Reading about the stress test changes to our profession, there were some interesting ones.
Greatsword
- Pull 900 600 Range. (Probably necessary.)
- Symbol of Wrath 15 -> 10 sec Cooldown. Damage: 276.6897 -> 1383.449. Retaliation 2 seconds to 1 second. 5 Stacks : Reflect incoming damage back to its source. (Interesting change to the damage. Nearly 5x as much! And the cooldown reduction helps as well)
Heals
- Healing Breeze Self Heal: 53 -> 25. Allied Heal: 53 -> 25. This seems like a very significant nerf. Not exactly sure why. (This still has a 40 second cooldown)
- Shelter 45 -> 30 sec Cooldown. Healing: 150 -> Healing: 75.
- Signet of Resolve 30 -> 40 sec Cooldown. Healing: 120 -> Healing: 150. The only heal that got buffed, and considering we have a trait that reduces the cooldown of signets, arguably our best heal.
Utility
The range on most shouts was reduced from 1200 to 600 yards.
Sanctuary nerfed from 10 seconds duration to 6. Again, not sure why. It wasn't that overpowered to begin with.
The only thing warrior has over guardian is more burst damage. We are also capable of doing burst damage (just not as much as the warrior) but higher sustained damage (imo, sword's auto-attack ftw?). I picked guardian at first because they are so fun in leveling then I tried out PvP and became hooked to it too.
Also, there is no "support" class. Every class is capable of fulfilling anything that other classes can do (be it burst damage, conditions, control, or support).
Sword was nerfed slightly, more damage is now shifted to the final AOE cone.
Sword Arc Damage: 608.7174. -> Damage: 442.7036 = nerfed by 30%
Sword of Wrath Damage: 498.0415. -> Damage: 442.7036. nerfed by 12%
Sword Wave Damage: 221.3518. -> Damage: 830.0692 (3 strikes), this is 276 per strike = 24% buff
The overall result depends on how many cone strikes (Sword Wave) connect. If all of them connect, we only lose 5% damage on average,
if only one connects we lose whopping 13% damage on average.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAQAClTLWXY
A few clips I put together from 8/15/2012 stress test. I gathered some 1v1 and 1v2 parts to make a video showcasing the offensive prowess of a guardian and how powerful Monk's Focus can be (2k heals for every meditations). These are all hot joined so don't expect displays of godlike skill and crazy strategy. I'm sorry for poor editing skill (and music if you don't like Black Ops zombie)
I run a modified build of Master Eriko's: http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fUAQ...ssYYxhiNFPKmUA
You can read more about it in his guide: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/...ive-pvp-guide/
The video so far is pretty entertaining and very well played. They definitely improved the scepter since I used it last.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte.../Aliyra/simple
PM me if you ever want to add me for Hearthstone!
So as far as ranged attacks go, we're fairly limited since we don't have bows/guns etc?Just the thought of having a bow with blue flame arrows makes me...I can't even express it lol! No doubt lots of people would love it and I've seen a lot of people demand it so we might see it but I wouldn't count on it being shortly after release.
Do you really find that you need all that condition removal? You've got 2traits for it which give you 4skills to remove conditions + 2 passive 10sec removal of conditions.
I'd personally drop signet mastery and inscribed removal for blind exposure and powerful blades if you feel it's possible
Last edited by DrakeWurrum; 2012-08-16 at 06:20 PM.
I hope you haven't forgotten my role in this little story. I'm the leading man. You know what they say about the leading man? He never dies.
If you give in to your impulses in this world, the price is that it changes your personality in the real world. The player and character are one and the same.
I use Smite Condition liberally (more as a damage or heal than to remove conditions). The thing is once you heal with the passive condition removal of Signet of Resolve, you lose a passive condition removal for 40 seconds (32 with Signet Mastery). So I need another passive to back me up during the cool down of my heal (you usually want at least one active and one passive at all time in PvP). For Inscribed Removal, it's more a preference thing. You usually want at least two condition removal in general PvP (one active and one passive), around 3 for tPvP (due to the amount of condition builds), and 4 for safe against condition teams.
Apparently you can now move while casting Shelter, Mace #3 and Guardian #5 (which is why the range was lowered on the pull/leash).
I have a feeling those heal ability numbers are a bit preliminary. They used to all balance out self-healing over time, but now they don't.
Scepter's speed is a little problematic but easy to get used to. Smite also hits for a crap load of damage if you can chain them in the radius. Usually my combo involve popping virtue of justice, drop smite followed by chain of light, then switch to sword for Zealot's Defense.
On higher levels its exactly the same This is not like WoW where you get game-changing abilities or gear later on. The only thing that changes for higher levels is that you get more utilities and traits which allow you to further specialise in a specific area. But if you liked guardian at level 5, you will like it at level 80 - as the weapons, abilities and playstyle will be exactly the same.