Guild Wars 2

Craven.9462:

Also you have no argument because 2 years ago my guild roster had 1 possibly 2 Engi’s out of 150+ players, I come back join a guild to find that has dropped to the grand total of zero.

Flawless logic.

LB is so OP that it makes people think of ideas like this. GG anet.

I’d like to see shield #4 be a knockdown. It would offer a ton of utility and really compete for the offhand slot. Shield #5 would be interesting if on along with the bubble the guardian did a duration block/invulnerability to give it more defense to AoE and melee.

Ghotistyx.6942:

How would a +25% trait or util create more build diversity? You’d be required to take the trait or util just as much as you’re required to take speed or traveler’s runes. It doesn’t change anything beyond what specifically you’re sacrificing.

Eh?

By having the option to pick it up in traits, it allows you to focus on other areas. Instead of being pigeonholed into traveler or pack runes, you could pick up strength runes for a might stacking build. It’s not the fact that you would be required to pick up the movement speed trait, but that you don’t have to build around it. More options are better, and the guardian is the one class without any combat mobility traits. Each one has some form of swiftness or movement speed through traits.

And if placed well, like an adept radiance trait, it would have good synergy with dps builds.

The cooldown to retreat will be welcomed in PvE. I’m worried though that anet sees this as a solution to the guardian’s lack of mobility. I’m having trouble thinking of any way to work retreat into an effective dps build. We need access to some sort of swiftness/25% movement speed through traits for more build diversity.

It doesn’t make sense to me that our movement speed (retreat/staff#3) are tied to more defensive builds when sticking to your target is more important on a dps build.

Added a skill fact.

thefantasticg.3984:

Longbow is fine.

Really.

They need to make/remake our utility skills to be more focused on the Ranger (and specifically increasing power/damage). I literally have four I use from all of them because I run a power ranger and all but four have nothing to do with increasing power… And the only reason I have that many now is because of the signet change.

Hitting SotW is effectively a 500 power boost with a base 2k power. I don’t think there’s another class that has such an increase on one utility skill.

Eggyokeo.9705:

I suggest start leveling both eventually you will be drawn to one or the other and you can always level another at a latter date. I have all classes to level 80 but I only ever seem to play the ranger class.

^^^^

Really your best bet is to play them both and see which fits your playstyle more. Join some hotjoins with them trying different builds out. I’m leveling my 7th class atm myself, eventually it would be nice to have any class I want to play at my disposal. Plus you learn a lot about each class and in turn are more effective at countering them.

If you can only choose one, maybe the one you have a more difficult time playing against.

Well, we know the system can tell if you have swiftness or not and apply an amount of swiftness based on that. Like before, you’d get 8s with no swiftness and 1s with. Since patched, it gives 4s flat.

A good fix would be 10s if you have no swiftness, and 4s if you have swiftness. This would allow for combat mobility (place a symbol and keep moving) if you have no swiftness, or allow you to supplement it. It wouldn’t effect any scenario negatively, like zerg spamming SoS or reduced AH procs. It would however fix the need to stand in the same place to get a reasonable amount of swiftness.

All while using the tools in place and not requiring a rework of how symbols work.

Rifle had the same problems that p/p has on thief. The auto attack was a bleed along with damage bursts. A rifle condi build is essentially only utilizing auto attack, while a power build could only utilize the burst. It’s bad design. Removing the auto attack bleed was the first step to fixing the rifle. From here, tweaks can be made to have proper ranged single target raw damage.

However, the longbow has always been superior in condi builds. Based on damage ticks alone, the burning from fan the fire and combustive shot, along with the bleeding from pin down are more than the rifle AA bleeds. There’s also 3 stacks of might, an immob, superior AOE damage and a much more reliable cleanse through burst. Bleeds can be supplemented through sword for a much better condi spread.

I think bolt is the best looking legendary, so that’s what I would go for first if I were you. It’s also useful in all three game modes including dungeons.

Also consider which other classes you play that you’d like to use it on. 5 classes uses sword, 4 classes use greatsword and 2 classes use the hammer. Legendary weapons are account bound, so you can swap them to any toon you want. Or you can just skin other weapons with the wardrobe.

Ele and Ranger don’t need any more protection. Ele has a bit too much as it is.

