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suckatash1
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 24
I just joined a guild yesterday. There are 19 people in it. Not a single one is a GWF. I know the game is still very young. Are people just not playing GWFs? I've seen a few threads about how rough it is to play one early on. Are they really that bad?
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I have two characters, and one of the is a GWF. I enjoy playing it. It really isn't all that bad in the lower levels. I managed just fine in closed beta weekends 3 and 4, without the benefit of a pet and nice starter weapon, so it should be just fine now for new players without those advantages.
They are certainly not the strongest class, but hey have some neat abilities. Give it a shot, and see if you like it. If you do, you'll be one of a rare breed. If not, you can always make something else.
only noobs play easy class like rogue
It starts getting better at around level 30
Impressions shmimpressions. I can't say no to a class that wields a giant 2h weapon.
It's not that GWFs are unplayable in PvE its just that at least from 1-40 (maybe later I can't say from personal experience) they are far inferior in almost every way to the other classes. Less DPS, less survivability, less CC. And who wants to have a much harder time playing solo and also come bottom almost no matter what in every single Dungeon or Skirmish? Even worse in PvP melee AOE damage which is their specialty is almost irrelevant.
So the lack of numbers is a natural reaction to a utterly underpowered class.
Good luck!
Good luck!
That 2h sword deals lower damage than a goblin's club
[URL]="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/class/index.asp"]What Class Are You?[/URL]
Great Weapon Fighter -> hopping around like in FPS PVP, trying to avoid damage
Trickster Rogue -> hopping around like in FPS PVP, trying to avoid damage
Cleric -> ranged and hopping around like in FPS PVP, trying to avoid damage
Wizard -> not sure, ranged and hopping around like in FPS PVP, trying to avoid damage
Guardian Fighter -> raise shield!
I also noticed when I ran a priest to 10 afterwards that he was killing stuff in one hit at range that my GWF was having to double tap at those very early levels...so other than good AOE damage (which is no doubt better with the mage) not sure what the GWF is actually supposed to do.
He is cool though!
Tell us how your really feel...haha. Now, if their dps is lower, their survivability is lower and their cc is lower, can they solo w/o using a healing pot once cool down is over?
Because in the beginning at least it may as well be a toothpick......
I love my GWF and later on when you get those giant groups of 10+ MoBs they are a god send with the constant AoE. A GWF is very gear dependent though and as such has some lulls in power. They also, dare I say it, take more skill and timing to get the most from their damage. Never come out last in dungeons though always #2 or 3 due to Rogues.
Playing a GWF is all about timing too, you need to get in those interrupts, AoE knock downs and more it makes life so much better.
The one fatal flaw I see GWFs doing is attacking from the front when they have nothing hitting them, use those combat advantages, the difference is huge. Also know when and how to you use <Tab> the dmg increase on that in AoE situations is amazing.
GWF is one of those classes that I see having a solo gear set and a dungeon gaer set for either dps or off-tanking depending on their spec. The gear has a huge impact on how they perform and as such it dictates if you're squishy, tanky, bursty, etc.
If you do it RIGHT the class is good. Not OP, not faceroll, but GOOD. Meaning a GOOD player can take that GOOD toon and have a GOOD gaming experience with it.
You are not an ARMS warrior. GWFs only true tank when their det bar is being used. The rest of the time you are CC aoe DPS. Want a striker? Play a rogue like everyone else and their mother.
By level 10-15 you will have (or be in the process of) found, bought, and acquired gear so you take less damage and do more but even so the class is lackluster compared to the others. It may shine at 30+ (I am not there but many say it really picks up for gwf at that point) so if you can get past the low levels, if it is what you want to play, then tough it out. You level so fast in this game that will be only a slightly annoying experience; at least you are not trapped grinding levels as a week toon for months on end like some games .... group up, do your best, and before you know it you will be past the hurdle.
And hey, if you hate it after all, there are other classes to try...
^^^ heh. Cleric: heal self while blowing stuff up with modest damage. No need to avoid damage, unless its a megaboss of some sort. Clerics should have a shield but that is what it is. Wizard: kill it before it gets to you, and if it does get to you, make it unable to do anything but float in the air and cry while you kill it. Rogue: range it to death, stun when it gets close, and kill it before it can even hit you once. Gwf: dink at it while playing the in and out game that you describe....
What gear do you suggest? Right now I'm concentrating on power and crit......
