Guild Wars 2

2000+ hours already… And I have to say, I’m feeling a bit bored with it already.. Unlike in GW1 where I played the mesmer exclusively for years, I find the lack of diversity in gameplay pretty taxing. The fact that equipments (ascended and runes included) are so expensive to get doesn’t help. So anyway, when you aren’t playing your mesmer, what other profession do you enjoy? I dunno what alt I should level that will be as engrossing as my main, my primary criteria being ‘underdog’. Initially, I wanted to play the mesmer in gw2 because I thought it would require as much difficulty in mastering and thus less people would play it but it seems it’s one of the more saturated professions around. -_-

I’ve played my mesmer for 389 hours and I’m still learning and testing new things about it. I have 2 other level 80s; a guard and an ele. I haven’t been on either one other than for SAB ever since I leveled mesmer. Can’t say that I sympathize.

But, you might enjoy ele. Or if you like underdog, necro and engi are severly under-estimated depending on PVE or PVP.

I’m still not quite sure if the OP is actually serious or just trolling...

How am I trolling? -_-

I’ve played the mesmer exclusively until I got her 3 legendaries, only ran CoF mostly.. Haven’t gotten the chance to play any other profession.

i play my mesmer 400h and it bored, then up ranger, guard, thief, ele, engi till 80, then up another mesmer till 80. after all of prof (necro crap) i back to my main mesmer and play with him another 400h.
mesmer my <3

No wonder you are bored if you just grind for legendaries and CoF. If you want excitement do PvP. I played for about 2200 hours on mesmer (about 2800 in total) I love the profession for it’s diversity. Every game type requires a different approach to the profession and it’s potentials are varied and interesting.

Sry Leo Paul but the fact that you dont even see your trolling is scary …

“you played 2000+ hours and are bored ALREADY”
… pls try and find out what is the problem here …

Serious (no hard feelings ^^):
- take a week of from guild wars 2 and come back … you will enjoy mesmer and the game probably more

Myxo.7263:

Sry Leo Paul but the fact that you dont even see your trolling is scary …

“you played 2000+ hours and are bored ALREADY”
… pls try and find out what is the problem here …

Serious (no hard feelings ^^):
- take a week of from guild wars 2 and come back … you will enjoy mesmer and the game probably more

I’m not bored with the GAME, I’m bored with the lack of diversity that the profession brings as compared to GW1’s mesmer where I played the job EXCLUSIVELY for YEARS.. I wouldn’t call someone names before taking the time to actually understand his post.

What I’m trying to say is I want a profession where I can play different styles without having to spend so much gold on armors and runes and weapons, the closest profession in GW2 comparable to the mesmer of GW1. -_-

If you have played for 2000 hours you must have gold stored? To gear up a character in full exotics is like 10g… With crafting and dungeons you can probably do it cheaper.

Also the other classes have their own flaws. None are any more or less into “different styles” than a Mesmer. At best, maybe the Engineer can have more varied weapons than the rest with the use of kits (in terms of how different they are).

sry Leo if i came on to strong … was not my intention … i am serious throgh

you played 2000+ hours since launch (about 250 days) … that makes for about 8 hours a day !!! … it does not matter what you do not like about your class or the game or whatever … it will get boring so my serious advice is still:

take a brake and come back

please keep in mind i do not want to “call you names” or have any hard feelings about you or how you play …

have fun ^^ …

I’m going to go ahead and paraphrase the op right here:

“The only thing I’ve done is farm CoF for 2000 hours, and now I’m bored, but I’m pretty sure it’s because mesmers aren’t diverse at all”

Do you see how ridiculous this is? Your lack of experiencing the diversity of the Mesmer is no ones fault but your own. If you expect to see class, build, and gameplay diversity while mindlessly farming a dungeon, you’re going to be massively disappointed.

Think it should be noted that the class is nowhere nearly as entertaining to play as it was in GW1, personally I miss my drain / lockdown builds over this illusions lark.