Orpheal.8263:

@Shanks:
Please do show me the rule, where under a redesign must stay a Power Weapon a Power Weapon forever, or better said, where it is prohibited for a Power Weapon not to have also some condition hybrid effects, that would allow for a creative player maybe to turn the Power Weapon into a Condition Weapon???
I’d really like to know that, when you take such things somewhat as untouchable “rules”, that such facts can’t be changed under any circumstances >.>

Talk about grasping for straws. Couldn’t reply to the meat of the post so you pick that out and write a patronizing follow up paragraph.

Really though. Why would you turn longbow into a hybrid weapon when there’s the shortbow? Are you intentionally trying to destroy the longbow or just don’t understand ranger builds?

This is pretty similar to the other thread, so I’ll quote this.

Shanks.2907:

Well, F1 and F3 need to be combined into a single toggle. Hit once to attack, hit again to call back. It’s inefficient to have two different keys when one offers superior control.

After that it would be nice, like Ehecatl said, to add something in that could help improve pet functionality. Something similar to Guard where you could ground target a position for your pet to take would work well. It seems like a solid function you shouldn’t have to waste a utility slot on. Or it could control the third attack skill that pets have, giving you more control on when you want to use it instead of random timing.

So my F1-F4 would look like this:

F1 Attack target/ disengage
F2 Special Attack
F3 Position pet (ground target)
F4 Swap pet

Now, with F3 taking what guard does, I’ve also thought of a new guard utility. Instead of protecting an area, it gains stealth and protection and stands in the line of sight between you and your target. With this, it intercepts projectiles and such while reducing damage on itself. As you and the target move, so does the pet to stay in the LoS.

Well, you’ve at least seemed to understand why you’ve got this reaction now OP. But now you’re playing the victim because the reactions you got. Let’s take a closer look at this.

Orpheal.8263:

So you base your whole “argument” to the fact that 2 glass cannon players can kill someone (who obviously does not evade/uses defensive cd’s) in a matter of seconds.
And you expect people to take you seriously?!
Good luck with that!

Sole purpose of this post was just only to attack me, instead of staying on topic and saying something constructively about the concept

You were the one who brought up that 2 rangers can spike a target down in your opening post, therefore this is on topic. This was one of your reasons that it was OP. Now someone disagrees with you, explains why, and all of a sudden it’s out of bounds and a personal attack? You can’t use something as your evidence and have it be off limits, that’s just not how things work.

When two zerker classes burst down a target (especially a zerk), it’s going to go down fast. On my main (medi guardian) I’ve done dual SoW > JI > WW nukes with a friend and dropped 3 people trying to down a teammate. Dual RF only takes down 1 target.

Orpheal.8263:

Also take it you didn’t play lb before or ranger so you have no idea how weak most power specs were and the only real competitive build was condi.

Another cheap disrespectful try just to gag and discredit me with an indirect attack towards me and my play experience by making wild childish assumptions one would not play a ranged class…

No, this is a fair observation. The redesign suggests that you don’t have much experience playing with the LB Ranger. If you had any experience with it, you would know that restricting crits on rapid fire would return it to less DPS than the auto attack. You would know that adding bleeding, torment or confusion to the LB would be useless, as it’s a power based weapon. You would know that increasing the targets on barrage would be suicide while targeting a zerg due to retaliation.

In fact it’s within our rights to question your knowledge of the class when you’re suggesting a complete redesign. For all we know, you could be a main thief who is tired of his free bags actually fighting back. You need credibility when talking about a class, and you come up looking like a fool when you don’t have any.

Well, F1 and F3 need to be combined into a single toggle. Hit once to attack, hit again to call back. It’s inefficient to have two different keys when one offers superior control.

After that it would be nice, like Ehecatl said, to add something in that could help improve pet functionality. Something similar to Guard where you could ground target a position for your pet to take would work well. It seems like a solid function you shouldn’t have to waste a utility slot on. Or it could control the third attack skill that pets have, giving you more control on when you want to use it instead of random timing.

edit: Just going to quote myself from the last thread.

Shanks.2907:

To beat a medi guardian, you really need to know how it works. It’s like most match ups, the more information you have the better prepared you are to deal with it. As medi guardian is my main, I’ll point out a couple things.

First off, identify the weapons they’re using.

