Guild Wars 2

Now that GS has been “improved” (I put this in quotes because the present state of GS should have been the baseline to start with), is GS/Staff a viable way to do solo questing and dynamic events?

I hate hate hate getting into melee range but I’ve seen so many people in this forums claim that they don’t get any contribution in DE’s because of the “AoE is king” aspect of this game when it comes to dynamic events and I feel like I’m being forced to use a sword just to get that damage in.

I’m a low level mesmer and I really don’t want to waste time being forced to learn a playstyle I don’t want (melee) if there’s an alternative that fulfills the same goals that I want – which is to effectively contribute in DE’s (to earn that gold medal exp and kharma) and to not take a million years to kill mobs when I’m questing.

GS/Staff has always been better than Sword+Focus for PvE.

… ?

Also, just so you know, gold contribution is extremely, extremely easy to get and requires almost zero effort.

What most people complain about is tagging all the mobs for loot. For that, you want GS and Illusory Persona.

Edit: Most people are using phantasm army builds with Staff and Sword/Pistol, which is a rather poor combination for tagging mobs. Most bad players are unwilling to hold other weapon types in their inventory slots, and swap them out as needed. So, you get these threads.

Mesmers still take more effort to tag all mobs than an Engi or Elementalist, but it’s on par with most of the classes.

EasymodeX.4062:

GS/Staff has always been better than Sword+Focus for PvE.

… ?

Also, just so you know, gold contribution is extremely, extremely easy to get and requires almost zero effort.

What most people complain about is tagging all the mobs for loot. For that, you want GS and Illusory Persona.

Edit: Most people are using phantasm army builds with Staff and Sword/Pistol, which is a rather poor combination for tagging mobs. Most bad players are unwilling to hold other weapon types in their inventory slots, and swap them out as needed. So, you get these threads.

Mesmers still take more effort to tag all mobs than an Engi or Elementalist, but it’s on par with most of the classes.

Plz tell me you high are something.

Sword/focus is epic for PvE, esp for dungeons.

Then for reg PvE, it sitll epic. I can pull a giant mob into one spot then aoe the crap out of them. In a lot of DE even with a lot of people around, I always can pull groups to me before other players hit them. actually a lot of the time it cause them to miss. Because they aiming where they was, esp like the ele.

One of us is high on something.

EasymodeX.4062:

One of us is high on something.

Both of you.

Passes the pipe.

Speaking of the focus ability, does it suck enemies out in the direction the arrow is pointing when it’s placed? Is there an easier way to manipulate the direction it’s going? From what I observed, if it’s in front of your character, the arrow faces forward, if behind, the arrow goes back.

I usually have to run up close to an enemy, place the marker behind me, then activate the skill, then the enemy gets sucked away.

Further complicating it is the fact that it appears depending on how close the enemy is to the line, the further they get pushed through which can make using it effectively a little hard.

Do I need to practice more, or am I just doing it wrong?

Xfraze.1704:

Speaking of the focus ability, does it suck enemies out in the direction the arrow is pointing when it’s placed? Is there an easier way to manipulate the direction it’s going? From what I observed, if it’s in front of your character, the arrow faces forward, if behind, the arrow goes back.

I usually have to run up close to an enemy, place the marker behind me, then activate the skill, then the enemy gets sucked away.

Further complicating it is the fact that it appears depending on how close the enemy is to the line, the further they get pushed through which can make using it effectively a little hard.

Do I need to practice more, or am I just doing it wrong?

It draws enemies towards the curtain a set distance. Enemies close to one side or the other will go flying out the other side of it (if you are on the left of the curtain, it will drag you to the right) I don’t know exact angles or whatnot but it can also pull people who wouldn’t be able to pass through the curtain (just drags them closer) though those people do not get the cripple effect obviously.

It is viable. You will want to trait differently than if you use a sword, but I’ve used every weapon and you can pve with any of them you like. The GS and scepter are my least favorite personally, but I have friends who favor them. Staff and sword are the two stand outs for me.

The Curtain is placed perpendicular to your position at the end of your cast, centered on wherever your mouse was.

Into the Void moves nearby targets a fixed distance in the direction of the center of the curtain. For the purpose of Into the Void, pretend it is a black hole circle, not a “line”. It makes more sense that way.

Thanks for the explanations of the skill. I’ve been using it a lot with mixed results and I think what you’ve (EasymodeX/True Seeker) said will help me use it more effectively.