Buran.3796

I have ~52 gear templates across my 18 characters; all of them with exotic runes. A lot of them use Fireworks Runes due the qol features. I don't want to grind again to recover qol features that I already earned and own, just because ANet wat to sell skins in the gem store for a new trinket slot.

They aren't even adding the same functionality: currently the PvE/WvW game has 99 different runes, the August 22 patch will replace their 6th effets with 52 relics, so the mini-exp essentially deletes half of the runes (not like more than 10 or 12 were in use, but you get it.

Didn't tried with GS. Aside from some bunker builds which I tested in PvP which didn't went anywere, I haven't played Herald in a year and half, since the pre-EoD nerfs. Both Renegade and Vindi are stronger at PvP/WvW roaming and neither of the two are top dogs in the meta. When I want to play a mediocre build with sentimental attachment I chose Firebrand instead...

FB has been absent from MATs for years, and now that you mention ranked, how many FB players are in the to 250 of each continent? Is really your argument "I can go ranked and feed deaths as FB as many times as I want, the spec is fine"? FB is garbage at PvP, has been for a long while and the changes (specially the annoying mantras) only worsened the problem. Meanwhile you can win the MAT with a roster of 3-4 Elementalist iterations...

Ha. Guardian only has one contender for any slot in a conformed team (support core) and isn't even meta (support Tempest is bis). Since the post PoF nerfs (soon close to half of trhe life of the game), the profession has been mostly an ousider in PvP. Also, FB being good at PvE and the boneback of zergy WvW (along core Guardian) didn't made DH or WB any bit more popular. Since I don't play alts too much (I play mostly heavies) I enjoy some variety. Guardian at PvP has nothing.

I don't care about the tomes rework, but the new recovered mantras are a nerf and the spec is by far the worst (already was) in PvP, to the point that even some core builds (including two core Guardian variants) are more powerful. than Firebrand.

You're entirely right, I don't like cheese, and also don't eat in McDonalds; aside from that, anyone which doesn't enjoy a game should left it. That is why is called a game and not "a work". But don't tell me that the game lacks "end game" or long term goals because that isn't true. You don't enjoy them? That's perfect: hurry, make yourself a favor and leave the game... Is totally fine.

Short bow is damage-source agnostic: is equally effective in a power, condi or hybrid build, and does damage at range. Archemorus has two ranged attacks, quickness and plenty of access to might. The Vindicator traitline also has damage buff enough that probably won't miss the short bow traits from Renegade too much, specailly in a power build.

In mid armor, both Holosmith and Thief variants are very fast paced. Albeit I'll argue that Thief is usually very single target focused and has some problems facing larger mob grous or in terms of sustain soloing bounties. In heavy armor, Berserker is the most fast paced Warrior spec, but the weakest in sustain. Bladesworn is extremely strong in both damage and sustain, but the pace is "intermintent": some poking, then a pause, then a huge burst. Is harder to play, not frentic or key intensive, but still very technical. In Guardian Willbender is the fastest paced; at WvW and PvP works better with power stats, but in OW hybrid builds made around viper/tb/celestial do better. Has excellent mobility and the damage comes from stacking high amounts of burns from fast hitting skills as Whirling Light, Zealot's Defense, Symbol of Punishement or Whirlwind Wrath, but is a bit weak in the re-sustain department. Kills things very fast, tho. In Rev the strongest solo builds run condi and are slow paced bruisers with incredible sustain; power Vindicator with gs + swords is the most frantic build (and my overall fav), but is not as durable.

Swords and greatsword have very similar dps in normal sized single targets, albeit gs has better cleave over multiple targets and higher dps va large targets. Condi Vindicator with mace & axe has mid to low dps but very good cleave and can be traited to have unbeliable sustain; the short bow will add more options afer August. For PvP & roaming, short bow Vindicator has potential; I'm not sure if is as good as Renebow (or maybe better), but Renebow feels strong, specially at WvW.

By the way, which scepter would you want the Rev skill animations would be stolen from?

