Guild Wars 2

but.. but.. i love my symbols!

wouldn’t mind seeing them in the same line, but if they kept everything as is and combined, that one line would be too good.

like many have said, i think at least two gear sets would be optimal. solely because the approach to PvE and WvW are so different. but of course, you can make anything work. a simple trait change would fix that, but then one could argue you’re not giving yoruself the very best. : ))

if you want to play GS and mace/shield, i’d lean towards a symbol DPS build as well. i actually play mine with meditations and Monk’s Focus. GS and mace/focus, though i can see mace/shield working as well.

traits are x/x/30/20+/x

and from personal experience, if i am roaming solo or in small fights vs <5, i feel GS does excel. while in 5+ fights hammer does very very well. then in zerg fights staff reigns supreme lol. and all can utilize symbols. though GS works in all situations as well if you want tos tick with that. if you’re able to drop two symbols and keep them in there, watch the numbers tick. and just for reference, you can pull off around two symbol of faiths (mace) for symbol of wrath (GS) to be back up again.

make sure to use your shield to push people off cliffs, bridges, high ledges, etc

though argubly, shield doesn’t have AS large a place in PvE (best use i’ve found was in projectile heavy dungeons) but even then, you can use utilities to better help out and still have other weapon skills. : )) just my views.

whelp. this’ll be fun to read. ; ))

Talindra.4958:

:( yes.
can we purchase it to be permenant in our personal instance? my little one has been asking about it!

DO IT FOR TEH LITTLE ONE, ANET!

Are we still doing this? i like filling things out.

[X] Married
[ ] Have Girlfriend
[X] Employed
[X] Have Pets – one crazy cat!
[X] Have Children – one crazy (cute) son!
[X] Are an Adult (i’d like to think so.. or do i? XDDD)
[X] Have a Life (both IRL and in Tyria!!!)
[ ] Have no Manual Dexterity

You Think Living World is too:

[ ] Hard
[X] Time Consuming – namely my completionist speaking out
[X] Temporary
[ ] Full of Jumping Puzzles

You are Currently Threatening to:

[ ] Quit
[ ] Uninstall
[ ] Kick Colins’ Dog
[ ] Tell the Internet That You are Upset
[X] The only time I ever threatened was to open some secret cave with trapped trolls

I’m not gonna call quits, cause i do still massively enjoy the game. but with each LS release, i’m either trying to get all the achievements done and forget to “play” the game. i think there’s a fine line between “playing” the game normall and getting achievements and “playing” the game FOR achievements. one is enjoyment oriented, the other is goal oriented. not saying having goals isn’t fun.. it’s just everything seems rushed – the release, the testing, then having to fix potential bugs, then it being taken away, while i rush to finish content before it’s taken away, then having to prep for incmonig content… rinse and repeat rinse and repeat…

in the end, it’s me. i am a completionist (though i’ve already started to let certain achievements go as long as i got the meta. but that makes me sadpandabear), and i like to get to experience everything fully.. which with the 2 week release, doesn’t allow me to do at times i feel. though one thing for sure, it’s getting me logging on as much as i can. so it’s just about that balance. and how much of your playerbase enjoy the 2 week releases. and how many that don’t.

ExCode.6370:

I’m still going to be out there tonight, pushing just as hard as always and having a great time doing so. See you all out on the field!

more of this please. : ))

Bash.7291:

Even after the whole transfer issue last week, I actually miss playing against JQ… At least we could find some decent small guild fights. This week has been nothing but running from blobs -.-

why are we never on the field at the same time. we only anti-blob! ; ))

Handin.4032:

Dolyak parade will be tomorrow at 7 PM ST!

will there be an SEA one, like last week? pls pls pls pretty pls??D

thanks for this, SS!

haven’t tried yet.. but most likely will try to find friends to go through this with. used to pugging dungeons but this one seems it’ll need more than.. usual. plus, don’t have the time (or partience? lol) to stroll through dungeons anymore hours on end. XDD

@Wukunlin – well, Wu, when people don’t listen you can.. you can… hmm. o_____O

just dropping by to say hello!
hope all’s well. looking forward to the balance patch and your updates.

i was messing in WvW yesterday after having not “PvP”-ed for a while. and conditiosn realyl are all over the place. within seconds of engagement, i’d have a bar full of condis. and the reapplication is too easy for condi builds it seems. i’m just wondering are there any classes/builds out there that can readily or even easily counter / deal with focus fire condi bombs?

