Guild Wars 2

GoogleBrandon.5073:

Rozbuska.5263:

Those titles are worthless anyway.

Pretty much this…

For PvP’ers it means nothing (come on, 150 wins?) and for PvE-ers it is not an incentive to participate within TPvP long enough to stay within the scene… Having it in unranked hurts no one…

If they ever want to release newer and harder to obtain titles, I might suggest putting those in ranked only, but for these titles, it is fine…

There’s an achievement for ever class – win 200 games in any format. Then there are champ titles: win 150 games in rated. And now you can just get the rated titles from unranked. Makes no sense, they are basically the same thing now.

khani.4786:

What’s the difference between Ranked & Unranked besides the name?

Unranked is a fancy word for hotjoin, you can just farm your title by zerging with PVE builds.

Rozbuska.5263:

Those titles are worthless anyway.

Not for everyone. The game needs long and short term goals. They keep letting everything in PvP lose value (does not matter how small or great that value is), ranging from armors and ranks of old times to now champ titles. If they care at least a tiny bit for Pvp this has to stop.

Pretty sure this is a bug, even the achievement description says Ranked Arena matches. Could we get a dev response on this?

.. does not mean we don’t want to have fun. Throwing every random map into rotation makes me want to stop playing the game. Just came back from a map selection where the 3 options were Skyhammer, Courtyard (worst of all maps, constant zerging and total blowouts) and Spirit Watch.

At this point you might as well add Keg Brawl to the rotation.

If you know these maps are unsuitable for serious matches then please, please why must we play these? And why don’t game designers ever leave a comment? Because they are the ones who should discuss things like this, not the programmers.

Poledra Val.1490:

Someone mentioned above that people think deathmatch is popular. The true thoroughbred players of PvP would not touch it with a barge pole.

People want 2v2 3v3 etc arenas and they keep requesting “deathmatch” because they think that’s the word for it. It’s actually called annihilation. It’s a massive miscommunication.

mPascoal.4258:

I know this topic is really old, but it kinda fits the porpurse of my new question. With the lack of ime I haven’t actually played much Ele and stayed with my previous classes, but now my mode of messurement to choose my main is different. Since I still have some disere to get out of Guard and come back to Ele I need to know if the Ele builds I want are playable is all Gw2 modes, which are sPvP, PvE and WvW. I know with Guard I can play all those and be good. WvW I main roaming and I can do it with Medi Guard, it’s harder than other classes but doable, and I know Staff Ele is more than viable for PvE and sPvP, but is it for WvW Roaming? I also emjoy D/D, but for roaming am I forced to go with those?

So main question. Is Staff Ele viable for small group and solo play in WvW?

You “can do” everything with the same build, it’s just not a good idea. Even if you keep Staff, you have to change traits/gear/skills for each area of the game.

Unranked should not progress these title tracks because it’s just too easy to farm, matches are hotjoin level. Rank points for wins should also be reduced to 500 from 1.5k.

Thaddeus.4891:

Well to be honest for all build posted on Metabattle, I consider them as a base (especially in WvW). You always need to change them to match your playstyle, your guild and the situation.

I have different set of armor, trinket, weapons, food and change my trait depending on my role in a particular raid.

Yep, that’s what we’re aiming for. Give a core build and then add suggestions for customization. Edit: well, core is not the best word for it, they are more refined than that.

The aquamancer might be a rare typo, idk. But still, if you ever feel something’s off feel free to propose changes on the discussion page, takes like 30 seconds and actually helps everyone a lot it’s a community project afterall.

Holl.3109:

what more do you want?

Well, for one, stop doing hotjoin. :P Basically you are owning PvE players who are doing their dailies with random traits and skills so it’s not a good way to demonstrate a build. It’s a challenge to come up with something that does not work in hotjoin.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/index.php?title=MetaBattle_Build_Wiki

This should help you out with builds, but as Black Box said, you either go dps or full bunker (to support your team).

Also, PvE stats and level have 0 effect on PvP. You can set everything by going to the Heart of the Mists and click the “PvP Build” button on the middle-top of your screen.

Watching top players also helps a lot but there aren’t really any active guard streamers. But you can watch streamers even if they play another class, because they often tell why did they make a given decision or they’ll highlight their team’s mistakes so you can learn a lot about the gamemode from that too.

There are a lot more guardians on EU, on every rating level so this depends on region too. It’s not that guardians suck, but with the amount of celestial specs in a team you do not need a dedicated support guy because the sustain that amulet offers is good enough. Most NA teams run 3-4 celestial specs, while EU has more variety in this regard.

