Guild Wars 2

Does no one realize that you can create a squad and use commander functionality in PvE? We don’t have enough cash yet but when our guild gets one you’ll see our commanders running around towns and maps. We run events regularly that could make use of this both in WvW and PvE.

Honestly, you probably weren’t getting the greatest synergy with GS to begin with so I can see how the changes would have killed your build. That trait build would be a lot more effective with a Hammer primary. Especially if you’re looking to trigger Altruistic Healing. The symbol procs Altruistic Healing like mad and it’s almost constantly up with the longer trait.

My edit didn’t go through on the last post so I’ll respond here. I wasn’t trying to be confrontational. I was trying to reply to your original post. Your responses make it seem that you’re doing a lot more than sitting back and waiting for your GS cool downs. This has turned into a thread about the GS changes instead of stale game play though.

You want to focus on symbols. I’m assuming you’re running Zeal and Honor. Why not switch from staff to hammer or mace/X as your secondary to your GS? You’ll get a lot more synergy with symbols than with a staff. If there are any fights coming up that you know you’ll have to be at range, then switch out accordingly.

Neither the GS nor symbol builds have been invalidated. You’ll just have to adjust your weapons, utilities, etc. But this isn’t new to MMOs. There always have been and always will be patches and changes that force players to look at their builds again.

Rhinala.1739:

I cant see the connection between a viable argument and PvXWiki (in my opinion a tool for the lazy), What is wrong with players having a favorite weapon? or a favorite build?
Greatsword had a lot of viable playstyles and a lot of them are now closed to the player due to the symbol change, those players had a lot of fun with the game prior to this nerf. Today thy need to find a different weapon and a different playstyle, some will like it as a way to play a new game with your favorite toy some will not. those people are not vocal and are not a minority, and the lack of response from Anet feels bad, i do believe that thy are spending their time in finding a solution to this problem.

We are moving towards retaliation being more of a counter to taking many hits rather than a general boon to keep up all the time.

Why not reduce the retaliation duration in order to prevent a constant retaliation upkeep and prevent the stacking of retaliation and reduce the coodown of the retaliation skill in order to give the players the option to use it as a counter to attacks.
sorry to say that the 40 (32 with a trait) sec cooldown of signet of judgment with its 3 sec retaliation doesn’t give me a lot of options to counter attacks.

We also wanted to improve the combo finisher of the guardian, so we reorganized guardian greatsword skills to the

How can it be that doubling the cooldown of a skill improve combat, why cant thy increase the duration of the cooldown and increase the duration of the skill.
why cant we decrease the duration of the skill and give the player a shorter cooldown that will make combat a lot more tactical and fun.

If Anet will not hear the players effected by the nerf it only cause antagonism against Anet, i can’t see any logic with that.

First off, the PvXWiki comparison was about the general guardian forum. Not specific to this topic.

Secondly, I wish people would stop saying “ANET broke symbols”. They changed one out of the five symbols we have. They changed retaliation and symbol upkeep with the GS. That’s it. There are a bunch of ways for guardians to get more retaliation (other skills, combos, traits, etc.), there is a way to extend duration of symbols, and there are 4 other symbols if you want symbol damage (if you’re spec’d into symbol damage you should have had a second weapon on swap with a symbol anyway).

As for the general retaliation changes, I’m sure this is just the first step of the changes and I’m patient enough to see where they take it. We could sit here and suggest things and try and figure out where they’re going with it all day. In the end, it’s up to them though.

You realized only the first paragraph of that post was directed at you right? The other 2 sections were responding to Gisei.

But in response, if you’re weapon swapping and you can effectively “control enemies, tank, heal, and dps”, you’re not using just the GS and you’re actively doing a lot more than waiting on CDs so you’ve just completely refuted your own post about stale combat. And thus this entire thread.

garethedwards.8145:

You shouldn’t HAVE to switch weapons simply because of patch what was meant to fix retaliation…

No you should always be switching weapons. No one in this game should ever be using only one weapon. You have 2 weapon sets for a reason.

