Guild Wars 2

So Meta Rev as we know currently suffer from what is arguably the worst condi clear potential in the game. For the point here, lets go with your cookie cutting Shiro/Herald build. I am aware that Mallyx and Jalis offer clears but they feel subpar to use at the moment, save some niche situations.

For a skill or trait which serves as a minor heal and block which renders you immobile, I was thinking it could be improved on slightly. Adding 1 condi clear per pulse would essentially be a theoretical removal of 4 conditions over 4 seconds or as an active clear of 2 removed on use to me doesn’t seem too OP of an adjustment for an offhand which purely focuses on utility and defence or a grandmaster trait.

What are your thoughts guys?

As said above, warrior. Marauder with durability runes can be used with almost any class and you’ll still perform with top notch power damage whilst be a pseudo tank. I know revenant has been hit hard with nerfs but they are still fundamentally a very strong class for small scale fights, especially with marauder dura combination (particularly to the fact that revs themselves are boon dispensers). Durability runes on a dragonhunter are just deadly if you can overlook the fact that you’re slow.

If i were to choose a single class and armor set for all game modes though, it’d be a marauder warrior with strength runes/ zerk trinkets. You may not be as tanky as dura or bursty as full beserkers, you’re technically at an inbetween where most raid elitists won’t mind and still scary as kitten in wvw roaming. I mean, 10k eviscerates and arcing slice? Yes please.

Aren’t we already living the boon/ passive meta?

1. Honestly for sigils, those are all good choices. I personally run Air+ blood for a bit more survivability in combat. I used to run force and air with a premade team I trusted

2. Exuberance on a thief is a bit eh… Strength could work on a PP cheese build or if you have a team that is boon heavy. Infiltration is a bit gimmicky in my experience and it makes you lose out on quite a bit of damage. Current meta choices seem to revolve around Scholar runes for extra burst, Pack runes for stats and swiftness, might and fury uptime and Daredevil runes for extra survivability and guaranteed bursts. I wouldn’t give up power for precision and fero as ferocity is the worst scaling stat in the game DPS wise in comparison to power.

3. Marauders is great, it’s technically beserkers with far less risk and slightly lower burst. Paladins is amazing for duels but it gimps your burst when you +1, something which is essential for thief imo. It is meta after all as it gives the stats to capitalize on thief’s core strengths whilst allowing breathing space.

4. RFI is okay if you choose trickster trait with a staff build, but it’s only 1 extra dodge vs Signet of Agility which is 2 with a lower cooldown and minor on-demand condi clear (Not to mention a dps boost). I guess the ini/ stunbreak is nice but extra dodge but i just can’t justify that long cooldown.

Shadowstep, can’t go wrong with it unless Invalid path to Kappa :’^)

Bandit’s defence is a wonderful skill to have, i cycle it between blinding powder depending on what I’m up against. Against warriors and CC heavy teams, BD. Against slow teams, I use Blinding powder. Impact Strike is great to have but it’s horrendous if you suddenly start tilting or fight teams with heavy block uptime. Basilisk venom is my other go to. Dagger storm used to be okay but it’s way too situational for my liking with an obnoxious cooldown.

I’ve tried thieves guild on condi builds and it’s hilarious but beyond useless against a proper team.

Currently sitting in gold and slowly moving up. I just want to know if there is anytime where it is worth it to take EA over ID in the current meta scenario, especially in the higher tiers. I can fight most players 1v1 without problem but that’s not the point of SPVP.

PI is amazing in +1 and fighting off power/ mender builds, but I feel as though EA contributes a lot more overall against condi heavy teams which grow more frequent as the rank moves higher. I’ve watched various streamers like Sindrener play without EA effectively but I’m nowhere near that experienced with the class yet.

Your thoughts? How do you guys deal with condi situations without EA?

Edit: I’m just running the meta DP SB build with Sigil of blood over Fire for Dagger, nothing fancy.

Taobella.6597:

Rocky.8195:

Taobella.6597:

i think if i wanted to rate WvW based on what i think is hardest to play to easiest hmm i would go. 1 being no skill.

0. ghost thief. LOL? we even going to talk about this one.
1. eva staff/staff( power) (only thing you worry about is landing steal you can frame trap it for 100% hit)
2. eva d/d/short bow ( con) (only thing you worry about is landing steal you can frame trap it for 100% hit(
3. d/p/ short bow (power) ( only worry about staying in stealth)
4. d/d / short bow( power) ( you have to worry about how to engage with out using any utility)
5. p/d / short bow(con ) (you have to make sure you do not put yourself out of position to get kited)
6. d/p /short bow( con) (it very easy to commit to much to 1 attack get con clear)
7. s/p / d/p ( power) ( it very easy to commit to much to 1 attack an they out tempo you in the fight)

this may not be every build in WvW this just a sample size of my view on there skill level as a my view as a thief.

i am not going to put p/p on here because i think it just not worth viewing.

What’s Ghost Thief?

try reading the 50 WvW forums trying to remove it XD

It ain’t easy, being cheesy.

Disclaimer These are some builds for Open World PVE. As Em said almost anything works as long as you have Defence. These are simply some of the more effective self sufficient builds to play. Group might stacking/ some personal DPS is sacrificed for all rounder traitlines, much similar to a pseudo roaming build.

Generic all rounder build. Works in WvW too with a bit of sigil tweaking. Doesn’t have to be restricted to what you see, just switch out traits and utilities if using differering weapon combinations. The reasoning behind Eternal Champion over Bloody roar in solo is simply for self mightstacking/ stability and reliability over a bit of extra CC and 1.5 second burst increase. However in a group content like dungeons, I’d most likely use bloody roar over it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR5enMdA9kidhA2dAElilqA790mantK9gYXMApA0ACAA-TVCEABtpbIiDCwWKBTU9nJOCAAcBASZ/BmU+lwDAAA-w

Non HOT version
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR5ejMdQbH2FC2dAnIGKCKbAegAALhWIE0uI6jCA-TFCEABtpbIR1fSZ/htUCykyvEeCARcQAA4CAAA-w

If you’re really having trouble with keeping regen, eat a mango pie or something. I’m assuming you mean an all rounder PVE build. If you want raid/ dungeon build, better off to follow the metabattle ones, especially for raids.

Condition variant:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAsfTnckCtkidhA2dAEliFoA7t1Wb3tKHhd3Q4IBGASZA-TFSFQBE4QA0O9BNUZX/U/ZkKBhz+DA4JAQMlCAA-w

Slightly less weapon choices but imo it’s basically PVE on easymode. Follow Metabattle version for group content and if you’re somehow having trouble staying alive, switch out one of the non special traits for defence. Again, something like this can be used in WvW too with a few adjustments.

Darkaheart’s suggestion for Shadowstep is definitely something I’d support. It would give thief a reliable on demand condi clear outside of signet of agility or being forced to invest into trickster. At the same time, it doesn’t really seem out of place nor op.

I personally would like to see Sword’s auto attacks/ stealth attack functions slightly buffed. As much of the damage comes from landing the 3rd hit, maybe a slight increase in it’s damage variable based on health, such as 10% increase in damage against >50% or a single boon strip every successful crippling strike. Yes I am aware Larcenous Strike does it too, but I believe this could essentially allow thief to have an additional function in pve too as a boon removalist role and actually give the sword a purpose outside of S/P spamming.

Alright, Thank you!

Hey guys,

I want to gift a gemstore outfit to one of my friends in EU. Problem is I’m NA and don’t want to needlessly convert gold to test cross region sending.

Is NA to EU gifting possible?

I would highly like a staff that looks like a halberd. For thief purposes of course c:

^ Follow Sindrener if you want to get better at Spvp thief. He’s one of the best out there.

Unfortunately for thief, you’re more sufficient in keeping that eye on the map and backcapping/ decapping points. Your biggest advantage is mobility.
Most of the time in fights, I usually aim to down whomever is a “cannon” in the other team, usually their necro or mesmers.

