Guild Wars 2

I’m actually very happy with offhand shield possibilities for Mesmer. I still think they should give us main-hand pistol though.

Hey, so long as they give us a mainhand I would be happy to take the shield too, the issue is, their language has always talked about specializations opening up a “whole new weapon” singular. This to me indicates we are only getting one weapon, and at this point, if all they are giving is a crappy off hand I am not sure it is even worth spending the money on the xpack.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Oh and as for shield, yeah I’ll take it thanks. I just expect all other weapons in due time. MH axe to go with my shield lickety split.

Norn mesmer with axe+shield is perfect.

I’m ok with the shield if they let us use it like Captain America!

1. is a high shield bounce that hits 3 targets with vulnerability and weakness
2. is low shield bounce that knockdowns 3 targets
3. is a 360 spin hitting all targets around us with cripple
4. is a block that counters with retaliation and protection for 5 seconds
5. is drop it to the ground and use it as a hover board charge to get away with 10s of swiftness!
   ……….
   …..
   ..
   .

On a serious note, we did not need another off hand weapon, seriously, like really, seriously. Focus, torch, sword, pistol, we do not need a 5th off hand, with only two main hands to choose from. We could use a long range weapon for power builds like pistol, and a short range for condition builds like dagger.

Shield skills in Gw2 have always typically been meh to me, so not really looking forward to getting it on the mesmer, but we’ll have to wait and see what the skills are I guess.

I think anet has chosen a shield to make mesmer a bit more usefull in a zerg. Since they love zerg play. Not set in stone of course, just a feeling.

I personally think whoever thought shield was a good first new weapon pulled the idea right out of their kittening jacksies myself. So many better options…

If it were up to me, it would have been MH Pistol or MH Focus. Especially since Mesmer already has a decent amount of offhands.

I’m still holding out that they give us another man hand option. If we wind up just having an off-hand shield then I’m out of this class quicker than you can equip the shield.

It’d be nice for us to get a better picture of what to expect if they released information regarding Mesmer specializations in HoT soonish.

-hiss-

My shield.

I’m gonna carry a shield around. And I will cast pink butterflies with it.

And I will love it.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I can see them give us main hand pistol. They said they were giving classes a new weapon and pistol isn’t new. It’d make sense for them to show shield as it is new. And maybe not telling but we do have a trait that increases the pistols range. This thought is giving me a little bit of hope.

Shield is pretty dumb but I’ve also always disliked greatsword for the same reason really.

Mesmers from inception: Hey ArenaNet, we would really love to have Main hand Pistol.

ArenaNet: Okay, that’s what you want? Here’s an offhand shield.

I think I like the shield and greatswords for the same reason you dislike them, Bliss.

They don’t fit.

Mesmer, IMO, is all about unorthodox. No one would expect a greatsword on a caster. The same way you don’t expect a mage holding a sword. Shield falls into that Mesmerish category of “wow I never expected this on a caster.”

Chaos Archangel.5071:

I think I like the shield and greatswords for the same reason you dislike them, Bliss.

They don’t fit.

Mesmer, IMO, is all about unorthodox. No one would expect a greatsword on a caster. The same way you don’t expect a mage holding a sword. Shield falls into that Mesmerish category of “wow I never expected this on a caster.”

Yep exactly that. :>

Chaos Archangel.5071:

I think I like the shield and greatswords for the same reason you dislike them, Bliss.

They don’t fit.

Mesmer, IMO, is all about unorthodox. No one would expect a greatsword on a caster. The same way you don’t expect a mage holding a sword. Shield falls into that Mesmerish category of “wow I never expected this on a caster.”

I do get that line of reasoning, and I’m not one to hate on someone’s tastes (okay that’s a lie). I think it’s not so much that greatsword/shield are the Nickelback of Mesmer aesthetics and more that there’s things I sorely wish we could have before the oddball options. Something like Mesmer dagger (either main or offhand) would be fantastic, for example.

The shield would be fine if we had decent main hand weapons. We don’t necessarily need a new main hand. Anet could fix the current ones. But since they seem to have no inclination to do so, it makes better sense to ask for a new one than another off-hand made useless by crippled main-hands.

