alain.1659

I tried the infamous rev scepter and guys, it is not as bad as you cry here. It is worse. Much, much worse with LoS bugs, auto chain problems, weird range etc. I love scepters. Apart from staves, they are the only weapons for me that have the "magic casting" feeling. But rev scepter does not have that. Thematically it is weird and npt really there. Feels like they had to give rev a weapon and created this as a placeholder. Other classes' scepters are both theme and function-wise better. Light armor classes have way better ones and it is absurd to compare. Closest ones might be thief one as the main intention feels close (support), but still not a just comparison. I don't think there is any other weapon that is as problematic as rev scepter. Hopefully they will fix it before GW3.

Rev was a brilliant idea until they lost their passion and will for the profession. It was supposed to be the heavy equivalent of ele and engi, and should have been a jack of all trades style profession. Relic system was a huge mistake. Rev misses out a lot compared to other professions. But then personally I think rev gets the short end of the stick quite frequently.

I play condi renegade, summon the kittens around me and corrupt wb boons. Most wb are not really guardian players and they panic cleanse the kittens first. Then mallyx and condi burst. Profit. With vindicator you can jump, look cool and die while looking cool.

Server/alliance I play in has more wb (our side and enemy sides) than any other class, except thief(s). Wb is overtuned and should be nerfed in some parts. But it shouldnt ruin other guardian specs. Roaming solo as FB is already challenging and DH is ok but not really a challenge for most classes.

I don't think willbenders are the biggest issue in wvw roaming, especially after the cele nerf. There are really worse builds rithat are not being mentioned by the majority of the players. The professions became so weird that powercreep feels the new normal nowadays.

At this point I would agree anything that might make Ventari more viable. What we have now is not ok. You guys have already discussed the major issues of it. I really want to play Ventari but apart from a brief moment years ago, it continues to suck in the mode I play. There are great solutions for that and I am all for bound/unbound option with additional adjustments that were previously mentioned by others. I do not have the SoO expansion but asked a friend and checked the scepter. It feels really bad.

Well let me share my perspective on these issues; It is not the cele stat block that is the problem. Although I certainly agree with the removal of conc/exp, it is not even the biggest problem around here. It is the extreme power creep and boon/condi spam. For stay blocks there are other safe options around. Want to start from somewhere? Lets take a look at the trailblazers on some builds. Secondly, Willbenders are not even the worst problems around, there are a lot worse builds/specs. Most of them would wipe the floor with Willbenders if both are equally skilled. Finally, please don't get me wrong but playing a one shot power build does not automatically mean that you are "skilled". Just like playing cele does not mean you are not. With the power creep most zerker/marauder builds are extremely easy to play, especially if they have disengage skills. I think what Anet is doing is quite clever. They are redirecting the anger against more important issues towars smaller ones and making players argue among themselves. Were bugs fixed? No. Classes balanced? No. Hackers prevented or punished? Guess what? No.

Altruistic healing really keeps me alive but it only works well with celestial builds and they are being nerfed. Power builds, in my opinion, are horrible for fb as it lacks all the necessary elements. Heal mantra is horrid and I started to avoid it now. I take extra pages and boons for books insted of quickness. It is neither meaningful nor possible to have a good amount of quickness on the condi build sadly. With the amounts of cc and condi spam, it is quite challenging to avoid certain skills. And with no proper boon removal/corruption, firebrand is auto-deleted by some specs. I think your last paragraph summarized the situation really well. Although I agree, I will try to find a way to make it at least viable-ish as for somr reason I love this spec. Hope anet sees these problems and does something for the firebrand.

I tested vigilant and trailblazer but my best results were dire+trailblazer with balthazar runes and cover condis. Burst dmg is nice, but hard countered by heavy cleanses. Prolonged combats are really not good as major condis are burn and bleed, and some builds have passive condi cleanses. I will certainly try sword 5 for the burst. I currently use sword/torch-axe/shield for overall condi, mobility and survivability. Hopefully after the patch (when some steroid builds are nerfed) it will be better for firebrands a little bit 🙂

Thank you for your wonderful answer. I am using a similar build but with the cele nerf I think firebrand will be cornered into a full condi build to be as effective as low tier roamers. JI is a must for me in any build as it brings a quite good engage/disengage option. But like you said, it does not give me enough oomph to defeat the enemy all the time.

Hello everyone. As the title suggest I am trying to make a competent firebender build for roaming, specifically a condi one. As the class is mainly designed for support I am having difficulties in theorycrafting. I have tried hybrid-power oriented one with gs and sword/focus, but even with pre-nerf celestial, it is still not "there". Although I could win most of my skirmishes and duels, against certain builds I had lower than %10 success. I asked around and it seems most of the guardian players do not touch firebrand for roaming for similar reasons. And with the upcoming celestial nerf, remaining players seem to be giving up on this build too. I have also tried / still trying a condi burn build. It is quite fun but with all these condi cleanses, and lack of cover condi's (and proper weapons) make it extremely challenging to play. My success rate is not that bad but not really that good either. Any competent roamer deletes me without any problems. I have tried fighting against condi firebenders and sadly it is bad. If it is mobile, it hits like a wet noodle. If it hits well, it moves like a geriatric turtle. Do you have any ideas or advices that can make a roaming firebrand work? I like that spec and want to see if I can make it work or not.

I am sorry but celestial does not mean low skill. Some specs work with celestial really well and it is quite fun to play a jack of all build if you are alone. And there are players who have physical challenges and need to use bunker/cele builds to play the game. Connection issues, gaming system etc are all addiditonal factors. Ps: I am all for removing durations from cele stats. I just wanted to respectfully remind you that there are other players with different tastes and issues.

Well I was thinking about the exact same thing. Due to willbender balance problem, other specs are suffering. But cap would also hurt them. Adjusting willbender would be the best option in my opinion. Although about overall boons you are also right. Permanent boon uptime should not be a thing. It became too common for nearly all professions.

I respectfully disagree. There are some specs that do not really function well, and an overall change like this would be a huge blow to them completely. Balancing professions and traits individually is better in this case. Otherwise it would destroy already suffering builds and would force everyone to play the same builds altogether. You are exactly correct about annoying stat combos. Although the celestial nerf makes sense, it would've been better to balance the professions first. After the cele nerf I think we will be seeing even more horrid builds with already existing stat combinations.

I have experienced the exact opposite. 100 thieves per 1 willbender on my wvw maps. There are even thief groups vs other thief groups on multiple occasions. Also, I have tried the willbender yesterday and I really think that it is somewhat overtuned. With the celestial nerf it will be better probably. Same goes with other cele builds. Some of them were not performing well and only saved by cele, it is sad that they will go into oblivion again. Problem with Willbenders is that because of them other guardian specs/weapons/traits do not get any love from the devs. This should change in my opinion. ps: There are also builds that are quite problematic but, somehow, are not mentioned on forums but quite bothersome for wvw roamers. However, as this is about thief and willbender, I will not go into detail.