Guild Wars 2

Konig Des Todes.2086:

What plot is more important?

Balthazar? Nothing else is more important right now, he’s the single biggest thread, even the dragons are not that dangerous right now, 2 of them are asleep, while Kralka and Bubbles are not actively threatening us right now.

Rytlock’s trial? Not even a single word towards that since episode 2.

There’s nothing to be said about it. The trial is a scheduled thing, we will get word of it when it happens, and it could happen in episode 6, or the next expansion.

Amaimon.7823:

RabbitUp.8294:

I cringe every time I see someone suggesting Braham and the Norn should be the focus of the season finale. It’s easily the least important part of the story. Who cares if they fight Jormag anyway, they are only going to get themselves killed.

Because three three reasons, and yes, we all hate Braham

1, he has magical arrows believed to able to kill the Serpent now.
2, Taimi believes killing another Dragon can be catastrophically catalytic
3, Jormag is most likely knocked out at the moment

As a result, Braham is currently one of the biggest threats in the world because he still thinks with his unchanged diaper

That’s all based on the idea that Braham and a handful of Norns can cut their way through the Icebrood, reach the dragon and kill it.

This is not finale-worthy material. Jormag has been knocked out and we still haven’t received our plot ticket for Elona.

Yes, we might spent the first part of the episode going to Hoelbrack or some area up north, but to think that Braham (and this is not about hating Braham, it’s about the story) would be the ending of the season? That this plot thread deserves its own new map. Please.

Orr, and specifically Arah is the home of the Gods. We are fighting a God. I’m surprised there’s even any doubt as to why we are going to Orr.

I cringe every time I see someone suggesting Braham and the Norn should be the focus of the season finale. It’s easily the least important part of the story. Who cares if they fight Jormag anyway, they are only going to get themselves killed.

sorudo.9054:

RabbitUp.8294:

If you mean the launch-era trailers, they have nothing to do with “Living World”. The personal story is indeed affected by your choices, the ones you make at character creation and your choice of order.

yet in the end nothing affects the story, ether way the story barely to not changes whatever you choose.
i finally hat the time to get trough the 1:30 last mission (kill zaithan) and there was nothing to be found of my choices.

It affects the progression of the history, not the ending.

Expecting a personalised ending in an MMO where everyone shares the same story is quite delusional.

If you mean the launch-era trailers, they have nothing to do with “Living World”. The personal story is indeed affected by your choices, the ones you make at character creation and your choice of order.

Amaimon.7823:

RabbitUp.8294:

Amaimon.7823:

Hybarf Tics.2048:

LaCoria.8549:

Actually the design of the boat is very common to what you saw in the Bazaar of the Four Winds. Taking in mind that we’re going to be going to the Crystal Desert after LS3Ch6, it’s not unreasonable to think that we’ll see some of the Zephyrites, who’ve traversed the Crystal Desert to retrieve Aurene’s egg. It will probably be them that show us how to get into the desert and so on.

They don’t need to show us the way. As a matter of fact you don’t even need a boat to get there, all we need is for the queen to tell the guard in Ebonhawke to open the gate to the desert, and go trough on foot.

There’s kind of a reason there’s a wall with a closed gate. It makes sense to sail south from LA, then past the eastern shore of Orr, which is apparantly looking more vibrant in the teaser image, and connecting to Kourna in Elona. The Oasis map has a harbor town along the coast. That could very well be the starting point for us

We already know we are going to the Oasis on an airship.

how do you know about the airship? I’ve seen a lot of leaks but..
Don’t get me wrong, Airhsip is kind of the pact MO, so it’s very propable, but how do you know for sure?

Amaimon.7823:

Hybarf Tics.2048:

LaCoria.8549:

Actually the design of the boat is very common to what you saw in the Bazaar of the Four Winds. Taking in mind that we’re going to be going to the Crystal Desert after LS3Ch6, it’s not unreasonable to think that we’ll see some of the Zephyrites, who’ve traversed the Crystal Desert to retrieve Aurene’s egg. It will probably be them that show us how to get into the desert and so on.

They don’t need to show us the way. As a matter of fact you don’t even need a boat to get there, all we need is for the queen to tell the guard in Ebonhawke to open the gate to the desert, and go trough on foot.

