Guild Wars 2

Mikeskies.1536:

Kraav.8136:

Please increase the knockdown duration from 2 seconds to 3.

A small increase in auto attack chain damage would be welcomed as well.

Cheers!

Hammer was buffed a few patches ago. In my opinion, it is in a good state and doesn’t need any changes. The auto attack chain already does 30% more damage than the great sword’s.

The auto attack is stronger on Hammer, but GS deal more dmg with other skills: you get Might on crit with GS + you can take Berserker’s Power trait, that’s another 21% dmg buff, so i think they are pretty equal.

Just a couple of minutes ago i was testing this Earth Trait Diamond Skin: remove conditions while your health is above 75%.
So i laughed at condi Necro while i was defending a base with 100% health. After about 3 seconds i was still on 100% (maybe 95%)health but suddenly that necro was able to put number of conditions on me at once, and i didn’t even try to dodge, because i was expected all these condi will be gone in next second thx to Diamond Skin, but nope his conditions stayed on me and i needed to use my other Skills to removed them. And he did it every time we met!
So can someone enlighten me what have i’ve been missing here? Why condi on me haven’t been removed? Or this trait only remove one condi per second? Or it only works in earth attunement like Stone Heart, which is by far superior trait in this t3 line.
I would understand if condi wouldn’t being removed when my health drops below 75%, but i was on 100%!
Sorry for English …

Greatsword Mesmers? I don’t get it: what is so op on GS Mesmer? Maybe it’s just me but i have never been experiencing any problems with GS Mesmers/Chronos. Dmg is low, you won’t kill anything with half a brain with GS as Mesmer 1 vs 1. Maybe there are some super skilled GS Mesmers who know how to play their spec but i’ve never met any of them. Scepter condi Mesmer is way more broken imo.

atreyu.9624:

Sifu.9745:

Just avoid Scepter: the most complicated weapon in the game.

or actually start learning it lol, because it’s sooooo fun.

Ok, it is fun and powerful condi only weapon, but survivability sucks. As Power weapon it doesn’t work in my hands, dmg is just way to low compared to condi scepter.

If you prefer a staff, your only option is healing/support. Forget about dpsing as staff ele in pvp (very strong in pve).
If you don’t have HoT you can go with arcane/water/earth + mender amulet (power/healing + some crit/vitality). With that build you won’t die, but you won’t get any kill either Your job is to help your team mates with healing and supporting them with dmg and staying alive.
If you want to be a dmg dealer then your only option is d/d(f). Just avoid Scepter: the most complicated weapon in the game.

Silv.9207:

At higher levels Power is much better than Condi because everyone know how to fight a condi spec and power are seriously better for Burst down people doing a Focus. Better is your rank lesser condi spec you find.

L2P

And why should we only care about high ranked matches? I mean there is maybe 5% of playarbase represented at higher levels and you want to balance PvP around them? Around 5%? Really?

That’s why i play condi on almost all my professions: because as you mentioned condi builds don’t require 3 dps stats. I just take condi as main stat, power or precision and toughness or vitality as secondary stats.
Condi builds have better survivability and easier playstyle. I play condi Necro, condi Thief, condi Mesmer and condi Guardian (ok, sometimes i switch to Power guard), now i have also be thinking to drop my power Warrior for condition one. My only non condi class is Elementalist but he is a healer/support Staff spec so that’s another option.
Now tell me, why would i play a power Mesmer and Power Thief, if condi is so much stronger on both? I would really like to play Power builds but they need a huge buff.
I would say that condi is the best for almost every profession, support/healing is second the best and Power is on the bottom in my hands.
My question is: why would i spent months to make power builds any good if i can learn condi in a few days and be super effective?

I don’t have time to learn Power builds (you need to invest too much time to make them work with a few exceptions), i play this game for relaxation and only condi and support builds allow me that, sorry to say that but it is truth. So left conditions as they are for us, casuals, and keep power for hardcore players, is that ok?

Well, tab-ing minion after minion before you finally target a necro or another opponent makes people crazy

Fashion Mage.3712:

Kind of the other way around. Staff eles tend to be more glassy and dagger eles tend to be tankier.

Healer/support Staff Elementalists are unkillable 1 vs 1, they are not glassy at all. Dps Staff eles are indeed a free kill.
But i was wondering what these super though dagger ele builds look like, since celestial is no longer availible? I mean i do next to no dmg to them (especially no condi dmg) while they can still kill me with ease.

Have you guys (dagger elementalists) received some crazy buffs or am i missing something? Dagger eles used to be glass cannon, but last few days i have been playing vs some unkillable ones: no matter what profession i play i just can’t bring double dagger eles below 70% health! And they do respectable amount of dmg. I would expect that for staff ele: superior survivability and team support but zero dmg in return, but now dagger eles can be as tough as staff ones + they do tons of damage? Like they are completely immune to conditions …
Can someone enlighten me what has happened or can you share what build they have been running?
Sorry for English …

Neclord.1238:

I don’t know which class to play. They are all cool to me, but which one would you recommend for PvP?

I want to do well in 1vs1 situations.

Why don’t you play them all then? You don’t need to be lvl 80 to play a PvP, so i don’t see a problem here:)
Anyway for 1 vs 1 DH (or core guardian), Staff Druid is unkillable (if you really like to play a Ranger class with a Staff?), Necro is not that good but not bad either.

Even if AA on staff would have been buffed to 1200 range it won’t be op at all imo. So i really don’t get this 300 range nerf …
Please, Anet, buff aa to 1200 range and you can lower its dmg a bit, if you really need to.

Thanks, guys. I have a lot of fun, have been trying different GS builds in Unranked and the dmg part is surprisingly high, survivability is not bad either with Meditation, Gs + Sc/f (sh) or even Gs + Staff. Gs + Lb doesn’t work for me. Gs + Hammer and Gs + Mace also suck at least in my hands. I still do more dmg as condi guard (it’s easier) but i really hate conditions, so this would be a nice change:)

@Vitaly, thx for sharing your build: it really helps. Just thinking if i could drop Sw for Scepter? Equiping two melee weapons, while we have no mobility … and i like to get rid of one handed sword anyway …

Is it possible to make GS any good in PvP? Get bored on Sw/x …
Do you guys have any GS build that actually works in PvP? I prefer Power builds, please. It could be a full defensive or offensive (don’t like support builds that much), doesn’t really matter, i just want to make GS equal in effectiveness to Sw or even better if possible

I just don’t get this condi: whenever i use it in PvP as Thief it seems that it doesn’t have any effect on my opponents. I can spam Blindness forever but still being destroyed within 4 or 5 seconds lol. If i use it on pve mobs, especially Black Powder and Shadow Shot, it works as intended, but in PvP, nope. I use Shadow Shot on Guardian, he hits me for 50% of my health in next 0.5 seconds. Blind him again and again with Shadow Shot or Black Powder, nothing happened, i am dead just 3 sec latter.
I understand there is a condi cleanse in the game but they can’t just spam it, like i can spam Blindness, right? How can my opponent hits me over and over again in melee range, if i stand in Black Powder is beyond me.

I just can’t decide which one would be a better option for PvP and open world: sword/dagger or sword/pistol? Power builds only! (I don’t get this sw condi builds anyway, sw is a power weapon)
It’s not only the question about the damage part when sw/p wins by far, but also the question of survivability.

Edit: one more question for my secondary weapon set: what would be the strongest stats for Short bow: Power or condi?

HoT is not free … yet! But i’m sure if you can wait for 2 or 3 months HoT will be free, because otherwise Anet is going to loose a lot of players.
In World of Warcraft, for example, you only need to buy base game (you get 1 month free time that way) + last xpac. All previous expacs (5 of them) are included, so you get them for free.

You know that you don’t need to play spellbreaker with daggers, right? You can use almost any other weapon set you want and get better results. Spelbraker is very strong spec, just be sure that you don’t use daggers and you will be fine.

Unplayable. Even vanilla Elementalist is more effective in PvP than Weaver.

The most complicated Elite spec in the game

saerni.2584:

It’s important when you say “condi thief” to actually say whether you are talking about D/D, P/D, SB, or S/X.

Luckily i have two weapon sets! d/d + p/d or sb. I understand that you, guys, can win those condi Thieves who stay on one weapon set for the entire fight, but some of us use two weapon sets, what a surprise:) You see me with double dagger, but next second i am on p/d, depends of situation.
Most of the time i stay on d/d, but if you want to kite me or there are too many traps on the floor i can just swap to p/d and spam#2 from safe distance. #2 is immobilize which, traited, cause nice poison dmg over and over again. Depends on map i can switch to SB, for superior mobility and survivability for the cost or lower damage.

Masenko.8527:

Well if my trinkets weren’t ascended then maybe I could but I think it’s too late now.

You don’t need Ascended Trinkets: replace them with Power Exotic ones. The difference between ascended and exotic is next to non existing. Maybe you do 2% – 3% more dmg with full ascended gear and that’s it.
If you mix power gear with condi trinkets you will do way less dmg. Just play either power or condi. Add more vitality or toughness if you need more survivability.

Necro Staff is utility only weapon, dmg part is very poor. You use your Staff when you need Life Force, when you fight more than 2 enemies, when you need to fear or condi removal, or when you really just want/need to stay as far away from your opponent/s as possible.
If you defend a base you can just put 2, 3 or 4 Marks on the floor (they last for a while), switch to Scepter (not necessary, it depends on situation) and wait for your opponent/s.

