Keep in mind this is all based on BWE2, and there are supposedly a lot of tweaks to skills and traits in BWE3. So take anything you see now or advice we give may not be valid in 5 days.
Symbols are pretty bad at the moment, especially if you try to use them offensively. They limit mobility if you try to take advantage of them, and their buffs aren't even that strong because they're so short.
I personally don't see much use for mace. It's way too defensive and only works as support if opponents keep running toward you haphazardly. Your off-hand and ability choices just reinforce that. In addition, the second shield ability and sanctuary work counter to the mace by forcing opponents away from you. I would definitely go with a focus or maybe torch off-hand. Mace lets you deal with opponents near you or attacking you. Focus gives you a way to do the same, or still deal with opponents that don't focus you while keeping them nearby.
Greatsword as an alternate weapon doesn't strike me as a good alternative. It's good for an all-around solo weapon, but it's not so great at focus damage and its traits are somewhat weak. You may want to consider hammer for the immobilize and ring of warding, both of which have synergy with the mace (keep opponents nearby). The downside is that hammer is more for control and less for damage.
Smite Condition doesn't seem all that great without meditation traits. I would replace that, especially if you pick up Signet of Resolve (see following). Instead, you may want to consider Signet of Wrath (immobilize on activation to keep opponents near you).
In general, Consecrations don't seem that appealing. I definitely wouldn't try to buff them, at least. The Virtues trait line is also of questionable value since it doesn't provide a raw stat increase. I would tend to stay away from it unless you're making a build around boons (which tend to get removed or are harder to upkeep in PvP).
Maybe try the following:
http://gw2.luna-atra.fr/skills_tool/...7g7h7n7n7pi0j4
You could try substituting Purging Flames for Hammer of Wisdom or Sword of Justice for a damage spike.
Yes. The self heal barely heals for more than Signet of Resolve, which has a 25% shorter cooldown. The allied heal is about half the self heal, so it's not too spectacular. In addition from a PvP perspective, since Healing Breeze is a channel (though you can move), it is often interrupted before you get off the full cast. Signet of Resolve is easily the guardian's best all-around heal.
Hope they use the 40K Grey Knights as inspiration to make at least some of the armor sets. Having a Norn Guardian wearing something like this...
I've been back to the drawing board just trying to figure out what style I want to play during BWE 3 and after as a Guardian. I know things will be changing trait and utility skill wise alot before launch, so I'll just settle on figuring out my style.
I'm going to give spirit weapons another shot with a Greatsword / hammer build or a greatsword + sword / shield build. If I like it then that's great, but if not I'll settle on a Condition Removing Shout build of some sort to combo with my wifes support healing Guardian. I'm really trying to mess around with making a Greatsword build of some sort or even a sword / shield build for a shout condition removing build.
My warrior will be a rifle + something else playstyle so I'm trying to stay more melee oriented with this guy, even though I know sometimes I'll have to swap to scepter for some fights.
So I came up with this. You guys will probably laugh because it's so healing/support orientated and might be out of place because of the lack of the holy trinity in GW 2. It could obviously be modified to provide more defense/offense if needed, but I did this just because I got the sense after watching some explorable dungeon modes that they will be super hard. Perhaps it would be better suited for premade groups with friends and they could be specced for massive offense? Thoughts/comments?
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fUUQ...E3Yvxdj8mBBTCA
So yeah, symbols are definitely WAY too small.
Did the Staff #4 always "Channel might to nearby allies, and heal allies when it completes" or is that new? O_o
---------- Post added 2012-07-20 at 07:16 PM ----------
Also, I'm seeing a LOT of tactical value to the Hammer knockback right now. The Hammer has a lot of control abilities: the knock-back, a ranged/line immobilize (hits multiple targets), and then ring of warding.
A Hammer/Greatsword Guardian would be amazing at jumping into a group of enemies and isolating small chunks of the enemy team, for his team to burst down quickly.
---------- Post added 2012-07-20 at 08:10 PM ----------
There's a new Guardian shout called "Save Yourselves!"
Draws in conditions from allies while giving yourself every single boon, 60sec CD.
---------- Post added 2012-07-20 at 09:37 PM ----------
"Save Yourselves" + Contemplation of Purity = instant mega-buffs.
---------- Post added 2012-07-20 at 10:46 PM ----------
Also: please support my movement.
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.
The might-channel on the Staff is new, it replaces Martyr, which has now become Save Yourselves! In my opinion, it wasn't really needed, but the Stafff got buffed overall, so I'm not going to complain too much about it. We also got a range increase on one ability of the Staff, all abilities on the Scepter and one ability on the Focus.
Apart from that nothing has really changed, which means that the traits still aren't all that good.
Resurrected Holy Priest
After hating the Guardian soooo much up until now after this BWE i'll probably end up making one for live. I actually had a lot of fun when I finally tried it after not liking the Ranger or Mesmer.
"Haters give me balance, every Kyle's got a Cartman." -George Watsky
Had a blast with my Guardian. I love the Greatsword/Hammer set-up, though I kept falling back to Greatsword/Mace+Shield (because Mace has self-healing, even if it lacks the control of the Hammer!).
Ended up taking down the Champion at the northern-most end of Wayfarer Foothills mostly by myself. It was about 50% HP when other people started showing up. You can survive forever when you know your enemy's visual tells.