There is so much QQ about this breaking symbols and symbol traits. Last time I checked we get 5 symbols not 1…

Lastly, the GS was always a crappy weapon on the guardian. The Oct 7 changes haven’t changed that. The guardian has much better weapons if you want to gain synergies with the rest of what the class can do. On release, I would have rolled a Warrior or even a Ranger if I wanted to play GS extensively…

@All those wanting separate changes:
Do you really think they’d make 3 different skill sets? That’s what you would need. They aren’t just balancing for PvE and PvP. They’re balancing for PvE, PvP, and WvW. GW1 was also balanced differently between PvE and PvP because of the sheer number of skills they had to balance. GW2 should be easier for them to balance even keeping one set of skills for everything.

Lumines.3916:

Guardians even after all the toning down are still among the top. It’s a shame you can’t see the Guardian past greatsword.

inb4 you flame, I play a Guardian extensively too, I only pull out Greatsword on fights needing more AoE pressure. Otherwise, I run with Hammer/Staff and regularly switch to other sets when situation calls for. The worst change was the re-arrangement, 2 for Symbol the 3 to combo was very intuitive. I know the change was to keep each skill in increasing CDs but frankly, the new arrangement will take some getting used to.

It seems that you’re one of the types of players tunneling damage completely and completely blind to the ridiculous amount of utility this class can bring.

I completely agree (although I run different default weapon sets). In fact, I rarely use GS. It’s one of the worst weapons we get IMHO. I’d roll a Warrior or even a Ranger if I wanted to play GS extensively.

@OP: If you think the game play is stale, you haven’t tried a dungeon or any PvP. Up until 70-80, most of the open world PvE is pretty easy. Even at 70-80, it’s usually pretty easy due to the zergs that run around Orr. Try venturing off the beaten path alone or in a single party with just a greatsword though. The Risen zergs in some of those events will wreck you if you just play a greatsword. (I’m pretty sure the zerg learned how to swarm from the risen at this point…)

Gisei.5749:

And anyways, if you’re only using a GS, then you are suppose to have stale gameplay. You get 73 levels to master the weapon swap for a reason.

This is a major reason I think a lot of people are having problems with GW2. They don’t want to learn how to weapon swap. They want to stick with one weapon all the time. Well I’ve said it many times on this forum. GW2 is not built for you to play the weapon you want all the time. It’s built around selecting the right weapon for the job. In some dungeons, I not only use the weapon swap functionality but I’ll switch weapon sets altogether between areas once I know the dungeons well enough.

Gisei.5749:

To be quite frank, I pray Anet avoids this sub-forum for a bit. The idiots are quite vocal at the moment, and the more rational discussion and suggestions are diluted by a tidal wave of stupidity.

I kind of feel the same way. It’s like the entire crowd here asking Anet to change the game because they can’t figure out the class, the combat, etc…

It reminds me of PvXWiki in GW1. There were very few great builds that made it through the rating process. People couldn’t figure out how they worked so they just laughed them off or voted them down.

Ask and you shall receive:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/guilds/guilds/Stormbluff-Isle-Marked-Souls-PvX-WvW/

@Rhistel, glad to see you got your application in!

@sini, we were Marked Souls there as well. I can remember us and Deviance constantly switching places in the rankings. We were apart of the alliance with Chaos Haven as well.

One character per guild is not a multi-guild system. It’s the same system every other game has had (except GW1 which was account wide of course).

As a guild leader, I personally love the system as is. It forces the burden on the guild leadership to provide a place that players wish to represent. That means that guilds become more meaningful. Unfortunately, it does move into territory that forces some communication outside of the game (facebook group/page, twitter, forum, etc) but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The only reason a person should ever be kicked from your guild for not representing is:
1) they’ve been shown to never represent even when doing something with your guild
2) they never represent and never do anything with your guild (in which case they would be kicked for inactivity normally)

Check out our recruitment thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/guilds/guilds/Stormbluff-Isle-Marked-Souls-PvX-WvW

Check out our recruitment thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/guilds/guilds/Stormbluff-Isle-Marked-Souls-PvX-WvW

Check out our recruitment thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/guilds/guilds/Stormbluff-Isle-Marked-Souls-PvX-WvW

Check out our recruitment thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/guilds/guilds/Stormbluff-Isle-Marked-Souls-PvX-WvW

Website: www.markedsouls.com
Territory: North America
Voice Comm: TeamSpeak 3 (not required but helpful and encouraged even without mic)
Races Accepted: All
Server: Kaineng

Who is Marked Souls?