Leo Paul.1659:

How am I trolling? -_-

I’ve played the mesmer exclusively until I got her 3 legendaries, only ran CoF mostly.. Haven’t gotten the chance to play any other profession.

Maybe time for some PvP?

try exotic builds

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Joke-Build-of-the-Day-Signet/first#post1783039

my signet build is rascally different from a normal gw2 memser playstyle

Reroll an Engi. Most diverse class in the game, and they have some of the best traits, builds, and mechanics for just playing around with crazy stuff. I have a guildie who rolled Mesmer exclusively until two or three weeks ago, and now he’s engrossed on Engineer. They’re great in sPvP, WvW, and PvE, and can fill any roll in a team. Plus, they’re aren’t many of them around.

Pyroatheist.9031:

I’m going to go ahead and paraphrase the op right here:

“The only thing I’ve done is farm CoF for 2000 hours, and now I’m bored, but I’m pretty sure it’s because mesmers aren’t diverse at all”

Do you see how ridiculous this is? Your lack of experiencing the diversity of the Mesmer is no ones fault but your own. If you expect to see class, build, and gameplay diversity while mindlessly farming a dungeon, you’re going to be massively disappointed.

-_- I’m pretty sure I’m qualified to make an informed judgment as far as the mesmer’s diversity is concerned at this point. There is only so much trait builds that we can use given how limiting equipment stats can be. Add to that the fact that having legendaries is also particularly confining (of course I’d want to use them all the time).

Can mesmers even be ‘battle priests’ of sorts in this game? Even with the ability to switch weapons, I feel like my role as a mesmer is restricted to what I’m wearing. Elems, I do agree CAN be very versatile, switching from DPS to Tank to Support depending on his attunement. But I haven’t seen a lot of elem players other than d/d bunkers. I haven’t played a minute as an engineer so I have no idea how they work… Or necros.. I’m thinking maybe guardians can be good too.. :/

I think what some of you are missing is the fact that I am a GW1 player who mained a mesmer and never had an alt, yet played the game for years – I didn’t have to have so much armor and weapons on my bags in order to be ‘versatile’. I don’t really want to buy so much equipment because a.) I’m used to getting my ‘endgame’ items in MMOs and just sticking with it and b.) it’s also not very practical..

@loseridoit.2756: I’d like to try a signet build, but how viable is it really?

@Leo Paul: I’m pretty sure you’re not qualified in any way, shape, or form, in this world, the next, or any permutation of the above.

Mesmers happen to have the highest number of extremely viable builds in the entire game. You have shatter, phantasm damage, tank, condition damage, buffing support/healing support, phantasm support, shatter support, glass cannon long range nuker, glamour builds, mantra builds (support or dps).

So. In addition to all of the above builds, each one can be significantly tweaked or otherwise altered with the addition or removal or different weapons, a different heal, or different stat distributions.

As you said yourself, most of your 2000 hours of play has been farming CoF. How on earth does that make you qualified to judge the diversity of any class in this game, much less the mesmer, arguably the most diverse and interesting of all the classes.

You’re complaining about buying more equipment when you somehow spent 2000 hours farming CoF? You don’t have one little bit of extra cash left over from all of that farming? Builds in this game are determined by equipment. The elementalist doesn’t change from tank to healer to dd by switching attunements. That’s not how it works. They gain access to healing skills, or damage skills, or protection skills, but a glass cannon ele still makes a kittenty tank and healer, and a strong tanky healer elementalist makes a kittenty DD class.

You need to get out of CoF and play this game. Experiment with different builds, get some kitten different equipment, and actually experience what this class, and by extension game, has to offer you.

You’re probably going to ignore this whole thing, and you probably won’t get helped at all by it, but some people will read it, and they’ll hopefully realize how absurdly wrong you are.

Edit: That signet build is amusing…but I wouldn’t quite go so far as to call it viable.