Everyone is crying about what was seen in ~5 seconds of video. I think some of you need to get outside more.

What we know is that each profession gets a new specialization that would replace their core mechanic. And a new weapon for that specialization. So we see a video of what looks like a Mesmer with a shield casting a spell.

We also know that the new Revenant class has a new interesting mechanic and that by changing his elite, all his utility skills change.

So lets say that Mesmer’s does only get a shield as a new weapon with our specialization. Who’s to say that when we equip the shield, that the skills on our MH weapons don’t change with it. Maybe in addition to the 2 new shield skills, the currrent “illusion-based” skills on the sword & scepter will be replaced for new skills that support our new mechanic?

Maybe instead of everyone crying "we’re only getting 2 new skills ", we should be saying “SWEET, we get 8 new skills!!!”

The point is we simply don’t have enough information on what’s going to happen. And to scream bloody murder at ANet based on conjecture is just wasted energy.

Thanks for reading. And I hope everyone has a nice day.

SlimChance.6593:

Everyone is crying about what was seen in ~5 seconds of video. I think some of you need to get outside more.

What we know is that each profession gets a new specialization that would replace their core mechanic. And a new weapon for that specialization. So we see a video of what looks like a Mesmer with a shield casting a spell.

We also know that the new Revenant class has a new interesting mechanic and that by changing his elite, all his utility skills change.

So lets say that Mesmer’s does only get a shield as a new weapon with our specialization. Who’s to say that when we equip the shield, that the skills on our MH weapons don’t change with it. Maybe in addition to the 2 new shield skills, the currrent “illusion-based” skills on the sword & scepter will be replaced for new skills that support our new mechanic?

Maybe instead of everyone crying "we’re only getting 2 new skills ", we should be saying “SWEET, we get 8 new skills!!!”

The point is we simply don’t have enough information on what’s going to happen. And to scream bloody murder at ANet based on conjecture is just wasted energy.

Thanks for reading. And I hope everyone has a nice day.

Well that is the kind of good on paper awful in practice ideas that the Mesmer is bogged down with.

I just hope mesmers get a new MH too…Necros, thieves and guardians are getting two handed weapons. That’s 5 skills vs 2 skills on shield.

SlimChance.6593:

Everyone is crying about what was seen in ~5 seconds of video. I think some of you need to get outside more.

What we know is that each profession gets a new specialization that would replace their core mechanic. And a new weapon for that specialization. So we see a video of what looks like a Mesmer with a shield casting a spell.

We also know that the new Revenant class has a new interesting mechanic and that by changing his elite, all his utility skills change.

So lets say that Mesmer’s does only get a shield as a new weapon with our specialization. Who’s to say that when we equip the shield, that the skills on our MH weapons don’t change with it. Maybe in addition to the 2 new shield skills, the currrent “illusion-based” skills on the sword & scepter will be replaced for new skills that support our new mechanic?

Maybe instead of everyone crying "we’re only getting 2 new skills ", we should be saying “SWEET, we get 8 new skills!!!”

The point is we simply don’t have enough information on what’s going to happen. And to scream bloody murder at ANet based on conjecture is just wasted energy.

Thanks for reading. And I hope everyone has a nice day.

What happens though when we find we actually get nothing, that in the end the worst case scenario was actually optimistic and rather than getting changes to our mechanic, we find an off hand shield that still is burdened with a Phantasm, all our main hand skills remain the same and the utilities make us increasingly pressed for what we will take. Then to top it all off like many of our traits, the new trait line’s procs do not work at all… Would you hold it against me if I told you, I told you so?

SlimChance.6593:

Everyone is crying about what was seen in ~5 seconds of video. I think some of you need to get outside more.

What we know is that each profession gets a new specialization that would replace their core mechanic. And a new weapon for that specialization. So we see a video of what looks like a Mesmer with a shield casting a spell.

We also know that the new Revenant class has a new interesting mechanic and that by changing his elite, all his utility skills change.

So lets say that Mesmer’s does only get a shield as a new weapon with our specialization. Who’s to say that when we equip the shield, that the skills on our MH weapons don’t change with it. Maybe in addition to the 2 new shield skills, the currrent “illusion-based” skills on the sword & scepter will be replaced for new skills that support our new mechanic?