Plan to revamp my old Armored Zealot build to match the trait system as best as possible upon release.
(on that note, I wish that site would update the skills, but maybe he's waiting until launch to update all the skills once and for all)
---------- Post added 2012-07-23 at 02:21 AM ----------
Eh, I feel it was a pretty good change. I felt like a Support-focused Guardian didn't have too many ways to heal allies, while the Elementalist seems to have one on every Water attunement. Find myself thinking that players looking to be a priest-like "healer" may like the change, though it may still be lacking. I kinda wish the spell channeled healing, and then ended with a massive stack of Might.
I'm much more happy about the new shout, I must say. Amazingly good for a last-ditch attempt at survival.
Last edited by DrakeWurrum; 2012-07-23 at 07:23 AM.
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.
So, played a little this weekend, mainly experiencing the new scepter. Scepter feels so ridiculously good now. I have a feeling it'll be really popular at release.
Maybe I'm bitter because it ruins my Staff/Greatsword Build. But yeah, channeling healing might be nicer.
On another note: I've always claimed that people saying the Guardian doesn't go down fast enough had learn to play issues (although I said it nicer). After playing Elementalist for a day, I'm not so sure about that anymore. Although it could have been learn to play issues on my end, because I seemed to suck as an Elementalist.
I should note that not dying as a Guardian does take a conscious effort.
Edit: Is the Scepter really that good? I didn't test it out, apart from seeing if the range had changed. Next question: is it fun? Because it still seems very much that you need a "rotation" in order to deliver the best damage with it.
Last edited by Ynna; 2012-07-23 at 10:19 AM.
Resurrected Holy Priest
Not dying as a Guardian does take conscious effort, but surviving on my Guardian this BWE seemed way easier than surviving on my Thief last BWE. I didn't make a Thief this time around to see how it compared, though - I just know that surviving on my Thief and Elementalist characters was significantly harder than surviving on my Guardian and Warrior characters.
The range on the scepter and focus were both 1200, btw. I didn't use it much, but it worked well against a Champion Giant the first time I fought it. It just didn't seem to deal much damage, but then again, I was fighting a Champion.
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.
A Guardian is indeed harder to keep alive than an Elementalist (the other profession I played), but, on the other hand, when things were getting hairy (being outnumbered or outskilled) a Guardian can only stave of the inevitable for so long. An Elementalist can actually get away.
Resurrected Holy Priest
Thanks to the BWE3 I've decided that my main in GW2 will be a Guardian. I am here to join the club!
Unfortunately this BWE I was really put off by the scepter, even with it revamped. In WvW I feel a HUGE disadvantage by not having a decent ranged option. Keep in mind this is just my opinion. I just kept getting pummeled as a melee while trying to help during sieges and defenses.
I had a good time with things like the shield #5, knocked back a few players that were chasing my wife so that she could get away.
I feel like the guardian is in an excellent place SpVp wise and PvE wise. Guardian has always been my second choice (warrior main) but it could be falling to third.
I enjoy their utilities immensly so that is what is keeping htem on the table atm. I agree with Drake that the GSword / hammer combo is a good one, a long with Hammer / Sword + Shield. For WvW I guess I'm going to have to make a build focused on toughness and vitality. My role as the Guardian in WvW seems to be to soak up damage and disrupt. A tough tank like build based Hammer and another weapon set with shouts removing conditions is what I will try after release.
I'm glad they added in Save Yourselves, I didn't get to test it, in theory it should work very well witht he other 3 shouts which I already liked (except for Retreats name).
Eh. I can't really agree. Mostly-soloing (i.e. people showed up belatedly) a Champion in the Svanir place at the north of Wayfarer Foothills is not something I could have done on my Elementalist.
In the sense that my Guardian did it all with a Greatsword, while taking melee hits the entire time. The only times the thing wasn't attacking me was when NPCs showed up.
My Elementalist could definitely not have gone Dagger/Dagger and done the same thing.
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 loved my guardian on this BWE (only one ive played) didnt get to play much but had a blast in the pvp and pve
And to everybody who said the fire shaman for the charrs is hard....you guys where 1000000% right >_>
Facts don't care about feelings
My website (read my and other's novels here first!) https://www.the-fiction-factory.com/
Thoughts on my tentative PvP build? I wanted an offensive melee that had moderate support. I also tried to buff my survivability through increasing my vitality and self-heals.
http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/gua...0|0|0|0|0|2|9|
Do the Scepter's projectiles actually travel upwards now? Because that was really annoying originally.
What I did in sieges was keeping Symbols up in front of the gate, so they can tick at the health of the gate and combo with the ranged players. Then I run back to the ranged and protect them with Shield of Absorption. But that doesn't net you gold contribution, so why bother.
I only did sPvP and some WvWvW so I had access to all the skills. I can imagine soloing might be easier on a Guardian than an Elementalist.
I would've guessed that would be tuned better after all the complaints they had about that.
I would put more points in Radiance than in Zeal. I don't like the Zeal tree to begin and it only helps 2 skills of you (your spirit weapon and one symbol).
Last edited by Ynna; 2012-07-23 at 07:20 PM.
Resurrected Holy Priest
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.