There’s kind of a reason there’s a wall with a closed gate. It makes sense to sail south from LA, then past the eastern shore of Orr, which is apparantly looking more vibrant in the teaser image, and connecting to Kourna in Elona. The Oasis map has a harbor town along the coast. That could very well be the starting point for us

We already know we are going to the Oasis on an airship.

Rebound.3409:

It’s not about “finding the next game” …it’s about false advertisement. I understand him.

@op good part is this game doesn’t “tie” you to it…you can go on long breaks, come back and be as powerful as when you left it.

When and where was it advertised that gw2 is a game where individual choice affects the story? This is not a telltale game. And it’s an MMO on top of that, where thousands of players are sharing that story.

Cleansed Orr hype!

There’s nothing squishy about mesmer.

tigirius.9014:

Yep it’s not good.

First there’s no toughness included with the weapon equip of a 2h hammer or healing when it comes to melee. Most classes have either or, or some form of defense when fighting melee. In the case of my ranger he gets healed alot from that setup. My thief has alot of toughness and healing while doing damage, engis need this too as an option it simply doesn’t exist.

Second, there’s nothing on the skill list that causes a continuous blindness.

What are you talking about? Hammer has a block and projectile reflect. You want blinds? Use mortar and/or bomb kit. Most classes front even have continuous blinds to begin with, engi is lucky to have 2. You want healing, take the medpack trait.

Don’t blame the class for your shortcomings. You don’t need a specific setup to play open world pve.

Rodzynald.5897:

RabbitUp.8294:

And what’s mesmer giving up to have both great staying power and mobility/resseting fights?
It’s only in the guardian forum that everyone has their mind stuck on weak spots, meanwhile other classes are free to be good at everything.

RabbitUp.8294:

Mesmer doesn’t give up anything to have the things it has. Almost no other class has weak points, except Necro having limited mobility, but Necro still has 2 mini portals.

“what’s mesmer giving up to have both great staying power and mobility/resseting fights?”

“Mesmer doesn’t give up anything to have the things it has.”

I think someone shot his own foot :U

What I meant is that we all have to sacrifice slots for utilities and traits. But some traits and utilities are superior to those that others have just by the base concept of it. Which means I would rather use a teleport to escape rather than a block or stab to get roflstomped afterwards. This is just one example.
But the thing is, if we get such free teleports, how different will we be from mesmers or thieves? Soon we will hit power creep on such levels, that all 9 classes will be just different in names and colours of their abilities because everyone will be capable of everything. This is what some of us do not wish for, but might be the only thing to make us more viable.

I’m talking about the class’ potential, not a given build that has to make choices. To even think of saying that… I have no words. And there’s no contradiction at all in the things you quoted.

Guardian having a weak spot is not about the build. You cannot make a good mobile guardian build that resets fights regardless of your choices. You cannot make a good pve support build regardless of your choices. The class has holes that no build crafting can fill.

Mesmer on the other hand, as most other classes don’t have these glaring holes. It’s not about builds, it’s about what the class can do, what’s their potential.

Mesmer is lacking damage in pve only, but is compensated by being the most busted class that warps the whole pve meta around their finger. But guess what, dps is exactly what their next elite spec does. And everyone is welcoming with open arms.

Here in the guardian forums, we have people that are crossing their fingers that we don’t get a condi spec, and most would spaz out if we got more mobility. Even swiftness is a controversial topic. I’m done with this subforum, you just want the class to stay terrible.

Rodzynald.5897:

RabbitUp.8294:

And what’s mesmer giving up to have both great staying power and mobility/resseting fights?

It’s only in the guardian forum that everyone has their mind stuck on weak spots, meanwhile other classes are free to be good at everything.

Of course mesmer has to give what it takes, everyone has to. But it is the value that these utilities carry, they are kitten strong and worth the slot. Not to mention their CD reset. I think the following fact is enough. We do not see high end top guardians in PvP 1 or 3 is rather an exception to the rule. The higher I am in platinum, the fewer guardians I encounter, mostly because they can’t carry as well as other classes. Legendaries are teeming with mesmers, druids, thieves, elementalists or warriors who are either capable of everything at the same time or are just so powerful in one role that it is masterful in what it does (for example warrior’s power damage).
As for me, guardian lacks in meaningful utility that is sometimes just a QoL issue. I am aware that only power creep can set things right, as there is too late for gentle nerfs that would bring any good changes.