Also I'm level 10 right now and I have no interrupts or knock downs and if I do I'm not using them correctly.
At the lower levels you're really just after stat weights. What you end up wanting in terms of stats will depend greatly on how you spec. If you look in your base tree you'll see the points for added defense and defense % to power, etc. So obvious early choices will be Defense and Power to benefit from this. As you gain more levels and get into your Paragon tree things get fun. You can build into a heavy crit spec to get those bleeds stacking while other lines prefer a lot of Regen and certain encounter and at-will abilities will become your bread and butter due to speccing.
Right now I really prefer Defense, Power, Armor Pen and Crit in that order and pick up items with very high regen/lifesteal but those are secondary for me lately as the Cleric pet does its job well enough. I also slotted a rune on my pet that gives me (3%) of its overall stats. Make your companion a walking buff of sorts in addition to their added damage or healing.
Otherwise I am still playing with different combinations of gear but here is the long term reality: Great Weapon Fighters will benefit most from Power, Armor Pen and Crit. This is because you constantly build up and burn determination which gives you a really good attack speed bonus. While our Encounter powers do good dmg, they aren't insane dmg like a Rogue and tend to have more utility like an interrupt, knock-down or life steal.
So what you end up with is capitalizing on at-will powers. Which is why have a high armor pen to ignore a % of your targets resistances is key, stack that with power for consistent harder hits and you have a good base. Now if you can get your crit up later on to those 15%+ ranges and your constant hits and AoE hits all of a sudden scale much better. Since every hit has a chance to crit and your kit is based around dodging heavy attacks, staying behind targets when possible and attacking quickly either single target or AoE.
A common mistake I see from GWFs is spamming their encounter abilities while their <Tab> is active, DONT do it. Time things better unless you really need to for avoiding CC. I prefer to get my necessary encounters off and wait for full determination and then full boar with quick attacks to build up that dps and fast.
I plan on doing a guide at some point once I feel confident with the stats and what end-game dictates is best for a given dungeon/encounter. These are just baby steps that will help for now I hope.
Sounds good. Right now I'm concentrating on power and crit. Maybe I'll try armor pen instead. I haven't found anything with regen and the one item I have with lifesteal didn't seem to be doing much of anything.
The problem with early crit imo is that you just can't get enough of it. So if you look at your character I would guess your at or below 5% crit. While armor penetration at early levels can easily get into the 8%+ range and "works" on every hit. Armor Pen also scales better against armored targets for obvious reasons.
Later on I will try and VERY heavy Armor Pen + Crit build to see if they compliment each other well enough to forgo +power items entirely. Only time will tell though.
Yes that is one thing I do notice is that when I do crit its not that much more than a regular strike yet except rarely. Maybe Ill try some armor pen as I think I have enough stuff with it to stack it up fairly well. See how that does.
I think my load out is about as follows and I'm having a blast:
1-- At Wills: Left click = Weaponmaster's Strike, right click = the three strike massive aoe move.
2-- Encounters: Q= Punishing Charge (this move is pretty much a must as it nearly doubles your mobility). E = Flourish (seems like the highest single target dps burst skill for GWF... Or at least one of em.. And it can interrupt with its stun). R= restoring strike (High DPS single target move that heals me, yes please!).
3-- Daily: I pretty much exclusively use the move that leaps you into the air as you are not targetable so the duration can give you a nice break, the prone is handy for wrecking groups.
Basically for single targets I use encounters to kill them and dodge through them over and over using sprint and charge. for groups I use my At Wills and punishing charge the same way, frequently with unstoppable popped. For big groups I use daily, then aoe til trash is dead... Then spam single targets on the big baddies left.
Not saying my system is perfect by any means, but it does good damage and I very rarely feel out of my depth even when soloing multiple solo mobs and many trash ones. Generally with a some health pots, a huge HP pool, and some good last ditch safety through mobility, I'm having a very good time.
I always get curious when someone makes a generic statement like this so I tend to check up their post history to try to determine their credibility and first-hand knowledge of the subject.
Funny thing in this case - not only was your first post earlier today but it was also asking a question about the best STARTING stats for a GWF. And yet, you feel entitled to make a blanket statement like this. So, I do have to ask - how do you know what you are saying is true?
What is your opinion on PvP? Someone said earlier in the thread that a CWF is good at PvE but poor at PvP.