You need to be especially careful when going in as thief, bursting people when their cooldowns are on. Sometimes that extra 1-2 seconds of waiting gets you a long way and is the difference between winning a teamfight. You can’t expect to rush into a fight and burst someone down anymore.

GS is pretty good for cleaves and 2x high bursts with a quick draw+ maul for trash mobs.
It’s got alot of utility and movement when it comes to skipping mobs and that block will save your kitten time and time again.

Ranger DPS is never going to outdo classes like Tempest, DD guard or warrior. But that’s not your intended role anyway as stated above. Of course dedicated groups probably frown upon the GS as it gives up quite a bit of potential group utility which an offhand will offer on top of superior sustained DPS.

Thing is though, if it comes to open world PVE events or completion, I’d probably take GS over a sword/x combination as it’s far more straightforward to use. WvW though, I’d still choose Sword/x over a GS, but that’s just from personal preference.

EDIT: Just think of it like a guardian’s Greatsword. It’s got inbuilt utility and good burst, but it’s outperformed by one handers when it comes to sustained DPS. Keep in mind though, even if it’s not “optimal” in PVE, it’s a very powerful choice in pvp.

Yay, Pew pew ranger!

Maybe it’s an to make an emphasis a healer role to counteract the DOT damage from the agony. I see what you mean though, it still feels far safer to spam condi from range.

Wait for them to black powder (small ring of smoke around them) and throw an interrupt/ knockback.
Force them to use shadowstep early on etc etc.
Condi is mediocre against them if they run escapist’s absolution.
Once you’ve played thief, you’ll realize that they have a crazy amount of inherent weaknesses if their mechanics aren’t pulled off correctly. If they’re running a dagger offhand and go invisible after hitting you, just dodge. They’re essentially dazed if they try to spam a stealth attack on you.

Note the way they dodge, if they’re essentially gliding along the ground, immobilize, chill and torment won’t work on them. If they seem to be stomping after every flip, then they are susceptible to conditions but they will have amazing burst whilst evading. If you get conditions after they leap well, I really hope you traited some condi removal lol.

Black circle on the ground + leaping from thief usually means anywhere from 2-8 seconds of stealth. Usually it’s around 4-6 in combat depending on their health. Just blast that circle, it’s essentially a target for you. As dumb as it may sound, walking into it can throw the thief off badly.

You want to counter thieves? Bait out their defences because that’s how they beat most classes right now. Mobility is what makes them so good in wvw. They ensure you waste all your active defences and stuns before going in for the kill. No good thief is going to try out dps you head on unless they realize you’re a healer or on cooldowns.

Most Thieves don’t bother fighting a DH alone as it tends to be a very uphill fight if the DH is somewhat competent. If you’re tired of being constantly ganked by a DD, just run DH.

In my experience as a thief, the hardest 2 classes to beat as a roamer right is the Soldier staff+lb druid by far, followed by condi chrono and DH. Condi chrono isn’t really a threat though as they cannot catch up to you if you choose to ignore them. The druid on the other hand, has a very high potential to burst you down due to might stacking and range with bristleback and smokescale bursts. DH is self explanatory.

Ummm, you know you could just not run reaper. Core necro is a bit better for roaming and Deathshroud 2 gets you to your target.

Big sidenote for you,

You just went from most immobile class in the game to the second most immobile. With DH, you’re going to run into the exact same mobility issues unless you sacrifice your runes for Traveller. Even then, almost every other class is going to get away from you fairly easily lol.

You know, if you have a free slot you could just make two new guardians with all the differing starter helms/ pauldron then delete them afterward. The skins are account bound anyway.

>Lagging out.

I don’t think auto cast would solve your problems there.

Dragonhunter is in a fairly good spot right now whilst core guards are still the preferred frontline choice in wvw.

Guards are currently unwanted in T4 tier fractals but very welcome anywhere else. Everyone hates them and their traps in Spvp due to the way it dispatches unwary players with ease but falls short in higher tiers.

