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I think 30 points into Zeal is a waste. Zeal is one of the Guardian’s weakest trait lines. You’d actually do yourself more good moving 30 points into Honor. THat will give you 3,000 more hit points and 300 healing power. Plus, you can get two handed mastery, which will probably up your DPS more than the +5% damage from greatsword, since your GS skills will recharge faster. Honestly, I feel Honor is the best trait line the Guardian has. since it can be used to buff Shouts, 2 Handed Weapons, and Symbols.
Also, you don’t need 15 points in Valor. The minor trait at 15 just isn’t worth it. That’s 5 points thats better used elsewhere.
To maximize survivability, you’ll want to get power/tough/vitality gear, and max out the Honor line. You could go full out 30 points into Valor to maximize your toughness as well. I also think having 5-10 points in Virtues is a good idea as well.
I also have a good DPS Guardian build that has pretty decent survivability you can check out here:
Hope that helps.
I actually use Staff as my primary weapon. It’s autoattack is an AOE and if specced right, it can hit like a freakin’ truck. Like 1K hits to 5 mobs at once. Orb of light hits everything in it’s path for 1200 meters and can crit for 2500+. Symbol of Swiftness can be used as a DOT and an HOT (Damage over time and Heal over Time), as well as a Light Combo Field, in addition to granting swiftness. Empower is an amazing group heal AND group buff, with 12 stacks of might to increase everyone’s DPS. Line of warding is good for controlling mobs and the Light combo field. So I find Staff to be superior to Greatsword on many levels. And the two synergize well together.
I typically run with Staff/Scepter/Focus. I like the Scepter/Focus combo for ranged and boss fights, and staff for when I gotta get up close and deal with lots of mobs.
Hammer also synergizes well with GS, and it can hit pretty hard. But I like the versatility of having a ranged weapon slotted for when I need it.
Bottom line: Greatsword/Staff is a good combo. Followed by Greatsword/Scepter/Focus.
I find Guardian to be very versatile. I can go very DPS and put out some crazy damage. We don’t do burst the way Warriors or Thieves can, but we can hit very, very hard. I feel that in a support role, we can also outshine lots of other classes, because we have so many buffs we can place on ourselves and allies, and when traited properly these buffs can last an extremely long time.
We can also be very tanky, and have high damage mitigation and decent healing skills. I think Elementalist is probably better in the healing department, but not by all that much.
I have builds which allow me to give great support and utility to my group, while still putting out great DPS. And if I want to go full support and really buff my entire team, I can do that as well. The only area where I feel the Guardian falls short is our health pool, but there are ways to buff that up as well.
The Guardian also lacks a good ranged weapon, the only thing we have is the scepter, but it’s decent enough for me. Other than that, we’re not just a “greatsword” class. I think Staff, Hammer, and Sword/Shield/Focus are all extremely viable weapons, and we can put out some crazy DPS, especially with our burning damage thrown into the mix. We also have good AOE damage options and good Control options. Plus, our combo fields of light and fire bring great utility to the group.
Elementalists are probably better suited to dishing out AOE damage than the guardian is, but my understanding is they are a lot squishier. We get to wear some awesome looking heavy armor, so I think Guardians tend to win out on style, lol.
Guardian isn’t for everyone, but I feel you can build a Guardian to pretty much suit any playstyle – Tank/DPS/Heal/Support. It’s all about what you want to bring to the group.
Tzenjin, that’s awesome man. Over 3K power, 50% crit, and 103% crit damage with around 17K HP? Now that’s what I call BEAST. lol. I’d love to see a detailed breakdown of your build if you feel like sharing. I have a DPS build I use but the stats aren’t quite as high as yours so I’d like to see what you’re doing.
Also, when you say “Orbs,” do you mean Crests? Cause I don’t know of any Orbs you can apply to armor.
(edited by Ultramatum.5162)
The size of the maps can be intimidating at first. But as you get more familiar with them, the running gets a bit less intimidating. Plus, if you have a character with swiftness buffs, it helps in travelling.
