Guild Wars 2

Yeah, maybe. I hate how it aggros instead of staying with you, though. And the 60 second cd is pretty brutal imo. I’ll be checking it out as well, seems sketchy but more options are never a bad thing.

If all you’re reducing is the cool down of the elite, then purity remains the strongest trait, generally. Typically reducing the elite cd from 90 to 72 won’t mean that you get to use it twice per fight. Purity on the other hand routinely reduces the number of times you need to use a shout for yourself, allowing you to save it for your team. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve hovered a finger over a shout, just to relax it a moment later as that 10 bleed stack gets wiped passively. And that type of thing is common due to how conditions are cleared (LIFO).

MI is only a consideration in virtues bunker, and I think that’s how it stays, unfortunately. Sanctuary is pretty much the glue that holds the build together, it’s sort of the replacement for Altruistic Healing. Without it, there are too many situations where you can be collapsed upon and have no solid defense to weather the storm, not to mention all the other uses of it. MI is a cute option, and one I’ve tried out with the current implementation. I don’t think these changes will be enough to make it viable, but I’ll give it a shot.

I do think there is a way for bunker builds to make use of this change to the elite, though. I don’t want to give anything away just yet, but maybe it will be revealed at some later time.

laquito.5269:

cymerdown.4103:

@Sizer: Check your ping and run some performance diagnostics on your GW2 connection re: lag spikes.

Well, your programme might work if your own connection is unstable and suffers from packetloss, but it won’t help when ANets servers are lagging, which probably is the case, as many people are complaining about lag these days. There is no way to fix server lag or ISP problems, only the providers could do so.

Steal is a bit buggy. I often come across the random obstructed or miss due to terrain, which can definitely turn tables in a combat situation, but my biggest annoyance as of yet is the infil arrow dodge bug and rubberbanding, so that your ports don’t work.

Is the steal thing related to the change they made regarding how the damage gets applied? I think they changed it so it ports you first, then does the attack portion of the ability within a certain range limit a very short time thereafter. So I guess if there is enough of an elevation difference between you and the target, maybe that can cause it to miss?

@Sizer: Check your ping and run some performance diagnostics on your GW2 connection re: lag spikes. Try running WTFast if you’re not already, I believe a lot of what you’re complaining about can be fixed by decreasing your lag. For example, I only have issues with getting hit mid-dodge when I play on EU (~110ms ping when WTFast is working). On NA, it’s very rare for me (~60ms ping). Not sure if this issue with steal is also lag-related, but I don’t hear complaints about this from any NA thief, so maybe it is.

Great player with a lot of potential, deserves a shot at top tier if anyone has an opening for a thief.

Hi Vylker,

Actually, I don’t recommend trying shatter for newer players, unless they are fast at picking up new games and becoming very good at them in a short amount of time. The reason I say this is because I consider shatter mesmer to be one of the harder specs in the game to play at an efficient level. It can be pretty unforgiving against condition builds especially, and brings high burst but the type of burst that can be difficult to set up for inexperienced players.

In my opinion, a better place for your girlfriend to start would be a phantasm spec. It brings moderate to high sustained damage, but is less demanding on a newer player, and has more ways to deal with condition damage. Check this link: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-Ng-FR;0VPk-1y6cV-71;9;49JEO-2;019-3;034;2LBW4I;1jzyvjzyv5Y

One good reason to start with this spec is because you can be reasonably effective before you fully understand how and when to use the shatter abilities (F1-F4). You could even never use any of them and do ok in the phantasm build. The first one for her to get used to is F4, Distortion. She can use that while stomping, ressing, or as a last resort defensive move. After that, she should try using F1, Mind Wrack, to burst down an enemy when they get really low (you don’t want to use it for any other purpose, since it will destroy your phantasms, which is your main damage source in this spec). F3, Diversion, is only really used to stop a stomp or res in this build, and F2, Cry of Frustration is almost never used. Compared to shatter, where you use all 4 shatters on a regular basis, the build is much easier to manage when you’re still getting used to the game’s fast-paced combat system.

Welcome to GW2 PvP, I think your girlfriend will really enjoy this spec (mine did). If and when she feels super comfortable playing it, you might want to introduce her to the shatter spec and see what she thinks.

Alex, check tinyurl.com/kenguardguide for my guide on virtues guardian.

IMO, the best build to start with and the one that is most often best for solo q is 01661 AH bunker. It has the best solo survivability, which is more important in an uncoordinated setting. Virtues has its benefits and is conditionally a better spec, depending on a ton of factors. Maybe I’ll make a video on my current views on the two builds after the next patch.