Maybe instead of everyone crying "we’re only getting 2 new skills ", we should be saying “SWEET, we get 8 new skills!!!”

The point is we simply don’t have enough information on what’s going to happen. And to scream bloody murder at ANet based on conjecture is just wasted energy.

Thanks for reading. And I hope everyone has a nice day.

For us who have been around since day one, we’ve heard the same story from ANet. They promise great things to us and make questionable changes so the majority of us are jaded towards anything they say at this point. The old saying of actions speak louder than words has never been more accurate for ANet and Mesmer updates.

There’s an old saying… “No use crying over spilled milk.”

Well, everyone here is crying before the milk is even spilled. Heck, you don’t even know if there’s milk IN the glass TO spill. Your not even sure there IS a glass to knock over.

SlimChance.6593:

Your not even sure there IS a glass to knock over.

I am willing to believe that in response to Mesmer not being happy about shield that they will just not give us any weapon at all.

We know that there is an object that seemingly resembles a glass. But as they recently said, the specialisations are not finalized, so if we get in now, we might finally get our kitten ed pistol!

i loloed hard about SHIELD for mesmer. sounds like a holinka issue hahaha

SlimChance.6593:

There’s an old saying… “No use crying over spilled milk.”

Well, everyone here is crying before the milk is even spilled. Heck, you don’t even know if there’s milk IN the glass TO spill. Your not even sure there IS a glass to knock over.

This.

SlimChance.6593:

There’s an old saying… “No use crying over spilled milk.”

Well, everyone here is crying before the milk is even spilled. Heck, you don’t even know if there’s milk IN the glass TO spill. Your not even sure there IS a glass to knock over.

Previous history and time after time again is why people are saying what they’re saying because the track record is abyssmal for ANet and mesmers.

Its nice that your optimistic but a lot of us have been through the same sing and dance if “mesmers will be game changers” before and it has failed miserably.

Until ANet can show us otherwise, we are cautiously optimistic trending pessimistic and rifghtfuly so.

SlimChance.6593:

Everyone is crying about what was seen in ~5 seconds of video. I think some of you need to get outside more.

What we know is that each profession gets a new specialization that would replace their core mechanic. And a new weapon for that specialization. So we see a video of what looks like a Mesmer with a shield casting a spell.

We also know that the new Revenant class has a new interesting mechanic and that by changing his elite, all his utility skills change.

So lets say that Mesmer’s does only get a shield as a new weapon with our specialization. Who’s to say that when we equip the shield, that the skills on our MH weapons don’t change with it. Maybe in addition to the 2 new shield skills, the currrent “illusion-based” skills on the sword & scepter will be replaced for new skills that support our new mechanic?

Maybe instead of everyone crying "we’re only getting 2 new skills ", we should be saying “SWEET, we get 8 new skills!!!”

The point is we simply don’t have enough information on what’s going to happen. And to scream bloody murder at ANet based on conjecture is just wasted energy.

Thanks for reading. And I hope everyone has a nice day.

Whenever I read something like this I get hyped to the max. Then after at least 2h someone comes up and drags me down to the hard and cold reality. (In most cases it’s Pyro)

Zarathustra.1458:

Considering the fact that anet keeps talking about how the class changes are still up in the air for HOT, I felt we should at least try agitating for them to drop this ridiculous notion of giving us an offhand shield, which appears at least looking at the trailer as if that is their intention. This thread then is for us to try and make some noise, and to not simply go quietly. Whatever weapon you may want, I am almost certain, that their is no mesmer out there who honestly can say, they want a new offhand weapon… So here my fellow mesmers is our rally, and so shall we cry;

NO SHIELD, NO SHIELD!

PS on another note, I seriously do not care what else they might give us, but at this point, another offhand to go with torch, sword, focus, pistol just does not fit. Our build diversity is intrinsically linked to our primary weapon, and as a consequence we are pigeon holed into four primary distinctions. Ranged condition, ranged power aoe, ranged condition aoe or melee power aoe. We need more single target weapons that stack well in the perpetual zerker meta.