Marked Souls was created in 2007 as a small, friendly Guild Wars guild. We’re currently focusing on Guild Wars 2. We’re a PvX guild with members based in North America (US and Canada) but we are open to members in all time zones. We’ve always favored quality over quantity and because of that we have never been a large guild. What we do have is a group of players who get along and play well with each other.

Who are we looking for?

We’re primarily looking for players who like running coordinated groups whether they’re in a dungeon, fractal, or WvW. We look for mature players with good attitudes and the ability to “play well with others”. By no means does mature refer to either age or game experience. Members range in age from late teens to the fifties and our experiences range from newcomers to veterans. Mature equals behavior and actions in Marked Souls.

What does Marked Souls do?

We’re a PvX guild and our members have a diverse set of interests. Before the release of Guild Wars 2, our members were found in games such as: Guild Wars, SW:ToR, LoL, Diablo, and Minecraft.

What can Marked Souls offer you?

• Great friendly people and a group of players that understand the value of support and encouragement.
• Experience and help! Members range from veteran players to enthusiastic newcomers and all in between. Most of which are ready to help with almost any aspect of the game.
• PvE, WvW, or sPvP – it’s your choice! We will have guild events for all with PvE and WvW being the most frequent.

What does Marked Souls offer GW2 players?

• PvE events such as dungeons, fractals, jumping puzzles, home grown events (Nekkid Runs, Scavenger Hunts, etc.)
• WvW Events
• Helpful craft masters for all of your crafting needs

How do you join?

If you’re interested in Marked Souls, visit our website at http://www.markedsouls.com or mail kousei.5914 in game.

Marked Souls
www.markedsouls.com

We’ve got a lot of information on our website so I’ll point you there instead of doing the copy/paste thing.

Max Lexandre.6279:

We don’t need mounts. We need cheaper waypoints for maps we already completed. :P

This! Please ANET never implement mounts.

Azulia.1745:

I was not talking about friends notifications upon log in and out, I was talking about guild people logging in and out. And notification on chat box of it. It’s nice to say hello to people upon them logging on in guild.
And I saw no chat options for friend notification for logging in and out you speak of. Besides a click I never pay attention to. In other games I had “Your friend Bob had come online”

Yeah. Just logged in to check. The option is “Game Messages”. Go to your chat tab options and turn it on.

Azulia.1745:

I have never seen anyone with a title over their name in game yet.

Titles can be seen when you click on someone. No need to clutter the screen with text that isn’t needed.

Azulia.1745:

If ready check is implemented in game, a transfer leadership option is useful, also to be able for only leader to target mobs in raids. As in PUG’s some people randomly like to target crap that doesn’t need to be targeted.

Ready check should be able to be started by any party member. I do hope they implement a ready check. If you want more coordination, find a guild/group of friends that will work with you. Going back to a party leader system would make the current party system a lot less flexible. “Well party leader is afk so we can’t do that right now, sorry…”

Azulia.1745:

In other games, there was an option to remain “ANON” so no one could inspect you. It’s a nice option to have if you can ask a guild member to allow inspection so you can see what they have on to craft them better stuff, afterward…guess what? they can toggle inspection OFF.

The bad far outweighs the good when it comes to inspections. Leave you inspections Off and people will just say “turn on inspection or we’ll kick”. Inspections leave the players of the game too much room for discrimination. Guild members and friends can simply ping you their armor in chat. You can then see the stats and even preview it on your character. It’s actually easier than going to options and toggling a checkbox every time anyway.

