Guild Wars 2

not sure which tracker you use, i like using this site to check which events are active on which worlds: gw2stuff

you can do the same for NA and EU worlds. I’m on SoR and usually i check, BG, JQ and TC – the more populated servers which i know are always actively doign world events. temples would yield the most – 30 dragonite ore! while some of the higher level world bosses i’ev seen up to 24 ores. i’ve gotten zilch on some starter level map bosses (Shadow Behemoth, Frozen Maw, etc.. but always fun to do still).

hope this helps!

and good luck with the crafting of ascended weapons for both you and your wife. the best i’d say is plan ahead and slowly work your way towards it, while playing other parts of the game.

so we get tooltip buffs, except all our tooltips don’t work?

fury on medi’s is nice. though i wonder if it’s worth it. i assume they stack? though who would blow all CDs right off the bat just for extra crit.

was looking forward to GH, which is nice! but ICD is kind of long. :// useful in long fights i guess, and at the start of a group fight… but even then..

consecrations is a nice buff. i can se them being very useful in choke points, but that’s about it for WvW. more justifiable in dungeons to use for might stacking / condi cleanse.

Absolute resolution almost feels like a must now. unless if you want to sport soldier runes.

i never paid much attention to tooltips in-game.. but wasn’t RF always supposed to 2 seconds? 2 seconds if traited.

though, tbh, it always felt like 3 seconds (untraited) to me.

dang, i missed those Mesmer drops. XDD best tower/keep defence, easily.

had a lot of fun following Fannwong last night! been a while buddy, always good to run with you.

then stuck around for some small fights as well. it’s been fun, SBI / SoS!

happy start to the leagues everyone.

but.. but.. what about my sword/shield signet Guardian!?

kidding aside. both sword and shield, paired together i do not have the experience, but they are both very strong weapons, and used in various builds. signets are not the worst, but i do tend to struggle with picking up either bane or Judgment and if it’s worth over another utility. spirit weapons though, that’s something i’d like to see reworked and to be more than viable in well, any game setting (save SotA for fractals / dungeons).

Fuzzion, i thought we’ve been through this before… what did i tell you about beating dogs!

Mance.5640:

akamon.2769:

Hi, TC, BG and JQ! hope you guys are having fun.

ugggghhh a sor.

: ((

i think taking all things mentioned into consideration, i am more inclined to run with higher precision. so i guess that would the third option, if i had to choose one.

if yo want some numbers for reference, the Critical Hit wiki entry is something i look refer to time to time. it merely illustrates the damage increase from adjusting your two crit modifiers.

so taking rounded options:
Crit chance 30% and 75% crit damage you get – 1.375
Crit chance 35% and 65% crit damage you get – 1.403

So even with less critical damage, you technically gain a small edge over time in the damage department with the 35%/65% split. Though again, the difference in overall damage is minimal and i would look more for the utility that having slightly higher crit chance can bring you. I like to believe, with SD, and your playstyle, higher crit chance would definitely benefit. with the hammer, since it hits slower, i’d like to think that having a higher crit chance is more beneficial as well.

in regards to sigil, i can see where you’re coming from for extra healing stacks. though i personally go for bloodlust most of the time. :PP it’s tough to quantitatively justify this choice but it’s what i’d prefer.

if you’re running with the main zerg, i’m saying bloodlust for sure. i just feel there’s goign to be so much damage that it doesn’t justify having an extra 250 on each dodge roll. of course they add up, but in fights that big, i’m not entierly convinced they’re worthy choosing over bloodlust – especially with GS and hammer combo. but if you’ll be planning on smaller fights, then i can see having life stacks being more beneficial to your team.

what Brutaly said about stacking sigils ring true with me, heh. i always feel sigils play a big part of any given build – again, especially energy sigils.. so i try to get stacks with both MH/OH as fast as i can with animals, lol. and then switch back to my intended weapons and go fight. if time and your group allows you to, of course.

Dungeon:
was this a PUG group? were some of them from the same guild?
like many have said, if you’re comfortable playing in full zerker, then go for you. seeing as you use WoR and shouts, i assume you don’t play only for yourself and try to support the team where you can, as well as AoE aegis and what not.

don’t mind them. you know what you’re capable of. no one needs to prove anything to anyone.

