Guild Wars 2

As a gs, sw/t PU power roamer, this patch pooped all over me ;(

Yep ditto. Found out in the living story when i tried to get a little more dmg going. Wet noodle-y damage…

I’ve been thinking about this a lot!

I would definitely like to see a dps spec to bring our personal dps up. For that I thought up a ritualist. You’d get mainhand throwing daggers (I didn’t want another melee range weapon) and traps. Phantasms do no physical damage now, however, you get a baseline increase in personal damage and you can sacrifice them via shatters for even more personal/(group? perhaps traited?) dps boosts. More clones/phants would mean longer duration of the buff and/(or?) stronger dmg modifiers. The shatter skills would be reworked into “sacrifices”. Mind wrack would be the dmg modifier, cry of frustration would be a condi dmg modifier, the other two I am still thinking on, but probably similar in flavor to their shatters. The traps would be single target for pretty devastating damage, and some mid-range aoe splash damage. I think an elite trap that buffs dps against a target for X seconds would be interesting. We are trying to sacrifice someone, after all.

I also really like the idea of a buff/debuff specialization as a bard. We would get shouts and warhorn offhand. Shatters would become songs. I still need to flesh this out, but I love the idea. I just really want to be a bard :O

Friday at daily reset (NA).

Tried a few times yesterday with the pugs. All fails. BUT, I lucked out (or thought I did) and had this TDMS – tangled depths meta squad – guild organize on my map. Things I noticed with the organized group:
- Requests for no pugs on the nuhoc lane since apparently we will kitten it up. lol.
- Had a different technique (from what I had a commander say previously) for the SCAR lane so it seems the info getting passed around might be confusing for pugs depending on who lead them previously. Hopefully people will get on the same page.
- “soft” gear check, in that commanders were requesting DPS/zerker but didnt specifically require you to ping gear. Interesting, since “play how you want” is advertised as a positive for GW2 and yet will cause failure in open world events.

We still failed with TDMS lol. But at least I got more info on how to run the lanes. And I got past the first burn phase, which I’ve never seen before!

Also, I’m not ragging on TDMS since they were cool dudes, just listing my observations.

I’ve done this event quite a few times, all with pugs. I’ve never seen it get into the 2nd burn phase. It’s very disheartening to try and try and try at this meta event. Especially when you organize an hour ahead of time and then ultimately fail after 5 minutes. There doesn’t even seem to be taxi’s for the meta anymore and good luck trying to get it done during the day (NA server).

I think the event might be ok if the “no cc” tactic was removed. I have to severely kitten my build because everything I do has some sort of cc attached to it (zerker chrono wells). All my group utility is gone because I can’t drop a timewarp (slow) or my alacrity well (chill). I mean, I guess I could buff the ranged group, but then melee dps is far superior to range dps and this whole thing is a dps check anyways! I can’t even use my beloved greatsword because the phant applies cripple. It’s just an all around frustrating fight where I have to use subpar builds and unfamiliar weapons.

I get that some guilds are looking for fights more like TT. That said, it probably shouldn’t be tied to the final meta event for the map, especially in a new zone where pugs are everywhere doing other things. Preferably you want something that you could just pop onto a semi empty map and get organized without worrying about random pugs on map doing other events, like how TT is. That way for people that struggle to do it, they can just avoid it (like TT again). And then people that want to do it, well you will at least not have the bad pugs hindering you (as much). I mention this because I do this with TT. I’ve never beaten it, I’ve no interest in beating it, and so I can avoid it and let those who want to try go for it without clogging up their map.

Mordrem saber is a rare drop from the end meta boss chest in Dragon Stand.

for more of the new weapons, here’s a helpful reddit post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3r4y0z/lets_try_and_find_the_new_skins/

Name: Booty Touchers [BT]
Gameplay: PVE, WVW, PVP
Server: Sea of Sorrows (not required but will be accused of being a spy DAILY until you join SOS)
Active Time: Around daily reset (+/- 3 hours)
Contact: Dammerung.6419
Guild numbers: Like 2-3 on at one time (20 or so in the guild)
About Us:

Originally the tag was made [BT] to show solidarity with another guild of the same tag that was spawn camping our founder in WVW. We decided to keep it after that failed ‘cause why not? We like roaming in WVW (well not right now, with the spanking from YB or [insert T1 server]) or running small group comps. Every now and again we like to roam EotM for the lols and, if there’s no tag, I’ll lead the pugs to greatness. Some of us get the urge to PVP until we turn into rage monsters (mainly me). Most of us PVE and we are pumped for raids when HoT releases. We’ll run dungeons for gold/fun when the mood strikes us and sometimes we’ll 2-3 man a dungeon/fractals for fun/challenge. We are alt-a-holics and fashion wars 2 is a big deal ’round here. We are upgrading the guild and should be fully upgraded by HoT. Our most active people (2 haha) are doing all the upgrades while THE REST OF THE GUILD does NOTHING #LAZYKITTENS. We mostly like to hangout in TS and insult each other. Good Times.