Silver.8023:

Nothing wrong with Guardian there, something definately wrong with the people you’re teaming with though

And this my friend is why I’ve yet to run a dungeon with anything but guildies.

Azulia.1745:

-a Log in or log off indication in guild chat of members
-Transfer Leadership option
-PLEASE allow more in party for group events and WvW with guild and others. 5 is not enough
-Friend log on notification
-Be able to inspect party members or others
-Ability to wear a title after or below your name (titles are great, Why can’t we display what we earned?)

The log in and log out of friends and guild members is already in game. It’s the system option in chat options I think.

Titles are already in game. You select which one to wear in the Hero panel’s achievement tab. Top left drop down list.

There is currently no party leader as everyone can invite, suggest a kick, etc. so transfer party leader is not needed in this game.

For squads, everyone in the game should have the ability to form 30 man squads. Then simply make the Commander tag a WvW only book that allows them to be seen on the map by other players.

And ANET please never add gear inspections. This will only lead to gear discrimination in a game where gear means little to nothing. I’d rather see people creating a friends list filled with good players than those that have geared.

Can we get this and last time represented?

lorazcyk.8927:

If there’s no loyalty it’s because your members don’t feel like your guild is worth being loyal to

Fix that, instead of forcing people to being loyal to a guild that stinks.

This. Don’t think I have any more to say.

Please give everyone in the game the ability to form 30 man squads. Then simply make the Commander tag a WvW only book that allows them to be seen on the map by other players.

We’ve needed this functionality in both PvE and WvW during our guild events. The ability to use squad chat, target calling, etc is useful to everyone in the game.

GSSBlunaspike.4153:

Protection giving -33% damage 5s 30second cd VS block 3 attacks 4 seconds 45second cd.

If you could ensure the boss is on you non stop hitting for 1k a hit once per second for 30 seconds straight the focus only negates 3k damage while protection prevents (5000 × .33 = 1650) 1650 damage. Blocking also removes any side effects of the hit.

For on demand damage mitigation the shield can’t do the same as the focus. The cooldowns are too long to be effective. The percent mitigation at only 33%, and the fact that it may or may not even hit your target makes it inferior. In order for protection to equal the blocking you need to be hit roughly twice per second over 4 seconds. That isn’t hard at all in say sPvP, but in more predictable PvE that isn’t likely to happen.

.33 x X1000 = X1000-(1000×3)

Great post but you completely missed the point of the Guardian Why are you trying to tank on a Guardian? Why are you trying to tank at all in GW2 but even if you were why a Guardian? If you were going to build a tank, a Warrior is built far better than a Guardian for tanking and will easily outlive a Guardian if setup correctly.

Stop trying to play this game like WoW and all it’s clones and you’ll see why Shield is so much more useful than Focus. In fact, you’ll see why Focus is all but useless outside of sPvP/WvW.

On the first run through every dungeon, I run Mace/Shield and Scepter/Focus. (Scepter is better at kiting the champs than Staff)

After the first run, it will highly depend on the mechanics of each dungeon what I play though. When we do the Howling King now, I must change between 4 weapon combinations lol.

I have told my guildies many times that I wish the orb on #1 was faster and that #2 was a symbol. Other than that, it’s a good weapon.

Honestly, I really only want #2 to be a symbol so I can get the symbol traits (larger, longer, etc) to work with it :P

Fabsm.5897:

I have tried every weapon combination in the game, and i support the fact that choosing a particular weapon or offhand as “superior” is silly.

So, argument on “this is better than that” are moot for me. It is always situational. As all of this game’s mechanics are.

This is 100% true. GW2 definitely dictates weapon use by situation.

Natas.1306:

I will resume what the point of the guardian in WvWvW; absolutely dominating everyone on the server.

Myself i am a guardian player and i feel like a kittenong human. I easily win 3 vs 1 fights and 4 vs 1 fights. I can take the heat like crazy and survive, all peoples need to know is your not there to push a zerg at range with AOE. You need to know your role according to your build, you basically protect your squishy spell caster, you initiate combat and win battle with your high survivability.