i guess my view point is, sure, maybe the Guardian doesn’t fit as well in the meta now. but i don’t think it’s the class at fault necessarily. if anything, only relative to the meta. i’ve said this before.. i’d rather the meta change and tone conditions down a bit, than change the Guardian to match the meta.. i donno how these thigns are supposed to work, but that’s how i feel for what it’s worth.

i love the class, the mechanics and i ams till polishing my skills. i still have a ton of fun with the class as well. i don’t think we’re in THAT bad of a place. that being said, i will continually welcome positive changes and improvements to the class and the game obviously.

can always work out to group mobs, then stack tight : )) and with the (not so) recent (anymore) buff to symbol sizes, i usually don’t take larger symbols anymore (least not for PvE).

18k seems a lot of health in PvE. personal take. i think that’s too much even for WvW XDD depending on your build and your purposes. why not more zerker accessories?

if you do switch it up, i am tempted to drop 10 from Radiance and put that in Virtues. though you lose 10% from Radiant Power, and only another 5 pts away from Power of the Virtuous or what’s its name… you can pick up absolute resolution which is pretty useful. and you can switch to other useful traits depending on your encounters.

just some thoughts. 15 in Zeal and longer lasting symbols with hammer is pretty devastating. : ))

torch and shield i both love, but to me, they are definitely more PvP/WvW weapons. hard to not go focus if you’re going 1h-ed in dungeons.

quick question on rotations then. if i am sporting GS and sword/focus, and assuming vuln on blinds traited, is there an ideal time to reapply vulns throughout the fight with weapon skills? or just whenever they’re up? without interrupting either AA chain, that is..

had a day off yesterday and got to small group roam a bit in EB with [CDS]D
how i’ve missed WvW-ing with the guildies (i blame you, SAB TM and your shinies!).

fun fights all around.

/wave and /salute to the BG Charr who had a dance-off with me at north entrance of Danelon (iirc? not that familiar with EB. more of a BL kinda guy). i needa brush up on ma skills. ; ))

also, quick hello to [RICH]!

if you’re going to be pugging these mostly, i’d say SE P3 and HotW P1 (straight forward, but all bosses in HotW are HP sponges ://) would be safest bets. though, for that reason, won’t be the quickest, but they aren’t TOO long by any means. i feel HotW P2, 3 take too long.

if you can find a group and can reliably do SE P1, it’s probs the most “efficient”.

HellsPriest.6745:

We do NOT require voice comms, but it definitely helps if you are on with us

akamon – You are in too many guilds, you will have to leave one if you want to join us PM me and I’ll get you in.

o snap, you’re right!! :OO my bad. lol
i’ll PM you when i get back on next. haha sorry about that ; ))

it’s been a while since i played in WvW (i blame you SAB and TM!!). had a LOT of fun in EB today

went triple meds as well. and slotted Stand Your Ground, then i was like nahhh. gonna go with triple meds this time heh. though, it did cost me a guaranteed stomp when i got pulled away. : (( lol can’t have it all.

and yes, @Craig, i love playing with focused mind as well. many will say there are many other traits far better, but if your focus is on meds, i’d say it can be huge. (looking forward to the focused mind change come mid oct though!!)

it’s been stated that w3 would be RED. and w4 PURPLE. : )))
kind of like the status colors of gear – blue —> green —> yellow —> red (pink) —> purple!

glad you got it done in the end. : )) i too wish i started w2 earlier as well, but i spent most of my time in t1 as well. heh.

why didn’t i see this earlierrrrrrr lol. i’ve heard of the log bug, but i didn’t experience until last night. end of w2z2, TM, right before the boss, i get stuck ://

and sadly, cau se it’s not in the ground, the shovel didn’t work. no bunnies to spawn. : ((( all i could do, at least at that moment, was to return to hub. didn’t know what else i could do.

UNLESS, if this is part of TM. and is just another “trap”. sigh. if so, well played. well played.