I think things like server wins in WvW open up access to special armor and weapons that can’t be transferred would be a good way of handing things. This way, winning in WvW actually has some benefit and incentive for staying with a server.
Am i the only guardian that think +30% boon duration is a must ?
in Guardian
Posted by: Ultramatum.5162
Boon duration is a huge deal in support roles and one of the best traits a Guardian can spec into in my opinion. If you really want to go with another trait line though, you can supplement this with armor runes.
2 Superior Runes of the Water
2 Superior Runes of the Monk
2 Major Runes of Sanctuary
This combination will give you +healing, + vitality, and +40% boon duration increase.
This rune set along with +30 in Virtues will give you +70% boon duration increase. If you consume Chocolate Omnomberry Cream, that will add +20% to your boon duration for 30 minutes, for a total of 90% boon duration increase, which is beast mode for a support Guardian who’s throwing boons around to their teammate (Yes, your boon duration increases apply to those you put boons on).
If you want to go more damage-oriented with your Guardian, the increase in boon time isn’t a huge deal. There are some rune sets out there which will increase specific boons, like might, while buffing up other stats. This can make up for a lack of points in the Virtues line. You just need to experiment and plan accordingly based on your playstyle.
Sanctuary has three functions – it heals those within it, it protects from projectiles, and enemy players cannot enter into it. However, it does not protect from AOE damage, siege projectiles, conditions, OR melee damage. Sanctuary is big enough that most mobs can’t get within melee range, but small enough that some can. You can still be hit by melee from mobs with a long enough reach, and an attack like a Guardian’s Greatsword #3 can still hit you since it’s AOE, if memory serves.
@Tzenjin – I hear ya. One rout you could go is to apply 6/6 Superior Runes of the Pack to your armor. The #6 buff is +100 to precision, which will give you an extra 4% to Crit Chance, that coupled with superior sigil of accuracy will mean a permanent +9% crit chance to your build.
I still think Sigil of Perception is the better option, because you only need around 13 kills to reach the precision you’d get from the Sigil of Accuracy, and you can kill 13 mobs pretty quick after a respawn to get that stat back up. But I understand if you’re looking for consistency. My reasoning is that the chance to have 10% increase in crit is much better than a constant 5% increase.
@akamon – Keep in mind that you can only have 1 charge from sigils active. So having more than 1 sigils on your weaponsets that create charges is a waste, since they don’t run concurrently.
The stack in precision from Perception will stay on you even if you switch weapon sets. The only time you lose it is if you’re downed, you die, or you switch maps. (You can teleport to other areas on the same map and it won’t be lost, but zoning into a new map removes the stack.)
If you have a sigil on your mainhand that procs with crit (let’s say 60% chance to heal when you crit), then yes, this stat will be affected by the increased crit chance you get from the Perception stats.
Right now I find very little use in the Zeal line, so putting 30 points into that isn’t worth it in my opinion.
Here is the build I use for WvW:
Consecrations are ridiculously good in WvW, especially with ground targeting enabled. I also run a 0/0/10/30/30 build that’s full out support and I use almost nothing but consecrations when I do.
Bump. Let’s keep this train rolling.
Re: Placement of Catapult.
I pop the catapults on top of the supply sheds because it can’t be hit by the AOE from the attackers at the gate, but it can still fire just over the top of the walls and hit the area very close outside of the gate. This placement of catapults is very flexible and has allowed me to successfully defend towers with a 5 man team many times.
Honestly, I think this issue could be fixed if they allowed certain utility skills defense against AOE damage. I play a Guardian, and we have defensive utilities such as Sanctuary and Wall of Reflection. In my opinion, these skills should be effective against AOE attacks like Meteor Storm. This would allow us to protect siege equipment without kittening elementalist attack skills.
Honor is really for utilizing shouts more than anything, so if you’re not using Shouts and have 30 pts in honor, you’re kinda kittening yourself. I’d re-think your playstyle to incorporate shouts to get the most out of the Honor line, because the traits you picked there aren’t very good. Aegis heals on removal is bad, especially since when it’s first removed, you’re at full health. And gaining retaliation when Aegis ends is a waste too because Aegis isn’t up enough to make it worth while. And Virtue of Resolves passive affect isn’t a good trait to have in PvP because battle happens so quick, it doesn’t have much of an effect on your allies.
