Guild Wars 2

Adeptis.1742:

All super helpful answers! I’m scared to change my key bindings, but I’ll give it a shot if I still can’t effectively dodge after trying the above techniques.

Is there a good heuristic to know what my stats should be for a given level? Should I just make sure my gear lvl requirement is near my level? Some pieces are still from character creation. Should I use my Karma to buy gear, or save for later?

No, don’t spend Karma on gear. Buying low level items on the Trading Post usually cost less than a silver for Fine (Blue) quality items, more than enough to suit your needs.

Needless to say, higher level maps from 70-80 need to have new content and and better drops added to bring players back to them.

Better drops to counteract better drops? How is that a good idea?

Game going downhill because the old higher level zones are less populated? Why won’t these new players go for the newer content? Did WoW tank because Onyxia and Karazhan became irrelevant?

Strawmen in fields only scare crows.

Yujiza.1026:

- Why did Greatsword’s attack binds change, or am I seeing things?

Symbol of Wrath’s cooldown was increased to 20s (was 10s) and Leap of Faith’s cooldown was decreased to 15s. As the abilities are ordered from lowest cooldown to highest, Symbol of Wrath was moved to #4, while Whirling Wrath and Leap of Faith was moved to #2 and #3 respectively.

Yujiza.1026:

- Like the question above, is there armor sets I should aim for first to maximize performance?

This is dependent on the build/playstyle you’re going for.

Yujiza.1026:

- I hear about Karma farming, was there anything I should note that’s optimal for Guardians?

You can farm karma the old way, i.e. running around Orr and completing dynamic events. However, Champions in dungeons now drop Bags of Wondrous Loot, containing Drop of Liquid Karma (400 Karma), and completing an Explorable path the first time of a day awards 1880 Karma. Nothing specifically needed by Guardians, although keep in mind that Orr is much more barren after the introduction of the Fractals of the Mist.

Phoebe Ascension.8437:

However you must know BOTH the strenght (damage per second) and the duration are worse with the passive as the active.

Wrong information is not just wrong, but an outright atrocity to let spread.

Burn damage is based on level and Condition Damage. The damage tooltip of Virtue of Justice passive and active is the sum over its duration. Passive Justice lasts 1 second while it’s 5 seconds on activation, hence why the damage tooltip of the active Burn is 5 times that of the passive.

Retaliation and Toughness.

I begin these fights with Save Yourselves and Stand Your Ground. Wait for the Thief to roll his face on his keyboard while I lay down Circle of Warding.

As somebody quite aptly said, “Save Yourselves” isn’t a Shout meant for friendly members, but for the enemy.

You haven’t mentioned what Utility Skills you’re using.

Yes, the Cutpurses are big hitters, especially when they do their Leaping Deathblossom. A pair of the beauties will down anybody when they instantly stack 25 Bleeds + Poison on a target. No amount of Regeneration or Altruistic Healing will save you if you don’t pack any Condition removals. Fortunately Guardians have great options in this department. Even if you have some way to not find space for one in your Utility Slots, you can pack a Greatsword, lay down Symbol of Wrath, and spin-2-win.

Obed.7629:

Mif.3471:

IoJ working hard to hold a fresh SM.
Absolutely disgusted by the actions of our rivals….

http://i.imgur.com/dQ6rQ.png
http://i.imgur.com/BZ8Ez.png
http://i.imgur.com/6rIbq.png

I don’t get it. What offense are you demonstrating?

I’m serious; I’d like to know. I love WvWvW, but I hate cheaters.

Use small words, I’m a noob.

Somebody has a character on the IOJ server that went into a freshly captured Stonemist Castle and wasted 150 supply (30 for each Flame Ram). Supply is needed for repairs and upgrades. It takes a significant amount of time for Dolyaks from Pangloss and Speldan to reach Stonemist, which is why such actions are particularly troublesome.

Monday 26 November 2012
0603 hours server time

Points taken shortly after 3-way at Klovan Gully with trebs firing from all three Worlds.