Also, I can’t say I can really recommend hammer for a bunker build, a central focus always needs to be 1vX survivability and hammer is really bad for that compared to the Mace/X set. And hammer is way behind staff ever since you could stun break launches, so there is really no room for hammer outside of maybe some wonky blast finish team comp.

hehk.8705:

cymerdown.4103:

XI. Permeating Wrath – Activating Virtue of Justice also deals damage to nearby enemies (~300 at high power, so 900~1100 on a nice crit, 240 range). Virtue of Justice’s cooldown is reduced by 10%.

That just seems like a bad smite conditions, I think something like a 10-20% damage boost for 2s to all effected would be more apt of a grand master trait.

Well, not really though. So first of all, I think you’re undervaluing the cooldown reduction. If all the GM trait said was Virtue of Justice’s cooldown is reduced by 20% I would take it over Indomitable Courage because what you’ve done is move it from 21s cs to 15s, which is actually a 40% further reduction. My build changes to something like 01166, and I’ve got constant aoe blinds and burning going off, not to mention the extra might. All that extra pressure adds up to become better than the occasional extra stab most of the time, especially when you’re trading it for extra blinds.

Next point is, maybe the aoe damage is just a bad smite conditions, but it also doesn’t occupy a utility slot.

Last point is, it does seem a little weak, but it’s also the lowest cd virtue, so it does have to be on the weak side compared to the others to be balanced. This trait must also be balanced in PvE and WvW when combined with that minor trait that refreshes VoJ whenever a foe is killed.

hehk.8705:

cymerdown.4103:

XII. Shielded Mind – Activating Virtue of Courage also breaks stun for any ally affected by the ability. Virtue of Courage’s cooldown is reduced by 10%.

This still seems worse than the stability trait, I think add something like block all incoming attacks over the next 1s for all those effected including the previous effects.

Again, you may be undervaluing the CD reduction. The cooldown drops 9 seconds from 63 to 54, and you have long protection duration and renewed focus. I consider the CD reduction to be around 2/3 as powerful as the aoe stunbreaker, which if you buy that means I am buffing this trait by around 66%. More than that seems drastic for a first pass.

hehk.8705:

cymerdown.4103:

XIII. Purity of Body – Activating Virtue of Resolve also grants immunity to chill, cripple, and immobilize for 3 seconds for any ally affected by the ability. Virtue of Resolve’s cooldown is reduced by 10%.

This seems like a good alternative to the stability trait

Yeah, it’s good but maybe not too good. Certainly an awesome choice against condi heavy teams.

In a 1v1 they aren’t so great, in 3 vs 3 and up they’re moderately impactful. They all also have passive abilities (mini signets if you will) while most other class mechanics are active only. I’m satisfied in general with guardians class mechanic, though I wouldn’t hate having a 4th one someday. Again though, we’re off topic.

Alright, fair enough, but you could also say that about a lot of other classes’ mechanics. Shatters are all fairly weak without speccing heavily into it except Distortion, same with thief Steal. In any case, it’s not really on topic since all I’m discussing is buffing the three GM traits. I don’t really think it’s debatable that Virtues is a bad tree in general because it isn’t, I just think the GM traits in the tree could be a little more attractive. As they are right now, they are all pretty useless.

They’re actually fairly powerful in PvP, being able to Aegis or Blind a key attack at high level is super good, not to mention after traiting down the cooldowns. These GM traits I picked are probably about on the right power level, at least around the level of Absolute Resolution (except maybe the Virtue of Justice one, but I didn’t want to go overboard since that one is also on the shortest cooldown). They could probably be even a little bit better than they are, but I prefer to be conservative when buffing things and then incrementally adjust upwards later if necessary.

MP’s fine, the paranoia hype train is just getting too real lately. I do agree that it would be nice if signups happened a week or so after ToL2 ends, though.

Let’s face it, Virtue’s Grandmaster traits could use a little love. Right now, there is no good reason to take any of them over IX. Absolute Resolution and X. Indomitable Courage. Here is a suggestion of what they could be changed to:

XI. Permeating Wrath – Activating Virtue of Justice also deals damage to nearby enemies (~300 at high power, so 900~1100 on a nice crit, 240 range). Virtue of Justice’s cooldown is reduced by 10%.
XII. Shielded Mind – Activating Virtue of Courage also breaks stun for any ally affected by the ability. Virtue of Courage’s cooldown is reduced by 10%.
XIII. Purity of Body – Activating Virtue of Resolve also grants immunity to chill, cripple, and immobilize for 3 seconds for any ally affected by the ability. Virtue of Resolve’s cooldown is reduced by 10%.

