I'm not good with names so here are my guesses:
Ranger + Consecrations
Necromancer + Meditations
Engineer + Stances
Elementalist + Shouts
Thief + Manipulations
Warrior + Conjures
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I'm not good with names so here are my guesses:
Ranger + Consecrations
Necromancer + Meditations
Engineer + Stances
Elementalist + Shouts
Thief + Manipulations
Warrior + Conjures
While my curiosity is certainly colored by the fact that I disagree with you philosophically in every sense possible here, I am wondering if I understood what you meant by the reduction in build diversity correctly. If a thief build uses all the same stat allocations, weapons and skill selections, but chooses Side Strikes versus Furious Retaliation, are we talking about two different builds counted among your millions? These slight modifications to combat certainly have a net change on numerical values- the very same ones I refuse to get all caught up on- and from a statistical perspective I'm sure one is the more effective of the two "builds." But from my perspective they are functionally identical, the differences between them being so overwhelmingly boring as to not actually constitute separate builds in my mind or play experience.
If that is what you meant, and the implication is that while the total number of "builds" will be reduced from millions to 2000, the difference between "build 1" and "build 2" will be necessarily bigger than it would have before, you've actually gone a ways toward convincing me that I'll enjoy the new system when I was completely neutral on it before. From a practical perspective I did not consider GW2 to have millions of builds before, and I know that I won't ever personally be able to try one million, ten thousand, or two thousand separate builds during my time with the game. If there are fewer total builds from a "numbers" standpoint but a greater proportion of functionally distinct builds, I will honestly come to see it as a positive.
I suppose my expectation was that it actually wouldn't really have much impact at all so I didn't know how to feel about it, but if it has the net effect of getting me to actually try new builds then I welcome it.
Yeah, I was gonna guess consecrations or maybe mantras for Druid. But I don't generally enjoy speculating. We'll know when we know.
ha
ha
That's a pretty good way to describe how that trailer felt to me :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pduyUnM0XE
(and it's quite funny
)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pduyUnM0XE
(and it's quite funny
)shysaursoft
Member
Yeah, I don't consider 'adds 10 damage to nades' and 'gives you 100 more vitality' builds. GW2's trait system is kind of suffering from the same thing vanilla D3 did. I want traits to have major, tangible changes to playstyle, other than just making you go 'oh, I'll use nades now because they do more damage'.
I always thought GW2's builds were, in a way, really, really uninteresting. The only saving grace being that the combat itself is still good, in spite of traits being ethereal modifiers to the MUD number rolling in the combat log.
I'm hoping the new system entices players to pay more attention to the Trait system overall, and experiment more instead of following metabattle or popular guild X's guides.
I always thought GW2's builds were, in a way, really, really uninteresting. The only saving grace being that the combat itself is still good, in spite of traits being ethereal modifiers to the MUD number rolling in the combat log.
I'm hoping the new system entices players to pay more attention to the Trait system overall, and experiment more instead of following metabattle or popular guild X's guides.
Kos Luftar
Member
Is Dargonhunter just a play on Monster Hunter?
What are the chances they change the name before lunch just based on how many people on reddit/official forum/GAF do not like it?
What are the chances they change the name before lunch just based on how many people on reddit/official forum/GAF do not like it?
Edit: Wanted to lead with this; Jira wanted me to point out the lore behind Dragonhunter is already kind of suggested; Braham is aGuardian who has been getting closer to his mother, a Ranger... and not just any Ranger, but one who's legend is all about (gasp) hunting dragons.
Here's your list of skill types, fyi; https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Skill#Skill_types
Druid seems kind of obvious; there's only one trait in the new Core Specializations that affects spirits, plus we know they're losing mobility. Druid will likely be a spirit-oriented "Turret" build, then. Thematically it works perfectly and area denial is a nice compliment to the Ranger's existing playstyle.
Engineer is rumored to be a "Machinist", and we've already seen them gain little AI drones that they can 'snap' onto their hammer to deliver a more powerful attack. Perhaps that points to the Engineer getting something like Minions? Honestly I'd rather see them get something like Wards and the specialization being all about building / construction themes.