@Jeff – haha i saw that on reddit! extreme props to you!D

i have almost a full set of Kign Toad weps for my Warrior (missing rifle and one axe, but since i rarely run rifle or dual axe, i’m not as inclined to do so… haha). also a set of GS, mace/focus for my PvP guard.

have only one storm wiz GS, but also want a focus and sword fo rmy Guard! was working on w2z2 last night, aaaaaaaaaaand, of ocurse, i was beign an idiot and hit the stuck in a log bug. got frustrated. and logged. hopefully i’ll have time to finish before patch hits. :////

[added: quick question for those who have full sets of w2 TM skins. did you gusy do nothign else but play SAB TM? or were you able to keep doing your dailies, WvW, dungeons, etc etc? lol cause i feel like that’d be the only way i’d be able to do what you guys did, grind SAB TM and no more haha]

yea it doesn’t happen too often for me, but probably because i haven’t been playing GS + hamemr for a while now. i feel like it happens especially with WW on the GS, right after you weapon swap. not sure why.

i’ve seen mighty blow bug out before too and i jump twice. pretty sure damage isn’t registered twice though.

if you do take it on your guard, depends which weapon you find most useful. GS i think has its place in fractals. but if you dno’t use it that much, then maybe not. ://

i myself am planning to go for GS and focus (as i have legendary hammer and sword – if not these would be chocies as well) for starters. pbviously scepter and staff are useful, but i wouldn’t get ascedned for them, yet. at least not in a hurry to..

and re: the skin, you could always skin it first, and then use the splitter later on if you decide against it.

i haven’t done high level fractals yet so i can’t comment there. though i tend to stay away from cleric’s in PvE content.

in WvW though, it’s definitely more than viable, depending on what you want to achieve and how you go about it. high healing can be extremely strong.

it’s to set when they patch, but like Gabirel said, should be around then.

so you should be able to get it. just make sure you do your dailies ASAP.

heyo, Hong Kong here : ))
would love an invite as well.

just wodnering, in case i missed it, do you guys use or require any sort of voice comms?
i’ve done the fight a few times before but missing some achievements and wouldn’t midn trying out different roles in the fight. : ))

i kinda like that it’s like hydromancy. that sigil can be really strong at times. perma chill can be pretty annoying. though at the same time, a lot of people nowadays are running -condi duration or mass cleansing.

but we’ll see the details in how it works. waiting on ICD info.

DeathPanel.8362:

That’s your opinion. I’ve never stated that I am better than anyone.

I’ve only argued the advantages of certain builds over others. Just because my tone rubs you the wrong way doesn’t suddenly mean I have some sort of God complex. I let facts speak for themselves.

You’re free to extract yourself from this thread if you don’t like the discussion.

again, you’ve only managed to reply to this. and not any of the other valid points i’ve made, that i believe are contributing to the discussion. don’t get me wrong, i see that you have experience, and in the beginning, we were sharing opinions and “facts” about our experiences with the Guardian and builds. then you started to tell people off. i will extract myself from the thread after this, not because i’m not enjoying the discussion, only because of the way you present yourself to others here.

if you do take a look at how you treat others, you’ll see it’s more than just “my opinion”. for example, you telling people’s opinions are wrong. or that your builds are better than others. though you may not have EXPLICITLY stated it, you are sitting on a high horse. it doesn’t hurt to give a little respect to others, even when you don’t get it first. what do you have to lose? i’ll admit, your tone is more than rubbing me the wrong way, and i’ve merely expressed my opinion. that i own up to. yes, it is my opinion, which does not make it any less valid than yours.

with that though, i apologize, OP, for this. i hope that you’ve found good use of most, if not all, of the information in here.

:/// whelp. some people.

thanks for the reply, guys. i’ll give the different builds a shot.
all depends on the group i’m in thuogh, at the end of the teh day.

Bloodgruve.6038:

PS crits for 5k to 5.5k

Crap, that one stack of might just invalidated my claim I bet.

pretty nice. depending on squishies/GC’s, i’ve seen up to 7 – 8k in WvW as well. it’s glorious.