Ah, ok, there was a lot of discussion about the post and how it’s worded, so I guess that was wrong. Sorry, and thanks for the clarification

Originally “fight for their share of 50,000 USD prize pool at each event” sounded like 150k to me, too.

@Mila – There’s only one $50k tournament. The three tournaments they mentioned are qualifier tournaments for the $50k one.

I’m looking forward to seasonal rewards and a ladder system, which they said is on the way. Not everyone is able to make these international events, but would still enjoy having seasons and more game-based incentives for laddering, myself included.

That being said, I’m liking the changes spoiled so far and I’m interested to see what else is in store for this coming feature patch, even if it doesn’t include ladders and seasonal rewards, since I’m sure they’re coming sooner or later.

I would personally love to have the following:

• Hotjoin (8v8 and 5v5, no choosing sides, side is randomly chosen or auto balanced and you cannot switch teams other than being autobalanced over). Maybe have some servers be under rank 30 only?
• Casual Queue (q up with 1-3 person group, you would play this instead of hotjoining with friends, it does use MMR but it’s hidden, no rank limitations)
• Rated Solo Q (rank 30 and up)
• Rated Team Q (rank 30 and up)

Yeah, this is a great improvement and a long-requested feature. Just turn it on for Solo Q and we’re golden.

Lordrosicky.5813:

If you take those runes and those traits then you can’t take soul marks.

This means that sure you can 1v1. But you are very weak to focus fire (in team fights) and if things don’t go well for your team initially then you will lack life force basically all the game.

The spec is good when you play on a stacked roster. Then necro is really strong at snowballing. When you don’t play on a team which is likely to dominate almost every game then the spec is just not survivable enough.

In addition, if you are not in a team which wrecks face then you won’t even get to 1v1. And necro is weak in 1v2 because it can’t disengage. All this considered there is no way a necro should be taken to 1v1. It appears strong only when things are going your teams way. Then you feel really strong, but really when things are going your teams way you could put anything in that 5th slot and crush.

It’s still useful to have an apex predator 1v1 build on your team as a home point defender. If the necro gets 1v2ed, they can either wurm out and spec walk away, or they can plague the point while someone rotates. If nobody contests home, the necro can push far if plague is up, or they can come into an already engaged mid fight with a positional advantage and pressure the enemy with low cooldowns. In cases like that, it’s less likely that the other team can afford to put enough pressure on the necro since he has full cooldowns and they’ve already used some during the course of the mid fight.

I actually don’t think a stacked roster is needed, just a solid team. There’s really no such thing as a “stacked roster” at top tier anyway, just good players vs other good players. In those cases, I’ve seen a good necro carry pretty hard sometimes, in ways other builds couldn’t.

More skilled than passive 3.5s fears. Speaking of which, I’ll be looking forward to see what nerfs are coming to condimancer Necro, seeing as how it’s one of the strongest 1v1 builds in the game at the moment. Nightmare runes and Reaper’s Protection down to 1s fear, I hope?

Lordrosicky.5813:

If they listen to people with ideas like necro LF should degen out of combat then I think that explains why the pvp in this game has been on life support for years now!

And on greatsword. Greatsword is already OP. Just because all the other weapons warrior gets are even more broken doesn’t mean it is bad. If it was on most other classes it would be a strong weapon with mobility and dps.

He wasn’t being serious, he was just saying that to put the change in perspective. I think if they allow adrenaline to drain immediately once out of combat, then I think they should also cause any skill that increases adrenaline to put/keep you in combat so things like shouts and signet of fury still allow you to pre-build adrenaline. Otherwise we’re nerfing things that are already weak, like killshot Warrior.

I actually really like the Greatsword changes. The weapon really needed to change both for PvP and for PvE, and reducing the damage emphasis of the weapon off of Hundred Blades and moving more of the damage to Arcing Slice was exactly how I would have approached it. Smart move by Anet, in my opinion, and I’ve been a critic of some of their past decisions, but this is a great one. Seems like they are making more and more good decisions in terms of game balance these days (not perfect, but nobody is), so props to them.

Hey, I thought Tarcis’ s post was really well thought out and well reasoned. Not everyone will agree with his opinions and that’s fine, that’s why it’s an opinion, so let’s keep things civil shall we?

I happen to agree with the idea that adrenaline shouldn’t drain immediately once out of combat for the fact that adrenaline building utilities are already not super great and this change just makes them worse. I think the warrior changes are all pretty huge for pvp and I wouldn’t mind seeing them hold off on this particular one until they see how the other changes affect their spot in the meta game first.