Elementalist (Rumored to be "Tempest" and gaining access to 1h sword) could be an interesting hint towards the future. The tempest name suggests a wind storm, so perhaps future Elite Specializations will be focused on becoming the embodiment of a single attunement to a degree far greater than the current trait lines. So what could Tempest be? It suggests lots of movement and speed, so perhaps it will gain something like Shadowstep or Blink.
Thief is a tough one and we have little to go with. I've heard Rifle, but that doesn't seem like enough to go on. "Sniper" doesn't sound like there'd be enough to work with, and "Assassin" is just retreading ground. What if it's something like "Operative" or "Scout," and themed around infiltration / spying. Giving them a limited selection of Gadgets would be absurdly cool and an interesting angle to approach Thief (as a Special Agent or professional spy rather than just a pickpocket). In fact, they could add a new "Steal" skill on F2 that, instead of just pocketing an item from an enemy, allows you to steal something from them and then MacGuyver it into some kind of useful toolbelt skill-like effect.
Warrior is another tough one, there's not a lot of weapons left to go with or angles left to play with them since they have no connection at all to any kind of magic. I've been thinking their specialization could be a "Commander" or "Tactician" approach, sort of addressing the theme of battlefield leadership. Lord of the Rings Online had a "Captain" class that was pretty cool, and one of their big things was summoning Heralds, little AI-controlled squires who carried a banner around for you. Maybe the new F2 slot allows you to command your henchmen to attack with their banner or give some kind of extra buff. Giving them torch as a "signalling" weapon (mark enemies to be attacked, that sort of thing) would kind of fit there.
Here's your list of skill types, fyi; https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Skill#Skill_types
Druid seems kind of obvious; there's only one trait in the new Core Specializations that affects spirits, plus we know they're losing mobility. Druid will likely be a spirit-oriented "Turret" build, then. Thematically it works perfectly and area denial is a nice compliment to the Ranger's existing playstyle.
Engineer is rumored to be a "Machinist", and we've already seen them gain little AI drones that they can 'snap' onto their hammer to deliver a more powerful attack. Perhaps that points to the Engineer getting something like Minions? Honestly I'd rather see them get something like Wards and the specialization being all about building / construction themes.
Elementalist (Rumored to be "Tempest" and gaining access to 1h sword) could be an interesting hint towards the future. The tempest name suggests a wind storm, so perhaps future Elite Specializations will be focused on becoming the embodiment of a single attunement to a degree far greater than the current trait lines. So what could Tempest be? It suggests lots of movement and speed, so perhaps it will gain something like Shadowstep or Blink.
Thief is a tough one and we have little to go with. I've heard Rifle, but that doesn't seem like enough to go on. "Sniper" doesn't sound like there'd be enough to work with, and "Assassin" is just retreading ground. What if it's something like "Operative" or "Scout," and themed around infiltration / spying. Giving them a limited selection of Gadgets would be absurdly cool and an interesting angle to approach Thief (as a Special Agent or professional spy rather than just a pickpocket). In fact, they could add a new "Steal" skill on F2 that, instead of just pocketing an item from an enemy, allows you to steal something from them and then MacGuyver it into some kind of useful toolbelt skill-like effect.
Warrior is another tough one, there's not a lot of weapons left to go with or angles left to play with them since they have no connection at all to any kind of magic. I've been thinking their specialization could be a "Commander" or "Tactician" approach, sort of addressing the theme of battlefield leadership. Lord of the Rings Online had a "Captain" class that was pretty cool, and one of their big things was summoning Heralds, little AI-controlled squires who carried a banner around for you. Maybe the new F2 slot allows you to command your henchmen to attack with their banner or give some kind of extra buff. Giving them torch as a "signalling" weapon (mark enemies to be attacked, that sort of thing) would kind of fit there.