You want to use Scepter/Wh (or dagger) as much as possible for dmg and mobility part, if you are not being attacked. You can use it for a short time even when you get attacked, if you have enough Life Force to switch to Death Shroud as soon as needed. Scepter autoattack is probably the strongest condition autoattack in the game. So use Sc #1 and #2 when you can land it on your target, and #3 only when your opponent has at least 3 conditions.
So Scepter is for dmg part, Staff is for life force generation, aoe dmg on multiple oponents, condi removal and Fear. Dmg part is super low on single target, especially autoattack dmg is next to non existant on condi staff, a bit higher if you play power necro.

There is not a clear answer: you don’t always want to do as much dmg as possible, if you are not protected by your party mates, but if you can do it, than stay on your Scepter as long as possible, if you are not sure what to do and you have no (or not enough) Life force than you can’t go wrong with the Staff.

Sorry for English …

That’s a big minus for this game: Anet just doesn’t offer enough info about many combat “things”. For example I still have no idea how Weakness and Blindness affect my opponents: sometimes it seems that i get killed in 5 seconds no matter if my opponent is affected by Weakness and Blindness or not. I guess many people have no idea how do conditions stacks and so on. I need to find all these answers on google, they are not in the game.

But to answer your question: no, conditions are not affected by “damage increase” Traits, only those who specified that increase goes both way: for example: “You do 10% more dmg and condition dmg”. If you don’t see “and condi dmg” part that dmg increase works for physical dmg only.
But the best way is to check it by your self on training dummies.

Ranger or Necromancer.
If you don’t like pets than Warrior would be a good option or petless necromancer.

shaidyn.4016:

This is level 80. Thanks for the replies so far.

I went to the trading post and typed in exotic.

Don’t type in Exotic. Don’t type anything: open Trading Post > choose Buy Armor or Buy Weapons > choose which type of armor or weapon would you like to check up (for example Chest, Amulets, Mace …) > set to lvl 80 – 0 > take a time :P

But choose wisely: be sure that you always take the cheapest piece of gear/weapon. For example: You can get exotic berserker(or carrion or marauder or whatever stats you are looking for) Boots for 1 gold or less and you can get exotic berserker boots for 45 gold, just because they have a “better” look lol. I always buy the cheapest version and if i don’t like how it looks like i can change that almost for free anyway.
You can also buy some gear with berserker stats and some with marauder (or whatever you want) if you need more survivability.
Sorry for English …

If you have at least 30 – 40 gold you can get almost full Exotic gear/Weapon set from Trading Post. Exotic is the best gear you can get that way in just a 10 – 20 minutes. That’s by far the fastest way. Ascended and Legendary: you need to work very hard to get it, but there is no need to do it, because the difference in stats between Exotic and Ascended gear/weapons is maybe 3% – 5% only.
If you don’t have gold you can easily get 2 gold per day for just completing a daily: PvP victory, for example, or WvW or pve.

Warrior is a very safe option for open world, so you don’t need much defensive stats. You can add some Vitality or Toughness if you don’t feel comfortable enough and that’s it. Axe/x + GS for Power Warrior or Sword/x + LB for condi Warrior.

If you really want to be that though guy you can equip Mace/Shield + LB or Rifle to be safe from distance when needed (events):)

Edit: this is about lvl 80, right?

I just can’t find any use of it … Scepter and LB are both much better ranged weapons.

What about soloing open world with Staff? Could a Celestial be optimal in this case?
Oh, and i hope that Staff will still be a thing with the new, more melee oriented, elite spec.

I hope, i really hope, that we finally get petless ranger option. I mean perma petless, no just a few sec cd. Pet is the only reason that keeps me away from this profession.
As Necromancer i can easily play without a pet/s and doing just fine.

I guess it is a condi Guardin build: condi/power/vitality. You have 20 k health (you don’t need crit at all as condi guard) superior burning dmg + meditations which heal you.
Sword/Torch + Scepter/Focus (shield)

I suggest you try a condi Thief: (Carrion)Power/Vitality/Condition. You don’t need crit for that extra maybe 10% increase in dmg.
Your weapon set is d/d + sb or p/d + sb. Take Venoms.
That way you will have way more health and Evasion then Power Thieves while only doing maybe 15% less dmg.

I guess it would be LB Guardian (DH). As a GS Mesmer you should keep your distance 900 range (stronger aa) or at least 600, which is not always possible in open world.
But in terms of fun i would say Mesmer

I don’t have money, that’s why. And i won’t have it to buy PoF as well, i guess. But most of the time i just play unranked PvP so i don’t miss HoT that much …

Edit: Just kidding. I’m gonna buy both xpacs as soon as possible

Do you think d/d Power oriented build could be viable ( optimal) or condi is the only option for double daggers? I mean Power/Precision/Ferocity instead of Power/Vitality/Condition?
Something like SB: it can be used as power or condi weapon …

I would expect the price to be much lower 1.5 month before release of the new xpac?

rsiloliveira.6429:

My question is simple. Are any ranged classes/playstyles viable atm?