On the other hand though I do like the general direction that they are going with these changes (bigger punishment for mistakes, more counterplay). If you were behind most of these ideas, good job Tarcis. Would love to see more skills and traits for other classes heading this way going forward.

Two questions for Zoose:

1. Why you gotta be so rude?
2. Don’t you know I’m human too?

How about this: You can only rejoin the same team you were last on in a hotjoin match until the game is over. That includes if you leave the server and then return before that particular game is over. This rule only applies to public servers, not private ones.

I’ll be turning 32 soon, which probably makes me the oldest of the upper tier players, or near it. Don’t have quite the same lightning reflexes or sharp awareness as I had 10 years ago, but still keeping up!

BLU got the help he needed, a special thanks to everyone who made it possible! You know who you are, I’ve never seen that much generosity to support the PvP community in such a short time. Seriously, thanks a lot.

~Ken

You’re thanking us? No, thank YOU guys for putting on a good show and trying to bring out the best in GW2 PvP. Loved the transitions and commentary, some of the best production quality this game has seen to date! Hoping for lots of views for the finals in August.

Necro’s still viable, sadly Nos is too young for esports

mPascoal.4258:

Blackjack.5621:

legendaries are more common than some rare weapons, nothing special anymore

This is true. I use the Warden Greatsword on my Guardian (t3 cultural from Sylvari, cultural weapons can be used in all races) and I see way more Sunrises and Twilight than copies from my weapon. Ppl often ask me what weapon is it.

My certain votes are:

EU: Sizer, Bullet Punch
NA: BLU, Kensuda. Five Gauge

Rest was not random, was based on the texts, but I don’t remember all names, these are the ones from the selected I want to see.
I would also voted in Magic Toker or Caed if they were there, aparently not I would like to know why

Thanks for the support And thanks for voting for Five Gauge too, he is an amazing player and really nice guy to boot. Toker was invited, but I believe he couldn’t go.

What I meant by the statement is two things:

1. Sometimes if you’re breezing a low-health squishy ally, they get hit by burst damage and fall mid-heal, at which point you have to cancel it and rez them, which is pretty far from ideal. This is less likely to happen on a tanky character.

2. HP going into a high Toughness character is much more valuable than it going into a low Toughness character, since it’s more effective HP against direct damage.

Agreed, if your team is heavy roaming, Hizzy Brizzy is much worse. The squishier the team, the less effective allied healing is and the more tanky you need to be since nobody else can stand on point. Also the more skirmishing your team does, the less effective melee range healing is.

Does this mean that bird is no longer the word? Kappa

When Chuck Norris goes outside, he takes a breath of Zoose.
Mentos’s original slogan was “The Zoosemaker” but they changed it after settling the lawsuit out of court.
Will Smith and Zoose share royal ancestry.
Shall I go on?

Alright, how about “a good amount of his free time”. :P Obviously he has college studies, friends, etc.

So, it appears that the issue here isn’t with funding. Since there are other shoutcasters already arranged for the event, if BLU were to go, it’s my understanding that he wouldn’t be shoutcasting it and would only be there as a guest to the event. That being said, my offer still stands. If BLU doesn’t get voted in or declines the invite, I will post the crowdsource fund. Original post edited to reflect this.

I will do exactly that, once we know the outcome of the vote and acceptance. Once it is clear that BLU doesn’t already have a way of getting to gamescom, I will post the crowdsource fund link and everyone can have at it.

Hey guys, I was thinking of an amicable solution for the “BLU problem” , which is the conflict being caused by the fact that of all people, BLU by far is the most deserving person from NA (and the rest of the world, for that matter) to travel to this tournament, but not in contention for most deserving players. Here’s my proposal: BLU offers to drop out of the running, in exchange, I will open a crowd source fund to pay for his plane ticket and hotel room for the weekend. I will put 500 USD into this fund, and depend on the rest of the NA and EU communities to help out with the balance. If the support for BLU is really there, it should be no problem coming up with the 1.5k or so remaining dollars to get him to Germany to appear as a guest. Let’s see the most deserving players from each region play in this event, while still making sure BLU gets to go. The man has put his life into this game and its PvP scene, it’s time to give a little back.

I wanna fight Tage at gamescom always fun games

Good luck with the vote!

Practice 1v1s hard core as much as possible especially bad matchups. Try to get some time on EU during prime and practice rotations. Good luck budski

Right on BLU. Get your game on, go play. I’ll group with ya when I can (very busy these days). Well get you trained.

