Or that we actually lack the 2 highest damage conditions in the game: confusion and burning.
1. Burning would like to have a word with you. You know, the highest damage per application condition in the game?
We dont have all conditions, in fact we lack 2 of the most powerful: burn and confusion.
Corrupt Boon and Well of Corruption both convert;
- Aegis into Burning
- Retaliation into Confusion
Keep in mind that Burning also has a very short base duration, doesn’t stack, and many abilities that inflict it do nothing else.
CC: lol compared to anyone
fear: shortest duration in the game
knock down: golem charge is pretty much random direction
daze: not hard CC, target can still move
cripple: average
sink: really?
CC: I never claimed having CC was a unique trait of the Necromancer.
Fear: You’re conveniently ignoring that Necro’s also have multiple abilities that Fear and its duration can be increased with Condition Duration.
Knock-Down: You’re conveniently ignoring that it’s a long range AoE down a line and the Golem uses it on your target (unless there are AI issues on the charge that I’m not aware of).
Daze: I consider not being able to use any abilities (since “auto-attacks” are abilities in GW2) worthy of being called a “Hard CC” but to each their own. You’re conveniently ignoring that it’s a fairly wide cone AoE.
Cripple: You’re conveniently discounting its strengths to prove your point.
Sink: You’re conveniently discounting its strengths like it doesn’t even count as a hard CC.
Guardian scepter, since you wish to compare, fires 3x faster, and is just shy of being 3x the DPS. And, it has an immobilize to compliment it’s ground target Scepter 2. The fact that you bring up moving targets and Necro staff, is however, the biggest punchline I read from your post.
- Staff’s attack rate isn’t the only thing that’s relevant; the weapon also causes condition damage, all of its abilities hit multiple targets, and it’s capable of quickly charging up Life Force.
- Just to compare, Staff has an AoE Chill and AoE Fear to compliment its slow projectile speed.
- Just to compare, Marks deal their full damage to a target if it hits them once while Smite (Guardian Scepter #2) only deals its full damage to targets that stand in it for the full duration.
In close range (0-600), most ranged weapons have no problem landing. However, in the medium range (601-900), the staff begins to fail due to projectile speed. Any target in the 601-900 range with sprint (even with ‘in combat’ speed reduction) can out run a staff projectile when running away from the necro. Any side to side movement in this range will cause upwards of 1/3rd of the Staff 1 attacks to miss. Factor in long range (901-1200) and your attacks can be out ranged by anyone running away ‘in combat’ without sprint. More to the point, any type of fighting that occurs in this range with an opponent that moves around, will inadvertently avoid over 1/2 the Staff 1 attacks, without having to dodge.
All of this is true for Guardian’s Scepter #1 as well.
Only condition builds are able to handle this mechanic fluidly, and the mechanic itself is fluff instead of practical. The end result are abilities that hinder ourselves with no real practical gain. It also shows how each of the necro’s utility skills are too focused on specific builds. Wells in a non-well build, what? Minions in a non-minion build, say it ain’t so? Necro utilities aren’t choices. They are predetermined by the build.. And if you do pick something different, you actually hurt your own capacity.
Again, my post was not about balance or practicality. I just wanted to point out that there’s a reason Necromancers are the only class that can inflict Conditions on themselves. Anet didn’t design Corruptions just to “punish” Necromancers for using their utilities.
To the people who are arguing on this thread that we are all apparently bad and don’t know how to play necro -cough Jknifer and Somoe cough-, please teach us how to play.
When did I ever say or even imply that everyone in this thread was bad and doesn’t know know how to play? Please don’t put words in my mouth or assume I feel the same as Jknifer just because he agreed with my post.
When you have 4 distinct people pointing out how your arguments are bad you should re-evaluate what you’re saying before making an even bigger fool out of yourself.
I’m sorry but this means nothing, especially since I’m posting in a QQ thread.
NVM that 5 of the finishers are underwater or that most of the land blast/finishers compete for the same 3 utility slots, with 5 of the combos requiring a 20 point major trait for a measly 900 range, something incredibly important in WvW.
Or that teleporting back to where you were is in no way a gap-closer.
You list them out, but you don’t take the time to understand. Every combo field is disabled in water, except 1. The one that does work in water, moves the character along and out of the combo field, and doesn’t actually work on itself. The necro has no self combos in water. Adding all of those finishers to the underwater weapons back in Dec. was just shy of an April’s Fools prank, but I guess it was good enough to fool you.
The whole point of having a burst movement ability is to fulfill the need to; 1. chase down other players, or 2. exit from combat with relative reliability in getting away.
Necrotic Traversal has a 1.5s cast time. If you’re chasing after someone (or running away), with swiftness active, and cast it, you can teleport a massive 200-250 units by the time the teleport becomes active.
Spectral Walk, by default, doesn’t provide any means of chasing someone down, obviously. And when running away, that means you can only go backwards…. to where the opponents are that are going to kill you? Get the picture? Starting to see the reoccurring theme here?
Dark Path… not particularly useful after all other professions have used their burst movement to leave 900 cast range. And rarely is there a perfect setup to use it on a critter/mob while running away. And once again suffers, similar to Necrotic Traversal, due to cast time/travel time resulting in the same lack luster end travel distance of 200-250 units of actual porting when running in a direct line.
