Xelara.9132

Have dc's as well. I did Pinata earlier and got the reward, I am sure of it. Then after Pinata had a disconnnect and the rewards where gone. That was over an hour ago. Since then I had several crashes on several maps. But the worst was in Vaabi, where I am not able to finish my daily bounty, because as soon as I enter the map I disconnect. And everyone else as well, according to map chat. Not even half a minute on that map gets me disconnected.

So before another big crash like last year happens, I am going to sleep. Don't mind the Pinata or daily that I can't finish. Remembering last year what I lost was alot worse. Don't want that again, so I prefer to log off for now and sleep.

What about chat-link for looking for group? Like Build-Links so people can click on it, see who is in the group and just apply?

I think that was something they had in Guild Wars 1 as well. The system was so much better there.

I feel there is really something missing in the group system in GW2. As if it is an unloved/unwanted kid that has not been treated with the proper respect.. . As if A-Net doesn't want players to interact properly... .

As for the group leader options, maybe they can make the invite someone to group leader-based and only go the democratic way when it comes to kicking. What do you think? I think that might help a little bit.

So here based on the response my updated suggestions:

- Invite to group only by leader accepting an applicant or by actively inviting.

- Kick out of group stays democratic.

- Make group chat available after leaving a group.

- Make lfg chat-links availabe. So people can write their lfg-links in chat on a map or in guilds. (this last one should be available for all group members, so they can post to their friends, but still only the leader can accept an applicant)

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> One thing that happened with 'Leaders of Groups' was that the Leader would kick everyone right before the end of the instance and then invite their friends or guildies to reap the rewards.

That is actually something they could adress by making the group chat still available after leaving. Because then people would still see the names of group members and could make some forum post with screenshots. People would learn fast that this kind of behaviour does have consequences. I have experienced this kind of forum dramas from other games and for me it is just part of the game community. I almost enjoyed it as much as the game to be active in forums with the community. But then GW-2 is much larger regarding population than some smaller mmo's. Maybe they just don't wanna deal with that kind of drama...

Sadly, because in my opinion it adds to the community feel and player interactions...

Ok that is actually true and valid. There might be good reasons for both systems, however I still prefer with a group-leader. Maybe there is another way to solve that issue with afk-group-leaders. Also why do they make it that you cannot see group chat after leaving a group? If there have been bad language or anything or bad behavior which might be bannable and someone gets treated badly, he should be able to make a screenshot of the chat later on, don't you think?

Not only that, even in general gameplay, someone writes something important in the chat, then you leave the group and you can't read it anymore. Or let's say you liked someone in the group that you might wanna befriend, but later after leaving the group you no longer can see his name and have no chance to contact him or her.

That is just a very strange decission to make the chats of the group disappear after leaving.. .

Ascalon Catacombs 2nd Path, when at the final stage the npc just won't start putting up the traps and the whole group has to restart the dungeon or just rage quit.

The group system should be reworked in my opinion. I liked the Guild Wars 1 group option and I see some issues with the current Guild Wars 2 group options. So my suggestion would be to make the group system more like in Guild Wars 1. Here is what I believe needs to be changed:

- Group Leader alone decides who can join or be kicked.

- People need to apply to the group leader to join. He can either accept or decline. (That is for the lfg menu)

- After leaving a group the Group Chat of when the person was still in group should still be visible.

- Add a looking-for-group chat in general maps.

Here is some concice explanations:

Someone that creates a group should be in full control of it. He invests time to look for people and has an idea who and what he wants and what not. As a side note to that - but not as the main reason - it would reduce the defamination of certain players and mass-blocking of groups after vote of kick. The affected player might just be angry at the group leader or might even recognize a reason for him being kicked and accepts it. Group Leaders feel more responsible for their group.

It is basically the system they had in Guild Wars 1. I think it was good and the new system has some flaws.

It might be a big change after so many years and Guild Wars 2 is already an old game. But with the upcoming release of the Cantha-Expansion, I think it might be a great opportunity to finally adress the group system and its flaws.

What do you think?

> @"smoker.6731" said:

> > @"Excursion.9752" said:

> > > @"Xelara.9132" said:

> > > I never played Reaper much and I use condi-scourge for pretty much everything. I wouldn't complain.. . You kill a bit slow when undergeared but have high survivability. With my gear however (full ascended viper gear + trinkets, scepter and torch and the respective runes/sigils) everything dies fast and easy.

