Guild Wars 2

Hi guys, old mesmer player here.

I was thinking to come back to play GW2, but as for now I cba to buy the expansion cause I don’t know if I will like it or not.

Question is: since I only play sPvP 99.99% of the time, do I need the exp to keep on playing?

What do I miss out if I don’t buy it?

Thanks

So, I wouldn’t say you will NEED it, but you will be missing out on somethings by not having it, and as a Mesmer, given how powerful Chronomancer is, you’ll be at a bit of a disadvantage.

Chronomancer will almost certainly be meta for Mesmer in every game mode, and I personally find it extremely fun to play.

I suppose Chronomancer is the new trait line or whatever it’s called?

Kaamau.5341:

So, I wouldn’t say you will NEED it, but you will be missing out on somethings by not having it, and as a Mesmer, given how powerful Chronomancer is, you’ll be at a bit of a disadvantage.

Chronomancer will almost certainly be meta for Mesmer in every game mode, and I personally find it extremely fun to play.

I found chrono interesting but far from meta. Vanilla Mesmer I found produces better results imo.

Aside from chrono, were there any major changes to the mesmer class that made it more interesting to play? Or is it the same old shattercat-like builds that’s to be played?

Well big change is 3 full trait lines and once a trait line is picked have to fully use the line. Allows for 3 grand master traits. Along with some skills added in. Shatter on self is big one. No longer have to trait illusionary persona.

As someone who plays 98% PvP I’d say the points of interest are…

• Chronomancer opens up new builds for Mesmer in all gamemodes, also offers interesting new mechanics and weapon (Shield).
• Recent “Specialization” patch has streamlined traits. Old traits (like clone death) are gone and replaced, Lockdown, Shatter and Support have been significantly buffed. Patch also offered more customization options to make your own unique build that can still be viable, however …

• Shatter is still considered the best build, but has more variations now. It’s no longer just Dom/Dueling/Illusions. You can now mix Dom/Dueling with any third traitline and be competitive.

• You don’t need HoT, but the new elites are pretty awesome. (Except Ele’s Tempest)

Chaos Archangel.5071:

• You don’t need HoT, but the new elites are pretty awesome. (Except Ele’s Tempest)

So I will be able to use the new Chronomancer build without it? Or I do need HoT to unlock that one?

Bigbosos.2063:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

• You don’t need HoT, but the new elites are pretty awesome. (Except Ele’s Tempest)

So I will be able to use the new Chronomancer build without it? Or I do need HoT to unlock that one?

You’ll need the expansion to use shield and any/all Chronomancer traits utilities and elite

Bigbosos.2063:

Aside from chrono, were there any major changes to the mesmer class that made it more interesting to play? Or is it the same old shattercat-like builds that’s to be played?

Basically one of the more active developers gave it a complete rework in the trait revamp back in June. It honestly feels like a much better and more polished class. In fact, it was even considered widely overpowered for the first month after that patch until some things got fixed and toned down, but now its overall in a great place in spvp.

In spvp, power PU is considered “meta”, but its honestly just a crutch for bad players to be able to run a zerker amulet without having to worry about ever dying. It doesn’t give you anymore damage or anything, but just lets you run away alive after failing to contest a point or burst anything down.

I think the best builds right now are lockdown based builds, and there are many different ways to build one, provided you take power block and shattered concentration in domination and then one or both of either chaotic interruption or confounding suggestions, and generally dueling for blind-spam, fury, and deceptive evasion.

Regarding chronomancy, I personally think its one of the most fun things thats being added to the game. I disagree with denis, and I believe that its more helpful for most builds, particularly lockdown or teamfight oriented builds, and off-meta condi/hybrid builds gain a lot from it as well. The best things about it are a time-reset mechanic, new AoE damage/support utilities (wells), a shield that offers far more consistent defense and CC than any existing offhand, and cooldown management through alacrity. It also gives you better access to slow, a very debilitating condition to help with locking targets down, and chronophantasma, a phantasm-reset-after-one-shatter-trait that enables builds to have same or better burst ability as a build with deceptive evasion, but without actually running dueling. And the 25% movement speed trait is just pure awesome-sauce

Thank you all for the replies

Feel free to hit up myself or anyone from [OMFG] if you’re looking for someone to hang out with and/or catch up to speed on all things Mesmer/PvP. There’s usually always someone on who’s willing to play, and many PvP.