Gap closers: lets see you keep up with a thief, ele, warrior, mesmer(in combat) or pretty much any class tbh
Combos: not that few blast finishers but when you have skill that only do that it pretty much fail, using staff 4 as finisher limits your already pretty crappy removal
fields: lol we have the crappiest fields, id trade either fire or water for everything we have atm
When did I ever say ANYTHING about the balance or practicality of these abilities? The OP didn’t say Necro’s burst movement was too situational or unreliable, he said they didn’t have any. The OP didn’t say Necro’s finishers and combo fields were too limited or difficult to use together, he said they had fewer than any other class. He made outlandish, generalized statements about things the Necromancer lacked and all I intended to do was point out that these statements are false. This has nothing to do with balance.
Lets imagine there’s a class with only one teleport ability. This ability has a 2 year cooldown, requires 1000 gems to use, can only be used during a full moon, and has a 98% chance to fail and delete your character. If you said “This class has no burst movement” you would be wrong.
My final point is that THIS profession has issues. WE play it and have been clamoring for bloody fixes and balance since week 1 of the game. THIS forum was the first to devote any effort into a bug list, creating a very well organized and cataloged one , which ANET has never actually bothered to make any feedback upon about what was a bug or working as intended. Saying that 2 of what are considered the better and more well off professions in the game have any serious flaws compared to Necromancer IN THIS kitten FORUM is akin to asking to create the Drama you end up saying that we should stop.
Like I said in my previous post, exaggerating weaknesses and discounting strengths doesn’t help anyone. I compared Necromancer’s Staff to Guardian’s Scepter because of my own personal experiences, not to say “OMAGAWD GURDIAN IS WURSE OFF THAN NECRO, QQ”. I compared Necromancer finishers/combo fields to Guardian and Mesmer finishers/combo fields for the same reason.
(INB4 “lol you only have experience with FotM classes”)
cut
This guy clearly doesn’t play Necro, or probably he hasn’t played it enough.
There is no point to argue with him.Some people think Wiki makes them an expert.
I’m not saying the Necromancer is perfectly balanced but yall are being complete drama queens about this. Conveniently ignoring what the class has going for it and exaggerating its weaknesses wont make buffs come any sooner. Oh, and pretending that everyone outside of the “Necromancer-Main Master Race” is too ignorant to comprehend your “plight” doesn’t help you either.
Please, get over yourselves.
(edited by Somoe.3621)
@Somoe.3621
…
1. Power scaling is not all that’s relevant to a class’ damage output. Necro’s “only have two good power scaling attacks” but also have access to every Condition in the game, which they excel at applying (especially to multiple targets). It’s also worth mentioning that Necro’s can easily and simultaneously stack Might on themselves (Reaper’s Might, Siphoned Power, Blood Is Power) and Vulnerability on multiple enemies (Unyielding Blast, Death Shiver, Well of Suffering).
“Guardian scepter is bad? Dunno never seen one use it. Might be I guess, good thing they have staff huh?”
2. Necromancer’s Staff #1 is “too slow” for you? Good thing Necromancers have Scepter and Axe, huh?
3.Trying to discount Wells because “Oh, they’re PBAoE unless traited” is a flimsy argument at best.
4. I never said anything about how balanced or well designed these skills were because that’s not what the OP was talking about. The OP said Necromancers had the fewest combo fields/finishers in the game, which they don’t. This is a FACT regardless of current skill balance.
…
1. My post had nothing to do with balance or how situational you think a skill is.
The point was there are no instant gap closers on the necro…
2. Necromancers do in fact have instant gap closers; Dark Path, Necrotic Traversal (potentially), and Spectral Walk (potentially).
…making us the easiest class to run away from…
3.
- One of the few classes to get a constant +25% MS Signet
- Multiple ways to increase MS (traits) or grant Swiftness (skills + traits)
- Multiple ways to teleport
- Multiple ways to inflict Chill, both single-target and AoE
- Multiple ways to remove Boons that increase mobility, like Swiftness and Vigor, both single-target and AoE.
- Multiple ways to inflict Immobilize.
- Multiple ways to inflict Cripple, both single-target and AoE.
- Multiple ways to hard CC, both single-target and AoE (Knock-down, Knock-back, Fear, Daze, Sink)
- Fear is the only hard CC that can have its duration increased by a stat, Condition Duration (not to mention the +50% duration trait)
I’m not necessarily saying Necromancers are the “inescapable-once-engaged attrition class” that Anet intended them to be but gap-closers aren’t the only thing that matters.
- The only profession with a weapon projectile that takes 4s to travel to max distance
How can people complain about Necro’s Staff #1 when Guardian’s Scepter #1 is so much worse? Sure Necrotic Grasp’s projectile is slow but it also hits EVERYTHING in a line, gives Life Force for each enemy it hits, and has a 20% chance to act as a Projectile Finisher. Necro’s Staff can at least deal damage to moving targets thanks to Marks, unlike Guardian’s Scepter with Smite.
- The lowest damage profession in the game
Just flat out wrong/overly dramatic.