> > This.

> > My Necro has three builds Heal Scourge, Power Reaper, Condi Scourge each have their uses. Condi Scourge is able to be top DPS in most cases.

> >

>

> I have a question for you. Did you build 3 sets of ascended gear for necro, heal, condi and power.? If you have legendary sets, then its fine, for someone who don't have legendary and is far far away from crafting one, what would you recommend. Craft 3 sets of ascended?

This is one of the biggest problems of this game, that you cannot easily swap between builds because you need the required ascended gear and legendary is so hard to craft. The game would benefit alot from the upcoming legendary armour slot for the whole account if they make one for ascended armour, too.

As for me I have full viper ascended gear. 3 sets of accessories for all purposes and 1 berserk set for my elementalist that I can swap to necro to use there as well. Then I have 4/6 pieces of marshal's armour set and working on completing it.

Best is to practise at low level what playstyle you prefer, test all the weapons out and learn how they work and what they do then make your first ascended according to your personal inclination. If you chose to boost to lvl 80 then settle for exotic first and play a little bit before deciding. However the healer set is something you should get later on, not as your first. Unless you make your character only for that purpose and don't do any open world or map completing etc.

Here you go before you throw your armour into the forge:

[https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stat_changing](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stat_changing)

Despite mixing too many stats, your build seems in generally mostly trying to play a supportive role. Maybe you could look into Heal-Firebrand builds and see if it suits you. Your trinkets would work well with that, too.

Then for damage you can make a second set and change them however needed. Most people have several sets anyways... .

How about this one:

[http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWwAs2FlNkwaCZLBup0GZkOyL+teA-zRRYBRHt3pYIiwKjIShKqAbnlIetA-e](http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWwAs2FlNkwaCZLBup0GZkOyL+teA-zRRYBRHt3pYIiwKjIShKqAbnlIetA-e)

> @"Xelara.9132" said:

> So I made a little calculation in search for the best build and I compared Viper vs Berserker stats for the full set (armour, weapon and trinkets) and compared what the build editor gave me as skill-dmg. The build editor gives me weird numbers for my crit chance, they are much lower than they should be in reality as I noticed on my own setup earlier. So I assumed 80% crit chance for Berserker (with food and fury for most of the fights) and 60% for Viper Set, which should be about right. The difference in Crit Chance was more or less 20% on the editor so that should be correct. Here is what came out:

>

> Berserker Viper

> Skill 1 : 165708 |><| 136481

> Skill 2 : 912920 |><| 821652

> Skill 3 : 384560 |><| 297771

>

> _100 hits assuming crit chance is 80% on Berserker and Crit Damage 215%. On Viper Crit Chance is 60% and Crit Damage 154%.

> Rune on Berserker is Superior Rune of Fireworks (Power, (Boon Duration, Buff in Battle)) and on Viper it is Superior Rune of the Berserker (Condition Damage and Power and even 5% Condition Damage/5% Damage). The numbers are total damage (conditions + direct)

> Sigils are Condition Damage/Condition Duration vs. Damage/Crit Chance._

>

> If we can believe those numbers, Berserk should be the way to go for Axe, of course there is other factors to consider for example the passive of Justice that causes burning which I am not sure how to calculate that in. However also the off-hand weapon plays a role. If it is focus it requires pure dmg same as shield, the only condition damage off-hand weapon would be the torch. Torch seems to profit more from condition damage that is clear, however if we consider the axe alone it seems it profits more from berserker stat..

>

> Am I seeing this correctly? If we consider this I should go for berserk (diviner) completely and neglect the condition damage..?

>

>

Actually I made a mistake in this calculation. I neglected skill 1-2's five times and two times damage (and i also neglected that skill 1 has 3 versions). Only skill 3 seems to be correct therefore. However that would make the picture even clearer towards berserk stats, because the physical damage would have to be increased therefore.

However that depends on how the damage in the game actually works and how it scales to one's deffense. The damage incoming to a player will be reduced by its armour stats. Does anybody know if there is a differenciation of incoming damage depending on if it is condition damage or physical damage? Is condition damage same as physical damage influenced by the armour or does it maybe neglect the opponents armour stats?

Wasn't it in Thunderhead Peak (Living World Season 4 map) for crafting?