Consecrations are great in WvW, but not worth it in PvP in my opinion. Wall of Reflection would be the only exception, since it’s a great utility skill to defend against ranged and it can cure conditions for your allies, which is a big deal in PvP.
Smite Condition is a great PvP skill. If you like to use it, I’d trait for 10 into Valor like you said for the increased Meditation recharge, which means you’ll be able to use Smite Condition every 16 seconds instead of 20, so it’ll almost always be available for good AOE damage and condition removal.
Permeating Wrath in the Virtues line is a waste in my opinion. It doesn’t work when you activate Virtue of Justice, it only works on VoJ’s passive affect, which means it works every 5 hits, and it’s not guaranteed that it’s gonna hit your targets, and it doesn’t last very long. So it’s an extremely weak trait IMHO. I wouldn’t use it. You’d probably get more use out of extended Spirit Weapon Duration and using your spirit sword or hammer in your build.
Purging Flames is a good skill, but I can’t see it being very useful in PvP. Something like Judges Intervention is a better option for AOE burning, especially since it’s a gap closer. Plus, it’s a stun breaker, which is always useful in PvP.
Sanctuary does not protect from AOE damage attacks.
Best options for Guardians underwater are Sanctuary, Spirit Weapons, and Shouts. Sanctuary is amazing underwater. Basically makes you invincible. Spirit Sword or Shield is good too. Save Yourselves or Retreat is good as well. Renewed Focus isn’t the best Elite, but it’s okay for underwater if you have your virtues buffed.
I’ve found around 17K HP is the sweet spot for doing WvW.
I’ve actually been in a 30 vs. 5 defense scenario before (actually, it was closer to 5 vs. 60). The way we did it was have 2 catapults set up. One behind the gate to shell those trying to break it down, and one on top of the supply shed, strategically placed to hit the areas just outside the front walls.
I had rangers on the ramparts calling out my shots as I shelled the zerg outside. Eventually, they broke off because they were taking too much damage.
2 catapults in the right places can easily defend any tower in the game.
Hi Tzenjin,
You’re right, losing stacks in the middle of a zerg can be rough, but you can usually get them back fairly quickly. Also, if you’re running with consumables (soup and oil) the hit isn’t that bad. Plus, if you’re talking about WvW, be sure to take realm bonuses into account. If your server has an orb or three, your crit chance will be boosted, as will your health. So you might be able to get away with having less crit and more vitality in your build because of this.
If you ask me, this should really be changed from a shield of absorption to a sanctuary. The AOE heal would be a real benefit for other people trying to revive a fallen ally and would make the trait worth taking.
Hi Tzenjin,
It looks like you’re going for a DPS build, so buffing your crit chance is probably a good idea. The more you crit, the more you can take advantage of that 81%-93% damage increase.
I think the Sigil of Perception if superior to the Sigil of Accuracy, because with a full stack you increase your crit rate by a full 10%. Yes, the charges can be an issue if you die a lot, but you can kills stuff relatively quickly to get those charges back. With your Beryl rings, a fully charged Sigil of Perception brings your crit rate up to 43%, which is great considering your increased health and damage stats that you get.
Add to that if you run with Bowls of Curry Butternut Squash Soup and Artisan Maintenance Oil, you could add an extra 10-15% of crit chance depending on your toughness and vitality. For DPS, if you’re able to crit at least 50% of the time, I’d say you’re ahead of the game. Minimum for crit chance for a DPS Guardian in my opinion would be 40%.
Brigandier, have you thought about equipping Superior Runes of the Pack? This gives you +90 Power and +100 Precision, upping your crit chance by 4%. Of course, you’ll be missing out on 600 HP and 12% crit damage increase. Don’t know which would be better in this build.