You answered then contradicted yourself. Mesmer doesn’t give up anything to have the things it has. Almost no other class has weak points, except Necro having limited mobility, but Necro still has 2 mini portals.

Rodzynald.5897:

RabbitUp.8294:

Mesmer can hold a point better and has access to portal. That been said, if it’s so worrysome, we have split balance for a reason, increase MI’s cooldown to 50s for pvp only.

This is the very concept of mesmer. If we compare a guardian and a mesmer on the same skill level, the mesmer will hold a point much longer than a guard. Why so? Evades and invulnerabilities are stronger than blocks. Blocks can be easily popped with pulsing AoE, corrupted, bypassed by unblockable or CC on the ground like necro marks, ring of warding etc…
Mesmer can reset fights and as I played for about 14 years focused on PvP I can say that a class that can reset a fight is the best skirmisher to fit almost every role besides support. However, that’s the mmorpg trinity, in gw2 it appears that mes can also support but in PvE, so he can do everything much better because of its sheer concept by which this class was created. This profession is strong by default and we can do nothing about it.
Why am I bringing this up? Because what you guys want is another power creep. I am confused myself what is better, it is easier to corrupt than it is to heal, thus Anet will only go more into power creep and never try nerfs on everything because it is too much work. The more possibilities a profession has, the harder it gets to balance it on the spectrum of every other class to make it feel right.
Guardian’s mobility is its weak spot, yet still it is fairly decent and depends on a few things. We are not meant to escape but to be the ones to run away from… too bad we are not like that in practice, besides being great noobstompers

And what’s mesmer giving up to have both great staying power and mobility/resseting fights?

It’s only in the guardian forum that everyone has their mind stuck on weak spots, meanwhile other classes are free to be good at everything.

If you are playing solo, then sure you can switch to strength and use fried dumplings as your food.

But in a group, you will be might capped most of the times from your teammates.

Sorem.9157:

Isnt this thread like 2 years late?

I think it is more relevant than ever. There’s only one balance patch left before the expansion, and then we get a new spec to compare it to. Two years ago, we didn’t know how balance patch would treat the spec or saw it in practice.

Takashiro.8701:

RabbitUp.8294:

Takashiro.8701:

Fashion Mage.3712:

Those classes use those abilities because they’re almost completely necessary for their survival in PvP. Most guardian builds do not need a blink to survive.

It doesn’t “need” to be generalized.

This. Mediocre mobility is really the only weak point guardian has at the moment. And similar to necro, it’s done on purpose. Not being top tier at everything is a good thing not a bad.

List me the weak points of other classes.

I think you missed the point.
What i was saying was that guardian excels in nearly anything it possibly could (in sPvP) with weak mobility being the compensation for their overall top tier performance.

If you’re suggesting that guardian is at a disadventage right now, as it’s the only class with a clear weak point, then tell me how and why it is and was dominating the pvp meta for months with no end in sight and how there are minimum 2 of them in each team, each match.

Guardians don’t need good mobility, they’re good enough as is.

Are you from a parallel universe?

Tongku.5326:

The effects are far more powerful then vanila but on longer CDs

Only Shield is on a longer cooldown, and that’s after the round of buffs for vanilla virtues. On HoT launch Justice was 25s to Spear’s 20s, and Resolve was 45s to Wings’ 30s.

I was using hammer and bomb kit back at launch, and flamethrower for tagging. I had no problems.

The fact that you are wearing medium armor means nothing, engi doesn’t have low health and hammer has very good survivability. Turrets are bad other than healing turret or riffle for the toolbelt.

Same with gyros, really, they are supportive abilities first and foremost. Stealth and medic are the only ones I would use.

Takashiro.8701:

Fashion Mage.3712:

Those classes use those abilities because they’re almost completely necessary for their survival in PvP. Most guardian builds do not need a blink to survive.

