Guild Wars 2

Ezrael.6859:

You ran numbers based upon? People standing still on point?

The 3.25s cast time and huge animation means people gtfo before they’ve been hit by more than 3/10 hits.

Irrelevant. Pve doesn’t have that problem and we are calculating dps, not combat scenarios. That been said, even in competitive modes, you are not rooted, so follow them. If they dash/shadowstep away, melee autos are not any better in that regard.

Being interrupted is a much more realistic issue, otherwise, you are arguing this one skill is threatening enough that you can force people off-point, in which case, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

Considering what they could have done instead (hey Gyros), I’m very pleased with this change. Like Arcaedus explained, it’s a buff in certain situations.

Obtena.7952:

RabbitUp.8294:

Good thing about Symbol of Swiftness is that it works when gathering/opening chests, since you stop regularly.

Obtena.7952:

RabbitUp.8294:

You would have ground to make a point if 7 out of 9 classes didn’t have access to +25% movement speed, with Rev getting perma swiftness instead. There’s nothing about guardian’s identity that makes it the most slow class.

Well, there is … Guardian’s identity defined by Anet.

Citation needed

Not really … Anet devs create the Guardian concept according to what they want. I mean, what else would they do?

But if you are unsure if Anet creates the game according to their ideas, well, go check up on Ready up # … 13 I think? Explains well why Guardians don’t have 25% RS buff, straight from the devs own mouths on video. I’m guessing you will find a way to say it’s not relevant, considering you don’t seem to think Anet defines the class as they see fit in the first place.

You are not an Anet developer. You do not speak for Anet in any way or form.

When you come and claim that this is part of the Guardian identity, and I’m asking for proof, I’m not doubting Anet, I’m doubting you.

So, don’t talk to me in a condescending tone, yours is just one more opinion, like everyone else’s, do not presume you talk for the game developers.

Ezrael.6859:

It is still a bad skill.

Torch is our only off-hand that is all offensive, but it’s offense is severely lacking.

It’s not, it’s the highest dps off-hand.

Still, torch is a condi weapon first and foremost, and guardian doesn’t have a good enough condi spec. That’s not torch’s problem, it a matter of getting a condi elite spec in the future.

Marauder armour/weapons/amulet is a 5-6% dps loss, but can make the difference between a one-shot and surviving. Being downed means neither you nor the person rezzing you are doing any damage.

If you are confident with your mechanics, then go ahead and play at 12k health, but if not, don’t kitten yourself because “zerker meta”.

I’m sure most players lose a lot more dps to bad rotations and high ping, anyway.

Mikhael.2391:

It is? Tell me how you evade/escape in wvw after switching to hammer and outnumbered?

Same way you evade/escape with Scepter/Torch

Not every weapon has to be for every situation and for every game mode. That’s why you have weapon swap.

Everyone asking for a Symbol granting quickness, what kind of number are you talking about? Because anything higher than 0,5sec per pulse means that you would get 5+ sec of quickness with some boon duration, which is ridiculous.

Mikhael.2391:

Or to be used as an escape tool aswell and get some distance from enemys therefore surviving longer. We already have enough protection and if the trait gave the protection back then it would fair and viable for pve wich seems what u are sugesting.

No thank you, hammer is in a great spot.

Good thing about Symbol of Swiftness is that it works when gathering/opening chests, since you stop regularly.

Obtena.7952:

RabbitUp.8294:

You would have ground to make a point if 7 out of 9 classes didn’t have access to +25% movement speed, with Rev getting perma swiftness instead. There’s nothing about guardian’s identity that makes it the most slow class.

Well, there is … Guardian’s identity defined by Anet.

Citation needed

CptAurellian.9537:

Plus, it doesn’t actively counteract your sword like shield does with #5.

Shield of Absorption does no damage, so why would you be activating it when it’s not beneficial for you in the first place? The heal alone is negligible, you are only using this to break stunbars.

You envy Mesmers? I envy Tempests who can brainlessly Fresh Air/Air Overload everything.

You would have ground to make a point if 7 out of 9 classes didn’t have access to +25% movement speed, with Rev getting perma swiftness instead. There’s nothing about guardian’s identity that makes it the most slow class.