Greatsword: Leap of faith (blind)
Sword: Flashing Blade (blind) Zealot’s Defense (reflect)
Focus: Ray of Judgement (blind) Shield of Wrath (3 blocks)
Mace: Protector’s Strike (single block)

Each are in themselves easy enough to spot and deal with. SoW is mostly used for dps, some guards will dodge instead of block to get the burst off. Use an AA to break through the blinds and blocks, don’t burn your cooldowns.

From there, 1 into radiance will give the guardian Justice is Blind. It’s on a 23-30s cooldown, so it’s going to be used for either highly telegraphed skills or to secure a stomp. There’s also Virtue of Courage which grants aegis, also used in a similar manner to VoJ.

Shelter in itself is probably the most troublesome block. It’s the only duration block on guardian, and if you keep unloading into it you will just give them might.

Just don’t let a medi guard choose his pace. If the fight is opened with a Judge’s Intervention burst, it only leaves one stun breaker that’s tied into condition cleanse. Apply the CC and immob, deal your damage and then kite them while waiting for cooldowns. A warrior should have no problem keeping up perma swiftness while crippling the medi guardian that has zero access to swiftness or 25% movement speed outside of runes.

That was the most respectable leaving the game post I have ever seen. +1

I’m not sure if you understand why you got this reaction OP.

First off, let’s take a look at what you’ve got to offer here. After all the talk of redesigning the class, you jump straight to the longbow and list of a barrage (lol) of nerfs. What in the world made you think that was the place to start?

It begins to question your intentions for the redesign. You can camouflage it with pretty words about wanting to make these points during the CDI (aka before patch), but the substance of what you’ve put out is no more than any other QQ thread on the forums. Not a single point you made would have been relevant in the CDI.

If you had any sort of intentions to make this a real discussion about the core issues of the ranger, you blew the one opportunity you had to start in the right direction. And if the right direction had of been taken, the longbow could have been looked at later.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Lethal Njection.8741:

I have had similar issues with Malicious Training not working properly after some patch many months ago but never knew if it was intended. Unfortunately that fix/bug wrecked my build so I’ve had to adapt since then.

So trait worked at one point in time, has been bugged for months now and the devs show no interest in fixing it any time soon. Sounds about right.

Eurantien.4632:

Imo, you should move the 6 in BM into NM for survival of the fittest, evasive purity, and maybe circle of life or nature’s protection. I would drop PM for LR and I would use fear wolf (always) and either drake hound or river drake.

Condition removal isn’t an issue for me as I’ll be standing next to a guardian, and would probably swap some things around if I were to be on my own. Like more regen, SotF, some different utilities, etc.

I was testing the waters on BM to see if it would make it worth it for the pet. I usually use wolf/drake hound on my power build. I’m not sure if I should focus on myself ignoring my pet or build into it. And if it can improve condition output over what my survivability would gain.

Cufufalating.8479:

I haven’t tested Malicious Training recently so it is possible it is bugged, but it’s worth pointing out that build editors display Pets Condition Duration all wrong because they apply +ve condition durations you as the ranger get to your pet. To see this just look at your Lynxs F2 on your build, then remove your Krait Runes and look at it again.

In game your runes and condition duration don’t work on your pet, but the editor will say they do.. so If you’re basing what you are expecting off that then that might be the problem.

Yeah I figured runes wouldn’t effect condition duration for pets as stats in general (unless specifically traited) don’t effect them. But as it was a trait intended to extend the duration I figured it was a bug.

Unscathed Contender is only relevant on a clean opening burst, but beyond that it’s incredibly unreliable.

Calypso.2578:

Shanks.2907:

S left strafe, D right strafe, Mouse 4 and 5 are forward and backwards. F E R G V for attacks (respectively) B N and M for utilities (thumb). 2 3 4 5 for profession mechanics.
W heal, Q elite, T swap, A dodge, Z jump, C interact and space auto loot.

I’ve even got tall/rubber keys mixed in to give it some structure.

Ok, your response looks closest to what I was looking for. It doesn’t look like you need a Turn Right key or a Turn Left key. I mainly auto run and strafe while attacking. I just am not sure if I am missing out on some movement skills during combat because I don’t have the Turn Right and Turn Left key bound to anything.

Well, the only thing I would use turn right or left for would be in combination of strafing. It gives you a circular movement around your target, but if you’re using the mouse you don’t need it at all. I put my forward button on my mouse because I’m holding it often, so my keyboard hand doesn’t need to be on one key constantly. I would think auto run could be more trouble than it’s worth though. It’s like anything though, once you put enough time into playing a certain way it becomes second nature.