It doesn’t “need” to be generalized.

This. Mediocre mobility is really the only weak point guardian has at the moment. And similar to necro, it’s done on purpose. Not being top tier at everything is a good thing not a bad.

List me the weak points of other classes.

fashion.6712:

Its red and the Charr looks very berserkerish…its so fire themed also…

Except that warrior’s colour is yellow, not red. Spellbreaker is warrior’s spec, because the leaker said so, because the colours match, and because it makes absolutely no sense for warrior to get a holosmith spec, which is a strictly technological theme. Finally, the iconic engineer used for the class promo shots is a charr, while the warrior is a black norn.

The pinkish orange hue is engineer’s colour.

Famine.7915:

That is like a necro asking for an instant cast Flesh Wurm.

It’s not, though. Flesh Wurm is a mini portal and doesn’t rely on other players to work. Merciful Intervention is just Lightning Flash with healing instead of damage and should work like that.

That been said, I don’t see what the problem with changing Flesh Wurm would be.

Mesmer can hold a point better and has access to portal. That been said, if it’s so worrysome, we have split balance for a reason, increase MI’s cooldown to 50s for pvp only.

I agree with the ending. Hopefully firebrand will be compatible with this playstyle.

Coolguy.8702:

“With this change, running both Merciful Intervention and Judge’s intervention would mean a 2400 teleport without a cast time. Finding an enemy to teleport to is easy enough in all game modes, having an unconditional teleport on top of this would be too strong.”

And you are using 2/3 of your utility slots to accomplish that. Your build is incredibly squishy.

Meanwhile, thief can move 1200*2+900*2=4200 with Steal, Shadowstep and shortbow #5, and then return back for another 4200+. Revs can spam the Shiro skill multiple times.

Fashion Mage.3712:

Mesmers are a class focused around utility so Blink is also a given.

What are guardians focused around if not utility?

And mesmers had the best bunker build in the game for a long while, and at the same time have very viable condi and power burst builds.

I don’t think MI is weak at all. If it gets turned into a proper blink, everyone is gonna use it and then the healing is gonna get majorly cut as a result. It should be left as a way to get to an ally who needs support.

That’s easy, just switch the skill around. The shadowstep is the guaranteed part, while the healing requires an ally in range.

Personally, I would use sword over mace. Mace is cool, but the lower damage might make fights feel like a drag.

Dragonhunter is very straightforward, it prioritises damage over anything else. Take all the damage increasing traits (Piercing Light, Zealot’s Aggression, Big Game Hunter).

The new virtues are cool, use the spear on cooldown for more damage, and if you are using the Zeal traitline, it recharges on kill, so you can open with it all the time and when switching from one target to another.

Procession of Blades is a highly damaging utility, a big change from guardian’s other abilities that are mostly defensive/supportive. The other traps are not as cool for pve, with only Test of Faith coming close.

Fashion Mage.3712:

Mesmers and eles are completely different classes.

Thief also has it, with a return option bundled in. Necro has a slower version with other perks.

What’s so different about guardian compared to 4 other classes?

The problem is that not only support guardians would be using it if it was buffed. Meditation guardians would obviously use it 100% of the time.

I wouldn’t use it over Judge’s Intervention on burn guard.

I’m hoping for it, too.

At the very least, f they don’t make that change, it should get a greatly reduced cooldown when it fails to shadowstep, like 3-4 seconds.

http://qtfy.eu/build/guardian/

You can use the hammer build from the link, you get permanent protection from your autoattack symbol, and some healing from Writ of Persistence.

You can use Receive the Light as your heal for group healing.

Instead of Writ, you can use Pure of Voice and Feel my Wrath, but make sure to grab somd cheap +20% boon duration food. You can also change your runes to get boon duration from there, like full Runes of the Water or 4 Runes of the Traveler + 2 platinum doubloons.

I’m not sure what you are trying to do exactly. Making yourself more tanky won’t help your teammates. Either you use defensive skills that help them, or you go the healing route.

Perma-protection is a big help, and you can get it from hammer guardian, druid with Stone Spirit + trait, or the Minster chrono build.