The reason to play a game for me is to have fun. I had fun in PvP and WvW so I kept playing even long after the WvW clan in which I was faded away. In the path I started to stack a notable amount of legendaries, including all the armors and most of trinkets plus tons of weapons... And after the introduction of the legendary wardrobe the answer is very clear: the end game in GW2 is getting your toons in full legendaries ASAP, since they are the ultimate quality of life/convenince items: no longer worried about changes in the meta, new gear stats, etc. This is one of the reasons why I don't give a crap about anyone comenting on "GW2 end game" if they haven't grind AT LEAST one legendary weapon. If you haven't entered in the legendary race there's no point for you to lecture about "end game", you don't even known what it sis...

1) No. There's a pack which contains all the previous content, but the SotO doesn't include the previous expansions nor Living Story chapters. 2) Dungeons, Fractals, Raids, Strike Missions, any OW content, story mode and WvW. You can only premade as 5 in PvP at unraked or at Automated Tourmanents, in ranking modes the max amount of tagged players is 2.

My point is that PoE doesn't require subscription yet gets success delivering seasonal content whereas Daiblo games failed in thar regard.

I can't agree with this take when Path of Exile has been trampling Diablo III RoS for ages and now Diablo IV in content added to the game. Not to mention that last time I talked with a friend which has been a WoW player since its release He toild me that He no longer remains suscribed all year but instead He subs for 3-4 months after each new expansion and after finishing the content He moves to another games for the rest of the year. Anyone which thinks that Blizzard is able to provide content to play his games all year around hasn't been in touch with the relaity of the company lately... The aren't even able to produce PvE content for a game which was released just to add PvE content to the original game (Overwatch 2). I still waiting a rational explanation about how replacving a system which works (runes) with other which is supposed to do the same but forces you to re-gear again (relics) is good or anything but an attempt to introduce new monetization in a game which prtomised no firther evrtical progression...

Don't replace your celestial stats. Even in exotic quality they are perfectly fine to solo most of the open world PvE content and absolutely murder the story mode. The reason why you're bitting the dust is because you don't known how to fight, which weapons and skills to use and how to combo them to deal damage and protect you or recover from damage received, cleanse conditions, etc. That has to be learned, and you'll learn it in two ways: reading the skills, using them and recording your fights and viewing them and practicing fighting against bosses, chanmpions, Hero Points and bounties to learn what they do and how to endure against them, exploit tehir weakness and beat them. "Core" means the basic class without any specialization. Each class (profession as are called here) can equip up to 3 traitlines of 5 and chose which traits to have active, and swap them at will at no cost evry time is out of combat or outside a PvP match. Ele traitlines are Fire, Erath, Water, Air and Arcane, and the specialization allow to swap the third traitline for a new one (Tempest, Weaver or Catalyst). I'm not an Ele main and can't give as much advice as other fellows here, but recently I rised manually a core Ele in Open World and was running this build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGwAgihlZw8YbsMGJOKPXLPA-zxIY1orvMyMCKtAcYAA-e The basics were simple: in Air attunement use Updraft to cc a foe followed to Ride the Lighting to close the gap, then swap to Earth and use Earthquake to cc in AoE, then Churning Earth to deliver big AoE damage, then wap to Fire to use Ring Of Fire, Burning Speed and other attacks. Use Armor of Eath to gain Protection and Stability to prevent being interrupted, Lightning Flash for positioning and Signet of Air to breack stuns. Use the elite to summon elementals to tank for you, and remenber that your signet heals you every time you cast an spell, so do it oftenly. That just some basics, when you get better at the game you'll be soloing bounties, believe me.