You can start with a few changes to keys you don’t use often, or start from scratch and make your layout what works best with your skills and combos.

Since last patch, my interest in Ranger has returned. Been over a year, good to be back.

We’ll start with the build and I’ll ask questions from there.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAnY8fnMqQDL2vC2CCVLGAQoWFAtThmNsfPGV72myvSxbVA-TZxCwAAOIAXODAbLDQ5BAMb/BA

1) Malicious Training: Now, in the build editor it shows duration increases but in game (pvp) it doesn’t effect my pets conditions at all. Tested in combat too, not just checking the tooltips but the conditions on the target. Is it bugged? Not work in PvP? Would I be better off swapping in Keen Edge?

2) Master’s Bond: How does this trait work exactly? I’ve tried killing stuff with it and there’s no stack shown like a bloodlust stack would. Does it just not show it? Also, does it reset when the pets are swapped or only when it dies/stowed?

3) Beast Mastery: I’m just wondering how worth it the trait line is in general. Do pets have a noticable difference when traited in? Or would I be better off putting 2 into Skirmishing for Sharpened Edges?

4) I have it set up a/d & s/t at the moment to spread out the evade and poison between the two sets. What works best for you guys?

5) I’ll be holding points with a bunker guardian that focuses on team healing and cleansing so I’m sure I’m good in those regards, but what are some things to take into consideration when finalizing my build?

Thanks for your time guys. Oh, and if any one else has ranger questions feel free to ask. I might learn something else that will help me.

vincecontix.1264:

Ok the guys saying its a learn to play issue are wrong because med guard counters zerker thief. All things have counters and this is one of the counter for zerker thief. That being said thief odds are much better than zero.

You’re half right. Medi guardian does counter zerker thief. That doesn’t mean this isn’t a l2p issue when the guy lists a bunch of problems that have nothing to do with why they counter thief. If you give up before ever trying to work through it, of course you’re going to get rolled. His time would have been better spent playing a medi guardian and working through the mechanics.

Watch for the blinds, dodge the highly telegraphed bursts (SoW, WW) and utilize your own dodges and weakness. Wait for them to blow CoP and they’re sitting ducks to immob. If you got hit with an obvious blind, don’t waste your initiative with a cloak and dagger. Don’t attack shelter as you’re only stacking might for them. If you see Shield of Wrath simply stealth or count to 5 and dodge.

There are PLENTY of tactics that can be used for a thief to beat a medi guardian. None of them include making forum posts asking for nerfs. I stand by my l2p statement, in this case anyways. In a game made of counters, you need to first understand why they counter you.

Medium armor definitely gets the shaft. There’s cultural human/norn… and coats.

I’m really questioning their business model when they don’t provide any consistency of new armor skins in a cosmetic based end game. And if they aren’t selling, it’s not because no one wants them. Might be just because they’re bad.

I’ve completely remapped my bindings. Took a week or two to get used to.

S left strafe, D right strafe, Mouse 4 and 5 are forward and backwards. F E R G V for attacks (respectively) B N and M for utilities (thumb). 2 3 4 5 for profession mechanics.
W heal, Q elite, T swap, A dodge, Z jump, C interact and space auto loot.

I’ve even got tall/rubber keys mixed in to give it some structure.

Considering medi guardian has zero stability and stun breakers on long cooldowns used primarily for other functions (gap closer/full cleanse), I really don’t see the issue here.

Sounds to me like you don’t even know why you’re losing OP. It’s a common l2p issue when you don’t understand the opponent’s build and mechanics.

4 blinds =/= perma blind.

1 pull =/= cc’d all over the place.

Learn the animations for the blinds. They’re all pretty easy to dodge besides VoJ.

sorrychief.2563:

traveler runes with hydromancy sigil on swap and 20 or 30 in virtues will make up for about all of those weaknesses you described in a dps med guard. the utility of speccing into virtues also gives you some team support akin to the same aoe stab/protection/cleanse/blind/regeneration you get from a bunker but can actually do damage and kill people 1vs1.

those seconds shaved off the active virtues CD no matter how minor combined with the buff to RF really add up.

Traveler runes effectively cripple a medi guard’s dps output. Better off using runes of the pack for a ~50% uptime on swiftness/fury along with 175 power/125 precision.

If you were to add traveler runes and 6 into virtues, the sustained dps/burst wouldn’t be nearly as much of a threat, and easier to 1v1 against. You’d have to drop fiery wrath (potential 300 power) and run a 0/1/6/1/6 build to get the blind on VoJ and survivability with vigor.

Cynz.9437:

I understand concept of hardcounters and all but either this game needs to live it to 100% (which is not the case with engis, warriors and co.) or change the way classes interact that so we don’t have some classes that have no hardcounters and then classes that stand 0 chance vs other.

Seeing as Anet won’t introduce any hardcounters to engis (please don’t bring up necro, engis can still beat them), warriors and co., i think it is time that thieves also have chance even if slight vs guardians. At the moment there only 2 ways thief stands any chance vs guardian:
- guardian is afk and doesn’t fight at all
- thief has help from 2 other players

You would say but hey pvp is not about 1v1, surely it is not and it would be fine if matches wouldn’t consist of 3-5 guardians (rest engis _)….. As thief at that point you might as well just sit afk at spawn or hope that enemy afk. I find it highly discouraging.

I suggest following changes (not necessary together):
Note: all this suggestions are only for pvp, weither or not they should be applied for the rest of the game is different topic.
thief changes:
- bountiful theft should prioritize stability and aegis, right now it completely ignores aegis
- every 3rd attack on thief AA chain should go through the block/invul

guard changes:
- contemplation of purity should convert 3 conditions only, not unlimited
- purging flames CD increased by 5 sec
- fiery wrath should be moved to master tier at least
- focused mind should be moved to more damage oriented trait lane
- smite conditions needs it’s CD increased by 5-10 sec
- very arguable: virtrues should only grant teammates buffs if guardian traited for (similar to venom share)

general changes:
- burning dmg/scaling needs to be nerfed in pvp: yes it will affect other classes but i honestly think that burning IS too strong of condition atm in pvp and too easily applied… no matter what class i play atm, pretty much all my deathes come from 20+k burning, 15k+ bleeding and torment in that order… guradians and engis are especially at fault since they apply burning on pretty much any attack
- max amount of might obtainable in pvp should be reduced to 10 (for any class), the duration reduced by 20-30% in pvp
- intelligence sigil should have crit chance reduced to 50% (arguable) instead of 100%
- retal duration needs to be reduced by 50% in pvp
- celestial amulet needs a nerf across all stats in pvp, atm it is too build and meta defining and overshadows other amulets in effectivness (there is enough threads about it)

Ah. The dreaded 6/6/6/6/6 medi guardian with 5 utility slots that can 1v3 all day long.

I’m wondering if you’ve tried putting any time into guardian before putting time into this very well thought out post. I’m sure you’ll die to plenty of thieves who value their skill and insight into other classes, rather than just giving up and QQ for nerfs to something they simply just don’t understand.

It would be a great build, if the return on healing power was worth it in dungeons. PvE in gw2 is dps for dps, dps for support and dps for survivability. That’s just how this game was built.

That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy how you play with friends who also appreciate it. I would however, avoid any LFG that consists of speed runs, zerker or other “meta” runs. This build could hold a pug group off the floor, or it could kitten the run’s dps.

A couple suggestions I could give would be to swap out scepter/torch for hammer. The protection it offers is greater than the possible conditions removed. Possibly swap purging flames in when you need the extra condi removal. Maybe try and work Writ of Persistence in when using hammer for extra dps, the two extra heal procs on symbol will cover the loss of battle presence. Strength in Numbers is a nice toughness boost too.

Good luck. And remember, join groups where you might be welcomed not any sort of speed run.

One warhorn drop and bought Dusk for 800g Zap on MF first try one day.

joonasp.9217:

Shanks.2907:

to set up your hundred blades is to use the sword burst for the immob, and swap to the greatsword for HB. If they break out, use a whirling wind in the direction they dodged. After, you can use the GS burst if they have low HP or continue auto attacking. You’ll want to use GS for AA and not sword, as sword AA is split with bleeding. Shield 4 sword 3 will work pretty well too if they’re under 50% hp.

everyone who isn’t thick as dogkitten WILL break out as soon as they notice that greatsword you’re holding. and after you fail your primary attack, you’re absolutely useless until you can try it again. GS relies too heavily on 100b which is too easy to dodge for everyone who actually knows how to dodge (17% of players in hotjoin at the moment).

and besides if you use sword for immobilize only, why won’t you use longbow that has even longer immobilize AND it actually does some damage AND it will stack you might AND it will cure your conditions, uuuuhhhhhh bro?

Sword 2 and 3 are useful too. Plus Shield 4 and 5. I think I even mentioned those things in my post but somehow you thought I said sword was only for burst immob? Sword 3 below 50% hp is on par with a full eviscerate, so along with the leap, immob, stun and shield block the sw/sh compliments greatsword.

Regardless of your playstyle though or mine, the guy wanted to know how to be a better warrior in sPvP with the weapon set he enjoys playing with. I suggested some strategies to help land his 100b and how to rotate his skills. Don’t like it? Go play some more cheese then?

I’m kind of surprised on the hate for greatsword sw/sh builds. You don’t HAVE to run the hambow to have fun. Isn’t this a build for sPvP anyways?

The easiest way to set up your hundred blades is to use the sword burst for the immob, and swap to the greatsword for HB. If they break out, use a whirling wind in the direction they dodged. After, you can use the GS burst if they have low HP or continue auto attacking. You’ll want to use GS for AA and not sword, as sword AA is split with bleeding. Shield 4 sword 3 will work pretty well too if they’re under 50% hp.

For traits, I’d consider going x/x/4/2/6. You’ll get cleansing ire, adrenal health, leg specialist (great for sword 2 to set up burst immob), fast hands and burst mastery. From there you can chose what supplements your play style best. Maybe you need an extra endure pain or want to work on dps. Try and build up might and swiftness.

Zerker amulet for more dps.

I would do geomancy/doom on SS along with battle/corruption on longbow. You can hold corruption stacks underwater by putting one on your underwater weapon.

And reconsider using the longbow. Fan the Fire (#2) does burning on a 6s cooldown. Pin Down (#5) does 6 stacks of bleeding with 3s of immob. Combustive Shot (burst) has a long burn and a fire field for more might stacks. Arcing Arrow (#3) is a blast finisher, along with a banner can get you 9 stacks of might that last MUCH longer than greatsword might stacks.

To beat a medi guardian, you really need to know how it works. It’s like most match ups, the more information you have the better prepared you are to deal with it. As medi guardian is my main, I’ll point out a couple things.

First off, identify the weapons they’re using.

Greatsword: Leap of faith (blind)
Sword: Flashing Blade (blind) Zealot’s Defense (reflect)
Focus: Ray of Judgement (blind) Shield of Wrath (3 blocks)
Mace: Protector’s Strike (single block)

Each are in themselves easy enough to spot and deal with. SoW is mostly used for dps, some guards will dodge instead of block to get the burst off. Use an AA to break through the blinds and blocks, don’t burn your cooldowns.

From there, 1 into radiance will give the guardian Justice is Blind. It’s on a 23-30s cooldown, so it’s going to be used for either highly telegraphed skills or to secure a stomp. There’s also Virtue of Courage which grants aegis, also used in a similar manner to VoJ.

Shelter in itself is probably the most troublesome block. It’s the only duration block on guardian, and if you keep unloading into it you will just give them might.

Just don’t let a medi guard choose his pace. If the fight is opened with a Judge’s Intervention burst, it only leaves one stun breaker that’s tied into condition cleanse. Apply the CC and immob, deal your damage and then kite them while waiting for cooldowns. A warrior should have no problem keeping up perma swiftness while crippling the medi guardian that has zero access to swiftness or 25% movement speed outside of runes.

A lot of these problems could be alleviated by fixing the 4v5 problems. Easy enough to have a player sit if the teams are unbalanced. Every time someone dies, the next person in line is rotated in at the respawn timer. If someone joins the unbalanced team, the match continues at full strength.

That and spectating. Once the match starts you should be locked out from switching teams.

Both are ideas that have been floating around the forums for some time. Would help ensure competitive play while still keeping it casual enough to enjoy with your friends.

I’ve always thought a 25% movement speed elite signet would open up a ton of build diversity. Enough to keep us in fights, but not too much to let us disengage easily.

But then how would perfect inscriptions work with it? I can’t see a 30% passive speed boost at all times being very balanced, especially for guardians. Of course not all traits work with elites though (iirc engi elixirs).