Mostly agree. Most traits don't change much. In two years of dungeon pugging, no one ever noticed i was running a non-meta trait setup. I stopped changing pve traits long ago, just didn't feel like it was worth the effort. So cutting back on the little in favor of bigger changes suits me just fine.
Might be in the minority, but I don't think GW2's models have ever worked well with mix-matching. Pieces don't seem to go together all that well compared to GW1. So I'm all for outfits. Its a way to play heavy armor characters that don't look like a tin can, or carrying around a metal skirt.
Main concern about the Dragon-hunter, the slower attacks sound like they'll be easy to dodge or line of sight. Maybe that's the trade off and all the other stuff is really good.
Might be in the minority, but I don't think GW2's models have ever worked well with mix-matching. Pieces don't seem to go together all that well compared to GW1. So I'm all for outfits. Its a way to play heavy armor characters that don't look like a tin can, or carrying around a metal skirt.
Main concern about the Dragon-hunter, the slower attacks sound like they'll be easy to dodge or line of sight. Maybe that's the trade off and all the other stuff is really good.
Squall ASF
Member
Guys, Chronomancer has made me lost! I had been waiting for a new race to come full blown back into this game and create a Guardian once this happened. Then they revealed the Revenant instead of a new race and that looks cool so I think "I'll make a new Revenant!". Then my buddy talks about how fun it's been to play as a Guardian and I've always kinda wanted to make one so I think I'll wait to see the rest of the Revenant skill set to decide between the two and that was settled...until they showed Chronomancer. Now I'm wondering if I should keep my main a Mesmer after all because Chronomancer looks fun to play as...AHHHHH I don't know what to do haha I know some of you would say do both or all three but I'm more the type to really focus on one character and do as much as I can with them as opposed to bouncing between multiple characters at once. Also, with the vast amount of changes to the game from when I actively played, it'd be beneficial to start a new character to be taught all these new systems and get back into the swing of things at a natural pace. I've actually started playing a bit trying to get the portal and coming back to real playing in a level 80 zone and using keyboard and mouse when I was a gamepad guy before...it was a rough start to the new zone (to me) Silverwastes haha but I've steadily gotten a bit better at it. Well the nice thing is I'll get to see the Revenant skill set before any of this comes out and I can decide then.
Speaking of which, Hawkbro, I'm having issues with the game pad and that's why I used the keyboard and mouse. I ran the little script and it said that it was incompatible with my version of Windows. This is odd because I'm still on W7 and haven't changed anything since the last time I played with the game pad AFAIK. Any advice?
Speaking of which, Hawkbro, I'm having issues with the game pad and that's why I used the keyboard and mouse. I ran the little script and it said that it was incompatible with my version of Windows. This is odd because I'm still on W7 and haven't changed anything since the last time I played with the game pad AFAIK. Any advice?
Yes. They couldn't STOP saying "big-game hunter" throughout the post.
Zero.
I really love all the classesexceptofcoursewarrior. Specializations along with a new class were pretty much the best thing I could have hoped for gameplay-wise in this expansion... just one more in a long line of personal love letters from anet to me of course
Hell yeah, let's get you sorted.
1. What do you mean by little script? Which file is throwing that error?
2. When you had used it previously, did you have the full setup working (i.e., was your cursor autocentering for AoE target skills?) or did you have issues with it at the time?
I actually totally disagree with that, at face value anyway.
I love how completely different my support/keepaway Golemancer shortbow Thief build plays from my psuedo-tank DPS S/P build, let alone my Confusion/interrupt-spam Perplexity Mesmer build or my might-stacking Arcane, crit-chance-less Ele build. I loved crafting builds around rune sets with interesting effects and leveraging skill options in unexpected ways. My hybrid condi thief with Basilisk Venom to activate the Mad King Rune effect is still one of the most fun for me to play with to this day, even though it was over two years ago that I first put it together.
It's just that traits are for the most part a tiny piece of this equation. I love some traits, like Evasive Arcana, Bountiful Theft and Static Discharge, but for the most part they aren't "buildmakers" or even more than slight augments (or at least "not-contradictors") of what I'm already going for.