As far as I know you need [Exquisite Serpentite Jewels](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Exquisite_Serpentite_Jewel) to craft the armour or weapon. They drop with a very low chance anywhere on Thunderhead Peak map and to 100% from the Hammer's Hoard chests. To get there you need to complete both meta events to get a key piece from each as reward, those you can combine to enter the treasury in Hammer's Hoard, then you have to complete the riddle and find the hidden chests with the light of deldrimor and there you get your crafting jewels to make the insignia. Once per day you can do this.

As to trinkets they are pretty easy to get. You can pick any living world map's accessory or icebrood saga ascended trinkets and I believe even Path of Fire the heart npcs sell selectable stat ascended accessories for trade contracts. The currencies are easy and fast to farm with several characters on some maps even and have selectable stats which will allow you to select Diviner.

> @"Infusion.7149" said:

> Shield 5 usually is used for added CC on things with breakbars.

That is nice input, I did not know that. Just tested it in the daily Chaos fractals where quick cc is needed on the boss. Thanks for the info ;-)

My build is as said primarily not oriented towards the greatest damage output nor cc. It is more a balance between support class (without actually healing) AND dps. With my build I think I sacrifice almost no dps and still can play a good supportive role. But can't have everything. If i build towards damage, support and add cc to the list then at some point my dmg or my support will suffer, don't you think?

I didn't read all the comments but here are the things I would like to see in the next expansion:

- More underwater content, maybe one map that is completely underwater even (under the Jade Sea maybe?). Also underwater mount.

- New Dungeons. The dungeons have been somewhat neglected recently, there have been Fractals, Strike Missions and Raids. It is time to bring good old dungeons back. Maybe an Urgoz dungeon?

- New Guild Halls (yes that is plural); also please add a Banker to Guild Halls finally please.

- Larger maps might be something to look into. When GW2 came out the maps used to be huge, but back then there were no mounts. Now with mounts you reach everything instantly more or less. Maybe larger maps would help bring that wow-effect back.

- Would love to see a playable Ritualist class .

I never played Reaper much and I use condi-scourge for pretty much everything. I wouldn't complain.. . You kill a bit slow when undergeared but have high survivability. With my gear however (full ascended viper gear + trinkets, scepter and torch and the respective runes/sigils) everything dies fast and easy.

I liked scepter + dagger personally. Still use it even on weaver. However Elementalist is my least used alt, and I do nothing much with it other than dailies or the one or the other heart/event maybe dungeon or heropoints. So I haven't put too much thought in it yet. I remember trying most of the weapons even sword on weaver. In the end I alternated staff and scepter/dagger. However on staff i do not like the skills too much and i barely use it, scepter + dagger all the way therefore.

> @"Infusion.7149" said:

> You have too much boon duration, only need ~15% if running Stalwart speed and 55-60% with Legendary Lore.

> Also would probably pair axe + shield instead of axe+focus. Axe and shield are typically used in melee while scepter+focus are flexible.

For only Quickness it might be too much, but if you consider other buffs as well then more cannot hurt. Especially when you run open world boss farming or something like that, you might get knocked down get skill CD or something. One slight mistake somewhere and even quickness runs out. Then add Fury, Protection, Might, stabilty, reflection, to the list and more boon duration makes sense, in my opinion. Plus I can always swap the food out for something else or change one of my trinkets for my berserk ones.

About weapon combinations my decision to pair axe + focus was based on having the focus skill number 5 (Shield of Wrath) for either more protection and/or more dmg on close range battle (the explosion radius is only 240 and thereby close range). The shield skill number 5 is kinda counterproductive as it pushes the mobs away and out of your axe range. I would rather push them further away when I have the range to hit them afterwards. Of course you could say in emergency push your enemies away in close range and therefore shield and I consider that as a valid variant. However I liked the focus on axe and shield on scepter more, but that might just be me.

I also consider axe my main weapon (with the reduced skill recharge on focus I wanted to put them where I use them more often) and only switch to scepter sometimes when my skills run on cd. If you want to play axe + shield it might be a good idea to swap Strength in Numbers for Stalwart Defender, then you have more deffense on close range and the skills shorter recharge as well. But that I would personally use more in solo-play. For groups the Strength in Numbers is more usefull I believe.

Thanks for your comments and inputs. The Honor trait seems a good alternative as well. Works very well with the symbol traits of Zeal and adds more buffs to the group with might and protection. I lose however the focus recharge reduction and the Strength in Numbers, which I really liked in group play. I am trying it right now, it seems like a very good variant.

