Guild Wars 2

Zaklex.6308:

Jekkt.6045:

currently you’re able to spend points in all the lines simultaneously, the most popular build using this would be medi guard with 0/1/6/1/6.

by forcing us to spend all our points in 3 lines only this will cut down build diversity and is imo not a good thing.

a response by a dev would be appreciated.

Forget the points, they will be gone, instead you can accumulate as many as you want, and spend them any way you want, only instead of choosing which 3 lines to spend in, you have to choose which 3 lines you will specialize in(because you can only spec 3 at a time, out of 5, but eventually you could max all 5, then imagine the possibilities).

Hmm…“you could max all 5”? Please let me know if I am wrong, but regardless if you max all 5 lines, you still can only use 3 at a time. Whereas now you can diversify points in all 5 lines however you want (albeit not always optimal).

Zaklex.6308:

This is pointless, reread the blog post…trait points will be non-existent…that is one of the reasons they’re going from 5 -3 trait lines. Also, if you had bothered to read both blog posts, when you chose your Elite specialization you can chose to use the other 2 trait lines that you couldn’t use the first time. You can choose 3 of the 5 lines, without having to put points in them…that is what it says. The rest you can argue about until you’re blue in the face.

Hmm…I don’t understand this. Whether there are points to spend or not, you still are forced to use traits in only those 3 lines you choose. Whereas now you can diversify into all five. That’s why so many are upset.

Also, it appears there will be only nine major traits per line, and yet you can only choose one of three per tier.

DevilLordLaser.8619:

ArenaNet’s been working to get as far away from the Guild Wars 1 hundreds-of-skills mess as they can since GW2 released. This is the next step in the cycle.

Anyone with at least one point spent in Observation can tell what ArenaNet’s ideal is – they want to trade in number of choices for impact of choice. In the minds of the current GW2 dev team, given a choice between one choice with impact value 6 on a character (work with me here, kitten it :p), or six choices, each with impact value 1, they will go for the single choice every time.

This is mostly because we all remember what a balancing nightmare GW1 was. If they slim down to what are, essentially, traditional RPG skilltree systems in these new ‘Specialization’ bars, then they can restrict the interplay of choices a player can make and therefore do a stronger job of balancing things. No longer could someone go, say, 2/6/2/1/3 in order to get just the right combination of offbeat effects to produce something wholly unanticipated or undesired on ArenaNet’s part. Nope – now every gets to pick three different 6’s, no more half-treeing, but in turn ArenaNet can make the trees you do get to pick more powerful because they don’t have to worry about players mixing bits and pieces of all five(six) lines into one ridiculous whole…..

This is absolutely correct…but they did this in WOW and I hated it.

Galeskyring.9617:

Kaleban.9834:

Instead of everyone hammering on Gale, look at what it means for builds.

Yes, there IS a possibility of more build diversity by divorcing stats from traits, BUT how many people max out, say Air Magic for the Precision, rather than Fresh Air? I’d wager most people select traits based on the trait, not stats, so that’s a non-issue.

The main point as I see it is that this flowchart style of trait selection won’t allow players to “double up” on traits as we’ve done in the past. Slotting a Master level trait in a Grandmaster slot has been common practice because many traits are useless, non-functional, or both. Players also tend to spread out trait points, for the express purpose of maxing DPS, survivability or both, usually ending up with builds that max one line at 6, have another (or two) at 4, and a couple with 2. Sometimes going 1, 3 or 5 points is also acceptable, and even optimal based on what traits are selected.

Now what this means at launch and in the long run is that ANet is going to have to re-work and re-balance EVERY single selectable trait in every single traitline for every single profession to make selecting 1 out of 3 traits a meaningful choice. If one has to choose between a 20% damage/<33% health trait like Bolt to the Heart and a Precision converted to Healing Power: 7% trait like Soothing Winds, its not much of a choice.

With their current and past track record of, for lack of a better term, “mishandling” profession balance and bug fixes, I don’t have a lot of hope that yet another new system of progressive unlocking is either viable or healthy for the game. The NPE was a clear mistake, and rather than just revert to the original system which, as far as I know, no one complained about, we’re getting ANOTHER system that likely won’t be playtested, come with multiple bugs, and may make balancing professions even more of a nightmare, AND take longer between iterative patches.