Thaddeus.4891:

Nausiation, keep in mind that this is a Metabuild so most ppl using that are usually in a Guild that do raid on a regular basis.

That’s not entirely true. The main target auidence are PUGs, because they are the overwhelming majority of the playerbase (afaik guilds are mostly running their own altered versions, catering to them would be a bit pointless and complicated). This means the builds under that section do a great job even without a coordianted team. However, there are options listed for guild teams as well. Or something like that, WvW’s not my territory

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mesmer_-_Traditional_Shatter

This is GS/S+T build, but it’s probably the closest you’ll get. Off-hand sword is the least used mesmer weapon in PvP, basically nobody’s running that.

I’ve never had such terrible lag in any game, ever. This is unplayable. (EU)

Anchoku.8142:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

MethaneGas.8357:

As for Hoelbrak runes… I never thought of those. Do people actually use them? I thought Strength Runes are a thing instead (I don’t know).

People have realized that trading the 15% Might duration for -20% condition duration is a really good trade.

I have a Hoelbrak set, too, despite Necromancer being supposedly great at managing conditions. It is particularly effective in fighting stuns and fears. Hard counters are Necromancer’s weak points and they are, like it or not, conditions.

With condi nec, you have access to 3 very powerful condi cleanses without taking any utilities or traits. They shouldn’t ever become a problem. But if you still have a hard time, take Plague Signet, not a rune which gives pointless bonuses.

If you want to cripple yourself at all costs, take Melandru and not Hoelbrak – more condi AND stun reduction plus gives stats you can actually use. Hoelbrak is a great rune for power specs that actually stack might, condi nec is not one of those.

But if you’re taking so many conditions that you can’t manage them, the only problem I see is that you’re in the middle of the fight, stading on point and such, never do that with nec.

Yes.

/15chars

Nope. Especially because rifle is probably the worst weapon in the entire game.

Furesy.6935:

I’m a bit surprised at Ranger being the least played profession in your data.

From personal experience I’d say I see Thief and Rangers the most in PvP, followed by Engi’s, Ele’s and Guardians.

Class popularity depends on leaderboard placement too.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Necromancer_-_Wells_Backline

This should help.

1. They have to hit something – if the burst skill misses or gets dodged, it won’t cleanse anything. Only exception is Longbow, which will ALWAYS cleanse conditions, that’s one of the reasons why it’s a must have for PvP.
2. It does remove everything, Immob included.

Hambow’s not a hard set, nobody attempted to make an in-depth guide afaik.

This should give you some tips about its usage, plus you can find multiple options that might be useful once you want to customize your build a bit: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Warrior_-_Hambow

Hammer is one of the weapons with the slowest and most obvious animations. It can be kited fairly well too.

Having an almost instant immob on hammer sets the ground for your CC chain. It’s a very very useful trait (and also another AoE soft CC).

Vicariuz.1605:

(…)

Justin’s not the one responsible for the bad ideas, he merely executes them.

Zixx.6582:

You also said you had some recommendations for WvW/PvP, if you don’t mind could you please share?

This might help you guys

It’s an MMO, not a moba. Last time Arenanet tried to merge in FPS elements into PvP, Hotjoin and Skyhammer happened. So taking elements from other genres is last thing I’d like to see.

S/T A/D’s also really good but IMO that’s mostly for smaller skirmishes, while with a shortbow you’ll do well in every situation (both teamfights and smaller encounters). But sword offers better mobility which is a big plus.

Sorel.4870:

The devs made quite a smart move to solve this Skyhammer issue: the vote system. It will only be played now if at least one player feels like it, so it probably won’t happen often.

Yes, wasting months worth of resources just so they can keep a map in rated which’s unfit for rated play is a very smart move, sure.

Welcome back You can check the builds on metabattle, should be a good start.

Hambow
Shoutbow

Hambow is probably the best, great dmg and CC. Shoutbow is completely different and not that popular (compared to other warrior builds this one lacks stability, damage and stances) but offers a lot more support and can carry teammates with heals and cleanses.

Or you can just use metabattle, you can browse from 40+ viable builds for pvp and see which one suits you.

Recluse.6740:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAnY8YjEqUzaLLOsQ1aADhqdLEslArAwd8+CXdJXqC-TJRAwAAeBAdOKAlLD0b/BA

You do realize that sigils can’t stack? (having 2 geomancy on 1 set won’t work).