Disclaimer: We aren’t very active atm (except the previously mentioned 2 of us), but that should change when HoT hits. TS is very active tho!
Requirements: No rep requirement. Must not be easily offended. Must understand sarcasm. Must laugh at all our bad puns. Must be able to quote “Mean Girls” in its entirety (this is the entrance exam).
Age: 20+

Ha, thanks. My inspiration was Oberyn from Game of Thrones meets that Saudi Arabian guy/model that was deported for being too handsome. xD

gear: glorious crown, scarf, incarnate vest, ascended gloves, t3 cultural pants, ascended boots.

but my Saudi prince

AivenPrimus.9184:

Why would you use Cleansing Mantra in the first place, if you already use Inspiration Spec(Menders Purity) and Mantra Heal (with Harmonious Mantras from Duelist tree) ??
Or is it simply that people doesnt read ability/trait descriptions?

<>Menders Purity ’’casts’’ Power Cleanse each time you use Healing Skill on a 1 Second cooldown (In total you can clear 6 conditions within 3 seconds).

And Mantra Heal in general has 10 second cooldown,
while Cleansing Mantra has 20 sec CD, cleansing same amount of conditions, without any healing.

Considering that you run usual group, but including you (war/guard/2xELE+Mes)
Eles can also easily clear conditions,
So I see absolutely no reason why would you need Power Cleanse.

Or are you going to tell me that having 1 or 2 less ‘’Mantra Strength’’ from Duelist will be such a DPS loss, … which will make you fear for your life next time you cross the street, as you wont know when an angry meta elitist will want to drive you over for that…

If you ‘ve ever had the misfortune of trying to 2 man some of the condition damage bounties for guild bounties, you’ll realize you’ll need all the condi clear you can get. And we still can’t beat shaman or komali unless we happen to stumble upon them at a waypoint. We don’t even try against tarban.

For the rest of the the responses, I’m glad people are at least aware of it. I wish the search function would work so I could look this stuff up….

The bug is as follows, I’ll will be in a fight and I’ll use my healing mantra, whether charging it or just using the charge, and it will automatically use my cleansing mantra. If the cleanse mantra has charges, it will consume a charge (although I’m not sure if the mantra actually does a cleanse or not), otherwise it will constantly reset the cleanse mantra on cd, renewing the cd to 20 seconds each time I hit the heal mantra.

It doesn’t happen every time, and I can’t seem to pinpoint why it happens. I’ll be attempting a video of it, but as I stated, it appears random to me.

The build:

dom: II, I, II
duel: I, III, I
insp: II, I or II, I or III

utilities: mantra heal, blink/feedback, cleanse mantra, mantra of pain

Anyone else having this issue or know how to fix it?

Can they add this to the GS Domination trait, imagined burdens? I’m missing that bounce so much

I absolutely love mimic. TWO blinks while roaming!! It’s my favorite thing atm

Simonoly.4352:

The only real issue with PU is that it allows Mesmer to reset too easily, just like a Thief. And just like a Thief I’m finding it a little too disruptive to the flow of combat

I understand this one, but many classes have their escapes too. Think ele, gs warr, melee ranger, thief, necro (HAHAHA sorry). I like PU for wvw when I need to zerg dodge or lose that group of 5-10 that feel the need to chase me across the map for some reason. Mass invis baseline was just too short for that.

TyPin.9860:

33% would equal at least one second stealth bonus. This is what PU did before the patch. And guess what, people used the trait a lot. There was no reason to buff PU the way they did.

People used PU for the crazy amount of aegis, regen, and protection, not the 1 second stealth increase. Those things have been toned down such that when you leave stealth, the boons are gone within a few seconds. The reason to take it now is for the increased stealth.

Will it solve the bursting down? