Guild Wars 2

I would just run crithammer build linked in the stickies, I like the 0/0/30/30/10 version for swapping between improved consecrations and longer lasting spirit weapons. Wall of Reflection and the Shield are big winners in Fractals.

I found this works well too
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAS7dlUg6CnDSLEg4ERmCWKSMFYE+XPcIFZIA

Seren.6850:

just out of curiosity to those have a healing ele and a healing guardian, what heals does the ele have thats better than the tome of courage, how are the cooldowns on all ele heals compared to guardians heals. How does the way ele heals use targeting compare to guardians.

With scepter and water attunement you can spam heals. They tend to target an area.

Nothing like Tome of Courage.

I highly reccomend switching to Monk’s Focus. It works just as well… better for pug situations as you have stronger healing running away. I like it better because of its better condition removal through contemplation of purity and stronger burst healing. It is a lot more fun buildwise as you don’t need Empowering Might or any of the Honor tree if you don’t want it. I run 0/15/30/20/5 and it works great. Major Drawback is you offer little group support.

Toolbox.9375:

And that’s with the build focuses I mentioned, or just in general? Unfortunately, I have a teammate that uses Guardian with Spirit Weapons, and I’d rather not step on his toes. X)

More guardians on one team the better.

Guardians are more effective up front. Even if you go with a high healing build you should be up front near guys who really need healing.

1. Supply Camps generate supply as you hold them. Remove the 100 supply they have on capture. This simple move would make supply far more tactical and force good servers to dezerg and protect them.

2. Rank and Skills progression unique to wvw. Skills that improve group mobility, range of siege, more durable siege, things unique to wvw. Some reason to collect skill points and rank in wvw. High rank players could purchase rank which would allow them to form larger and larger groups. Top level players would have a little badge ffor heir side to group on, like a real commander not a TP commander.

3. Lower the badge cost of current gear. Make more stat combo’s available than pvt.

4. Nerf thief stealth and bring spvp for thief nerfs to wvw.

5. Tweak the match up system so it makes sense.

Rares need to drop more. Spikes need to be worth more. That is all really. Let’s not go all crazy being victims.

If I play for a couple hours I should get a rare, as I would get a few grinding pve mobs. Simply increase yheir chance to drop off players. That way people won’t go there to farm animals.

Amins.3710:

Problem w/ Bloodlust in PvP/WvW is that you rarely have 25 stacks of it ever up and I would rather take 5% Dmg from Force Sigil than Bloodlust. For PvE it’s great, no doubt.

That is about what I have when I have 25 stacks of might from “Block gives Might” (ie: shelter).

Yeah but you could put the sigil on another weapon and swap when you run into foes. Get the benefits of both.

I am kinda curious how one gets that much power.

You have to be aggressive with mesmers. Go right after them. You have to agis or dodge the shatters. If you time WW right you can cut most of them down before being shattered. Its going to be pretty risky either way. The times I catch the mesmer with the gs 5 pull, I usually win. The times I don’t, you’re dead.

Start gs 5, use ji, pull mesmer to you. WW and voj.

Ah seems about right now, in fact it seems a bit underpowered.

A couple patches ago boons were nerfed to apply to only 5 people.
Recently, vigor was nerfed.

Before it was very powerful, now not so much. Still strong but definitely not OP.

I run 20/20/0/20/10 in spvp picking up 2h mastery and all the spirit weapon skills.
Between the hammer 4 and 5, the spirit hammer and gs 5, I have a ton of cc and burst like crazy.

What are the stats on your weapons? Beserker or Knight’s weapons might bring you more crit.

Basically you want 40% + crit with food and oil.

I’d look at Runes of the Pack to help get your power and crit up as well as the speed boosts. The rest of your gear is probably fine. Maybe swap out a piece or two to knight’s if your still not +40% with food.

I think he meant 2.8k armor.

Dual.8953:

Relentliss.2170:

Tulisin.6945:

Relentliss.2170:

I would argue that this game has copied Moba game’s mechanics. In Moba games there are items that weaken stealth. If there were none of these items, as there are in this game, everyone would have to go tank or stealth themselves just to survive. And this is exactly what has happened. Clearly, stealth in its present form is OP and culling is being abused terribly, making it worse.

How do you envision a stealth counter mechanic? I think something similar to a stunbreak is in order. If someone wants to use a utility slot to counteract one use of a thief’s stealth, that wouldn’t be out of line. The problem is that the majority of counter stealth mechanic suggestions are akin to “stealth goes away if the thief takes damage”, which easily negates the whole mechanic for almost zero opportunity cost.

