Guild Wars 2

GoZero.9708:

I think the Scepter alone is fine (though it does need work in how it functions, either more homing to the balls or faster travel time)

I’ve suggested the idea of having the balls travel faster, but giving the ability a slower animation or short cast-bar. This makes the skill more accurate, without actually increasing the rate of fire.

Thrumdi.9216:

Personally I don’t want a bow or rifle for the Guardian. It doesn’t fit the theme of magical spirit hero.

I see this again and again, but I still don’t get it.

The Demonic Spirit.3157:

Ynna.8769:

Spirit Weapons have quite some problems (such as not being able to take all the Spirit Weapon traits in the same build) to build around..

Why not ??
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUEQRApf7dlcgSBHCSGEgIFRWBWapYg9r6x+kX+wKoRA

I misremembered and should have checked. I apologize for the faulty information.

Vote for Rifles!

Viable ranged weapons have been asked for since the first beta weekend. So far, all we’ve got was a range increase on a couple of skills, but that didn’t do much to improve our situations.

Here’s how the debate is going to go (based on the discussion in the past).
1) Our ranged options are horrible and they severely hamper the profession.
2) Ranged weapons don’t fit the Guardian.

That’s about it.

Metaphysicist.9427:

Except the massive healing and utility, and other weapons.. but I mean, those don’t matter, right?

It’s obvious hyperbole (at least I hope), but weakening Whirling Wrath and Mighty Blow would be a big hit to the profession. If they’re only good as combo-enablers, the weapons become less viable.

Silver.8023:

I want to but it doesn’t seem likely does it?….

The thing is, we’ve gotten vague lines like: “We’re not happy with the Scepter,” and all that netted us was a (rather useless) range increase. So unless I see announcements for specific changes, I’m not putting any effort into anticipating them.

Silver.8023:

They also mentioned that they’ll be looking at fixing up the weaker weapons and traits across the board. I’m really hoping Guardian gets buffed up in that department.

I wouldn’t put too much hope in that.

I think the answer to this is both yes and no. Spirit Weapons have quite some problems (such as not being able to take all the Spirit Weapon traits in the same build) to build around. They work pretty well as long as they’re out and have a couple of traits to support them, but you’re losing a lot of power when your Spirit Weapons are on cooldown.

So, short answer: Spirit Weapons have potential, but they take a bit too much effort to get them there.

A bit of a silly question. I know people like to complain about our relative power, but Guardians are actually pretty good (although a bit pushed into a niche, maybe). Warriors are also pretty good.

I like Guardians better, though, but that’s regardless of the quality of the profession.

ComeAndSee.1356:

I’m an advocate that if you want to play your class to its full potential than you should carry around one of every weapon.

I somewhat agree, but I’d like to add that this tells nothing about how good a given weapon is. I carry a Staff for the rare occasions that I’d like to use it for support and for the Symbol of Swiftness, but this doesn’t mean the Staff is as good as the Hammer.

I’ve said this the last time there was talk of nerfing the Guardian: They cannot take anything (significant) from the Guardian, because they would become too weak. They also cannot compensate in another area, because that would probably make us too powerful.

Healing power scales pretty terribly with almost anything, so it generally isn’t worth taking. Also, you need to be careful to balance support with damage, since doing only support will be dragging your group back.

Caliban.3176:

@Heinel, I’m sorry but I have played with the Mace for a very long time but I would not describe it as versatile. It is very good for support and bunkering. It like the weapon a lot personally.

I’m going to leave this thread now, I think you should change how you think about the Staff. Please don’t make ANet change this great weapon.

Almost no weapon is really versatile, but some weapons are almost useless outside a couple of very specific situations. I have never regretted using a Mace (or even a Scepter, which is a lot more terrible than a Staff), even when I accidentally equipped it in a build that didn’t support it. The Mace is usable in a variety of situations. The Staff on the other hand, has a couple of situations where it is useful, or even extremely powerful, but outside those situations its only use is: Empower—>drop Symbol—> swap to a better weapon.