Buran.3796:

Why do people care about SW? Is an awful concept: to rely in pets instead of the use of skills, in a class which isn’t mean to be a pet user (as Necromancer or Ranger). Having also viable pets means as mandatory that the damage you deal must be distributed between you and your pets (as Ranger), which means that your attacks will deal less damage. Why do you want to deal LESS damage and to give some of your damage to the control of an arguably mediocre AI? The whole concept is absurd.

Don’t compare them to Ranger pets. Rangers always have a pet, no matter their build, and so their dps is split between them and their pet.

Spirit weapons are the same as Necro pets. Since you lose skills slots to bring Spirit weapons, you lose damage and utility already, so it’s not like they would have to reduce Guardian’s dps further to make spirit weapons viable.

Lastly, Necro is not a pet class, it became a pet class because the devs decided to support Necro pets with buffs and through traits, when the rework happened. Before HoT, minion necro was a joke. There’s no reason why Guardian is not allowed to have Spirit weapons be as useful as Necro pets, they are part of our skills. It’s like saying Guardian is not supposed to be a shout class, like Tempest, because Tempests use their shouts more, because they are better/have better traits.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

RabbitUp.8294:

You can’t pvp with your pve gear. Pvp in this game works with separate gear, and skill/trait stats. So, how would dueling work in pve?

Actually, you can PvP with your PvE gear. The arenas in the guild halls and WvW both do PvP with your PvE gear.

Wvw is not traditional pvp. The arenas are more of a minigame than a game mode, it’s between people you know.

If you don’t want to salvage, then go to Bloodstone Fen, and do the goggles. Change map instance or character and repeat. It’s the faster way to get purple orbs.

You can’t pvp with your pve gear. Pvp in this game works with separate gear, and skill/trait stats. So, how would dueling work in pve?

Anet would have to implement a workaround for this, when you can just make a custom arena and duel whoever you want to duel.

If you are judging it for 3 game modes, 2 different builds (power/condi), and 2 different main-hands (scepter/sword), then yes, you will find many shortcomings.

Torch is the only damage-focused off-hand Guardian has and, as expected, offers the highest DPS. Damage weapons have reduced efficiency in competitive modes, as is normal, especially when focus and shield offer so much utility.

The point still remains that what it’s meant to do (apply multiple VoJ procs), it does well. It is highly effective in a condi build, especially when fighting multiple mobs, which is standard in pve.

Of course, there is room for more reliable utility to increase its use in other game modes, but being bad in pvp doesn’t make it bad in every game mode.

In my opinion, even if it applied additional burn on its own, or cleansed conditions from self, it still wouldn’t see use in pvp/wvw, when focus and blocks of all kind already remove condis, and the condi build in general is underpowered.

As I said above, I would like to see it inflicting blind.

maddoctor.2738:

The only “issue” is the Largos wings, the designers can’t fit something like a Charr tail on armors, they could never make a fit for wings. That has two possible solutions:
a) Make a new sub species of Largos that are wingless and make it part of the storyline. Maybe they are cursed, or maybe something else happened in the playable variety that they don’t have wings anymore.
b) Ignore the wings and let them clip through armor like charr tails (probably with the exception of their cultural armors)

A bit of nitpicking here. Implementing wings is not the same as tails. In fact, all races can currently sport a variety of wings on their backs, with minor to no clipping issue.

Another thing, it’s not certain the wings are part of Largos’ biology. There’s concept art that shows them without wings, and their wings in general look embellished with patterns reminiscent of manufactured fabric, rather than living tissue.

In either case, they can turn the wings into a cultural back item without much issue.

I don’t really see the point. It’s an incredible amount of work, that really adds very little to the gaming experience.

Yes, a race comes with a new city and a new personal story, both of which will lose their luster after the first couple of months.

Even to enjoy the new race, you have to roll a new character, and unlike with a new profession, the levelling experience will be the same it was all those years. Sure, they could also launch a new profession to go with the new race, but between the balancing issues and the elite specializations, there’s not much room for another one, without hurting all existing professions.

And all the time spent stretching the existing skins to a new frame and making cultural armor could be spent on new armor and weapon skins, which would be appreciated by a much larger portion of the community.

Torch is a staple pve weapon already, so let’s give it a buff for pvp/wvw instead. Here’s an idea: Torch #5 applies blind per tick. Very short duration blind, like 1 sec.

So, as long as you breath flame on your foes’ faces, they can’t land a hit. It’s similar to a block, only it can be countered by resistance or invulnerability, it only works in a single direction and against melee attackers, but it can also protect allies.