So you already have a Mesmer main at level 80? If so, why not level a Guardian right now just to try it out? HoT is still not really close to release so you have plenty of time. You don't have to switch "main", just level it and get a feel for it. Then do the same with the Rev whenever HoT comes out. Then you'll have the three characters at 80 to try out and then choose whoever you want to use as a main in HoT.
The latest ones are "Starting Today: Claim Your Spot in the Next Heart of Thorns Closed Beta" from last week and "Stronghold PvP Public Beta: Play Stronghold April 14!" from April 10.
Muscle Wizard
Banned
Okay, "Dragonhunter" makes me feel much better for making a Norn Guardian.
Your question highlights a fundamental problem of definitions in this topic. Where does one build end and another begin? How many spirits are required to call yourself a spirit ranger?
Your Side Strikes vs. Furious Retaliation example seems intended to illustrate the absurdity of my definition, but it's the only definition I know of that's both accurate and specific. Yes, a build is every non-aesthetic decision a player makes that separates their character from another. When I previously cited the millions number I have only been referring to trait combinations, but stats/weapons/sigils/food/runes etc. should count as well.
By what logic will the difference between "build 1" and "build 2" be "necessarily bigger" than before? Must the distinction between two builds be large to be meaningful? And can't I just play the same "these two adept traits are equivalent" game that you have, and reduce that 2000 number to something much less?
And I still find the scapegoating of numbers humorous. As if believing in the value of numbers is a philosophy you could possibly oppose. All differences between builds are numbers. All differences between everything are numbers. The differences between you and I that allow us to have this argument are numbers. Everything is numbers. Numbers are everything. Numbers numbers numbers numbers.
Squall ASF
Member
Yeah Specializations were a great idea to revamp the trait system and add a new fresh way to play all the classes. I've mentioned this before but I was really pleasantly surprised by a new class as I dared hope for it but never believed it would come this soon as I recall Anet saying how difficult it could be to balance a new class in this dynamic world. Anet still number 1!I really love all the classesexceptofcoursewarrior. Specializations along with a new class were pretty much the best thing I could have hoped for gameplay-wise in this expansion... just one more in a long line of personal love letters from anet to me of course
Hell yeah, let's get you sorted.
1. What do you mean by little script? Which file is throwing that error?
2. When you had used it previously, did you have the full setup working (i.e., was your cursor autocentering for AoE target skills?) or did you have issues with it at the time?
Sweet, thanks, buddy! So this might be difficult to troubleshoot right now since I'm at work but I'll try to answer your questions at the top of my head. There's a little batch script you provided that initiates two things and must be done before loading the game. One is xpadder and the other was the hotkey designator I think, it shows up in the task tray as a green box with an "H" within. That part still activates so I believe it's xpadder that's having an issue. Maybe I just need to uninstall/reinstall it or reload your profile? I figured I'd bring this up with you in case a common issue came up at one point when I wasn't playing and maybe you provided the fix on this board.
Yeah, my OCD ass 100 percent world completed with an Elementalist and a Mesmer. The Mesmer became the main and I eventually stopped playing due to a combination of having pretty much done everything I could do outside of create a legendary weapon (and I collected some stuff towards that even) and Anet nerfed phantasm builds pretty hard and I didn't want to do a shatter build. I imagine they've rebalanced things since then and it really was more of there not being much to do that stopped me from playing as I wasn't really digging the living story season 1 but I've always loved the world and have wanted to play in it so I knew I'd come back with an expansion at the latest.
Anyway, the reason I didn' t just create a Guardian is that I have a bunch of tombs of knowledge and the like so I was wanting to figure out which character to create and then dump all those on them and I likely could have shot from 1 to 80 by the time HoT comes out haha You do bring up a good point though that HoT isn't coming out for a while so I could just level a Guardian naturally and power level a Revenant using tombs when HoT hits. I avoided this because there are other games that have been coming out but I should still have enough time to get a decent feel of Guardian before HoT hits even if I don't hit level 80 but chances are I'll get there before it comes out anyway. I was thinking I could practice my Mesmer and learn how to play well again but I suppose Chronomancer will play so differently that I don't really have to do that. Just playing any class well get me used to proper movement and dodging again.
