Infusion.7149

For medium classes, staff daredevil or scrapper IMO

It's probably because you were running no toughness and the enemy had vulnerability on you + might stacks. If it's a deadeye maybe malice stacks. Keep in mind like revs, necros, and eles , thieves also have the +20% damage bonus trait vs targets less than 50% HP which is multiplicative. The coefficient on malicious backstab (a stealth attack from deadeye) is 2.4 when hitting from behind which is similar to Vault (2.25) which is why staff daredevil is sought after. Given that vault is far more spammable (because it doesn't rely on stealth) and AoE along with Bound (1.75 coefficient because PvP split of 1.33 wasn't brought to WvW), complaining about malicious backstab seems unwarranted.Dagger+pistol thief used to be much more potent but other things power-crept. The issue with keep/tower/camp bonuses is they stack with ascended food + utility bloodlust so you end up with really lopsided matchups of power vs toughness.That's the great thing about the armistice bastion golems, you can see for yourself the damage output of builds versus a fixed target without those keep/tower/bloodlust buffs.

I think pets are counted now and is stealth able. I tested it: the issue is that if you're not a soulbeast , I don't think blasted stealth counts the pets. Also, if you're relying on veil/stealth gyro it needs to be in the smoke field or walk through the veil. So while soulbeast is quite suboptimal but usable when merged, I wouldn't even bother with core ranger and druid is a worse version of scrapper/firebrand/tempest for groups because unlike PVE you won't be relying on spirits due to mobility , spirit health decay, and AoEs flying everywhere. You'd basically be pick team but without the spammable massive damage of staff daredevil or hammer revenant while eating tons of retal from Barrage/Rapid Fire if you use longbow.

This is really simple, for roaming (i.e. not facing multiple scrappers/firebrands/aura tempests or projectile hate) it's usable as soulbeast. Core ranger doesn't have that much burst at all. If you want a simple test: run soulbeast without merging with the pet, then merge and use it again. It's a simple fact that the massive bonus from merging with a ferocious pet (such a Smokescale or Arctodus) while running the beast mastery line makes up a large portion of soulbeast damage boosts , besides traits such as Ferocious Strength , Oppressive Superiority or using One Wolf Pack. If you use "Sic Em!" as a utility skill for example , even after nerfs the bonus while merging is a hefty +25% damage (the same is true for Greatsword 2 aka Maul). For group play (anything over 5 people , as 5 people is a party not a squad) you really want to avoid running ranger because the only thing you'll provide the group is stance share (such as bear stance / dolyak stance for condi clear, moa stance for boons , and one wolf pack for group damage improvement). The problem with druids is your pet is still visible when your group is trying to use stealth gyro, so unless your group doesn't use stealth gyro or veils then you will be a hindrance. In addition, unlike scrappers or firebrands, druids need to build up astral force for the Celestial Avatar and the sustained healing really isn't as strong in a proper group comp versus say a heal tempest or a scrapper (since the med kit scales insanely with boons and incoming condis). Moreover, unless you plan on staying melee with Greatsword, shortbow/longbow/axe are almost all projectile so it's really difficult to be effective. Sword and dagger hit 2 and 3 targets respectively at melee range and aren't particularly stellar (dagger relies on slow ramp condi as well) so it isn't really worth bringing over another spellbreaker or another firebrand , scrapper (there's DPS gyros if you're just looking for damage), herald revenant, or even dragonhunter. The damage isn't going to be insane as staff daredevil Vault which hits 5 targets, for example.

Not sure why this needs to be a thread. Switching to a default equipment/build tab was implemented December 3 , with out of combat weaponswap on ele + engi. For WvW it makes the templates restored to original function essentially but with added builds/equipment setups. For PvP your build+ equipment is locked once match starts so the benefit is lost there but allows for you to quick swap prior to match. https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1099265/#Comment_1099265Rest of the mentioned roadmap for templates is" Ease of swapping legendary equipment between characters & Greater flexibility when making experimental changes to templates."My guess is that means legendary gear will get some usability improvements with the template system and the build templates will get a save changes option Speculation: It's been datamined that you can have up to 10 build templates/equipment templates (but at the current pricing for most people it is probably better to buy character slots, particularly for WvW)Ideally build storage would be cut down in pricing by quite a lot per slot, even if the amount of payment is the same 500 gems (i.e. 500 gems gets you 9 slots or even 18).Equipment template pricing could be implemented such that buying 5+ gets you 20-30% off similar to other things in the gem store. I don't see this dropping in price much if at all.Originally build templates were only to be switched in WvW spawn , but it's any time out of combat right now. It remains to be seen whether this will change. I see many people suggest this to be an account-wide unlock but given additional crafting license is 800 gems , I'd think the price would go up if made an account-wide unlock.