PPS…. NO SHIELD! NO SHIELD!

YOU PEOPLE ARE FORGETTING!!!!!

Mesmer and Chronomancer are different.
Chronomancer will have unique class mechanic different from the Mesmer. They will share certain skills.
But with this in mind, this would imply that Weapon skills also have to change to fit the Chronomancer, because most main hand weapons have Clone/Phantasm, used for the Shatter Mechanics, which likely the Chronomancer DOES NOT HAVE.

So that means those Clone/Phantasm skills on Weapons will likely change for the Specialization, and with those weapon skills changing, likely the whole weapon will change as well.

Knighthonor.4061:

Zarathustra.1458:

Considering the fact that anet keeps talking about how the class changes are still up in the air for HOT, I felt we should at least try agitating for them to drop this ridiculous notion of giving us an offhand shield, which appears at least looking at the trailer as if that is their intention. This thread then is for us to try and make some noise, and to not simply go quietly. Whatever weapon you may want, I am almost certain, that their is no mesmer out there who honestly can say, they want a new offhand weapon… So here my fellow mesmers is our rally, and so shall we cry;

NO SHIELD, NO SHIELD!

PS on another note, I seriously do not care what else they might give us, but at this point, another offhand to go with torch, sword, focus, pistol just does not fit. Our build diversity is intrinsically linked to our primary weapon, and as a consequence we are pigeon holed into four primary distinctions. Ranged condition, ranged power aoe, ranged condition aoe or melee power aoe. We need more single target weapons that stack well in the perpetual zerker meta.

PPS…. NO SHIELD! NO SHIELD!

YOU PEOPLE ARE FORGETTING!!!!!

Mesmer and Chronomancer are different.
Chronomancer will have unique class mechanic different from the Mesmer. They will share certain skills.
But with this in mind, this would imply that Weapon skills also have to change to fit the Chronomancer, because most main hand weapons have Clone/Phantasm, used for the Shatter Mechanics, which likely the Chronomancer DOES NOT HAVE.

So that means those Clone/Phantasm skills on Weapons will likely change for the Specialization, and with those weapon skills changing, likely the whole weapon will change as well.

Uh, no. You’re forgetting that chronomancer is explicitly a subset specialization of mesmer, not a new class. The class mechanics are not being rewritten, they’re being tweaked. Basically everything you’ve said there is being pulled directly out of you know where.

Me Games Ma.8426:

Whenever I read something like this I get hyped to the max. Then after at least 2h someone comes up and drags me down to the hard and cold reality. (In most cases it’s Pyro)

Fay.2357:

Uh, no. You’re forgetting that chronomancer is explicitly a subset specialization of mesmer, not a new class. The class mechanics are not being rewritten, they’re being tweaked. Basically everything you’ve said there is being pulled directly out of you know where.

Aaaaaand again. ._.

Seriously I am hoping for a new class mechanic but as the ranger still keeps it’s pet I don’t really think it might happen.

Fay.2357:

“YOU PEOPLE ARE FORGETTING!!!!!

Mesmer and Chronomancer are different.
Chronomancer will have unique class mechanic different from the Mesmer. They will—"

Uh, no. You’re forgetting that chronomancer is explicitly a subset specialization of mesmer, not a new class. The class mechanics are not being rewritten, they’re being tweaked. Basically everything you’ve said there is being pulled directly out of you know where.

@Me Games Ma: Debates between Pyro and I must send you on an emotional rollercoaster. =P

Me Games Ma.8426:

Me Games Ma.8426:

Whenever I read something like this I get hyped to the max. Then after at least 2h someone comes up and drags me down to the hard and cold reality. (In most cases it’s Pyro)

Fay.2357:

Uh, no. You’re forgetting that chronomancer is explicitly a subset specialization of mesmer, not a new class. The class mechanics are not being rewritten, they’re being tweaked. Basically everything you’ve said there is being pulled directly out of you know where.

Aaaaaand again. ._.

Seriously I am hoping for a new class mechanic but as the ranger still keeps it’s pet I don’t really think it might happen.

