Guardian Popularity

[Lotus Bane.9387]

I'm a bit curious in regards to this, but are the Guardian/Firebrands I see people playing their "mains"? If so, will there be less of them after the retaliation buff was taken away?

 

It just seems that in WvW now, they are now on the same circumstances as support Scrapper, with less loot due to not much hits taking place due to no hits from retaliation. Already I'm starting to see less Firebrands and more Dragonhunters, but overall less Guardians for PvE metas/World Bosses.

[Hogwarts Zebra.8597]

statistically speaking, whatever class u see someone playing will likely be the class they main. It's highly unlikely veterans will switch mains because of a change as this, although new players who just recently chose their main and still aren't very invested into guardian may switch to something else

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

I doubt there will be much change.  In PVE, Guardians still have the best condi build, support build, and strike burst.  In WvW they still have the best support toolbox, and also good sustained offensive condi pressure.  

[Puck.3697]

Guardian is the most popular class in the game.. and was so before the buffs and changes.

 

nothings really changed there

[ArjukKagrim.6049]

It is no wonder that Guardian is so popular since for most PvE content it just offers too much: The best damage mitigating utility skills in the game for ignoring game mechanics, heaving one of the highest dps benchmarks in the game while providing a ton of utility with no to minor dps loss while wearing heavy armor without dps loss. All that on top of an elite spec which provides even more utility for every situation where something could go wrong.

[frareanselm.1925]

I disagree that usually people play their main. Its situational, for example if you want to solo this you'll use a revenant for example, if you want to annoy and gank people in wvw you'll choose thief or mesmer, and if you want to feel like supporting people in raids you'll use a guardian or druid.

I have 12 characters and dont main any, there isnt one class that allows you to gank, solo, and support. Guardian is not this class.

[cat.8975]

13 hours ago, Daddy.8125 said:

Guardian is the most popular class in the game.. and was so before the buffs and changes.

 

nothings really changed there

This isn't actually true. Necromancer has been the most popular/played class for a long time now, despite what any DPS benchmarks and WvW metas would lead you to believe.

[Mik.3401]

9 hours ago, cat.8975 said:

This isn't actually true. Necromancer has been the most popular/played class for a long time now, despite what any DPS benchmarks and WvW metas would lead you to believe.

Is there any way to check the statistics on class play? I remember in the first years of the game it was stated guardians had been the most popular choice and engineers the least.

[Lotus Bane.9387]

21 hours ago, Mik.3401 said:

Is there any way to check the statistics on class play? I remember in the first years of the game it was stated guardians had been the most popular choice and engineers the least.

 

I used to go based on gw2 efficiency, but like cat said, I'm seeing a lot more Necromancers than most as well.  Especially Reaper.  

 

https://gw2efficiency.com/account/player-statistics

[Mik.3401]

5 hours ago, Lotus Bane.9387 said:

 

I used to go based on gw2 efficiency, but like cat said, I'm seeing a lot more Necromancers than most as well.  Especially Reaper.  

 

https://gw2efficiency.com/account/player-statistics

Thank you, that’s interesting I can see the tee and make because more or less the same at large

[Caeledh.5437]

I happened to just be looking at the total number of posts in these forums and wasn't surprised by necro being way out in lead at 40k.

 

I was a bit surprised that Guardian was in last position with only 14.1k.

 

But I suppose it does make sense.

 

My original main character was a Guardian. Partly because I usually play healers in MMOs. But GW - at launch - was a very unwelcoming place for healers. And still is relative to especially older MMOs.

 

On top of that, I was just reading another post about someone rediscovering hammer as a weapon they'd forgotten Guardians even have. And everyone responding well, yes, we have them but they're almost totally useless and that's why you almost never see players using them.

 

A bit like spirit weapons. Perma they'd be cool as hell. But they weren't so like the hammer, I just forgot about them. Eventually ANet made them not pets at all.

 

Guardians aren't completely broken and unplayable but they're also not fully functional.

