Dao Jones.6720

I think the challenge here is that it feels like people are playing different versions of wvw across different servers. So advice that makes sense for one group doesn't always translate elsewhere. On my server I'd say 80% of the time I see pirate ships when zergs meet. I'm not in a guild, so I'm always going to be running with a pugmander, and that means no coordinated, focused comps. So a melee build there basically means you're a free bag the minute there's a push, because you get focused and burned down almost immediately by the enemy swarm. Success means staying the hell out of melee range as much as possible, and only swapping to melee when you meet a disorganized enemy or when you roam or run in small groups. But both of those situations don't tend to see any real projectile hate, so the risk of using projectiles is low. Given that, it doesn't feel like it makes sense to build for melee in my situation, which maybe suggests my Ranger in wvw should stick to roaming and small group play, or maybe just that playing a Ranger is incompatible with my disorganized wvw lifestyle. 🙃 I think I need a class that can function as a roamer, but also brings disruption (strips/cc) or support in groups.

So, this thread has a lot of people saying “don’t play Ranger”, and it has a few people saying “you can make it work”, so let me ask the latter group: what works? I’ve been trying to make a condi slb work for a month or so now, and while it does okay it’s obvious that it’s at best “top of the bottom shelf”. So if you’ve made Ranger work, what build are you running? What tweaks have made the difference? We all theorycraft, but I’m sure there are many people better than me, and I’d be curious to hear their thinking. I’d rather not just run my Necro as a WvW buffbot because I can’t personally solve for improving my Ranger. I’d much rather learn from my betters and continue practicing (and gearing) my preferred WvW character.

I've been considering something similar. I run a Condi Soulbeast build, and while it isn't amazing it's not terrible, and I've been wondering what a switch to Druid might bring. I think one of the challenges you'll face with Druid is that - apart from Ancient Seeds - it's much more support focused than roaming focused in terms of what it brings, so you're basically leaning heavy into Immob spam. That all said - please report back your experiences!

Staff on a Necro isn’t a DPS weapon; in fact, it’s inarguably the lowest damage weapon Necro can use. If you want “durable” DPS the Necro isn’t a bad choice. In fact, because you have shroud as a second health bar you can afford to stack more damaging stats than other classes. Mind you - Necro (core, Reaper or Scourge) isn’t really a top DPS choice, but you can definitely make it work, and you’ll have the durability to outlast a few mistakes.

What advantage does a core Ranger have over slb? I’ve been tinkering with a condi Ranger roamer, and while it performs well enough (as well as my skill level can manage, anyway 😅), I’ve never seen enough of a benefit from NM, BM, or MM to swap out SlB.

Ah. Well, that's a lot less exciting then.

Just call me "Kitteno Jones". ...which, I'm not going to lie, is hilarious. ArenaNet, I'm not sure who built your filter, but please introduce them to the English language.

Huh? Here's the patch note: Emphasis mine. It'll still kittenmage moving targets, and it'll do more kittenmage anything standing still. Which should be no one in PvP/WvW, but that buff seems more about helping PvE than competitive modes. (I.e. - it's not a wvw/pvp buff, but it's definitely not any sort of net reduction.)

Where are you seeing an “indirect nerf” to condi Necro in WvW/pvp? If anything, I think the Torment changes add another potentially meaningful source of condi kittenmage, and Soul Barbs now bukitten condi kittenmage. It’s not earth shaking, but that seems like an upward trend to me - not a downward one.

I’m intrigued by the Rifle changes and largely indifferent to the rest. Most of the changes were to traits that will remain skippable even after the changes. I suppose the DPS improvements to Spellbreaker aren’t bad, IF you’re using D/X. (I use a GS, so oh well. *shrug*.) I’m chuckling at the salty Warrior nerf brigade already crying a little this patch. Most of these changes seem largely irrelevant or slightly beneficial, barring the change to Banners. Doesn’t seem like Warriors took much of a hit in this patch, and maybe even came out slightly ahead.

This. The Commander (whatever class they are) represents an incredible level of heroic power that no NPC can really match outside of a few specific powers or gimmicks. While specific NPCs may have a signature gift or power, they definitely never match the Commander in sheer capability. Consider if you will that most of the NPCs we see only use one weapon, and only use a small move set of powers. Now consider that the Commander has access to all of the weapons a class can use, plus all of the powers, traitlines, and elite specializations, and can use any of them, on command, as the situation calls for it. So extrapolate on that: most Mesmers train their whole lives to evidence a few powers (clones, portals, maybe a blast or two), and maybe train in one weapon to enhance that. Then along comes the Commander, who just plunks down a small armory of weapons, and proceeds to toss out core, Chrono, and Mirage powers with equal skill. While some enemies can do significant damage or show significant power, their range of ability to do so is incredibly limited; the Commander can do the same thing across a wide range of powers. If you ever played Knights of the Old Republic you may recall that Bastila Shan was widely considered one of the most powerful Jedi of her era, with the ability to use Battle Meditation over a very large area. However, the player character - while unable to match her raw power in that one way - was undoubtedly much more powerful overall.