Dead Water.2715:

Second question, does anyone know if Hold the Line is intentionally not supposed to work with PoV or is that a bug? (a link to a dev saying either way, if such a post exists, would be most helpful)

This is a known bug (see bug compilation sticky). Hold the Line has a chance to fail to activate Pure of Voice.

tigirius.9014:

They need to bring bleed damage universally up to where burn damage is. Can’t tell me that stabbing someone in the back doesn’t make them lose more then 9% of their hitpoints…or more importantly shooting someone with explosive shrapnel bullets that pierce doesn’t do a crapton of damage….really isn’t balanced.

Absolutely love it when people bring game animations and “fantasy logic” into arguments on game balance. Yeah, I mean seriously, who on Earth can take being stabbed, shot, burnt, bled, crushed, maimed, crippled, frozen, dropped at great heights, hit with a trebutchet all within 5 minutes? Game is unbalanced.

Reading the title and original post, it seems you’re making a mistake of associating Condition Damage with general survivability, i.e. you’re not dying more because you’re a Condition Damage build.

At about 70, especially when entering Orr, that’s when you’re faced with the first real gear check of Guild Wars 2. Not necessarily how high quality your gear is (although if you’re still wearing level 50 gear…), but the stat combinations on your items. If you’re a melee fighter without any additional bonuses to Vitality or Toughness, do expect to find yourself weaving in and out of melee just to stay alive; it’s doable to be a glass cannon melee, it just takes more skill.

Safari.3021:

Mainly, 300,000 people suddenly had “legend” drop from the karka chest and now need dyes for gift of colour to make bifrost, hence price rising as they all got bought up.

He’s not talking about Unidentified Dyes, but specific high-demand rare dyes.

Quick note: unless you already have Mystic Forge Stone lying about, the cost of Mystic Salvage Kits is on the rise due to Gem prices. The last analysis I’ve seen tallied the Master Salvage Kits to be cheaper than Mystic Salvage Kits, if you bought the Mystic Forge Stones with gold.

1.5g per run of Ascalonian Catacombs Explorable Mode Paths 1-3, killing all Champions and Bosses. This excludes the sale of crafting materials from loot bags, or any salvage from rares that drop.

In PvP or WvW, Whirling Wrath is a terrible ability. Unless you have reliable means of applying Immobilise, Freeze or Cripple, enemies are prone to get out of range after the first 3 hits. You’re better off with a Hammer.

If you’re looking for “raid progression”, then I believe the new Fractals of the Mist meta-dungeon suits your needs. FotM starts out with a pool of nine dungeons, each run takes you through a random three. Completing a set of three allows you to progress to the next difficulty level, etc. etc. The beauty of this setup is two-fold:

a. Unlike other existing dungeons, there are no way points or repair masters available once you begin, thus making player deaths more meaningful, instead of the infamous corpse runs.

Without Indomitable Courage or a Focus, Defender’s Flame cannot take the place of Supreme Justice. In order to take advantage of Fiery Wrath, you need the Burn to stay up longer; going 20 in Virtues for Supreme Justice does 2 things: increase the duration of the Burn from Virtue of Justice (including those applied by allies, i.e. longer stacks) and reducing the cooldown of Virtue of Justice by 20% (24s instead 30s).

And frankly, if you’re relying mainly on Burn as your main source of damage, 981 Condition Damage just won’t cut it for PVE because somebody who decides to run full Condition Damage will typically have over 1000-1400 Malice, meaning their Burn damage will be “prioritised”.

I don’t understand the use of the Hydromancy sigil for PVE.

Zoe.6230:

Can guardians be pure DPS or do they have to tank?

Yes, Guardians can go full DPS.

For a melee weapon and decent crit chance, Sigil of Fire. Sigil of Fire procs deal about 700-900 damage in the area around you, definitely contributing more than a measly 1% increase of damage over 5s.

Is Lion’s Arch a dungeon? I ask because since Fractals of the Mist of was released, I’ve been meeting up with players across multiple servers in Lion’s Arch.

I, too, can’t stand grinding in the open world for these items. Instead I prefer to run dungeons and use the proceeds to purchase the materials from the Trading Post.