Since the game only has 10 main character voices (male and female of each race, and even then, some grunts at skill animations do repeat) I thinbk that is important to try to make your characters as different as possible to prevent having always the same voice with entirely different characters, unles you plan to make evey too an avatar of youself as odes Lord Hizen or Mukluk. My recomendations: * Male Charr: Warrior, Thief or Elementalist. Blood, Ashes or Flame Legion. Charr culture evolves around war, those fit well their interest. * Female Charr: Engineer or Thief, Iron or Ashes Legion. I think that size isn't as important for a Engineer or Thief as for a Warrior, so they fit better a female charr. Also, charr usually disdain magic so spell casting is unusual unles you're in the Flame Legion, which is a bit a pariah faction. * Male Norn: Warrior or Revenant. Norn are individualistic, so no Guardians here please. Norn are connected to the world of spirits and the mist so Revs fill well them, the same as warrior archetype due their size. Necromancer fist well corrupted male Norns, since Sons of Svanir don't like females amongst their peers. * Female Norn: Ranger (specially druids) and Revenant. Norn are also shapeshifters so they are very close to animism, nature magic and survival abilities. * Male Human: either Guardian or Thief. Seraphim and The Shinning Blade orders are very close to the concepts of Orders of Knights, and cooperation is their main trait, so Guradian fits perfectly. And human thief is paramount outside a skritt. * Female Human: Mesmer or Thief. Guardian can also work. * Silvari: they are very new in Tyria and along Norn probably the least technically advanced race. So no Engineers or highly evolved cooperative clases as Guardians. Rangers and Elemenrtalist make sense due they are closer to the forces of nature, and Warriors and Thieves make also sense since they are fairly basic professions. Necro or Mesmer would make sense for corrupted members of the Nightmare Court. * Asura: Engineers, Elementalist, Mesmers and Necromancers. Everything else makes 0 sense for them.

Off hand weapons as the the "main new weapon" in Berserker (torch) and Bladesworn (pistol; yes you can argue that the bang is in the gunsaber, but gunsaber has the problem of disabling your traditional burst which places Warriors in a niche) is the main reason the new weapon mastery feature is mostly useless in Warriors. I have no clue if the scepter will be good (or have any use), but for sure being a main hand weapon will allow more chances of having some potential use than being a off hand weapon.

First of all, spec weapons shared across all core and spec builds was largely anticipated. Not only makes sense but also is a way to add novelty without having to make dozens of new skills. Is also a safe choice overall, since the chances of game breaking performance with the new iterations isn't that big. Some of the weapons were heavily designed as part of the traitlines and skills of past specs, so if you remove them oftenly will underperform. That's particulary true with Warrior weapons and some from Guardian also. Now, in the case of the Revenant:I've playing a bit with beta characters in PvP and WvW. My thoughs: * Shield: didn't use it in the beta. The only template in which I've used shield in the part was a bunker Herald build which wasn't as good as tank as some current builds are as bruisers (Cata, Holos, etc.). So, stripped from the Herald traits, shield is even weaker and has no use. Score:: 1/5. * Greatsword: greatsword will probably be meta for power dps builds with Herals and maybe even Renegade. Is a fantastic option for leveling core Rev, albeit condi Rev is stronger than power Rev (specially now with the short bow). But to be honest, it feels stronger in Vindicator than in the other specs. Score: 3/5. * Short Bow: the star of the party. The lack of a proficient core ranged weapon for PvE gets finally solved; short bow works well with both power and condi damage and is an excellent backup for any spec. It will be probably the best leveling weapon for newcomers. It will used at both power and condi builds. Despite the loss of some features without the Renegade traitline and F skills, seems very stronmg in PvP and WvW roaming, and I'm not entirely sure which one (sb Renegade or sb vindicator) is stronger in competitive game modes. At PvE Renegade has the advantage of delivering either alacrity or higher peak damage, whereas sb Vindicator has insane sustain and makes even stronger the maybe best solo build in the game. Score 4/5 due loses some funcions, but that's exactly how should be. Overall, very positive new feature for Revenants. I'm sure that other professions would have even better aditions, but compared to the other heavy classes, we had some luck this time.

