Guild Wars 2

IMO they should just make clone on dodge a default class mechanic that can be toggled on and off or at least lower the tier in which you can get Deceptive Evasion. The vigor nerf will hit all mesmer builds and in the current meta, it really feels that everything a mesmer can do, a thief can do better. Instead of nerfing thieves, etc. (although that would be nice too), perhaps some buffs should be done to the mesmer to balance out this vigor nerf.

Also if you are afraid of the new Power Block trait that is coming out in the patch, don’t be. There are a lot of important defensive traits that need to be sacrificed in order to get Power Block.

Phadde.7362:

Bearlin.7238:

Sooo.. since I can unlock the precursors to legendaries can I do:

Make Sunrise > Unlock Skin
Make Twilight > Unlock Skin
Make Eternity > Item becomes bind on equip > Sell to TP = profit?

Sounds like hax

You can’t do that, as you need the whole Legendary to make it count as an actual “Twilight” or “Sunrise”. The skin of any of them wrapped around an exotic, Ascended etc. doesn’t count as the “real deal” in the Mystic Forge.

Dr Ritter.1327:

I still liked having armor be class specific, so no I hate this idea

Nothing has changed about this. Light, Medium, and Heavy armor stays exactly the same, as does the restrictions. If you mean the class-specific starter armor from the Character Creation (Mesmer Mask, Guardian Shoulders), you where already able to use them on other classes with the same armor type

Fenrina.2954:

Phadde.7362:

… You’ll still be able to do exactly as much as you could before, and then a lot more!
You should be happy that you’ve been given the additional and really grand option to use your town clothes (which you mixed and matched so dearly) as actual combat armor as well.

Wrong. Town clothing is getting hit as a result.

Curtis Johnson.8456:

Sorry about the mix-and-match. Converting things to be armor and combat compatible did come with some trade-offs.

Ah, do you mean that you can’t mix & match with pieces of full outfits? That’s a bit of a shame, but perhaps you can still mix & match if you keep them as Town Clothes, just like before?
Any way, it’s still a change that probably most Town Clothing-enthusiasts will love, though.

Zaoda.1653:

I wonder if Anet will include all the different professions’ starter head/mask skins in the locker. Because I love the ‘wraith mask’.

You can do this, just like you already could. Armor type remains as a restriction though

I didn’t mean forging Eternity using Sunrise and Twilight skins. I meant what if you actually unlock the Sunrise and Twilight skins by equipping them and then later using the actual weapons to create Eternity… to sell off. Yes, you lose the legendary weapon stats but you are left with free Sunrise and Twilight skins + profit

phys.7689:

Bearlin.7238:

Sooo.. since I can unlock the precursors to legendaries can I do:

Make Sunrise > Unlock Skin
Make Twilight > Unlock Skin
Make Eternity > Item becomes bind on equip > Sell to TP = profit?

Sounds like hax

yeah, problem is, you wont have access to one item that changes its effects. You will have to pay 5 gold every time you change skins

What do you mean by “item that changes its effects?” Just need some clarification :o

Zaxares.5419:

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for doing this, ANet! I love you guys! Have ALL the Quaggan hugs! I can’t wait for the Apr 15th patch!

@Bearlin: Kind of. You still wouldn’t have the Eternity skin unlocked unless you soul/account bound Eternity to yourself, and then you can’t sell it anymore.

But you would still have free Twilight and Sunrise skins…?! Plus gold profit?!

Sooo.. since I can unlock the precursors to legendaries can I do:

Make Sunrise > Unlock Skin
Make Twilight > Unlock Skin
Make Eternity > Item becomes bind on equip > Sell to TP = profit?

Sounds like hax

I wonder if that Dueling trait will stack the invul. So if I were to tag 10 people in wvw… will I get 30 seconds of distortion if they all died?

I can see it now. My new wvw frontline build!

2/6/6/x/x with the new Dueling trait

Not sure how I feel about this, with the trait being in Domination.