2 additional screens of the shield
http://massivelyop.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shooshadoo1.jpg
http://massivelyop.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shooshadoo2.jpg

Also uploaded to imgur, just in case
http://imgur.com/a/joCHM

Felahr.9830:

i hate all three of you. if it was a black lion set that was fun and silly, i would stand behind that and probably get all of them, like i did the Improvised set that was hilarious. but not as a LEGENDARY. way to cheapen it.

See, the thing is, there’s no comparison between the amount of work going towards a legendary and a BLTC weapon.

So, you are basically saying that those that like more lighthearted weapons don’t deserve to wield a weapon with animated parts, special effects, footfalls, and modified skill effects, because it should be reserved for serious weapons.

Not to mention, the overwhelming majority of BLTC skins released are serious looking ones.

I could accept this as an issue during the first generation, when pistol, shortbow, mace, focus and staff only had a silly skin to choose, but with the second generation, as long as there’s a serious-looking alternative, I don’t see why they can’t make a sillier weapon.

cranos.5913:

Guardians rly were the worst pugs one could get for a while there.

Worse than rangers? Given how I pug with rangers who are still clueless (full signet ranger is all the rage in EU fractal pugs), and can’t control their pets, I find it hard to believe.

The idea behind gyros is that you keep them around to help you. That’s their purpose. That functionality turned them into double-clicks for PBAoE dazes + damage fields (if you had the trait), which was not their purpose, i.e. it was more beneficial to blow them up for the trait bonuses than keep them around for their effects.

Of course, that goes both ways, they could use some buffs to give us a reason to slot and summon them.

Arnath.2319:

Once again not a single Spirit Weapon change… this is beyond a joke at this point.

And yet more Signet buffs no one asked for… signets still suck ArenaNet.

Are the devs even trying? Are they listening? This is embarrassing.

Spirit Weapons are beyond the scope of a balance pass.

They need an overhaul, and that’s only possible when the next expansion is close to release and the new specializations are developed. Base classes will be looked, like it happened last time.

Shadow stones were used by the Seers to superpower themselves and become able to forge bloodstones, of course I want in on that.

But really, I chose Priory to experiment with the out-of-body experience.

Mylerian.9176:

Seems to me with all the Condi based players out there now, that this elite would be great for Bombing the enemy Zerg. I use to wreck people with this skill if I timed it right. I think it deserves a second look.

Maybe it is just me?

Tomes were removed with the promise of them coming back with a future elite spec.

Djinn.9245:

eduardo.1436:

Djinn.9245:

Squee.7829:

Well, first of all, it’s really more of an Easter egg than anything. You REALLY have to go out of your way to become an anomaly. Second, it’s not in ANY way a requirement to do so. Its just some fun option someone added because why not?

How do you know this?

Because there is a chance you transform into an anomaly, it’s completely random. Plus it only happens to the ones who chose the priory. If you chose consortium or haven’t done the secret current event then the transformation doesn’t happen at all

I don’t see this as any kind of proof, but even if you are correct that this is an “easter egg” and doesnt’ carry any additional meaning for the game, it still concerns me that the devs think its fun to transform PCs into a PK-able form without their permission. This doesn’t make me less worried at all that Anet might introduce more PvP in the open world.

First of all, this is hardly pvp. The anomalies can’t do anything, they are walking punch bags.

Secondly, there already is open world pvp, it’s called wvw.

Thirdly, you are taking this way out of proportion. Players give their permission when they jump up and down for 5 minutes to become anomalies. If you happen to turn into an animaly at random without seeking to, then you can walk 10 feet to your body and return to normal. Even if you are killed, you are downed and rez 5 seconds later. Where’s the harm in that? The only people annoyed by getting killed are those that wasted time willingly becoming anomalies, because they have to do it all over again.

Lastly, if you want to experience the event without interacting with other players, there are magic rifts all over Tyria, you don’t have to stay at the lake where everyone is gathering.

The issue is probably that anomalies can kill some NPCs.

Chocofox.9503:

Map exploration can be a little more annoying with the rifts as well. A few are on-top of vistas and with people opening the rifts you can be teleported to another map instead of getting the vista.

Nothing happens if you walk through a rift, you have to jump to get teleported. So, don’t jump?

Another reason why Aetherized Shield is the best shield skin in the game
http://imgur.com/NnOrxfL

Darknicrofia.2604:

with mender’s symbol, simply spamming scepter and sword symbol provides you as much sustain as mace, but also packs much more punch.