- The profession with the fewest combo field/finishers in the game
-Well of Blood: Light Field
- Spectral Wall: Ethereal Field
-Well of Suffering: Dark Field
- Well of Corruption: Dark Field
- Well of Power: Dark Field
- Well of Darkness: Dark Field
- Corrosive Poison Cloud: Poison Field
- Chillblains (Staff): Poison Field
- Foul Current (Trident): Poison Field
- 9 skills, 4 types of fields
- Necrotic Grasp (Staff): 20% Projectile Finisher
- Dark Spear (Spear): Projectile Finisher
- Summon Bone Fiend: Projectile Finisher x2
- Summon Flesh Wurm: Projectile Finisher
- Wicked Spiral (Spear): Whirl Finisher
- Deadly Catch (Spear): Whirl Finisher
- Putrid Mark (Staff): Blast Finisher
- Frozen Abyss (Trident): Blast Finisher
- Necrotic Traversal (Summon Flesh Wurm): Blast Finisher
- Putrid Explosion (Summon Bone Minions): Blast Finisher
- Foul Current (Trident): Leap Finisher
- 11 skills, 4 types of finishers
Guardians:
Fields – 9 skills, 2 types
Finishers – 8 skills, 4 types
Necro’s have 3 more finisher abilities and 2 more types of combo fields.
Mesmers:
Fields – 7 skills, 2 types
Finishers – 9 skills, 4 types
Necro’s have 2 more finisher abilities, 2 more field abilities, and 2 more types of fields.
- The only profession that has abilities that hinder ourselves
Necromancers are also the only profession that can send all of their conditions (or hindrances) to an enemy. Hmm, I wonder why.
- The only profession without burst movement weapon attack or utility
- Necrotic Traversal (Summon Flesh Wurm):
- Instant cast time and can be used during other actions
- Breaks stuns
- 1,200 range teleport
- Spectral Walk:
- 30s Swiftness
- Breaks stuns
- Can teleport back to starting position within 8 seconds
- Dark Path (Death Shroud):
- Homing missile
- 900 range teleport to an enemy
- Foul Current (Trident):
- 600 range leap/dash
- Locust Swarm (Warhorn):
- 10s Swiftness
- Decaying Swarm (Soul Reaping):
- 10s Swiftness when you hit 25% health
(edited by Somoe.3621)
Defenders (bunkers) play an invaluable role in point capture maps but aren’t rewarded as such in GW2. I play a bunker Guardian and always end up with one of the lowest scores on my team unless people constantly suicide attack the point that I’m protecting. You get a bonus reward for killing people on your point but keeping people away from the point gives you nothing.
1. What if you got points/glory over time while standing on a point that your team owns?
- What if you got bonus points/glory over time while standing on a contested point?
2. What if you got points/glory when you leave combat on a point that your team owns?
3. What if you got bonus points/glory when you contest/capture a point by physically keeping enemies out? What I mean is using Knock-Backs, Immobilizes, Fears, Wards, etc to prevent enemies from entering the point long enough for you to capture it. I’m not sure how it could be implemented mechanically but pulling this off requires some skill so I think it should be rewarded.
I enjoy the “bunker” play-style but it’s really discouraging when I see Thieves and Warriors getting 3x my score/glory by mindlessly running around attacking points. My role is just as vital to our team’s success as theirs is.
Thoughts?
Adding to Mesmer:
1. Duelist Discipline: Increase the range and damage of your “pitol” skills (including phantasm) Recharge 20% faster First issue. It DECREASES the damage of the phantasmal duelist significantly. On the mesmer bugs thread there are screen shots showing proof it also makes it a 100% combo finisher. This bug needs fixed extremely fast as it really hurts mesmers use as a pistol but also makes the duelist “OP” as some would put by making it a 100% projectile finisher. If they increased the damage by using duelist discipline and kept it as a 20% physical projectile finisher I think most pistol mesmers would be happy.2. Signet of illusions: Passively grants more health to illusions. It does but it takes about 10 seconds from the time the illusion is summoned for them to actually get the extra health.
3. Illusionary Leap: Creat a clone that leaps to your foe and cripples them. If it is on any sort of slant be it up or down and the mesmer is running the clone will just stay put sometimes for 5 seconds before moving.
These seem more like bugs than vague tooltips.
I’d like to keep portal as a mesmer option, but give other classes unique, powerful abilities that we cannot do instead. So that they are just as “needed” as a mesmer, but for different things. That way groups have to decide what they want. Of course that goes against Anet’s design that you can always play with any group no matter what you play, but let’s face it, that really only works for PUGs. tPVP and WvW are going to require coordinated strategies and that means bringing the right tools. Just give other classes different “right” tools.
Some examples:
Engineer: Construction Tools (trait): You cap a point and repair structures 50% faster with a tool kit equipped. (Diminishing returns for multiple engineers)
Warrior: They should get the ability to AOE repair armor in the field in WVW (on a massive CD), but it would need another effect useful in sPVP obviously.
Ranger: Pathfinder: OK, this one would be slightly like portal maybe with a delay for travel and a cool effect like the original Death Shroud.