So if I create a Guardian, what do you Guardian users recommend for a build? I originally planned on making a tank since both my Ele and Mes are glass canon to mix it up but it seems like the internet says berserker no matter the class ha I know you can and should play however you want but I want to make sure my build is effective, whatever it is.
So just finished the Hidden Arcana Living World mission.
Probably one of my favourite missions yet,
Probably one of my favourite missions yet,
wandering around glints area was fun. Reminded me of the end-game factions area where you had a different debuff in each area. It was also nice to see Odgen. Also spent a lot of time reading every book I could find haha. Awesome stuff.
Also Koss married Melonni? Nice. Don't remember reading that before so I'm happy to hear it
Also Koss married Melonni? Nice. Don't remember reading that before so I'm happy to hear it
Aha yep, if it is Xpadder you just need to do one of these for the .exe in the right-click Properties:
XP Service Pack 2 mode, also check to run as administrator.
I'm not sure- that's sort of what I was asking: if this reduction in the total number of traits means that the effect of picking any one over another will be more significant.
Oh, for me, absolutely. Without a doubt, if it's not a big difference it's meaningless to me in terms of being "a different build." Of course you can point out the arbitrariness of this distinction by asking "how big?" to which I have no objective response. It just has to feel different to play.
My example wasn't intended to characterize your definition as absurd so much as to make sure I understood the degree to which you were counting individual builds among millions. Defining builds in that sense makes it a much less useful term to me despite absolutely being more specific, but I wasn't trying to call it absurd, just provide an example to secure my own understanding.
Again, I have no idea. If what you mean is that there will still be trait choices that can have as little noticeable impact as before after the system is changed, I will rescind the optimism your original claim had inspired within me.
I'm also confused now though, if you were just going by traits for the millions vs. 2000 thing, does that mean there will actually be more than 2000 factoring in weapons/runes/skills/etc?
Universally applicable semantics aside, I don't consider using one weapon versus another or one elite skill versus another to be numbers- just to clear up what I was referring to.
shysaursoft
Member
In reference to the bolded statement, in my opinion yes, absolutely. What Hawkian, myself, et al. are in favor of does result in fewer choices, but those choices would theoretically have greater immediate impact. For example, "When I hit bad guys, I set them on fire now!" has a real, "visceral" effect (and please, don't discount this opinion just because some of the best descriptors are overplayed marketing buzzwords)
On the other hand, while it's very exciting to say "You can have millions of builds," the reality is that the difference between those builds is very low impact, because your choices are all tiny little nibbles of nebulous improvement. They are easy to quantify on a spreadsheet but they don't carry much weight unless many of them occur simultaneously. For example "When I hit bad guys, I cause x+1 damage now!" isn't particularly thrilling (unless, again, you're getting a ton of them all at once, and even then I would argue the thrill is just "bigger numbers pop up").
So while there may be millions of choices in GW2 currently, they don't carry much weight. Things like Deceptive Evasion are awesome because "holy shit, you can generate a clone on dodge, how badass is that?!" while traits like Protected Mantras (same tier, gain toughness when channeling mantras) require you to open your character sheet to notice any change at all. One has "oomph" while the other is just "more numbers under the hood." If this were a turn based RPG or something slow like FFXIV, that wouldn't be a problem, but GW2 is more about depicting the actual actions rather than a numerical simulation of it, even if deep down it's all just, as you say, numbers.
Gaming needs a vocabulary separate from marketing speak, because it's hard to describe things like this sometimes. There's "game feel" but that sounds so vague and pretentious.