This is not true, mace’s symbol is just as spammable, and provides regen. Then you have the extra healing power from the trait, the block + aegis, and the healing on auto.

gin.7158:

Scepter together with torch is the top sustain dps we have now. I just kinda wish scepter AA can cleave

There’s no need for cleave in sustain dps scenarios. For everything else, you have your weapon swap.

I use Superior Sigil of Speed

Plus, Retreat + Staff give perma swiftness

koniallis.4736:

RabbitUp.8294:

So, if I don’t want to use the new weapon, I lose both my weapon swap and my virtues?

For the weapon swap yes you do lose it.
You see normal guardians and dragonhunters have 10 weapon skills, 3 virtues, 1 healing, 3 utilities and 1 ultimate. So 18 powers in total.

Vanguards would have 9 weapon skills, 3 stances, 1 brilliant body, 1 healing, 3 utility and 1 ultimate. So again 18 powers.

If they also had weapon swap they would also have 5 more weapon skills and that would make them a bit too versatile for a specialization i think.

As for virtues you do lose the passive buffs yes but you compensate with the effects of Brilliant Body quite well. The active ones i suppose there could be a trait that allows for them to be used when entering the coresponding stances.
Or it could be a standard part of the mechanic, that works too i supppose

All that requires I use the spear weapon. If I choose not to, Vanguard doesn’t really offer anything.

Shadelang.3012:

Do you remember turret engineers? If they buff spirit weapons to a point where there good enough to use in a competitive build that fiasco is gonna happen all over again.

I LOVE my guardian and I love the idea of spirit weapons. But I really don’t wanna get turret engineered. And the community will lose there kitten if they even THINK an “AI” build is anywhere NEAR meta.

Ever heard of Necromancers?

And Spirit Weapons don’t have to be “turret engineered”, they are already useless as is. We really have nothing to lose.

I’d rather have them be permanent instead. If I want a temporary dps boost, the last thing I need is to rely on AI.

So, if I don’t want to use the new weapon, I lose both my weapon swap and my virtues?

Ranael.6423:

In fact it depends how they will expend the class in the future. For now Druid are preferred not for their heal (because an Ele has more constant healing and is less strict about positioning) but for their heal + damage buff..

Oh, I understand that, it’s not that druids are the best at healing, but they still get the job done so that groups don’t sacrifice anything for the dps boosts they get, which is the core of the problem.

It’s safe to say that Druid will not be the last/only healing elite spec. However, is there really any room for competition? It feels like Druids do it all, potent heals combined with a plethora of offensive support for the rest of the group, and some hard cc.

What niche would a future healer would need to utilise to be considered over a Druid? More raw healing alone when Celestial Avatar is a full party heal already would only matter if the ambient damage is significantly increased for the next raid.

I feel like we are at the start of a slippery slope in which more and more passive boosts will be included in elite specs to give them a place in endgame content.

TheDevice.2751:

But lets get to your quote. How about wells get massive damage buffs? Eh? Like on par with guard traps? Go ahead and respond. I’ll see to your hippocratic response.

Mesmer or Necro wells? Are we ignoring the fact that wells are ranged ground AoE while traps are melee and have to be triggered?

Not to mention, only 2 traps do decent damage, 1 of which is not used in pvp and the other only when you cross the barrier. Also both are pretty much only damage sources and have no other utility (apart from the daze trait)

Meanwhile, wells puke boons, condis and cc. And mesmer wells do pretty good damage already, it’s just that they are DoT instead of damage nukes.

Guardians have trouble with conditions? News to me.

Smiter’s Boon, Smite Condition, Contemplation of Purity (+resistance if you had chill on you), Wings of Resolve and Hunter’s Fortification with our billion blocks.

Given how cheap it is to level chef (like 5-6g), I would advise against buying food. You save a lot by making your own and can turn a nice profit on top of that.

Menyus.4610:

Sorry just trying to enjoy the game after hot as a thief -.-

A thief complaining about dazes? That’s bold.

I switch depending on the build and matchup. Mace lends itself to a support build, so I’m only ever using it with Mender’s Amulet (until that’s eventually removed, too)

For Marauder, mace doesn’t make sense, it’s not a very damaging weapon and the reason to use marauder is to do damage. So, for one-handed weapons, it’s between scepter and sword. Scepter is good at pressuring points at a safer distance, and the immobilise is handy, especially against squishies. However, it loses many of its strong points if you are using longbow. Sword has valuable mobility, blind and projectile block, and its damage is more bursty.

