Guild Wars 2

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Everyone one knows warrior is like 20x more DPS than all other classes combined, taking any personal DPS hit to buff those other losers would be dumb.

TBH, the only EA build I would advocate at this point is pure axe EA, since it actually generates great vuln AND provides EA. Using a GS build for EA is robbing peter to pay paul.

Wethospu.6437:

Tree.3916:

maha.7902:

it really doesnt make that much of a difference

This is pretty much true. EA is around a 2,000 dps increase for the full party. A DPS warrior is about 1,500 dps better than an EA warrior. 500 dps is either as significant or as trivial as you value it, though I would suggest in an average pug where people aren’t using good food and potions its pretty trivial.

I assume that 2,000 dps increase happens only with good builds. But with a bad party your own dps loss gets reduced a bit too (less Might / Vulnerability from party).

Without any calculations I would say that with crappy teammates EA will be a dps loss.

Probably so. Warrior self buff is strong enough that the 1500 or so dps you lose from DPS → is pretty consistent across all groups. But the DPS your party gains from EA is variable based on everyone elses’ quality so whether or not EA is worth it is hard to gauge. For a dungeon record run or boss speed kill every variable is controlled so you can make that call easily, but for a pug there is no way and you are probably best not doing it.

One last consideration: a 6/5/0/0/3 warrior generates an average of about 6 Vuln permanently maintained. A 6/4/0/4/0 GS EA warrior generates about 2 vuln. Lets say by some chicanery your EA buffs the group total DPS by 4%. But then your team only maintains 21 Vuln stacks. Now you’re broken even and EA essentially did nothing for you. In a group where you FGS every boss Weak Spot will ensure 25 vuln stacks, but in other situations maximizing vuln is crucially important and vuln generation is a consideration well above EA.

maha.7902:

it really doesnt make that much of a difference

This is pretty much true. EA is around a 2,000 dps increase for the full party. A DPS warrior is about 1,500 dps better than an EA warrior. 500 dps is either as significant or as trivial as you value it, though I would suggest in an average pug where people aren’t using good food and potions its pretty trivial.

Methal.9045:

I run sword/axe and Longbow.

I’ve yet to see a build/guide/video of someone doing that much more dps than I do with my sword/axe build.
its usually just “i seem” or “it feels like” they are doing more dmg.

No offense, but you really must not have looked very hard.

Even if her teleport and lightning attacks did 100k damage you won’t die if you don’t get hit. Please review guides related to Mai Trin to glean some insight on strategies that work, practice the fight, and become one of the people who say it’s easy when threads like this are made.

Engies stack the most vuln for sure, but in a 30 second fight they average 25 vuln against trash mobs and 12-13 vuln on bosses. That means the remaining 4 people have to contribute 12 vuln which is 3 each.

A typically warrior can add 6 vuln. Guardian vuln is negligible. That least 6 vuln. Eles with weak spot bring about 3 each. So even with an engie everyone has to spec for vuln.

Thaddeus.4891:

Greatsword is the most optimal setup ya, but not the only good build. Pure Axe build is less than 1% less DPS, which is nothing and the old GS + Axe/Mace is about 6-7% lost in dps only compare to a pure GS build,

Just a heads up the Pure GS build is only like 2% better than 6/5/0/0/3 because the 6/5 build can camp GS too

Miku Lawrence.6329:

You guys were a bit harsh with the Blood Crusher dude.

All I said was I want to see gameplay footage not sure why that is harsh.

originally posted: http://www.dtguilds.com/forum/m/6563292/viewthread/13612527-strength-runes-vs-scholar-groups-solo

Hey all. Wanted to show how the strength rune nerf played out in actual terms. So I ran the comparison to scholar in both solo and group DPS.

Solo Assumptions: Banner of Discipline (100% for simplicity sake), 23 Might for strength runes, 17 Might for Scholar, 3 Vuln on average. Greatsword Camping rotation, Curry Butternut Squash Soup, 65003 build, Scholar Runes 100% uptime. 100% bleeding uptime, Fury 100%.