SameHH.1048:

Well I am talking about PvE (should’ve made that clear) where you don’t need to pull enemies towards you because normally they’ll be running to you anyway thus nullifying #5, where condition damage doesn’t mean that much (if you are with a group and everyone is stacking) thus nullifying #2, and I’m not sure about confusion in PvE, and I only found the shield useful in the new shores map where karka hit you with like 6 rapid hits first and blocking them feels good, leaving the auto attack skill that is only viable in PvE and it’s not that good.
So I think they should make imporovement for the kit in PvE only like what they did with grenades when they nerfed damage in PvP only.

You want examples of PVE use?

Smack/Whack/Thwack is one of the few non-projectile attacks an Engineer has, which is a big help for certain fights, e.g. Leurent’s Elite Guards in Twilight Arbor (Forward/Forward), Wraithlord at the High Priest of Grenth in Arah, or even Jade Colossi in Fractals.

Again, Box of Nails is a 4s AoE that stacks Bleed and Cripple. Bleed is Condition Damage and the straw man argument of a full group of Condition Damage builds just doesn’t fly. Cripple is Cripple and absolutely golden for kiting.

Prybar deals Confusion and melee damage. Nothing to stop the presses for.

Gear Shield is three (3) seconds of Blocking. No idea why you’re scoffing at this. Just last night I used it for Giganticus Lupicus phases 2 and 3 and running past the hordes of Arah thrash.

Magnet’s Pull is a hard CC, i.e. it interrupts enemy attacks and animation. This is useful on stuff from Graveling Breeders to Risen Gorillas. Heck, want to make that expert pull that singles out a single mob from the pack? Magnet now does what Scorpion Wire was so famous for.

No.

Condition Damage does not benefit from any +% Damage buffs or debuffs.

Tool Kit does deserve its Tier 3 spot, especially after the last patch.

The attack speed of Smack/Whack/Thwack are comparable to that of other professions’ Mace attacks. I don’t use that often myself, but it’s okay for situations that require melee.

Box of Nails stacks Bleed and Cripple.

Prybar is a nice clean damage skill with 3 stacks of Confusion.

Gear Shield is 3 seconds of Block. Read: Three (3) seconds where nearly nothing touches you.

Magnet? 1200 range pull? Got a runner? Pull, Box of Nails and Immobilise (Glue Shot or Net Shot). Got a greedy defender on the wall? Pull, Box of Nails, Immobilise. Got a mob to CC? Pull, Box of Nails, kill.

Throw Wrench? By itself, it does sizeable damage. Traited it applies Cripple to EVERYTHING in its path, forwards and back.

It’s not just for Asura, but for all professions (using Projectiles) of all races. The “manual” targeting of these attacks are tied to your camera view. So if you’re looking at your character in the typical 3rd person view, i.e. slightly above the head looking down, then that’s the path your Orb of Light will travel. If you pan your camera all the way down such that it’s centered on the back of your character, then the Orb will travel parallel to the ground.

Yes, it’s ridiculous.

Artemis Noir.3804:

1. How viable is this type of a build?

Considering your choice of Ravager/Rampager, I’m assuming it’s a Condition Damage build. Yes, it’s viable for most dungeons. I say most because Condition Damage builds are worthless against structures, like Graveling Burrows in Ascalonian Catacombs. Otherwise, you can Bleed and Poison all you like for lots of flying numbers… assuming you’re the only Condition Damage build around.

Artemis Noir.3804:

2. What is an effective combination of the fore-mentioned traits, and would it be advisable to include something that provides toughness and/or vitality?

I’ll answer the latter: Yes it’s always advisable to have some Toughness or Vitality, unless you’re very confident of your ability to use available mechanics to stay alive with a full glass cannon.

Artemis Noir.3804:

4. I am planning on using a staff for one weapon set, but I can’t decide on the second, so I’d appreciate suggestions.

The Sceptre would be my first pick for a Condition Damage build, paired with a Dagger off-hand.

Rhaegar.5120:

thanks for the really interesting points. One question I have in mind is: will we get enough badges with a defensive build?

It depends on what you mean by “defensive”. If all you’re doing is throwing up bubbles, walls and drawing lines all day, then no your contribution won’t count in terms of kills.

Many Guardians – including myself – despair for our ranged weapons because the typical WvW scenes people find themselves in are either two zergs playing footsies in an open field, or attacking a keep. Then over the last week, I decided to ditch the “range” mindset and ran berserk at people. As it turns out, it worked surprisingly well.