I was a guard main before I moved onto thief this year, and I’d say it really depends if he wants to buy HoT. Core guard has been fairly left in the dust whilst DH revolves around 1-2 builds.

Would I recommend this class to your friend? As a starting class, definitely. It’s very different to any other mmo classes which I’ve played and forces one to learn active defence and proactive playstle. It’s not as mechanically demanding as other classes and is definitely not weak.

In WvW guard is one of those classes that excels in group play though can be fairly vulnerable on their own/ feels a bit limited in solo play. See how it goes, and ask them what they enjoy doing most.

EDIT: If I really was to choose a class in this current environment for an all rounder, It’d be a warrior. All they need is marauders armor, zerker trinkets and self choice of runes and can pretty much rock every game mode without criticism. They are meta choice since the dawn of the game in PVE. They are one of the stronger roamers, they can frontline with minimal investment runes, their condi variant is freely played in Spvp. You basically cannot go wrong with choosing one at the moment.
Second which comes to mind is reaper though a second set of armor/ Trinkets may be needed for that class in varying game modes.

Nefarius.9702:

Sorry for the double post –
but two more questions came up and im not entirely sure about the best solution:

1) What sigills do I use for Shortbow in OpenPve ? 5% + Air? Or should I consider fire or even bloodlust? What about fracs / raids?

2) When fighting with D/D and facing MORE than 1 enemy, do I still use CnD in my rota? Or do I go for aaing mainly? Cause CnD only hits 1 enemy…

1) Shortbow is really more of a utility weapon but sometimes the extra bit of damage from clusterbomb and AA. I personally prefer to run it with sigil of leeching+ air as the leeching procc can carry onto weapon swap (roughly under a 1k heal). I wvw with the shortbow so air for that extra bit of crit pressure, otherwise sigil energy for the extra evade for even more utility although its a bit unnecessary with Daredevil.

2.) Always CD once revealed is gone as the stealth will remove mob pressure from you and you are able to slowly and surely rid your targets with large crits. CnD will also give you time for your Cooldowns to recharge. In PVE, you can easily juke the npc’s by frequently stealthing and bursting . Deathblossom is not a dps skill unless you’re a condition thief, it’s more of a gimmicky evade and any thief worth their salt will know not to spam heartseeker in PVE unless target is under 25% (assuming you are talking about pve. PVP wise, I sometimes use Heartseeker to close small gaps to targets)

Same thing, Beserker stats PVE.

Using it will teach you to learn the class. I’m assuming you are going for a power build right?

Hey guys,

I’ve been been playing this game for a few years now but have never actually gotten to making a condition based character. I want to amend that so I just want to hear which classes would be a good choice in pve and roaming in wvw.

Thanks in advance!

Answering your staff question,

It does less theoretical damage to a single target as to what D/D would. However it has a much safer DPS rotation and cleaves up to 5 which makes it more favorable as an all rounder, not to mention extra evades from weapon skills and endurance generation. D/D really does not allow for many mistakes although it feels far more satisfying to use imo.

I personally prefer to run both Staff+ D/P if in open world solo. The staff effectively cleaves mobs whilst DP allows me to spam blinds to take on veterans with minimal effort and some elites. It provides the utility to stealth hide away when the going gets a bit extreme (Like needing to get past some champs without getting 1 shot). I know SP is the Favored option for trash mobs but this is just a personal preference.

When in a general group, I like to camp on shortbow for additional blasts to benefit the group and only use staff as a damage dealer.

This guy gives off a pretty nice breakdown on S/D but keep in mind it’s been heavily nerfed since then. The Sword 2 trick doesn’t work anymore and 1 second cd for stealth attacks makes timing all the more critical.

1v1 arena is really where people go to hone their skirmishing skills or to stroke their own egos, it’s where a lot of elitists/ hardcore pvpers go. It’s not surprising that they’re a little hostile, the drama that comes out of those arenas are fairly entertaining to watch. It’s the saltiest place in the game next to Ranked arenas

Honestly, I don’t see why it shouldn’t be.