Group Assumptions: Both banners, 25 Might, 25 Vuln, GS Camp rotation (for simplicity) CBN Soup, 65003, Scholar Runes 100% uptime, 100% bleeding uptime, Fury 100%

Solo Strength Rune Post Nerf: 8,187 DPS

Solo Strength Runes Pre Nerf: 8,343 DPS

Solo Scholar Runes: 8,170.22 DPS

Group Strength Runes Post Nerf: 10,616 DPS

Group Strength Runes Pre Nerf: 10,818 DPS

Group Scholar Runes: 11,364 DPS

Conclusion: The nerf wasn’t terrble in terms of whole numbers to be honest. In a solo setting you lose less than 200 DPS, which is probably only vaguely noticeable. The big change is that they are essentially the same as Scholar when solo, assuming you can keep Scholar uptime at 100%. Any Scholar downtime will obviously drastically lower the DPS. But the end result for solo play is if you already have Scholar there is no real need to buy Strength runes unless your goal is to push solo boss kill times as far as possible.

For groups, scholar was always clearly better, now much more so, by about 7% instead of 5%. This just confirms the superiority of Scholar for group play, especially since fights are short enough that maintaining scholar bonus is significantly easier.

The total conclusion, for me, is that Strength Runes have become niche for pro solo’ers rather than the go-to rune for everything. I didn’t feel bad before about using Strength in a group, but I likely would now. And before I would have considered the advantage of Strength over Scholar in solos (3%-7%) to make using Strength for everything a fairly smart move. Now, I would only recommend Strength if your main gameplay is solos AND you care about pushing times. If you enjoy doing solos but you aren’t out to compete with Dub, Goku or Miku you should probably just use Scholar.

EcoRI.9273:

Tree.3916:

Stooperdale.3560:

Who is suggesting that the game should be balanced for the low end skill and not high end skill? The game should be balanced for all.

I think Lord Byron was suggesting that if the pug meta is “OMG 5 HEAVIES” that the heavy classes should be nerfed so that the pug meta changes. The issue, as we are pointing out, is that at the top end of PvE heavies comprise at most 2 per group and there is no balance issue with heavies.

For example, PU mesmers are really really strong in hotjoins, but they are basically useless in tpvp. If anet nerfed PU mesmers hard in order to satisfy the hotjoin cryhards, they have a good chance of inadvertently nerfing mesmers out of existence in tpvp.

I mentioned before that whenever there are “balance issues” at the skill floor that don’t exist at the skill cap those issues can almost always be resolved through L2P.

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/181326/Magic_The_Gatherings_Richard_Garfields_strategies_for_game_balancing.php

Excerpt from Richard Garfield, the designer of Magic the Gathering

“Often designers will design the game to be balanced for the expert,” Garfield says. “This is certainly the way we thought about it in the early days of Magic, and it took me a while to outgrow this mode of thought.”

A game balanced to favor experts risks other types of gamers having an unbalanced experience — and the game may lose most of its players before they ever develop the skill level to attain the well-balanced experience. Meanwhile the experts run out of people to play with.

Also, balancing for experts often fails to consider that there might be levels of proficiency even above what the game is desgned to contain. Designers aren’t necessarily the best players — most of the time, they’re not, actually.

That really isn’t the situation Lord Byron claims is occurring in PvE. Pugs think 5 heavies = best because they don’t know that it actually isn’t the best. They are not aware that it is inefficient and suboptimal. If they were aware of what is optimal and best this would not be a potential issue.

My PU example was poor, because it actually did fit the MtG example where you have a build that IS extremely overpowered at low skill levels. The 5 heavy pve example does not fit this because it 5 heavies are NOT extremely overpowered. The PU Mesmer build is a balance issue in reality, but the 5 heavies are only an imaginary balance issue.

A more refined version of my point is balancing the game with skill floor in consideration is fine, but you have to make sure that you are buffing and nerfing based on actual imbalances and not fake perceptions of imbalances.

Yo, can we see some video of this build in action like solo’ing lupicus or main tanking mossman while everyone else does DPS.

pdavis.8031:

Tree.3916:

pdavis.8031:

Also just because the on proc might isn’t a valid concern for YOU doesn’t mean that it isn’t one for me.

The point is that it shouldn’t be a concern for you because its trivial. Knowing what’s trivial and what is important is called discernment, and that’s what you need to work on.

