Guild Wars 2

First time in WvW last night – really fun, I wish I had started sooner. I played with a warrior friend and did a mixture of running with various size groups as well as doing a few things with just my friend (taking sentries, dolyaks, and supply camps). I played with a variant of Pyro’s pve support build and tried out a lot of different utility skills. I wanted to share a few specific observations as well as ask a couple questions.

- I felt like I could do a lot. There were times when I ran to the front when small groups faced off, and I felt like I could push back one or two people pretty easily (cause enough damage to make them move). I could cripple and interrupt, I could keep up with the group (with runes of centaur), and I could figure out ways to support groups of different sizes.

- I died a lot. Mostly it happened when I got caught on my own. Even with swiftness, it seems that other classes have ways to move very fast over a distance. I started using Blink as another way to move faster, but some classes seem to have the ability to really burst over pretty long distances.

- Other mesmers are better players than I am. I got killed with the GS wave pushing me off a cliff (nice) and I got to see what it was like to be chased by someone’s three clones (and tried to explain it to my warrior friend while it was happening)

- I wished I could use more skills. When I was in large groups, it was fun to have AOE’s like Feedback and Radiation field. When I was helping to take out the supply camp leader, it was fun to have interrupts (like mantra of confusion, magic bullet, and GS #5). When I was dying to others, I wished for more survivability and escape skills like Blink, Decoy, and maybe even more condition removal than 3x Mender’s Purity.

I have a couple questions as well.
- How fast should I expect the fastest opponents to typically be? I naively thought if I had a decent head start with quickness, I would outrun them (or at least keep the gap). I plan to use Blink pretty steadily now for running away – wondering if I need more than that. Is there more that I can do?

- What utility skills would you say are ones that are “must have” in WvW?

Just wanted to end by saying thanks to the commanders in Kaineng Borderlands last night for leading the way in several areas. I managed to get up to halfway through level 3 ranking, so it felt like I accomplished quite a bit. And if you were one of the several mesmers who killed a little Asura Mesmer who was often accompanied by a big female Norn Warrior from Kaineng, I wanted to say good job – I learned a lot!

You should always carry a condition removal and two stun breakers in WvW.

I prefer mantra of resolve for cleanse, and blink/decoy for stun breaker.

Just my view as a solo/small group roamer. Also, that’s a “In general” statement. There are times when you have to switch utilities. Make sure to do so.

stun breakers and condition removal are very useful if you’re trying to get away. Personally i use a focus so i can speed myself up and cripple anyone else who follows through, blink is very useful and breaks stuns but you need to know when to use it, using blink at the wrong times can get you killed. decoy is also very good, distracts alot of people, and is also a stun breaker. if you have both you can use decoy to distract them with your clone, turn invisible, and blink away.

Sometimes there’s just too many of them, you can get a way from a couple, but another one comes up on you. try to recognize fights you cant win and dont get too close.

I’ll second the posts about stun breaker/condition removal (though sometimes I ditch my condition removal for portal/veil/feedback/etc.)

So far as catching people or getting away from them, consider a focus. When you are chasing, use the pull from temporal curtain and then blink/ileap to them. When you’re being chased, gain the swiftness from the temportal curtain, and the use the pull when those chasing you are near it. (I’ve mapped the C key to look behind me. Can’t remember which control option that is, though.)

Also, when you stealth, most people assume you keep running in a straight line.

There are so many variables in wvw and you never know what you’re going to be up against you can’t always have the right equipment/utilities/traits, that being said you just have to pick out what works for you for the role you want to play. Some builds have a lot of defensive and escape capabilities, some don’t. You just have to realize there will always be someone who can and will kill you.

I have a bad habit of forgetting when I switch to glamour for zerg vs zerg to keep my stupid self in the back of my own team and pew pew from a distance, I’m so used to being front line, hopping in the middle of and thru the other side of the enemy, that it’s a hard habit to break. Glamour generally has no stun break or escape utility, once I’m caught I’m down lol but when you’re fighting with a team glamour is great group support for controlling the enemy group and splitting their zergball apart.

Most of the time BS works as a smaller team set and I’m usually running a phantasm or confusion build depending on my mood. Either of the builds I run are pretty flexible and I’m often switching utilities or traits for various situations.

My suggestion is dabble around in wvw some more and try out different builds and see what you like. Find commanders or guilds that you like running with. If your server has a community mumble get on it and get to know people. You’ll at some point fall into a group of people you like playing with and chances are your build setup will change as you figure out what works best for your group.

regarding the speed/escape issue:

-have a focus in your bag to use it out of combat for swiftness then put back your normal weapon. after some practise that takes like 0.5 sec to do.
-decoy and especially blink (with trait) are very very good escape skills. after stealth go a different direction or blink right behind your enemy (or zerg).
with blink you can often teleport to another level (up a bridge, or a cliff) leaving your chasers behind.
-staff’s “phase retreat” is the best escape skill ever imo. if traitet you can teleport every 5 sec or so keeping you safe from chasing enemies (or zerg) by targeting the enemy chasing you

don’t know your build but I use decoy/blink/mass invis/torch/staff and can outrun whole zergs or escape a tight situation 90%.

hf in wvw trolling the zergs

eldenbri.1059:

First time in WvW last night – really fun, I wish I had started sooner. I played with a warrior friend and did a mixture of running with various size groups as well as doing a few things with just my friend (taking sentries, dolyaks, and supply camps). I played with a variant of Pyro’s pve support build and tried out a lot of different utility skills. I wanted to share a few specific observations as well as ask a couple questions.