And I also changed my axe to berserk, following my calculations and went therefore full berserk. No more boon duration sigils, all weapons are full dmg now. I still have 54% boon duration without the food and 62% with the utility food, the other was changed to power/ferocity. I think the boon duration is ok certainly to keep up quickness and it also makes quite a difference for the other buffs. For Fractals I might even change some of my trinkets or change the utility-food because of the Fractal Potions where I do not need so much concentration. The condition damage trait was changed to the weakness as you suggested (I guess if people wanna run axe condi build then this will stay in, but for berserk I will go with the weakness for now). Quite satisfied so far.

"Stand your ground" is also not fixed. I replace it with something else depending on what is good for the situation.

Edit: After quick testing of Honor my first impression is I feel slightly squishier (less protection self-buff probably) and the slower focus recharge skills is noticable. The change to symbols is great and i wish I could have those traits in Valor to replace the 3rd one there as that is most times not doing much ( I believe it needs to be unnerved by Anet, Tenacious Defense that is, the effect is barely noticable). Back to Honor there is alot of traits related to healing, which are - without healing equipment - not helping very much.. . That is just the first impression. I still feel it is a very good variant for more dmg output with the symbols.

So I made a little calculation in search for the best build and I compared Viper vs Berserker stats for the full set (armour, weapon and trinkets) and compared what the build editor gave me as skill-dmg. The build editor gives me weird numbers for my crit chance, they are much lower than they should be in reality as I noticed on my own setup earlier. So I assumed 80% crit chance for Berserker (with food and fury for most of the fights) and 60% for Viper Set, which should be about right. The difference in Crit Chance was more or less 20% on the editor so that should be correct. Here is what came out:

Berserker Viper

Skill 1 : 165708 |><| 136481

Skill 2 : 912920 |><| 821652

Skill 3 : 384560 |><| 297771

_100 hits assuming crit chance is 80% on Berserker and Crit Damage 215%. On Viper Crit Chance is 60% and Crit Damage 154%.

Rune on Berserker is Superior Rune of Fireworks (Power, (Boon Duration, Buff in Battle)) and on Viper it is Superior Rune of the Berserker (Condition Damage and Power and even 5% Condition Damage/5% Damage). The numbers are total damage (conditions + direct)

Sigils are Condition Damage/Condition Duration vs. Damage/Crit Chance._

If we can believe those numbers, Berserk should be the way to go for Axe, of course there is other factors to consider for example the passive of Justice that causes burning which I am not sure how to calculate that in. However also the off-hand weapon plays a role. If it is focus it requires pure dmg same as shield, the only condition damage off-hand weapon would be the torch. Torch seems to profit more from condition damage that is clear, however if we consider the axe alone it seems it profits more from berserker stat..

Am I seeing this correctly? If we consider this I should go for berserk (diviner) completely and neglect the condition damage..?

That is not necessarily the case. I am pretty sure there is many builds out there that are not considered meta and they work just as well. They just need to be thought through thoroughly and just because someone likes to play his class in some way doesn't mean it will help the group achieve what it wants to achieve in the best way.

Metas are mostly for pugs so that there is not much discussion needed as to how to setup. I bet with well established teams you can run quite different builds than meta that work just as well if not better, but require some skill maybe.

Poeple just have to think in teams and not just themselves and that requires some understanding of the game-mechanics, other classes and of course personal experience. Metas are there to facilitate that for beginners.

If you want team to work with that build then you need the other people to adapt to your build as well as you to theirs. There might be a build out there that works (even in PvE) with your stats but that would require the whole team to work differently than current metas.

Hello guys,

I have recently tried again Firebrand after over a year playing Dragonhunter only (at least when it come to Guardian; I did play other classes as well).

Here is my current build:

[http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWABs6d3lRweYTMMGJO6P7PVA-zRhYBRLtSMEFzICgD+UKQEEoQICFQ6SAFPL9JuB-e](http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWABs6d3lRweYTMMGJO6P7PVA-zRhYBRLtSMEFzICgD+UKQEEoQICFQ6SAFPL9JuB-e)

The stats seem a bit wrong though, my crit chance is higher even without food. Here is my stats without any food or buff effect one time with scepter and one time with axe:


The idea behind this build is basically as dps and buffer. I do not own legendary gear so I have to compromise with sets and make something that works for most circumstances. I do however have extra set of accessories with berserk stats for my dragonhunter setup and I made a healing armour set as well (Power, healing, concentration) but found out that healing doesn't suit me very well. The concentration seems to be about right for my purposes. Main focus is Quickness but also Might, Fury, Retaliation, Protection and Stability. So I figured that is about the best compromise when it comes to sacrificing dmg vs boon duration. Therefore armour and weapon with dps stats.