Also, the Superior Sigil of Perception can give you a 10% crit chance increase when fully charged.
Artisan Maintenence Oil will up Precision based on toughness and vitality I believe. You can use it in conjunction with the curry soup.
You can check out my offensive Guardian Build I use for PvE/Dungeons/WvW.
Just swap out scepter/focus for greatsword. It’ll synergize well with the build.
You could also try this one:
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/70142-after-100s-of-hours-my-final-guardian-build/
Oh yeah, equip Superior Sigil of Perception on your main weapon. This gives you +10 Precision each time you make a kill, max stack of 25 which lasts until you die, for a total of 250 Precision, which ups crit chance by 10%. If you use a Bowl of Curry Butternut Squash Soup and Artisan Maintenence Oil, you can get a rather large boost in Crit Chance as well.
Thanks LZ. If they’re gonna keep the skill as it is, they should at least lower the cooldown. However, underwater, Sanctuary is amazing.
6 Superior Runes of the pack will give you 90 power and 100 precision, that will up your crit chance another 4% or so. Getting the Guild Assassin Backpack with a ruby jewel will also up it a bit, maybe another 1%. Maxing out Radiance will give you another roughly 4% increase.
Agreed. This would make Bow of Truth actually worth using.
I also personally think it should be able to attack enemies as well.
Sanctuary can be really good for rezzing allies, or popping it before you use your elite. I’ll also place this on top of Rams for it’s heal over time. It’s useless against AOE damge and siege equipment though, so I don’t use it as much as others do.
And Shouts is where an increased boon duration of 80% really shine. Retreat’s swiftness boon lasts an extremely long time, making your team much more mobile. Plus, the aegis granted to 5 teammates can be a huge deal. Rotate this with Virtue of Courage and you’re helping keep your team up longer in a protracted battle. And the buffs you get from Stand Your Ground last FOREVER, while removing conditions from allies. And any protection or retaliation your shouts give to the group can save their butts in a clutch.
The Tomb of Courage can be a huge deal, especially in choke point battles where your team is grouped up. The AOE heal is amazing on it. Tomb of Wrath is also great when defending a keep or in a zerg situation.
A properly traited Virtue of Resolve is a big deal. Not only is it a small AOE heal, but it removes 3 conditions. Between this and your consecrations and shouts, you never have an excuse to have conditions on you or your allies.
Also, if you go deep into the Honor line, your dodge roll becomes an AOE heal. Not only are you healing allies, but yourself as well, and considering how much you doge in PvP, this skill is amazing. Plus, it scales well with healing power.
Oh, and with my huge health pool, I’m able to rez allies in very dangerous situations. I think people tend to fail to realize how important rezzing allies on the field is.
And if you want to go a more glass cannon route, you can. Both Staff and Greatsword can do incredible damage, as well as hammer. And you can spec to be more of a balanced tank/dps build if you want to, while still offering a lot of support and utility.
It’s for all these reasons that I love my Guardian in WvW. I play him there all the time.
(edited by Ultramatum.5162)
Guardian is one of the best WvW classes in my humble opinion. The reason for this is versatility. You can go DPS if you want, or support. I find I get more out of running a tanky support role in WvW. I hardly ever die, I contribute a ton to the group, and I can still rack up kills.
Playing a Guardian isn’t the same as playing a Warrior. Too many people think WvW is just about zerging and killing other players. It’s actually much more strategic than that. I run a Support Build that maximizes my Health Pool, Power, and Boon Duration. My power is over 3,000, right now with realm bonuses I have around 25,000 HP, and my boon duration is 80% longer with runes and consumables.
For support, nothing beats the Staff. This is my go-to weapon for both support and DPS in WvW. Nothing is better. NOTHING. The auto attack is AOE based, so standing behind a gate and spamming that will rack up the kills during a siege. With 2-Handed Mastery traited, Orb of Light has like a 1.5 second recharge. You can spam this skill into groups of enemies and watch as damage numbers fly by because it hits EVERYTHING in it’s path for 1200 meters. Sure, it’s slow as all-get-out, but in situations where you’re fighting big groups, nobody sees it coming, and it crits like a mutha. I’ll see 3K crits from Orb of Light sometimes since my Valkyrie armor buffs up crit damage so much.