Thief: Sabotage: Lay a trap that slows enemy capping by 50% and does massive DOT to structures while active (not nearly as much as siege but better than other character abilities). Thieves need help in siege, not roaming, or even zerging, abilities.
Necro: C’mon, what necro doesn’t want a self res? Would be awesome in WVW and even great in sPVP.
OK, some of these aren’t great and definitely would need tweaking, but you get the idea.
But if the devs cannot spark their brains to such a degree, my vote goes to giving portal abilities to the necro, engineer, and possibly rangers. Either a death/corpse portal for necros, transporter for engineers, or that pathfinder ability for rangers.
I agree any other class would be absurd. Ele and thief are way too mobile already and it would be OP. Guardians… ehh maybe but they already dominate bunkering and have great group swiftness options if they choose the right build. Warriors I just don’t see how it would fit thematically.
Above all I do not want the class balanced around this one ability that isn’t even useful in 90% of all situations due to nerfs for just that 10%. How unimaginative can they be sometimes?
BTW, to the poster that recommended sucking allies into portal: will NEVER happen. Forcing allies into anything would be a severely abused griefing tool, and Anet clearly recognizes this given how portal works now.
All of your suggestions are abilities that ONLY work in WvW/sPvP while Mesmer portals work in any setting and are still invaluable in WvW/sPvP.
Portals are NOT a class defining mechanic of the Mesmer (that would be Illusions and Shatters) or even a unique skill type (like “Wards” are for Guardians or “Wells” for Necro’s). It’s just a massive form of utility that no other class gets without a legitimate reason, which simply isn’t right.
I can’t wait for another class (Necro/Engi) to get a portal ability.
Mesmer:
1. Phantasmal Haste (Trait – Illusions) “Phantasms recharge 20% faster.”
- The description implies all of the player’s abilities that create Phantasms would recharge 20% faster but really all of the Phantasms’ skills recharge 20% faster.
2. Phantasmal Swordsman (Off-hand Sword #5) “Create an illusion that attacks your foe.”
- It doesn’t mention that the Phantasm is able to leap into and out of combat, at first I thought all it did was auto-attack.
If you’re off alone AH isn’t going to heal for much at all. Since the ah/vigor nerf you need to have people around you to have it work well. Try using monk’s focus for solo work instead.
The only Meditation I ever use in PvP is Judge’s Intervention so I’d only get the heal once every 36 seconds (with Meditation Mastery in Valor). If I need condition removal I’d rather just take “SYG!” with Soldier runes and Superior Aria in Honor than take Smite Condition. Contemplation of Purity is awesome but I’m not a fan of its long CD and I rarely find myself stacked with multiple conditions anyway.
How did AH get nerfed? I only saw the change made to Vigorous Precision.
I noticed another issue; Warrior banners seem to use the old stat terminology for some stats.
1. Banner of Strength (Utility – Banner) _"Place a banner that improves power and malice for you and nearby allies."
Malice = Condition Damage
2. Banner of Discipline (Utility – Banner) “Place a banner that improves precision and prowess for you and nearby allies.”
Prowess = Critical Damage
3. Banner of Tactics (Utility – Banner) “Place a banner that increases compassion and concentration for you and nearby allies.”
Compassion = Healing Power
Concentration = Boon Duration
On a related note, when you try to dodge without enough Endurance you get a message that says “Not enough Energy” (Energy being the old term) rather than “Not enough Endurance”.
I’ve been playing my Guardian since the 3 day jump start and absolutely love the class. I mostly play PvE but I’ve been trying to get into PvP too and it’s been an uphill battle.
In PvE;
- I feel tanky and useful in any given situation
- I can see/feel the impact of my supportive abilities
- Although I’m not a damage dealer I’m no pushover either
In PvP though it’s almost the complete opposite;
- I take massive amounts of damage even if I build full tank stacking Toughness and Vitality
- My supportive abilities rarely have a noticeable impact
- My damage is fairly easy to out-heal and almost any class can effortlessly kite me
Everyone says Guardians in PvP are super tanky and provide invaluable support but I just don’t see it when I play. I’m really trying to love my Guardian in PvP as much as I do in PvE but I just dont feel useful. I’ve tried everything from a focused support build to a tanky/damage build and the popular “bunker” build but nothing is working for me.
Something just happened in the EB JP today that left me speechless. I ran into an enemy Guardian, tried to 1v1 him, and suffered a humiliating defeat. On top of that, a few minutes later I watched as he won a 2v1 against another Thief and Guardian. This guy was so tanky and could still hit like a truck, so why cant I figure out how to do that too?
- He was using a GS + Sword/Focus.
- His utilities were (from what I could tell) Shelter, SYG!, SY!, and Renewed Focus.
- His food buff was +70 Vitality and health regeneration.
- My weapons, traits, utilities, runes, and sigils: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAR7elUgqC33RPEf4ERWBRi9AjZE+XPooEZIA;TkAqsMZJyymlLLZWLPGFsJA
- My food buff was 5% Toughness -> Vitality with +160 Power below 50% HP, 4% Toughness -> Power, and 2% Vitality -> Power.
- My armor was all Power>Toughness/Vitality, my rings were Power>Toughness/Vitality, my back was Power>Toughness/Vitality, and my amulet and earrings were Toughness>Power/Precision.