So while I hold out hope for ANet, pragmatically I can’t believe they’re serious. Its a nice GUI (maybe someone’s been playing a little FF), but functionality of traits should be paramount.

THANK YOU! someone who understands!

An example of this is the common Medi Guardian Build 0/1/6/1/6. In this build it is not unusual to use an adept or master trait in the grandmaster slot on the last line (Virtues).

Sometimes as a player you don’t want to use all six points in a line because the grandmaster slot isn’t worth it, even if there are 12 choices.
Now it seems we will be forced into using 6 points, and in the grandmaster slot, we will only be able to choose one of three (unless I’m reading it wrong, which is a strong possibility).

These changes are eerily similar to the changes made in WOW to their talent trees.

Aren’t cele Engi’s a pretty hard counter…I can’t beat them for nothing. Could just be me however.

I tried out Tage’s build from the last tournament yesterday, 01616, pack and berserker. I was actually pleasantly surprised. I still don’t think we bring much to the table, but it’s better than I thought.

I don’t know, I just feel like we have to put in two times the effort as compared to other classes in order to get the same outcome. Maybe it’s just me.

lol….not crying for buffs necessarily. But I watched the last tournament and have been playing the class for a while. For the past 1 1/2 years you players have been saying, “guardians are in a good spot.” You were saying that when we were designated bunkers with no other feasible options (wow, so fun), and now you are saying the same thing now that we can’t hang bunkering, but are “ok” at med (again, no other feasible options).

The support you talk about as med is worthless if can’t escape a coordinate focus fire from the other team (which happened to Tage), and is also worthless in a 1 v 1. It’s glass or a poor man’s bunker, not much else.

If you are happy with this mediocrity, then you are entitled to your opinion. I’ll state my opinion and that’s the end of it. No need to put words in my mouth.

Harbinger.8637:

I know people don’t want to hear it, but Guardian is in a good spot. Yes, there are small tweaks and QoL changes I feel that are needed, nevertheless, Guardian has a number of viable builds and roles that can be used competitively.

“A number of viable builds.” Do you mean AH and med. Because last I checked AH is on the back burner because it can’t do any damage like Engis and Ele’s. And med is ok, but other classes can fulfill the burst role better because they have escape mechanisms and can travel from point to point faster.

If you continue to advance this belief that guardians “are in a good spot,” I swear we will never excel and continue to be placed on the bottom of the priority list.

Are you kidding me….so because one player had some success with a medi/hammer build that’s now considered meta. Please…. the truth of the matter is guardians are a dying class in the current “meta.” Our representation was low in the last tournament.

Panites.6798:

First off i don’t claim to be any part of a good player, i’m terrible. I am bad at rotations and play from a couch so i’m not in the most attention focused position i could be in.

I feel after numerous pvp games on guardian (373 ranked 422 unranked) that i have either fell out of guardian or have just been going at it the wrong way. Playing guardian be it bunker, medi or what ever, i just get beaten by most players now days. Sure i can get into the zone and hit all my buttons correctly and get a few kills, but in most 1v1 match ups against most builds these days i feel lackluster.

Shoutbow, d/d ele, engis even a shatter mesmer or d/p thief. They can all usually beat me unless i get my burst in earlier than they expect or they don’t see it coming. All thesé classes have a way of mitigating my damage of getting out of it the same as i can but with better survival and situational skills.

They either kite me, CC me, outright overpower me or go invis/leave. From playing most classes i get the feeling that you really need to press your 1 key as a guardian now days and stay on targets. If i don’’t do this i’m basically screwed as i am applying no pressure which helps all these classes.

Is it the meta taking over or i have just not adapted to how people are playing these builds? It makes me want to even change to say a ranger or necro to try something that has different mechanics and not two singular paths, shouts or medis.
And i have played guardian from release.

Do i just need to get into these 1v1 servers again and get muscle memory back on how to take on each class and build? Or is it more of an attitude thing where i just predict they will beat me with their cele build?

Wow, this is exactly how I have been feeling on my Guardian lately. I feel like a couple of months ago (before the might nerf and when I used strength sigils), I used to destroy thiefs and rangers, and hold my own against warriors. Now it’s a struggle beating them 1v1 for me. And of course I always got owned by mesmers and engineers.

I find myself spending most of my play time fiddling with builds because I can’t seem to figure out what’s wrong. Either I’m too glassy or I don’t put out enough damage. Someone mentioned we’ll have trouble with d/d eles, condi engis, etc. But I feel like that’s all I face. Ugh….so frustrating.