I’ve been using steal as a pseudo escape tool when other things are CD. Daze from trickery has stopped combo follow ups and saved my kitten a few times but making it break stuns would make steal yet even more useful. It doesn’t seem that OP imo and honestly it would be a nice addition to have.

Pistol pistol for raw damage and self might stacking.
Shortbow for blast finishers

If you ever need to carry a group or kite a boss, P/p is your best bet in the ranged department. If you’re in a good group who knows their stacking and elemental fields, then shortbow all the way.

I’m just gonna put it out here that Guard isn’t exactly an ideal class for roaming due to your lack of mobility. Scholar runes aren’t ideal outside of pve.

People who usually run a full zerk set up would use traveller runes/ pack runes for the movespeed. This was the old set up for mediguard and it was perfectly fine for dueling .

With Dragonhunter and HOT, I’d say marauders is far better for guard as a roamer. I personally run marauder+ durability runes with zerk trinkets, but I don’t roam solo with my guard.

If using longbow, I’d change hunters fortification for Heavy light in the DH tree. Shelter can be switched out to purification but then again, it’s just a personal preference there.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR8dnsABVDhlDBWdC8DhlEiSe5j+rPL/+vA8aZDgEA-TVCFABJp8jgjAQa6G0X9nFOIA9pEUu9HY4BAAwFAgUARM0C-w

Good luck out there, try not to get caught by angry mobs!

Daredevil is essential in order to compete with the power creep unfortunately.

You can still technically do one shots :^)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoaVnsMBNOhlOBemC8PhFfCbOAuAjgeFhlQUYLA8aOTA-TlCEQBE4BAwk9HlTtRfwFVSAgjAgBOBAP4QAEIlgNRJi/U/hUARM0C-w

Outside of being a gimmick, I do not recommend this Trait and utility set up. This is purely for deleting bad/ unaware players. The gear set up is fine for a power build. If you don’t have access to marauders yet, just mix n match valkyrie/ zerker. Needs fast fingers and ensure you have 25 bloodlust stacks for maximum effect.

General set up will be like this,

Basilisk venom -> Black powder+ Heartseeker x2 for stealth -> Assassin’s signet for +15% damage procc and 5 might stacks-> Impairing daggers+ heartseeker+steal at the same time (needs to be done under 1.5 seconds in that order)->auto until dead.

Only shadowshot if safe to do so.

If they didn’t die and managed to heal, gtfo.

Your heal can be used both offensively and defensively in this case, either for a extra backstab or breathing space for cooldowns.

Do not spam backstab in stealth, the 1 scd from the recent nerf is equivalent to a 1 second daze if you miss.

For a even more yolo set up, replace shadowstep with infiltrator’s signet and use that as your engage instead of steal. That will give you 10 stacks of might with assassin’s but leave you absolutely no room for error.

EDIT: Dagger+pistol or the shortbow can be swapped out for Dagger+dagger. Just use to your preference.

DH is very weak against unblockable power based bursts.
Condi pressure has always been a thing which guards usually struggle against although team based condi removal usually solves that.

The most effective counter i’ve seen so far was a well played power warrior with signet of might. Can’t say for sure about mesmers though.

1v1 is arguably harder with the nerf to stealth attacks, it’s really class matchup now and game knowledge on the class/ build your opponent is running. Personally I find duelling to be fine in Wvw, its really a skill thing in the end. You lose some, you win some, and if you get ganked, good luck to whomever is trying to catch you.

Just look out for dragon hunters though, they take a lot of patience and baiting to beat alone. You’ll lose most of your fights against them unless you outplay the crap out of them.

Okay, hear me out on this one.

Contrary to forum attitude, Thief is still okay to play despite all nerfs and unwarranted change to stealth attacks.

PVE wise, you are still one of the strongest single target bursters out there and you will naturally hit very hard without any form of buffs. What you won’t do is however is effectively provide boons for your team mates outside of stealth, boon strip and fury. If provided boons, you will eat through a boss like a blender.