LOL I’m qualified to judge my character and the gameplay I have experienced with her. I’m also pretty sure you haven’t the authority to choose who is qualified or not. I don’t think you understand my point, and I’m not really concerned about it – I do not expect more from you. Sure, mesmers are diverse as far as out-of-combat builds are concerned, but once you are engaged, your role is locked. You seem to be severely confined by the concept of static roles and probably builds in extremes.

As far as getting more equipment, it’s precisely this that is the problem. It’ll be much better for the both of us if you try to comprehend my posts first instead of posting rashly.

Anyway, back on topic: my mesmer is built 10/20/0/30/10 as a phantasm DPS with Mantra healing.. The idea is fun, but mantras, I feel are a bit clunky as a healing mechanic.. Our other option, heals via shatters aren’t even viable i think. I used to run a hybrid shatter/phantasm build (changes depending on which weapon I wield), so changing playstyles per weapon set isn’t really a farfetched idea (sword/pistol, scepter/focus). If built correctly, are elementalists/engineers able to switch roles in-combat and not suck? I really like the idea of a battle priest.

You’re complaining that once in combat, your role is locked? That happens to be a basic principle of this game. There’s a reason why you cant adjust traits and gear in combat. You can make hybrid builds on the mesmer, like you can in any class, and they work just about as well as they do on any class.

As I said before, which you obviously didn’t read, an elementalist switching from fire to water while in glass cannon gear doesn’t suddenly become an expert healer, and switching to earth doesn’t suddenly make them a tank. The gear and traits make the build, and this is exactly the same for every class in the game. If you don’t like that feature, you’ll probably want to look for a different game to play.

I saw the following things form the original post:
1.“I’ve played gw1 and have 3 legendary, so fact is what I said.”
2.“I just don’t want to use different armor for different builds, because I didn’t have to in gw1”
3.dungeons running limited available builds(really??)

mesmer can play in many different style and is fun, if you don’t insist gw1 style.

Pyroatheist.9031:

You’re complaining that once in combat, your role is locked? That happens to be a basic principle of this game. There’s a reason why you cant adjust traits and gear in combat. You can make hybrid builds on the mesmer, like you can in any class, and they work just about as well as they do on any class.

As I said before, which you obviously didn’t read, an elementalist switching from fire to water while in glass cannon gear doesn’t suddenly become an expert healer, and switching to earth doesn’t suddenly make them a tank. The gear and traits make the build, and this is exactly the same for every class in the game. If you don’t like that feature, you’ll probably want to look for a different game to play.

That is a severely narrow mindset, although understandable because the traits that make up for viable builds that encourages multiple roles in combat I feel, are misplaced and thus deters people from pursuing them. Take restorative illusions for example.. It is a good trait for hybrid shatter healers/damagers in paper, but getting it is hefty and has an awkward synergy with shatter builds from the minor traits we get in the process.

Weapon swapping is a good idea that was poorly executed or poorly understoond i think. During beta, without any prior knowledge about the game, I actually thought swapping weapons meant swapping roles (staff for support, sword for offense), and frankly attunement swaps for elementalists kinda backs up this concept by design. It’s just that most people are so consumed by the concept of pure builds (berserkers, healers, control) or whatever that this feature hasn’t been explored fully yet.

As I mentioned, I do have a build that kinda fulfills the role of a healer/damager and works ok in dungeon runs.. but only because PVE doesn’t really require so much micromanagement to be successful. It works OK in wvw in 1v1 scenarios but mantra healing, again, is very clunky.

I wouldn’t really want to discuss the variations in roles an elementalist can get if built correctly since I haven’t any real experience on it yet.

As for me claiming my statements to be facts because I have 3 legendaries equipped, Ovan Dawnwalker.3284, LOL seriously.