Again, it’s trivial for YOU. When trying to stack as much might as I can, that proc isn’t trivial. Every little bit counts. It’s all about prespective.

Also sorry about the rant…but I stand by my statements regardless.

No, it’s trivial for everyone, but you haven’t figured that out yet. Being stubborn about things isn’t going to help you improve. Having an open mind and listening to people who know better is the way forward, being stubborn and insular is to be doomed to mediocrity forever.

pdavis.8031:

Also just because the on proc might isn’t a valid concern for YOU doesn’t mean that it isn’t one for me.

The point is that it shouldn’t be a concern for you because its trivial. Knowing what’s trivial and what is important is called discernment, and that’s what you need to work on.

pdavis.8031:

Tree.3916:

The on hit proc might has nothing to do with why people use strength runes at all. Can you please take the time to learn before you speculate on things or make pronouncements?

While it may not be used by the general population for the on proc might, but rather the power and the might duration, I still take it into account when discussing a might stacking build. And if its just for the power and might duration, why not hoelbrak, or fire? Its not uniformed speculation, just because YOU don’t feel that the on might proc has anything to do with it, doesn’t mean it’s not a valid concern.

No, it’s not a valid concern. Again, you are still learning the game, you only have a faint understanding of what is good and why its good, yet you keep making silly statements about what is and isn’t. I understand we all started somewhere so I cut you slack as a newbie but you need to understand that you come off the way a teenager discussing politics comes off, which is to say, eye-rollingly uninformed. But even then, a person who is eager to learn can be afford a lot of slack, the problem is you combine not understanding at all with the nerve to tell people who DO understand things that they are wrong.

So go back to my advice: listen and learn first and then speak.

The on hit proc might has nothing to do with why people use strength runes at all. Can you please take the time to learn before you speculate on things or make pronouncements?

Scholar were definitely better for group play, and Strength definitely better for solo play. But you didn’t feel bad about using Strength in group play because it wasn’t so much worse that it bothered you, and some of the side benefits for Might stacking were actually nice, along with not having to constantly monitor a Scholar bonus.

But now there is a pretty wide gap between the two for group play and Strength is pretty much untenable in groups. Before the difference between a 40k hundred blades and a 37k hundred blades wasn’t terrible, but 36k versus 40k starts to be more noticeable.

Before I would advise people to just run strength if they weren’t sure since it was clearly better for solos and stuff and perfectly fine for groups, but now the decision requires a lot more thought.

Stooperdale.3560:

Who is suggesting that the game should be balanced for the low end skill and not high end skill? The game should be balanced for all.

I think Lord Byron was suggesting that if the pug meta is “OMG 5 HEAVIES” that the heavy classes should be nerfed so that the pug meta changes. The issue, as we are pointing out, is that at the top end of PvE heavies comprise at most 2 per group and there is no balance issue with heavies.

For example, PU mesmers are really really strong in hotjoins, but they are basically useless in tpvp. If anet nerfed PU mesmers hard in order to satisfy the hotjoin cryhards, they have a good chance of inadvertently nerfing mesmers out of existence in tpvp.

I mentioned before that whenever there are “balance issues” at the skill floor that don’t exist at the skill cap those issues can almost always be resolved through L2P.

Rule of thumb (aka might not always be accurate under every circumstance) is that if your build has RHS you should probably get Power Infusions, if your build doesnt Precision.

That said, there are scenarios where Precision is bad. You can go above 100% crit chance, and your expensive infusions suck. Power, while not always optimal, is always at least good.

No offense but you barely understand the game so the fact you make such powerful statements from such little knowledge should make you pause and reflect, but yet you don’t.

No, you didn’t.

Sparks dont run themselves.

silvia.9130

You weren’t into p4 in the last 4-5 months

No one is impressed by exploited solos.

If I give you 1 dollar every second, but then I take the first dollar away from you at the 10 second mark, and then continue to give one and remove one each second, you will be able to permanently have 10 dollars.