 

Thematically and graphically, Guardians are great, though I'm not at all a fan of Firebrand's religious bent. And I never really understood Dragonhunter. Bow, nice, thank you. But Dragonhhunter as an elite extension of Guardian, doesn't really make sense.

 

Guardian = defensive and virtuous. I'm into that.

 

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guardian

 

"Guardians are devoted fighters who protect their allies and smite their enemies by drawing from the power of their virtues."

 

But both Dragonhunter and Firebrand went full religious zealot.

 

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dragonhunter

 

"The dragonhunter specialization will look to viciously purge the lands of dragons and their ilk, with longbow and traps now at hand."

 

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Firebrand

 

"These zealous lorekeepers are skilled in conjuring magical fire, and they use axes and mantras in close combat."

[Kanto.2485]

Gw2 players have strong issues when their class cannot dps the kitten out of things, which is why dragonhunter and firebrand came out. Anyway yes, guardian utilities and hammer could really use some work. Consecrations are all terrible outside of PvE because of high cds or too small AoEs, spirit weapons are slow and clunky and hammer and shield are completely useless, bow is only used in pve when bosses don't require cc/stab, and even shouts are rather bad, the only good one being stand your ground (retreat is only used because it has two charges and in pvp it's good because you play trooper runes and the shout trait, therefore you take it for cleanses. Hold the Line only gives you two boons you already get from other skills, and save yourselves got killed by the resistance change). The dps builds are strong as they are easy btw, but rarely the best option (outside of condi fb for fractals) unless you take one for stability. Also if you take a look at mantras with the pvp balance split you'll have a good laugh ;D they are borken in pve though.

[Caeledh.5437]

1 hour ago, Kanto.2485 said:

Gw2 players have strong issues when their class cannot dps the kitten out of things, which is why dragonhunter and firebrand came out.

 

If that was in response to me...

 

My guardian never had any problem killing things and in the unlikely circumstance you describe, ANet's inability to simply tweak their damage numbers and instead needing to create two whole new damage focused elite specs is even less believable.

 

Also my point re dragonhunter and firebrand was thematic, not functional.

 

Guardians = virtuous master of defensive magic. In heavy armour. Basically paladins. Yes with a wrathful stripe for a bit of smiting, but not their focus.

 

Dragonhunters "viciously purge the lands of dragons and their ilk".

 

Firebrands are "zealous lorekeepers".

 

It should be easy for anyone to see how the base profession would appeal to one kind of player and both elite specs would be a turn off to them.

 

Additionally dragonhunter feels very odd to me. The elder dragons are a bit nasty, sure, but can't exactly be hunted. And other dragons are not fundamentally evil.

 

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dragon

 

The story of the expansion which brought us Dragonhunters revolves around a good dragon.

 

It's a head scratcher.

 

[draxynnic.3719]

At the time, dragonhunters were said to be focused on dragon minions rather than the Elders themselves. However, when dragon champions come into play, there's a tendency for them to be massive beasts, so they need to focus more on techniques for fighting large creatures than regular guardians that are probably more concerned about more humanoid opponents.

[DeceiverX.8361]

Guardian is the most performant class in the game in almost all modes and has been since launch overall.  It's the main of most of the professions team as well.  It's universally strong and capable to be brought anywhere, and even if not mained/preferred by a lot of people, racks up a ton of playtime to clear content.

 

The number of forum threads is pretty reflective of guard's overall status because most people come to the forums to complain or provide suggestions for improvement, tough matchup advice, etc. Guardian being so consistently good and not particularly unfair-feeling (really just launch DH and aspects of FB in certain situations, which isn't universal to FB either but endemic issues game-wide) over the years leads to not a lot of people needing to make threads to complain, provide suggestions, or ask for advice.

 

Necro has an appeal quite opposite in terms of theme but generally achieves similar results in terms of desireability, especially since the elite specs.  There's a build for everything.  Reaper dominates playtime because it's honestly the most fun thing to play in the game for most people and has a fantastic aesthetic, too.