01000111 01100001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01101001 01111010 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101100 01101111 01101100
It's not "blame the numbers", it's the fact that numbers are an uninteresting stand-in for potentially more interesting, gameplay-oriented mechanics. Of course the game is run entirely on numbers, it's a computer game. But the difference between me beating another player should, in a game as action-oriented as this, come down to "I am a better player than him" rather than "I have higher numbers than him." (and it should go without saying that in this scenario, "I am a better player" is referring entirely to gameplay, not "I know how to research and theorycraft the most mathematically superior build").
Squall ASF
Member
That seems vaguely familiar and should be how it's set up but I haven't checked that setting in over a year so I'll make sure to check that when I get home and report back to you. Thanks!
So I followed instructions in the link below to turn off Nvidia Streamer services, which are on by default, and now all my FPS issues are gone. Magic.
http://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrac...ia_usersraise_your_fps_and_save_cpu_usage_by/
http://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrac...ia_usersraise_your_fps_and_save_cpu_usage_by/
Squall ASF
Member
You main a Guardian? Please teach me the ways of your uber build!
I am THE main Guardian. jk
Depends on what you want to use, and what you want to do.
You want to do damage?
You want to give out boons and heal a bit?
You want a little of both?
You want to be hard to kill? JK we do that already JK
Tell me what you want out of it.
I waffle between two builds: Meditation Guardian and Symbol Guardian (the latter being not so easy to use and clunky, but I love it, and is getting better in Heart of Thorns).
Currently right now I'm rocking this Signet build with Amplified Wrath for more burn damage.
One thing I'll tell you is that Celestial gear is really good for Guardians, so if you can get that as your accessories/rings/etc, it's great stuff to use to kind of wobble between builds at your leisure.
Kos Luftar
Member
I like WP's positive attitude towards Dragonhunters.
Same. The salt and tears over "ahmagad its not paragon" are glorious. The whole concept and idea of elite specializations when they first were even talked about were to fundamentally change the way the class plays, and they've definitely done it here.
Also
we in there. Guardians with stealth. fuuuuuuck yeah
POP OUT AND BE LIKE BLADADADADADOWWWWW then be all
OK it's time to speculate
Mantras and Ranger seem to fit perfectly. They're one with nature, right? Arcane would fit there too, sort of. As well as Meditations. Actually Meditations might be the thing.
Thieves with Gadgets sound awesome, so make 'em a Spy.
Elementalist + Stances? Sure, Tempest! Some Chinese longsword dancing move shit.
Warriors? Give 'em Survival skills for the wild. Torches are needed to survive out in the wild, right?
Engineers become Machinists, manipulating (see what I did there?) their built pets to apply extra damage or other fun stuff ala Mario Kart shell skills.
Thinking about the Warrior, someone posted this picture
Warrior + Shortbow + Survival = Vanguard. Could still work. Mantras could fit too.
Squall ASF
Member
Thanks Hawk, you rawk! I apparently had it on XP SP3 instead of 2 and didn't have admin checked. I have no idea how these settings changed but my bad for not checking before asking you. I only tried it the first night we could get portals and for some reason I thought they only were dropping portals that one night so I was like there's no time! Now I need to look up the controls again and take it for a test run How will an extra F key factor in when HoT hits? Will it pose a problem? I guess I'll be able to determine that when I look at what you have the current ones set to.
I came to the right place then! I wanted to be real tank-y after playing two glass canons as Ele and Mes so I'd say a heavy lean on survivability but I don't want to be worthless offensively either. Is there a build were you're a tank but can still do solid damage? I think I remember reading Guardians have skills/traits that cause burning so maybe you can utilize that condition for good damage output despite having most stuff specc'd towards D? So, ahem, real hard to kill while dealing damage
What's your main build geared towards if I may ask? I'm sure all the meta folks would tell me to just go zerker and not even worry about D lol Celestial, eh? When I last heavily played I grinded some extra fractals to get ascended accessories for my future guardian but I think I chose Knight... I'd have to log-in and double check but I'll remember Celestial for when I get new stuff
How will an extra F key factor in when HoT hits? Will it pose a problem? I guess I'll be able to determine that when I look at what you have the current ones set to.I came to the right place then! I wanted to be real tank-y after playing two glass canons as Ele and Mes so I'd say a heavy lean on survivability but I don't want to be worthless offensively either. Is there a build were you're a tank but can still do solid damage? I think I remember reading Guardians have skills/traits that cause burning so maybe you can utilize that condition for good damage output despite having most stuff specc'd towards D? So, ahem, real hard to kill while dealing damage
What's your main build geared towards if I may ask? I'm sure all the meta folks would tell me to just go zerker and not even worry about D lol Celestial, eh? When I last heavily played I grinded some extra fractals to get ascended accessories for my future guardian but I think I chose Knight... I'd have to log-in and double check but I'll remember Celestial for when I get new stuff
Muscle Wizard
Banned
I'd like to respond as well. I want to be "the rock" for groups, meaning doing good damage while also not being constantly downed and supporting those who are. I used to have a good solid build that fit this but that was before trait changes.