Symbol of Swiftness not only grants speed, which is great for chasing down enemies or escaping fights, but specced right, it can heal allies and remove conditions. Plus, it’s an AOE DOT! With it’s short cooldown, I’m dropping this on grouped up enemies constantly and watching their health tick down. You can cast this from a distance so you’re constantly able to place it where it can do the most damage, even on the tops of walls and towers.
Empower is the best buff skill you have. In a battle, whether you’re defending or attacking, you’re dropping 12 stacks of might on people, AND healing them. I use this whenever it’s off cooldown. Buffing your rangers while defending a keep with 12 stacks of might is a massive DPS increase. And the Healing AOE radius is huge. Plus, when you’re specced into 80% longer boon duration like I am, that might lasts FOREVER. With more than one Guardian using this skill, defenders can have permanent 25 stacks of might on them.
Finally, Line of Warding. This isn’t a great skill, but it does have it’s uses. You can use it to block choke points and portal entrances into keeps. But it’s real use is the light combo condition removal. If you rotate this with Wall or Reflection, anyone who shoots through it removes conditions, which in WvW is a HUGE deal. Drop this in front of archers while defending a keep, and it keeps them alive a lot longer.
Consecrations are HUGELY powerful in WvW. I think everyone can attest to Wall of Reflection’s awesomeness. Sure, smart players will learn to avoid it, but most don’t. And even if they do stop firing, your side can still attack, which gives you an advantage. And in the heat of battle with all the spells being dropped, most people don’t notice it. I use ground targeting with my consecrations, so I can stand over a gate and drop this down in front of it and laugh as I see a littany of damage numbers pop up on my screen. But more than that, you can use purging flames both offensively and defensively, since it not only removes conditions, but causes condition damage and is a fire combo field. I’ll rotate dropping this on allies or in the middle of an enemy zerg for a nice DOT. Plus, with ground targeting enabled, you don’t have to make yourself vulnerable by running into the middle of the battle, you can cast if from afar.
Retaliation is better suited for group buffs, because that damage is reflected back based on everyone who’s being hit. So if you have 5 in a group and drop retaliation, everyone is reflecting damage back onto the attacker if they’re getting hit.
You need to switch between trident and spear more. Trident #3 is a great AOE. I used to just stick with spear, but found I killed stuff faster and survived longer by constantly switching out between the two weapons. Also, you need to trait your underwater bar appropriately. Sanctuary is an amazing skill underwater, since all damage is projectile based. Also, spirit weapons are fantastic underwater as well. The Spirit Sword and Shield can be lifesavers.
Sanctuary doesn’t protect against AOE ground targeted damage. It’s the skill’s biggest flaw. Elementalist Meteor Storm can still hit you while you’re in it. I really think they should fix the skill so that it protects from all damage, especially since the cooldown on it is so long. Oh, and it should grant stability too.
I whole heartedly agree.
Thumbs up for dueling. And inspecting.
Ditto on Wall of Reflection. Definitely the best utility skill the Guardian has. It’s amazing in WvW. I use it constantly and love it.
Purging Flames is also great. It can be used offensively and defensively.
I love love love Retreat. I usually have it on my bar constantly. The movement speed buff is really nice, but the Aegis it grants to 5 allies can be a big bonus in a hectic fight. Plus, for getting a party around large maps, it’s fantastic.
Save Yourselves is great for dramatically increasing your DPS. Plus it purges you and your allies of conditions and gives you tons of boons. Also a stun breaker. Love that shout.
Purging Flames can be good, though it’s only really helpful if you’re a melee class. But it’s condition removal + quick recharge time can make it very good.
Signet of Judgement is good, as is Bane Signet.
Haven’t ever used Shield of the Avenger. Might have to try that out.