Vayne.8563:

Sauncho.8076:

“Colin said, and I believe this, that the uptake of new players was absolutely not good enough and that until that was taken care of they wouldn’t be able to provide those other experiences.”

As I stated, here in lies the problem. Leadership and decision making! Instead of saying to themselves….hey, the uptake in new players is not good enough. We should probably make an expansion and revitalize the game. You know, get people interested in the game again. This will in turn bring players back and bring in new players who see all the advertisements, etc.

But instead they decided to revamp the leveling experience. Which in turn kitten’d off much of the player base (again, IMO).

Very bad decision if you ask me, one which falls squarely within the lap of ANETs leadership and vision.

Okay let’s get this straight. They come out with an expansion. It’ll be level 80 content, because it’s an expansion. So people buy the game, and then they get to level 20 and stop, because uptake is good and what have they accomplished.

Before they release an expansion uptake has to be better. That’s the simple logic of the situation.

I think this is an inaccurate assumption. New pvp modes is not lvl 80 content. Nor new dungeons, more weapon skills, more traits, new skins, new races, new professions, etc. The story and new map, yes, but not everything.

In the end, I still think an influx of new players brought in by an expansion would outweigh any loss of retention of new players.

Simplified Ex.
Status Quo: 5 new players start game, 3 quit before level 20. 2 become veterans.
Expansion: Because of advertisement and buz, 10 new players start game, and 5 quit. 5 become veterans.

*Still more players in the second scenario. (Yes, I understand this example is an oversimplification)

“Colin said, and I believe this, that the uptake of new players was absolutely not good enough and that until that was taken care of they wouldn’t be able to provide those other experiences.”

As I stated, here in lies the problem. Leadership and decision making! Instead of saying to themselves….hey, the uptake in new players is not good enough. We should probably make an expansion and revitalize the game. You know, get people interested in the game again. This will in turn bring players back and bring in new players who see all the advertisements, etc.

But instead they decided to revamp the leveling experience. Which in turn kitten’d off much of the player base (again, IMO).

Very bad decision if you ask me, one which falls squarely within the lap of ANETs leadership and vision.

Vayne.8563:

Sauncho.8076:

For me, it’s not so much the revamp of the earlier levels that’s the issue. For me, I have a problem with ANETs priorities.

I understand ANET has their metrics and so on and so forth. They obviously believe revamping the lower levels will make a better experience for new players, and therefore increase retention and the bottom line.

However, I already have the impression ANET is under staffed. Whether that’s accurate I don’t know.

But it seems to me when PvP has yet to receive a new mode, WvW updates are lacking, no new races, no new professions, no new weapon skills, only minor trait changes, balancing every 6 months, limited in game gear since the start compared to the gem store, limited dungeon additions, etc., why would they choose to revamp noob leveling. Obviously that’s resources taken away from other important facets of the game.

ANET is the only one who can really measure the impact of revamping the noob experience as compared to the things I mentioned above. But it doesn’t take a genius to realize that the player base did not prioritize revamping the leveling experience over expansion like additions.

You can make a better leveling experience all you want, but as some point these new players will also become vets, and then they too will want what the rest of the player base wants.

Anet launched in China in April. They had to have player retention there. It would be highly illogical to launch in China while retaining less players if they know there’s a problem with retention.

They had to modify the version of the Chinese release for us, but it wasn’t a from scratch job, so it took less time/energy.

And this wasn’t a content patch it was a feature patch. Whatever they’re working on, they’re still working on.

Even if this is true, I still have a problem with the mindset. Regardless if the revamp was a modification and regardless if the last patch was a feature patch and not a content patch.

In the end, it’s been two years and hardly any of the things I mentioned before have been done (IMO).

This is clearly as leadership / managerial / vision issue. What direction do they want to take the game. I won’t speak for the rest of the player base as you (Vayne) have countered that point, but in my opinion they need to rearrange their priorities in order to make me happy.

Trust me, if the combat in this game wasn’t so darn good I would probably have moved on by now out of boredom.

For me, it’s not so much the revamp of the earlier levels that’s the issue. For me, I have a problem with ANETs priorities.

I understand ANET has their metrics and so on and so forth. They obviously believe revamping the lower levels will make a better experience for new players, and therefore increase retention and the bottom line.

