A rant from a Warrior main
I would love if they made some serious revamps to warrior - it's my main and the class I've spend most of my time on in Guild Wars 1 and 2. But outdated weapons, buggy skills and lack of class identity in some of the elite specializations hold it down. Here are some of the issues I have with warrior in Guild Wars 2, and note that these are just my opinions:
- Weapons:
A lot of the weapons feel incredibly outdated - especially in PvP and how the game has evolved. Warrior has a lot of slow attack animations that are highly telegraphed and easily dodged. They are also easily kited with only a few gap closers. I feel like warriors always struggle to stick on targets whenever enemies have range and just a little mobility and cc.
I also find the spear being a ranged power weapon kinda pointless as it just killed the rifle - why do we have two ranged power weapons when one is simply better than the other? The revenant has a hybrid spear that can deal both ranged and melee dmg, why can't the warrior do so? This change could also be done to make the spear a hybrid power/condi weapon - condi in long range and power at close.
Some weapons are really cool and fulfill that class fantasy such as hammer on warrior - Big AoE's with heavy dmg is awesome. But some weapons have begun to feel outdated such as GS' "hundred blades" - an easily interrupted skill that forces the warrior to stand still while rewarding the final strike with big damage. Greatsword on warrior is one of its the most mobile weapons with two long dashes, but it's main damage ability directly contradicts this - this might be a balancing decision but it feels counter-intuitive.
Mace primary is almost never used besides support paragon for cc, that's a shame in my opinion and almost entirely because of how slow and short ranged it is (just try to land a mace burst skill on someone in pvp, its almost impossible unless chained with other cc). Making mace animations faster and perhaps with a dash on the burst or 3 skill would be awesome in terms of QoL and make it more viable in pvp scenarios.
The upcoming rework to sword is a shame in my opinion, it removes the execution ability to give a more condi focused weapon, which was probably needed for warrior just not in this way. The sad part of this change is that they are removing hybrid builds from the game leaving it less diverse than it otherwise would be. Why not make the games first mainhand torch condi weapon instead? This would fit right in with the berserking raider theme.
- Elite specializations:
For the elite specializations I find that Bladesworn has a disconnect with the core design of the game. It's a cool concept but has a weird mix of slow and fastpaced playstyle. This makes is difficult to enjoy in open world where mobs die before you can get your big dragon slash off while in tougher content it leaves you vulnerable to cc, blind, aegis on enemies or enemies simply walking out of your range due to weird pathing or aggro swapping. It leaves one feeling like they are fighting with a pool noodle when they are using the highest damaging skill in the game. The fact that you cant move and doing so interrupts your dragon trigger without returning charges is also horrible (the upcoming change fixes this somewhat, but why are we making it a condi spec?). The issues with Bladesworn follows it from PvE, to PvP and WvW making one wonder what it's use scenario is when it does the same as the other elite specializations just in a more convoluted way.
The fact that Berserker remains the most popular elite spec for Warrior is also somewhat telling when looking at the class. It's the first elite specialization for warrior but remains the most popular by far. Why play the other elite specializations when berserker can accomplish the same but easier? It's also the only class that actually enhances the core identity of warrior, while the other elite specializations subverts this class identity
Spellbreaker's full counter is an awesome ability but it ends up nerfing the burst skills that's core for the warrior identity - since you can't stack three burst bars on it and they remain the same as core warrior. Spellbreaker's unique ability also being an entirely defensive skill (relies on blocking an attack) is also a weird decision - it removes the offensive and aggressive part of the warrior and swaps this for a defensive playstyle that relies on enemies actually hitting you. The grandmaster trait Magebane tether should be incorporated into the burst skill, so you actually feel like an aggressive warrior again (the grandmaster trait could be replaced with something that gives alacrity on burst skills that way spellbreaker also get some group utility). Making Magebane Tether a core part of spellbreaker's burst skill would also make them more in line with this spellbreaker/mageslayer fantasy, that the specialization tries to be. Relying on being hit to be a Spellbreaker is not an interesting class identity and it leaves them stuck in this dps/boonstrip role.
Paragon is a cool addition and throwback to Guild Wars 1. I just don't like the static wings that come with the class - they look weird on a class that has a lot of quick body movements. The chants are a cool mechanic and paragon being able to aheal is also a good thing for class variety. The dps builds are also alright but its the same weapons as berserker with more or less the same gameplay in terms of rotations, so not much is different. Support paragon being strong in pvp is good for the class.
- Utilities:
Another pet peeve of mine is the bad design decisions for a number of warrior utility skills. That berserkers elite skill Headbutt can be blocked and blinded is truly annoying as it is used as an opener for entering berserk. It feels horrible to miss it as you are left fighting to gain enough adrenaline to enter berserk. It's an elite skill that self stuns, would it be that overpowered if you made it ignore blind?
The fact that signet of fury is bugged with the Signet Mastery trait is also annoying - it's a trait line from the core game, why is it still bugged??? (The bug: sometimes when spamming all of your signets to gain stacks of signet of ferocity it will simply not give you one - you use four signets at once while only getting three stacks. I believe this is due to signet of fury being insta-cast while channeling one of the other signets).
And why are most of Warriors utilities not available underwater? Are you seriously saying to me, that you can't headbutt someone under water? 3/4 of berserkers utility skills can't be used underwater - are you serious? No headbutting, but Bull charging an opponent under water is fine. Make underwater versions of the physical skills that aren't available underwater - you've done this for other classes, why not warrior?
Underwater combat on warrior in general is just the most horrendous experience with bad weapons and restricted utilities.
- Compared to other classes:
Finally the warrior compared to other classes. The warrior brings nothing unique to the game compared to other classes besides some niche utilities for niche situations such as battle standard and paragons "we will never yield". Their main advantage is how much cc they can bring in group content but it's not really enough to set them apart from other classes. The none-flashy gameplay also becomes a little dull when surrounded by sparkly power rangers such as mesmer, necromancer and guardian - who all have valuable tools they can bring to group content such as portals and reflects. Warriors bring good dps, but so does everyone else.
The main strategy in many PvE and WvW scenarios often is to stack in a ball where the warrior simply disappears in the crowd along with the class identity. You can't see or feel your character in most group. Make the warrior more visible when surrounded by other players. I've recently made a mesmer who has much more visible animations - I can see my spells and where they hit while surrounded by other players.
If elementalists are the piano class then the warrior is the drummer - it has fast paced rotations that are less complicated and I love it for that - I just want to feel the beat that I'm playing.
- My conclusion:
The developers don't play a lot of warrior and don't care that much for it. The game has evolved while the warrior has not. There are simply too many areas in the gameplay of warrior that has been neglected and overlooked:
- Fix the utility skills,
- Fix the bugs,
- Update the weapon skills,
- Make the trait lines more diverse, viable and interesting (the core traitlines are kinda boring with the exception of Arms "dual wielding" and Tactics "soldier's focus" most of the other traits are passive buffs and boons that doesn't alter the gameplay),
- Rework bladesworn (perhaps make the dragonslash ignore blindness a baseline part of the ability and not a grandmaster trait), the allowing movement on dragon trigger is a good beginning,
- Give spellbreaker something for their burst skill.
But most importantly - enhance the class's identity. Make the warrior stand out from the other classes while playing group content. Make other players look at the warrior and go, "wow, that's cool I want to do that!"
That's it, that's my rant. What do you guys think?