No regain Initiative during stealth
Remove stealth from some weapon abilities, make it tied more to class skills, thus giving it a CD

done

Congratulations, you’ve successfully made BS burst specs and DB Condition build’s thief’s only viable specs, effectively forcing all thieves to go D/D if they want to perform effectively.

Don’t see how it would. That is all people run anyways. Would fix a lot of issues. Not sure how its fair that every other class in the game must run a tank spec just because your OP… fix one class to make all the others better.

To go further.
Bring the theif nerfs from spvp to WvW.
Make spamming any ability cost more and more initiative with each cast removing HS spam.

TBH the reason the other weapons are not used is because they are only 1.5x better than everyone else’s and not 3x like the daggers.

Tulisin.6945:

Relentliss.2170:

I would argue that this game has copied Moba game’s mechanics. In Moba games there are items that weaken stealth. If there were none of these items, as there are in this game, everyone would have to go tank or stealth themselves just to survive. And this is exactly what has happened. Clearly, stealth in its present form is OP and culling is being abused terribly, making it worse.

How do you envision a stealth counter mechanic? I think something similar to a stunbreak is in order. If someone wants to use a utility slot to counteract one use of a thief’s stealth, that wouldn’t be out of line. The problem is that the majority of counter stealth mechanic suggestions are akin to “stealth goes away if the thief takes damage”, which easily negates the whole mechanic for almost zero opportunity cost.

No regain Initiative during stealth
Remove stealth from some weapon abilities, make it tied more to class skills, thus giving it a CD

done

Tulisin.6945:

Magiofdeath.2745:

My main problem with thieves is that they can stealth mid-combat with very little cooldown in between stealths. Even another MMO I’ve played that shall remain un-named had better balancing for thieves/rogues. In that MMO, there were very few skills where they could stealth mid combat and they were on long cooldowns. I was just against a thief that was stealthing every 10 secs or so. That’s just asinine. In PvP in this game, thief seems the carebear class, because all you have to do is stab ppl in the back for 15k+ dmg and stealth every 10 secs.

The problem is that you’re bringing in conceptions from other games and classes that work entirely differently. In the context of GW2, stealth is not a long-term limited-use skill used to set up ambushes or open combat. Stealth is a short duration combat tool that grants access to from-stealth attacks, prevents targeting, and can be traited for other short-term benefits. In other games, stealth usually means you can’t directly attack the stealthed person, whereas in GW2 it just means you have to aim your attacks instead of letting tab-target’s autoaim do it for you. “Stealthing every 10 seconds or so” sounds powerful if you impress upon it your notions of what stealth is from other games (an expensive and powerful mechanic), when in GW2 it is every 10 seconds for a 3 second effect that doesn’t even prevent damage.

Could GW2 stealth be converted into a stealth system similar to those found in other games? Sure. But that’d also mean GW2’s stealth would need to gain things like 100 % evasion to direct attacks, from-stealth attacks would have to be massively buffed to account for the new rarity of stealth, stealth traits would need buffs for the same reason, etc. Of course, people don’t actually want that, they want stealth to be as rare and expensive as it is in some other games while continuing to be as weak and short-term as it is in GW2.

I would argue that this game has copied Moba game’s mechanics. In Moba games there are items that weaken stealth. If there were none of these items, as there are in this game, everyone would have to go tank or stealth themselves just to survive. And this is exactly what has happened. Clearly, stealth in its present form is OP and culling is being abused terribly, making it worse.

All of the +5% damage traits need to be coupled with something else to make them worthwhile. Eg +5% damage and +5% crit, or 5% damage and lifesteal, or 5% damage and cd reduction, a lot of the warrior traits work like this

The grandmaster traits are weak compared to other classes. Some are ok, but most look like master or even adept traits.

We need more ways to heal. I’m pretty much stuck going 30 valor for any decent build. Eg in the honor traitline you could have a shouts heal ability just like the warriors. In virtue you could have a regen added to any virtue you pop.

The spirit weapon traits could be combined into 3 making spirit weapons more viable.

Basically, combine some weak traits to make nice traits. Make better grandmaster traits.

Ignoring numbers, WvW is about strategy not skill. Getting the right number of people in the right spot at the right time > pushing the right button at the right time.

Bunzy.8674:

To Yaks Bend and Ehmry Bay,

When you see the OG guild tag, what is your normal response to this?

Just curious.

We just laugh.