WvW, perfectly fine, in fact most non thief roamers either laugh at you for being an easy kill or hate your guts for how effective you are at being near untouchable whilst hitting like a truck.

PVP right now, it’s not a pleasant scene for a thief. The amount of DH due to meta basically makes the class very difficult to play, even in +1 situations. It’s a heck lot of fun but, sPVP right now is High risk, mediocre reward.

If you do wanna play this class seriously, just don’t give up at it. Despite the current state of the class and game, there are STILL people whining that thieves are op.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wuv/Roaming-Only-Dragonhunter-can-stop-thieves/page/2#post6289899

Hey there OP,

Another Australian here. As long as your stays under 300, you should be more than fine to play competitively in most game modes. If it’s permanently over, I would highly advise trying out a class with a bit more room for error as you will feel a constant 1-2.5 second delay.

On a good day, I have 180 to 200 and the skills feel fluid. I would not even know that my ping is that high if I didn’t check. 300-400ish, I would not bother with thief pvp or wvw, pve is still fine though.

Blaqatak.1395:

Justine.6351:

Weo weo.6378:

Marauders are generally a better option than valkyries imo as you don’t end up relying on fury as much for crits, and it should provide you just enough health to not get 100-0 in an instant.

I think valks was more for backstabbers as it didn’t lower power and gut ferocity. Not sure backstabbers exist anymore.

It’s also for fresher players who can’t afford marauders yet.

You guys make a fair point.

Well, you could try this set up.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoaVn8lCFOhFmCmOB8PhFYCTLBEA2NzdwTYL0LNcGaDA-TlCEQBG4EAgRlg6RfAT2fUmBgDBABeAAJSVlFpWxDOCAZRpBpAEUkF-w

Edit: Foods/ sigils should be interchanged to what you see fit, This is just a generic gear set up I used pre-Hot. Many people would prefer blood over sigil of fire, but w/e. It’s all personal preference in this case

Some of youtubers for thief run marauders set up with scrapper runes. You basically lose out on 100-0 potential but it gives you a lot more room for error without dropping too much base damage. I’ve personally trialed it and it works wonders with staff setups in both in both pve and pvp (PVE wise, it allows you to outsustain alot of content with the right setup).

However, I still ended going for scholars for the much stronger bursts. I find that unhindered combat with DD is more than enough evades to compensate for the lack of defence

Marauders are generally a better option than valkyries imo as you don’t end up relying on fury as much for crits, and it should provide you just enough health to not get 100-0 in an instant.

Hey all,

After playing through a myriad of mmos, I was very surprised that there wasn’t anything similar to the small skirmishing arenas that most other games had.
Spvp and stronghold is alright, but I’m not exactly a huge fan of capturing and holding points. WvW duels and small scale fights are okay, but that’s not exactly the point of it.

I’m aware that 1v1 servers and guild hall arenas exist, but those are more of a community thing. Again, they don’t have any form of rewards and most guilds I’m in have turned them into custom jump puzzles.

What if this is made into a game mode, with its own reward tracks/ titles/ leaderboards. Basically first to eliminate the other player/ players in a best of 3 rounds with its own ranking and Spvp gear stats? It’d be entertaining to watch and far more straightforward for someone who just wants a fast and fair PVP fix.

Any thoughts?

Jaina Ashlynn.1043:

I run marauder with durability runes as an all purpose type armor set up thanks to asking a WvW fanatic for ideas.

I personally run this as well lol. Consistent bouts of Protection/ resistance on top of boon duration is well worth over a cookie cutting scholar rune/ pack rune set up in PVP IMO.
This set up for a DH is pretty monstrous in a roaming squad.

Cynz.9437:

Weo weo.6378:

Just play a thief and try it out for yourself.

It’s definitely not OP. You only need to go visit thief forums to see the general opinion of experienced thieves on their own class.

A good thief will decimate inexperienced players and seem impossible to catch/ beat due to their mobility. If they do get caught, failing to activate an escape or defensive utility OR IT BUGS OUT (which happens a lot) almost means certain death from most other classes.