- I felt like I could do a lot. There were times when I ran to the front when small groups faced off, and I felt like I could push back one or two people pretty easily (cause enough damage to make them move). I could cripple and interrupt, I could keep up with the group (with runes of centaur), and I could figure out ways to support groups of different sizes.

- I died a lot. Mostly it happened when I got caught on my own. Even with swiftness, it seems that other classes have ways to move very fast over a distance. I started using Blink as another way to move faster, but some classes seem to have the ability to really burst over pretty long distances.

- Other mesmers are better players than I am. I got killed with the GS wave pushing me off a cliff (nice) and I got to see what it was like to be chased by someone’s three clones (and tried to explain it to my warrior friend while it was happening)

- I wished I could use more skills. When I was in large groups, it was fun to have AOE’s like Feedback and Radiation field. When I was helping to take out the supply camp leader, it was fun to have interrupts (like mantra of confusion, magic bullet, and GS #5). When I was dying to others, I wished for more survivability and escape skills like Blink, Decoy, and maybe even more condition removal than 3x Mender’s Purity.

I have a couple questions as well.
- How fast should I expect the fastest opponents to typically be? I naively thought if I had a decent head start with quickness, I would outrun them (or at least keep the gap). I plan to use Blink pretty steadily now for running away – wondering if I need more than that. Is there more that I can do?

- What utility skills would you say are ones that are “must have” in WvW?

Just wanted to end by saying thanks to the commanders in Kaineng Borderlands last night for leading the way in several areas. I managed to get up to halfway through level 3 ranking, so it felt like I accomplished quite a bit. And if you were one of the several mesmers who killed a little Asura Mesmer who was often accompanied by a big female Norn Warrior from Kaineng, I wanted to say good job – I learned a lot!

I won’t say you’re playing the Mesmer wrong, but I will say you’re playing it handicapped. Mesmer has the second most stealth skills and has the best combat mobility with the staff and the right utility skills. This is why I don’t support any kind of passive movement signet or the Immortal Mesmer build – one is unfair and the other gimps the class into a pseudo guardian.

First, you have to pick your role. Are you going to run support and get killed if you’re caught out of the zerg or are you going to run solo/roamer and have trouble tagging people in zvz? Or you could use a solo build and just swap out the utility skills for the occasional zvz. You won’t get as many loot bags as a glamour build though.

Second, the Mesmer has two advantages over other classes except the thief: stealth and combat mobility. But not as two separate advantages but as one used together. If you’re trying to run away, don’t expect yourself to simply outrun and blink yourself away from the enemy. Always run in one direction – stealth – change direction – use distance skills like phase retreat and blink. If you have Deceptive Evasion, use it while in stealth to make a distraction clone. The Mesmer herself explains it best. Obfuscate. Disorient. Confuse.

Good example #1
Good example #2

It took me a long time to figure it out but it turns out Mass Invis is secretly your best friend in WvW, first of all it’s one of the lowest cooldown elites period, 5 seconds of stealth allows me to run in a different direction and possibly hide, worst case scenario make a clone or two to confuse them.

You aren’t going to outrun them most have a trait speed boost especially Eles and Necros and/or near infinite swiftness, if you use focus you can toss them about or over a cliff but really your best escape is stealth and knowing the terrain. Stealth also gives you a good chance to recharge your Mantras and/or cast Phantasms. In big groups bring Veil, in small groups bring Decoy or Blink. Don’t be afraid to double back, smart players will think your a clone, when you run past and decoy they might turn and attack it realizing it might have been you. Sadly, people not used to fighting Mesmers are your worst enemy there since they attack obvious clones regardless. If you are doing a shatter build, Mirror Images followed by a quick Decoy works really well too since people used to Mirror Images see three there, so therefore you must be one of them.

tldr;? Shatter Mesmer use Mirror Images/Decoy, otherwise use more stealth

Two thoughts,

As to your question: Combine stealth with your blink. Run in one direction, enter stealth (decoy, veil, or torch 4), then turn around and blink in a different direction. Players have to weigh up their guess as to what you’re doing. Even if they stand still, they’re still wasting distance between where they are and the way you’re running.

Water can be your friend. Stay close to water and you can use that as an escape. A lot of classes suck in water. Mesmers, generally speaking, are not one of them.

Finally, WvW has a lot of open space. Consider where you are. Chances are there is no escape. Don’t waste time, hit points, and cd’s in a futile escape effort. Turn on your enemies, even if outnumbered, and at least try to kill one. Sometimes if a 5 man group wants to push the boundaries of reason and chase me down, I’ll turn on them hard. Overconfidence in an “easy victory” leads to poor play. As a mes I can down an opponent, summon some clones, pop a TW, distortion, and spike a guy out from under his buddies just to make a point.