@Leo Paul: Your problem is that you want a different game. This game is not designed so that you can effortlessly swap between healer and dps with the exact same build during a fight. That’s simply not how it is intended. No class is able to do that effectively, and no class will ever be able to. If that was intended, gear and trait swapping during combat would be a thing, and it is not.

The fact that we can swap weapons during combat points towards variability in roles though.. We don’t have to have the same stats for our weapons. Guardians are a good example of a multi-role profession. I think you should look at GW2’s mechanics with a little more open-mindedness.

You know what, with this discussion we are having, I’m actually inspired to make a real healer/DPS “battle priest” build now with the mesmer… With a good combination of item stats, runes and sigils I feel like this can be successful. Just to prove you wrong with the idea of static combat roles.

@Leo Paul: Variability of stats on weapons is an extremely minor part of a build’s total stats, and makes effectively no difference in how a build performs.

Swapping weapons in combat leads to flexibility in combat situations, and this does, to some extent, allow the stretching of a role. Taking an offhand focus allows you to provide projectile reflection utility when swapping from a greatsword which is primarily damage.

That being said, changes like that are rather minor. The weapon swap gives your build flexibility. It doesn’t allow you to completely change it from one type to the other. Guardians are absolutely no exception.

Edit: Fun edit you put there. My phantasmal support build does a fantastic job at what you outline there as a “battle priest”. It is an amazing build to run, precisely because it combines good dps with healing/reflecting/boon and condition manipulation/etc all in 1 package. That being said, a large amount of the build being effective is knowing what you are about to fight, and changing your weapons, utilities, and traits to adequately adapt to it. In-combat changes are simply not possible to a large degree.

If we trait and equip ourselves to the teeth towards one role, then yes, we cannot hope to achieve diversity in roles in combat.. But there are so many variables in building a character in GW2 that we cannot say for sure that we have to be locked to a specific role in combat. Utilities, equipment stats, runes and sigils and traits can all be tweaked in a myriad of ways that I find it hard to accept that I have to be stuck on DPS when in combat. I really find your narrow-mindedness inspiring.

Edit: Your example of a build is particularly what interests me.. Doing so many things in combat (DPS+Support) is what I’m looking for. Something that isn’t as boring as casting mantra of pain over and over.

I’m not exactly expecting huge transitions just because of a weapon swap.. But seeing how different a scepter and a sword user plays should give us an idea that we shouldn’t be limited to one style of gameplay. I’m not saying we can be pure tanks on one hand, then pure DPS after a weapon switch. But there must be a middle-ground that will allow us to play with a little more variation during combat.

@Leo Paul: There is variation, but only to a degree. Mantra heals work well in a damage focused build, because the base heal on that trait is extremely large, and the scaling with healing power is extremely poor. For that same reason, phantasm aoe regen works very well, although the healing power scaling on regeneration is extremely high.

You still, however, absolutely need to adjust out of combat. If you walk into the jade maw fractal with a staff and a pistol offhand, you’re going to have a really bad time. If you don’t have the focus equipped, you shouldn’t have it traited. If you’re not in a situation where spamming MoP to provide aoe heals is appropriate, you need to untrait that and get something else. The build diversity works because of knowledge or at the very least educated guesses about the upcoming encounter, and the ability to change weapons, traits, and utilities out of combat.

Edit: Scepter has no use in PvE (my opinion, I’m not going to defend that in this thread, I’m way too tired for that), so perhaps a bad example. As I said before though, weapon swapping gives flexibility to the same build, but does not change the build itself. Attunement swapping is slightly different as one attunement may be very good at condition damage, and one far better at direct damage, so you will build towards one attunement or the other.

You can use a middle-ground build, but there is always a trade off.
It’s just user’s problem to approach his/herself’s balance point.
Back to the article, are you just complaining about mesmer or the whole gw2 mechanism?
For I have 6 class in 80, I don’t think any of them can do everything well in only one build.
Can do something doesn’t mean can do it as well as others.