In any case, don’t go to a game with a metabattle mentality. Decide what’s better for you depending on the matchup and adjust your trait and weapon sets accordingly.

DKShang.8792:

huntsman for your bow

Torch, too.

WorldinCrush.6453:

The issue is how the profession interacts in Spvp when stacked/playing with friends.

As a solo q, this system is broken, and unfun. If pro’s are not allowed to stack professions, why are people allowed to queue up with friends and stack teams vs solo q people (and don’t tell me the so called MMR scaling means much in the current balance state when stacked)

Every single game anymore that wants to put solo queue against pre-mades is having this issue- HOTS, LoL, now this. Would devs just please… stop… Solo q makes up a large user base in any online pvp game…

Those games are not limited to 9 classes.

The V.8759:

I dont mind the traps etc at all. I do have to admin, the blocks sometimes make my blood pressure rise a bit tho :P

Watching 5 minutes of 0s flying over a warrior’s head does it for me.

I’m not so sure, they heal a bit less than 2k each with Monk’s Focus, but they don’t offer any real value, unless you are pressured by conditions (Bloodstone Fen, for example, where Ele and Mesmer mobs spam burning and confuse on auto).

So, let’s say you use Smite Condition, that’s 2000/16=125 heal per sec. Using more than 1 means you lose the damage boost of Procession of Blades and/or Bane Signet.

Compare that to Writ of Persistence, which gives 100 hps and boosts your damage output and boon uptime.

In group content, Monk’s Focus cannot compete with the trait above it (can’t remember the name), that heals you for each boon you apply.

In solo play, mace’s slow dps means you end up taking more damage in the long run, making the heals and blocks moot. Try sword and shield instead, sword #2 into #3 melts things and the blind is the same as aegis anyway (better vs multiple enemies).

Don’t bother with defensive stats, full zerker and scholar runes, just use your active defences smartly and remember your F2 is a second heal. Also use Procession of Blades for the great AoE damage.

You can also go the easy route and play hammer. Permanent protection with the Writ of Persistence trait and great dps.

A properly played guardian should be one of the tankiest classes.

Jerus.4350:

GS still has the same niche it’s always had, burst damage. Run your burst rotation then swap out.

Mace: Healing/support/defensive
Sword: Gap closing + Fury
Scepter: Mid range/large hitbox/Might
Hammer: Protection/CC
GS: Burst/AE Pull/Mobility
Bow: Longer Range
Shield: Team support
Focus: Personal Defense
Torch: DPS

Really no profession has better balance, GS might not see much use right now because there’s really not that many situations where kitten burst of damage is really a thing, PVP/WvW Roaming people will bring enough to survive that burst or avoid it, PVE has all become longer fights for any content that is really worth discussing. If you go back and do Dungeons opening with a GS burst and then into say Sword or Scepter would work great though, but dungeons are… just wow how much power creep has trivialized them.

I really can’t see it changing and not just being in competition with another weapon for the same slot, meaning one will be ‘useless’ (lesser option) and one better, which ruins this nice balance going on.

Here’s the thing, sword has burst and mobility, too, and can be complemented with an off-hand.

As I said in the op, it can be the primary mobility weapon, like it is for warrior and ranger, and a roaming weapon for chasing. No other weapon fulfils those roles.

In its current state, it’s pretending to be a swiss army knife, it has some burst, mobility, hard and soft cc, and its trait gives it some minor healing. It tries to do too much, and ends up doing none of those.

The only thing it has going for it is the pull for grouping up mobs, and even that competes with the elite trap.

Henrik.7560:

Don’t even try to defend your stupid class lol, yeah you have all your traps on the point so we can easily dodge them, but guess what ! your traps are ready to be used again so after we dodge first lock bam goes second lot, so i dodge out of it, – 2 dodges, all endurance gone. oh no but then i’m pull into it, knocked back out and dead. however, if i manage to successfully get thus far, and land some decent burst, they don’t die. they’ll get to 5% hp then heal all the way.
I have played DH this season to see for myself, it’s easy win win win, I want a fun meta, not an easy path to legend.

If a dh uses more than 1 trap, they have no defensive cooldown or sufficient condi cleanse. This theoretical dh that spams traps and doesn’t die does not exist.