Would be nice to see the signets and traits get reworked. All 4 utility passives are just boring stat boosts (power, healing. condition damage and toughness), and the actives really aren’t anything impressive. IMO signets were in worst shape than spirit weapons, it was just easier to slap a band aid on them for a quick fix.

Loading.4503:

What is the most useless build I can make with any armor runes weapons sigils for wvw , just because

I want to run into a Zerg and just bunker just because, not gonna contribute to anything, don’t even have to attack if I don’t need to, just wanna juggernaut it into the Zerg and have people chase me for no reason and run back out

This warrior build I made would of been perfect for being useless, running around like a juggernaut having people chase you while doing nothing.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQNBhYDbkpjCPLAxKE6QD8DUov9WIHMFApLitILA-TlBEABFv/gTK/A4BAAp6PcpEkPdDBAQAc0je0je0j2RP6RP6RPapAoYZE-w

Nearly 40k hp. Just run around holding a banner with perma-regen, HS and adrenal health for ~700hp a second. GS sw/w for more running around being useless.

Vecuu.2018:

While I only played half a dozen matches, I learned a lot about the build.

1) It lacks map mobility. Sure, you have two blinks, but they both require targets, and you have no way to give yourself swiftness.
2) It’s one of those builds that fits somewhere in-between being glass and bunker, and I don’t mean in a good way like your more traditional Greatsword AH build. It can’t kill tanky people and can’t survive the glass people (unless you get the jump on them, but then you might as well be glass too to drop them quicker)
3) The build itself didn’t perform particularly better with Zerker or Soldier’s amulet. You moved slightly from the middle of the road towards one end of the spectrum or the other, but, you sacrificed too much from the other end. If a LB ranger is a 5 star on damage and a true-blue bunker is 5 star defense, you sit at like 3 and 2 starts depending on your amulet. It’s just not quite good enough to stack up against the more refined specs.

I’m sure you can use the spec and have success with it, particularly in hot join spvp or WvW, but it felt like a red-headed-stepchild to me: a bit out of place and trying too hard to be jack of all

Thanks for the testing man, exactly what I was looking for. I figured it wouldn’t pan out as much in tPvP as it would in hotjoin, I just didn’t want to be a liability with the build.

I had more luck with it in team fights than 1v1. I noticed a huge difference being able to stay in the fights longer with the survivability soldier amulet offers while still putting out good dps.

If you compare it to a standard 2/1/6/1/4 gs sw/f build it’s about even in power and precision. The 30% crit damage does hurt but I figured it might balance out on sustaining more damage.

So I’ve been playing around with how to make my medi guardian have more survivability and still put out good dps, and I came up with this. Been testing it out in sPvP with good results.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQRAsd7flsApaolDxbI8DRh/Qkj1FTB4cd55HA-TpBEwAGOBAaLDkb/BAHBgHHEACPAAA

General build is sw/f + sc/t x/6/6/x/x

It hurts losing the ferocity from the zerker amulet, but the precision is more or less made up by going 6 into radiance. Base 24% crit chance along with right hand strength and a good amount of fury add up to 59% crit chance. Though this build does require one handed weapons to sustain any sort of crits. Mace could be swapped in depending on preference and situation.

I went with runes of the pack for the power and precision, plus ~50% uptime on swiftness and fury. Air and Fire sigils on sw/f for the extra dps, and bloodlust/energy on sc/t. The last 2 trait points can be used for extra dps with fiery wrath or extra survivability with vigorous precision and inspired virtues.

2k base power, 3k toughness and 18k hp add up for a very well rounded build. You can see the difference in team fights being able to sustain yourself while still putting out good dps.

Like how you can click on utilities and insert them into your skill bar, there should be different options for you weapon skills. Different skills (auto attack, burst, etc) could be added to the game regularly to help shift the meta. Skills would be locked into the bar so whirling wrath on guardian could only be swapped out with the new 2 skill to help maintain balance.

Easy enough to put utilities in, I don’t think new players would have too much of a hard time changing weapon skills either.