WvW
i think this ultimately depends on which server you’re from, who you play against and what time zone. will you be facing zergs more? or do you plan to do small fights?

also, what you want to accomplish. roam? take camps? run with the zerg? do you want to “tank”, go frontlnie and support as much as possible? or do you want to be more focused on damage dealing?

going full zerk can be really rough, especially with all the condition builds out there nowadays.. but it’s not impossible. more toughness always helps, though i’d say definitely go for more vit to eat up some of those conditions ticks. we can only cleanse so much. but at the end of the day, more damage is always nice.

Hi, TC, BG and JQ! hope you guys are having fun.

it’s not like they said this is the last patch Guardians will EVER get..

play your warrior until they you feel the Guardian is in a good place again if it’s really that bad. or play both. or play what makes you happy.

even through this meta that is supposedly anti-Guardian, many of us are still sticking with ’em.

as always, the negative posts get all the love. whereas when people are genuinely being nice, or even offering to help one another better enjoy the game, no one replies or they get swept under all the hate. i guess trolls will be trolls…

nice to know there are people who care to notice them. the positive things, that is.

been having some decent fights, SBI and SoS. hope to get out on the field a bit more this week.

@skyline – did you mean 30 pts in Valor in your second to last sentance? if you’re talking crit damage, then we need to look at crit chance as well. of course, depending on varying builds.. say you didn’t have anything in Radiance. by giving up 30 in valor and going full radiance, you can pick up up to 29-30% crit chance if you’re using one-handed weapons. so depending on how much crit chance and damage you had to start off with, it could be seen as a fair trade off, or even gain more “damage”, plus utility that comes with on-crit procs.

the thing about the valor line vs honor line, is that the honor line potentially brings more group utility (even DPS boosting ones), compared to the valor line, which largely seem to be more self-focused.

if i am doing group based content, i’d be personally hard pressed to not go deep into honor. if i am doing more solo-based content, valor is a great line to invest in.

haha, i admire the persistence, Doomdesire.
hope you’ve been getting your fights!

Hi Fuzzion!

well done to all servers. here’s to the new era that is wvw leagues.

i don’t think that’s entirely accurate and fair, Hunter.

your more “damage oriented” Guardians, don’t survive just based on dodges, but party wide blocks, blinds, and reflects.

i do agree a part of it is because AH has been around for so long and people do want a change of pace. within their specific groups of friends they play with, people have found AH is not needed. they felt they can survive just as well without AH, while ending encounters faster (by alternatively spending more points that add to damage).

though, i am a believer that if you can afford to, play whatever build best suited for the specific group composition you’ve found yourself in. of course, not every single PUG will have the time to discuss build strategies.. but i guess that’s a different story.

quite a fan of how the AC guide was set up.
lets people knowing how they want to play, learn how to play how they want to play. yay.

Wukunlin.8461:

Black Box.9312:

Aberrant.6749:

Both sides of the casual/speed stuff just need to stick to those who want to play in that same way.

http://tinyurl.com/km38sk3
^This applies to both sides who are trying to force their way of playing on others.

/forum

/game

/life?

guys, stop labeling people. it doesn’t help. “casuals”, “elitists”.. if you can’t resist the urge and MUST use them, at least define them on your own terms first, so at least people can see where you’re coming from. these terms get thrown around and all you end up doing is lumping players together. all you are doing is creating a larger rift in the community, based on what YOU’ve personally experienced and perceive the majority of the playerbase to be.

what if there are people who run in full berserkers, spec offensively, but are kind, polite and willing to listen and cooperate? that are able to “have fun”. yes on their own terms, but does it mean they aren’t having fun if they’re not having fun the same way you are? to say you haven’t run into any, does not mean they don’t exist.

OP – i get your frustrations. why not find a group of like-minded people and stick with them? these so called “zerkers” are asking you to play their way. yet, are you not doing the same thing? there doesn’t have to be a “take their side or mine”. you can play how you want, and that’s fine, but there’s no need to tell others how they should play either. that being said, of course, you don’t have to listen to others when they tell you how you should play as well. if you can’t take them imposing it on you, then you shouldn’t do the same. stick with the same group, make friends and bam, you don’t have to worry or become frustrated about being “kicked” anymore. yes it’s an rpg, yes people should be allowed to play how they want, but it does not mean EVERY SINGLE PLAYER must play by YOUR rules and what YOU perceive to be the way the game is meant to be played. does that make sense?

people come into the game with different agendas. you cannot compare a group that means to speed run with a group that means to explore, have fun, take their time. there’ll always be differing perspectives. play the game to its strengths, play to your OWN strengths. develop your own community. you play the game, don’t let it play you.

