Guild Wars 2

Click here for Part 1 of the Interview

I’ll get around to the editing when I can, but wanted to toss this up before it fell out of my goldfish memory

• What does standard shatter offer in high end pvp that other builds can’t match?

• Specifically comparing 4/4/6 to 4/4/0/0/6, what makes the latter more preferable?

• Do you see more build diversity for Mesmers possible, or do you think standard shatter will always be dominant?

SUPCUTIE: Standard shatter offers higher damage out of stealth, and higher ranged damage, without requiring interrupts.
It has more survivability from CDs (like illusionary persona and shatter reset) compared to toughness or extended prot duration.
I assume things will change after the expansion. Currently however because of the role that Mesmer must play, shatter is mathematically the best and any build variant other than shatter makes you either lose Illusionary Persona, Deceptive Evasion, or Shattered Concentration, none of which you want to lose in higher end team queue.
The interrupt spec 446 comes the closest but unfortunately it doesn’t have the damage required and trades it for cc. It’s best to take other meta builds who have cc in their builds anyway, and then take Mesmer to do damage.
The interrupt spec 446 comes the closest but unfortunately it doesn’t have the damage required and trades it for cc. It’s best to take other meta builds who have cc in their builds anyway, and then take Mesmer to do damage.

• “Timewarp viable with the cd change? I Ran it last night and want impressed, but I forgot I had it a few times after losing a group fight”

• “Hmm, how does he decide between using mass invisibility and moa morph?”

• “Are you saying these condition builds are more viable than torment shatter because of their cleanses?”

• Any hopes for the expansion?

• If you could add a new Mesmer weapon what would it be and why?

There are a few things you mentioned that I’d like if you could elaborate on:

“I assume things will change after the expansion. Currently however because of the role that Mesmer must play, shatter is mathematically the best and any build variant other than shatter makes you either lose Illusionary Persona, Deceptive Evasion, or Shattered Concentration, none of which you want to lose in higher end team queue.”

• Lets discuss this a bit, the “Role that Mesmer must play.” What “roles” do you feel exist in a standard tPvP team? Do you feel like each class has only one role that they can fill, and if so what are the roles for other classes? And what sets Mesmer apart from the rest?

• Do you feel that other builds from other classes offer better CC than Mesmer, or is it rather that “CC” simply isn’t a necessary main role for any build to play? That being said, what other meta builds have the same sort of AoE CC that keeps CI Mesmer from being viable?

• Have you ever tried Confounding Suggestions (6/4/0/0/4)? or Shattered Conditions (4/4/0/6/0)? What do you think of our current Grandmasters and the build potential that they offer?

SUPCUTIE: We’ll test Time Warp, it might be good with Power Ranger or something. My gut tells me that Mass Invis/Moa will still be better, since they offer more control, versatility, and team peels.

Mass Invis Vs. Moa. They’re both pretty good. Moa is good against transforms like Berserk, Tornado, Plague, Lich Form, and Death Shroud. Moa is also useful against tankier/bunkier people.
Mass Invis is good if you are running double burst so you can lower the counterplay on your target swaps for example. It’s also good for deaggroing people who are training you or your dps partner.

Torment is hard countered by generosity. Condition builds also suffer from needing to rely on clones which are unreliable, especially because of their pathing when you’re trying to have good positioning.

For me, I think the expansion is simply a great opportunity for the balance devs to do bigger changes that normally wouldn’t be palatable to players, in order to fix the balance mess.

New Mesmer weapon? I mean they could probably make up any ability and put it on any weapon and work the lore around it. Seeing another off-hand like shield though didn’t make me the most happy just because sword has been so nerfed that I don’t really like playing it anyway. I haven’t really thought of new abilities to be honest haha. I’m sure they could get some good inspiration from GW1 skills.

In terms of roles in sPvP, you basically have your point holders, dps roamers, and sometimes 1v1ers. Although currently the best point holders are also the best 1v1ers. Not sure if that will change this patch. So any role you try to put Mesmer in, there will be an ele/engi/war/necro/thief thief spec that does it better. Mesmer is best at doing damage, but then you have thieves who do damage and do well against Mesmer in most scenarios, especially in a team setting.

I do feel that other classes offer better CC. Necro can go pure damage and still have fear chains. Cele rifle war has pull, immob, and knock, all in addition to chill, cripple, etc. Ele updraft is AoE and knocks bodies which makes it hard to resurrect allies, so their CC is really effective.
I have tried Confounding Suggestions. It was good when it was bugged with Chaos Storm, but since the nerf it’s too anti-synergetic with itself and there are better options. Most Grandmaster traits aren’t worth going the 6 points to get.

Cool read! Thanks for posting muffin.

Nice interview, thanks for posting!