However, I already have the impression ANET is under staffed. Whether that’s accurate I don’t know.

But it seems to me when PvP has yet to receive a new mode, WvW updates are lacking, no new races, no new professions, no new weapon skills, only minor trait changes, balancing every 6 months, limited in game gear since the start compared to the gem store, limited dungeon additions, etc., why would they choose to revamp noob leveling. Obviously that’s resources taken away from other important facets of the game.

ANET is the only one who can really measure the impact of revamping the noob experience as compared to the things I mentioned above. But it doesn’t take a genius to realize that the player base did not prioritize revamping the leveling experience over expansion like additions.

You can make a better leveling experience all you want, but as some point these new players will also become vets, and then they too will want what the rest of the player base wants.

The fact of the matter is they didn’t need to release a “Feature Patch.” They could have just patched in all of these changes as they were ready. Putting off these changes so that they could release them all in one patch is lame, as it builds false expectations.

In my experience, most MMOs release these kinds of QOL changes in bi-weekly/monthly patches. At least this way it feels like the game is improving steadily.

I’m not sure who is in overall charge over there at Anet, but I think whoever it is needs to take a moment to re-evaluate how things are done over there. If you look at some of my first posts here on the forums, my biggest complaint was kitten backwards priorities. It seems this is still the case.

coglin.1867:

Pets have been an integral part of MMOs for a very long time. Many players, including myself enjoy them greatly. They have been in the game and promoted since before release. It is not like they magically added them in out of no where after 2 years.

You are free to search out and move to a MMO that has no AI what so ever. Good luck.

Um….this is kind of a cop out. From a pvp perspective, no one likes being killed by 4-5 “robots.” Most people can accept being outplayed by a human, however, most people don’t like being killed by the human’s computerized henchmen.

CMF…very good assessment. I for one am happy with the Renewed Focus being a med. However, even though spirit weapons and tomes were buffed, I still don’t see myself using them except maybe if I use a spirit weapon in one of my utility slots since Renewed Focus is a med now.

As I stated in another post, I really wish they would have done something with the QOL issues concerning the hammer, mace, sword, and scepter.

I realize many of you believe we should be happy with what we got, but when you wait for months upon months for changes, its difficult to not get your hopes up.

I wonder if it would be worth while as a med Guardian to go Shelter, 2 x Med Utilities, Focus Mind that is now a med, and the bow as an extra heal……hmm

Tarsius.3170:

Sauncho.8076:

ventusthunder.5067:

XxSmokedatganjaxX.2948:

What? I thought MI still needs an ally in order to work though?

You get the heal with or without the ally. You only get the shadowstep if there is an ally in the targeted area.

Are you sure about it being able to heal without an ally, I don’t think it works like that now

MI’s healing effect won’t proc, but it will still trigger Monk’s Focus and other generic meditation effects ( you can see Focused Mind granting Fury for the non-ally targetted MI demonstration in the video for instance ).

Oh I see what you are saying….thanks!

ventusthunder.5067:

XxSmokedatganjaxX.2948:

What? I thought MI still needs an ally in order to work though?

You get the heal with or without the ally. You only get the shadowstep if there is an ally in the targeted area.

Are you sure about it being able to heal without an ally, I don’t think it works like that now

By far the best change is that Renewed Focus is a med. This is pretty awesome.

The AI buffs are ok if you like more AI in game, I’m kind of hesitant about them.

I don’t think I will be using Tome still, but the buffs are nice.

• I really wish they would have touched upon some of our other issues, such as our issues with the slow a@$ hammer, sword issues such as being immobile and missing targets on one of the skillz, the slow a#$ mace, and the still dorked up orbs from the scepter.

I like the buffs and all, but I was expecting more. I think many of you are so used to never getting any love from the devs, once they finally give you a crumb you think it’s Christmas.

xFireize, every build you mention is a support build. No one is complaining about guardian’s support. Yes, we are buff bots, in WvW and Spvp. But that’s about it. Everyone knows guardians excel with others, but what about 1 v 1, i.e. med dps. Like you said, you have to play near perfectly in order to compete in a med spec. I wouldn’t mind if the other professions were like this too, but they are not. And we are at a major disadvantage.

And you sir are the reason we remain stagnant…..Thanks!