Survivability, burst and mobility… trying to get the most out of all three in WvW.

I find them quite fun in spvp, a bit meh elsewhere.

What do people see as optimal?

Would I do similar overall damage with pvt armor and power cranked to the max? Or is there a huge drop off? I find it hard to tell in WvW. Believe it or not people actually hit me in combat, thieves would cut me to shreds without a decent amount of survivability.

Atm I run ~2900 attack and armor, 45-50% crit, 16000+ health and about 60-65% crit damage.

How important is it?

How much is needed?

Jinks.2057:

Every server has gotten xfers.

Its funny to see Yak’s complain about DB off hours coverage when they themselves can only win in this tier due to this. Last week we saw DB stifle their off hour advantage…They lost the match

The winner wasn’t DB tho….it was Mag.

Interesting

Mag won on acount of us getting no points during a time period where we typically have a strong presence – db’s asian forces are massive, our oceanics have always been better than average. To me alls fair. We don’t match up well in a Mag DB match up, tough luck.

xxxzavulonxxx.8413:

ChapDev.7650:

RockonHarder.7235:

Archer.1658:

xxxzavulonxxx.8413:

Lol, I wonder what these EBayers who are snippy will think next week when they face Dragonbrand.

I think you have forgotten we utterly crushed them before. Not to say they haven’t changed since then.

We have… you faced us when we had just lost 1000 people to SoS. it will be a different fight this time. We will be the underdogs and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Hah I like that attitude, WvWvW needs more people like you in it who will fight against the numbers.

Lolwut?

DB will have YB and EB outmanned for large periods of time…. I wouldn’t be surprised if they win.

This is so true. YB population matches up terrible to DB.

I’d be interested in seeing the result of a CD DB match up.

Hats off to both our foes this week. Been loving the open field skirmishing around the southern supply camps this weekend. Had some simply epic battles.

Recently.1043:

The fact that every team guardian is required whereas most teams don’t even want a warrior should tell you all you need to know about the respective powers of these classes in pvp. Guardian is arguably the only required class to have in tpvp to be successful.

and wvw is not real pvp. you can roll whatever the hell you want in wvw and succeed.

Imho spvp matters very little. Its not real pvp in that it only allows two types of builds or playstyles. You build either bunker or burst and since guardian is a good bunker it will be preferred. Warrior is more veratile and performs more roles in WvW and does some of them much better.

Ojimaru.8970:

Lolol… Yak’s Bend Borderlands has finished casting the ultimate protection spell.

So that’s what that spell does.

Rich.5371:

I have a 74 guardian and was wondering if at 80 would it be worth it to balance ALL attributes? I feel like guardian is the only class that could pull it off, to be the jack of all trades since you can heal, tank and dps all decently.

Not to mention you could save yourself the trouble of switching gear/builds

Mixing knights and valkarie or pvt and beserkers will balance you out.

Xyvius.1679:

Literally the only thing Warriors have over Guardians is 100b and Signet of Rage. Other than that, Guardian trumps them very hard.

They also have viable ranged options. Which is a pretty huge advantage.

I really like the guardian leap abilities. Its the main reason I have stuck with my guardian.

The pistol dagger thieves can kill you. They just disappear and kite repeatedly. They are best avoided. They are really only a gank spec, well practiced and not much good for anything else, so just avoid them. D/d thieves are not a lot of problem, generally.

I have a feeling both badges and karma will be used to purchase materials to make ascended gear. Like you, I would like some clarification.

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Isn’t Blind exposure some crappy amount of vulnerability for a really short period of time? Like 3 stacks for 5 seconds or something like that. Not really worth it considering to get those 20 points in Radiance, you are giving up 10 points in Zeal, which is 5% flat damage from power boost and 10% from Fiery Wrath. You’re only getting a 5% crit rate boost and a tiny boost from vulnerability for a very short time in exchange for that. Renewed Justice won’t even activate that much since PvP. Even in PvE it’s silly to give up a 15% constant damage boost in exchange for sometimes having a 5% damage boost.

I am firing Virtue of Justice off a lot… much more than expected.

With the changes to blinds and vulnerability, hitting 6 targets with Leap of Faith applies an 18 stack of vulnerability to all of them, same with voj… unless I misread something. So your WW does a lot of damage. Its burstier. Maybe less damage over all, but more burst.

ColinJohanson.2394:

It’s worth noting, while they said we’re not working on new versions of the home maps currently, they didn’t say anything about new maps in general…..