I would also like to know of any great builds that use more than gs and sword/scepter focus, but that isn't a deal-breaker.
Yep;
Guardians have always been a blend of various GW1 classes, and it was never going to be "Here, have GW1-style Paragons exactly as you remember it!" There are winks and nods towards Paragon though; Spear of Justice and Wings of Resolve are pretty obvious, just as the Vanilla Guardian (oh god, we have to start referring to it as "Vanilla GW2" soon, don't we?) has names and icons that reflect that past.
Dragonhunter looks more interesting than I expected and that's a good thing. End of story, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not crazy about the name but I've heard worse, and this is much more distinctive than some that I've seen (Zealot, Avenger, Paladin, etc.). More than any other profession Guardians kind of scream "one trick pony", from the name to their spell effects (Mesmer is a pretty close second with their "everything is pink" look, but at least there's some diversity in how it's used). Dragonhunter looks like it'll put an end to that; Guardians are taking an important step away from the generic "Paladins of Light and Virtue and Justice" and towards a much more interesting "Mage Knight / Battlemage" kind of vibe. And it needed it.
I can only hope the Warrior Elite Spec is as interesting, as I feel like there's even less room to maneuver there.
Shoulder looks new, but that's the Human T2 Chest
Celestial gear comes from Commendations mainly and Laurels, so best save for those.
As for a tanky/damage build, I can think of using Precision/Toughness/Condition Damage (Rabid) as your main set of gear, which would make you a burning god so long as you keep it on your targets.
Alternative stat combo is Toughness/Power/Precision (Knight's) which you are aware of.
I whipped up a quick Burning you while I block build, which is pretty strong and tanky. I haven't tested it in-game but the stats and combos are there.
Here's the stuff, straight from GW2Skills.net.
Sword/Torch main, Scepter/Focus off for ranged
Trait setup
Gear all rabid, Celestial for accessories
As for a tanky/damage build, I can think of using Precision/Toughness/Condition Damage (Rabid) as your main set of gear, which would make you a burning god so long as you keep it on your targets.
Alternative stat combo is Toughness/Power/Precision (Knight's) which you are aware of.
I whipped up a quick Burning you while I block build, which is pretty strong and tanky. I haven't tested it in-game but the stats and combos are there.
Here's the stuff, straight from GW2Skills.net.
Sword/Torch main, Scepter/Focus off for ranged
Trait setup
Gear all rabid, Celestial for accessories
Squall ASF
Member
I appreciate you taking the time to do that, Ash! I'll look out for that stat combo gear. I should have a good amount of laurels saved up but those I'll save for when I determine for sure what character I settle on between Guardian and Revenant. I figure I'll try to level a Guardian naturally without burning the items and too much of my special currencies while I wait for HoT to hit but at least I know what stats to aim for as I level him to 80 and I can always buy some of it off the trading post. I'll check if there's a Rabid combo dungeon armor set too though I don't need to worry about it just yet since I have to create and level my guy up before I can tackle those ;P
What type of build do you normally play? I get the feeling you go more for support than attack?