Leo Paul.1659:

Pyroatheist.9031:

I’m going to go ahead and paraphrase the op right here:

“The only thing I’ve done is farm CoF for 2000 hours, and now I’m bored, but I’m pretty sure it’s because mesmers aren’t diverse at all”

Do you see how ridiculous this is? Your lack of experiencing the diversity of the Mesmer is no ones fault but your own. If you expect to see class, build, and gameplay diversity while mindlessly farming a dungeon, you’re going to be massively disappointed.

-_- I’m pretty sure I’m qualified to make an informed judgment as far as the mesmer’s diversity is concerned at this point. There is only so much trait builds that we can use given how limiting equipment stats can be. Add to that the fact that having legendaries is also particularly confining (of course I’d want to use them all the time).

Can mesmers even be ‘battle priests’ of sorts in this game? Even with the ability to switch weapons, I feel like my role as a mesmer is restricted to what I’m wearing. Elems, I do agree CAN be very versatile, switching from DPS to Tank to Support depending on his attunement. But I haven’t seen a lot of elem players other than d/d bunkers. I haven’t played a minute as an engineer so I have no idea how they work… Or necros.. I’m thinking maybe guardians can be good too.. :/

I think what some of you are missing is the fact that I am a GW1 player who mained a mesmer and never had an alt, yet played the game for years – I didn’t have to have so much armor and weapons on my bags in order to be ‘versatile’. I don’t really want to buy so much equipment because a.) I’m used to getting my ‘endgame’ items in MMOs and just sticking with it and b.) it’s also not very practical..

@loseridoit.2756: I’d like to try a signet build, but how viable is it really?

only viable for spvp

not enough mobility for tpvp

I made a minor modification to make it for spirit watch. change one signet for mimic to allow extra invul

this build is not easy to play. Be warn. You have to learn to use all of your skill quickly at the earliest moment and cycle thorough them.

I have to agree entirely with Pyro to be honest. You can’t really say you’ve experienced a mesmers full diversity by predominately playing one dungeon repeatedly (where no doubt you skipped 99% of the content anyway).

Each gametype has many viable options for a lot of fun. I have 3 sets of gear for pve and wvw purposes which aren’t that hard to obtain. One power, one condition and one support. The stats might not always be 100% perfect for all possible builds but good enough to play pretty much any build effectively.

I found having played all gametypes quite a bit and having played on my mesmer alone over 2200 hours I’m still nowhere near bored and still find interesting things to toy with, builds to tweak and alter. Mesmers have so much diversity to offer and that’s why I love the profession so much.

As for mantras being ‘clunky’ they actually aren’t. The key to using mantras is micro management and timing. You want to use them while using other abilities. They are really nice in PvE settings especially support. They also work pretty well in WvW as for sPvP the only really good ones right now are either distraction for chain dazing or mantra of pain with restorative mantras using a good bunker build.

I’ve tried making a heal/daze mantra build work effectively in sPvP but for now they are missing a bit of ‘oompf’ to be competitive enough in sPvP as an actual dedicated build but a lot of it is to do with how good you are at playing it, mantra builds require a lot of skill and knowledge to play well in pvp settings. (I am currently in the process of theorycrafting a way to make it more viable)

Also, I always bring all weapons I can use with me into dungeons. If there is ever need for something specific I can always swap them around prior to engaging a fight or swapping major traits & utility (Lupicus is a good example of this). Half the game is knowing what’s ahead and learning from the mistakes and being better prepared next time.

So yes, I really don’t think you can say mesmers aren’t diverse when all you really do is CoF and so I have to agree entirely with Pyro on this one as I really don’t agree with the lack of diversity statement based purely on the grounds that you cannot change it mid combat.

This topic got way off track I have no room to talk I roll my first character in a few days but why don’t you just make an alt with a different profession play that for a couple of months then go back to you Mesmer, if it still feels boring delete her.