Elysen

Disclaimer: This build will not make your PUG group godlike, nor shall it make a bad group good, it is designed to make mistakes from your teammates more forgiving, ideal for when you dealing with players who are lacking in the dodging department.

This build takes a more defensive approach to Strife's build allowing PUG groups to be more bearable, due to it offering a near 100% protection up-time to allies in melee range.

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Build/Equipment:

http://gw2skills.net...VbyLiWtQAmXAA-e

• 6/6 Armor - Knights
  
• Weapons - Knights
  
• Backpiece - Berserker
  
• Accessories - Berserker
  
• Amulet - Berserker
  
• Rings - Berserker
  
• Runes - Soldier
  
• Sigils - Force MH, Energy OH.

If your Jewelry and Backpiece are not Ascended, Knights stats will serve you better. If this is the case, use Exquisite Ruby Jewels/Ruby Orbs in the upgrade slots. All Infusions on Ascended equipment are Toughness/AR, as I wanted to reach 3,000 armor.

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Traits/Skills:

The traits & skills I included in the link are not set in stone, nor ideal for 100% of situations. Most the changes will occur due to being in a situation where reflections are or are not useful.

Swappable skills:

• Wall of Reflection <-> Retreat. Change to Wall for situations where reflections are handy.
  
• Hold the Line <-> Shield of the Avenger. Change to Shield for especially heavy projectile encounters.
  
• Signet of Resolve <-> Prayer to Dwayna (Human heal). This is debatable, but due to not having Signet cooldown trait the Human heal will heal more per second. This comes at a cost of losing the Signet's passive condition removal. If your heal spends long periods off CD, use the Signet.
  
• Renewed Focus <-> Tome of Courage <-> Damaging Racial Elites.

Swappable traits:

• Pure of Voice <-> Empowering Might. Due the Hammers slower attack speed, you will not be able to maintain as many Might stacks as you would with a GS or Sword (~3 as opposed to ~5), this leads me to believe Pure of Voice is a better choice where conditions are present. And yes, this does stack with Soldier Runes.
  
• Master of Consecrations <-> Vengeful. Use Master of Consecrations when you are using Wall of Reflection.

Writ of Persistence is used as it allows Symbol of Protection (Hammer auto-attack chain 3rd skill) to pulse an extra time. More Protection = More Healing for you.

I do not use Two-Handed mastery as Mighty Blow has a very short cooldown, and the other skills are extremely situational.

Altruistic Healing:

This trait is the center of many debates. It is the entire reason Guardians are willing to sink so many points into the Valor line. This trait allows the Guardian to be extremely defensive, healing the Guardian small amounts for every boon applied to allies.

Sources of healing:

• Altruistic Healing - 72 per boon applied.
  
• Virtue of Resolve - 102 per tick.
  
• Regeneration - 168 per tick.
  
• Selfless Daring - 429 per dodge roll.

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Conclusion:

As said previously, this build will not make a group godlike, nor will it miraculously turn around a bad group. However, when played correctly, this build will allow mistakes to be made from players in melee range. The near 100% protection up-time allows groups to absorb cleave damage, and helps the Guardian to shrug off a lot of the damage taken from being the anchor. A lot of players do not use condition removal, this build will allow the Guardian to take care of that almost entirely by themselves - the key is to watch the party window. Correct use of Aegis allows large attacks to be entirely negated, perfect for when lazy PUGs do not dodge.

Remember virtues have active effects! The number of Guardians I see with all 3 virtues off cooldown for an entire dungeon is unreal. They can really make the difference.

Link to my post on the official forums - is a pretty good laugh due to so many people defending both points of view.

*[Flame wall: Initiated!]*

Magic find is a bad stat. This is not news to many, and many others refuse to accept it. I'm here to draw the line and briefly explain some of the reasons why it is bad.

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Where is it good?
I will admit, Magic Find is actually good and I recommend to use it in some situations. I will list these situations below:
* Large scale events, such as many Cursed Shore events. This is due to them being "mass tag" events.

And thus ends that list.

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Why is it bad for solo play?
Simple - You're giving up offensive potential for an increased drop rate on certain items. So why is this bad in solo play?

Also simple - less kills per hour - Less kills per hour = less loot per hour. Counter-productive isn't it?

While it wastes time in solo play, it only wastes your own time, which you are, of course, entitled to.

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Why is it bad in group play?
This is the real issue with Magic Find and a sole reason it should not be in the game...

The person using Magic Find gear contributes the least, but get's the best reward.

Why does this make sense? A huge design flaw.

You are giving up offensive potential and wasting time. You are not only wasting your time, you are also wasting your groups. Wasting other players' time is selfish & rude. So ArenaNet promote selfish play.

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What can be done about it in group play?
I'm bordering into suggestions here, but I'll list a few methods to prevent selfish use of this stat:
* Allow the other player's to be aware when someone in their group is using Magic Find gear, through a visual such as a boon listing how much Magic Find they currently have.
-- While a lot of player's are against "elitism" in gear checking, as I stated earlier the person using Magic Find gear contributes the least, but get's the best reward. Nobody wants to be a losing end of that, so those players deserve to know when someone is wasting their time for a selfish gain.

* Make the entire party benefit from someone's Magic Find in the dungeon.
-- For example, there are two people in the dungeon using Magic Find, one with 36%, the other with 110%. I propose that everybody has an effective 110% Magic Find in that dungeon. This could actually make Magic Find a GOOD stat for people who are not seeking speedy dungeon, but remaining fair as the whole group is penalized speed wise, but everybody benefits in terms of loot quality.

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TLDR; Magic Find is bad - don't use it.

We have all these threads showing off their profession, but none showing off Legendaries?

It is now a thing! I am bringing such a thread to life! We want to see YOUR Legendary(s)

Be as vain as you want - you deserve it after all the work it took!

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I'd like to first say I'm rarely PvP, so I may be missing an excruciatingly obvious mechanic here.

I'm seeking to get parts of the Kodan armor for my Mesmer to match her PvE set. The issue is the GW2 Wiki says they're only obtainable from paid tournaments or using paid tournament tokens.

Of course, these things no longer exist - how can I get this armor now?

Mesmer

• Spatial Surge skill: Now strikes up to two enemies that it passes through, in addition to the primary target.
  
• Confusing Images skill: Now strikes enemies that it passes through.
  
• Magic Bullet skill:
  
  • The traited version is now a projectile combo finisher to match the base skill’s functionality.
    
  • No longer hits targets beyond maximum range.
• Blade Training trait: Properly reduces the recharge of Illusionary Leap.
  
• Illusionary Duelist skill: Reduced the range to 900, matching its current listing.
  
• Arcane Thievery skill: Now has the correct range when the Far-Reaching Manipulations trait is equipped.
  
• Confounding Suggestions trait: Reduced the frequency of stunning targets when Diversion is used from 100% of the time to 50%.
  
• Dazzling trait: Now functions with Chaos Storm and Illusionary Riposte’s secondary attack.

About time Blade Training trait was changed. Love the change to Spatial Surge. Dazzling change can be very good for those who use Staff/OH Sword. Nothing else really effects a PvE Mesmer.

One general change that I CANNOT ignore ...

• Reduced quickness from 100% attack speed to 50%.

While we all know Time Warp isn't the sole thing that made Mesmers a massive use in groups, a lot of players really believe a Mesmer is only used for Time Warp. How is this going to affect the wanting of a Mesmer. Will we still be able to join T1 COF farms? Time will tell, either way not happy about it. A huge nerf for all.