Caliban.3176:

Staff does not need fixing. It is a balanced weapon, you just want to remove everything about it that is limited.

Some people do, but others don’t. The Staff as a concept simply doesn’t work, even if the individual abilities work.

Garillo.1349:

Staff is incredibly viable and effective, and a very good weapon. Especially when stacked with Altruistic Healing with your 3 and 4, learning when and when not to detonate your 2, 5 target AoE for 1 and guardian wall.

This is where I think the discussion comes from. With Altruistic Healing, the Staff is very, very good. Without it, it’s less than mediocre.

Yeah, the important thing to remember is that Guardians lack burst damage, but do pretty good sustained damage.

The other thing to remember is that one of our damage-related trait-lines is rather horrible.

I like it, but from what I’ve read, it’s not that common.

Build-wise, you’re probably going to want to put 15 points in Radiance no matter what, after that, probably continue there or take Honor or Valor.

There isn’t much to the Sword/Shield playstyle. It’s a pretty straightforward affair, using your Sword as a gap-closer and main damage source. Use Shield of Judgment when things are going though or if you need some quick mid-range attack (and if you’re fighting with allies, try to capture them in the area). I use Shield of Absorption when I need a breather, knocking back enemies and than instantly detonating it for some extra healing.

Also, be sure to pick a secondary weapon-set that complements Sword/Shield, either filling holes or helping your overall strategy.

FoopOplo.7914:

Staff is fine. Played as a Guardian and only a Guardian nearly every day multiple hours a day since the game was released. Staff is my favorite weapon to date. Empower is a very strong skill. Being able to use it and move would be op. Arenanet hit the nail on the head with staff like many other things.

If anything I’d say staff is closer to overpowered than underpowered. Just because you personally don’t know how to use it, doesn’t make it weak.

I don’t think how much you played this profession matters. The Staff is an inferior weapon no matter how much experience you have with it. It’s not that it’s abilities are overly weak. Wave of Wrath is decent at doing mid-range AoE damage (but I’m rarely in situations where I’d actually want to do mid-range AoE damage), Orb of Light is pretty mediocre and has issues actually reaching the target. Symbol of Swiftness is fine, and I like a Symbol that I can target. Empower is okay at best, unless you use it with Altruistic Healing, in which case it goes towards the overpowered side, but not every Guardian who could benefit from a Staff uses Altruistic Healing. Line of Warding is awesome, but has a couple of effectiveness issues that all Wards have.

And I love how you say that the Staff is good when you use it properly, but never elaborate on how to use it properly.

Here’s how I’ve used it (effectively) so far:

• Paired with a Greatsword: Use Empower, switch to Greatsword and activate all my cooldowns: Does great damage, but if after that, you’re left auto-attacking
• Defending a keep
• Point-control Guardian with Altruistic Healing, but using a Hammer would have probably served me better
  [quote=1212490;Razor.9132:]QFT.

I have my hopes high for staff and scepter total overhauls or tweaks with additional viable weapon added to this amazing profession.[/quote]
Glad you liked my post I’ve been saying the same thing since Beta. For the Scepter (without wanting to derail too much) the fixes are easy. Make the #1 a projectile finisher (and if that’s too powerful a chain-attack with the last one a projectile finisher) or make the attack animation slower (with a short cast-bar) and the projectile speed higher. The #2 should become a Symbol. The #3 is fine.

Probably pick up Radiance, as said. But it’s really hard to make a bad build in this game, unless you use the Zeal-line.

The Staff has been a problematic weapon since Beta and it only ever gotten minor tweaks that didn’t address the main problems.

The first problem is that the Staff has no internal theme, like the other weapons have. Other weapons have a clear niche (Aoe-Damage, Control, Defense…) but the Staff’s abilities don’t work together, at all. It has AoE-damage, control, defensive support, offensive support and all those different abilities have no internal synergy whatsoever.

The second problem is that the niche the Staff is supposed to fill is rather useless most of the time. The Staff is a support weapon, but going heavily into support isn’t really that good (sometimes it is, but most of the time it isn’t).

