Guild Wars 2

Looks like an interesting build and glad you’re having fun with it. unfortunately you wont be able to make it anymore once the core changes come down the line.

It seems to me this map is an attempt to imitate the moba game format. In order for that to work I think they need to change a few things in order for it to work right.

For one you should add a 3rd lane, and change the existing lanes so that troops advance from both sides instead of blue teams lane and red teams lane. this will force teams to split there forces instead of putting everything into their assault and ignoring everything else.

It doesn’t matter what explanation you put, they’re not gonna change it from dragon hunter.

Yeah, It seems we’re just testing the event and thats pretty much it.. I got a portal, but I may not even bother hopping in when I get home.

the new zone and events will be nice, but I’d rather save that surprise for actual release.

Vizardlorde.8243:

google.3709:

Ragnarox.9601:

Vizardlorde.8243:

Or you know the thief could dodge through the 4 traps once and kill the guardian. If the thief is carrying a sword he can even ignore DM with shadow return lol. The trick might work once in a match but after they know you are not a meditation guardian you are as good as dead if you are running zerker.

Yea why didnt they do pvp vs a thief and not the hambow warrior without skill ? Because they know DH sucks vs other classes.

Guess you failed to see all the big numbers. are you upset because anet is gonna force you to land them and you know, play the game?

DragonHunter is actually gonna be really strong both 1v1 and team fights.

hambow because that’s hugh’s main.

have you ever played a staff necro? the #1 rule is never clump your traps together and #2 avoid pre-casting any marks except blood (short cd). Know why? because if you clump all marks/traps in 1 spot 1 dodge triggers them all at once for the grand to tal of 0 damage, 0 conditions. And if you pre- cast marks instead of dropping them on you enemy skilled players have an easier time avoiding them.

One thing that’s different though is enemies can see those marks beforehand. with traps they’re not gonna know where they are unless they see you cast it.

Arken.3725:

I don’t think that Shield of Courage actually blocks but rather just destroys, maybe i’m missing something. Also the potential strafing of the LB auto is worrisome as well. I don’t think the new elite will replace RF, it’s too niche. Also, the remark of nerfing the immobilization was surprising to hear.

I really hope you’re wrong. its annoying enough that zealots defense doesn’t actually block attacks on a class thats all about blocks and protection, but then change our aegis virtue to not block and kill any possible synergy with the traits..

Nike.2631:

Ok… seriously. How would DH immediately displacing the current Guardian meta be a good thing? What you’re describing would be pure, unadulterated Power Creep and it’s not a desirable outcome. New professions should introduce new interactions for the top players to be aware of, but honestly even the Devs don’t have a great feel for what the optimal DH set up is and comparing that newborn colt-level of performance with the alpha predator that’s been refined over the course of years is just silly.

^This.

and if it had been so good that it would defiitely repl,ace the current fad there’d be people complaining that their builds were now obsolete..

you can’t please anyone…

He didn’t seem to have much trouble getting his traps to trigger..

I don’t know why people have this belief that a trap or aoe is only good if the enemy is on it for the entire duration. You’re usually not using them for the damage. its for the conditions which stay after you leave the trap.

That video was very disappointing though..

I suppose in this case its purely subjective. you may see it as deterring use of the virtues. Where as I see it more as incentive to use them differently or change when you use them in your “rotation” I don’t feel it completely discourages using the active effects.

Ragnarox.9601:

and where is LB 20% ? They missed it I guess.

There isn’t one currently

I don’t think it should be baseline any more than any other nice trait you’d rather have for free.

you could say that about any trait. “it’s good, but it should be baseline.. cause then I can trait for something else and have even more.”

Arken.3725:

I wanted to categorize both Defender’s Dogma and Purity of Body to be incredibly niche and discourages you from utilizing the active portion of your virtue’s.

Edit: Zealous scepter also falls into this category of discouraging the use of virtue’s…why?

I think their idea with these types of traits is use in conjunction with the new courage active effect, get multiple blocks and quickly stack on burning or might.

Yes you will want to hesitate using justice when you’re trying to set this up, but you would throw down some aoe or do a big multi hit attack right after popping VoC get you burn and/or might stacks then maybe pop justice or a little extra burn.

Invul is a hard counter to anything…

this is a poor arguement.

I can’t decide and my current build is a hybrid across 4 trait lines so its really tough. I think I’ll have to wait til I can actually get my hands on it to see how things feel.

I am fairly sure I want to keep virtues because I love absolute resolution, but I’m not sure what to do for my 3rd trait line.

seems very reminiscent of a deathknight. not that, that’s a bad thing.