Also I’ll throw out that the work our WvW guys are doing on culling and progression systems are extremely large, these are feature systems unto themselves. For example a lot of the culling work requires re-building almost entirely the way our game compiles, loads, and handles assets in general. For many companies, this task could literally years, we’re trying to pull it off in a matter of months, these guys are rock stars.

I know some of you got the impression there isn’t much development going on here, but I was to clarify you couldn’t be more wrong. There is a boat load of very serious WvW being done, much of it they discussed in this interview. Major features require many month long projects, our hope is you’ll start seeing the major fruits of those labors starting in our February update.

You’ll hear more details from our WvW team once stuff gets closer to finalized and tested, but we think you’re going to be thrilled with the stuff that’s coming. As an old DAoC fan, I’m freaking stoked about what these guys are doing.

My big problem is that you designed a system with such a massive flaw, culling, to begin with. Especially, considering WvW was a major selling point and a massive part of your end game from day one.

The culling fix made culling worse for lots of players. It was removed for a reason.

I really like the 15 or 20 points in radiance so I can use voj more. The 20 points lets you take blind exposure which really stacks up. Using voj triggers a lot of damage.

I am not sold on beserker gear. It would be fine for 1v1 but I am copping a lot of ranged and aoe damage. Depends on your situation I guess. If I was playing with a couple other warriors or guardians who were actually meleing, it might be fine.

My problem with this playstyle is my allies are not worth guarding. Most are up levelled toons with pve builds who run from a stiff breeze. But I enjoyed your video and it seems you were very effective within your group. Well done.

I like it better than most mmos on account of there being no trinity.

I give it a 5 out of 10. In contrast, I give Aion a 0, WOW a 3, Rift a 5, Warhammer a 6. Warhammers high score is on account of some really good maps and games. Its class balance was garbage.

Things I would add
-Different game modes
-real world xp to attract players
- more class diversity
- the bunker vs cannon meta is not interesting

As to the bunker vs cannon meta, when you copy a Moba game this is what you get I guess

Garathorn.7341:

Raincrow.1840:

Don’t like the idea of players getting stronger over time though. Unbalances the game for new players. Ranks and titles are good though.

It’s not about giving uber benefits, but something that will give You a feeling of progress past ten and for ex. allow You to tune Your character better. For ex:

10 kills – 1stat point
50 kills – 2 stat points
1000 kills- 5 stats
and so on. I don’t think that adding like 100 more total stats will unbalance the game, but will be something worthy of fighting for.

Each PvP rank should have it’s distinct sign, so You can recognize players PvP deeds at first look.

I disagree on the increased stat points.

Instead, I’d like to see Rank alow you to form larger groups. Ie a rank 1 player 5 people, rank 3 player 10, rank 6 player 15, rank 9 player 20, rank 10 25.

When you get to max rank you can turn on a tag, like a commanders tag but a different color. Those would be people’worth following.

As to spec. Play what you like. 0/15/30/20/5 is one of my 2 favourites and works just as well with AH as Monks Focus.

The tool tip is unclear. Most people assume you take no damage and send it back to your foe. Like wall of reflection or the warrior shield when traited.

Technically I have been told immobilise is the way to deal with them, but they seem under perma stability.

There seems to be nothing you can do to them. You can’t damage or cc them meanwhile they pummel you with various abilities.

Pvt armor
Runes of speed
Knights weapons
Emerald jewellery
Sigil of hydromancy

This should give you 17k plus health. 3200 plus armor and attack. And around 40% crit with food.

I love it the big update and progression will likely be 1 vendor selling Ascended Rings and Backpieces at ludicrous prices.

Retaliation is poorly worded.

0/15/30/20/5

AH
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARSlYg6CnFyvDfIFRuA7DEETBGh/1DHSRGC

Monks
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARSlYg6CnFyvDfIFRuA7DEETBGz41DISxGC

This is the do everything build. It really is the starting point for most builds. Variations depend on your own playstyle. If you are alone or in pvp, I prefer Monks…doing a dungeon ah. You can use whatever weapons you want… I prefer Hammer and GS.

I also have 1h weapons done up with signets of blood and it works just fine.

There are no new ideas. We are pigeon holed into a couple of builds.

How to deal with dd eles? The good ones. I can’t seem to touch them.

I had a lot of success running sword/torch and mace/focus. Could take almost any non champion mob. Maybe even champs if i was a better dodger

No new maps. This alone is frustrating in the extreme. The current maps are too small, which promotes zerging, and having 3 identical maps is lame. This alone is quite worrying and shows how out of touch they are.