Dear DeathPanel,

first of all, i’m not trying to see whose build is better. not eveythign revolves around yuo and how you think you’re superior than everyone else in here – your tone really reeks of that, regardless of if that’s what you’re thinking or not.

i was discussing based on the fact these are in group situations. and i believe that 30 in Honor gives me more group utility than full valor does, apart from strength in numbers which i will always take now. if i am running solo, i most definitely run MF and 10/30/30/0/0 and i have run that build for a long time now. and YES. i am extremely excited for the upcoming patch so we get a reliable access of fury. but now tell me, do you run MF when you’re in a dungeon? so you can cleanse for yourself and not for the whole group when you can choose to? probably not. i don’t doubt your understanding of the game at all, Death. [added: again, cause you seem to keep missing it, yes valor gives crit damage, and toughness – but what if the toughness isn’t needed? i’m abig fan of both lines, but depending on the situation, i will take the traits that i see to help us most. and often in a dungeon, i don’t feel i need AH or going full 30 in valor. you can talk about the potential DPS loss from not taking the 30% crit damage from valor, but there are, believe it or not, options in Honor, depending on your build and group composition that can add DPS too.]

and when did i ever say i hate AH or won’t play it? i’ve repeated on multiple occasions, i love AH and when needed or i feel the best, i will most definitely take it. again, your tunnel vision and selective reading at its best. i never said i don’t run MF or AH. in fact, i frigging love MF. i don’t claim to have any personal builds either. i switch builds for different content. to keep things interesting. to challenge and have fun. i don’t play so i can be king of the spread sheets. i was just using 10/30/0/30/0 as an example. again, it’s not a competition to see who’s better. i don’t see how hard it is to udnersatnd that there is no one build that trumps all in any and every given situation – player preference, skill, gameplay all taken into account.

i just ask that you stop putting people down personally. try to recognize that behind every user name here, there is an actual human being.

Fuzzion.2504:

Thats new york right? EIther way? can we have a TC SEA dolyak parade. I dont think next week we will be matched again

A SEA timezone TC RP DolyYAK Party …. Just imagine, 70 JQ Dolyaks , 80 BG dolyaks and 50 TC Dolyaks all in one big picture before the league.

Fuzz, everytime i’ve had the honor of being in a match up with TC, i’ve always wanted an SEA Dolyak parade. make it happennnn!!!!!11

^^^ yea, definitely don’t ever leave party, or have anyone leave party if you’ve already entered SAB.

@OP – if you’re going for achievements, etc, solo is easier to clear. however, if it’s just for pure fun and exploration and laughing at one another’s demise, then full party can always be a good time in SAB. : ))

The Brazil has spoken.

i am quite intrigued to try to 25+ Virtues builds.

@Dub and others – is RHS really a waste of a trait most of the time? i’ve just gotten used to going full Radiance most of the time now.

Wukunlin.8461:

I see energy sigil gets mentioned here and I fully agree on their usefulness. However I have been experimenting with sigil of stamina (refill energy on kill) and seems to have worked okay, anyone else tried this?

i haven’t personally run them, but i know Guard friends who do and speak very highly of them. if you’re more engaged in zerg fights or fighting large numbers, then Stamina can be great since each guy you tagged that dies, you’ll get endurance for that.

whereas, for obvious reasons, if you choose to engage in solo roaming, or focus more on small man vs small man fights, energy would be the better choice.

so i guess, if you can afford two different weapon sets. : ))

like DeathPanel brought up, runes of the traveler seem to be a new favorite amongst some Guardians. that might be worth looking into and definitely helps overall mobility / getting across maps faster.

what weapon sets / build are you usually using? as Guardians, there are a few tricks we have up our sleeves. though to be fair, against certain classes/specs, it’d be tough for anyone to catch them if they don’t mean to be caught.

@Death – okay, i’ve been trying to be polite/civil to you. but all you’ve been doing is keep implying that i’m not paying attention while you’re the one being fixated on “cleansing” being brought up. and nit pick what you want to nit pick on within my and others’ posts. is it not part of gameplay? is a forum discussion not allowed to branch off into other aspects of the game?

Death, i know the point you are making. and this whole time, all i’ve been trying to convey was that by using a build such as, 10/30/0/30/0, the DPS gain is more than marginal as you make it out to be, and the loss of survivability is not as big as you make it out to be (which happened to be tied to cleansing, thus why it was brought up, can you at least see where i’m coming from with this?).

bottom line is – there is no one superior build over any given other build. people can play whatever they want to. if you believe AH is superior to all, that’s fine. again, i love AH. though, i just don’t stand for people telling others off for using other builds.

there are some tricky jumps involved though. or soemtimes, rather, if you want to find the quickest route. which is fun too.

heh, i do agree, sometimes the random deaths are like WTF. and in a good way. XDD or soemtimes after doing them enough, you’re like i got this! and then you hit a trap you’ve never seen ebfore and you’re like “well, the more you know…”

thanks for confirming it’s working though! tried it last night, aaaaaaaand didn’t get it. :// i assumed i missed one somewhere. will try again. missing 2 achieves for meta. the banana one and then probs this. i like to clear all achieves, but not even gonna try for z2 and z3 (z2 i did) but then at the end, i opened the checkpoint before you go back to shortcut eagle and was like dangit. and then stopped. lol

pot.6805:

Fuzzion.2504:

pot.6805:

Thanks for all the fun fights tonight in JQ BL.