Axe is a very neat addition to core Guardian, for both PvE and the condi build at PvP. But is not enough to make them meta in end game content. Core dps Guard in PvP is stronger than Firebrand because the third trailine improves the sustain, but without the tomes core Guard can't be as versatile or bursty as FB. FB has plenty of tools and can be very bursty but the native trailine and nerfed options of healing make them unable to endure pressure. Off hand sword is mostly a mobility tool which doesn't bring anything to the table; outside power PvP/WvW roaming Willbender. Longbow is a power weapon which benefits from stealth and the F1 cc from DH (plus shield) to land devastating burst at skirnmishes in competitive game modes. I don't think that would be as useful for core as axe. The slow cadence of fire won't benefit the hybrid Firebrands nor the fast paced Willbenders. The weapon stll has potential in large scale WvW for Fireband since a volley of Hunter's Ward from every FB in a zerg can wreak havoc in the battlefield. Overall the "openess" of the spec weapons to all Guardian varaints falls in the mid to weak portion of the spectrum: as was known, the weapons which would have more impact would be the ones which doesn't rely too much in the original soec traitline or specific mechanics to be useful. In that sense, lonmgbow is not that good if you don't have Spear of Justice, Winds of Resolve or Shield of Courage, or if you lack traps and play mostly mele. Off hand axe is weak even for WB. Axe is very good, specially for core newcomers,and maybe would benefit WB roamers providing more cc to land their burst, but won't change the PvE meta, because axe FB is still better than other Guardian with axe. The change is good (I don't critize it) but some classes will benefit a lot from it and others not. For Guardians isn't as bad as for Warriors, but is not great.

Thanx to all for the responses and advices, they were helpful. Following Lan Deathrider's tip tried the Strenght traitline, find out some weapon/skills combo that seemed to work and then started again. In ~10 hours rised a warrior from 1 to 49 with no deaths, and so far is mogging the maps in green gear and effiortless, in contrast of how was doing in the first run. In this sample I started as an Asura (my current two warriors are Norn and Charr, this Asura will be deleted once I reach 80, this is just for fun and to earn some perspective of how the core profesions perform after so many years and changes). I initially ran sword + axe & greatsword in half of Metrica Province, then I moved to the "old" Hambow. Unlocked Balanced Stance as breakstun (later replaced by Dolyak sigil), then Bull Rush and Stomp at level 19 in my second map. Al level 21 unlocked Strength traitline and at that moment hambow was already working very well. The only rough point was the Hero Point near Thaumanova Reactor, infested with Skelks and the the veteran Fire Ember, which not only was immune to fire but also delivers very bursty AoE burns in a delicate moment in which most of the classes doesn't have much cleanses. To deal with it did chose to use rifle + greatsword in that fight, to keep foes away and poke at range. Then came back to hammer + bow the whole 49 levels. From 1 to 34 did use only gear provided by leveling and drops, at 35 bought vigorous (power + vit) weapons and armor and 'll get carrion (condi+ power + vit) at 65. Unlocked the second traitline (Defense) at 45 and by that time I already had all the traits. So currently I'm Strenght 1,1,3 and Defense 3,3,3 with no runes or sigils, yet the build is performing admirably well: the chain stuns can disable and kill goups and veterans before they can even do harm; the high cc uptime allow me to ditch Might Makes Right for Agressive Onslaught and I have almost permanent access to stability. HPs went like silk and I was able to solo some weak champions; fighting regular mobs feels like mowing the weed. The major boost in damage will arrive at level 55/61 with carrion gear (green/yellow) and at 71 with the third traitline (probably discipline, still guessing the trait choices). It won't take me much more to reach 80, but so far I would say that now I'm happily surprised by the performance of core Warrior at leveling: not as safe as Mesmer but I would say that places second along Guardian (a bit slower in burst but super fun). Then I would put Ele, Rev and Thief. Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKgAMJlJwSYKMLGKOqP/LfA-e

Is all about the definition. For a lot of people "solo Open World PvE means" doing some random events, Hero Points, maybe some Champions. Given enough skill, usually those can be completed faster with the most dps oriented gear, which is usually berserker for power builds and viper or griever for condition or hybrid builds. Those people would advice you to use that gear since is the "meta" at instanced contents and eve large groups OW meta events . But for other people "solo Open World PvE" means doing any non-instanced PvE alone, which includes bounties, legendary bounties and large group meta events. Those, despite being designed to be cleared by groups, can be soloed. But the builds to do that have a mix between damage and self-sustain, in form of both damage prevention/mitigation and helath recovery. The only requirement is being sble to deal damage enough to solo the events in the time cap. For condi builds most of the time celestial is the strongest gear; four stat gear as marauder provides 9,35% more stats than three stat gear as berserker, and celestial provides 74,38% more stat points than berserker, so if your build benefits from both power and condi damage and requires some room for HP and armor celestial works wonders. Of the strongest "do all solo PvE OW" builds most of the top performing specs do benefit the most from celestial, with the only exception of Bladesworn, which does better with power stats (Vindi is also strong with power, but the celestial build has much more sustain and doesn't loses more than 1k in the golem). A final thing to have in consideration is that difficulty can vary greatly depending on the random unstable anomalies of some of those bosses: phase in/our and restorer can easily halve the progression. Being said that, with the right build most bounties can be soloed in 4-8 minutes and for speed farming probably the best number of players is 3, since above that the scaling usually doesn't make the things faster...