Arius.7031:

You all should absolutely be ashamed of yourselves. People in this thread actually saying Guards are useless in ANY format? Guards of the backbones of every good comp in EVERY format (at the very least they’re very strong in PvE, they’re almost necessary in SPvP/WvW). Guardians are the backbone and driving force behind the hammer train, the warriors would die so fast w/o guards there to heal/buff and dish some damage too. Guards are among the top bunkers in the game, capable of surviving 1v2s for a loooooong time. Guardians are also one of/if not the (tied with ele imo) best group classes in the game with massive boon sharing and aoe condi cleanse (as well as aoe heals/blinds/aegis etc…). Guardians are absolutely in a great place right now. Saying they are isn’t a cop out, it’s the truth. You guys whine enough and get our class buffed, we’ll be ridiculously OP. After that, we’ll get nerfed into the ground and our class will be wrecked.

Seriously, stop being so whiny because you’re not owning everything in sight. We’re in a good place.

This comment absolutely irks me to no end. And it’s comments like these that have kept us stagnant for 1 1/2 years. Yes, guardians are good at bunkering and “supporting.” In PVE that’s fine I guess, but that’s PVE. What about dps/burst in PVP. Because as it stands a Warrior can pull just as much dps/burst as a guardian, yet not have to give up nearly as much survivability. I guess Meds are “ok,” but require twice the amount of effort as other specs. One mistake and you are dead.

Our vigor was nerfed (which we rely on more than most other professions), spirit weapons suck, signets suck, we have the lowest tier of health, are slow as molasses, and have no soft cc. Scepter orbs are still slow, scepter can be completely negated by strafing back and forth, Shield 4 is worthless, for some reason we have to stop and stand in our staff circle just to get a little mobility, the mace is slow, the hammer is slow, sword 2 (maybe it’s 3, I can’t remember) can be strafed, and on and on.

On top of that our new traits are worthless….300 Vitality in the Honor line? No med guards goes all the way into the Honor line. Increased condition damage? All we have is burn. Aegis to those around us, but not ourselves? A condi/retal trait with horrible scaling in pvp.

For the love of god please stop shooting yourself in the foot by stating guardians “are in a good place.” It’s absolute hogwash.

I made a comment about these issues in the Guardian forums in another topic. The fact of the matter is, Hunter you are absolutely correct. And it’s players like Dancing Monkey that keep us stagnant. Players like him perpetuate the ill conceived notion that guardians “are in a good place.” No, bunker guardians are in a good place. And even that position is being threatened by Engis and Warriors.

Med guardians are mediocre at best, and one must be a kitten ninja master in order to excel at it compared to other professions. Additionally, are new traits are kitten. If you don’t believe me, just head on over to the Guardian forums. There are plenty of grievances. A 300 Vit Master trait in the Honor line? When does a med guardian go all the way into the Honor line. A Master trait that increases condition damage, when we have only one viable condition? Really? Aegis to those around you, but not yourself? Come on.

And on top of that spirit weapons and signets are garbage. Not to mention every single utility has to be a condi cleanse in the current meta. Sure would be nice to take advantage of some of these other utilities (granted all professions have this dilemma).

Hunter, please do not be fooled nor trolled. Us real guardians feel your pain.

Charak.9761:

How did this get passed over for 1.5 years… you built a melee class that can’t stick, teleports don’t counter people simply walking away from you.

Dude, most of us are on board with what you are saying. However, A-net seems to think we are fine. This is partly due to the fact that every time someone makes a suggestion, either in the balance forum or the spvp forum, someone will say, “we are fine, L2p….guardians are the most balanced profession in the game…blah, blah, blah”

Even on this very forum, guardians will denounce reasonable suggestions to their own detriment. Whether it’s a suggestion about soft cc, more HP, better mobility, a complaint about the vigor nerf; it’s guaranteed that at least one guardian will write about how they don’t have an issue so therefore your complaint or suggestion is invalid.

I guess why should A-net care if we as a guardian community can’t agree on what’s important.

Perdix.8641:

Guardians are rly OP.

They are apex 1v1 when played well, with great mobility and much more team fight synergy than a warrior. If this game gets competitive again you’ll see players run them.

Are you for real? And that’s an honest question….guardians OP 1 v1 ? Man, the lack of knowledge on these forums, especially when it comes to guardians is amazing.