There is some meta-builds out there which I studied. However here is why I didnt chose the Firebrand meta-build: I would lose either shield or focus skills if I used the Greatsword. And I really like the axe skills with its pull and the symbol number 2 skill. Also the attacks are so much faster than the slow greatsword. I can move much more the way I want and still deal decent damage. And when it comes to the directional buffs it is easier to manage than with the greatsword whirling around in every direction. Therefore I opted for the axe instead and make use of as well focus and shield as well.

Axe seems to be direct damage as well as condition dmg. As I do not own condition set I opted for berserk. The meta-axe builds focus mostly on condition dmg. However I know how condition dmg works from my scourge and I really enjoy the direct damage from the axe, everything dies so fast. My feeling is it works great, recently I ran T4 dailys with it and also some strike missions. What do you think about Berserk build with axe? Am I doing it wrong?

My biggest concern is the viper stats on my axe. I made this one long time ago and I am not sure if I should maybe change. However I tried to make use of the condition damage of the axe skills at least a little bit by the use of the trait Kindled Zeal and add food with power and condition dmg. The Might-buff helps here as well, therefore I achieve quite some condition damage with this setup of gears, traits and buffs. The expertise however is probably useless with only the one piece of gear with that stat.. .

Also I didn't opt for Radiance as in the Meta-Build for Quickness-Firebrand. Instead I chose Valor. The reason for me was, that it seemed to me the only reason why the meta-build requires you to use Radiance is the sharing of the Power signet and I felt the other traits rather negligible or useless in that build. Even that the Power signet shares with allies only when activated "even then adds "only" 180 Power which is in a berserk build just over 5% of overall power. And I would sacrifice alot of other traits. In particular the cd reduction on focus skills and the "Strength in Numbers" trait and some buffs. That is why I chose Valor.

So in particular I am thinking to change my weapons, maybe the viper from the axe and also the sigils, maybe add another boon duration. or something but I am unsure about those. Or maybe try to achieve more expertise/condition duration? What do you think on my weapons, what should I do about those?

Also about the build in general and direct damage build on axe instead of condition? Any thoughts on that? It seems to be working quite good from my experience so far... .

I would swap the Knight's Gear for Berserk (if you like add some Marauder if you prefer having some more health but I do not think it is necessary and defenitely not all pieces; maybe 2 pieces might work.. )

The biggest issue with Knight's Armour is the toughness which triggers aggro on mobs more than without it. And with already the little health of Guardians this might be your problem with survivability because everyrhign will aggro on you. Change the toughness for full berserk (or the like) and you will have it much easier. Trust me I have gone that exact same way when i started. Guardians are not made for tanking, for that their base HP is too low.

I would recommend a Dragonhunter for Beginners. Firebrand needs longer to master in my opinion. Also for most general stuff (Open World, Dungeons, Fractal entry levels) it is just more convenient with just pure berserk build.

I think both would work for your purpose. If you want to go full support with concentration and sigils + armor runes you will not need to make full set with concentration because at some point you will hit the 100% boon duration cap. Just do not go over 100% and use Berserker or something else for the remaining pieces.

Also you might want to think about not getting the full 100% boon duration. Because the most important buffs such as quickness can be kept up infinitely even with only around 50%. Best to test it out if you are happy with your boon durations and can keep those up or not. Traits and food matter as well.

Toughness will trigger aggro in mobs a bit more than without, but it also increases your deffence so I would say that fact is negligible as long as you can cope with the aggro and survive.

Personally I prefer Diviner for bit more dmg output and I can add more berserker pieces because they have higher concentration. I suppose a mix would work as well. The accessories are quite easy to get in Diviner stats. You can pick any of the living world accessories that have selectable stats and they are quite fast to farm. The armours are bit harder to get the recipe etc.

But don't worry you can also do a stats change for ascended gear later on, which is not too expensive actually.