Peoples that say that guardian suck in general need to either learn to play or learn to make a proper build. One thing to note is guardian is very gear dependent so everyone that say the class suck before hitting level 80 and not having proper gear should not come here and complain.

Oh and also dont be scared to switch weapons to close the gap on the enemies and set up combo for some faceroll attacks.

This a thousand times. The funny part is people won’t peel off you and attack someone squishier either. They’ll keep attacking you while you just walk them into your zerg… I’ve lost count of the warriors that we’ve beat this way.

On your gear statement, I kind of agree but gear is so easy to get. I leveled armorsmithing with my character and have never had a problem crafting a new set every 10 levels. I will say that I think it’s dependent on the player to balance his/her trait build with gear so that you’re not too squishy with a Zeal/Radiance build or so you can actually do damage when running a Valor/Honor build.

Karew.2169:

I am a gigantic fan of Renewed Focus for this reason. It gives you a free release of all virtues, usually giving your whole party 6 buffs and +1000 health (not counting regen even). You can release the virtues while channeling it, too. In PvP, the invincibility can be trollface, especially when you’re getting focused. In PvE, the invincibility is a great extra few seconds of tanking or breathing room for your regen.

I find the tomes to be pretty underhwleming, simply because of their cooldown and my limited mobility when using them. Also: I have no idea why you’re not allowed to release virtues or use utility skills when using a tome. All other environmental weapons allow this.

I agree Renewed Focus is the best we get but like I said in my earlier post, it could definitely use a tweak.

OutsiderSubtype.4329:

So I could be using this difficult to use skill to grant my team protection, or I could be using Hold the Line on a shorter cooldown which also grants regeneration?

You will say that Hold the Line is a utility. True, but if my goal is buffing my team there are better ways to do it than Shield of Judgment.

I do see the value of Scepter/Shield for some situations in dungeons. But it’s a niche role. For general play the shield is lackluster.

Nope, I won’t say that. I run both so that I can have protection up on my allies for longer.

Ynna.8769:

I don’t really dislike the Staff, but I find the weapon “unfocused”. Other weapons have a clear goal to them, but apart from a general “support”-idea, the Staff seems to lack that goal.
The skills seem disjointed and don’t really fit together. Individually, the skills are more or less fine (might do with some tweaks, but nothing serious), but put together they just don’t provide an identity for the Staff.

This. 100% this.

@Kindread: greats posts in this thread!

ANET always said every class would be able to do everything. They never stated was that every class would excel at everything. The guardian excels at support and defense. There are other classes the excel at damage.

@gabo:
You had it right when you said scepter/focus was best for ranged and kiting. It’s the only off-hand that really has any use when kiting.

@jimmyup:
I would take it a step further and say in sPvP/WvW focus is great personal defense. In PvE, not so much. You can use something like Hammer with enough control never to need the block and have 2 useful swaps instead of something/focus just so you can block when you can dodge. Focus is kind of useless in PvE outside of kiting some tougher champions, etc. Later on when you start getting sigils, this will become even more apparent. For example, I run with a sigil of stamina on my shield which recharges my endurance (dodge bar) on every kill. Between Hammer which has insane control and the sigil in my mace/shield set, I rarely have to block in PvE.

@OutsiderSubtype:
Turn your enemy around and then use it. You should be doing this anyway so your team isn’t affected by any cone AoE’s the enemy has.

@ANET:
Fix your forums so we can quote people consistently!

There are some very valid complaints about the guardian that I would love to get fixed. Yours just aren’t in that pool. Now stop hijacking people’s thread just to QQ that you can’t play your class.

At this point, I’m beginning to assume it has more to do with code quality and network than hardware. They had no issue adding extra servers meaning they had extra hardware capabilities. As a software developer, it’s awful to see push after push break things. I’ve yet to see ANET push a patch that didn’t have issues. Bad code = inefficient code.