- My GS and Scepter were Toughness>Power/Precision and my Shield was Power>Toughness/Vitality.
- 1929 Power, 1367 Precision, 2087 Toughness, 1880 Vitality, 3029 Attack, 25% Crit, 3298 Armor, 20445 Health (GS)
- 1933 Power, 1372 Pecision, 2178 Toughness, 1885 Vitality, 2892 Attack, 26% Crit, 3450 Armor, 20495 Health (Scepter + Shield)
This setup is what I usually use for PvP but I’ll sometimes switch the GS for a Hammer and the Scepter + Shield for a Staff, depending on the situation. I’ve also tried using Toughness>Power/Precision armor instead of the Power>Toughness/Vitality armor but I didn’t notice much of a damage increase.
I’ve been trying so hard to enjoy Guardian PvP but it just feels so bad in WvW and SPvP. I feel completely worthless at range because Scepter loses 90% of its damage against a moving target and if I get close enough to hit with Staff’s #1 I’m close enough to die. In melee I feel weak because my damage isn’t very impressive, I’m slow and easy to kite/avoid, and if I over commit or get into a bad situation I have no chance of escaping. I’ve actually been enjoying Ranger in PvP (especially WvW) more than Guardian even though the general consensus is that Rangers are awful in PvP (especially WvW) and Guardians are borderline OP in PvP. On my Ranger I can actually contribute to a fight without giving the enemy team a free kill, stick to and escape from people, and have noticeable utility and damage.
I too am seriously disappointed with the inconsistent and vague tooltips in this game.
My biggest pet peeve in this game is the inconsistent and loosely used term “projectile.” Specifically in defensive abilities – im not talking about a projectile combo finisher.
To give a simple example:
Wall of reflection (guardian ability) reflects projectiles
Swirling winds (elementalist ability) destroys projectilesIt is extremely common that these two abilities mismatch in what they can stop. On old Tom for example (Harpy FOTM boss mid-way), swirling winds works on the poison bolts but wall of reflection doesn’t. (Even if this weren’t true, there are endless, similar scenarios where two abilities that affect “projectiles” act inconsistently.
How are players supposed to deduce that? Why do two abilities that affect projectiles not always affect the same attacks?
It really bothers me. I get around it by testing things extensively on training dummies.. But the amount of time I’ve spent doing so is astronomical.
I understand your frustration completely.
Whirling Wrath: (Guardian GS #2) “Spin in place and swing your greatsword while hurling powerful projectiles.”
Although the bolts of energy it fires out are called “projectiles” I’ve used it against abilities like Magnetic Aura and Wall of Reflection but not once have they actually been reflected back at me.
I just got DC’d for all of two seconds during FotM while my party was fighting Jade Maw, so I did an entire run for literally nothing. It’s been nearly a month since ANet addressed this problem and it’s still happening. I don’t see why finding and implementing a fix hasn’t been given top priority due to the severity of the issue.
So, ANet, when are you actually going to fix how players who DC in FoTM are unable to rejoin their party in the dungeon? Is the fix coming in January? February? March? How long do I have to wait until I can actually enjoy running FotM?
Elementalist:
1. Glyph of Elementals (Elite – Glyph) “Summon an elemental based on your attunement.
Fire Elemental: Deals damage.
Ice Elemental: Deals damage and heals.
Air Elemental: Deals damage and stuns.
Earth Elemental: Deals damage and is hard to kill.”
- What exactly do the elementals do? It’s not mentioned that the Fire Ele grants AoE Might, the Ice Ele casts Frozen Ground and its heal is actually Cleansing Wave (PBAoE and removes a condition), the Air Ele has ranged attacks and grants AoE Swiftness, and the Earth Ele grants AoE Protection (in addition to its extra armor). I’m pretty sure the Ice Ele also has a frontal AoE knock-back, similar to the Ice Ele mobs players fight. This is also a problem with the Glyph of Lesser Elementals.
2. Glyph of Storms (Utility – Glyph) “Create a storm based on your attunement.
Fire: Firestorm
Water: Ice Storm
Air: Lightning Storm
Earth: Sandstorm”
- This one doesn’t even bother to give you a vague idea as to what the differences are between each storm or their duration. Firestorm is very basic and hits everything (up to 5 targets) on each tick within its area of effect. Sandstorm hits everything (up to 5 targets) on each tick within its area of effect but also causes Bleeding each second for 2 seconds and Blind every 3 seconds for 3 seconds. Lightning Storm and Ice Storm create many smaller AoE’s within their area of effect so you’d have to physically get hit by a lightning bolt/ice shard or its splash effect to take damage. Also, each of Ice Storms little ice shards Chill targets they hit.
Some ability tooltips are unnecessarily vague, inconsistent, or don’t even mention existing mechanics.
Guardian:
1. Mighty Blow: (Hammer #2) “Damage nearby foes with a mighty ground slam.”
- It doesn’t say anywhere in the description that you also leap forward when using this ability. Leap of Faith (GS #3) mentions that you actually move toward your target when it’s used so why cant Mighty Blow? They’re almost the exact same skill with different range.