Nice keybinds.

Thank you, try them out! They work great for me, every thing is available with minimal movement.

more importantly, looking good XDD

there’s no need to call for personal insults now. this goes for everyone, of course.

@Death – i am reading. the thing is when you move traits around like that, inevitably other issues such as condition cleansing or HP will come into consideration. can you see that Oxxy and myself were merely stating that from our perspective, in general, the benefits of having condition cleansing is higher than having more toughness? which is, in itself, a form of sustainability / survivability as well. which is one of your main arguments, unless, if i am mistaken again. however, if conditions are a non-issue, or if you have someone in your party who can consistently AoE cleanse, then by all means, spec otherwise and leave cleansing out of the equation.

that’s the thing, Blood’s post with the different builds, including 10/30/30/0/0 was in response to you using 0/0/30/30/10 as a staple. not merely AH, because he did not say AH was bad either.

if you look back to the post i had with the numbers, which you so conveniently ignored, i was merely pointing out that with a 10/30/0/30/0 build with sword/focus the damage gained vs the survivability lost, which is what you’er concerned about, is not as nominal.

sure, if conditions aren’t an issue, then we can spec for even more DPS, which does not necessarily dictate going deep into the valor line. anothe example could be, 10/30/0/5/25. you get a lot of benefit from the virtues line, if you’re able to maintin a handful of boons on you at all time, that adds more DPS as well. having 5 in Honor and 5 in Virtues alone lends a lot to sustainability as well. and again, the DPS difference is not insignificant. i will argue that it might even be higher than a 10/30/30/0/0 build as well. and the benefits you get from going 25 deep into virtues would help your team out a lot more than the 30 in valor.

again and again – end of the day, everyone has their own preferences and liking. some builds work better for some, and others not so much. it’s all about balance. if you need more of A, then you’ll have to give up some B. how much? everyone has their own sweet spot. everyone has their own threasholds for tradeoffs. i will play any given build as long as i enjoy it if the situation calls for it, AH or no AH.

DeathPanel.8362:

I think you are confusing my build with that other guy with mace.

I have pure of voice in my build.

see, if you have pure of Voice which dictates 30 in honor, and you have 30 in valor for AH, there’s no room for you to reach numbers a build like 10/30/30 even with AH can pump out though.

[added: what Oxxy said above my posts ^^^]

o gosh. okay, okay.. so Death, you’re “okay” with a build like 10/30/30/0/0? and sure, if you’re 30 deep into valor already, why not take AH if you’re playing in a group. i was under the impression that you were advocating a 0/0/30/30/10 build with AH, can do as much damage as the other more damge centric builds listed here….

though argubly, 30 in Honor and 30 in Valor can be another debate in itself as well.

@Death – with the build Oxxy quoted, sure you lose that much toughness and AH, but you didn’t take into account the difference in HP as well, which is just as important as toughness, as well as AoE cleansing. which for certain encounters is what eats you up as most direct damage can be easily negated / avoided in PvE.

it’s definitely not a tiny sliver of DPS. in my mind, x/x/30/30/x is more or less seen as a “defensive” trait setup as opposed to an offensive set up. ot saying you won’t be doing any damage at all, it’s still very good. but compared to a guard, given same conditions, same gear, that is traiting for damage? it’s a pretty notable difference. yes crit damage is nice to have, but you still have to weigh it in.

and yes, GS 3 doesn’t hit that hard. torch 4 hits AMAZINGLY hard. torch 4 easily out dmgs, out crits any GS 3. even mace 3 out damages GS 3. but that’s beside the point – i was mainly getting at if someone wanetd to play DPS mace, they can and acn be quite effective.

again, AH would be over healing ie not needed for someone who, well, doesn’t need that healing is what people are arguing about. which is entirely doable in PvE/dungeons. but that’s not to say AH doesn’t have it’s place in dungeons, either. because i certainly believe they do.

can’t stress this enough – can’t compare apples to oranges. if not, it just comes down to personal preference and how well one can run a build.

re: 30% crit damage vs precision/power/dmg modifiers, if you must compare.
just taking effective power from gw2buildcraft, as well as the critical hit damage over time stats from gw2’s wiki…

full zerker gear, no food, no consumables, damage modifiers included:

GS
0/0/30/30/10

Power: 2145
Crit chance: 42%
Crit damage: 107%

EP: 4,303
DOT: ~1.6-1.675x

if you opt to take unscathed contender as well, which gives…

EP: 5,164

now compare it to the following. again, i take all damage modifiers, because if i’m trating for it, why not.