Look, guardians are decent in PVE. They are good in WvW zerg warfare because we can support really well, especially with AH. Same with bunker guardians, when there are other team mates around to benefit from our boons and our might stacking AH.

But…..1 v 1 we are sub par. Bunker do hardly any damage and depend on retaliation. In order to do damage we have to go meditation. But we have no soft cc so we can be easily kited. Also, our low HP as a med guard makes us prone to condis. We can take condi removal utilities, but then we lose gap closers and extra damage. Anet decided to give us an extra 3000 HP in the Honor line, but of course med guards don’t go all the way down the Honor line so that doesn’t make sense.

For some reason Anet wants dps guards to go condi, but of course we only have one condi (burn) and that will never work.

That’s the truth of the matter….we are pigeon holed into bunker and support. If you want to dps/roam as a guardian you are much better off playing a warrior.

Dahkeus.8243:

Meditation guards are fine. The only downside of a meditation guardian is that a bunker guard is usually better.

However, you can blame that on a system where Conquest is the only game mode. If sPvP wasn’t all about stacking on a small area and surviving the AoE/knockbacks, then bunkers wouldn’t be what they are now.

And it’s because of statements like this why guardians have remained stagnant in the past 1 1/2 years, and most every other class has had some substantial changes.

DPS guards are not in a bad spot, but they are not in a good spot either. They are just what I said, in a meh spot. How many med guardians do you see running around in Tpvp. That should tell you all you need to know.

I really wish the devs would stop saying this. It really gets on my nerves because it’s not completely accurate. The truth is, BUNKER guardians are in a good spot, every other guardian spec is meh. And with these latest round of updates, I don’t see much changing.

I do like the quality of life updates however.

Do me a favor and hire the guy who made these fake patch notes, at least for guardians, he knows what he is doing.

If warriors get more conditions as this suggests, I’m going to …….

Tempus, your post is spot on. Very well done, and you hit most of the areas which need improvement. I would probably add we need something done with spirit weapons, but I cringe to think of more AI minions floating around on the battlefield.

I also agree we guardians are going to suffer immensly with the vigor nerf. As dps we are so glassy, and we are extremely reliant on the ability to dodge. I don’t think people realize how much of a nerf this will be.

Lastly, I fear that none of the issues will be addressed, as ANET thinks we are in a good spot, and are the most balanced profession in the game. This line of thinking is further exasperated by posters, including guardians, who continually write that we are in a “good spot.” I personaly think we are mediocre, and there are other professions that do it better in many regards, except bunkering. But who wants to play a profession that is pigeon holed into bunkering all the time? I definately think if ANET addressed the things you mentioned in your post, then we would be in a “good spot.”

It’s no wonder many players were expecting a pvp balance patch today, as the last dev stream was all over the place. These streams need some semblence of professionalism and organization. It’s hard to filter through all the laughter, inside jokes, and overall poor communication skills. A 2 hour block of public speaking and communication training can do wonders….

Not sure why anyone would be against dueling, even PvE’ers. There is no better way to learn your character and abilities than dueling other players. If they add the ability to ignore all duel requests then I don’t see how this could be an issue.

The argument seems to be “I don’t want to see people dueling all over the open world!” Hmm, why not. Better than it being empty as hell. Dueling is not PvP, it’s what it’s called….dueling.

I agree with the OP, not very professional at all. I think someone just needs to lead the discussion better and keep people on topic, like Grouch maybe. When I see the unprofessionalism it makes me understand why things take so long to patch/update/balance.

Maybe use a power point with some bullet points to place on the top right of the screen to make the discussion easier to follow (while still keeping a camera on the devs). This would also help with preparation – Public Speaking 101

I asked Jon the following question regarding the symbol of swiftness changes, and this is what he said (I’d give a link if I knew how. It’s on the SPVP forum):

JonathanSharp.7094:

Sauncho.8076:

John,

Could you please explain the symbol of swiftness change, I am not fully understanding it. Is it a nerf, and if so, why. Guardians need buff in the mobility department, not nerfs.

Also, can we please buff spirit weapons some how. Thanks for your time.

Respectfully,
Sauncho

It’s actually an improvement in a lot of cases. But, having said that, we don’t want the Guardian to be TOO mobile. Guardians are a very strong presence on any battlefield, so we want to make sure we don’t give them too much mobility + defense.

