Guild Wars 2

Hi guys,

Last time I played this game was before Hearth of Thorns came out. I played other games since then, but none of them really had the combat like GW2, which is what I really like about this game. I was wondering if I missed too much to come back? Like what are the changes with mesmers? Still power mesmer with GS/Staff? Condi shatter with Staff/scepter + torch? Is the shield any good or the new F6 (?) ability? I went to metabattle to do some research but I don’t know the new sigils or amulets, so maybe you guys can help me out?

Oh yeah, what about HoT, do I need the expansion to play or how does that work?

Thank you in advance and maybe I’ll see you guys in-game!

I just came back last week after 2+ years away, and honestly it’s not that hard to get into. The mesmer is still a mesmer as you will remember it, but the “meta” of the game focuses on conditions and shatter using the new chronomancer elite specc so yes HoTs is definitely required if you want to… not suck.

Although there is a mob of people trolling through threads screaming at people for suggestion something other than the current metabattle build be used – it is perfectly fine to go your own way in solo queues and current unranked. Generally people that aren’t mindless zombies will find fun power builds to run that are surprisingly capable.

My advice is – test things out. Don’t listen to posts that are gonna show up below me yelling at me for suggestion the current meta isn’t the ONLY way to play it. What a lot of people fail to understand is that the “meta build” is designed around a specific composition, a composition you most likely won’t be playing.

TL;DR – Power works just fine as well as condi, you just gotta know how to use it.

Crowley.8761:

I just came back last week after 2+ years away, and honestly it’s not that hard to get into. The mesmer is still a mesmer as you will remember it, but the “meta” of the game focuses on conditions and shatter using the new chronomancer elite specc so yes HoTs is definitely required if you want to… not suck.

Although there is a mob of people trolling through threads screaming at people for suggestion something other than the current metabattle build be used – it is perfectly fine to go your own way in solo queues and current unranked. Generally people that aren’t mindless zombies will find fun power builds to run that are surprisingly capable.

My advice is – test things out. Don’t listen to posts that are gonna show up below me yelling at me for suggestion the current meta isn’t the ONLY way to play it. What a lot of people fail to understand is that the “meta build” is designed around a specific composition, a composition you most likely won’t be playing.

TL;DR – Power works just fine as well as condi, you just gotta know how to use it.

What you said is true. Play what you want. The difference between condition shatter no matter what you use for weapons/traits/builds is light years ahead of power. Sure you could walk to that location or fly your choice how you want to spend your time.

Crowley.8761:

What a lot of people fail to understand is that the “meta build” is designed around a specific composition, a composition you most likely won’t be playing.

On the contrary, the meta build by definition is the strongest build that can be played on that profession in that specific game mode.

Crowley.8761:

TL;DR – Power works just fine as well as condi, you just gotta know how to use it.

Unfortunately this is not true and it’s not a simple matter of knowing how to use it. An equally skilled mesmer playing a power shatter build and a condition shatter build will currently perform at a higher level with the condition build. If that weren’t the case, the condition build wouldn’t be meta.

That said, I’m a HUGE advocate for experimenting with builds and you make an good point about playing whatever you want in unranked. I love playing all kinds of builds. You can indeed make many different things work in that mode but yet, meta is still meta. Generally speaking, even in unranked, condition shatter is going to be the stronger build to run.

The disparity of build viability becomes much more pronounced in season play (season 3 begins this week). The competition gets much more stiff than unranked and you very quickly realize your best bet to win is to play meta. I went through that pain and discovered this for myself last season. This isn’t to say that you can’t win by playing something non-meta. I’m saying you give you/your team the best chance to win by playing meta.

So while I very much appreciate and can relate to the sentiment of trying other builds, I want ensure we’re giving the correct information to players wanting to be as successful as possible in PvP.

Just get used to the profession being nerfed every Tuesday (and this is not hyperbole).