Sword/Focus
10/30/0/30/0

Power: 2,246
Crit chance: 68%
Crit damage: 78%

EP: 6,456
DOT: ~1.845-1.875x

i know i switched it up to the sword/focus. but if you were to stick with mace/focus or mace/torch, the damage WILL be up there as well. mace focus you have two giant AoE blasts which both crit like a truck. and you get blinds (which can add vuln, so even more dmg), as well as a ton of blocks for more than enough sustain.

not saying GS is not good either. we all know GS packs a punch. but i wouldn’t say it’s miles ahead of other weapon sets we have.

that’s what some peolpe are saying though, that not having AH does not necessarily make one a “cripple”, to use your example.

just to note, i’m not against AH. in fact, i love it. every situation calls for a different build is what i believe.

@Death – fair enough then. Blood did use the mace/otrch build example to out DPS a hammer build running AH. it’s hard to compare this way though since you’re both advocating different builds. at least DPS can be quantified, and only to an extent. whereas survivability, cannot be as easily quanitified, if at all.

Blood was mainly stating that with 10/30/x/x/x you get 300 precision (plus another 15% RHS), 100 power, and 20% extra damage, and would out damage a build without. and namely, if one’s build or play didn’t need AH or full 30 in valor to survive. but again, as survivability can’t be measured on paper, it’s up to the player to choose what they want to play.

i do want to say the damage increase you get from those trait changes can be quite significant. also sword auto if you’re going for highest, sustained DPS, imo.

@OP – do check out the link swiftpaw linked earlier.

just wanted to say – best of luck to both “new” [MERC] and “old” [MERC]. always a blast fighting you guys.

i don’t have the numbers to back it up mace vs GS dps, but sure. i only brought that up beacuse you said “[Blood was] doing it wrong”. i can argue that if you’re going for raw damage, i wouldn’t spec for AH and take more dmg amplifying traits, and use mace/torch since mace inherently adds some self sustain via a block, a healing symbol, as well as a healing auto. now i’m just aruging for the sake of arguing though ; )))

[edited first part out cause i had just read wrong, lol. work mornings :///]

thanks, Death. i think this was all a big misunderstanding from all sides of the party.
i was merely clarifying what OP was trying to convey. which he did.

i missed the part with Writ of the Merciful, OP. at lest, it didn’t load for me in the build link. which is what i THOUGHT you meant because you specifically mentioned symbol healing.

if so yes, i imagine it’d be a lot of healing. throw in some symbol of faiths from mace as well, just for kicks.

mace and torch burst is amazing, especially if specced with full or close to full zerker. and with the right traits.

the torch isn’t neessarily taken for burnign damage i assume, though it’s always nice to have. DPS is DPS, at the end of the day. but rather, the ability to upkeep burning on all targets will constantly give that 10% dmg increase from fiery wrath, which Bloodgruve explained. and that’s huge, especially just for a 10pt investment, into a line which also gives power.

torch 4 is huge single target dmg. mace 3 is huge AoE dmg if you can get it to proc when you want in PvE (again, just takes to know encoutners or tells). mace symbol 2 can tick for over 1k+ per tick. mace auto can hit for 3k, 3.5k, 4k+ under the right conditions. so mace / torch CAN be used for high damage.

depends on what you’re willing to sacrifice. and what you seek to do when you step into WvW. i think you prefaced this quite well with it being a QoL change, and not for the min/maxers.

i personally have gotten used to it – the traveling speed, that is. can use retreat, but more often than not, if you’re caught in a fight and it’s on CD, no fun. if i have 2her what i do is quick swap staff, drop 3, run while switching back. then repeat when it’s off. it’s work, but it works for me. and this is only if i know i’m traveling far from A to B.