Guild Wars 2

Aloha!

I’m coming back to GW2 after ~1yr away, and I’m seeing a lot of talk of condi in PvE in the forms. Is it viable there now? If I recall correctly, condi was no good in any PvE group setting, because of the way they were applied to enemies. If you had a condi-focused build and applied condis, and then other players who were “pure dps” focused also applied condi, it would overwrite yours… or some such. Basically, due to condi caps and the way they’re applied, there’s a good chance your condis wouldn’t stick around very long as pretty much all skills apply one condi or another. Is that still the case? Has AN reworked how condi’s work in groups? Am I just off my rocker? I platyed PvE mesmer for a while and this was a big deal for us.

Thanks!

Well not only is condi great now it’s heavily needed in raids. Pve open world anything works. Also dungeons are a ghost town now. Good news is Mesmer condi is very good in raids. It’s even more a plus if ur raceis sylvari or human. Welcome back to new tyria op

since each condi can stack what was it 1500 now you wont reach cap anytime soon

You will see differing opinions, of course, but the fact is that nothing’s really changed from a PvE perspective. The only place you will see condi being required is a gimmick fight in the new raid (the red guardian split from Vale Guardian requires condi dps in order kill). In looking at the mechanics of the Goreseval fight (second raid boss) I can see condi damage being pretty much required only because you spend so much time during the event not actually killing Gorseval that you’d want strong condition damage ticking away during those periods.

The upshot of all this is that condi still isn’t much of “a thing” in PvE and the only damage condition that matters (where conditions matter) is Burning, which also isn’t a mesmer thing. So stick with your power gear.

Condition caps have been greatly expanded making condition damage a lot more viable.

Before getting overly excited, please consider the following:

Several classes have competitive condition DPS. However the use of conditions depends on two main factors: duration of the fight and enemy’s toughness. Most classes have long ramp up times for their conditions, so if the fight is short, you will be performing sub-optimally. Most enemies have reasonable toughness at which point the power gear is (for most classes) on par or better.

With that said, certain content currently has long and/or high toughness encounters where condition builds shine. Most notable examples are high level fractals (where power gear became very ‘sub-optimal’, although this should change come December) and raids (some of the encounters there being immune to power based damage).

So yes. Viable, and even preferred under certain circumstances. Still, heavily imbalanced across classes (some classes have much better condition damage), and “to be used with care”.

Zania.8461:

Condition caps have been greatly expanded making condition damage a lot more viable.

Before getting overly excited, please consider the following:

Several classes have competitive condition DPS. However the use of conditions depends on two main factors: duration of the fight and enemy’s toughness. Most classes have long ramp up times for their conditions, so if the fight is short, you will be performing sub-optimally. Most enemies have reasonable toughness at which point the power gear is (for most classes) on par or better.

With that said, certain content currently has long and/or high toughness encounters where condition builds shine. Most notable examples are high level fractals (where power gear became very ‘sub-optimal’, although this should change come December) and raids (some of the encounters there being immune to power based damage).

So yes. Viable, and even preferred under certain circumstances. Still, heavily imbalanced across classes (some classes have much better condition damage), and “to be used with care”.

Oh, good point! I forgot high level fractals. That said, Anet’s nerfing toughness in those with their December patch. It remains to be seen what impact that will have.

Land of Cheese.2584:

You will see differing opinions, of course, but the fact is that nothing’s really changed from a PvE perspective. The only place you will see condi being required is a gimmick fight in the new raid (the red guardian split from Vale Guardian requires condi dps in order kill). In looking at the mechanics of the Goreseval fight (second raid boss) I can see condi damage being pretty much required only because you spend so much time during the event not actually killing Gorseval that you’d want strong condition damage ticking away during those periods.

The upshot of all this is that condi still isn’t much of “a thing” in PvE and the only damage condition that matters (where conditions matter) is Burning, which also isn’t a mesmer thing. So stick with your power gear.

A lot of wrong here.

1) 2 or the 3 best dps build of the game right now (So far, because we test out more build everyday and some may pop out later) are condition. Viper Engie and Viper Warrior. The 3rd being Staff Elementalist. True enough, the situation isn’t perfect yet with condition as not all profession have a decent condition build option. But to say that the situation didn’t change or that outside of gimmick situation condition have no place is stupidly wrong.

2) Ok Burn is better than bleed and there is balance work to be done by anet there. But to say that only burning matter is shot sighted. Condi Engineer which is one of the best dps of the game almost half it’s dps coming from bleed. Burn can have big burst of damage, but bleed deal a constant dps. The new Viper Reaper, which only start to become more popular at Gorseval have it’s dps coming mostly from Bleed and Chill. I’m not saying that Burn is balanced compare to all condition, and I’m not saying that everything is ok. But to say that only burn matter is a bit stretching the reality.