It sounds cool in theory, for sure. But imagine if there was a long-running TV show that stopped airing (or making available) previous seasons? That show would die after the first season; modern audiences have too much choice to be willing to wade through complete confusion for months until they can string together a story from flashbacks or internet summaries. And new players would be completely turned off. What content would they have to play? No core game, because that’s all changed. No LS 2-4, no HoT, no PoF. So, they’re playing WvW, PvP, and whatever episode of IBS is out right now? Ah. But you’re implying that old content isn’t removed it’s just “updated”. Can you imagine how staggeringly expensive that would be? To constantly redevelop old content to update to current lore? Who is paying for that in a game with no subscription fees? You’re asking ArenaNet to pay for redevelopment of old assets that will earn them zero dollars. The obvious option would be “phased content”. A character starts in “the past”, and as they progress the story they move through the developing world. So now you need multiple instances of any zone that changes, plus a mechanic to move between them. And people in different story stages will either have to gather in never-changing hubs, or be unable to interact until they’re on the same page. Certainly, 100% of the challenges are solvable and the goal of a true “living world” is achievable. But the cost, complexity, and value statement doesn’t really add up, I’d think.

When I played back at launch my first two characters in the game were an Asura and a Norn. Neither seemed to have any real tie to or investment in the core story; you get dropped in by circumstance and experience events and meet people that spring up around you with little context. I recently came back after an 8 year break; I rolled a Sylvari, and I’m amazed by how much more cohesive the story felt. My prelude puts me on a wild hunt to fight a dragon, I met Trahearne, recovered (and wielded) Caladbolg, and even experience the story that explains why we have a magic mirror to use against Zhaitan in Orr. And while I haven’t played HoT yet, I know the Sylvari figure heavily there, and even in season 2 there are again references to my back story (you fight the shadow dragon from your dream during the alliance mission in The Grove, for example). And the repeated involvement of the Pale Tree in the core story and S2 feels more impactful when you’re not just some person holding a conversation with a glowing talking shrub you’ve never met before that day. So it got me wondering - do your race, order, or back story choices end up impacting (or even being relevant to) things in future seasons or PoF? I know some elements from the human noble story (e.g. Lord Faren and Countess Anise) show up again in season 2/HoT, but do other races take more of a center stage in S3 - S5 and PoF?

This thread has taught me two things: People don’t understand psychology.My spare GoE that’s been sitting on my account for ~8 years is apparently really friggin’ valuable.@OP: while I also think they should enable people to “play their way” and pay a conversion cost to buy items from different game modes, the reality is that it won’t happen. So, instead, you’ve gotten some good suggestions on ways to “PvE” your way through WvW. I’ll add a few more general suggestions: Do you have any friends who will join you in WvW? People get less anxious when they’re in company.Try to reframe your view of your character when playing WvW. People who play mostly PvE (or us old-timey pen-and-paper gamers) sometimes invest emotionally in our characters, and taking them into situations that “don’t make sense” for them can feel jarring. More so when you’re suddenly getting pounced and murdered before your brain even processes you’re being attacked. One way to fix this (that GW2 is actually ideal for) is to entirely change your character’s appearance for different game modes. Go all black! Go flamboyant! Wear a giant face-covering helmet and just forget you’re even playing your character. That way, when you get mulched it’s just some weird fever dream.Just roll over and die. Don’t fight back; you’ll probably lose anyway, and the flurry of panic and adrenaline will just reinforce your discomfort for WvW. Instead, treat WvW like you’re playing Tenchu: your job is to remain hidden from enemies as long as possible, and once they see you, you’ve failed your mission. Die, respawn, and try again.Hopefully some of that works for you - at least long enough to get your stuff for your legendary. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go figure out how to find a certain dark-hued market and see a guy about a map.

yup that's the one I use! spvp, and small skirmishes in wvw. should win any 1v1. Out of curiosity, have you made any changes to this build based on your experience? I really want to make Condi Soulbeast work, and I ended up building a very similar build to this one before I found this thread. (Mine was more stance focused, and used Sic ‘em for some burst instead of Poison Trap.)

Not at all! I’m actually finding the conversation interesting. While some of the specific issues seem to be magnified for PvP/WvW, the overall discussion remains interesting given that I’ve found I’m enjoying Warrior much more than I did 8 years ago. Plus, now I’m running with Discipline, as well as Tactics because Healing Shouts seems like a better add than anything you get out of Defense or Arms. (Although I do miss the 20% attack speed increase from Dual Wielding. It was fun being a spastic A/A blender.) I do wish the traitlines were better arranged, like most of you seem to. Some of the other classes have pretty clear themes for their traits, whereas Warrior just kinda has stuff everywhere.