That's bs. Before EoD Masteries were shared across all characters, once unlocked every alt instantly gained access to those abilities. Then in EoD Anet locked the bot, squif and fishing masteries to the personal story, so if you complete EoD with a character, only that one gains access to the skills. The afternath? I finished the story with my main, and none of my 17 alts, and none of them can use the unlocked EoD masteries (and they won't, due I won't repeat the story mode). This is similar: a relevant number of my alts already upgraded from Traveler runes to Fireworks, since the final effects are nicer, and playing without the extra mobility stinks... After the inclusion of the Relics I'll just stop playing alts without +25% movement, due I don't want to play snails, and I won't pay again for a qol which already bought. As Teapot said more than once "a game as a service tries to not give you much qol so they can sell you the convenience", and that works until the obstacles remove the fun and you no longer want to play the game. Relics are a step in that direction. Good luck with that.

Short question: which would you say is the best build to level a Warrior from 1 to 80 just soloing OW? Context: over 10k hours in the game, I've been recently replacing some of my 18 characters for new ones since I had too many of the same race/sex and was annoying hearing always the same voices. So I chose to manually level the new ones just doing PvE maps. Overall has been fun and easy given how much knownledge I have compared to when I started almost 11 years ago. I started a list with what I though were the best builds to level each profession, and is almost done (only Warrior and Engineer rest). I'm currently leveling the Warrior and I'm not very sure about the weapon choices, the skills or event the stats (focus on power or condi?). I found that was easier with condi builds for Necro, Mesmer, Elementalist, Revenant and Guardian; Ranger works well with any of both, Thief felt weak with any of them. Warrior has been a bit confusing: very good mobility options and plenty of damage against regular mobs, but a bit squishy. You need to expose a lot if you use 100 blades or Whirling Axe; swords + long bow is safer but sometimes you find fire immune foes and had to swap to rifle, which is weak vs mobs. Stun chain builds seems fine once you get more levels and stats and synergies, but until lvl 30+ your cc is limited and I sometimes seems as I'm constantly running around until the cooldowns are down again. For comparison with Mesmer or Necro everything was blown away befiore enemy even reach me, and Guardian while more exposed nukes all in .5-6 seconds... Which builds for leveling a core Warrior you will recommend that feels like your'e trampling across the content instead of hit and running for you'r life as a Thief?

2 SECONDS. Is the base duration of the Resistance boon provided by Aggressive Evasion in all game modes (PvE, WvW and PvP). As I guessed, falls in the short end of the chances (1-2 seconds). You could argue that a mele Vindicator with Shiro + Alliances can have access up to 7 movement skills and up to 3 stunbreaks (plus cleanses) to prevent the rooting, but in my book the change is a nerf. All those tools cost energy (a lot of it) and you won't be able to use more than 1-2 in a row. The positive thing is that you get the boon each time you use a movement skill (so the proc can prevent incoming incoming effects from 8 non damaging conditions... for two seconds). But the bad thing is that in WvW builds that deploy their gameplay around things as immobilized, chilled or fear last for a lot more than that. So, while the previous Agressive Evassion wasn't a jack of all trades as is now, at least was a master vs immovbilized, which countered entirely. So for me the choice is clear: Salvation > Devastation for anything related to WvW/PvP (at PvP sigils do the work at 0 cost, also). And I doubt at PvE AA would be a choice for Devastation enjoyers. So, great job making a mediocre traitline even worse. Fortunately, there's better choices.