Guild Wars 2

Let me start by saying I absolutely love the game and I am completely impressed by not only the game that ANet has put out for us, but also by the support they have been providing since the headstart to make sure the game is running as smoothly as possible.

Onto my Mesmer!

I made my Mesmer first, as all the information I saw on them looked awesome, and what little of the BWE I played was fun. Now, I’m not having a problem with the class mechanics (although there are some bugs that need to be addressed, which I am sure ANet is working on). My problem is right now I am level 70 and I feel like I am having a crisis deciding on a build.

My problem is I want to be able to do WvW and PvE (including dungeons) with the same build. I have been looking on the forums and reading discussion on builds, and I have been trying a few out. I ran Sword/Pistol+Staff for the longest time, but as it started getting boring, I started mixing it up.

After reading how Phantasmal Warden was, I switched my traits around to focus on a Phantasm build with Sword/Focus+Staff, and shatters. The problem is, while I can see how the Phantasmal Warden is amazing, I HATE that it barely moves (which makes total sense, because with Phantasmal Haste if he readily followed his target he would be ridiculously OP). I don’t like feeling like I have to stand still so that my Warden can keep flailing his axes at my target: I actually enjoyed kiting and I feel Warden prevents me from doing that. Additionally, I thoroughly enjoyed having a bunch of Duelists up with my pistol and just watching them all shoot their guns like mad at boss targets in PvE and my enemies in WvW as I kited.

I know the game is constructed in a way to make it so we don’t feel like we’re pigeonholed into running certain builds, but I keep hearing how, especially in dungeons, not running Warden is borderline idiotic simply due to how powerful it is.

I really enjoy Sword/Sword, and Sword/Pistol, as well as the Staff, and I have been meaning to give the GS a fair shot (only played with it a little bit), because I enjoy its animations. Can I be a Mesmer and not run a focus offhand and be successful? I understand I might have to switch to it on occasion, but I hate having to “main” it? I guess I am just seeking some general tips on this, possibly some builds, and mainly words of encouragement. I’ve been showing my Engineer more love than my Mesmer, and I would like to focus on my Mesmer more.

1. In terms of min-maxing, there is always a “best” if you can define the situation narrowly enough.

2. Focus+trait can “break” certain fights in PvE. Other than those situations, it’s not 100% mandatory or anything.

3. In WvW, there are many segments of gameplay. Due to the nature of WvW, many or most of those different segments synergize very well with Focus. There are some WvW aspects where it may be similarly effective to choose another weapon, but those are few and far between.

I wouldn’t even mind having the focus on a second weapon set to go with my Sword/Pistol or Sword/Sword. The problem with that is I am stuck with the Scepter, and I have a hard time justifying using the Scepter when just using a GS or a Staff seems infinitely better.

I recently switched my build to have a traited Focus (the CDR/Reflect as well as Phantasmal Haste for Warden), but in terms of PvE content, I liked having 3 Phantasms up at once doing damage, and I feel this is not feasible with Warden. I also probably just need more practice and experience with using Warden, as I am not entirely sure how his reflect works, how his spawning works, and under what situations he will move. But I find myself dropping him, and if he’s lucky, he gets off one whirling combo before the enemy moves out of his range, unless I stand there and tank it for him. After they move, I just detonate him with the other clones I might have up. I guess this would put me in more of a support-y role than damage role compared to stacking bleeds and damage with Duelists? It might just be I need to go to a lower level zone and practice utilizing my Warden as well as the wall (and how the dislocation on it works; it always seems to throw them forever away).