Guild Wars 2

So today I got up at 3:30am to ready up for the ToL. Two months ago after the announcement OMFG decided to put togeather another 5 man Mesmer Team. In the end it consisted of 4 Men and 1 Woman, but that’s just taking the mickey out of word play for you.

Roster
Pyro (bunker)
Vin (bunker)
ChaosA (CI)
Tealot (DPS- Shatter round 1, CI round 2)
Buton (DPS- Phantrupt)

Anyway I didn’t record the matches because my machine is getting on and has been having some performance issues in the last couple months, so the last thing I wanted was for my machine to start chugging because of running things other than GW2 (TS + Bandicam, ive had instances of things going bad). Instead I’ll summarize how things went and provide some after ToL vids :D

So ToL provided grounds for our first full team practice! Leading up to the event I think we each got on here and there to brush up on our mesmer skills. There was some dueling I know about, and Tea and I did a lot of duo ranked at times leading up to it (cough it counts is we P/P thief and Kshot war, right? cough). Anyway as stated this heralded our first actual play together so everything was being done on the fly.

Our first match didnt go so well. They decided on a 4 man push at home leaving Pyro dead as horse meat. Fun fact, if you put a colin in front of :Pyro it makes his name infinitely more fun! This match became a total wash when Chaos’ GW2 client decided it was time to crash, so the 4v5 spelled the end of that.

The second match proved much better but ended on a 400 – 500 loss by the end. (Initially we didn’t even realize it was best two out of three, you know because we’re just that newb.) To add some perspective, I was still trying to fire up on a van of V (think Red Bull) and 3 pieces of early morning honey toast. We had a bunky guard and warrior to deal with, a power necro, and a thief having a field day with perma consume plasma. Honestly, I think he’d developed a bad habbit by the end of it and actually checked himself into a clinic after a near miss with an overdose. Like, his team was threatening to kick him for being a junky and stuff. Anyway, we’d pulled ourselves together better but it was clear we were still in need of a good second practice round.

Unfortunately Torny’s aren’t the best place to start your practice sessions as, if you can’t pull off a win you’re out before you get going. The upside is that by the end of that we were fully fired up and ready to go, with an understanding of our roles and eachothers strengths, so in some post ToL matches we went crazy nuts with some mad capped Mesmer hijinks. Legendary :D

Here’s a match vid,
https://youtu.be/iUXEXe8L0ks

Got one more vid to follow once its done processing :D
- Done http://youtu.be/AjRBloiTjy0

Also to any OMFG’rs, of Mesmer looking to get into the folds of the community, be sure to ask in Gchat to group up for Mesmer PvP, if you call out your interest you’ll probably get a response.

Yay, and have a good day.

Nice vids, you all did very well for how new you were. Hope to see you get further in the next tourney =D

Yeah. The first team we fought was pretty much a beastly thief who had 4 people to keep him alive will he drank the joos all day.

Ross, I only played shatter the first round, then switched to CI because that handles DP thieves a bit better. Given that fact, for our first time all “practicing” I think we all did well. Obviously, the shenanigans afterward were more fun. I was gs/sf CI the whole time. Mainly there for control, Moa, and feedback.

Lol @ Aeoldyn’s portal on the stairs. And in vid 2, @ 18:00 is when I was fighting the engineer/warrior at mid, nearly downing one of them after like a 90 second fight, and then they started cursing me out.

I want to say MVPs were Pyro and Vinesta. Our dear “tanks.” Why? Vinesta only played this build for about a week and she also plays on a tablet better than most play on a PC. And Pyro cause 1) team leader and 2) he was playing a strange Knight’s Amulet tank build but still killing people effortlessly.

In sum, Mesmer teams are fun. We should do these more often. And yes to OP, anyone in OMFG who wants to pvp, just ask. We’re usually down.

In case of thieves, MtD is always an option. While not as spike or peak damage as Power Shatter, it’s decent enough and better than most of our builds at dealing with thieves.

Dondagora.9645:

In case of thieves, MtD is always an option. While not as spike or peak damage as Power Shatter, it’s decent enough and better than most of our builds at dealing with thieves.

I actually had no problem eliminating him. The problem was I was just one mesmer stretched across three points needing to cover 4 other mesmers. DILEMMA -_-u

Ross Biddle.2367:

Dondagora.9645:

In case of thieves, MtD is always an option. While not as spike or peak damage as Power Shatter, it’s decent enough and better than most of our builds at dealing with thieves.

I actually had no problem eliminating him. The problem was I was just one mesmer stretched across three points needing to cover 4 other mesmers. DILEMMA -_-u

Mhn, I see~!

Well, maybe have you and another MtD mesmer to double the coverage. At least, against thieves, which’ll be most of the matches. Can’t have a mesmer team without an anti-thief strategy, after all.

One thing I think would help you guys, check out the ESL go4gw2 Europe finals on the official gw2 twitch channel. Had 2 teams with mesmers in the semi finals and Jebro makes some good explanations on portal placements etc.

Think it would help as I saw some effective use of portals but I feel you could have used them more aggressively.

3:30am! That’s dedication. :o

Nice effort for a practice/test – I get that everyone plays what they feel most comfortable with, just wondering what could be potentially more effective.

I want to see 5 Mesmers chain cast Moa on one player.

You guys did surprisingly well but being new as a team, made some mental mistakes. I can only see from Ross’s perspective, but I wonder if switching up builds to be power shatter would be more beneficial in focusing a target down. But I see where CI lends itself to be useful is controlling a player.

It’s almost as if you just need to roam between points with 5 Mesmers and using Portal. So many possibilities which can be hammered out with practice.

Keep it up!

How many were running MoA? Im guessing 2 or 3 ran MI.

StickerHappy.8052:

How many were running MoA? Im guessing 2 or 3 ran MI.

We just had 1 with moa. The necro was actually running plague, so it wasn’t as high a priority as it could have been.

Fay.2357:

StickerHappy.8052:

How many were running MoA? Im guessing 2 or 3 ran MI.

We just had 1 with moa. The necro was actually running plague, so it wasn’t as high a priority as it could have been.

I guess, but 4 Mi (?) isnt that too over abundant?

StickerHappy.8052:

Fay.2357:

StickerHappy.8052:

How many were running MoA? Im guessing 2 or 3 ran MI.

We just had 1 with moa. The necro was actually running plague, so it wasn’t as high a priority as it could have been.

I guess, but 4 Mi (?) isnt that too over abundant?

Not really, it’s not like you have to use it all the time certainly. It has a lot more general utility than moa does, and time warp really isn’t all that great (for mesmers in particular). In hindsight 1 time warp probably wouldn’t have hurt, but the ressing utitility of MI came in handy a lot of times.

Fay.2357:

StickerHappy.8052:

Fay.2357:

StickerHappy.8052:

How many were running MoA? Im guessing 2 or 3 ran MI.

We just had 1 with moa. The necro was actually running plague, so it wasn’t as high a priority as it could have been.

I guess, but 4 Mi (?) isnt that too over abundant?

Not really, it’s not like you have to use it all the time certainly. It has a lot more general utility than moa does, and time warp really isn’t all that great (for mesmers in particular). In hindsight 1 time warp probably wouldn’t have hurt, but the ressing utitility of MI came in handy a lot of times.

Hmm I see, can you elaborate on the bunker builds you were running?
Also, Im guessing chaos and ross and tea didnt TS yesterday? So if that was the case, you couldve done a lot better if you guys have 5 people doing voice comms

StickerHappy.8052:

Fay.2357:

StickerHappy.8052:

Fay.2357:

StickerHappy.8052:

How many were running MoA? Im guessing 2 or 3 ran MI.

We just had 1 with moa. The necro was actually running plague, so it wasn’t as high a priority as it could have been.

I guess, but 4 Mi (?) isnt that too over abundant?

Not really, it’s not like you have to use it all the time certainly. It has a lot more general utility than moa does, and time warp really isn’t all that great (for mesmers in particular). In hindsight 1 time warp probably wouldn’t have hurt, but the ressing utitility of MI came in handy a lot of times.

Hmm I see, can you elaborate on the bunker builds you were running?
Also, Im guessing chaos and ross and tea didnt TS yesterday? So if that was the case, you couldve done a lot better if you guys have 5 people doing voice comms

Everyone was on TS, chaos didn’t talk. Ross was on TS, but unless you specifically tell it to, most recorders will not record what you’re personally saying.

I was running 4/4/0/6/0 with shattered conditions, warden’s feedback, and mender’s purity (and halting strike). Probably could have run glamour mastery for more portals, but not entirely sure if that would have been worth it. Sw/focus + gs, knights amulet. Double energy sigils, double doom sigils, and I ran melandru in the first match and pack in the second.

You’d have to ask vin exactly what she was running, I can’t recall of the top of my head.

Fay.2357:

StickerHappy.8052:

Fay.2357:

StickerHappy.8052:

Fay.2357:

StickerHappy.8052:

How many were running MoA? Im guessing 2 or 3 ran MI.