If I don’t take the first dollar away from you until 15 seconds because I gave you a bigger wallet, you will be able to permanently have 15 dollars.

change the word ‘dollar’ to ‘stacks of might’ and change the words ‘bigger wallet’ to ‘45% Might Duration’ and you should understand the concept.

pdavis.8031:

Tree.3916:

Sure you can run this build and maintain 25 might stacks on yourself with whatever bargain basement runeset you like. Or you can realize the only reason a person would run this build is to stack might on other people and understand that you cannot get 25 Might on the rest of your party without good runes.

Seriously sometimes I wonder about this community, they will spend 100’s of gold on hair kits and gem store armor but they wont spend 100g to equip their characters with best in slot gear.

ummm I don’t know what you are refering to, but the stacks of 25 might were on the whole party. FGJ actually gives the party 6 stacks, and you only 3, and if you were able to get 25 stacks of might on yourself, than your party has 25 stacks of might as well. Because every time you gain might, your party gains might.

Also I don’t spend gold on the gem store fashion items. I find them stupid.

Then they weren’t all from you. With Strength runes you can do around 20-25. Without you are looking at 11-15. How much DPS is 350 Power? About 9%. Your call.

Sure you can run this build and maintain 25 might stacks on yourself with whatever bargain basement runeset you like. Or you can realize the only reason a person would run this build is to stack might on other people and understand that you cannot get 25 Might on the rest of your party without good runes.

Seriously sometimes I wonder about this community, they will spend 100’s of gold on hair kits and gem store armor but they wont spend 100g to equip their characters with best in slot gear.

They should just undo the 15% grenade dps nerf from a year or so ago and engineers would be in the same ballpark as other professions.

Resetting meta records happens when the old time simply isn’t beatable anymore, or the dungeon was redesigned radically enough that it isn’t the same instance anymore. As shown, the old time was clearly still beatable by 6 seconds so it wasn’t worthy of a reset.

Anytime you have 1000+ viewers for anything you will attract BHBs. When the big pvp tournaments get going you always see BHBs saying “OMG kant belief any1 still plays dis game u sucks” so its no surprise to see “omg pve sux no skill lololol” for this. Easier to just ban them as they come imo.

There are a few actual points brought up in this thread that have merit:

1. Necros have a problem in PvE. This is undeniable, and they need a fairly significant overhaul to even be useful in pugs, let alone organized groups. Suggestions on this have been given dozens of time and there is no need to rehash it here.

2. PvE class balance, Necros aside, is in a really good place at the highest level. Organized groups and competent guilds have pretty accurate view of the actual profession balance. The 4w/1x days are long gone. For pugs, YMMV. I’ve been in good pugs where people ran good builds and used meta tactics and things went smoothly with no one saying anything in chat other than to ping banners. There are those “other pugs” though. The problem with balancing the game around bad pug groups is the same about balancing PvP around hotjoins. The general rule for game balance is that you balance the game mode around what is happening at the highest level since any imbalance that exist only in lower levels are almost always Learn To Play Issues.

Waypointing. Path banning.

Sounds casual as hell to me.

The only reason the no res rule doesn’t work is because watching the other team casually finish the dungeon is boring from a spectator perspective.

From a competition perspective, it’s wholly superior. I haven’t seen a single argument put forth for waypointing back that doesn’t advantage a team that wipes on the first boss vs last boss.

FWIW, the idea in my head that makes the most sense is full wipe = done, as before, but allowing anyone to be hard ressed. That way if a boss is killed with 3 defeateds the two remaining guys can hard ress the 3 downs and they can push on. The time loss will be pretty punishing and it will allow for more come backs. But a full wipe has to be final because it means you failed horribly on some execution and its laughable to even consider a team full wiping and then coming back to win.

If you are of the camp that “little mistakes can lead to wipes” well… yeah? Thats why Snow Crows won. They didn’t make those kinds of mistakes. They practiced. They had strats nailed down for the paths the other teams selected so they weren’t surprised. They didn’t have stupid wipes because they were prepared and played consistently. Instead of tailoring the rules to suit players who won’t or can’t prepare adequately, those players should re-evaluate their level of effort. But like I said, I am all for tweaking the rules to be more entertaining for spectators and more competitive for the teams, but I would probably oppose anything that made the rules less competitive.

But like Kaboomz said earlier, my voice is shot and I’m still exhausted and there is a lot to think about and reflect on. So I’ll recover a bit before I get into it.