Man, you guys need to lay off the crack. I can’t wait to play dragon hunter.

as stated above it addressed so many of our shortcomings plus bow and arrow is awesome!

Toxsa.2701:

In PVE, your F1 is refreshed instantly anytime you kill a foe, so basically you’d have infinite stability if they change to your proposed version.

True shot has a CD of 4 seconds. the trait gives you 3 sec of stability so if you can hit up to 5 enemies with it thats 15 sec of stability.

So unless there is an internal cooldown you can already get permanent stability with the trait.

OP.

They Have stated that they plan to do several specializations for all classes over time so you may eventually get one that appeals to the playstyle you’re looking for.

I Have always loved Archery, and also really like the holy warrior archtype so I’m very excited with this combination, but if its not what you’re looking for I suppose that’s fair.

SMH.. you can’t say one class is gonna be OP in the expansion when they’ve only showed us two of them. you have no idea what kind of changes the other classes will be getting or exactly what they’ll be doing to gear, sigils, runes etc in the expansion.

I don’t know this screenshot you’re speaking of but I usually like asymmetrical armor so most likely I’ll like them.

and TheDuck is probably correct on the reasoning for the asymmetry.

I’ve been trying to brainstorm some DH builds and my biggest hurdle right now is condition cleansing. I usually go virtues so resolve removes 3, but doing that I have to sacrifice a lot of other solid traits I wanted to use. the other option I see is shouts, but then I need more shouts to get the best benefit I was hoping to at least run 2 trap utilities.

I could try dropping a light field and shooting through it, but how reliable would that be

I’m ok with the way the healing is dished out. it would be a little nicer if it healed you on jump and allies on land, but if it doesn’t I can deal.

what I don’t like though is the fact that its ground targeted. I hate ground target abilities. I would be much happier if it functioned like leap of faith. no target you just jump a fixed distance forward. and if you have a target you jump to them.

ground targeted jumps are just awkward and clunky to use

Vendallin.1695:

How is a cooldown with a set length and a guaranteed proc rate RNG? At all?

Anyway, having the HUD track all of your traits’ cooldowns would be a pain. Just use True Shot twice and you’ll know when you can knock again.

^Exactly what he said. If they add heavy light counter to the hud, then why not every other trait’s ICD? Because if they did that there’d be no room left for the game screen.

I don’t think you understand the term rng.

Also requirements like this are added so that it takes some amount of skill to play the game well. You need to learn to judge distances in game and be aware of your surroundings not just look at your hud to tell you when to do what.

I think I already know the answer, but I wanted to see what you guys thought.

As far as this trait goes, do you think someone who bumps into ring of warding would be considered knocked back?

cause heavy armor is.. heavy. and we don’t live at the gym like warriors do.

What are they gonna do about? Not a G****n thing. Learn to live with it and move on.

no trap tooltips?

a taunt in some form on the guardian needs to happen and will make traps even easier to use. just set up a pit of death and then taunt people into it.

did they say of the light of deliverance would be instant? or if its still that ridiculous cast time? I might take it if its instant and works on me too.

a second full heal, yes please.

are these replacements still elites or regular utilities. I don’t think I would take either over renewed focus unless the passive on the signet was a substantial heal.

if they’re just utilites then sure why not.

Sylent.3165:

Ragnarox.9601:

Hammer/LB , gs/lb meta inc. Personally 2 traps are good (aoe vuln and whirl thingy). Elite is also good.
LB autoattack is okish.
2# is good but need to stay in 1 place.
3# is ok, blind plus block.
4# is good symbol dmg.
5# is Good too but too long CD (they could decrease cd but nerf it a little – it is the longest cd out there on weapons)

heal skill is useless. (block is better but wait and see for the beta)

Agreed for most part lol. I dunno how the heck this heal is going to work for pve at all.

How am I going to heal during any champion at range?

I guess just don’t use that heal in pve? it might be a little better if they made that one ground target.

I am super excited for these changes. so many conditions and cc possibilities.

Try to look at it this way, guardians are about protecting, be it allies, or an area. If a guardian doesn’t want you in an area they’re gonna have many ways to make you miserable for stepping foot on that ground.

a trap is really no different than a symbol or consecration other than it activates when stepped on instead of activating automatically.

It would fit more thematically if they called it something like a ward or seal, but a rose by any other name…

mechanically I think it works fine with guardians as defenders/gatekeepers area of denial experts.

Black Box.9312:

Sagat.3285:

Zetsumei.4975:

Unspecified.9142:

Before today Guardians were screaming how much they wanted longbow. They get a longbow that works like a longbow. Now everyone is complaining.