At least we have a clear roadmap to show us they are never going to address the real issues with templates. :/ I think if changed it's considered a bugfix/ QoL patch , so it wouldn't fall under "content" updates.(PvP / WvW "content" = balance and possibly new map or tournament , PvE content = living story with strike mission + festivals unless they add a fractal/raid)For example, the December 3rd 2019 patch fixed the game mode switching hassle to an extent since it remembers the build and equipment template last used. In addition, the out of combat weapon swap means you could use sword+dagger on a weaver as well as staff on one template ; sword+pistol alongside rifle for holos and hammer + pistol+shield for support scrappers. If you play WvW you're better off with a separate character though. As far as monetization goes, that would never fall under content. I find it more alarming legendary weapons are basically made into really expensive skins: unlike armor, backpiece, and trinkets you aren't likely to make use of it in more than a few stat combinations per weapon type. If you have 5-6 tabs the armor could be worth it. Refer to https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1105123#Comment_1105123which announced the reintroduction of the game mode switch feature and https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1099265/#Comment_1099265which includes " Ease of swapping legendary equipment between characters. , Greater flexibility when making experimental changes to templates."

It happens quite often when the GW1 + GW2 link breaks. Usually it is reinstated in the next few days automatically.

PvP/WvW is endgame content for every player that doesn't think grinding the same scripted content over and over again is fun (whether it is PvE raid, fractals, living story, PoF / HoT zones, or central Tyria map complete).Also I'm pretty sure the PvE content is led by a completely different team than competitive skill balancing. Unless you want "new" content that hasn't been bug-tested and simply shoveled out the door , a monthly cadence is a bit much to ask.

In the grand scheme of things that's governed by PvP balancing. WvW balancing is more about groups greater than 5 people, whether it is 5-10, 10-20, 25+ skills that have AoEskills that affect 5-10 peopleskills that cleave 3-5 people If someone is stealthed they can't contest a capture point or capture it so you basically can count out those builds. Condi mesmers that aren't mirages (the evade on mirage still caps) have been nerfed in PvP already in terms of phantasms , while s/p thieves haven't been really as widespread. Boonbeast generally isn't overpowering unless it's on soulbeast against a glassy target (due to leader of the pack/oppressive superiority combined with merged bonuses to power/ferocity) : I'd say core ranger / druid isn't nearly as strong.

Happy Holidays to Arenanet

Firstly, nobody says "encounters" in WvW :: this isn't the PvE forum. Likewise when's the last time you saw warrior run the utility banners in WvW , not PvE? Ranger spirits affect 10 targets, I already mentioned them in the first post I made here. However, they vaporize in AoE, lose health progressively, and generally aren't enough to warrant bringing a ranger. Engineer is one of the least played classes per gw2efficiency but that doesn't mean that they are the least played in WvW currently. In addition, necromancers have been played in team comps since pre-HoT (once again, G.W.E.N.) : rangers haven't. Necromancer is a debuff class, I'm not sure why people keep saying it has to provide boons or to do anything other than destroy defenses such as protection (strips, vulnerability), aegis (unblockable/strips/conversion), stability (strips/corrupts/fears,etc), swiftness (strips/corrupts/chills, cripple,immob), healing (via poison) etc. Also if your suggestion of spawning minions were to be implemented it would impact server performance even more yet also increase AI reliance for necros. In your example of an engineer building a bridge, it isn't likely to happen. It would essentially be another scourge/mesmer portal that gets bombed once the exit is made. I played GW1 since beta, that has its own set of balancing problems and eventually they more or less gave up on balancing every skill due to the sheer amount of them. If you recall after Eye of the North, basically maintenance time , Elementalists were less favored for damage versus Ritualist + Necro + Mesmer party composition. If you want to dumb GW2 down to "holy trinity" level of simplification:Guardian: Defensive Boons (stability/Protection/aegis mainly) , low base health tradeoff --- backbone of WvWWarrior : melee damage and/or support (PBAOE boon rips with spellbreaker ; warhorn condi clears)Revenant: ranged damage + offensive boons (fury+might+swiftness)Elementalist : ranged AOE damage (low health/sustain tradeoff)Necromancer: ranged boonrip/corrupt/debuff , CC --- boon removal allows for higher damage from other classes ; barrier is a scourge mechanic that is supportEngineer (in current state): defensive support by removing conditions + healing based off boons, stealth gyro, bulwark gyro , etc ; DPS gyros are run over warrior due to the stealth gyrosThief (generally daredevil) : melee damage with mobility (but with low health/sustain when focused) --- prime example of roaming classMesmer: originally was party support (chrono, with mantras + signet of inspiration + veil) but now seen mostly roaming since scrapper stealth gyroRanger : roaming class basically unless you run soulbeast with stance share Without necro boon rips you're relegated to using spellbreakers , off meta revenants with mallyx, and possibly power mesmers (null field , mind stab) which means that amount of boon rips is lower until you get in melee range. That means the counter bomb on you is far more explosive once you commit to a location with spellbreaker bubble (Winds of Disenchantment / break enchantment or proccing boon rip with hammer or other CC).

I think people need to clear up the context, ineffective class ≠ the class sux The context is clear, which profession is most worthless. Not which profession is ineffective. Not which profession sucks. Rather, Most Worthless. So if you tally the Core Professions from Worthy to Worthless, in my list, the Core Necro is dead last. Pun intended.If you're talking about group play in WvW then enemies will have aegis and/or blocks, you're not whacking a stationary golem. Unblockable marks have been useful since vanilla GW2 before HoT. It was spite+soul reaping+blood (for well cooldown)/curses then (now with precision, and basically death magic was not overhauled til recent changes implementing death's carapace). Old pre-HOT builds had variants with vampiric presence before its scaling was changed to be higher (renegades' soulcleave summit didn't exist back then). If you run axe mainhand on power builds (which has boon rip , so once again not useless) then staff is mainly for area denial and soft CC at 1200 range, whereas a condi/hybrid necro with scepter mainhand gets more damage out of staff's conditions.Meanwhile ranger pets not stealthing (while out of combat and in stealth fields) can wipe the rest of the group and pet AI has them dying in AoEs during group play quite often (animal cruelty), so given the choice any commander would rather have a core necro... For roaming the ranger is preferred by many new players due to range (obvious) and mobility. That's why you get so many rangers that contribute far less than necros do overall because at best they take a camp, kill a warg or do something like that. Also, if devs read this thread and were to agree with you there's very little they can do that would change core necro without affecting reapers and scourges. The only thing that could really be changed is shroud. It's the same situation with every other class except ranger (which needs soulbeast merged bonuses with beastmastery scaled back probably , in addition to revamping pets in WvW): core engineer would push scrapper even higher for example (since Alchemy/Inventions traitlines are mostly defensive ; tools sees more use on holos). For engis that aren't support, unless the changes are mostly to kits that don't see much use and tweaking the picking up of turrets (which were nerfed due to PvP) I don't see improving engineer massively likely because although grenades have a "projectile" speed + throw velocity + retaliation problem they're often used in PvE for condi engineers so they're unlikely to be fully revamped.If you look at what core engi has outside of utilities: Rifle --- a piercing power weapon with relatively slow rate of attack , used by holos too but not the reason to use holoPistol x 2 (slow ramp condis so not suited for WvW)Pistol+Shield (oft used on scrappers not using hammer , mostly for the shield)Grenade Kit (throw velocity, projectile, retaliation nightmare ... also unsuited for people with carpal tunnel)Tool Kit --- the most trolly kit with a 1200 range pull , also massive amounts of cripple : just hasn't kept up with powercreep and pry bar hits one personFlamethrower (more or less all burning at low range)Bomb Kit (timed charges make it unsuitable for roaming but fine for swapping in larger group play)Elixir gun (support weapon) --- nobody runs it for damageMortar (1500 range, generates fields) --- nothing inherently wrong with it, it's balanced around its range and radius

At ~1silver per snowflake you're probably going not going to even break even since gifts generally don't go over 8 silvers and I doubt it is 50% chance...Given the gem cost and the use is mostly for PvP/WvW reward track gain, I wouldn't worry too much

It's probably because of powercreep and the fact that core engi has always relied on kits for maximum effectiveness (similar to ele attunements). That's why there are fewer well played engineers compared to warriors, guardians, and necros for example. Most of the core engineer stuff is irelevant in small scale PvP due to projectile velocity (grenades), range (flamethrower with its rampup , toolkit, bomb kit) , or detonation time (grenades , bomb kit). Pistols are slow ramp condi ; rifle is generally slow firing and hasn't kept up with powercreep. Turrets were nerfed years ago , I remember one of my guild's leaders reached top of sPvP leaderboard when he was out of work playing turrets as a bunker. Arenanet has to contend with the fact that they can't always improve things that scrappers and holos can make use of as well (except the elite skills' f5).