It depends on how it's implemented, since we already kind of have a "Warrior with Magic" in the Guardian, so that'd be a bit of an overlap. It'd be cool if they approached it like the "exotic weapon" proficiency from D&D (2nd edition, I don't think they've had proficiencies for two editions now); there are just some weapons from far away places that are too crazy to use unless you're an expert at weaponry. Stuff like nets, whips, great axes and such (interestingly enough, Bolas are already on the exotic weapons list). Treat them like Engineer kits and it could be pretty cool.
Me? I love to play a mix of both, usually. Meditation builds are a lot of fun and you get to stack ferocity which brings huge crits. The toughness trait line "Valor" bringing ferocity with it as well is a plus.
My favorite build that I built myself "Symbol Guardian" is all about dropping symbols for vulnerability, damage, and healing. When the expansion hits, that build will not only get even better and much stronger, but Dragonhunter fits perfectly into the theme as well while providing a long-range symbol option!
Muscle Wizard
Banned
Have they've boosted condi builds in pve or is this just for pvp?
I've calmed down now after being compared to the protagonist of Pi. But this specific comment I've highlighted by Retro raises an important tangent that I think Retro at least will find interesting. For the record I do not agree the parenthetical statement should go without saying, but more importantly I think how we frame this entire paradigm should be examined.
I've been re-evaluating this paradigm after reading some of the foundational principles for Camelot Unchained (sidenote: I recommend these to anyone interested in WvW-style combat, and it gives me flashbacks to GW2's pre-launch days). Across multiple posts including this one, the author reframes the debate as a "skill-based game" vs. a "class-based game." Taken to its extreme, in an entirely skill-based game there must be no difference between player characters, as only how the user operates them in real time matters. Whereas in a class-based game, each class can perform a different set of actions, and strategy is dictated by how the player's class interacts with that of the enemy; rock-paper-scissors is the epitome of a purely class-based game.
But just as no one plays rock-paper-scissors for fun, I don't believe people actually want to play a pure skill game either (hence the no items/final destination/fox only meme). In a purely skill-based outcome, all that matters is your reaction time, dexterity, and ability to read your opponent. But when you introduce class into the mix, it adds an entirely new strategic layer involving one's knowledge of game mechanics and how the various classes interact.
And now finally returning to my point: when you frame the debate as, "I am better at gameplay" vs. "I have higher numbers," I feel you're neglecting all of the strategic gameplay resulting from, "He is higher in A, but I'm higher in B, how can I use that to my advantage?" And this component is inherently based on quantifiable differences
aka numbers
Muscle Wizard
Banned
The Revenant is also going to be another "magic warrior" profession too. I think a "weaponmaster" idea like that would be cool. Perhaps it could use models for legendary weapons from gw1. The only problem I can see with it is giving them weapons that may eventually become full-on new weapons for profs in later expansions.
shysaursoft
Member
It was meant as a good-natured jab, and a continuation of your own hyperbolic style of insane 'numbers numbers numbers', as you wrote yourself.
If it offended, then I apologize profusely.
Oh not at all, I took it as a compliment- that character is really good at math.
Edit because I've posted too often today: warriors + kits = amazingness; great call.
"Conjured" as in it's not really conjured but pulled from some hammerspace I guess. But I like the idea of exotic weapons being kit replacements. I want to wield a net and trident like a gladiator.
Gladiator is a good specialization name.
Squall ASF
Member
Nice, I imagine once I get a Guardian leveled up and start trying and grasping builds I'll bug you with more discussion on this subject
XT Vengeance
Member
I recently got this game, and I would like to be added to the GAF guild. Account is XT Vengeance.8930
NotMyUsername
Member
Just quoting to say thanks as well since that's somewhat how I've been building towards as I've started focusing on burns a bit more but I find myself dying more than anyone else so I need to focus on a slightly more defensive build. I guess I've been a bit more burning and retaliation focused as most things I do gives that as well.
Largely I've just been playing willy-nilly but now that I'm 80 I should probably actually focus more on a build and gear. I did switch to a greatsword and sword+torch build but I still need to experiment more with weapons.
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