How would I change things? I have no idea, really. Redevelop it from scratch, maybe? Keep what works and change or replace what doesn’t and make sure the weapon has some internal synergy (giving it a projectile finisher might work).
The problem with doing an overhaul is that some players will have gotten used at the skills of the Staff and build a strategy out of it, and those are going to be annoyed.

It never was a Symbol. But I really can’t think of a good reason why it’s not, apart from running out of “defensive” boons to use. Vigor is an option.

The only reason you could argue is that having Smite be affected by Symbol traits, but I don’t see how that would push Smite or the Scepter in the “too powerful” category.

Bobby.3721:

usually the ones i run into blind me, knock me down, or immobilize me somehow to where I can’t do anything.

Bring Stability.
With Thieves, if you can survive the initial damage, you can scare them off. Killing them is harder, because they’ve got a lot of escape mechanisms.

Valenberg.2450:

Ynna.8769:

What kind of content do you play?

I’m not sure about that. :/

Well, would you like info about sPvP, WvWvW or PvE? Because the answers to your questions will differ, depending on the type of content you play.

What kind of content do you play?

Zplus.4217:

Hi everyone, just some questions:

Do Purity and Signet of Resolve stack? If so how would it work? Remove 2 conditions every 10 seconds?

How do you deal with ranged classes i.e. Ranger?

They do stack, and they are on the same timer, so you’ll lose two conditions every ten seconds.

I have relatively little trouble with Ranged professions, but that is in sPvP, where they are coming to you if you stay on the point. But, generally, be sure to have gap-closers (Judge’s Intervention, Greatsword, Sword). You can force them to stay in melee range, at which point they’ll probably switch to melee themselves.

Servanin.5021:

Blind exposure – Inflicts one stack of vulnerability for 5 seconds when you blind. Think about that for a moment. Thats 1% damage for 5 seconds, on a 30 second cooldown that refreshes on kills.

If you take Sword and Greatsword, you get a lot more blinds.

You’ll never have the variety that Guild Wars 1 offered, simply by the way the game is designed. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

It’s also worth noting that it’s not just that Zeal has bad traits, it’s also that the other lines have pretty good traits.

NeedCoffee.1402:

Rune of the Soldier REMOVES one condition
Pure of Voice CONVERTS one condition to a boon.

I’d think to two have no synergy, and seem like a bad idea to put together.

They’re great together, since Pure of Voice has priority.

Shock The Monkey.8796:

Thanks for the advice. I know a shield is going to be the best way to stay alive but would your recommendation still compliment a Greatsword? I just really love swinging that thing around.

Shield of Focus. Both are fine and you’ll find people arguing between them. They both have their merit.
And as long as you don’t go out of your way to take traits like Powerful Blades or Right-Hand Strength, using a Greatsword won’t hinder any kind of build. That’s what I like about the traits (with Zeal as the exception). You can pretty much do what you want.

In my opinion, there is hardly any reason to go into Zeal past 10 points, unless you’re going for a Spirit Weapon build. The stats the trait-lines give you are just bonuses and won’t make a very big impact, all things considering. I only look at the traits it gives me (but my focus is on PvP, where stats are lower overall).

As for the burning duration (that’s our only condition), I don’t think traiting for burning is worth it very much. Burning only stacks in duration, and I see it more as additional damage, rather than the focus of builds. This could be different in PvE, where mobs don’t really remove their conditions.

The biggest problem is that you’re in Zeal. Which is the worst trait-line imaginable.

If you want to quickly kill things, try putting points in Radiance and Valor and focus on crit-chance and crit-damage. Going in Valor will automatically increase your survivability, but if that proves insufficient, consider switch to the Focus (or Shield) as off-hand.

redknight.8036:

If you really think engaging a Guardian equipped with a Rifle, dropping a Wall of Reflection, using “Save Yourselves!” and “Stand your Ground!”, clad in Heavy Armor is balanced, then more power to you.

No-one is saying Rifle. Not anymore. People would be grateful for a Scepter that’s actually reliable. (And, I’ve suggested Rifle-skills that I don’t think would overly powerful in the past, but let’s not go there.)

