-style combat I’d do sPvP. That said, this week is just ridiculous. DR had a tough time last week, getting forced down to third because IoJ decided to be a bunch of spiteful jerks (and we still almost got second). But this is even worse. Two servers are completely at the mercy of the third. And it’s not like we can even fight each other for second, as taking a tower or keep (if we have any) just makes it easier for BP to come in and occupy it.