- It should say something like “Leap at your foe a short distance. When you land, damage nearby foes with a mighty ground slam.”
2. Smite: (Scepter #2) “Strike foes in the target area repeatedly.”
- This description is incredibly deceiving. Each “fist” that flashes in the area of effect has a hit-box, this means that if it doesn’t connect with an enemy they wont take damage. So not only do you have to be in the area of effect but you also have to be in a certain position within that area of effect to take damage. Also, Smite is only capable of dealing damage to one target at a time (which is why it’s not a real AoE) and you’re not told how long the effect lasts.
3. Bow of Truth (Utility – Spirit Weapon) “Summon an arcane bow to cure conditions on you and your allies.”
- The description doesn’t mention that this spirit weapon deals absolutely no damage. It’s a bow so you would probably assume it shoots arrows while casting a spell every few seconds that cures conditions on your allies. Instead I think it’s supposed to “attack” your allies and the arrow removes a condition from that ally.
- It should say something like "Summon an arcane bow that deals no damage and instead removes a condition on an ally every 5.5 seconds with its arrows. The bow can be commanded to rain down healing arrows at target location for 10 seconds but this destroys the bow.
4. Hammer of Wisdom (Utility – Spirit Weapon) “Summon an arcane hammer to defend you.”
- This description is even more vague than the one for Bow of Truth. What does “defend you” even mean? Does it only attack people that attack you? Does it reduce damage taken? What does it do?! In no way does it mention that the Hammer of Wisdom not only deals damage but also has an attack chain that knocks its target back on the 3rd attack. The attack chain also has a cooldown of about 6 seconds.
- It should say something like “Summon an arcane hammer that attacks enemies and knocks them back on its third attack once every six seconds. The hammer can be commanded to knock down your target but this destroys the hammer.”
5. Shield of the Avenger (Utility – Spirit Weapon) “Summon an arcane shield to defend you.”
- This is the worst description for a Spirit Weapon by far. Without using the ability you would have literally no clue as to what a spectral shield is supposed to do. Even after using the ability people are confused about what exactly it does. Shield of the Avenger follows the Guardian around and periodically generates a barrier that absorbs projectiles, similar to Shield of Absorption (but without the knock back/detonation).
- It should say something like “Summon an arcane shield that follows you and generates a protective barrier every X seconds for X seconds, absorbing projectiles. The shield can be commanded to fly out and cause Weakness on up to X enemies but this destroys the shield.”
It never ceased to be an appreciation thread. You just mentioned faults, I’ve yet to see any.
Best support, best damage, best survivability, giant hammers.
If you think Guardians are the best at everything you’ve obviously never played another class correctly or seen another class played correctly.
You were asked to link your gear for a FotM level 2? I ran FotM level 6 and 7 with a level 37 Thief and no one in the group cared.
You ran into kittens, that has nothing to do with the content. Saying FotM encourages negative behavior is you being overly dramatic and not knowing what you’re talking about. I’ve pugged my way up to FotM level 14 and not once experienced elitism.
Glyph of Renewal is still MUCH better than Guardian’s Signet of Mercy.
Why would anyone ever willingly play D3 in the first place?
What, in your opinion, is the ONE biggest strength and ONE biggest weakness of classes you’ve extensively played at level 80? Not to say that each class is only good or bad in one single area but what are they exceptional at or simply unable to deal with that really stands out?
I’m just curious as to what people have learned from playing various classes and thought it would be interesting to compile this information in one post. :3
Please don’t talk about a class you’ve never played or haven’t even finished leveling up.
Thanks everyone for all the amazing information! :D
I’m enjoying my Necromancer alt (currently level 41) but I’m not sure how to optimize my usage of Death Shroud. What’re the best ways to use the ability, in both PvE and PvP?
1. Is it better to shield yourself from taking any initial bursty/heavy damage with DS or to save DS as a brief “second life” for when you’re about to die?
2. If you’re trying to maximize single-target damage do you wait until you’re at 100% Life Force before entering DS and then spam Life Blast until you hit 0% LF? If not, at what %LF is Life Blast no longer worth using?
3. What’s the best way to handle AoE situations with a Staff as your main weapon? Do you; Spam Marks -> Enter DS -> Life Transfer -> Leave DS -> Spam Marks?
4. Is Life Transfer worth using on a single target or only 2-3 targets?
5. Should you not use Life Transfer on multiple targets when you’re already at 100% LF, as it wastes the LF generated by the spell?
6. Should Dark Path be used for chasing rather than kiting/escaping?
7. What’re the best DS traits?
Thanks in advance. :D
PS: Completely unrelated but why is my Bone Fiend such a high priority target? Mobs will try to attack my Bone Fiend before any other minion or even myself, it’s just kinda odd.
(edited by Somoe.3621)
Are you kidding?
You get 60 tokens per path, per day from dungeons with 3-4 paths that take as little as 25 minues to complete, which is EXTREMELY generous, and you still think it takes too long? Did you expect to get one piece of armor per dungeon run?
You actually have to “work” for cosmetic gear, cry about it.
Wow people will complain about anything wont they?
I die a LOT and haven’t noticed repair or WP costs once. You’re obviously doing something horribly wrong and the fact that you think you should be rewarded for it is hilarious.
