Guild Wars 2

Any game mode. No armour runes, no skills (temporal curtain, SoI), sigil (speed) or anything else.

Just interested to see how many here manage without, and how they make up for it.

I do. I use blink and staff2 to give me a slight additional teleport, although I often forget to use it. In WvW I have to stay with the zerg in order to get swiftness.

Blade and I run similar builds, and its the same for me. Sword/Sword-Staff doesn’t offer much room for speed but Blink/Phase Dashing works out pretty well, in PvP and PvE there are blink spots everywhere.

If you’re talking about sPvP, then sure, most of my builds I’ve used in the past have gone without speed buffs.

As for PvE and WvW, it’s more split. Focus is a difficult weapon to fit in just perfectly into a build, but the benefits from having it are absolutely fantastic.

Good to know. Do you use max range blink then, or normal range?

Arganthium.5638:

If you’re talking about sPvP, then sure, most of my builds I’ve used in the past have gone without speed buffs.

As for PvE and WvW, it’s more split. Focus is a difficult weapon to fit in just perfectly into a build, but the benefits from having it are absolutely fantastic.

Anything – pvp/pve or wvw, just throwing it out as a general question, but thanks for specifying – situations are very different in each, and this has much less of an effect in pvp.
Trouble with focus is wasting the curtain cooldown for swiftness (mainly pve and wvw problem), and not having it up when it’s needed – at least, that’s my biggest problem with it.

It depends on what I’m running with. Max blink range is nice, but I sometimes have to use the trait slot for something else. I find it doesn’t make a huge difference. Slow is still slow.

In wvw, if i’m running in a giant zerg, I dont need speed buffs most of the time.. I just stay in the middle and aoe speed buffs hit me all the time.

If I have to catch up, I’ll switch to a focus and/or blink til I catch up then switch again.

As for pve and pvp, it really depends. Having the extra speed for point capping can sometimes make a real difference… but meh. If I’m not on a “clock” of some kind I just enjoy the trek

That’s killing me I love conditions builds, such as Blackwater’s and Contition Cat, but I keep going back to Blackdevil’s Hybrid for the centaur runes. (and it’s also a awesome build, but i feel it’s not as strong as conditions pu builds are against BS thiefs, what is kind of important to my at the moment).

What do u condition mesmers do? I thought about put centaur runes even if the stats it provides are completely useless for a condition build, but I felt it would just make the build inviable with 1400ish condition damage.

I play almost exclusively Pu conditions in tpvp nowadays. I swap a focus for swiftness at the start, but that’s pretty much it.

However, 1200 range blink and phase retreat allows me to move very rapidly between points.

In wvw I just hotswap a focus every 25 seconds when I’m on the move.

yanniell.1236:

What do u condition mesmers do?

Traveler’s in PvE/WvW, centaur’s in PvP.

Just got the traveler’s this week and wish I had done it ages ago. No, it’s not optimal for my hybrid build. But it’s a night-and-day difference in convenience and mobility.

I see this issue as a variant on the old saw about a dead player doing zero DPS: it doesn’t matter how good you are, if you aren’t there.

Just my 2c.

Unless I’m out of combat and equipping a focus to run long distances across maps, I live and die in WvW without swiftness. I try to manage to get away through blink and stealth misdirection, trying to backtrack on my enemy. Lack of swiftness It is the death of me more often than I’d like though. Knowing the blink spots is very helpful.

I run Sw/Sw-Staff or Sw/P-Staff almost 100% of the time. I have never used swiftness runes. I just deal with the slowness. I actually try not to use blink too much while running from one place to the other, just in case I happen upon a situation where I need it.

I run offhand focus for the majority of my builds. Not for the speed boost although it is a nice bonus….

That and traveler runes

On my hybrid build, I run around without a speed bonus quite often.

As it happens, my mesmer is a statuesque norn woman I designed specifically to be beautiful, so I don’t mind it so much.

WvW roaming: Travaler runes, 1200 range Blink and swapping in focus when out of combat.

Mobility > all

Yes, I play without speed buffs. I bring a focus with me for out of combat and trait for cd reduction on blink.

Nope. I cant. I main ranger and played through the whole world + story with Signet of the Hunt on, and that habbit followed me into WvW when I started there.

I have never played without my +25% speed so to me.. thats normal speed. Being without it is like being perma-crippled and I cant tolerate it xD

Traveller runes are a blessing <3

I use Traveller in PvE (and WvW obviously) and Speed in PvP.

Without them, I would have gone insane with my Mesmer. I had Centaurs before switching to traveller and even before discovering that I was forced to use focus, never ever going back. Centaur dont work in practice while the focus doesnt offer perma-speed unless speccing everything for it. Like above said, playing without it is like running around perma-crippled.

Interesting mix of replies, seems largely down to personal preference.

I must say, comparing traveler and speed runes I can’t see why one is so much more valuable than the other – speed at least stacks on stat (vitality) making it easier to focus on other stats through gear, whereas traveler is a mess of stats – ok boon duration and crit damage is nice, but not game changing.

Personally i’d prefer Traveler for mesmer as our health pool is already quite decent. For my guardian, on the other hand, i’d use Speed runes. He also lacks a passive speed buff, but his base health is a lot lower than for mesmers.

Curunen.8729:

I must say, comparing traveler and speed runes I can’t see why one is so much more valuable than the other – speed at least stacks on stat (vitality) making it easier to focus on other stats through gear, whereas traveler is a mess of stats – ok boon duration and crit damage is nice, but not game changing.

10% condition duration boost is nice on its own, and you add to that a bit more health and toughness and a boost in overall damage of 3-4%. It’s not a gamechanger but the runes are IMO pretty clearly better.