The key to success of a melee fighter in WvW is to know where and when to charge. Charging into enemy lines head on will likely get you killed, just as much as charging at their flanks when your own people aren’t willing to push the lines. Timed right, you’ll find yourself in the midst of squishy glass cannons, diverting 80% of the enemy zerg’s attention away from your front lines, and finally, a field of Bags of Loot with the enemy routed.

Dannico gave some good tips of things to do, I’ll add my own, i.e. what I do:

1. Protect siege (Catapults and Ballistas)
Thieves, Warriors and Guardians are keen to rush at friendly siege. Stay near them and ward off the attacks. Circle of Warding stops the initial attack, Banish banishes and Zealot’s Embrace is your best friend when dealing with annoying Dagger Storm Thieves.

2. Watch for reinforcements
During sieges, enemy reinforcements will be trying to sneak past your forces to enter the Tower or Keep. Considering it is much easier to defeat enemies on the ground, stopping them before they get a chance to man siege weapons or rain damage on your own forces is a great boon. So instead of planting your face against the gate, watch entry points into the besieged locations and stop their reinforcements. Watching these flanks also allow you to warn your team of oncoming zergs.

3. Assault Supply Camps and Dolyaks
With just two to five invaders, an undefended Supply Camp will fall rather quickly. Flipping an enemy camp, especially one deep inside their territory typically distracts their reinforcements for a good 10-15 minutes, while at the same time allowing your team to steal supplies to reinforce your own position. Further without supply flowing into the Tower or Keep, the Defenders cannot repair walls and gates.

No idea what state this is in, but you can try out #GW2Ringer (or somebody who has used it can leave their feedback here)

http://www.reddit.com/r/gw2esports/comments/yqljy/guild_wars_2_team_finding_service_gw2ringer_on/

The best tip is to not use the default 1-9 keys. Each person has his or her own preferences; I’ll share mine:

Movement
S – Move Forwards
A – Strafe Left
D – Strafe Right

*Note: I don’t have a key for Move Backwards because, as with other MMOs, moving backwards “manually” is usually slower than other methods.

Combat
Q, W, E, R, T – Weapon Skills
Mouse Button 4 – Heal Skill
Z, X, C – Utility Skills
Mouse Button 5 – Elite Skill
~ – Weapon Swap
1, 2, 3, 4 – Profession Skills

*Note: This is with a 5-button mouse. You can adapt the Heal and Elite Skill buttons to the keyboard as you see fit. Typically you would want the Heal to be somewhere close by, while the Elite can be placed somewhere “less convenient” due to their typically long cooldowns.

Misc
F – Interact with Object

study.1873:

first, Writ of the Merciful (symbols heal allies).
if my mace’s symbol already puts down a regen for allies, will this trait heal in addition to that?

Yes

study.1873:

second, Pure of Heart (aegis heals on removal).
if aegis is reapplied somewhat regularly will this trait do enough healing to be worth using over Writ of Persistence (symbols last longer) which would also help my allies more than Pure of Heart i imagine.

No, because Writ of Persistence and Writ of the Merciful will heal much more and more often than Pure of Heart.

study.1873:

and lastly, thoughts on Runes of Mercy? do the effects work? are they worth it over other sets or mixes? from a team support and saving my bacon standpoint i mean.

Hard to say as most of us strive to not end up on the floor with a PowerPoint laser pointer.

Have you tried setting a keybind for Target Nearest Enemy?

I’m not sure if ANet has implemented the cross-server play for open world PVE yet, but I know for a fact that players from different servers can enjoy delving in the same instanced dungeons.

It may be cliched to say this, but you will get used to it. After a while you’ll learn to tune out all the player effects as you recognise them and pay attention to the enemies. Until then, it’s helpful to ask your guildmates on their various skills and what they do, including what those skills look like if they are Area of Effect skills.

Freeze and Burn are separate Conditions and have no interactions with one another.

I use A, S and D to Strafe Left, Move Forwards and Strafe Right, respectively. My weapon skills are mapped from Q to T, Utility Skills to Z, X and C, Heal and Elite to Mouse Buttons 4 and 5, and finally Profession skill are 1-4.