Oh, and I think there should be ZERO repair cost in WvW. lol. I can’t tell you how many “naked” players I’ve seen because they can’t afford the repair, and let’s face it, everyone dies a LOT in WvW. You don’t need repairs in PvP, you shouldn’t need them in WvW. I think the long run from your starting waypoint is penalty enough for dying.
@NinjaEd – I do have a pretty good idea. But I think cross-server communications are needed if there’s ever to be any coordination between weaker servers. Maybe have it so the cross-channel chat can only happen between players with the commander tag? But it’s something everyone can read?
I’ve been on IoJ since the beginning, and we always stuck it out even when being facestomped by a much more competitive server. So we know how frustrating it can be to be on the receiving end of a one-sided match up. The only difference is WE NEVER GAVE UP. We’d take our punishment and come back for more, even though we hated every bit of it.
If CD and ET really wanted to get in this game, they’d do what they did the day the servers reset, and team up on us. That first night, we were getting dominated by you two. It can work, but you gotta be on a server with a lot of resolve and communication.
Here’s another concerning Badges of Honor – Give Badges of Honor as rewards for completing events. This gives support classes ways to gain Badges of Honor as well.
Another good suggestion is to not allow siege equipment in Puzzle Jumping areas. This is REALLY annoying and promotes griefing.
I actually really like this mechanic. I just think most unorganized groups don’t realize how important it is to rez players while they’re in a downed state.
@Metryn – I think we can agree taking Orbs of Power out of the WvW realm is the way to go. I like the idea that holding your garrison in your own Boarderlands would give you an Orb Bonus. This would give the two other servers reason to hit the garrison hard and try to take away that bonus. That would mean a team would have to hold the garrison in all three boarderlands to have the “Three Orb Buff” in Eternal Battlegrounds. It’s a very good idea, and it gives servers a reason to fight in the Boarderlands.
By the same token, holding Stonemist Castle should give some type of boon to the server that’s holding it.
6. Enhanced Upgrades
I think a big issue in WvW are towers and supply camps being too easy to take. If you take the time and effort to fully upgrade a Tower or Supply camp, it should be a huge challenge for a competing team take over. I think this would enhance the WvW experience immensely if a fully upgraded location becomes a real challenge to overtake, and would actually encourage players to stay and hold a keep they’ve taken over as opposed to over-running it then moving onto the next location. The speed at which locations change hands is what makes the point system so lopsided. A server that goes to sleep after gaining ground shouldn’t wake up the next morning and see all their gains wiped out because another server had a night crew. Maybe an upgrade that allows for Legendary Defenders during night hours? Or when a server’s presence on a map hits a certain level?
7. Siege Counters
I think for any defense to be effective, you need to have counters to attackers. I noticed one time in WvW, my server was up against another server who was very organized. They’d have multiple siege units set up almost immediately once they hit a location. Right now, the only counter to siege is to repair what it’s hitting with supplies. But if the other team is organized, you’re gonna be supply starved, and most keeps won’t have a huge number of defenders there. So I believe there really needs to be some type of counter to Trebs and Catapults. Not something that will stop them completely, but maybe slow them down. Towers and Keeps should be REALLY hard to take, and having some counter to siege equipment could be a real boon to unorganized defenders.
8. Supply Drops
I understand why players can’t drop supplies in locations, but honestly, I think allowing this could add a whole new dynamic to the game. It would make taking and holding enemy supply camps all the more important so players would have to run further to get supply to help defend a location.
9. Territory Debuffs
The more territory a server holds, the more the stats to that server’s players should be NEGATIVELY affected. Yes, you heard me right. The more territory one server has, the more debuffs should be applied to that server in WvW.
If you think about it, this can be an “over-extension penalty.” In the real world, when an army over-extends itself, it tends to collapse. Supply lines are strained. Moral gets lowered. Etc. The same should be true here. Having decreases in both Health and Damage to a dominating WvW server would help even the playing field for the weaker servers. You could also increase the cost of siege equipment the more territory is held, as well has increase the cost of upgrades to locations in enemy territory. Thus would be the cost of gaining all those points. Sure, you’re racking up bonuses elsewhere, but there’s a cost to all that dominating map control. Think of it like a “Winner’s Tax.” Sure, you’re roflstomping the competition, but at the same time, there’s a price to be paid.