^^^ can’t offer any advice re melee ranger (which i am quite a fan of myself, but not well versed at it). though, interestingly, if we do “fail” at Spider, most often it will take a couple more tries than not on Hodgins burrow scepter room.

ah, gotcha. i can see where you’re coming from. to me personally torch isn’t bad, but i really would love to see some touch ups done for it.

hey! i have corrupted with jormag’s breath as well! lol. even for WvW, i’ve been more inclined to take focus over shield in most cases.

dammit, Brutaly.
imagine slashing the ground with your GS for a line of Warding.
protector’s strike going off after 12 stacks of might?
i would miss the damage component and protection from the hammer. XDD

though, that would be a complete overhaul for the Guardian class as is haha. i enjoy the forward thinking.

but we digress.

visually, i’d love to play with a shield more. and the torch animations are pretty neat, but yea, hands down focus packs a punch offensively, and defensively. so based on your “criteria”, you can’t go wrong with focus. : ))

just in case, many Guards like to pre-cast focus 5, count 4 secs? and then let it blow up for great AoE explosionz. of course, use it in conjuction with Judge’s Intervention plus any other burst skills that we have (GS 2, hammer 2, torch 4, even mace 3 when done right).

@guanlong – do you mean the CD after double tapping torch 4? cast time isn’t TOO bad imo.

ye the camera angle is the same (have Norn and Asura Guard). but just don’t let the perception fool ye. it’s tricky to use, but when it connects, the damage is not bad. but if you’re on a giant Norn, you will have a split second of seeing nothing but yourself when you aim and fire lol

i picked up rune of the traveler (and testing out a celestial set) and as they are not bad, i personally don’t notice a HUGE increase in mobility. definitely useful for going Point A to B, but when in combat, our utilities and weapon skills make all the difference. but maybe i haven’t tested them enough yet.

another off top my head, don’t forget to use retaliation against kiters as well. many will try to get JUST out of range and pewpew you, so give ’em a little taste of their own medicine while you close the gap one way or another.

was running in WvW last night and it’s way too useful in a zerg. :// some smart staff 5 placements can really make or break any given encounter, though i personally prefer running with other sets myself as i feel they are more “sophisticated”. By any means though, staff has it’s place.

ahh, interesting idea, Brutaly. but but, please don’t take symbols away from my other weapons! : ((

wouldn’t mind if Staff 2 homed. or that you didn’t have to readjust your camera to fire it off in the direction you want it to go in. : )) i guess that’s more of a QoL adjustment…

torch 4 i can’t complain about. i feel like torch 5 could really use a boost. maybe exponential damage increase with each “hit” you land? or at least cleanse ourselves as well.

not much to add on to what others have said. and shield 5 is amazing in WvW on high ledges. XDD

just another idea.. if you can afford to, i had a lot of fun with Bane Signet a while back in WvW/PvP. passive power boost, can’t complain. the active you can use offensievly to set up burst, or when chasing someone. or defensively, to interupt their burst if they have a long cast, or drop ’em if you need some breathing room.

pair that up with scepter insta-immob, or hammer CC’s, or you can keep sticking with sword on your other weapon set for the short tele as well.

and for another while, i used hydromancy on both weapon swaps, so that helps when using something like that hammer as well. sure it can be easily cleanse, but when chill procs at the right time (or all the time assuming you swap a lot), it gets pretty annoying for them and they do lose mobility/utility.

just some ideas.

with the hammer, definitely play extremely offensively. it throws them off and use that to your advantage. and like Dynnen said, to a certain extent, if they’re good and they wanna get away, they’ll get away. but hey, there’s satisfaction in seeing an enemy dance with you and know they don’t stand a chance and turn tail.