As a dragonhunter, you can do things like pop F3 and carry the whole boss fight if the group dps is high enough, but it doesn’t seem like that’s what you are after. I think you would get better results playing a standard healer druid.

I don’t see the point in removing the summoning aspect. Then, they become standard spells, and in a lot of ways, very similar to our existing utilities, like Wall of Reflection.

The problem with them is their extremely low uptime.

Scepter has the same bug.

Shield has some niche uses, because it’s basically a 30 second block, with very few gaps. I use it in Uncategorized Fractal to block the projectiles of the asura boss and it usually lasts the whole fight while we kill the golems.

Just look at the heal modifiers rev is getting.

Force of Will I think is ok, could be 1.5% per 100, but more importantly, I want Signet of Mercy to be a 15% heal modifier. 180 healing power is trash.

Guardian always had a strong zealot theme, so it was never the goody paladin of other fantasy worlds.

Fashion Mage.3712:

I honestly can’t comprehend why some people think the mace is a better healing weapon than the staff; it has its strong points, but allied healing is not one of them.

Anet is among those people, judging by the traits. And it’s not like staff is that much better at healing anyway.

I honestly hope they rework mace into a self-defensive weapon next xpac.

A mechanic I want to see on firebrand is boon smiting. Mesmer does another important job for the group by removing boons, so that’s another problem if firebrand ever hopes to compete with chrono.

Boon smiting is a very fitting way for guardian to provide that utility. Guardian smites a boon on the target, converting it into burning. So, it’s like a specific version of boon corruption.

Mantras would be a good way to introduce that effect, with a mantra that smites a boon with each charge.

Another thing, that’s a bit of a pipe dream, is Righteous Indignation. Either that, or an AoE version of Infuse Light would be thematic ways for guardian to compete with AoE distort.

TheSwede.9512:

RabbitUp.8294:

TheSwede.9512:

Assuming that the “Support” trinity of raids is currently Chrono/Druid/Berserker, what if the next set of Especs fills a similar role but in different ways.

Say that Firebrand can apply Quickness, Might and Healing. Then perhaps Holosmith can apply Invulnerability and Alacrity, while Scourge provides group-wide DPS-increase with unique Debuffs and Life-steal Buffs equivalent of GotL.

You could then run a Chrono/Druid/PS setup, or a Firebrand/Holosmith/Scourge setup.

Now, you might say “But GotL is still a unique set-up!” but what’s to say that Soulbeast isn’t a really powerful DPS spec? Enough so that it competes with other high-end DPS specs currently out. Sure, you could bring BOTH a Soulbeast and a Druid, but at some point having too many Team Buffers over actual DPS just loses out. We’ll see how the meta changes once the Xpac hits.

Soulbeast won’t be able to apply GotL, and ranger already has a top dps build as base condi ranger. That build can provide spirits and spotter to 5 people. So, you can have 2 druids, or 1 druid+1 cranger. I honestly see Soulbeast being the new scrapper, a pvp-focused spec.

But this is exactly what I don’t want, for firebrand to be nothing but the crowbar to break the meta comp with. I want groups to take firebrand because of the things it offers, not because it does a good enough job imitating chrono.

Cranger can’t apply GotL either though, as it uses only Core Specs to get the job done. I was suggesting that, if Soulbeast turns out to be a Power Spec, it’d allow Rangers to deal competative DPS on Power Builds as well. Daggers typically have fast animations, resulting in high DPS and/or Condition Application, after all.

I didn’t meant to imply cranger has GotL. My point is Soulbeast doesn’t matter as much for the meta, because there’s already a condi dps build. Sure, build variety and such, but the point is that 1 druid can already be replaced by a dps spec.

Unless you meant if 2 Soulbeasts do so much damage that they make up for having no GotL at all, which I don’t see happening, or not getting nerfed if it did.

But back to the topic at hand: I do not doubt that Firebrand will bring something new to the table. ANet can introduce new mechanics as they see fit, including ones outside of the box that we as players aren’t even thinking of. But the more new Supportive effects that are included, the more players are going to have to choose between them and eventually, one of the effects will become meta and people will stick to that.