What are wells and marks? Please don't say those are useless... Core Engineer is a really good support during sieges, that's why it's not useless. Core Necro on the other hand...yeah.Core necros can keep the chokes / walls hot with marks and wells and the level of player skill required to do so is extremely low unlike open field, which makes it well suited for players completely new to WvW. Not sure why you voted core necro, but you're entitled to your opinion. Hammer revenants have to contend with terrain on CoR and line of sight on auto, elementalists have to deal with cast times and attunements, warriors/guardians/thieves need to be in melee range to do the bulk of damage, and many if not most players won't be able to play mesmers let alone multi-kit core engineers that aren't support. Yes core ranger has higher potential in roaming due to mobility, but if you're roaming with between 5-10 any team build class is superior overall (doubly so if you rely on stealth gyro and/or AoEs). If you're solo roaming then that's different , I'd probably pick mesmer (because you can play un-nerfed scepter + staff or power shatter) or thief (which is meta in PvP) for that.

I disagree with the original poster. I really hate Halloween because typically it isn't an official holiday and gives people an excuse to do rude or nasty things like egging people's house or throwing toilet paper at it. Also there's also higher rates of break-ins as well as encouraging children to consume absurd amounts of candy. In-game it is the same, people farm their heads off ; they get an excuse to use terrible food in endgame content such as fractal or WvW (it's frankly really in bad taste to use those halloween foods with magic find). Reaper's Rumble (the MOBA-type thing), Lunatic Inquisition, race events, Clock Tower, Ascent to Madness, etc are dwarfed by the labyrinth farming since people can just spam autos. Wintersday however provides utility and foods that are usable (Fruitcake in particular but also Tuning Icicle) , gives newer players a decent shot at charged quartz crystals, lowers sigil of concentration prices so more people can play support builds, and isn't about mindless farming. Tixx's Infinarium rewards 50 gifts , the returning Snowman Lair gives 30 without diminishing returns, Toypocalypse around 30 or so, the snowball fight rewards 1 gift per gift your team returns to base and a few more for winning , the jump puzzle is now 12 per completion of the hardest route, the Bell Choir rewards around 3-8 depending on difficulty per song (not counting the ones from looping the achievement).

It's only due to the pet merging with smokescale or arctodus, really. If you compare soulbeast to other classes, that's the largest difference besides the damage increase from leader of the pack used with One Wolf Pack or oppressive superiority. +200 power and +100 ferocity is a large boost along with the additional +150 power and +300 ferocity from beast mastery. WvW roaming is a different animal because you can actually spike things down with a soulbeast.

Marauder is fine for power builds especially if you go sword+shield with the shield trait (Stalwart defender). The problem with getting toughness is we don't have demolisher's stats in WvW unlike PvP , so your best bet would be cavalier or crusader's if you want toughness for a build not using shield (i.e. sword+focus or greatsword which essentially has no defenses).

Barrier scales with healing power so a full zerk scrapper isn't going to have a large HP pool for a higher barrier cap nor is it going to generate larger barriers.

The only place that's applicable is WvW. In PvE , Dragonhunter is meta due to the quickness from "feel my wrath" elite as well as signet power bonus sharing (Perfect Inscriptions).

Last I checked it doesn't show other people's outgoing damage in the log , nor does it show outgoing heals from others not applied to you.

