Guild Wars 2

Aggro is decided (mostly) by damage and proximity. Guardians generally stay close and do good amounts of damage. Other factors that may decide aggro are also present in the Guardian, like granting boons or providing healing.

I use my Hammer in a really defensive build.
It’s generally 5 in Radiance, 30 in Honor and the rest of the points in Valor and whatever remains is put in Virtues.

Currently I’m using a more Meditation-oriented build. The Hammer fits in a lot of builds, and it’s a great PvP weapon.

Depends on the weapon and the situation, really.
In sPvP, I love the Hammer, but when I do solo PvE, it’s rather boring, because I don’t need all the tools it provides.
Sword is pretty fun all-around, and so are our off-hands.
Mace is a bit too passive for me, but I still find it pretty fun in groups.
Scepter is boring, but everyone already knows that.
Staff is weird and inconsistent, but not actually boring.
Greatsword is in a weird spot.

@Drgori: That is the most common response to Svarti.

Guardians do have a bit of a problem in WvWvW:
Either we focus heavily on support. This way we make a big difference, but get no reward.
If we want to focus on ranged damage, our playstyle is extremely boring.
High Damage builds are pretty risky and harder to successfully pull of.

Ah, yes, that makes a lot more sense. Silly me.
That skills doesn’t do damage like Symbols do. It has little fists or something flying in the area, but they don’t all hit anyone in the area.

I know there are people who have successfully used the Greatsword in WvWvW, but that playstyle seems a bit too risky to my liking.
But you can play melee in WvWvW. It’s harder and it takes a different mindset. If you can get a couple (5 or more) friends together, you can do some guerrilla-tactics on the enemy’s supply lines, which melee does really well. In zergs, you need to be careful and pick your moments. Try to flank and kill the weaker enemies and prepare to run away when needed.

I’ve only did the Shadow Behemoth in terms of really big bosses, and I found I was running around too much to really do much damage. I apparently did enough, because I got Gold, but I spend a lot of time supporting (not that I really mind that).

I use Virtue of Justice (F1) all the time. Every time it comes of cooldown, really. In most of my builds it gives me and my allies Might and blinds an enemy.
Virtue of Resolve (F2) is something I hardly use at all, because the healing over time will be more than the activated heal. I did recently pick the trait where it removes conditions, so I might be using it a bit more. Otherwise, I only pop it right before I use Renewed Focus.
Virtue of Courage (F3) is something I only use if there’s a really big hit incoming that I won’t be able to dodge. In larger groups, I use it every time a big hit is incoming, but the cooldown is a bit too long to justify using it often.

You mean “Smite Conditions”? Because the damage on that is variable depending on it removing a condition.

And the forum has this bug where you can’t quote or edit. Just close your page and then return to it, or repeat until you can.

Tomkatt.1684:

Hammer 4 is awesome, but I wish it was either instant or had better targeting, it misses way too often for me.

This doesn’t work for every build, but pair it with Judge’s Intervention.

Lumines.3916:

I really like retaliation, it’s a huge reason why bunker guardians are such a threat.

I actually think that’s part of the problem. Bunker-builds (of any profession) shouldn’t have much in terms of offensive power. They should be able to stay alive long, keep enemies of the point and very slowly whittle their health down by superior play.
Retaliation destroys that concept, because it gives a lot of offensive power to a defensive build.

I don’t really make much use of the boon, either in PvP or PvE. At best it’s a side effect for me.
But I do have certain issues with the design. First of all, it scales of power, which makes no sense. It should just reflect the damage that you receive. It’s also hard to see which boons players have on them, so Retaliation should get a very clear visual, so other players know when no to attack.

I agree with Arenanet that Retaliation should be an active mechanic. Something you pop if you see a “100 Blades” coming. But in order for that to work, they’re going to have to redesign pretty much every skill that grants it.

Excellent thread, Eveningstar.
The Scepter getting a Symbol is something I’m a strong advocate of, so I can only endorse it further.
The problems you highlight are indeed the issues I have with Zeal, making this post a bit unnecessary, since it gives me little to add.

Yes, it’s an issue. We have discussed this many times already, and there are plenty of threads on the subject.