[edited some typos and added some more]

torch can be extremely strong in a burst build in PvP/WvW. i leveled with is in PvE cause more’s more awesome than spewing blue flames. now, in PvE, i mainly use it to rack up torch kills. i think mainly cause the CD is not worth taking it over a focus, which has more utility for groups. and while torch 5 is nice, the damage is really subpar and doesn’t cleanse from yoruself, iirc. but it’s great for proccing VoJ passive.

couldn’t open intothemists at work, but i ran 20/30/0/10/10 (scepter power, RHS, Unscathed, etc) for a while running around in open PvE and scepter definitely packed a punch.

let’s stop the hate on guilds. if it’s personal, keep it that way. it’s like talking, or worse, gossiping, about someone’s family. it’s not nice. yes, i used the words “not nice”.

looking forward to more fights soon. keep your eyes on the prize – whatever that is, i’ll let you decide.

great match-up this week. glad i decided and was able to play a bit more! for me personally, big fights, lots of back and forth, wiping, being wiped, and finally had a tiny bit of fun in the ruins. pretty neat stuff.

come the pending update, going to be missing constant match ups with JQ and BG. tip of the helm to ye both (it ain’t easy lifting these heavy hats!). and of course, looking forward to facing off all other servers as well.

keep up the fights! it’s a close on this week. anticipating more good fights. regardless of outcome, all i know is many good times been had and more to be had.

healing based gear can be quite powerful in a WvW/PvP sense. it gives you a lot of sustain, but i’d recommend at least around 700 of healing for it to be worth a specific investment through gear. and this will be affected by your play style as well and trait choices.

so if you’re interested in WvW, or just for general open world exploring, if you like that playstyle of self sustain through maximizing your regen, dodge roll heals, etc it can be pretty fun. and relies on you to play pretty pro-actively and knowing when to pop your “heals”.

that being said, if that’s the route you want to go and looking at your stat spread. from HotW, i’d get a more soldier’s first. and then mix a tiny bit of magi’s and try to mix and match (use the calculators first like you have been to try to get a good stat spread you think you’d be comfortable with). though, i wouldn’t invest too heavily into magi’s. though you get some crit chance, it’s not worth giving up all that power for. so soldier’s plus cleric’s is always a popular choice. i personally have a support based Guard that uses magi’s mixed with cleric’s and soldier’s as well, but haven’t finalized the stats yet. :PP

thanks, Tarsius.
and on that note, check out FAQ#4 as well if you ever run with other Guards in a dungeon or WvW or what not.

OP, have you seen the Arah vets helping others thread? iirc, there should be one each for both EU and NA. so don’t be so quick to judge. and it helps to stop generalizing and labeling people kitten-and-so. it just warrants a lot of bickering. there’s enough of that as is…

it’s good that you’re planning to do this. learn it and go help others. here’s how i learned to do dungeons. i did watch videos to prep (i don’t see how that’s frowned upon?) and then when in actual dungeon, let people know you’re new. but don’t play the victim card when sth goes bad. ask how you can do better next time. if you have a good attitude and willing to learn, more often than not, they’ll help you and teach you.

i’ve been in dungeons where there was only one “vet”, i.e. someone who’s know the path before and what’s the mechanics. explains to the 4 of us who are new. and goes at the end “now you all know how to do it. if you each join a completely new group, that’s 16 more people who’ll learn the dungeon”. keep passing it forward. and it does happen.

sure, there are people who say “no n00bz exppp or gtfo” but there are just as many “i play how i want no elitistssssss i’m not gonna listen and learn” running around. so don’t be either. focus on the positives. no need to pur others down. or so to speak, “stoop to their levels” if you don’t like being called a noob. labels hurt the community more than help.

and last time i checked, you need to be in combat for it to kick in. (or is this changed now and the display is just bugged?)

staff is pretty amazing for WvW zergs. there are some guards out there that use them in small scale fights or even 1v1+’s, which i find pretty crazy. but apparently, it works for some. traited / geared right (ha), staff can hit pretty hard. even staff #2, given you can shoot it where you want it to go. and in PvP it’s pretty amazing too. for PvE? the only times i would use it would be for specific situations, map crossing, and tagging for big events (temple events?)

if you don’t use it all that much, i wouldn’t spend that much time on a legendary (plus, i’m personally not a big fan of the legend staff skin :PP lol. i think there are a lot better looking ones out there. of course, my opinion : )))

love shields

quick ques – what armor set(s) are you using right now? and what mainhand (type and skin) is gonna be paired up with the shield?