Right now, I’m running the standard 20/20/30/x/x Chaotic Interruption build. If I were to try and get Power Block, I could either give up CI and go 30/20/20 or take both at the expense of DE and go 30/10/30. PVP-wise, this trait can be really amazing. WvW-wise, I’m kinda torn between CI and Power Block. The immobilize that comes from interrupting enemies in a group can be a real game-changer when fighting a group that does not have lots of stability. Also, having Power Block can potentially decrease the amount of skills you CAN interrupt, therefore also somewhat decreasing DPS coming from Halting Strike. I guess that since they are going to let us change traits out of combat, I can decide which one is more valuable to my team

maxinion.8396:

Bearlin.7238:

I like 0/30/0/25/15 as well. The damage modifier to yourself (+12% dmg) is so much better than putting those 10 points into Domination. During speed runs, I find myself being able to summon maybe 2 phantasms max before the whatever we’re killing is dead.

Note that this is actually an argument for 10/30/0/20/10. If you only summon two phants, you never have a chance to use the reduced cooldown from Illusionist Celerity (since I’m assuming you summon warden and swordsman and then melee). The extra 10 in domination, instead of Celerity, gives another 4% DPS.

I personally run 0/30 as well, but keep in mind that it’s only useful if your fights take long enough to get out a third phant (so it’s much better in places like fractals, for example).

The 15 in illusions also grant you more DPS though, just not towards your phantasms. Having 3 illusions up would give me 9% more damage, which I can also use for things like fiery greatsword.

Having a way of organizing your friend list would reallllyyy save me some time when I’m looking for people to do dungeons, tpvp with, etc.
Aside from that, I have nothing else to say other than we need some way to form bigger raid groups for wvw, etc.

I like 0/30/0/25/15 as well. The damage modifier to yourself (+12% dmg) is so much better than putting those 10 points into Domination. During speed runs, I find myself being able to summon maybe 2 phantasms max before the whatever we’re killing is dead.

They die when you or your target dies

Arkimedes.8730:

Thank you guys, I’ve been playing phantasm mesmer, to which hambow is a hardcounter. I’ll try out the engi thing for sure, love that class.

Use phantasmal disenchanter to get the condis off you. I usually die to hambow warrs just cause of condi on my phant mesmer

I think Chaos brings a very good point and that’s probably what the OP meant. I also had the same experience when PU first came out. I used PU for a long time before I realized that I needed to try out “riskier” builds to push myself and practice getting better at survival and whatnot. Currently playing lockdown and boy, you learn a loooot about timing interrupts! Having experience playing PU also helped me find ways to kill PU mesmers so I guess what I’m trying to say is that trying out different builds will always help you become a better player.

Marsares.2053:

Bearlin.7238:

Been running staff/sword+sword lockdown also… without clone on dodge. Makes me want to cry sometimes XD

Oh I’m the same… there’s a lot of nerd-rage going on on certain days. Then again, I’ve never been one for choosing the easy path. I just like to experiment new things… the moment a build becomes the meta, I’m out of there and try something new. The moment certain classes become the meta, I try to find a build that counters it.

… nothing beats stun-locking the crap out of a HamBow. :-P

I love dueling HamBow warrs, especially if they dont realize I’m using Phantasmal Disenchanter to get rid of the condi XD

But yes, hipster mesmers ftw?!

Been running staff/sword+sword lockdown also… without clone on dodge. Makes me want to cry sometimes XD

They only use the scepter auto attack that scepter clones use so they basically don’t do about 10 damage… but with 60+ clones, they were very deadly XD

The sword 4 block synergizes well with a phantasm lockdown build also because if you use the daze, it won’t make a clone to overwrite your existing phantasms So you can just keep using it for interrupts

They can be healed and buffed and the virtues also work with them

Yea…. no limit. We made even more clones with 3 mesmers to make it faster… must’ve made about 60+

Which skill did you use to reflect?