An improvement, I see. Perfect, thanks for the response…

JonathanSharp.7094:

Sauncho.8076:

John,

Could you please explain the symbol of swiftness change, I am not fully understanding it. Is it a nerf, and if so, why. Guardians need buff in the mobility department, not nerfs.

Also, can we please buff spirit weapons some how. Thanks for your time.

Respectfully,
Sauncho

It’s actually an improvement in a lot of cases. But, having said that, we don’t want the Guardian to be TOO mobile. Guardians are a very strong presence on any battlefield, so we want to make sure we don’t give them too much mobility + defense.

An improvement, I see. Perfect, thanks for the response…

John,

Could you please explain the symbol of swiftness change, I am not fully understanding it. Is it a nerf, and if so, why. Guardians need buff in the mobility department, not nerfs.

Also, can we please buff spirit weapons some how. Thanks for your time.

Respectfully,
Sauncho

Good podcast, but no offense, I feel as though you are little bit of an apologist when it comes to Guardians. I agree with the person who you are talking to 100% though. Great job though, keep up the good work.

Just a complaint…it really irks me that conditions can be applied in this game when you are not targeted by an opposing player, and/or when you are not even standing in their aoe.

Ex. Standing off to the side during a zerg on zerg at a point and still being inflicted with conditions but not even being targeted by anyone.

So annoying!

Dude, I have been saying the same thing from the very beginning. Anet has their priorities kitten backwards. They focus on the 1 percent esport crowd and expect the playerbase to follow, instead of focusing on the 99 percent and allowing esport to naturally foster itself.

If the playerbase wants more game modes, give them more game modes. They do not have to be a part of esports. Make the game fun and more people will play. With more people comes a stronger community, and consequently and stonger esport community.

Ezrael.6859:

Leap of Faith has terrible accuracy and coding issues.
50% of my leaps this evening took me in the opposite direction to my target.

Binding Blade used to work where players that tried to run away from the Guardian when bound would automatically be pulled back. ~ This would be better.

The Guardian may have builds but they are all Shout / Meditation based.
Sanctuary gets used as a way to help rezz because Signet of Mercy is a diabolical skill even after it’s buff.

Bane Signet offers a good bonus with power, but the cast time for the k/d is too long (it also seems to last no time at all as the target instantly gets back up) and the damage too weak for the long 40s cool down you suffer with no passive bonus.

Signet of Mercy has a horrible bonus with +180 healing power.

Signet of Wrath is pretty bad with condition damage as the Guardian only has access to burning.

Signet of Judgement while sounding good with 10% damage reduction isn’t actually worth it. The meta has been condition heavy since release and you’re far better off building utility skills to remove conditions and practising dodging to avoid big direct damage attacks instead.

Wall of Reflection works for about 2s till people stop casting ranged attacks and run through it to hit you, even in the middle of a big team fight it doesn’t contribute enough to warrant a utility slot, too obvious and easily avoided.

Purging Flames does far too little damage for its recharge, even lowered.
Even in a condition build. Yes you can run in and out of the ring to remove a condition, but this means you’re doing no damage and a sitting duck to take more damage, if you’re crippled or chilled it’s not viable.

Hallowed Ground while sounding like a good idea means that everyone has to come into melee range for Stability (usually on a point) GW2 has a massive issue with AoE damage, cleaving and high damage ranged attacks, being a melee in this game can be an utter pain and uphill struggle.
Bringing Hallowed Ground makes you a masochist that wants to subject all of your team to the joys of being a Guardian or Warrior in a ranged condition/AoE heavy game.

And Spirit Weapons. Even when invulnerable they weren’t used that often because they were slow, had very long cool downs and didn’t do a huge amount of damage.
Then ArenaNet gave them 3k hp and no one has used them since.
Too little HP, too little damage when they will only last a few seconds and too long till you can use them again. Just a waste of a utility slot.

I concur…and unfortunately as it stands, the only viable role we have is bunker. Before the patch, while playing bunker, we could at least use some of our utilities to mix things up. However now, it’s all about using condition removal utilities.

And that is a shame…

Zenith.7301:

Juan Ignacio.8903:

i think to all dont know how to read or something or u guys dont know how guardian works, or maybe i dont know how to read this is wat i get.

with the addition of torment his dps guardian (probably meditation build) can only remove a set of condis not many but it can remove but he gets wrecked, so he is forced to go bunker wich obviously he has to use the build that every1 use and remove a lot of condies.