On the topic, this is the strongest condi build in PvP atm: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Ranger_-_Condition_Survival

And in general if you wanna browse some viable builds use metabattle

Giving up on Scepter might be a good start Try Dagger main-hand.

I’m pretty sure cele/might stacking will get nerfed in a month or 2. But remember, there is a major tournament coming, and making changes regarding cele would affect every single team, often multiple members, which is unfair.

If you have conditions on you, mist form will pretty much kill you when you hit 20% HP because you won’t be able to do anything about it. Bad idea.

If you want to browse working engineer builds for PvP you can try metabattle, should help.

Also, turret engi does suck when you’re against a team that can rotate, but absolutely dominates lower ratings with 0 player effort. It can be effective, but there is no way you’ll learn how to play the game with a passive AI spec. I wouldn’t recommend it.

dominik.9721:

Play 04406 gs longbow with cele amu and geomancy /doom sigill. Its the only gs build which is viable in pvp atm

0 in strength and 4 in arms is more of a WvW thing afaik. PvP one is 4 in strength 0 in arms.

One minor correction to akaCryptic’s post – for meditations that one is fine too, but this version is a lot better: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_Meditation_DPS_Variant

Define PvE players. Ones who’d only come here for the rewards and destroy the matches with afking / zerging / griefing with no intention to learn anything about PvP then no, they are the last thing we need. On the other hand, new players are always welcomed.

Well if you’re looking for up to date builds this site might be useful.

Cygnus.6903:

IMO HammerGS is a great spec, but not for PvP.

This. You shouldn’t run WvW specs in PvP, especially if there’s no longbow in that build.

Harbinger pretty much covered it. But sigils and runes are debatable – those are good, but there are other viable options as well (and Hydromancy’s not that common nowadays) @Maxmore – if you want to see those too you can find them here

Zoso.8279:

People please. Skyhammer is not foefire or forest. You have to learn to play it properly it has its own strategy. At first I raged when I was feared etc… on hammer but with time after learning how to play it….. somewhat lol. I feared etc… ppl. Its frustrating to be winning and then (because you are in a wrong position) get knocked back or feared to your death but thats on you as a player not being aware of your surrounding not the map. Hammer was the biggest issue before not being able to dodge roll but now its playable.

Edit – Don’t pretend when you all fear someone off the map you don’t lol a bit :P

I think there are 2 types of players in PvP. Player A is still below r40, thinks positioning means standing in a corner, and loves Skyhammer because he can finally kill opponents who are better than him. Obviously, player A at this point thinks he’s “good” and tries to convince others about it (and then gets destroyed on other maps by those guys). Player B spent enough time in PvP to realize winning by bypassing combat is not good design and understands why Skyhammer has no place in the rated rotation.

Faeyd.5094:

(…) Play what you want.

People tend to forget it’s a team game. It’s not only about you. I’m not saying you should always play the best build, but at least do’t be a griefer. If you do hotjoin and teamque (with 4 friends so no randoms) then sure, you play whetever you want But in soloque / solo teamque, respect your team.

This site might help a bit when it comes to builds for different areas of the game. As others already said, D/D is more of a PvP/WvW weapon set.

Leeching has to be on the list for PvP. I can’t play an hour of soloque without having at least 1 afker, and we can’t even report them after 2 years – lack of punishment is a serious issue.

A /report <playername> would be useful as well – I’ve seen a speedhacker in hotjoin, but by the time I could send a report he left the match which means I can’t do anything about it. (and yes, ~100% movement speed increase for a ranger is not normal)

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Engineer_-_Celestial_Rifle

This is a fairly easy build and pretty effective. Metabattle has plenty of viable engineers pvp builds feel free to try them, best way to find out what suits you

Welcome to GW2 If you’re looking for builds you can try metabattle.com, you can find viable builds for every content type there, especially PvP.

D/D is outclassed by every other thief build. They will just hunt you down. Even in teamfights, you can’t gain stealth in a safe spot (D/P can use the Heartseeker + Blackpowder combo), you have to be in the fight to even set up burst. Makes it counterable and vulnerable. You lose access to blinds, teleports and on-demand dazes just by taking off-hand dagger and not pistol.

D/D’s more of a PvE/WvW set.

If you want to catch up on builds use metabattle

You can find viable builds for every content type, especially PvP.

Steinpilz.5078:

but I find that I almost never use the shortbow because of the positioning requirement for the bleed.

Sharpened Edges still applies bleeding regardless of positioning, damage shouldn’t be a problem.