Unfortunately, Zireael is right. The video game industry as a whole has moved away from creating quality product to “let’s just make an ROI, they won’t be playing after 6 months anyway”… Just look at Skyrim…

I fully endorse account bound siege!

Scalyon.7028:

Non-WvW players shouldn’t have to queue for PvE objectives. Anet needs to remove the PvE crap ( eg: Vistas & PoIs) from PvP maps.

As an avid WvW player at 90%+ world completion, I completely agree. It’s ridiculous that I have to swap maps, etc just to get world completion. Technically it’s part of the Mists not the world anyway… :P

I run very close to what Splintrr is running with a few changes:

1) I run Knight’s (tough, pow, prec) armor and the trait for 5% of tough goes to prec.

2) I run Sword+Shield and Scepter+Focus because I can snare with Scepter then spike with Sword to get kills and badges.

3) I run Wall of Reflection, Hold the Line, and Stand Your Ground because while I love the shouts (traited for condition removal and 20% recharge decrease), I honestly feel no Guardian should be without Wall of Reflection in WvW. It is too good at protection siege, gates, teammates, etc.

I tend to like human for most of my melee types because Reaper of Grenth is an amazing elite to compliment what Guardians already get. A lot of people say Charr for Charrzooka but why not just use Tome of Wrath? Asuran and Sylvari can be interesting choices if you want their utility skills but I find it hard to fit them on any of the builds I run. As for Norn, I don’t like the their racial skills at all.

AnubisXy.5713:

Either Anet needs to add a good ranged weapon option to Guardians, or they need to start rewarding money and drops to people playing a support role. The way things currently are is a problem.

This I’ll agree with but it’s a completely separate issue than “is the guardian viable in WvW”. It used to be fine but it feels like they nerfed badge drop rates…

Ynna.8769:

@kousei: For me, personally, I didn’t roll a a Guardian because it looked like a “Paladin” or because I expected a tank. It was because Arenanet themselves said that this was the profession for people who liked healers.
And in WvWvW it didn’t exactly deliver on that.
Can Guardians make a difference in WvWvW? Yes, certainly. But you’re only rewarded for 50% of our skillset.
Are Guardians viable in WvWvW? Probably, yeah, but only in a rather narrow niche.

If I recall correctly, they said Guardians were for those that liked to support and defend their allies. In fact, the original line they had on the site which has since been taken down was: “I’ll guard you. Let them come through ME first!”.

Finally quotes work for me! lol

Put my vote towards account bound instead of character bound. I shouldn’t be locked into one character for WvW (or large organized PvE events for that matter) because of this book.

Traits: 0/0/30/30/10
Armor: full exotic Knight’s (tough/power/prec)
Runes: still trying to decide between dolyaks and soldiers… leaning toward dolyak right now
Weapons: all berserkers (power/prec/crit dmg)
Acc: goal is all exotic Knight’s here too

I run the trait that gives 5% of toughness to precision.

George Steel.1804:

I’m going to go with a big fat NO.

Hilariously, I have had the best time with Tome of Wrath (the one I initially thought I would NOT like). In PvE, this burning, crippling, weakness spreading tome works ABSOLUTE WONDERS against big pulls of elite mobs. I’m telling you people, try it. You can also spread quickness AND might buffs to your team.. it’s great.

ToW is also pretty good for Wv3.

Courage is useless and NOT fun to use. The only skills that are worth using are 4->5. This dazes and full heals. Not good in dungeons either, especially when compared to spreading cripple + weakness + burning to multiple targets.

Renewed Focus is just a god awful ability and I’m not really sure who thought that would be an appropriate elite.

Pretty much this. I do use Renewed Focus though. The virtue recharge and invulnerability is really amazing in certain situations. I still think it could be a lot better. For example, I don’t think it should root you while in use. I think it should work like Shelter in that respect.

@shedim: You’ve got an entire thread of people saying how amazing the guardian is in WvW and this isn’t the first thread. ANET said that every class would be able to do everything but they didn’t say ever class would excel at everything. They’ve always said that professions weren’t the normal ones and that they were built to cater to different play styles. The more you post the more I think you’d be much happier on a warrior.

