Guild Wars 2

First off, I’m loving my mesmer. Lots of methods for controlling fights and the illusion mechanic is great It’s like peek-a-boo … I kill you.

That being said, I’m level 30 and I use Staff and Sword/Focus for leveling. I switch between them depending on the fights, but I mostly stick with staff really. I’ve had already several people either laugh at me or tell me that the staff is absolutely useless and I shouldn’t bother with it. I don’t understand, I seem to doing fine with it. I use it for the boons and conditions and I find I can control fights with several mobs easily using it. I actually do much better with the staff than any of the other weapons I’ve tried. So you can understand why I’m a bit confused…..

I KEEP getting people telling me to use Greatsword this and Greatsword that… Greatsword, Greatsword, Greatsword…… Sometimes I have folks telling me that I should do Sword/Sword and Greatsword. I don’t mind the Greatsword really but I much prefer the staff. Is the Greatsword really that much more powerful for leveling? I thought it was nerfed or something, I don’t like the skills on the Greatsword anyways much. I’ve used it and it does have it’s uses but it doesn’t fit my playstyle much.

So my question is this. Is the staff reall that so terrible that I should stop using it period? I don’t know maybe it isn’t as useful higher up in level. I had one person tell me today that conditions were nerfed several patches ago and I shouldn’t bother.

I’m really confused right now as to what weapons I should be focusing on. I thought they were all pretty decent actually. I switch to Sword/Focus often and sometimes I even use Sword/Torch. Depends on what I’m in the mood for really

Thanks in advance for the responses!!!

People don’t like staff at low level because it’s conditions damage based. Which means it’ll always be slower to kill a weak target (like a level 5 bandit in Queensdale). But the staff really shines against end game mobs because :
1) conditions ignore armor and thus are always effective
2) conditions allow you to move around and do some dodging without loosing DPS.
3) conditions are awesome: they do damage AND weaken your target

But the staff also benefits from power gear (and that’s good because we can combine the staff with any weapon/build – even power mesmer-). The sorcerer is a really powerful phantasm (maybe only the warden is stronger) : ranged (means he doesn’t die immediately) attacks who get better the longer the battle last.

Staff is also a great support for your party.

and bla bla bla …

(5 min later – yeah staff rocks). Mr Prometheus did a really nice video about all mesmer weapons and also glorified the staff (with an A+ rating ^^)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=7eZ0NNd7b60#t=2432s

But -as I mentioned previously- when you fight a level 5 bandit in Queensdale (or any regular monster during leveling time), the staff is just slower to kill than GS or sword

Maybe you could try using your sword/focus set as your main. You could still use the staff at the beginning of every fight (and then switching) or whenever you have an uh-oh moment (pulling a full group, a veteran, …)

If staff is working for you, why would you change your play style?

Staff is probably our best best weapon by far. At level 80 I use it most of the time in PVE.

@Animando.7956:

First thanks for the response

As for the staff, it is working for me and I find myself doing well for it. I merely questioned the reasoning as to why people keep telling me that the staff stinks and I should use something else. I figured, maybe I’m overlooking something or maybe I should focus on another weapon if so many people feel that staff is terrible.

In all honesty, I came to the forums to post my experience with this as I’ve already had a few people tell me the same thing about the staff. I’m hoping that folks here on the forums can give more insight or provide advice.

Would love to hear from more people though on this topic. Thanks for your response Animando, it’s much appreciated!

It GREATLY depends on what you have traited. If you have 0 traits in the Chaos line i think which is all about Cond damage and use a staff then yes you are a joke because the staff is all about the Cond damage over time not raw power. The best way to find out if you are doing it right is look at the trait lines and you will often see traits that mesh nicely with weapons you are using. It is a very synergistic type of game that they have made with regards to weapons/skills/traits. But if you are running a staff enjoy! I like GS/SP and only use a focus really if I need to get around.

I’m even more junior than you (19) and loving staff. If it’s working, stick to it. You (and me too for that matter) can always change to greatsword or whatever later on if we wish.

@jportell.2197:
I’m currently Chaos traited. I have my gear as well as my traits geared towards conditional damage. That’s not to say I don’t put points in to power either. I do run a sword/focus as well. Once things get started and I pickup boons and my foe receives conditions, I actually do feel like it’s ‘raw power’ since the mob goes down fast. Unless, you mean the boomstick feeling (approach) you get with certain other weapons If that’s the case then yes, it’s not instantly ‘BOOM’ but it gets the job done. I agree thought about the synergy part which is why I’m trying to work with the staff.

@TristanTzara.4628: Yeah I hear you. I don’t come across many staff mesmers and sometimes I feel so out of place. Like I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, I made this topic to get some insight if I’m doing things wrong. Yep we can change to other weapons later but if I’m going to level I might as well get practice on weapons that would be more beneficial.

I’ve hadn’t heard any negative comments in any of the posts thus far regarding staffs. I guess that’s a good sign.

Any more responses or advice are welcomed. Especially, from those that feel I should stray away from the staff and give a reason as to why

I saw sword/focus and immediately approved. I don’t run my staff in pve, that slot is either gs or scepter/pistol, but the staff is just too useful in pvp/wvw to not have. Try working your sword into attacking a bit more. Even if it’s just leap in, bf, roll out and switch to staff, it’ll speed your kills up significantly in pve.

Thanks everyone for the responses! I’ll be sticking with my staff because well.. “It just works for me”. I really didn’t any replies as to why I shouldn’t use the staff at all. I guess those folks I’ve come across that just laugh at me or tell me otherwise are either wrong or opinionated about the staff.

@Animando.7956: I do switch to the sword/focus often actually. I love the warden, he does so much crazy damage if used properly. Also he reflects projectiles! Just stand right at the center of the Warden and viola! Not sure why people don’t use the warden skill from the focus. I must be a minority. Oh I also switch with a pistol sometimes…

Also that video you linked is brilliant! He goes in to finite details about the Mesmer workings and is usually similar weapons to me. Though I don’t use the same trait lines as him in the video. I’m not a big fan of pulling mobs towards the warden using the focus #4 skill. Gave me some great ideas though on how to utilize the staff. Thanks for posting this!

Staff is great. I’ve been using it since a low level and I got laughed at, but I just laughed back when I would solo about 10 mobs my level without batting an eye. Radiation Field + Chaos Storm = Tons of Damage.