What exactly did people think Guardian Longbow was going to be?

I don’t play guard but im pretty sure its obvious that the problem isnt the longbow itself, its the fact that they also gave them traps (and therefore stealth) and bleeds basically turning them into a trapper ranger 2.0 and doesnt sound like a guard at all.

It a mix of professions, they don’t have pets and are not ranger 2.0 you are not limited to LB+traps mix and match how you want or simply don’t get it if you are satisfied with current guardian we have been asking for long range and damage conditions other then burn. It fits right now with our needs and demands the future stream can confirm it, again if you have what you prefer don’t bash on those liking the dragonhunter concept.

You have to admit that there were plenty more unique ways to apply long range and condition builds than by almost literally copy+pasting a ranger skillset. They’re going to have to make these “traps” very NOT trap-like in order for people to want to use them over meditations, consecrations, or shouts.

how in the hell do you know its copy and paste from rangers? Thieves have traps too, but they’ve barely mentioned what any of the DH traps do, or the utilities they offer.

People don’t seem to realize that these specializations are a way to bring back the ability in gw1 to combine classes.

So eventually all classes will likely have specializations that imitated some aspects of another class.

If you don’t like that, then don’t use a specialization and just be a vanilla guardian.

TyPin.9860:

Zackie.8923:

specialization should not be mixing classes together…

From what I gather that is the whole point of specializations. In GW1 you could always combine 2 professions. In GW2 this role seems to be done by elite specializations. In this case it was obviously a combination of Guardian and Ranger as Chronomancer seems to be a combination of Mesmer and Necromancer.

^This.

I will say I’m not super fond of the name as it doesn’t mesh thematically with a guardian, but I am super excited to have a longbow which I’ve always loved, new virtue mechanics etc.

I’m iffy about the traps just because I don’t like ground targeted abilities, but I’ll give them a fair shot.

maybe they’ll work amazingly for bunker guardians. Even more node control..

Is there a reason our new “thing” in our specialization wouldn’t be auras?

Jaxom.7310:

someone needs to re watch the preview from last week. i feel like one of them almost said the word scepter when they were talking about the symbol traits.

any one got the time to kill? i could have just imagined it because it does make too sense to be a symbol

Yeah, I noticed when they were talking about symbol traits I swore one of them said something to the effect of “that’s gonna be nice with scepter” I though he misspoke, no one corrected him but they also never explicitly said scepter 2 would become a symbol.

along the same lines as that sword 3 also needs to become a block like the tooltip says instead of an absorb.

Vizardlorde.8243:

rajule.8054:

I guess I can chalk that up to me only really playing guardian. traits that cast utilities is new to them but I guess not other classes.

but even the traits you reference activate weapon abilities, or general class effects. These new guardian traits seem to activate utility skills in their entirety. It’s similar to existing traits, but not quite the same thats why I wanted clarification on the functionality.

Ok ranger omen of clarity, necro death nova, warrior’s last stand and all the other auto stance traits, the auto shake it off trait etc. You really make it difficult to make you happy you know that…

Again I’ll state that I’ve really only played guardian for a significant amount of time and maybe a couple hours each on engineer, and thief. All other professions I’ve never touched so I’m not at all familiar with the examples stated, but I’ve looked at the evidence provided(namely the stance altering traits you mentioned) and see that you are indeed correct as to the functionality of these traits.

My eyes are open. thanks

I guess I can chalk that up to me only really playing guardian. traits that cast utilities is new to them but I guess not other classes.

but even the traits you reference activate weapon abilities, or general class effects. These new guardian traits seem to activate utility skills in their entirety. It’s similar to existing traits, but not quite the same thats why I wanted clarification on the functionality.

well I hope thats the case cause it could mean the difference between some fairly useless traits to some potential awesome ones.

what I am wondering is the tooltip they showed in the video said

“Striking an enemy with Justice’s active effect triggers Signet of Wrath”

In order to use this trait would you have to have signet of wrath equipped as one of your utilities? or do you gain the effect even if you’re not using the utility? and if thats’ the case do they stack? share cooldowns? etc.

same with smiter’s boon? that could actually be pretty nuts if you were able to clear one condition and smite via heal, then immediately do it again using the utility.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Eh personally I wish they would make it daze or slow anyone who breaks an AEGIS you applied.

The guardian is horribly lacking when it comes to CC & needs all the help it can get in that department.