We just had 1 with moa. The necro was actually running plague, so it wasn’t as high a priority as it could have been.

I guess, but 4 Mi (?) isnt that too over abundant?

Not really, it’s not like you have to use it all the time certainly. It has a lot more general utility than moa does, and time warp really isn’t all that great (for mesmers in particular). In hindsight 1 time warp probably wouldn’t have hurt, but the ressing utitility of MI came in handy a lot of times.

Hmm I see, can you elaborate on the bunker builds you were running?
Also, Im guessing chaos and ross and tea didnt TS yesterday? So if that was the case, you couldve done a lot better if you guys have 5 people doing voice comms

Everyone was on TS, chaos didn’t talk. Ross was on TS, but unless you specifically tell it to, most recorders will not record what you’re personally saying.

I was running 4/4/0/6/0 with shattered conditions, warden’s feedback, and mender’s purity (and halting strike). Probably could have run glamour mastery for more portals, but not entirely sure if that would have been worth it. Sw/focus + gs, knights amulet. Double energy sigils, double doom sigils, and I ran melandru in the first match and pack in the second.

You’d have to ask vin exactly what she was running, I can’t recall of the top of my head.

I mean like its overall better if everyone talked right?, also, I think I didnt see any vaulable portal plays (i saw chaos using a portal mid to the stairs at mid) in legacy haha.

In your opinion what prolly could you have done better?

PS: ToL was absolutely proof that anything is viable as long as you are having fun, me and skcamow also ran untraditional builds yesterday and we did fine. A lot of people were also running non meta builds, and I honestly felt like we were holding our own ground too.

I should have moa’d the thief instead of keeping necro/engi in mind.

Dude I think I failed harder with those portals in those matches than I have at launch

Everyone did talk with the exception of Chaos who was on comms but no on voice. That said, there’s a big jump between being in communication with people, and actually communicating with people. Like I said in the opening, those two ToL matches were our first time playing together and as such, communication was just another thing on the list of things that was new, raw, and without development. So it wasnt until afterwards that it truly became fluid and wholly relevant.

Even when Tea and I played PvP in the months before we didn’t use comms.

Anyway, there’s probably loads of things that could have been done differently. But there’s no way we could have possibly known. We did chat after matches about things we each saw. For example one thing I noticed was that no one else targets with Ctrl T. People will call out a target verbally, but visually it doesn’t happen. I on the otherhand, coming from WvW, trained myself to target everything. I’ll target NPC’s and Ambients if I intend to kill them. I target when I’m in a group or on my own :D

As for changing up builds, I think our composition was stronger without IP Shatter. I personally feel weaker on IP shatter because the discipline required for play is counter to the nature of my style. In otherwords I end up doing stupid things by nature and without thought. Also, IP shatter has more reliance on the team, and while we mesmers could cover eachother in important ways (MI res for example) we can’t do it well in others. Tea had a terrible time on shatter in the first match for this reason. He might have had all that power, but was forced into utter self reliance due to the nature of our comp.

As for the team, having the overabundant amount of CC with two CI and myself on CS with tripple mantras, pistol 5, and GS 5 meant that when it all came together, I could pick and call a target, and we began locking down and unloading, targets suffered. In our ToL matches the other team obviously had a solid comp, so it also wasnt just enough to down someone. The Necro was a first target, but with the bunky guard and war around they could all get eachother up. The on demand interrupts, knockbacks, and imobs became super important for us when we had to, some times, set up for a stomp. Or failing that, my having those long range, high dps phantasms to continue to focus them down while my attention was forced to other pressing matters. That’s what I found anyway.

So what could we have done better? Easy, practiced the weekend before at the same intended time, and if possible got at least one random ranked match in before the ToL for a warmup. But you know, I’ll take it for its worth :D I had a great day yesterday.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Everyone did talk with the exception of Chaos who was on comms but no on voice. That said, there’s a big jump between being in communication with people, and actually communicating with people. Like I said in the opening, those two ToL matches were our first time playing together and as such, communication was just another thing on the list of things that was new, raw, and without development. So it wasnt until afterwards that it truly became fluid and wholly relevant.

Even when Tea and I played PvP in the months before we didn’t use comms.