Well it only gets that high occasionally. Sadly, I wasnt able to get a screenshot of that 5k, but I’m guessing might stacks and vulnerability stacks played a part in it. Normally, my HS would go somewhere around 1.5k to 2k…

I’ve seen Halting Strike do upwards 5k on eles o-o

BlackDevil.9268:

Chaos storm is a joke, if you get dazed or stunned by that you’re really unlucky. It’s like what? 20% chance to proceed 1 sec daze? And you need a grandmaster trait to make that 50% chance for 1 sec stun?

Pathetic, warriors with more lockdown than mesmers. What was mesmer supposed to be in this game? A 2nd thief? Because that’s what mesmer is becoming…

^This. Especially true in wvw zerg fights. The “bugged” Chaos Storm acted as a secondary Static Field but with the nerf, it just tickles people, both in PVP and WVW.

skyz.7321:

Bearlin.7238:

Necro – there’s green kitten covering your screen

It might be covering the screen once it is on you, but there is nothing you can do to STOP it from getting on you in the first place, literally nothing.

Tainted Shackles:
- Instant cast.
- When pressed, it attaches to any nearby targets no matter what. (Blind, block, dodge, evasion do not stop the skill.)
- Once it has attached to a target, it applies torment every second, even through blind, block, dodge, evasion and invulnerability.

It is a skill that is apart of the class mechanic, it also goes through EVERY form of defence in the game, yet it is instant cast, why is it not brought in line with the warrior class mechanic aka burst skills?

The point of this thread isn’t about how they are completely destroying Warrior Longbow, but I will mention this:

They already nerfed Combustive Shot to basically NEVER apply burning, now nerfing Pin Down to make it even easier to avoid. People already dodge to get out of Combustive Shot when they see the big ball of fire slowly coming, which means they’ll most likely evade Pin Down. Now Pin Down will be even easier to dodge, the longbow just becomes useless.

When I see the green.. I just walk out of the way :/

I agree with comment above, I think it pretty much sums up my thoughts as well.

I don’t roam because I never find fights and I don’t really find flipping camps an enjoyable way to play… so I follow my wvw guild in mid to large sized raids.

Here is what usually happens:
Veil
Chaos Storm + Null Field + shatter
Greatsword auto attack + berserker until Chaos Storm is back up while following eles for water fields
Repeat

Most of the challenge I get is surviving by Phase Retreating/Blinking around so I don’t fail my guild by leaving them without a veil bot the next clash -_-

Because most warriors use Pin Down while their target is on a fire field, which often leads to a GG in favor of warrior. Other immobilizing skills already have effects actually.

Mesmer – sword 3 leap is quite predictable, a clone leaps at you and the mesmer will often leap right after to immobilize you.
Necro – there’s green kitten covering your screen
Engi – dat turret (will be nerfed?)

Also mesmers have obvious casting animation, more so than you might think. Each shatter already have different animations and sound.

I am absolutely fine with PU the way it is now (coming from a non-PU user).

Yes, it is low risk, high reward at the moment but consider the last time you died to a PU mesmer… was it from conditions on clone death and phantasm damage?

My guess is that most of you would probably say yes. From my experience, I find myself dying to PU mesmers only because I made the mistake of taking the clone death conditions in the face as I use Blurred Frenzy on their clones while they stealth away. This is where I think, the PU mesmer’s weakness lies (at least for sPVP/tPVP). PU mesmers will almost always need another person to cap a point for them/will take too long to cap a point and that makes the PU build a less attractive build in tPVP.

For those that think PU is too OP in WvW roaming,/hotjoins consider the mesmer class as a whole. If you get hit hard by a PU mesmer in a 1v1, remember that you are fighting a class that was designed to specialize in trickery and duels. The problem is not because they are able to stealth away as thieves do, but because they are able to deal massive damage WHILE in stealth as opposed to thieves which only deal massive damage by getting themselves revealed. This is where I think changes need to be made. As Countless had said before in another thread, there are simple ways in which this whole thing can be balanced:

1. Make conditions from clone death blockable.
2. Rework vigor so that one cannot just simply dodge, create clones, wait for clones to die and spam condition while in stealth.