Complaints usually stem because things like corrupts and mechanics to punish other classes are frustrating for those depending on boons in formats like PvE/WvW, the class has been historically weaker in higher-end PvE, and has had waves up high highs and low lows in the PvP realms (unkillable 2v2 on the recent pre-nerf core build to literally being unable to successfully attack launch Daredevil and Mirage on Reaper by the majority of its player base due to the first two specs being hard-counters and utterly broken at release, and because the necro community as a whole failed to understand how to play reaper well).

 

You can see this mantra of why posts are created trending across the post counts for the mesmer and thief subforums as well.  The metrics linked show the two classes at #6 and #7 in play hours, but #3 and #4 by a significant margin over the rest in forum posts, both with very controversial designs and balance patches/perspectives.  Look into each subsection and almost all content is based around specific builds, design elements, or mechanics being overnerfed/overbuffed, easy/hard to play, etc.

[Caeledh.5437]

On 7/8/2021 at 8:52 PM, draxynnic.3719 said:

At the time, dragonhunters were said to be focused on dragon minions rather than the Elders themselves. However, when dragon champions come into play, there's a tendency for them to be massive beasts, so they need to focus more on techniques for fighting large creatures than regular guardians that are probably more concerned about more humanoid opponents.

 

Who said?

 

I can't find any official lore on them and a quick google just finds other people also wondering.

 

Yes I know that the ilk in their description this context could include dragon minions, but "dragon hunter" is a term most commonly used in the self-explanatory fashion. Which it isn't here.

 

I have people over in the druid forum hilariously asserting that "theme" and visuals are irrelevant. In a graphical RPG.

 

Words are maybe not as big a deal, but even putting aside their targets the "viciously purging" strikes me as at odds with the base profession.

 

17 hours ago, DeceiverX.8361 said:

Guardian is the most performant class in the game in almost all modes and has been since launch overall.  It's the main of most of the professions team as well.  It's universally strong and capable to be brought anywhere, and even if not mained/preferred by a lot of people, racks up a ton of playtime to clear content.

 

Seems you're right.

 

https://gw2efficiency.com/account/player-statistics

[draxynnic.3719]

8 minutes ago, Caeledh.5437 said:

 

Who said?

 

I can't find any official lore on them and a quick google just finds other people also wondering.

 

Yes I know that the ilk in their description this context could include dragon minions, but "dragon hunter" is a term most commonly used in the self-explanatory fashion. Which it isn't here.

 

I have people over in the druid forum hilariously asserting that "theme" and visuals are irrelevant. In a graphical RPG.

 

Words are maybe not as big a deal, but even putting aside their targets the "viciously purging" strikes me as at odds with the base profession.

 

If it's not in the Guild Chat discussing the dragonhunter, it was probably in an interview or on the forums that were available at the time. We're looking at chasing up stuff from back in 2015, and I think there's been two forum rebuilds since then, and third-party game media sites unfortunately tend not to keep their archives that long.

 

It was themed as being a bit more aggressive in nature than regular guardians, albeit in the principle of aggressive defence, and their skills are still suited for defence (arguably more so if you're talking about defending a prepared position). Generally speaking, though, they're guardians who specialise in taking down the larger dragon minions. Which is not to say that NPC dragonhunters would object to being involved in killing a hostile Elder Dragon or Tequatl-level dragon champion given a reasonable opportunity.

[Axl.8924]

On 6/6/2021 at 4:45 PM, Lotus Bane.9387 said:

I'm a bit curious in regards to this, but are the Guardian/Firebrands I see people playing their "mains"? If so, will there be less of them after the retaliation buff was taken away?

 

It just seems that in WvW now, they are now on the same circumstances as support Scrapper, with less loot due to not much hits taking place due to no hits from retaliation. Already I'm starting to see less Firebrands and more Dragonhunters, but overall less Guardians for PvE metas/World Bosses.

 

I got a buncha alts, and if you see thorvolgen, then that means that i am on my guardian messing around.

[Trejgon.9367]

On 7/9/2021 at 10:08 PM, DeceiverX.8361 said:

Guardian is the most performant class in the game in almost all modes and has been since launch overall.

 

You weren't playing guardian around launch period now did you? Because the only place before HoT where guardian could be considered "top performant" was stability and might in WvW. It is only with release of Dragonhunter elite spec where people on broader scale started appreciating guardians in their parties.

[Aeolus.3615]

shouts builds were the most common anything else was obsolete and not much of a help.

There were the power medi guards but that's it.

Edited July 14, 2021 by Aeolus.3615

[DeceiverX.8361]

14 hours ago, Lord Trejgon.2809 said:

 

You weren't playing guardian around launch period now did you? Because the only place before HoT where guardian could be considered "top performant" was stability and might in WvW. It is only with release of Dragonhunter elite spec where people on broader scale started appreciating guardians in their parties.

 

"and has been since launch overall"

Think you missed that detail.

 

It also had a ton of strong builds and purposes surrounding launch such as medi crit, and in PvE literally nobody cared about dungeon comps prior to raids so long as you build zerk gear and we're actively trying to set a speed record.

[Trejgon.9367]

3 hours ago, DeceiverX.8361 said:

 

"and has been since launch overall"

Think you missed that detail.

 

overall:
adverb
/əʊvərˈɔːl/
taken as a whole; in all.

 

Taken as a whole pre-hot guardian was niche class, not top performant.

 

3 hours ago, DeceiverX.8361 said:

 

It also had a ton of strong builds and purposes surrounding launch such as medi crit, and in PvE literally nobody cared about dungeon comps prior to raids so long as you build zerk gear and we're actively trying to set a speed record.

 

"strong builds" which were still nowhere close to a number of other classes. Yes I have seen guardians kicked from dungeon runs just because "guerdians bed, cannot deepz" (typing intentional to underline my opinion on people that did this).

 

And no, awfull lot of people DID care about party composition in dungeons, because better dps, meant faster clear, higher chances of clear in most cases, and higher clear times meant more clears within same time which meant much more money out of it. You think why people camped cof p2 so hard?

[Axl.8924]

15 minutes ago, Lord Trejgon.2809 said:

 

overall:
adverb
/əʊvərˈɔːl/
taken as a whole; in all.

 

Taken as a whole pre-hot guardian was niche class, not top performant.

 

 

"strong builds" which were still nowhere close to a number of other classes. Yes I have seen guardians kicked from dungeon runs just because "guerdians bed, cannot deepz" (typing intentional to underline my opinion on people that did this).

 

And no, awfull lot of people DID care about party composition in dungeons, because better dps, meant faster clear, higher chances of clear in most cases, and higher clear times meant more clears within same time which meant much more money out of it. You think why people camped cof p2 so hard?

 

Il tell you about strong or not ez to play or not:

Day before yesterday when i was playing guardian for fun i was able to do more easily with zeal virtues and DH than mes and stay alive.

 

I had less trouble since i also had a shout that not only gave me resolution but also my team members, plus double heal from virtues and the actual button. Just seems simple and ez to play.

[Trejgon.9367]

5 hours ago, Axl.8924 said:

 

Il tell you about strong or not ez to play or not:

Day before yesterday when i was playing guardian for fun i was able to do more easily with zeal virtues and DH than mes and stay alive.

 

I had less trouble since i also had a shout that not only gave me resolution but also my team members, plus double heal from virtues and the actual button. Just seems simple and ez to play.

 

and this is relevant to guardian being or not being top performant in pre-hot days.... how? Last time I checked HoT has released tad futher back than yesterday.

[Axl.8924]

3 minutes ago, Lord Trejgon.2809 said:

 

and this is relevant to guardian being or not being top performant in pre-hot days.... how? Last time I checked HoT has released tad futher back than yesterday.

Its relevant in that performance wise seems pretty ez to pick up and perform well on in a fractal from what i felt from playing it.

Sure you could argue that its not the same as performing well in raids, but i had less trouble staying on my feet in fractals than i do with chronomacner.