I’m willing to bet that most people complaining about the guardian didn’t take the time to play through the classes during beta or first week to find the one that fit them. GW2 is a new take on classes but a lot of people still locked into old archetypes. For example, they see guardian, go “look a paladin”, and never put any more thought into their class selection. They expect it to be the tank when the warrior is MUCH better at traditional tank and then insist ANET change it when it’s their own fault for not researching their class selection.

@shedim: Just because you won’t take the time to learn your profession outside, don’t taint others’ perception of it. Classes are supposed to be about personal play style more than anything else and if you hate the guardian’s play style so much maybe you just picked the wrong class to play.

Guardian is a wonderful profession in WvW and any commander/leader on a map wants as many as he/she can get on his/her side. They’re too amazing where it counts in WvW.

First off, you should find a good group/guild to play WvW with. Preferably on that’s in contact with the server’s leadership. I’ve found it’s incredibly boring alone and following the zerg on any class. In a coordinated group, it’s amazingly fun though. You’ll have a purpose besides “follow the zerg” and you’ll be able to take advantage of target calling, etc.

Second, (here’s the long part) all of your weapon sets are useful in WvW.

Staff can be used to escort Dolyaks due to the speed buff.

Staff and Hammer can be used to clog up gates and small corridors to allow ballistas and friendly AoE to kill incoming enemies.

Hammer and Shield (SoA) can be used to knock enemies off of walls/siege weapons.

Scepter (#3), Staff (#5), Hammer (#5), and Shield (#5) can be used to keep enemies from entering their tower/keep portal to aid in defense.

Shield (#5) and Wall of Reflection can be used to protect siege weapons and allies.

Scepter and Focus can be used to attack enemies and siege on top of enemy walls or enemies trying to get into your towers/keeps.

GS and Sword can be used for decent damage at close range and gap closers.

Even Mace can be used to give allies manning siege weapons regeneration.

I’ve posted this in another thread but I think you’ll get more use out of it:

For the most part, WvW play is party/squad/zerg battles. In those situations, I use Scepter/Focus as my annoyance set and spam Scepter #1, Scepter #2, and Focus #4. When you see a low target, Scepter #2, then Scepter #3, then weapon swap, then Sword #2, then Sword #3, and finally spam Sword #1. I rarely even run a utility snare as it’s not needed but you can add something like Bane Signet or Signet of Wrath to keep them close.

In keep/tower defense situations, you should be on a siege weapon or protecting siege and incoming allies with Shield of Absorbtion and Wall of Reflection. If a gate/wall looks like it will go down, you should switch at least one of your weapon sets to Staff or Hammer to take advantage of a Ward.

In keep/tower attack situations, you can be on a ram/siege golem or you can be on dolyak/foe watch. When I do dolyak/foe watch, I spam Scepter #1, Scepter #2, and Focus #4 on foes on top of walls and/or foe siege. When you see someone trying to get in, use Scepter #3, then weapon swap, then Sword #2, then dodge in front of enemy (towards their portal), then Shield #5, then Sword #3. If they’re not dead by that point, the fellow players on your server weren’t helping you enough. If a foe gets into the keep/tower, that’s another defender they have to man siege and drop AoE on your head so your allies should be helping you here.

tl;dr: Using the correct weapon set for each situation is very, very important in GW2. Also, finding a good group/guild is very important for fun WvW play.

Solesaver.8764:

3) People who care can set up training camps and teach newbies good strategies.

No offense and I like the rest of your post but this is the most important part. You could show your guild members where to place siege, how the siege works, tactics, best choke points, where to/not to take supplies, etc. All the stuff that’s invaluable when you actually get into a WvW map.

rndmize.9274:

I clicked this thread expecting it to be another “wtb daoc system” thread or something that would imbalance things in favor of people that have been playing WvW for a long time, but actually… I find these to be pretty good.

My thoughts exactly.