Guild Wars 2

Good evening Mesmer community,

This may be a bit long for some, so only continue if you’re interested.

I’m a returning player who took about a month long break after getting PvE level capped in order to get some things together. I’m very interested in gearing out my Mesmer and attempting to establish myself in the PvP, WvW and PvE community on my server – although my main interests lean towards WvW and SPvP (in that order) before PvE.

I’ve watched A LOT of WvW, SPvP and read through threads (trying to keep it within the last 30 days, 15 days when in regards to builds due to patch changes to keep current) trying to decide what path I should take on my career as a Mesmer based on the current Meta.

The difficulty I am finding however is that I feel lost beyond my immediate knowledge of Mesmer. I’ve watched and read some gearing up threads – some WvW tutorials, tips and tricks and the such – but the game feels so vast that I am finding myself spending FAR too much time reading up on WvW, PVP in general, Mesmer and gearing then actually playing the game..

The other challenge I am facing is that I am brutally torn between two completely different gearing paths. I’ve seen successful Mesmers using variations of the Shatter build (I’m using a build modeled after Osi and Nero, currently) – but I’ve also seem some very intriguing and what appear to be very successful Confusion builds for WvW play with incredible burst and defensive potential as well.

The issue with that is, and the question I find myself asking is: What is the next shift in the Meta? Now for most established players – this isn’t a huge concern.. but I’m returning to game with a very pathetic amount of gold (only 2) – a very unfocused set of gear and a ton of “Oh I want to try that in WvW!” type questions with no manner of making it happen to each builds full potential.

I have a small amount of Karma – enough to purchase 1 of the major 40k+ pieces (with the intent to grind out infinite amounts) but I just feel so lost. Even in WvW – it’s very new to me and trying to get into the swing of things is daunting.

So first, I need to decide on a build .. currently I’m using Rare quality Berserker’s playing the Shatter variants. While it’s very good – I’m also interested in trying a Confusion based build with a little more staying power to prevent so many Waypoint runs while I learn the ropes.

Should I just not get ANY karma gear until I can decide? Or should I commit to something regardless and then farm a second set?

I guess it would also help to get a Guild.. I’ve been unguilded on my entire journey from 1-80 to present. Anyone on Sanctum recruiting?

Sorry for the ranting and raving, but thanks!

Skavian-

my advice would be, go test as many builds you want in sPvP, you can change your gear and traits there for free and as many times as you need, people might tell you what you should do, but all comes down to what fits your style the most, so get back to playing, get used to the class again and i’m sure you will find a good and fun build to play with.

I read somewhere that confusion is halved in non-WvW PVP – is that true? That was one obstacle I was looking at when testing the interesting glamour/Confusion build I watched .

Skavian.9863:

I read somewhere that confusion is halved in non-WvW PVP – is that true? That was one obstacle I was looking at when testing the interesting glamour/Confusion build I watched .

i dont really know, but that would be so lame :/

Well, I’ve answered my build question relatively quickly this evening.

While the confusion builds I tried are incredibly strong and burst oriented – I always felt super exposed after my opening combo and without Illusionary Persona for cloneless Distortion and Daze.

So now I’m testing the different variants between Shatter builds – twists on Nero, Osi and Flimps.

Then once that decision is made – I will stick with it for better or worse until I feel I have reached my personal skill cap.

I will also begin collecting Exotic Berserker’s (is this possible with Karma? I don’t see any of the correct gear I’d be looking for on a vendor…)