Well if its any consolation, the altered class mechanic will likely either not effect illusions and instead alter some of our new abilities or will give entirely new shatter skills.

In either case, you can be sure Chronomancer will be a unique play style compared to mesmer, and its likely will have a new build category (ie Shatter Mesmer, Lockdown Mes, Lockdown Chronomancer, support chrono ECT.)

I seriously doubt Mesmer and Chronomancer will play the same, despite sharing skills.

Me Games Ma.8426:

Me Games Ma.8426:

Whenever I read something like this I get hyped to the max. Then after at least 2h someone comes up and drags me down to the hard and cold reality. (In most cases it’s Pyro)

Fay.2357:

Uh, no. You’re forgetting that chronomancer is explicitly a subset specialization of mesmer, not a new class. The class mechanics are not being rewritten, they’re being tweaked. Basically everything you’ve said there is being pulled directly out of you know where.

Aaaaaand again. ._.

Seriously I am hoping for a new class mechanic but as the ranger still keeps it’s pet I don’t really think it might happen.

Hey hey hey! That was totally not supposed to be a debbie downer post. I rather happen to like our class mechanic and such, and am rather happy that it’s not gonna be getting removed/replaced. Doing that that guy had described would literally be creating an entirely new class, and I’d rather not see mesmer disappear.

You really think they’re going to ditch all the work they’ve done so far on the Shield because a few people on the forum are complaining it doesn’t fit their vision of what the class “should” be?

Heck, how many of the current weapons did you really think “fit” before you actually played the game and used them? A light magic caster class using a Greatsword? Or dual-wielding full sized blades? That’s pretty unconventional. Torch? That’s kind of odd. Pistol? It fits the whole “duelist” thing I guess, but its still odd for a spellcaster. And yet they all work just fine. So I’m sure they’ll do just as well making the shield seem fitting.

As for the whole “only getting an offhand” thing, until we actually know for sure that’s the case I see no reason having a heart attack about it.

EDIT: Actually, I guess I’m going to correct myself before someone else does. Just stumbled across this…

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2yh56f/more_dev_talk_from_pax/

Which confirms that it IS one weapon per specialization period, but with the assurance that they’ll be getting something else to keep from feeling “gyped” compared to classes which get a 2H weapon.

Yo Pyro I want you to make a promise.

If Mesmer gets more than 2 new weapon skills (either by a new mainhand or if the specialization changes any of our current weapon skills) or if there’s at least 5 viable new traits and 3 viable utilities or chronomancer brings viable build diversity to pvp/pve.

I want a public apology thread! If not there will totally be an “I sorta-kinda told you so” thread popping up.

Fay.2357:

Hey hey hey! That was totally not supposed to be a debbie downer post. I rather happen to like our class mechanic and such, and am rather happy that it’s not gonna be getting removed/replaced. Doing that that guy had described would literally be creating an entirely new class, and I’d rather not see mesmer disappear.

I also like shatters but in some way I want to see what new stuff they can come up with. I can think about so many ways to give us a mechanic that could fit the name chronomancer.
The next point is that our mechanic is not shatters alone, illusions are the more important mechanic imo. If they’d change Illusions they would not even need to touch the shatter skills to make the whole experience with our class change.

I think we should all say “Chronomancer” until the name is confirmed.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Yo Pyro I want you to make a promise.

If Mesmer gets more than 2 new weapon skills (either by a new mainhand or if the specialization changes any of our current weapon skills) or if there’s at least 5 viable new traits and 3 viable utilities or chronomancer brings viable build diversity to pvp/pve.

I want a public apology thread! If not there will totally be an “I sorta-kinda told you so” thread popping up.

Woah now, that’s a pretty extensive list! I’ve never said that there’s going to be nothing usable in the new content. My main worry is more that there’s going to be no fundamental significant improvements for mesmer. We’re going to get some new shiny toys to play with, but ultimately we’re still going to be bottom of the barrel in PvP and primarily veil-slaves in WvW.