YES, that would be awesome to daze someone when you block their attack.
+1

I would REALLY like to see aegis able to stack..
Then some abilities and traits could be given a little more oomph by applying more than one stack of aegis, but even without that what if there are multiple guardians who pop courage close together. one of those is pretty much wasted. The way aegis and blocks work the duration doesn’t really matter. no one ever says oh that guy has aegis up. let me hold off my attack until it drops off. no, if anything he’s just gonna use an auto attack to remove it then unleash his burst.

stacking would help that a little if you had 3 stacks of aegis IE 3 attacks blocked then there’s a better chance of you negating a huge attack rather than some aoe proc for 56dmg..

the only other alternative I can think of is put a damage threshhold on it. say aegis will block the next incoming attack up to 1000 dmg, then you get hit for 300. that gets blocked leaving 700 left, once it reaches 1000 dmg aegis is removed. If an attack for say 3000 hits you, then it is fully blocked, but aegis drops immediately.

regardless something needs to be done to improve aegis because its just not a reliable way of negating damage in pvp. pve is a little different cause enemies don’t attack as often and the tells are easier to notice.

Kanashi.5104:

Healing Skills

-The devs said that they were making Healing Breeze a shout but did not know what to make Shelter. In all honesty shelter doesn’t fall into the categories very well. If anything I would consider it a mediation (RP reasons, you are meditating on a shelter). This may make it so that the current mediation heal is never used though (it really isn’t viable). I suggest just leaving it as no type.

It’s currently considered a meditation, and is already affected by meditation traits. why not just keep it as is?

I’m looking forward to being able to try some new specs, but being that we’re gonna be “restricted” to 3 trait lines I wont be able to keep my current spec which I’ve rather enjoyed.

I would miss the chill effect and burst damage, but I think I could live with either as long as the uptime was decent. many complaints with glacial heart before were the uptime. or if it procced and was immediately cleansed you had to wait too long to reapply it.

Saiyan.1704:

They were talking about Permeating Wrath’s burn proc around the target instead of yourself. I truly hope so. I’ll be able to use Bow and Scepter combination, burning foes at 900 – 1200 distance away.

My build setup will be 6 Radiance, 6 Honor and 6 Virtues. If we don’t get Permeating Wrath buff then a mix of Zeal and Virtue.

I’m pretty sure they also said that the specializations take up one of your trait lines, and you will only get access to the new weapon while using that specialization. so I believe you’d have to sacrifice one of those trees if you want to use the bow and scepter.

honor:
minor:
vigorous precision: gain vigor when you deliver a critical hit(5sec)
selfless daring: the end of your dodge roll heals nearby allies(152hp)
purity of body: your virtue of resolve passive effect also regenerates endurance.(15%)
major:
1.invigorated bulwark: gain increased healing power each time you block an attack while wielding a mace, stacks up to 10 times, mace abilities recharge faster.(50 healing power for 10sec
2.protective reviver: activate shield of absorbtion when you begin reviving an ally, when you successfully revive an ally you both gain aegis, protection, and regeneration.
3.protector’s impact: create a symbol of protection whenyou take falling damage, you take less falling damage(50%)

4.honorable staff: boon duration is increased while wielding a staff, staff abilities recharge faster( boon duration 20%, recharge rate 20%)
5.pure of heart: aegis heals when it blocks an attack(668hp)
6.empowering might: you and nearby allies gain might when you critically hit(5sec)

7.pure of voice: allies affected by shouts have conditions converted to boons, shouts recharge faster(1 condition converted, recharge rate 20%)
8.writ of persistance: symbols last longer, are larger, and heal allies(healing 110, duration increase 2 sec)
9. force of will: you have increased vitality, healing effectiveness to others is increased based on percentage of your vitality(10% vitality, vitality up 300)

virtues:
minor:
inspired virtues: virtues now also apply the following boons to allies when activated(justice:might, resolve: regeneration, courage:protection)
virtue of retribution: gain retaliation whenyou activate a virtue, relatiation you apply lasts longer(3.25sec retaliation, duration increase 25%)
power of the virtuous: deal extra damage for each boon you have, virtues recharge faster(damage increase 1%, recharge 15%)
major:
1.unscathed contender: deal more damage while under the effects of aegis
2.retalitory subconcious: gain relatiation and aegis whenever you are disabled(3.25sec)
3.master of consecrations: concescrations last longer and have reduced recharge(20% duration, 20% recharge)

4.supreme justice: virtue of justice causes burning more frequently, when activating virtue of justice, the burn duration is increased(burn trigger 3, duration increased 25%)
5.absolute resolution: activating virtue of resolve removes conditions from nearby allies, virtue of resolves passive is stronger( 3 conditions removed, 326 heal)
6.virtuous mallet: hammer attacks have a chance to slow enemies, hammer abilities recharge faster( chance on hit33%, 3.25sec slow, 20%recharge)