Anyway, there’s probably loads of things that could have been done differently. But there’s no way we could have possibly known. We did chat after matches about things we each saw. For example one thing I noticed was that no one else targets with Ctrl T. People will call out a target verbally, but visually it doesn’t happen. I on the otherhand, coming from WvW, trained myself to target everything. I’ll target NPC’s and Ambients if I intend to kill them. I target when I’m in a group or on my own

As for changing up builds, I think our composition was stronger without IP Shatter. I personally feel weaker on IP shatter because the discipline required for play is counter to the nature of my style. In otherwords I end up doing stupid things by nature and without thought. Also, IP shatter has more reliance on the team, and while we mesmers could cover eachother in important ways (MI res for example) we can’t do it well in others. Tea had a terrible time on shatter in the first match for this reason. He might have had all that power, but was forced into utter self reliance due to the nature of our comp.

As for the team, having the overabundant amount of CC with two CI and myself on CS with tripple mantras, pistol 5, and GS 5 meant that when it all came together, I could pick and call a target, and we began locking down and unloading, targets suffered. In our ToL matches the other team obviously had a solid comp, so it also wasnt just enough to down someone. The Necro was a first target, but with the bunky guard and war around they could all get eachother up. The on demand interrupts, knockbacks, and imobs became super important for us when we had to, some times, set up for a stomp. Or failing that, my having those long range, high dps phantasms to continue to focus them down while my attention was forced to other pressing matters. That’s what I found anyway.

So what could we have done better? Easy, practiced the weekend before at the same intended time, and if possible got at least one random ranked match in before the ToL for a warmup. But you know, I’ll take it for its worth I had a great day yesterday.

Yep communicating is easily a great factor in those matches, No offense Ross but The targretting was also a problem I saw (I even experienced this with queing with other OMFG members). I would say portal plays would also make a big difference, any you can decap or neut other points easily since you all have high mobility (blink, PR, portals). Synced Moas too would also had been better since you can lock someone down easily like warriors before endure pain or stances and take them away from the fight.

I also felt that you lacked a little condi pressure on those fights, that will help a little sustain on those matches. 1 of you couldve gotten condi support (Idk if vin did). I just felt you had a lot of MI for matches, not saying it is bad, but you could’ve ran moa for more efficiency.

I told vin that you guys should practice a lot. And again as I’ve said individual input in comms is a MUST ex: “I’m going mid, ressing, immobing etc.” I thought you could also work on that to up coordination.

Also, did anyone of you guys ran NullField or mass AoE removal from anywhwere/mantras other than pyro? because if you are fighting on a point without him that could easily spell trouble. Anyway that’s my 2c

PS: I saw a lot of times that you bursted rangers with signet of Stone on. Just saying.

StickerHappy.8052:

PS: I saw a lot of times that you bursted rangers with signet of Stone on. Just saying.

Yeah, I was watching for the stone sig. It’s duration is a pain. When I noticed it was in effect I was trying to fine line time my phant summons to hit as it ended (but was doing a bad job of it). The offside is that, at least once the phants are out its only a matter of time before the next attack cycle, and I could wait to start interrupting.

Oh and the other thing is that, while its nice to consider what we could do differently, the fact is the next torny will probably be post trait changes, and once that happens it’s going to be a far different ball game. For one a whole team of mesmer isnt going to be quite so ridiculous because of what a variety of build comps can accomplish. As well as the individual mesmer in general being far more potent in what he can do.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Oh and the other thing is that, while its nice to consider what we could do differently, the fact is the next torny will probably be post trait changes, and once that happens it’s going to be a far different ball game. For one a whole team of mesmer isnt going to be quite so ridiculous because of what a variety of build comps can accomplish. As well as the individual mesmer in general being far more potent in what he can do.

100 percent this. IP being baseline is a huge buff to our survivability for one thing. And removing stats from the trait lines will open up a lot of variety, too. I’ve been toying around with a build somewhat like what Vashury has in his latest, with CI and IP. It allows me to practice without DE and get used to IP on a lockdown build at the same time. Do I notice the missing crit, ferocity from dueling? Yes. But it’s still capable of blowing up other glass players (the might stacks are huge!).

I think that one change alone opens a lot of doors for any tank or condi builds, too. Regardless of builds and whenever the next ToL would be, there are a lot of Mesmer utilities we can probably fine-tune our use of.

Also, everyone say congrats to Stickerhappy and Skcamow who made it quite far into the tournament!

Tealots.6095:

Also, everyone say congrats to Stickerhappy and Skcamow who made it quite far into the tournament!

Sure, they did great, congratulations.

But Stickerhappy was busy and unavailable when I needed him in the arena to test something! I had to go find some random pug in some random dueling arena to get the job done. Thanks for nothing Stickerhappy (ToL so important, thought our friendship meant something!)