PvE is going to be highly dependent on the challenges in the content that they release and not very dependent on what they actually give mesmer. Mesmer already has a lot of interesting utility capabilities, control, interrupts, etc, they’re just useless in current PvE content and giving us more stuff along those lines won’t make it any better. I’d love to be able to make full use of this class in PvE, but that’s (oddly enough) not the fault of the balance team, it’s the fault of the lackluster PvE content design.

Wow, it’s getting kind of heated in here but one thing I can confirm:
Mesmer’s clone will still be missing off hand! mark my words!
and Phantasm Warlock will still be holding scepter instead of staff, still!

Hlord.5940:

and Phantasm Warlock will still be holding scepter instead of staff, still!

If only this was the problem with iWarlock…

Electro.4173:

You really think they’re going to ditch all the work they’ve done so far on the Shield because a few people on the forum are complaining it doesn’t fit their vision of what the class “should” be?

All that work?

‘Hey don’t we need a new weapon for the Mesmer specialization?’
‘Miasma?’
‘Mesmer’
confused dog face
‘the butterfly one’
‘The hell do I care give them a shield i don’t know I am going back to revenant’

Doesn’t sound like a lot of work to me.

Me Games Ma.8426:

I also like shatters but in some way I want to see what new stuff they can come up with. I can think about so many ways to give us a mechanic that could fit the name chronomancer.
The next point is that our mechanic is not shatters alone, illusions are the more important mechanic imo. If they’d change Illusions they would not even need to touch the shatter skills to make the whole experience with our class change.

Just going to go out on a limb here and say that nothing with the base Mesmer mechanic will really change, chronomancer or not. Illusions, phantasams and clones can be just as easily explained as multiple temporal instances of the same person in one time to fit any chronomancer fluff. If anything, I see the buffs and debuffs shattering causes to change, like Slow instead of Confusion, Quickness instead of Might, etc.

“Every profession is indeed only getting one new weapon. However, Jon Peters teased that classes getting an offhand would get something “just as good” as the extra three skills and that he couldn’t say more. I suspect that the specialization might unlock three new utility skills, but that’s my speculation." – Nefara
Taken from here

Me Games Ma.8426:

“Every profession is indeed only getting one new weapon. However, Jon Peters teased that classes getting an offhand would get something “just as good” as the extra three skills and that he couldn’t say more. I suspect that the specialization might unlock three new utility skills, but that’s my speculation." – Nefara
Taken from here

Reminder that Disruptor’s Sustainment is considered good by anet.

To be honest I do not understand why if mesmer is getting off-hand shield that it is not getting a main hand weapon also (pistol for example), rangers are getting a staff – 5 skills, meanwhile mesmers get shafted with only get 2 new weapon skills.

Levetty.1279:

Me Games Ma.8426:

“Every profession is indeed only getting one new weapon. However, Jon Peters teased that classes getting an offhand would get something “just as good” as the extra three skills and that he couldn’t say more. I suspect that the specialization might unlock three new utility skills, but that’s my speculation." – Nefara
Taken from here

Reminder that Disruptor’s Sustainment is considered good by anet.

Remember, Anet always believes that a grandmaster trait effectively doing absolutely nothing against an entire class is also good design and working as intended.

I bet the mesmer shield will be just about as useful as the guardian’s shield. I’m absolutely certain it will 100% turn out this way.

Zarathustra.1458:

Considering the fact that anet keeps talking about how the class changes are still up in the air for HOT, I felt we should at least try agitating for them to drop this ridiculous notion of giving us an offhand shield, which appears at least looking at the trailer as if that is their intention. This thread then is for us to try and make some noise, and to not simply go quietly. Whatever weapon you may want, I am almost certain, that their is no mesmer out there who honestly can say, they want a new offhand weapon… So here my fellow mesmers is our rally, and so shall we cry;

NO SHIELD, NO SHIELD!

You do realize Alexandra Duet has been a sword-&-shield Mesmer in the game since launch, yes?

You missed your chance to complain something like 30 months ago.

Me Games Ma.8426:

“Every profession is indeed only getting one new weapon. However, Jon Peters teased that classes getting an offhand would get something “just as good” as the extra three skills and that he couldn’t say more. I suspect that the specialization might unlock three new utility skills, but that’s my speculation." – Nefara
Taken from here

HYPE TRAIN!