This setup brings all the skill keys close to my movement keys and I can still circle strafe and launch skills at the same time.

Eveningstar

Does anyone build for condition damage? I have this sneaking suspicion that it might be actually, you know, good, largely because we have a fair number of builds that work by maximizing passive VoJ triggers.
I just haven’t been able to prove it yet.

In “single player” PVE and PvP, you can pull off some scary damage with the Carrion set (Power/Cond Dmg/Vit) alone, maybe more if you mix in some Rampager (Power/Precision/Cond Dmg) gear. It’s harder to gauge in groups: if you have the highest Cond Dmg, then you won’t see any significant change to your DPS, maybe some convenience as your group helps you maintain the Burn Condition; however, if you aren’t the one with the highest Cond Dmg, then your group’s damage will drop.

Then again, the same can be said about all Cond Dmg builds of any class.

Currently there are no Vanguard (aka Ebonhawke) armour, just weapons.

Inspired Virtues is a drug that’s very, very hard to wean off. It’s possible, for sure. But you’ll be hearing its seductive whisper in your ear each time you activate a Virtue, calling you back… back into its sweet, sweet embrace…

Disclaimer, rune of the soldier is bugged and aint working properly with all shouts. Think it works with SYG and HTL but im not certain.

I was pretty sure the one that’s bugged was Pure of Voice. I have both and Soldier always works for me, while Stand Your Ground occasionally does not trigger Pure of Voice.

Y’know the price of Swarovski jewellery needs to come down, cuz “besides hard core farmers, gold buyers, or no-life gamers, or cheaters, there is no way someone would ammass and “waste” $500 for a full set”… kitten

The cultural armours (and weapons) are considered as premium fashion items, much like all the bling-bling of real life. It will and should stay at its current price because for those of us who plan our finances towards obtaining them, it will set us apart from people who are only willing to procrastinate and pick low-hanging fruit. Is there an achievement for wearing a full set of Tier 6 crafter items? Or maybe a full set dungeon armour? No, there isn’t; but it is an achievement for obtaining a full set of cultural armour, in more ways than one.

I play for 2-3 hours a weeknight (and more during weekends) and I have already acquired 3/6 pieces of my Tier 3 Sylvari. If I get some game time tonight, I’ll be able to pick up the chest piece as my forth. Yes, compared to many, that’s a glacial pace. But I am having a blast playing the game and working towards a lofty goal (that’s not a legendary), knowing full well the familiar sense of satisfaction I’ll feel when I eventually save up for the full set. Best of all, it beats being just another dude in COF armour.

If you’re starting out fresh with not one to your name, Mini Packs are generally cheaper.

If you’re looking for a particular Mini, then buying them direct from the Trading Post works out cheaper on average.

And here are “ppl” telling you that Critical Chance is fine.

Who to believe, indeed?

Buy Basic Salvage Kits (only Basic), and appropriate gathering tools.

Salvage all Basic (White) quality equipment

Sell all Salvage Item Trophies on the Trading Post

Sell all Fine and Masterwork (Blue and Green, respectively) quality items to NPC vendors

0-10-30-30-0 can be built as either a Meditation build with Battle Presence (nearby allies benefit from Virtue of Resolve passive; works even when Virtue of Resolve is on cooldown) or switched into a build sporting Pure of Voice (allies affected by your shouts convert one Condition into Boon; buggy with Hold the Line) and Altruistic Healing (heal a small amount for each Boon you apply to allies).

The former allows for a more offensive set of Utilities, such as Judge’s Intervention and Smite. On the other hand the interesting thing about the latter is the amount of healing you could possibly get from Symbol of Faith, Writ of the Merciful, Altruistic Healing, Virtue of Resolve (Activate) and Shield of Absorption (Detonate); and that’s not even considering 3 shouts applying 6 boons to 4 nearby allies.

The reason why most of us recommend the Focus for melee combat is because it provides much more survivability than the Shield. However, I don’t see anything wrong with your weapon choice. The 1h-sword is our top DPS weapon for single target and the Shield is useful in dungeon groups for its Protection Boon. Shield of Absorption is also a life saver in some dungeon, such as Caudecus’ Manor, where the ranged mobs pack a punch.