That said, I still find PU not as fun to play as it only forces me to take up stealthing skills such as Torch 4 and Decoy when there are so many other possibilities for a more exciting gameplay

I find it ridiculous that the two most game-changing announcements (necro Dhuumfire change and mesmer Deceptive Evasion change) presented in Ready Up! are affecting the two classes that many consider to be borderline in the meta. For instance, many here have mentioned how engis are able to spam conditions more efficiently than necro already and looking at the mesmer forum already suggests that the DE nerf is something that seriously needs to be reexamined. I kind of agree with what Adanion mentioned: we are indeed in a stunlock/immobilize meta rather than a condi one. The conditions can easily be mitigated by almost every class, but the immobilize stacking + stuns make it so that you become stuck in a condi field and essentially just end up soaking in condition damage that could otherwise have been mitigated.

I literally summoned 3 iWardens on the dredge lurking about the Marionette boss area. None of them did anything :/ Each iWarden was also placed on flat ground, next to the dredge (about similar height)

TC got it around the same time also! Good job to us!

My Sweet Lily.1952:

Does the Chaos Storm/Confounding Suggestions bug fix affect this build much?

Tried CS on Chaos Storm. Only proc’d 1-2 stuns now which also made the stun ALOT easier to dodge. So I’d say it does affect the build quite a bit

I agree with everything that has been said by OP.

Just to put some of my own perspective on how my experience with the changes over the past few patches:

1. Illusionist Celerity nerf = I turn to 20/20/0/0/30 basic shatter build

2. Prismatic Understanding introduced = Borderline OP in spvp, not so great in tpvp so I stick with shatter although I become increasingly more of a burden to the team due to the amount of conditions/damage put out by other classes cough warriors

3. Confounding Suggestions introduced = I start running 30/20/20/0/0 to support mid fights better with my lockdown abilities… only to find out that it is bugged and will soon be nerfed —--back to shatter 20/20/0/0/30 then

4. Deceptive Evasion change announced = Goodbye dodge-dazing, fast shatter burst. Hello slow moving clones stuck to inanimate objects and more predictable burst.

5. ???? Phantasm? PU?

All is vain indeed

Jeremlloyd.6837:

About DE, it isn’t really a nerf (well maybe a lil’ one for PvP idk), look at the dev’s post:

Josh Davis.6015:

Hey mesmers,

For clarification: if you have 0-2 clones out and you dodge, you will summon a clone.

If you have 3 clones out and you dodge, nothing will happen.

It’s definitely arguable that it isn’t exactly a nerf… but it does affect mesmer gameplay for every type of build significantly. That said, it still is a push towards phantasm builds in a way. And iWarden is very much a part of not just phantasm builds but also shatter, etc.

Bumping this thread since I think it needs way more attention than it’s being given, especially in light of the coming DE nerf.

To me, the DE nerf seems like a push to get mesmers to take on Phantasm builds in pvp… and one of the most important phantasms that we have in our disposal is the iWarden.
With the current bug (after Dec 10th path), the iWarden will often times just stand there after being summoned, during which time the enemy would have already killed my now-useless phantasm. This bug also happens quite frequently in PVE, making my usually reliable mesmer reflects to now be affected by RNG as I wait there desperately hoping that my iWarden’s attack and reflect would proc.

Straight to the point, iWarden bug needs to be fixed ASAP as we no do not need anymore RNG involved with our skills (confounding suggestions, winds of chaos, chaos storm).

Reesha.7901:

Stievie.6128:

Bearlin.7238:

What if you have 3 clones out and you press a shatter… and while these clones are running to the target, you dodge to produce more clones? Will it actually produce clones?

this issue needs way more attention

I agree. We need a definite answer to this one from the developers.