Hmm.

Does anyone use compounding celerity on a regular basis?

I play almost exclusively WvW and a full condition build. With the zerg I mostly use staff and if I stay with them the AOE speed buffs are fine.

When I roam (which is a lot), I just use blink and phase retreat to get some extra if I think I can with reasonable safety, and sometimes I swap in the focus if I am in a fairly safe area (like borderlands citadel to north camp, etc).

I sometimes swap out the torch (on my PU build) for pistol for the stun, to help from people running away.

I am sure that travelers or centaur would make it a lot easier to get around, but I think I am making due alright .. just have to be a lot more aware of your positioning relative to enemies and probable enemies because pretty much every other class has the ability to run me down if I don’t want to engage them. If I have all my invisibilities available and blink, I can (most of the time) escape from an engagement that I don’t want to have.

Curunen.8729:

I must say, comparing traveler and speed runes I can’t see why one is so much more valuable than the other – speed at least stacks on stat (vitality) making it easier to focus on other stats through gear, whereas traveler is a mess of stats – ok boon duration and crit damage is nice, but not game changing.

For a very long time it was quite simple: The Speed runes didnt give the 25% bonus even though they where supposed to. You could get the whole set for about the cost of one Speed rune today. Subsequently, the only other rune with 25% (traveller) became more valuable.

If you want to ask why its that expensive then dont. Because nobody knows. Same reason why crappy Divinity runes are obscenely priced I guess.

I find that having blink in my kitten nal is essential. PvP and WvW mesmers benefit from exploitation of the human factor. That is, confusing the real person controlling the character you’re fighting. blink is excellent for this, especially if you learn to time it with other abilities.

I play without a built-in swiftness, so I keep a focus in my inventory solely for the buff. Also for pulling people off the walls in WvW.

As for myself I use speed in pvp and centaur in WvW but will soon switch to traveler. I just cannot do without it: it helps positioning during fights, escaping, running after people…

It’s so unfair that some professions can have access to it so easily.

I’m the type of player that likes to do my best but am willing to leave the last 5% fluid. So no, I wouldn’t ever considering playing without some form of speed buff.

Honestly, I find the runes + focus if needed better than a passive skill anyway. It sucks to tie up a skill slot for it even to swap and and out as needed, especially since you can have extra movement/avoid things slotted instead for preparedness. But that’s me!

And the runes are that pricy because there are too few of them being sold, and it is too easy to list them just under the next which means whoever sets the first few decides the general pricing.

yanniell.1236:

That’s killing me I love conditions builds, such as Blackwater’s and Contition Cat, but I keep going back to Blackdevil’s Hybrid for the centaur runes. (and it’s also a awesome build, but i feel it’s not as strong as conditions pu builds are against BS thiefs, what is kind of important to my at the moment).

What do u condition mesmers do? I thought about put centaur runes even if the stats it provides are completely useless for a condition build, but I felt it would just make the build inviable with 1400ish condition damage.

Use Traveler runes instead of Centaur for Blackwater.

I play without a speedbuff in the sense that I swap in the Focus if I know I have some longer running ahead, and my lockdown build runs Signet of Inspiration. Nothing else though.

Never felt like I needed it. I actually think the base runspeed is quite ok. I feel Swiftness is way too universally available, tbh.

In WvsW I do not use speedbuffs. I only use the staff phase retread to be faster.
In PvE I’m running focus because of its reflection so i always have one.

Carighan.6758:

I actually think the base runspeed is quite ok. I feel Swiftness is way too universally available, tbh.

That is the problem and if you do not have access to some sort of speed you start with a disadvantage.

I don’t understand why Anet decided not to give mesmers what almost every other profession has. Ok, our mobility during combat is one of the best but other professions are on pair with us (thinking of thieves and warriors for instance). So, why this difference? Has Anet ever offcially answered to this in any threads?

Whatever. To answer to the op no, I cannot play without some sort of speed buff, at least in wvw. Speed buff Imo is a must when 85% of people out there have it.

Carighan.6758:

Never felt like I needed it. I actually think the base runspeed is quite ok. I feel Swiftness is way too universally available, tbh.

Of course, but you cant really get around the fact that almost everyone have +25% speed or is running with a zerg (ie perma-swiftness). You are not competetive without speed boost in WvW. For PvP, ok, its workable without it even though its not desirable since the entire gameplay mode is movement and standing on a point to win.

I wouldnt mind the normal runspeed if “swiftness” stretched to something used as a short escape mechanic (like 5s on a 30s cd)… that you cannot share, combo or stack.

But that’s not the reality of this game.

The speed boost is incredibly useful in PvP too. I use centaur runes even though they don’t fit my build all that well and even though I don’t use the mantra heal.

Arriving at a point 5 seconds earlier rather than later routinely makes more of a difference than any stat or ability I could get from other runes.

At the moment I’ve resigned myself to slotting signet of inspiration, or swapping to focus for a bit of swiftness if needed. That with blink + phase retreat + stealth.

Absolutely dislike the stats on traveler runes. Speed similarly although considering building a separate armour set with them for backup (shame swapping armour has to be done one piece at a time).
Never particularly fond of centaur/air to use heal for running.

I’ve got a funny feeling there may be new ways to access faster speed in the future – new utilities (or modified SoI), and possibly ascended infusions – I think infusions may be expanded (whether a bad or a good thing) to include new possibilities.

I play staff + s/s (lockdown spec) and never use any speed buffs in any of the game modes. Even though I spent most of my time solo roaming in WvW, I don’t really miss the speed as much. Sure, it can be frustrating at times, but I’m a patient man.