That said, how effective and useful your Guardian is or will be is dependant on more than just one particular weapon set. Did you have a Trait and Skill setup in mind?

First and foremost, your suggestion is flawed and goes against the grain of the game entirely. By implementing this “taunt” mechanic, you require players to have 1 Utility slot for this “magical taunt”. This is fundamentally a no-no in Guild Wars 2 because it goes against the whole idea of “build how you want”. Indeed, dungeon runs with group of players sporting ineffective builds is extra difficult, but it isn’t impossible.

The main part of why I find GW2 dungeon fun is because of its aggro system. Unless you are still pampered by the Holy Trinity, players in GW2 have mostly learned to deal with mob aggro. We dodge, run and lay down CC to distance ourselves from enemy fire, while our teammates have learned to assist us as much as they can, including of course reviving when able.

Introducing some silly homogenous skill just to “deal” with enemy aggro is just plain lazy design. GW2’s game system already allows for so many other fun, interesting and downright quirky ways to play with enemy aggro. Take for example Caudecus’ Manor Path 2 (Seraphs) where you have to blow up the door by placing Explosive Casks in particular spots. To fight the endless stream of Bandits is nigh impossible, but it doesn’t take long for players to notice and exploit their obsessive-compulsive behaviour in keeping the Explosive Casks packed tidily in a corner.

Tintaglia.4762:

Am I correct in understanding that Cleansing Flame does not inflict burning, and so does not do condition damage?

Cleansing Flame does direct damage, so it does not benefit from Condition Damage. It does, however, hit for 10 times (assuming stationary target) and hence trigger Virtue of Justice twice.

Sceptre+Torch is actually our highest DPS setup for long-ranged (1200 range) combat, and is comparable to melee weapons in close and medium range thanks to Cleansing Flame. You will, however, notice an absolutely horrid drop in damage when trying to hit a moving target at long range.

As far as dungeon groups go, I don’t see any issues. Even with zero traits or gear to back up, a Guardian packing a Staff (any quality), Stand Your Ground and Retreat becomes a much-loved addition to any dungeon group. Running Caudecus’ Manor, Sorrow’s Embrace, or even Arah? Slip in Wall of Reflection and people will laud your full Berserker-geared Guardian as pro support.

1. Buy appropriate-level gathering tools and never miss out on a gathering node (Plants, Saplings or Ore). Sell the gathered material at the Black Lion Trading Company or use them for crafting.

2. Buy Basic Salvage Kits and salvage all Basic (White) quality equipment

3. Sell all Salvage Item Trophies on the BLTC

3. Sell all Fine (Blue) and Masterwork (Green) quality items you aren’t using to NPC vendors (as well as junk)

4. If you are deciding to pick up a craft, don’t buy any materials; instead farm for them or hold off crafting until a later date.

5. If you happen on a Dynamic Event, announce it the whole map and link (CTRL+Click) the closest waypoint. This typically draws in other players on the map, which causes more mobs to spawn, and thus more item drops. More drops equals more money.

With this, I typically my 2 alts hit 2g at around level 40, 4-5g by level 60. The tally would be higher if my BLTC profits weren’t being syphoned off by my main.

When I pop Virtue of Justice I should burn, blind and cause vulnerability to foes near me but I’m not burning anything just making everything around me blind and vulnerable and it doesn’t matter if I stand right inside a group of mobs burning is never applied.

Permeating Wrath only works for the Passive activation of Virtue of Wrath, i.e. ever 5 attacks, as far as I am aware.

It’s likely you’re encountering Risen Preservers with Hammers. These have a similar ability to the Guardian Greatsword’s Binding Blade, i.e. it will send out a projectile and pull the target towards it (as well as pulling itself forwards). The only way to counter/avoid this ability is either dodging or blocking the attack, or with Stability boons.

Additionally, Risen Preservers underwater also have the Guardian’s Weight of Justice ability that Sinks you. It is essentially a stun and can be broken out of with the appropriate Utility skills.

Haha, and this is before you wander into the mini-dungeon in the Windy Cave, with a bunch of Shadow Imps and 4 Veteran Shadow Imps in narrow corridors.