A lot of people are saying they believe it will still work as it does now, but still no word from the devs. I guess we have to wait until the patch comes out.

On a side note, I really feel even more pressured to go PU or phantasm with these changes. Nerfing DE is a nerf not just to clone death builds, but also shatter mesmers in a way (Say goodbye to being able to dodge-dazing). Confounding Suggestions will most likely be nerfed as well so now I feel tunneled to go either 30/30/0/10/0 (phantasm-halting strike) or 20/20/30/x/x (PU). Yay build diversity :/

What if you have 3 clones out and you press a shatter… and while these clones are running to the target, you dodge to produce more clones? Will it actually produce clones?

Experienced mesmer here (I also have other classes) looking for a mid-sized hardcore PVE guild active NA. When I say hardcore, I mean guilds that do daily dungeon tours (be it speed or casual) as well as guild missions.

I am also looking for a PVP guild that I can perhaps do tournaments with from time to time

Honestly I feel like mesmer lockdown builds needed a little more oomph

Flissy.4093:

We know. We know. WE KNOW.

It’s been posted in this forum, the BLTC forum and the LS forum several times. Over and over and OVER.

Try scrolling and stop being ignorant before posting absolutely redundant repeat threads.

My apologies. I wasn’t able to look at the other forums thoroughly. Although you could’ve said it in a much nicer way :/
I don’t think my post was in any way ignorant, but rather more of a sign that there is a significant demand for this to happen. If my post really bothered you so much, I can only imagine how tormenting it must be for you to have to read anything that’s repeated.

Not sure if this was already posted somewhere else (forgive me if it has been), but we really need a trait reset NPC at the royal terrace. Currently, we have to go to one of the cities like Lion’s Arch to reset traits, defeating the purpose of having the Royal Pass.

Since there hasn’t been any official statement about whether or not it’s a bug, I’m not going to make any assumptions about it and just critique it as it is. IMO, from having used 30/20/0/0/20 in tpvp and wvw, it really isn’t as OP as people think it is. There are so many counters to this (dodge, stability, balanced stance, etc.) that people who are experienced enough to know that it’s not good to stay standing in a noisy red circle can easily dodge out of it.

In TPVP, many high level teams have a guardian/warrior or maybe both in their party. Those two classes, from my experience, are the most difficult ones to stun using CS because of stability and whatnot.
In WvW, one has to spend time and effort to strip the enemy group of stability first before casting Chaos Storm. A group that is experienced enough can either avoid the red circle or provide stability for their light armor classes when needed.

The only time I would consider CS being overpowered is if I were to use it in hotjoins and blindly spam Chaos Storm in the midst of an unorganized group.

I agree the way the PvP reward system works is completely dependent on RNG and there should be a clearer system of rewarding veterans. However, Zenith has a point. Veteran players probably have enough glory/gold to craft one if they wanted to.

Dat random charr photobomb

Running 30/20/0/0/20 with Staff/GS and I’d go as far as to say that it’s even more cheese than PU builds because of the possibility of perma stunning someone

PvP: power/condi hybrid
PvE: Phantasm
WvW: Shatter

Penguin.5197:

Loving every minute ’cause you make me feel so alive, alive~

Omg. Why can’t they made a light armor version of that helm?! Then I can make http://www.freewebs.com/final-fantasy8/edea%20podium.jpg

Their presentation would have been a LOT better if it had been done in such a way that the Mad King was introduced. I actually liked doing the quests for the Mad Memoires back piece because it really gave me an insight to his background, which in turn made me feel that this MAD king was a threat. Now if they dropped more hints to progress Scarlet’s character in the past Living Story events, I’d be much more interested in the story. I guess it’s really up to the next patch for Anet to give us more information about what’s really going on with her.

After 4 hours of zerging around, my experience was reduced to:

Tag events > waypoint at a town > afk for 1 hour > come back for loot