They are a great roaming class, but they have very little margin for error. I personally love my thief because of the high risk high reward play style, but the class can get fairly stressful to play.

The only thing I would be annoyed about though is a Condi thief, which is hilarious to play in small skirmishes.

fix’d

>No Valid Path to Target
I cry everytime fam.

Just play a thief and try it out for yourself.

It’s definitely not OP. You only need to go visit thief forums to see the general opinion of experienced thieves on their own class.

A good thief will decimate inexperienced players and seem impossible to catch/ beat due to their mobility. If they do get caught, failing to activate an escape or defensive utility almost means certain death from most other classes.

They are a great roaming class, but they have very little margin for error. I personally love my thief because of the high risk high reward play style, but the class can get fairly stressful to play.

The only thing I would be annoyed about though is a Condi thief, which is hilarious to play in small skirmishes.

I would choose marauder over zerk anyday in wvw.

In my opinion however, just decide on what your main focus is. A full set of marauder armor w/ Zerker trinkets and weapons has roughly 2070 more health and 3% more crit chance than a zerk set but 6.53% less crit damage and roughly 100 or so less power.

If you are solely pve focused, I’d say Zerk is still better as you really shouldn’t be taking direct damage with all your forms of damage mitigation.

Thing is though, If I were to make a versatile set to use in most game modes, I’d run marauder with zerk trinkets+ weapons.

IMO, Marauders is a slight DPS loss for more breathing space.

Right now may be a very good time to try guardian again after various buffs from the recent patch.

Guardian is nothing like warrior in terms of pure group might stacking potential, nor does it have the direct tankiness a warrior has. Instead, guard has a crap ton of damage mitigation with aegis, invulns, blinds and blocks which they can basically use whilst healing or alot of offensive burst healing depending on the build. They are potentially one of the tankiest classes in the game once you learn to capitalize on its active defences, not to mention you literally have a pseudo refresh button..

Guardian will not match the damage output of a Zerk warrior, but what they will do instead is improve the general performance of everyone around them whilst still dealing out very respectable damage. I can’t say for much for the current performance of guard in PvP, but at this point I’m very optimistic after the buff. In PVE though, you basically cannot go wrong playing a guard either. The virtues tree alone makes it more than worthwhile to have one in a group.

Symbols can increase your entire group output by 10%, sword can now generate a symbol with fury generation, hammer’s symbol got buffed and creates perma protection every third auto attack swing, you have access to shouts, group swiftness generation etc etc.

Warrior on the otherhand is much more straightforward in PVE. Drop your banners, know your rotations and beat the crap out of whatever is on the receiving end to upkeep 25 might stacks for the whole group.

Paulytnz.7619:

Besides achievements I guess not really. You have pretty much covered the skin aspect. And again the best rewards for achievements are skins anyway from those chests so that may not really appeal to you either.

I used to be like you and play games where grind was the major content. I played RS since 2001 on and off for a long time, if I was still playing there now I would no doubt have my 15 year cape if it’s even a thing yet. Played both FF 11 and 14 for a bit as well as many other mmos (perfectworld etc). However I don’t approach this game as I did those. I see this as more my game to play for “fun”. In fact I went to GW1 to escape grindy games and of course naturally came here when it was available.

Perhaps you are just looking for the grindy kind of game again? If so nothing wrong with that but it’s not really here unless you want all those skins, max achievement points or completely complete the game (beat all dungeons, mini dungeons, full explore, raids etc). Having said all that you could always find another game to play alongside this. What I mean is find a good grindy game and just come back here now and then when you need a break from the grind or when something new and fresh hits here.

As for myself I play this, a number of steam and app games so I really don’t get the old burn out from here like a lot of other people as I jump around a bit to keep everything fresh. That’s the great thing about this game. No subscription so you don’t feel like you have to be here every minute of your spare time, just play it as you feel like it.

Good luck with whatever you are looking for.

Thanks for replying.