And balance isn’t my concern. If Guardians would be really overpowered at range, revert the range changes they did in Beta. Don’t give us a semi-viable range option.

The argument isn’t: “I want to be overpowered, so give me an epic Rifle.” What people are saying is: “Sometimes (or often) I find myself at range. The options given to me aren’t good enough to be viable at range. I want to be able to do stuff while I’m at range.”

thisolderhead.5127:

Broken (not working as intended) aside, this entire topic still just results in revealing a lot of players – including some bright and skilled ones – coming across as completely clueless. Notable favorite:
“Every profession should be at least viable at every role when specced into that specific role.” Oh – that’s adorable… so every profession (excepting perhaps Warrior) is missing at least one or two builds – so slippery slope extrapolation and the whole game is broken because you don’t have a gun.

Disregarding the mild insults, it’s not about guns. I think no-one is seriously suggesting we need a Rifle. It’s not about guns, it’s about the ranged options we have being lackluster.
And yes, if any profession cannot fulfill a specific role, I find that a fault in the game. I’m only playing Guardian at the moment, but if I decide to level my Necromancer, and discover that is has no viable way to (for example) support or control, I would be on that sub-forum complaining about it.

thisolderhead.5127:

Flavour/lore wise I have a thought for the “look and feel” types – how many people out there can shoot fire out of their face, burst into flames at will, and then blink into groups of enemies (having them catch fire and die burning) would come to the conclusion that being far away, using a little toy shooter, is their tactical preference… not kittening many.

It’s not just tactical preference (as I said, I don’t mind being melee all that much), it’s about having the option and the fact that in some situations, you are at a severe disadvantage in close range.
You can’t just list one cool thing we can do, and use that as proof nothing else is wrong.

Kashien.6278:

You have much better abilities at your disposal that can help your team.

It’s not because an ability is horrible, that it shouldn’t work properly. Of course it would be better to get a new ability on Signet of Mercy, but it should work.

Kashien.6278:

As they should. Guardians are not, and should not be ranged combatants. All of our abilities, all of our specs, focus on close to mid ranged protection/buffs. We have very few offensive 1200 range abilities.

To add more, to make us more “versatile” ranged combatant will destroy the very foundation of being a guardian. We can protect our allies from ranged attacks, can we not? Then that is all that matters. Retribution from a range is not our forte. Getting up close and personal, that, is what we do. We protect and shield our allies, we are not long range combatants. Nor should we be.

Why shouldn’t Guardians be capable of ranged (I’ll come to your second paragraph later)? The reason all our build are centered around melee, is because our ranged capabilities downright suck. I think you’re mistaking about cause and effect. Given decent ranged options, we would be able to make a whole range of new build-options, instead of defaulting to tank-y builds. I’ll also add that if we weren’t supposed to be ranged they wouldn’t have upped the range on the Staff and the Scepter during beta.

I’m willing to accept that Guardians should defend, but they shouldn’t be completely limited by that definition. No professions can be defined on how they act around allies.
Protecting our allies from ranged is not enough.
And I don’t think anyone is asking to make Guardian default to ranged. We just want our ranged options to be viable and not suck.
Lastly, if you truly believe that carrying a ranged weapon prevents you from protecting allies, you probably haven’t thought about it very much. It’s not hard to imagine ranged options that also fit our profession.

I hardly use it, but it is a bit odd. It doesn’t seem to revive people outside of the downed state (so dead).

Kashien.6278:

I didn’t say you NEED to have one, I just said that its NICE to have one.

Apologies. I read that differently.
I’m not going to edit my previous post, so everyone knows how stupid I’ve been.

Kashien.6278:

For those of you that say healing power is a worthless stat, and not worth investing into. Unless you like your party to go down a lot, its nice to have a “dedicated support” in the party, and there is no denying this fact. A guardian is the perfect dedicated support, we can offer you stacks upon stacks of might, massive amounts of protection/regeneration, and a lot of healing as well via healing breeze(if you can aim it right) and virtue of resolve, Staff#4, Mace #2, and the third chain on mace #1.