“The classes that have knockbacks seem to be able to use them about once every 5 seconds.”
Lol, stopped reading there.
I play a 0/0/30/30/10 (full defense) Guardian with 2k Toughness/Vitality and don’t see how our “bunker” build needs to be toned down.
- I still get insta-gibbed by Glass Cannon Thieves and 100b Warriors.
- Most people can 1v1 me because I gave up all of my damage to become tanky.
- I work better with one or more allies than I do solo.
- I’m hilariously easy to kite, especially by “bunker” Engi’s and Ele’s.
I’m able to DELAY 1-2 people, for varying lengths of time, from capturing a point but that’s pretty much all I can do.
Thieves give up more damage for mobility while using a Shortbow than Rangers do.
- If it’s not a hard hitting weapon the arrows shouldn’t be strafe-able.
- If it’s a hard hitting weapon the arrows should be strafe-able.
I play a Guardian and I literally can’t imagine playing sPvP without “Stand Your Ground!” because it’s just such an incredible ability. Combined with the Superior Auria trait in Honor, the Pure of Voice trait in Honor, and the 6/6 Superior Rune of the Solider bonus it just becomes godly.
- CC break
- CC immunity on all allies for 5s
- Damage reflection on all allies for 5s
- Converts one Condition to a Boon on all allies
- Removes one Condition on myself
- 24s CD
<3
I think it would be interesting if there were some weapon or armor upgrades that helped you while you were downed. We have the Superior Rune of Mercy that reduces damage taken while reviving, lets you revive allies with more health, and makes you revive faster for a “support” approach. Then we have +Damage/Precision/Healing on kill that lasts until downed for a more “offensive” approach. What we’re lacking is an upgrade component for people that are frequently downed, like “tanks” or “bunkers” who are willing to sacrifice DPS to become immovable objects.
- Reduced ability cooldowns while downed.
- Increased healing done/received while downed.
Also, Guardians have two Traits that strengthen our downed state.
1. Strength of the Fallen (Valor): Lose health 33% slower while downed. (I’m not sure if this is supposed to only slow the natural health degeneration while downed or if it’s a straight up -33% damage taken while downed.)
2. Revenge of the Fallen (Zeal): Increased damage by 50% while downed.
Neither of these are very useful in sPvP though because you’ll get stomped long before you die to damage or are able to deal any meaningful damage yourself.
EDIT: Don’t Necro’s also have a trait that Fears all nearby enemies for 2s when they’re downed?
(edited by Somoe.3621)
I think it needs a slight buff to the healing done but more importantly it NEEDS AUDIO like the Prayers to Kormir and Lyssa have. It wouldn’t be that difficult to add a simple line of audio like “Dwayna, save me!” to the spell.
By some act of God I had 10-15 games where there wasn’t a single Thief on either team and it was easily the most fun I’ve had in PvP to date. <3
I’m not saying one way or another if Thieves are overpowered, balanced, or underpowered but they’re absolutely not fun to play with. :(
I’m using a 0/0/30/30/10 trait set up with a Hammer, Staff, Scepter + Shield, and Toughness > Power/Precision gear. More specifically my traits are;
- Lose 1 condition every 10 seconds
- 5% of Toughness converted to Precision
- Chill on Hammer crits
- Shouts recharge 20% faster
- Two Handed Weapon skills recharge 20% faster
- Shouts remove 1 Condition
So far my favorite combination of utilities has been “Stand Your Ground!”, “Save Yourselves!”/“Retreat!”, Signet of Judgement, and Renewed Focus. I’ve tried signet builds, pure support builds, and shout builds but I always end up feeling like I don’t contribute much to my team.
If I’m using a melee weapon I’ll just get kited to death but my two ranged options seem so incredibly lack-luster in PvP. Staff has a painfully short range, channeling Empower is just asking to get focused down, and Orb of Light misses or clips through terrain 80% of the time. Scepter’s attack projectile flies so slowly that any sort of movement will cause me to miss the majority of the time, Chains of Light has a fairly long CD, and my DPS relies a lot on Smite (which no one will stand in).
I absolutely adore Hammer, in both PvE and PvP, but if Zealot’s Embrace misses or gets dodged I’m completely unable to close the gap between myself and an enemy. Ring of Warding, although INCREDIBLY powerful, is pretty easy for the enemy to deal with if they’re paying attention because of its lengthy cast time and the fact that Stability hard counters it.
Could anyone offer some tips or anything that could help me in WvWvW? I feel useless at range, I get instantly zerged in melee, and I have difficulty tagging enemies for badges (I did WvWvW for about 5-6 hours today and only got 40 badges total).
I’ve loved the feel of Mesmers since GW and thought Anet did a great job at translating the class to GW2 but I’m having a hard time while leveling one. By the way, this is all my opinion about how it FEELS while LEVELING and I’m not calling the class underpowered.
I’m very squishy, as to be expected, but unlike other classes my damage and/or utility aren’t strong enough to counteract my low health and armor. For example; Guardian’s baseline damage is lower than other classes but they’re innately resilient to damage and posses a lot of utility. Elementalist’s have the lowest baseline Health and Armor but are incredibly flexible and have some of the most potent AoE damage.