Honestly, I wish I was as optimistic. I started that way too, when I saw the leaks, but the extra rumours I hear are not reassuring. Everyone is talking about the quickness stacking only, and it’s not like guardian has a tradition of bringing unique support. Ranger and Mesmer already had unique things before HoT (spirits, spotter, distort, portal), the only thing guardian has is the worst of the +150 traits.

I love the hypocrisy of saying Ele doesn’t have enough blast finishers when the entire guardian profession has 3, and one of them on a spirit weapon.

If Spirit weapons weren’t in this state, we could see new ones in elite specs. Like, we are getting mantras, so imagine a mantra that summons a spirit dagger with each charge.

TheSwede.9512:

Assuming that the “Support” trinity of raids is currently Chrono/Druid/Berserker, what if the next set of Especs fills a similar role but in different ways.

Say that Firebrand can apply Quickness, Might and Healing. Then perhaps Holosmith can apply Invulnerability and Alacrity, while Scourge provides group-wide DPS-increase with unique Debuffs and Life-steal Buffs equivalent of GotL.

You could then run a Chrono/Druid/PS setup, or a Firebrand/Holosmith/Scourge setup.

Now, you might say “But GotL is still a unique set-up!” but what’s to say that Soulbeast isn’t a really powerful DPS spec? Enough so that it competes with other high-end DPS specs currently out. Sure, you could bring BOTH a Soulbeast and a Druid, but at some point having too many Team Buffers over actual DPS just loses out. We’ll see how the meta changes once the Xpac hits.

Soulbeast won’t be able to apply GotL, and ranger already has a top dps build as base condi ranger. That build can provide spirits and spotter to 5 people. So, you can have 2 druids, or 1 druid+1 cranger. I honestly see Soulbeast being the new scrapper, a pvp-focused spec.

But this is exactly what I don’t want, for firebrand to be nothing but the crowbar to break the meta comp with. I want groups to take firebrand because of the things it offers, not because it does a good enough job imitating chrono.

Here are my predictions, aka the worst timeline.

Instead of making a spec that stands on its own feet, Firebrand will be anet’s attempt to break the druid+mesmer meta.

So, firebrand will have 2 possible builds: a “condiPS” for quickness, i.e. ~20k dps and perma quickness stacking, and a healer/tank that stacks quickness. Druid and mesmers will still be run at 1, but firebrand will not provide any unique buffs of its own, so it will be an alternative, but not a raid staple.

Mesmer will retain its monopoly on aoe invulnerabilty, but either engi’s holosmith or necro’s scourge will get a clone of portal.

More specifically about firebrand. Each tome will have a symbol, F1 pulses quickness, F2 resistance, F3 stability. The first will be the cornerstone of the spec, along with a mantra that grants quickness and Feel my Wrath.

Axe will not have a symbol, the logic being that if have access to axe, you also have access to tomes to get symbols from.

They can introduce a new terrestrial weapon, call it a lance, and just have it share skins with spear. I don’t think a straight port would happen, especially for the legendaries, whose effects won’t even work on land.

Spear is plenty fitting on guardian, doesn’t mean it will happen for guardian first. Resistance and taunt were very thematic for the class, so of course we didn’t get them.

I just remembered, Guardian has Pillar of Light on their trident, just copy that visual as a ground-targeted skill for the new Ray of Judgment.

New weapons won’t happen, but polearms can be land spears, using those skins. Though, I’m pretty sure guardian won’t be the class that debutes land spears, probably warrior.

If we are talking about ending it early and still getting the virtues back, then “cancel” is not the right word.

You don’t have to use the bow to be a dragonhunter. You take the dps increasing traits and the good traps; Procession of Blades is a must, then if you don’t want to use a situational utility for the fight (Wall of Reflection, or a shout), then you also take Test of Faith.

You choice of weapons is correct.

In any case, this is more of a l2p issue. Don’t pop it when you are loaded with condis, and use your defences before you are condi bombed, not to buy time afterwards. Or just cleanse before going invulnerable, or even during with CoP.

You can stow your weapon to cancel it.

Dodging or swapping weapons work too, but that’s wasting limited resources.

Sword is better solo due to fury, but Scepter can be used when you need range. In parties, when there are other sources of fury, scepter is better.