Akamon checking in here. going to give up (most of) PvE this week and dedicate my time online to the mists. just to see all your pretty faces. ; ))

fair enough. i can see where you’re coming from. i can’t speak of that matter, as it’s in the past and i wasn’t personally involved, but perhaps we can give people a second chance? or taking his message at face value, it was definitely positive. : ))

yes, of course, the rivalry between the two servers have been of love and hate, so there will always be “fighting words” exchanged, though, it can’t hurt thinking that it was genuine, no?

at least for me, you guys are tough as nuts. and fun to play against. i know many peope express that they dislike being paried up against one another, or “oh, surprise surprise” and worse.. but there are those of us that feel otherwise. big time.

anyways, no more of my “positivity” here. :PP more bodies pls.

interesting how some people still think hammer does little DPS or accomplishes little. don’t get me wrong, i loev the GS and there are situations where i’ll pick GS or sword or whatever else over hammer. but to say hammer is not worth it? in various situations? i beg to differ. : ))

the AA being slow (which is a fact) might be a personal preference thing for someone to hate or embrace it. but to say it’s less effective because of that is stretching it, imo.

heh, the number of people saying when valor, when they really mean honor in this thread! okay not that many… but one too many! ; )))

just adding that if you are pugging and your group isn’t “optimal”, you can still go full zerker, but maybe starting off, you might want to trait a bit more defensively, like having 30 in Honor. for example, if conditions can be a problem, make sure you’ve AoE condition cleansing taken care of, unless if you ask in the pug if someone else is doing that.

when not in an “optimally setup” group, you usually willt ake longer to dispatch mobs, which leads to more room for error, which can lead to losing more health, you see where this is going.

each group you end up in will perform differently so.. i don’t know if this will come out the way i want it to, but to a certain extent make sure you can take care of yourself first, then you’re doing your group the biggest favor there is. as a Guard, if you can blind/protect/cleanse/regen/reflect for yourself, you can most definitely AoE blind/protect/cleanse/regen/reflect for your group. while providing more than steady DPS throughout.

[edit: typo and added some clarification]

i actually really like writ of the merciful with the mace. some added healing never hurts. it’s no burst healing, but enough to give you a bit more room to spec for damage [added: (for PvP/WvW even, i feel like i have to clarify in this thread :///)]

cyyrix.6105:

If only I had a silver for every time some SoR player droned on about BG’s imminent decline.

why would you go and spin something like this? sure we may not all have been perfect and loving to one another (yuck, amirite?) since forever, but at moments like these, can you not learn to at least try to take things in stride? he wasn’t even being snark. to me, he was being genuinely respectful. a simple, “thank you”, would have made your post much more meaningful.

you could have always asked what he was trying to do by stacking and asking you to clusterbomb, instead of just blindly following and just calling it a stupid idea. maybe it was only “stupid” beacuse you didn’t understand the point and process and potential outcome, which could have been easily.. addressed.

a lot of times before a pull or boss, people will drop usually a fire field, then people blast it so everyone gets AoE might. an efficient team can easily full 25 stacks full stacks of might which can equal an additional 875 power AND condition damage to the entire party. given that you stacked properly.

:///

i think hammer has always been in a good place since the very first bfuf it got after official release. still is. still love it. still smashing people with it.

it might not be the highest DPS weapon a Guardian can wield, but it is by no means far off. and to a certain extent, pick weapons that suit your build, or vice versa and work with that.

Doomdesire.9365:

After seeing BG BL and SoR BL tri-WP’d this morning

http://memegenerator.net/instance/41812690

aww, flagged and blocked as “tasteless and offensive” at me work PC. XDD

i want to say.. for celestial stats on a Guard, it’s best served on either trinkets or certain gear peices, mix and matched with others. for the weapons, i’m still more inclined to go with other stat choices, depending on what you wanna do with your set.
but grats, regardless!!

i used to camp 16k with any build i came up with and would never go below. then i tried 15k one day. then 13k another day. like Wukunlin said, you’ll get used to it and you can slowly adjust. : )) we can all throw out numbers for you, but in the end, it’s up to you and go try out the different paths / encounters / with different groups and find something you’re most comfortable at any given situation. you can always bring different jewelry to swap out if a certain fight or group calls for more HP.

and just practice practice practice! while you have fun.