7.permeating wrath: virtue of justice’s passive effect instead burns the area around you each time it activates(1sec burn, 5 targets)
8.battle presence: nearby allies gain virtue of resolves passive effect
9.indomitable courage: activating virtue of courage breaks stun, and grants stability to affected allies, virtue of courage’s passive effect triggers more often(stability 4sec, interval 30sec)

I’ve seen many thread already discussing the guardian traits shown in the AMA video but have not seen a thread listing those changes for those who have not seen the video so I decided to transcribe what was shown in one thread.

burning stacks now??
spirit weapon duration baseline
targeting consecration baseline
elite focus baseline?

zeal:
minor:
zealots speed: create a symbol of wrath when you are struck below the health threshold (50%)
symbolic exposure: symbols apply vulnerability to foes.(1stack per tic)
symbolic power: symbols have increased damage and chance to burn enemies(10% damage increase, 33% chance 1sec burn)

major:
1.wrathful spirit: aegis gives retaliation when it ends(3.75sec)
2.fiery wrath: increase damage against burning foes(10%)
3.zealous scepter: gain might when your justice passive effect triggers, only while when wielding a scepter(might 8sec)

4.blinding jeopardy:immobilizing or blinding a foe also applies vulnerability to them(3stacks10.5sec)
5.zealous blade: attacks with greatsword deal extra damage and heal you, GS abilities have reduced cooldown(5%dmg heal 26,
6.kindled zeal: gain condition damage based on your power.(13%)

7.expeditious spirit: spirit weapons burn foes they strike, spirit weapon summon and command abilities recharge faster(1sec burn 138dmg, 20% recharge)
8.shattered aegis: when an agies you applied is removed it damages nearby foes.(597dmg 5 targets radius 240)
9.symbolic avenger: you deal more damage to enemies standing in your symbols (20%)

radiance:
minor:
justice is blind: when activating virtue of justice, nearby foes are blinded
renewed justice: virtue of justice is renewed when you kill a foe
radiant power: attacks against burning foes have an increased chance to critally hit(25%)

major:
1.healer’s retribution: gain retaliation when using a heal skill(3.75sec)
2.inner fire: gain fury when you strike a foe that has burning stacked over the threshold(3stacks of burning, 8sec fury)
3.right hand strength: critical hit chance with one handed weapons is increased sword skills recharge faster( crit chance 15%, sword recharge 20%)

4. wrath of justice: striking an enemy with justice’s active effect triggers signet of wrath. signet of wrath: passive, grants increased condition damage(149), active immobilize your target(3.25sec 1200 range);
5.retribution: gain increased damage while under the effects of retaliation(10%)
6.radiant fire: gain zealots flame when you critically hit. burning duration increased, torch abilities recharge faster( zealots 3s burn, recharge 20% duration increase 20%)

7.amplified wrath: burning damage is increased, burn enemies who’s attacks you block(damage increase 33%)
8.perfect inscriptions: gain light aura when activating a signet, signets recharge faster and have improved passive effects( passive effect 20%, recharge reduced 20%)
9.radiant retaliation: retaliation damage scales from condition damage instead of power.

valor:
minor:
valorous defense: gain aegis when you are struck while below the health threshhold(50%)
courageious return: virtue of courage is recharged when you ressurect an ally or rally
might of the protector: gain might when you block attacks (3 stacks 15sec)
major:
1.strength of the fallen: lose conditions at a set interval, health degenerates slower while downed.
2.smiter’s boon: smite conditions when you use a healing ability(smite condtion: meditation. cure a condition and damage nearby foes, double damage if a condition is cured(dmg without condition 507, dmg with condition 1134 5 targets 360 radius, ?recharge reduced 20%?)
3.focus mastery: gain protection when using a focus ability. focus abilities recharge faster(protection 5sec, recharge reduced 20%)

4.stalwart defender: gain additional toughness while wielding a shield, shield abilities recharge faster( toughness 180, recharge reduced 20%)
5.strength in numbers: nearby allies gain toughness based on youre effective level(150 toughness)
6.communal defense: grant aegis to allies when you block an attack.(5sec, 20 sec cooldown)

7.altruistic healing: applying a boon to allies heals you (69hp)
8.monk’s focus: using a mediation skill heals you, grants fury to allies, mediations recharge faster( healing 1976, fury 4sec) recharge 20%)
9.retributive armor: gain toughness for a period of time when blocking an attack, gain ferocity based on your toughness( 250 toughness for 5sec, gain precision/ferocity based on 15% toughness.