Khenzy.9348:

Aside from that, yes, we are pretty strong, besides the gimmicky bunker build, I wouldn’t consider us OP (which I sort of think is the intention behind this thread).

This comes a bit from the way sPvP is organized. If you had other types of maps, bunker builds would be less viable. But that’s for a different thread.

Guardians are great. We just have a vocal population (minority?) who doesn’t think that.
But we do have quite some issues. Most of them don’t have anything to do with our powerlevel. And the things Guardians can do in sPvP are more or less limited to bunker builds, which not everyone finds fun.
Our issues:

• Playstyle is a bit reactionary and has a bit too much auto-attacking (this has gotten a bit worse with the Greatsword change)
• Our damage options are limited and our main-damage trait-line is terrible
• Our ranged options are terrible
• Despite having a strong focus on support, support isn’t properly, well, supported in the game (This is a global issue, but the Guardian was announced as the support profession.)

Also, if people are really curious on how to beat Guardians, they should come here and make a post about it. I certainly wouldn’t mind explaining on how to kill Guardians (first tip: condition damage)

Yeah, sorry. I missed the last “or”.

Banewrath.5107:

If they ever sped up the scepters projectiles, expect another damage reduction to the weapon. They already reduced it`s damage by roughly 1/3 then what it was since headstart. They did increase it`s range a little too. But for faster projectiles the attack speed and or damage would get slowed or reduced quite a bit.

Not necessarily. Damage is just one (of many) ways to balance skills. Increasing the speed, but slowing down the cast-animation (or even giving it a short cast-time), would also work.

@Tarsius: When I tested it, I only had the first two minor traits and Elite Focus, with no other traits.
It looks like a bug.
Goomba, did your Asura have some kind of movement animation, or did it just slide across the ground?

ImariKurumi.5761:

Strongly support making #2 a symbol. I don’t care about #1, just gimme the kitten symbol for #2 LOL…

Making #2 a Symbol would be great, but Smite isn’t really the functional problem of the Scepter. Changing #1 seems higher priority to me.

I tested it on a Human. Maybe that’s relevant.

Not bad. Somewhat similar to the idea I posted in pretty much every post about the Scepter.
Number 2 should definitely be a Symbol. The first skill could be improved simply by giving it a cast-time and speeding up the projectile. My personal favorite suggestion is doing that but making it a chain that ends in a projectile finisher.

Eveningstar.6940:

1. Does Elite Focus actually lengthen the duration of Renewed Focus Invulnerability?
2. Does Elite Focus allow you to _ immediately_ begin moving while casting Renewed Focus, or after the first three seconds?
3. Have you tried it without Elite Focus?

I’ll try it when I get home.

I’m going to test it right now.
But I can answer the first question. It increases the cast time of Renewed Focus, and thus the Invulnerability.

Edit: Tried it. Without Elite Focus the skill works as described, so you can’t move. With the trait, you can move your character, but it has no animation outside of the cast-animation. You just glide across the ground. So it certainly looks like bug.

@Goit: The extra crit doesn’t show up on the hero panel, but it does work.

I’ve finally got around actually playing with the weapon, and it lost a lot of the fun-factor, without actually losing too much power. It’s bit boring now indeed, with waiting for cooldowns more. I’ve even considered putting the first attack on auto-cast.

There are roles in the game. They’re not very well defined and every profession should be able to perform in every role, but there are roles.

I tested out a crit build in sPvP (I should really start writing down my builds) because I didn’t want to go into Zeal, and it worked pretty good.

@Ayron: I haven’t tried that strategy out myself, but it seems way to risky in the most common WvWvW-situation.

The changes of that patch didn’t stop the Guardian from being good.

Generally speaking, the player is counted as an ally. I do believe there are some exceptions.

It has a clear visual, so it’s not that hard to notice it and stop shooting at it. I really don’t understand people who keep shooting at me with the Wall up.

The Scepter isn’t bad, but it is boring and should be more effective given that it’s our only real ranged option.

@Enerjak: Please do list them. The only major changes I remember in Beta were a change in our healthpool (we got less health) and a change in the range of some skills (that didn’t really help the issue we had).