As nice as this game is, my biggest complaint for it is basically that the good majority of the achievements here feel empty or pointless. Going. PvP is great, despite what people say in the other subsections, it’s by far the most balanced MMO out there in terms of versatility (even after HOT). The only other game in my mind that even comes close to this is Archeage, but archeage requires you to grind hundreds of hours for that new set of armor to even be remotely relevant in terms of competitiveness (or swipe your credit card for hundreds of dollars. p2w galore.)

BUT…

PvP without any kind of major set goal gets lifeless within a few weeks. In other games, open world pvp often had huge stakes attached to them, whilst WvW here is like 90% taking of empty fortresses where almost noone bothers to defend unless they were key ones.

I guess you’re right though, I’m probably just burnt out. Only thing I’m scared though is I’m going to run into yet another MMO which turns out to be a giant disappointment after weeks or months of commitment.

It’s safe to say, I’m gonna miss this game

I’m just going to begin by saying that I absolutely love this game and everything it has been for the past 2 years.

I am an avid MMO player who has tried my fair share of titles from games like runescape to Tera, Archeage, FF and Maplestory and can say without hesitation that GW2 has definitely done the best job in my opinion overall.

Thing is this though, after 2 years of basically playing the game I’m just wondering if there’s any form of personal incentive to work towards. In most MMO’s, it’s basically the endless struggle to stay on par competitively with gear grind, own land or dedicating toward server dominance with your guild. In this game, it seems to be all about cosmetics.

I’ve already made 2 legendaries and 5 sets of ascended gear for my characters and have no desire to grind out anymore world content, as the remaining unlocked skins don’t really interest me at all. Spvp is alright but I’m more of an open world player. WvW is great but lets face it, outside of Server placements, I don’t really see any incentive to play it in terms of accomplishment. The rewards are nice but redundant in most cases outside of the mistforged skins which again are cosmetics.

I just want to ask, is there anything else that I can work towards in this game? I’m really not interested in more skins

I personally run hydro+ fire for the extra aoe damage during crits. Leeching is way better if you like to roam solo imo but fire shines in larger fights.
I recently changed from leeching to fire due to the pop changes with the server merges and haven’t looked back.

Fire is also something which works rather well with PVE as I’m too lazy to make alternate GS

MFoy.3284:

Could someone from Anet please acknowledge that this is a known issue?

Do you have have “Right-Click to Attack/Interact” disabled?[/quote]

I have it disabled but even then when it was enabled in pre-HOT, this was never an issue.

Flying carpet glider skin, that actually sounds amazing. ANET PLS

I’m not sure if this is a common bug or glitch/ setting error as this never happened to me pre-HOT. Hell, I’m not even sure if I can call this a bug.

Currently in the middle of combat, whether it is a 1v1 duel, a zerg fight or just any kind of combat in general, I seem to randomly lose my lock on a specific target which causes me to waste a skill mid rotation or my character leaps/ charges who knows where. This often causes me to either lose a fight, allow a person to escape or just flat out kill me, especially around heights.

Now I deliberately turned off “autotarget when using skill” as it is inflexible at best in pvp situations.

Is there a fix to this or am I simply doing something wrong?

I genuinely feel sorry for guard in terms of pvp now, especially for those who like to roam in WvW with the recent nerfs to things like True shot. IMO, though they have lost their place in comp, they are still some of the nicest things to have in group pve and pugs as they improve everyone’s performance simply by having virtues.

I’d be a bit more annoyed about the traits however, as mrauls said you basically have a one viable build in most gamestyles, though I’d argue Core guard AH frontline can still be very effective in an organized wvw group even if it requires an entirely separate armor set. In fact with the buffs to shouts, I think frontline is probably the place where they shine for now which is unfortunate because dragonhunter itself is horrible for it.

Ah well, with the expansion of any MMO, these things happen v.v

Guess Dragonhunter is the way to go then, or go back to being a Teef. Thanks for answering

Hey everyone,

Recently returned from a half year hiatus and want to know the viability of this playstyle in PVE, WVW, sPVP and how it fares.

Gear is a mix of Valkyrie and Zerk
Sword focus/ GS