VOD Time

King vs Last
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBjiWmVyJTY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SbzN4gS8E8

Noob vs FGS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igrer7GbPjg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqA_9kn7BlY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIAvEEUAuYA

Unit vs MF
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV6eAEODZ5w

rT vs FGS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5jLwiC7BL8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E8TPe92GMI

vS vs Unit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhGJv-JhiGI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkrW2TrTr6Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyToR8OLFrM

SC vs KRS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKmh6RDBGfw

Ren vs FGS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCSq7nAVHrw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBqCE8eZ49I

SC vs Vs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL6JsDw3Lsc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPd9bThwIO4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW35UXT3cAk

FGS vs Vs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXtc-igUncg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58ciS0xjO0

Ren vs SC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12ksMs4hKhM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxFPyqi1jgg

I never have a second warrior in my groups.

We are baddies ,though.

Wisp.2634:

I wont argue with you guys anymore. This games PvE content is not avalaible for any competitive play.

The racers make the race, not the parcours. Anyone who knows anything about racing regardless of the type would know that.

Wisp.2634:

Sorry, i was not really clear. Yes i like WvW, and true you dont have to be well skilled to play WvW. I meant GvG above there, if u think on GvG you can just spam your skills, you didnt played it….

I did play GvG. I was in Good Artist [ei] and Rebel Rising [rawr]. If you “think on gvg” in gw2, you clearly didn’t play real GvG.

Wisp.2634:

This “tournament” is a joke, that’s why the teams just left. DnT organised, this crap to be more famous, because nobody cares about thier and the community records. You dont need skill to stand in the corner and use FGS or switch skills while running in stealth. The “competition”, or anything you call it, will be the random factor. I think the organizers of this tournament and the “speed clear” community, just wants more fame.

Dont blame the teams left, they just lost the fun factor, because there wont be any.

This tournament is just for this “speed clear” crew, boring kitten will flow from the streams!

But this is my opinion, have fun…

FWIW, our guild doesn’t need any more fame; we have been one of the most famous guilds in gaming since WoW. We are doing this to give the community something to do and to come together about. We are donating thousands of our own gold to it, so if this is a get rich and famous plan it’s going horribly.

Darox.8069:

serious lack of respect … for the other teams that could not take part in it!

This pretty much. I’m sure Stop Stealing [agro], Almost Sophisticated [geek] or Side BySide [SBS] would loved to have played but they made other plans when they didnt get picked in the lottery. It’s really sad that these teams were eager for competition and a guild who was fortunate enough to make it in basically kittened on them.

This still doesn’t change my position that I stated on the posts above though.

Frankly speaking, I don’t care for other peoples’ finger wagging morality lessons.

I don’t care to be political. If someone acts in a pathetic and shameful manner they should expect polemic.

Re: belka. Belka bugs when one party member gets way ahead of Yissa (yea for npc trigger scripts!) and starts the event before Yissa can do her dialogue. Since all you have to do wait before the barrels for yissa to catch up before you go in to avoid bugging her I will assume that anyone who bugs her did it intentionally.

re: terrain. You can’t use terrain (arah p1 coral) that will let you damage a boss without him damaging you back. Counts for trash as well.

aceboogie.4031:

Also Tree the only mechanic used is that i look at my might and buffs, and purposely dodge into a group while my skills are on CD, works best with 3+ mobs bc it also gives might.

What you don’t understand, then, is that the dodge has a .6 coefficient and the warrior gs auto attack is a .7. So if you were buffed enough to get a 9k dodge you could have just gotten a 10k auto. That’s a dps loss.

Ariete The Phoenix.8276:

If someone beats a record run during the tournament, does gwscr acknowledge it as one or not?

Yep. Any records set during the runs will be recorded (by twitch) and the video can be submitted to GWSCR. I expect many of the paths currently without records will get filled in. #hype

spoj.9672:

Lol what. Even if they lost that first match they still would of got 30g. I dont understand some people. Is it not possible to allow people who didnt make the original list to replace them? Most tournaments have substitute teams incase of drop outs.

All the teams who did not make the original list declined to fill in. I offered. As a result, byes had to be given and I distributed them in the fairest way I could, which was by my pre-stated preference for guilds with speed run records.