And I’m really sorry your pet profession has issues. I genuinely mean that. Really. But this is not the place to discuss that. Just because Necromancers have it worse, doesn’t mean we can’t debate the issues troubling our favorite profession.

Obtena.7952:

I guess some of my suggestions make it clear that I haven’t. No honestly, I haven’t used hammer in PVP environment. I wouldn’t mind hearing how it performs compared to PVE. I can imagine with the large damage and CC capability to immobilize, interrupt and grapple with some, it’s a decent option.

It’s almost invaluable for a point defense build. I know I couldn’t play my build properly without it.

1. is a bit slow, but good damage and an important Symbol.
2. is good damage and combos nicely with said Symbol, as well as other fields.
3. can be used to keep a distance (which is good when someone is attacking the point your defending) or to catch up to someone.
4. knocks someone of the point, which is useful for both defending and assaulting a point. I’ve captured and neutralized points with the defender still alive because of it.
5. is a great control option that can be used creatively.

Sarcasm?
It’s hard to tell in text?

I don’t think 100 blades is overpowered. The cooldown might be a tad low, but it’s easily dodgeable. It’s only really powerful in combination with at least two other skills, and even then it’s evadable with a simple stun-breaker.

“Wait, wouldn’t that be a 50% chance of Arenanet not caring then?”
Without going into actual percentages, there’s more probability for Arenanet caring, since most people would like their work to be as good as it can.
But yeah, in a vacuum, you’d be correct.

Would having Leap+Light Field giving a different boon help the issue as well?
Retaliation reflecting the damage done, would be more intuitive than it works currently. Also, give Retaliation a clear visual indicator, so good players don’t just use their OMG-DIE ability while it’s up.

Have you used a Hammer in any kind of PvP content?

I’m sure glad we now know all the issues with Necromancers as well.
@Enerjak: Could you make such a comprehensive list of the Guardian’s beta buffs? Also, beta is for figuring out how a profession should be. You can’t truly speaks of buffs and nerfs in it.

@kidbs: I see the losses. They’re there. I don’t like the way they handled it either, especially since they seem to be thinking about redesigning Retaliation anyway. But the loss is not that big. The sky isn’t burning. Guardians are still allright. I’ve seen bigger nerfs (in other games) with more level-headed reactions from the community.

The things we’re too good at are way easier to fix than our shortcomings.
If nerfs like this make you infuriated, I wonder what actually serious nerfs do for your temper.

If you suddenly suck with a Guardian after these changes, it’s not the profession’s fault. We are indeed weakened through the changes, but they didn’t make us unplayable.

Hopeless.8195:

Why not make Symbol of Wrath give might instead, Greatsword being an ‘offensive’ weapon.

All Symbols give “defensive” boons. I guess they want that uniformity to remain.

Most of the issues you mention are bugs, thus non-intended.
And changing skills takes longer than just adjusting durations and cooldowns.
And 80% is a number you just made up. Just like Arenanet not caring. They might care, they might not. There’s no evidence pointing in either direction.

@Leelain: You arguments on this subject mostly boils down to: "I can’t support in the way I want to, therefor Arenanet hates support, which is ridiculous.
Support is so much more than healing.
I, however, must admit that I perceive support as weaker than control or damage as well.

It’s unlikely that Retaliation is being nerfed (or changed in the future) because of people whining. People whining may have brought the issue to Arenanet’s attention, but it’s clear that they’re unhappy with the way Retaliation works and gives people (Guardians) ways of dealing damage while focusing completely on defense.

@Zeph: RIFLES! And the Scepter seems to be construed as the ranged DPS weapon. Giving us really strong ranged DPS options would create some balance issues, since we have a good deal of ways of dealing with ranged. Wall of Reflection with any kind of Bow/Rifle would be pretty strong. What I’m trying to say is: it’s hard to implement.

If we got a new ranged weapon, it would probably be easier to balance to make it about support, with some damage elements in it.

(I can’t quote…)
Keep in mind that light fields have more ways of giving Retaliation than just being there. That’s probably why they increased the cooldown.

Oh, very dramatic. Especially the comment about Blizzard.
If you’re dying in dungeons, it’s likely your own fault. Also, the nerfs don’t affect PvE that much. The most annoying thing is probably the muscle memory.