1.Condi Necromancer: Scepter/x + Staff
2. Staff Elementalist
3. Condi Engineer: double pistol Flamethrower/Elixir Gun. Power engineer grenades
4. Power Thief double pistol + sb(Rifle next expac) or condi Thief p/d + sb.
5. Ranger
6. Guardian (DH) for open world only

Chasind.3128:

I love the new human set of hairstyles & faces. Love, love love.

What new hairstyles and faces are you talking about?

Anklot.3274:

Pvp wise looks awful

Why do you think so? I guess we will get some sniper kind of gun, so expect more than 1200 range, 1500 maybe?. It could be superior weapon for 1 vs 1, killing people from safe distance …we will see.

Ok, thank you very much guys .)

Edit: same question for Map exploration: what do i get for exploring 100% of the maps? I am at 60% at the moment.

I really dislike doing personal story: this is a game, not a real life or a movie, so i don’t care how “my personal story” will ends.
I did some chapters up to lvl 70 just to get more exp while leveling , but since i dinged lvl 80 i have no will to continue with it … I have no idea how long it will takes to finish this annoying “kill 50 foes here and there over and over again”? I migt finish it, if there are only few chapters left, like no more then 2 or 3 hours, but it seems that it never ends?
Do i get some awesome rewards for completing the story or what is this good for?

KCtheG.5168:

Tome of Knowledge – “Grants one character level if BELOW level 80 or one spirit shard if level 80. Only usable in PvE and WvW.”

Can’t you read? Are you BELOW lvl 80? No? So why bother then? Tome of Knowledge is for leveling your new chars from 1 to 80.

What do you guys recommend to be the best dps for staff ele: power, condi or hybrid build?
Fire #1, #2 and #5 = power, while #3 and #4 is condi + more condi from crits and utility skills.
If i go full power build i have no use of Fire #3 and #4 …

I am also confused about Daggers and Scepter: it seems they cover both condi and power builds?
What a strange profession

PvP (and open world occasionally) is the only thing i do in GW2. It’s fun but burst dmg is a bit out of control: you can get in downed state really quick vs some skilled players (professions like Thief, Guardian, Mesmer) if you are not playing very carefully. It really is a huge difference between bad and good players. Also it’s not always high skill/risk high reward: some builds allow you to play at low skill high reward, which is somehow acceptable for me as long as there is still fun in PvP:)

You know what funny thing is? That condi Thief is not the easiest build imo: p/p Power Thief can do it even easier with just spamming #3 (Unload) from distance and, that’s advance playstyle, dodging and stealth when needed. Oh, and p/d condi Thief is not complicated as well:P

It makes absolutely no difference if i have it zero or 900, so i am wondering what is the point of stacking Toughness in PvP? With 900 Toughness i get hit for maybe 10% less and that’s it? So instead of 3000 dmg i would only take 2700 dmg? Oh, and it doesn’t affect conditions … Guess this is the most useless stat in this game, right?

Dragon.4782:

Does anyone know what the elementalist elite spec will be for the next expansion? What weapon will it use? I am farming gold like you would not believe so I can get gear for my toons and their respective elite specs.

Please, no more elite specs: one is more than enough. If we get two elite spec next expac that will drastically reduce the way that we create our own builds. Just think about, two elite specs means we will be “forced” to take these two elite trait lines: Tempest + the new one.

Thief, Mesmer and Necro are three exceptions which makes you hate condi:) Maybe we can add a condi Engineer on the list, even though he has zero survivability and it is probably the rarest build out there, ant that’s it.
Never had any problems with condi Warriors, Revenants, Eles, Rangers, maybe some hard times with burning Guards … Luckily only the minority of thieves play condi builds.

KrHome.1920:

GS has the highest dps (Gravediger makes the difference, Dagger and GS auto attacks are equal). Cleave and survivability is also alot better on GS.

Isn’t that a bit weird? That GS, which hits 3 – 5 foes has higher single target dps than Dagger, which only hits one foe – two with autoattack?
So even if i want the highest single target dps i should take GS over Dagger?

I would rather see 10 vs 10 and/or 7 vs 7.
Of course i don’t believe that “game is balanced around 5 vs 5”. It’s just a cheap excuse: PvP is not balanced at all, so please don’t lie to us.
In World of Warcraft you can play PvP: 2 vs 2 and 3 vs 3 Arenas, (unfortunately no more 5 vs 5) 10 vs 10, 15 vs 15 and 40 vs 40 Battlegrounds.
If the game is really balanced only around 5 vs 5 than you should just remove WvW when 50 people fight another 50 people. Or am i missing something?