A couple of things to toss around.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNAS7dl0ApSodDxVI8DRB+QZVEUZAUAYGENxltQQC-TphBwAAuAAaeAA82fY/BBIyRAwcZAA

-You can always use barbarian amulet for vitality, so you don’t have to trait into it.
-2 into radiance can give you even more vuln with blinds. (9 stacks with your build)
-By dropping Force of Will you can put another 2 points into zeal for 10% more condition duration, vuln on symbols and 10% scepter damage/20% focus recharge.
-You can trait into symbols in the honor line for more dps, vuln stacks and protection to make up for loss of knight’s amulet.
-If conditions are a pain, swap contemplation of purity in for hold the line for a full condi cleanse/break stun.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNApeWlsApWo97wVI8DNRCRldR8fBI2fwKkCXFAA-T1RDABTcCA8V9Hm2fYQlgZp8DgDBgEPBASB8twI-w

Well, if your team has dps down and you’re looking for full support, this might work. Tons of healing power so you’ll be pumping out quite a bit. I tossed mace in with longer symbols, so you’ll be able to apply a ton of high regen stacks. Team can stack up, put down both symbols and use empower while regen/swiftness build. Good amounts of protection and stability too. 1600hp dodge rolls with energy sigils and a good amount of vigor.

You could also swap out hammer for mace/shield. Good amounts of protection when using it and some CC with immob, banish and ring of warding. I’d prefer mace with that kind of healing power though, and would build more with soldiers gear for hammer and utilize intelligence sigils on swap for mighty blow.

You can literally create any class you want, hop in PvP, and have full access to weapons/traits. It’s a good idea to use different classes to get an idea how to play against them, improving your general knowledge of the game.

For PvE/WvW, you’ll want to chose a class and level it to 80. If you’re interested in dungeons, I’d consider playing an Ele (highest dps), a guardian (reflects/survivability/good dps) or a warrior (sustain/high dps). Necro and Rangers are generally thought of at the bottom of the dungeon list.

0/0/6/6/4 bunker guardian

AH, PoV and absolute resolution.

Atherakhia.4086:

Considering a fully traited volley only does about 10% less damage than Rapid Fire does, it’s hard to believe the skill’s damage, channel time, or cooldown is the problem.

If damage really is the issue we want to focus on there are only a few things left to look at. Either it’s the vulnerability stacks (which is unlikely because a warrior can stack 8 vuln via another skill) or it’s Signet of the Wild’d use in conjunction with the skill.

Seems to me the issue revolves around SotW more than anything.

Yeah I was playing around in build editor and thought the same thing. Got RF to 3680, and volley up to 3390. Same cooldown, same cast time and just about the same damage.

So those being nearly even, I compared the rest to see what the huge difference is.

Knockback on LB is ranged, which is useful for getting the burst in.
Barrage has high AOE damage for adding pressure.
Brutal shot vuln can be added before volley burst.
LB AA higher at range, smaller close up.
Rifle has more reliable cripple.
Killshot does about the damage of a full barrage, if you can land it.
LB has 3s of stealth.

So, it may not be the burst that sets them apart, but there are pros for both sets. What it really comes down to though is damage multipliers, like you mentioned. Beyond the 25% from SotW, rangers can sit at ~35% base multiplier. While the warrior sits at 28% with full berserker’s power (15% on full a.bar) plus maybe a bit more if you take destruction of the empowered. But you can’t start a fight with the full damage burst on warrior like you can with ranger.

Both classes can use greatsword and run away after too.

I think it’s time to give guardians a condi option beyond burning.

The problem with evade triggers is that there a ton of spammable evades on thief. Dodging has set limitations that can be balanced (vigor + energy sigil + Feline Grace = max dodges per minute). And as Vincent mentioned, you can evade multiple attacks in one dodge giving even more procs.

Might is out of the question on evade. It’s already on dodge anyways, so that won’t change. The only thing I see working would be a heal, and it would be a small one at that. Probably around 50hp per evade.

I would like to see a lot of skills in this game get tied to a type for cooldown reductions and better synergy, for all classes. All great ideas but I don’t see them all happening. One would be alright, like how renewed focus got changed on guardians, but improving all of them would probably lead to QQ.

That being said, which one could benefit from it the most? I’m not sure healing spring could realistically be 20s with the trap buff, that’s one long water field. HaO would be brought down to a 16s cooldown with reduction, maybe work well with the regeneration in some builds. But I think Troll Unguent would work best. 20% cooldown would give it 50% uptime and survival of the fittest would have great synergy.