Check it out, its in my signature.

(Not just responding to you)
Two things:
1) It’s not that healing power is bad, it’s that it’s worse than everything else, especially when it comes to scaling. This is even more true in sPvP, where you can’t create a build that’s most powerful when two or more allies are nearby. It reminds me of a often-had debate by Holy Priests in WoW. It wasn’t that extra critical chance was a bad stat, it was that every other stat did more for the spec. I feel healing power for Guardians is similar.
2) I don’t do dungeons myself, but I find it disturbing that you’d need a dedicated support-player. As much as I like the idea, it seems to go against what Arenanet wanted with the game.

Not this topic again. Everything about it has already been said before. Multiple times.

I’ve been advocating for better ranged capabilities on the Guardian since Beta.
I know a lot of people think that would make us overpowered, but I’m hardly convinced by that. First of all, that’s a problem the developers need to handle, not the players and secondly, it’s not that hard to imagine ranged options that don’t incredibly increase the Guardian’s power.

I don’t think asking for a new weapon is necessarily the best option. Tweaking the weapons we already have would be perfectly fine (Although I still dream of a Guardian with a Rifle, shooting blue flames). I’ve suggested tweaks for the Scepter multiple times already, so I won’t do it again.
The Staff is a harder nut to crack, since the skills on the weapon aren’t really bad, but the weapon has no theme or character.

Healing power is notoriously bad (outside of your personal heal) and investing in it is hardly worth it.

Kriv.4052:

Off-topic, but how do you apply that lower level Greatsword skin?

With a transmutation stone, I would assume.

Storm.3952:

Does the Lyssa 4 piece work with our virtue? I’ve tried it a few times and it’s patchy at best. Is this a bug or does it not count as a healing spell?

Bonuses that trigger on your healing spell, only work with the skill you put in the heal slot (default #6).

It always works perfectly with me. In what area are you using it? I had issues with it in the past, but only in PvE content.

IV Endu.8920:

If there are multiple combo fields stacked upon eachother, which combo field will proc with a finisher?

I find that sometimes I’m not getting the combo effect I want and it’s probably because of stacking fields upon eachother :x This info would be really useful to know!

Whichever was put down most recently, apparently.

Asmodal.6489:

Is that an assumption or did you recall that this questions was answered before?

It’s an assumption, but I think it makes the most sense.

I think it’s an internal cooldown, specific to your character.

When I talk archetype, I think more about the feel and the look, and the end-result, not the nitty-gritty, like how magic is used, specifically.

I don’t feel like having a long-winded debate about this, so I’ll summarize my opinion.
A “Paladin”, to me, has 4 or more of the following:

• Dedicated to good
• Dedicated to justice
• Uses “light” or “good” magic
• Preference for melee combat
• Helps the weak
• Belief in a higher power
• Self-sacrifice

Furthermore, the Paladins I’ve played or encountered (which, admittedly isn’t that many) did channel a higher force through their weapons.

I think you made a mistake in the order of operations.
What you did is (69+0.01)Healing Power, while you should have done 69+(0.01Healing Power).
Multiplication comes before addition.

Kreslin.6832:

Guardian is not Paladin. He can remind you Paladin, but he is not.

Paladin is a melee warrior, who use some holy magic. But when he has a warrior skills, such a melee weapon, and magic skills, such as holy spells. But this two are separate.

Guardian is a warrior and a magician at the same time. Magic and melee combat are tied together. They are not separate. When you use melee weapon, you have and warrior’s and magician’s parts at the same time in the combat.

If we’re purely talking archetype, the Guardian is very much a Paladin. You just narrowed down the requirements for “Paladin” in a way I’m not sure everyone will agree with.

I tried it in PvP with around 40% crit chance, and had near constant up-time.

I feel that limiting AoE boons t 5 players is a good idea. It prevents certain professions/builds from becoming too powerful with larger groups and also makes sure that the power of certain/professions doesn’t vary too much depending on group size.

That being said, I do think that boons should be granted according to a hierarchy. First the player, then group members, then players, then pets, then NPCs…