I’d be fine with being squishy if I felt like I had something to offer but it’s certainly not my damage and my utility is very situational or only useful in large groups. The only thing I’ve been able to feel like I’m actually supposed to be good at is getting out of tough situations. (Decoy, Phantasmal Defender, Blink, etc)
I have a level 24 Ranger and a level 24 Mesmer, both in comparable sets of gear their level (Karma armor from heart vendors), and it’s ridiculous how much stronger the Ranger is using a Longbow compared to the Mesmer with a Greatsword. My ranger hits for about 100-140 and crits for 200+ while my Mesmer only hits for roughly 20-70 and crits for 40-90. I also almost completely lack AoE damage which makes getting credit during Dynamic Events a bit of a pain. The sad part is a Greatsword is the only weapon that feels even remotely effective as a Mesmer.
- Scepter does OK damage but it’s fairly slow, monsters ignore the Illusions since they’re summoned so late in my attack chain, and spamming Illusions isn’t very effective because Mind Wrack doesn’t do much damage.
- Sword does OK damage but it’s melee range, so I take a lot of damage, and the Illusions feel kinda useless in PvE because they make awful tanks similar to Scepter Illusions. The range is so short that by the time I get within range for it to actually summon my Illusion the mobs have already decided to attack me anyway.
- Staff is my favorite weapon out of the bunch but it does terrible damage (35-50 damage with 15-25 condition damage), feels overly reliant on Phantasmal Warlocks, and Chaos Storm is my only reliable AoE with a long CD and fairly small radius.
TL;DR: I do no damage and my big utilities (Veil, Portal, Mass Invisibility, Time Warp, Moa Morph, etc) make no difference while leveling so there’s nothing to make the class “click” with me. I essentially feel like a watered down Elementalist. What am I doing wrong? :(
(edited by Somoe.3621)
80 Guardian: 7/10
For the most part I’m enjoying the game and my Guardian, to the extent that I have yet to get an alt past level 6 before going back to her. The game loses 3 points though for a few reasons. Keep in mind there’s just as many, if not more, reasons as to why I LOVE this game.
1. Crafting/Economy
- Lots of over-saturation and many items are only worth vendoring.
- Secondary materials (Blood, Bones, Dust, etc) are more important than primary materials (Ore, Wood, Cloth, etc).
- The price of Runes of Holding spikes up DRAMATICALLY (4s → 14s → 50s → 2g? → 10g!?)
2. Guardian
- Scepter’s #1 is entirely too slow.
- Staff needs a lot of attention and the animation for it’s #1 seems unnecessarily bad on female Humans (imo).
- Greatsword is overpowered, as it is for every class that can use it.
- Sword and Torch don’t really seem to have a purpose because Greatsword is superior in just about every way.
- Elite skills seem very binary and lack variety (one for tanking/melee, one for supporting, one for ranged DPS)
- Tanking doesn’t feel like an accepted role in the game due to the removal of the trinity system and mobs can still 2-3 shot even if you’re stacking Toughness.
- Heavy armor design feels uninspired compared to the absolutely gorgeous light, and to a lesser extent medium, armor designs.
General:
- Events are too easily zergged.
- World bosses should have a more randomized respawn timer to prevent people from camping and zerging them repeatedly.
- It would be nice to be able to change FoV.
- “Culling” when there are too many players in an area
- Dodge, although super fun and an amazing idea, is inherently anti-melee
- Ranged feels superior to melee
I’m absolutely in love with my 64 Guardian, I’ve been unable to get any of my alts further than level 2 because she’s just so much fun.
I’m focusing on Toughness, Vitality, and Precision with a theme on being able to primarily tank and off-heal when needed. I chose Precision over Power because of the Honor (the Vitality/Healing tree) trait that gives you 1 second of Vigor whenever you crit. Vigor increases your Endurance regeneration by 100% for the duration so it lets you dodge a LOT more often. So far it’s working very well. While leveling I’ve been able to jump in and tank Veteran or even Champion creatures for the squishy masses more times than I can count. My favorite weapons are…
1. Mace + Shield: You’re INCREDIBLY tanky, you’re constantly pumping out AoE healing/regen, and you do great AoE damage. Shield of Absorption may look a bit too situational at first glance, considering you’ll be in melee range, but it’s really great for protecting your fragile allies when you’re able to get to them.
2. Greatsword: Everyone’s favorite weapon, I have to say it’s quite overpowered lol. You do ridiculous amounts of AoE damage and you’re also able to stick to enemies very well because of your gap closer and AoE pull.
3. Hammer: It’s like Greatsword but you trade some straight damage and speed for tankyness and MUCH more utility. When I was doing Twilight Arbor at level 50 my Hammer was invaluable because we had to kite the Nightmare Hounds in the instance (they hit ridiculously hard, poison, and interrupt). If the Hounds went after my allies I could trap them in a circle, knock them back, or root a number of them in place. If a few Hounds went for me I was able to actually survive because of the AoE Protection I got every 3rd attack.
Sword + Torch, Mace + Focus, Staff, Scepter + Shield, and Scepter + Torch are great too. :D!