Thank you everyone for the replies. I definitely get the value for pvp/WvW, or for specific builds. I really wish Axe/Axe had a movement skill in there to take advantage of Warrior’s Sprint (and Brave Stride); Sword/Axe isn’t quite as fun to play, and Greatsword just feels clunky. That being said, I’ve dropped Discipline into my build, and added Kick as an on-demand movement skill (as well as a hard CC). Figure it’s worth getting used to running with it if I ever decide to do WvW with this guy (instead of my Ranger or Necro).

I’ve got a fairly fresh 80 Warrior that I plan to run through all of the LW story content (which I’ve never actually played before), and as I’m looking to refine my build for solo/open world PvE I keep seeing Discipline crop up in every build, and I’m not sure I understand why. Is weapon switching really just super common for everyone? I run Axe/Axe as my primary weapon set, and it doesn’t feel like I’m so short of things to do off cool down that a weapon swap would be super useful. Additionally, I like to keep a ranged weapon on swap for those few scenarios where I want to keep my distance (also out of habit from doing a lot of WvW roaming on my Ranger). Are the on swap synergies in the Discipline trait line plus swap runes in weapons really better than just leaning in on your primary weapon? Because if so, then that’s a PEBKAC issue for me, and I should get used to swapping.

This. Plus, the few times I've joined a commanded group recently I've found the experience to be... very underwhelming, to say the least. Back in 2012/2013 it wasn't easy to round up 300 gold to get the Commander tag, so people who had it either really liked the game mode, or were designated by their guilds as the "WvW leader". Regardless, if you ran the tag you usually knew what you were doing. Nowadays, everyone seems to have hundreds (or thousands) of gold laying around, so any idiot who farms the trade post can buy a Commander tag (or that "Catmander" version, which is weirdly more common). Most Commanders on my server (that I've seen, at least) seem to have all of the tactical acumen of a five year-old playing hide and seek. So yeah. I'm happy to hang on the fringe and just do my thing on my Ranger. And when I finish unlocking Scourge on my Necro I'll do the same thing (except I'll also hand out free barriers or buffs to anyone who happens to be standing near me).

Ah - that's interesting. I know for PvP Chill duration is decreased, but the builder didn't imply that was also the case in WvW. If so, that would definitely recalibrate this idea downward. Also, chill doesn't affect movement? I thought it did, but maybe I've just legitimately not been paying attention to when I've been chilled. (Which I guess may suggest something about its effectiveness...)

I'm honestly just kind of messing with ideas. If this is truly a dumb idea then so be it; I can keep goofing with stuff. I have a level 80 Necro and a level 80 Ranger, and both have enough hero points to max an elite, so I'm trying to decide which one I want to use for wvw. (Or use a level 80 boost on another class, but then it'll have to be core until I get enough HP for an Elite.)

Sure, if I'm rolling in some 20+ person ball there's going to be a lot of cleanses out there. There's also going to be a lot of CC flying around. This build has 5 AOE Chills, not including the Chill on crit. How many of those are going to be cleansed? 100%? C'mon. And every melee build deals with Immobilization; not every build has two pulls, a leap and AOE chill with near 100% up time to compensate. How many melee builds out there are that far ahead of that? It also sheds conditions in Shroud form, and if I swap the Heal over to Consume Conditions, can wipe them all at once. And meanwhile everyone I'm hitting is recharging slower - including their own CC removal. Like, I get it - it's not the meta, and it wasn't a flawless first pass. But can you offer some constructive criticism, rather than just trash the build? Are there tweaks that could improve it?

My Ranger is an Asura, and the unicorns are indeed almost as big as he is.

From what I’ve been reading the Chillomancer build was all the rage a few years ago, but fell out of favor and never came back. I was tinkering with a version of the build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSgAEZlJw8YbsGWJOuOrNfA-zlTJPhQnSgSUBGqPfGoKAF-w It has seven sources of Chill, including chill on crit, auto attack (3rd hit GS), weapon swap, when you get hit below 50% health, plus triggered abilities. And without a single point in Expertise, it has 85% duration, which means every chill lasts 3.5 to 7.5 seconds. Chill will also inflict Vulnerability, and you do 10% extra damage against chilled targets on top of that. It also has a stun break, condition cleanses and transfers, plus two AoE pulls to keep enemies in range. And since it’s gear independent (apart from the Svanir armor runes and +Chill duration weapon runes), you have good stat flexibility. (Although you’ll definitely want to ensure you’re crit capped or close to it.) So, what am I missing? Does my “ABC” Necro build have any place in WvW?

That’s TWO more Unicorny goodnesses than Ranger Poison Volley! If I do make a Revenant, it’s going to have to be a big, hulking Charr. Who else could master such a dainty bow?