No, the problem is some people expect to have a spec that makes them condition free even 50% of the time. Which is pretty fun for the guy using it but not for the condi spec whose entire damage and pressure is condition uptime.

Ask necromancers how fun it is to try to outcondition a good ele with cleansing water. Or a half decent guardian.

If you want DPS, you take the survival hit. Hell, offensive guardians have a crapton of passive survival more than other classes that aren’t mesmers or thieves.

If anything the game has too much condition removal, and the only place with any amount of condition uptime is aoe bombing on points.

The problem is guardian have only one viable spec….bunker or go home. How many dps guardians do you see running around in spvp? Why is that? Guardians are seen as balanced because no one is killed by them, and guardians are obviously good bunkers.

I don’t want to be able to bunker and dps at the same time, but it would be nice to be able to change to a dps spec and not get rofl stomped. And now as a bunker, I have to deal with the additional onslaught of extra conditions, making bunker guardians even more boring because any wiggle room I had for damage is used to clear all these conditions.

I guess what I am complaining about is being pigeon holed into being a bunker, and now I have to use utility slots on conditions. Less choice because dps/condition specs aren’t feasible.

With the addition of Torment, I feel like condition damage is getting out of hand (for me). As it is, I’m pigeon holed into being a bunker on my guardian. Now I have to use utility slots for condition removal.

Why can’t I dps on my guardian without getting owned? Why must I play bunker or get out. Something is very wrong here.

I don’t understand, you have this entire “server” (The Mists) dedicated to PVP. Why not just allow dueling there, or in a specified section within the Mists. It doesn’t make sense to have to jump to the Mists and then jump to another empty server (or custom arena) just to duel. Most modern MMOs allow dueling anywhere. What is the problem?

For the love of God, get off the E-Sport kick. You are just limiting yourself. So many fans are pleaing for more game modes and you continue to resist to your detriment. You could easily institute additional game modes that aren’t used for competitive play, but just for fun.

The more fun people have, the more players, equals more opportunity for money.
E-Z-P-Z-Japa-NE-ZE.

Not sure what there is to test. You face others 1 v1 in matches all of the time. If it’s ok in a match, why wouldn’t it be ok in a duel. If you duel a bunker, well, he is a bunker. Learn to adapt, and hopefully overcome. No better way to learn than to duel him.

Also, we shouldn’t have to portal to the mists, and then portal to some empty server/dueling server to duel. There is already a pvp realm, it’s called the mists. It’s big and made especially for pvp. So just allow dueling in the mists. Simple.

Defektive.7283:

Ayestes.1273:

Saying the average player doesn’t care about watching two pro teams play isn’t necessarily true. When eSports is successful a large portion of the casual playerbase tends to be interested in these games.

I think casual players are more interested in watching short clips of a player doing something ‘cool’ or interesting.

But less interested in watching full matches of multiple teams.

Casual players are what’s going to drive this game towards success, lack of variety or interesting mechanics keeps them away.

Personally, I believe the custom arenas are a waste of time. That should be a bonus, something down the road to reward the community for growing and maintaining a strong status in the gaming world.

Match making, different game types, and class revamps should have taken place first and foremost in order to garner variety, interesting (and balanced) mechanics, and fairness (ranking system).

Also, I think Arena Net and the community need to just cut the ‘E-Sports’ crap. First make the game and the PvP successful through intrigue, replayability and it being enjoyable for the masses. Then once that’s all done and dandy move towards eSports as a branch of an already successful PvP scheme.

The dev’s priorities are kitten backwards. This is what I have been saying since I heard about custom arenas a couple of months ago. As a casual, custom arenas do nothing for me. I can see how some people might want them, but at the expense of the basics? (diff game modes, better glory allocation, better rewards, ability to show off pvp gear in pve, dueling in the mists, etc.)

I don’t know what it is, but it’s apparent that the devs and many people here on the forums believe that insituting e-sport type modes will bring players back. But I got news for you, most players are casuals. And casuals don’t care (imo) about e-sports. We just want to get on a couple of hours here and there and have fun. Build the base (casuals) with the fundamentals and then start focusing on e-sport, not the other way around.

Why the heck do we need to go into a custom arena to duel. Why cant we just duel in the mist. The mist is for pvp. So rediculous.