Good luck to everybody! This event is certainly stirring things up, I imagine EU will have an extremely competitive team, but I’m sure this will bring more attention to the competitive side of the game in all regions, at a time where it’s much needed. Would love to play in it if voted for, but I’m sure whoever wins will represent NA well. Throw Five Gauge, Zoose, Zombify and Supcutie votes, all are great well mannered players and have significant community contributions!

Agreed, Guardian is the best point contester in the game because you’re resistant to both condition and regular burst. Most classes can do one or the other, but none other can do both while also providing aoe support. To achieve this, using soldier runes and either going 3 shouts with AH or 2 shouts with Virtues is necessary, otherwise you or the team get melted by condis. Cleric is generally better than magi because as long as you have sufficient condi removal, the most important thing is surviving burst well enough to make your healing power effective, and toughness is the best star for that. And yes, resolute healer ftw,

Generally speaking, I would pick a top spec and roll it for at least several weeks, learn the ins and outs, and then branch off once you really have an intimate grasp on the role and plusses minuses of the options. These builds are tried and true over almost 2 years for very good reasons and those reasons may not be clear until hundreds of pvp hours have been played. Good luck!

Good luck to all the teams tomorrow, see you on the battlefield.

It’s always fun to play against the EU guys, but let’s face it, EU is a more competitive scene at the moment. I’d love to win, but I’d fully admit that we’d be playing at a disadvantage. I’m certainly hoping that this patch and the tournament will be a step forward towards fostering more competition in NA. Also, it’s hard to play on a level playing ground with how the lag is going across the Atlantic, sadly.

That’d only be fair to both sides if it were a LAN tournament like PAX hint hint

moronwmachinegun.3815:

give the DPS guard a spin

I see what you did there.

Congrats to both teams, and good job to Anet. Balance will never be perfect (a near-impossible task), but I have to say, I think the patch was a huge step forward. Everyone that worked on the feature patch should be very proud of their work, so thank them for me if you can Grouch. GW2 PvP has never been more fun for me than it is right now, and it seems that every class has at least one top-tier viable spec, most have 2-3. That’s pretty awesome.

Also, great job to the shoutcasters. Formal Sireph = best Sireph!

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7g-s;1NFF80V3RG-90;9;4TJ;0J59A47;548-Iwl3U;1jzyvjzyv0JG

Pretty self-explanatory, just go ham with Spirit Weapons in Solo Q! Not great for teamfight, but wins a lot of 1v1 matchups due to insane damage and CC. For more condi clear, you can go Lyssa and trade one of your weapons for a Staff, or swap “Stand Your Ground!” for Contemplation of Purity, or use Generosity Sigils. Against heavy projectiles, you can consider Shield of the Avenger over SYG, but I don’t really like having a situational stunbreaker. Still, it’s pretty good against Ranger and Engi. For Sigils, Air/Fire works too, having extra dodges is nice sometimes when you’re waiting on Spirit Weapon cooldowns, though. Have fun!

Here’s my version of Spirit Weapons post-patch, which I’ll probably post in my own thread later:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7Z-3d;0NFF80V3RG-90;9;4TJ;0J59A27;548-INl3L;1KJG4KJG41JJ

It’s fun to play in Solo Q, but I wouldn’t consider it the most serious build ever. The damage is pretty sick 1v1 on point, but bring it into a teamfight and your weapons will be pretty dead and/or kited. Still, I had a ton of fun playing the build, which you can see here about 1 hour in:

http://www.twitch.tv/cymerdown/b/521584768

Have fun!

After some more testing, I don’t think this build is quite good enough for top tier Team Q due to the lack of AoE Protection and less Stability, unless your team comp covers those aspects. Other than that, it’s still pretty decent and definitely fine for Solo Q. Consecrate ’em up!

Aw, thanks for the upvotes, but this is an impossible thing to really gauge. There’s two other game modes that I don’t even play, and there’s a lot of other great Guardian players. In terms of DPS Guard, I’ll readily admit that I’m relatively bad. Even among sPvP bunker Guards, there are other players I’d consider my equal or better, like Tage and Fraelina from EU. It’s the kind of thing where everyone will each have their own opinion on it, and none are right or wrong.

As another note, I wouldn’t consider bunker Guardian the hardest role to play on a team, not even close. It does require good combat awareness and good knowledge of when and how to use your cooldowns, but in terms of technical skill, there are other roles that require much more than bunker Guardian (I consider playing Thief properly the highest skillcap in the game, in terms of technical ability, positioning, and map awareness). To be honest, I’m getting old, so bunker Guard is more my speed.