10. Lower Level Gear
I think there should be gear available to lower level toons in WvW that helps put them on par with other characters, much like how PvP currently works. It should be easy to obtain, and gives them stats that can make them more competitive against fully geared level 80s. I think this would open up WvW to more players and and allow servers to add competitive players to their ranks much easier. Of course, players can’t take this gear with them into PvE, but I believe this could be a huge deal in balancing WvW.
So there you go everyone. Those are my suggestions to improve WvW. Please add your own or give me feedback on the ones already listed here. Hopefully, if we can come up with enough ideas we can all agree on that would improve our over-all PvP/WvW experience, we can get ArenaNet to implement them.
Hey all,
First off, I just wanna say I am loving WvW in this game. It is a lot of fun, and reminds me of the good old days of Dark Age of Camelot. Though it does seem to be that the WvW tends to get fairly one-sided after a while, with one server dominating the two others. I’d like for the community to come up with ways to improve the WvW mechanic to make it more fun and competitive. Here are some suggestions I came up with, and I’d like your feedback on them. Hopefully if we come up with something good and useful, the Devs can pick it up and run with it.
1. Eliminate Server Rankings
I think you see a lot of server transfers happen due to the rankings. Some people want to be on top tier servers, and some people want to be on lower tiers for more of a challenge. When server transfers happen en mass, you get queue time issues which affects the enjoyment of people who want to be in WvW. I think if you got rid of the ranking systems, you’d eliminate a lot of the transfer issues because people wouldn’t be able to tell what servers are dominating as easily.
Furthermore, ranking in WvW is pretty worthless. Being the #1 server doesn’t really get you anything except bragging rights, so what’s the point?
2. Random Maps
The three server matchup system is pretty borked if you ask me, simply because once 1 server starts dominating, the other two just give up. However, if the maps were more randomized, this might not be the case.
What I mean by this is, Have different servers compete in Eternal Battlegrounds and the Boarderlands. So boarderland #1 has servers A, B, & C; boarderland 2 has A, D, & E; and Boarderland 3 has A, F, & G; while Eternal Battlegrounds has A, C, & F. By mixing the servers like this, you might get a more balanced matchup where one server isn’t able to control every point in all 4 maps.
3. Cross-Channel Communication
There should be a chat option that let’s people communicate with the other servers they’re playing against on the map they are on. This can help facilitate alliances and strategies against a dominating server. Sure, the potential for abuse and kitten-talk is there, but I think the advantages of a chat channel such as this outweigh the disadvantages.
4. Point Bonus Changes
Instead of having the point bonuses affect players in WvW, I’d like to see those bonuses applied to players in PvE only. This creates a synergy where WvW actually benefits all players on a server, as opposed to just those who participate in WvW. It will also make the WvW matchups more fair since the bonuses wouldn’t apply in WvW, and everyone would be on an even playing field, much like PvP matchups. Plus, it might encourage PvE guilds to participate more in WvW.
5. Orb Of Power Changes
I’d like to see the orbs of power moved out of the WvW arena and into the PvE arena. These should be some type of bonus PvE players can get from running dungeons that give bonuses to players in WvW only. This helps to synergize the PvE aspect of the game with the WvW aspect even further, and will help the PvE community contribute to the success of the WvW community. Having an Orb of Power at some even in Orr that players need to capture and hold for it to apply to WvW, for example, would be one way of doing this. Another Orb of Power can only be achieved by constantly beating a super-hard boss in a special dungeon a certain number of times, etc.
This could also be good on servers with a low WvW presence because the PvE side of things could give them up to 3 orbs, which may give them an advantage in WvW.
This is my offensive spec that I run in WvW, and it does extremely well:
In the post above I break down how I max out my damage and survivability. This build works great for PvE and Dungeons as well, so I don’t have to respec every time I wanna do WvW. Plus, it adds some good group utility and support as well.
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