Ranger. The pets don't stealth so they're a liability and they lose the damage modifiers from soulbeast. Spirits vaporize in AoE, traps are really a joke when maintaining mobility is key. The only skill that really stands out is the AOE stunbreak on "Protect Me".longbow = projectile, single target unless traited and rapidfire eats retaliation. The amount of new players pushing people out of AoE is extremely high with pointblank shot/ LB 4Axe = projectileShortbow = slow ramp condiGS = does nothing for everyone elsesword = a skirmishing weapon that relies on dodging much like a thief but that doesn't work in a large group , cripple is far weaker than immob from thief's sword mainhand Engineer isn't the right choice: yes it's harder to play core engineer and you shouldn't run grenades due to insane retaliation self damage and condi reliance. However you can run med kit (and utility goggles for stealth reveal when out of combat or before engage) + elixir gun which already makes it 100% more useful than ranger. In addition for 5 man scenarios , throw elixir S can stealth 5 people and throw elixir C can convert 2 conditions on 5 people. Because it retains the F5 skill on supply crate, you gain the ability to clear 14 conditions on 60 cooldown or less if you don't opt for mortar kit (which has multiple field types including poisn and water fields).In addition, the core engineer has piercing on rifle auto, which is something you need to trait for on longbow and the 2-5 skills aren't projectile. Scrapper often has the pistol+shield alternative to hammer and it isn't any different for core engineer. For melee range you can use wrench (tool kit has a block similar to scrapper hammer) or bomb kit. Core guardian = use vanilla AH guardian with Stand your ground + Strength in NumbersCore warrior = definitely not , it's less potent due to losing boon rips but still has access to warhorn and "Shake it Off" for mass condi clear as well as hammer + GS + double axe for power damage . If your timing is superb you can banner downedsCore rev = still can use hammer as well as dwarf legend for stability on Inspiring Reinforcement ; using Retribution traitline allows for Versed in Stone trait to be used as wellCore ele = can still run staff with fire+air+earth/arcane for survivabilityCore necro = can still run well of corruption, unholy feast, devouring darkness, etc (remember G.W.E.N. before HOT)Core mesmer = can still veil, portal, boon rip with GS/null field , focus pulls , mantra of concentration is AOE stability , mantra of resolve is 3 condis removed off up to 5 people ; in low enemy count scenarios power shatter can get kills or finish downeds easilyCore thief = venoms (remember venomshare?) , mostly low target count but shortbow has poison fields on tap and dagger+pistol can make smoke fields (see also Smoke Screen which destroys projectiles) as well as hit for a large amount of damage on backstab and heartseeker while sword+pistol can do more stealthy attacks against out of position 900 range targets via Infiltrator's strike. Signet of agility also happens to clear conditions off allies and shadow portal is a core thief skill. Generally thief in WvW relies on staff however.

Guardian is your best bet since you have a warrior: Firebrand in WvW is going to remain meta due to stabilityDragonhunter / Quickness Firebrand in Fractals Firebrand support or Core Guardian in PvP

Yes the templates are really pricey if you play multiple classes, but it's purely optional. Your best bet if you play multiple game modes (especially fractals due to food & potion timers) is using different character slots since you will be able to use 2 equipment templates for that mode.I wouldn't buy build storage at all in its current monetization state, just save the chat codes ; build templates might be worth it if you often play more than one build in PvE/WvW since they're hotkeyed. For PvP since builds are locked in once the match starts and you have over a minute to change build, there isn't a reason for buying a template to do PvP. The convenience of not having to swap all armor+weapons+trinkets+runes & sigils &infusions (if you have legendary armor) far outweighs the convenience of not having to copy+paste a chatcode which amounts to 3 traitlines + 9 options ... For most users it's probably best to buy a character slot for WvW/PvP since you'd have 2 equipment templates and 3 build templates. The main offender is guardian since there's just so many builds per game mode (power,condi, quickness support, heal) with mesmer a close second if you play it in PvE (power,condi, boon). It's worse if there's rune swapping (see quickness Firebrand and boon mesmers) and much less painful if it's a weapon swap or armor stat swap (legendary has a checkbox to apply to all armor pieces). The least templates would probably be for power+condi elementalist since you can use sword+dagger (weaver) and scepter+warhorn (tempest) on the same equipment template , with the second tab covering sword+dagger condi and dagger+warhorn (tempest) presuming you don't play heal tempest. Engineer, with its reliance on kits is also a low equipment template demand if you don't play condi since you can use the first for power (rifle/sword+pistol/sword+shield for prot holo) and the second for scrapper (WvW).

If you're going to run dagger there really isn't a good reason to run the toughness signet over "Aftershock!" because the bulk of ranged damage is either projectile, necro condis, or nearly lethal (CoR/phase smash/drop the hammer/meteor shower) when you have 13K HP and the protection + immob will be far more useful ; "Flash freeze" also has -10% incoming damage from frost aura. Staff would afford you more offensive stats if it's for groups larger than 10 people. 3K armor isn't a lot if you only have 13K HP and in melee range. Heralds and weavers will be easily pushing over 3000 power , so as stated above, positioning is key. If you are going for more of a damage angle you can run fresh air (although with such low power,precision and ferocity you won't be doing much) with Ferocious Winds, but for support you're better off running the earth traitline for damage reduction and more protection. Leave party swiftness/fury to heralds I'd say, don't run air traitline for that as they can do it permanently and on 10 people.For utilities: Most tempests run "Eye of the Storm" even if they aren't auramancers; weavers usually have twist of fate.