Mesket

What a shame, I was looking forward seeing this on live.

Don’t worry, the show will go on.

Rising Dusk

Still, Tree, I don’t think you should call them out or name/shame them. That’s uncool, and lowers you in many ways to their level. Just let them do what they want to do and keep going regardless. The rest of us are still 100% behind this.

You’ll notice I haven’t a word about the other guilds that withdrew for their own reasons. Nothing they did was disgraceful or to be ashamed of. I think people on EU who might be trying to find a guild to apply to will benefit from knowing who stands for what in the community.

Well guys, I tried to run a tournament that would bring out the best in this community. But all it has done is bring out the worst.

[LuPi] has quit the tournament because they are upset that I re-seeded the brackets after their opponent dropped out. They felt that they should receive the bye in that case whereas I have said all along since the beginning that “preference in the selection will be given to guilds with current meta speed clear records.” I cannot help that you are afraid to play the Noob guild in round one. I cannot help that you feel entitled to a bye and I didn’t give you one. I thought you were competitors? And you quit if you don’t get a bye? What kind of champion are you? Pathetic. I hope this serves as a black mark on you in this community from this point forward.

antonio

Allright we understand you but than we are out for the tournament. I was talking to my group. Tyvm for The inv too it. But we would like to have a fair tournament and we think thats not.

A team dropped. There is a bye to be given. The bye is given to the top seed in the tournament. Thats how ANY tournament would do it. Please don’t try to say that this is unfair, what would be unfair is giving a lower seeded team a bye and forcing a higher seeded team to play. Please don’t accuse me of being unfair when the truth is you were looking to avoid competing.

Shame on you [LuPi]. You are a disgrace to the community.

Psientist.6437:

Ayrilana, please stop stabbing the pig and trying to convince us that the pig is singing.

The DC signal can fit within a 2 type currency channel. Type 1 could be as numerous as needed and would behave as Bitcoin. Type 2 would compile comparative advantage internally and maintain relative to type 1 landscape.

“why not bounce”
is to
Legendary Heroic Parity
is to
ding-a-lings ping-a-ling-ing ping-alant-ing-ian-ism

release the Kritten

please accept the atypical nature of how I communicate.
very big abstracts
not enough words
extreme social anxiety

edited for clarity ;p

People don’t have to accept aberrant behavior
pseudo-intellectual
composition 101
aspergers is real

Lukyromero.6780:

If you wanted to do damage as a heavy, you should have gone warrior, not guardian, fix yourself please, and thank you.

I think you should do research on a topic before you make wildly inaccurate statements and then insult people.

Stooperdale.3560:

Players should be able to learn to play a class through playing the game. Kicking people for making mistakes while learning is not friendly.

It doesn’t sound like that is what was happening, though. The way the OP describes it, he was in a situation where he knew that WoR would be useful, but he didn’t use it because he is more concerned with the self-imposed RP considerations he has for his character. So who is the one who is be “unfriendly” here?

Something fishy going on in that screen shot. I do not believe any attack with a .6 coefficient is going to do 9k damage even at 25 might, 25 vuln, both banners and EA unless there is some other mechanic in play.

10k reckless dodge sure

Supposed problem is lack of build variety.

Proposed solution is a trinity system with professions locked into specific builds.

This community.

Iris! Respond to my DM on our forum please!

The main reason berserker warriors get better time against Lupicus is the interaction of WWA and the wall, which is a very big DPS boost and evasion in one. Condition damage doesn’t have anything that is close to an evade that also deals 18k damage on a short cool down. Don’t believe me? Do a Lupi solo with the standard 6/5/0/0/3 build but disable your WWA. See what time you get compared to the best possible condi solo. I believe Dub has a 5:24 condi solo? I would be interested to see if a berserker solo without WWA can beat that.

Compare also the kill times for strong condi professions like Engineer and Necro with berserker vs condi and condi is significantly better. So the missing piece of the puzzle is what about warrior makes berserker gear significantly better, and my hypothesis is that the answer is WWA, though Reckless Dodge is useful but more minor.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/bltc/Inflation-2

Please read this thread. People who know what they are talking about debunk the inflation panic myths.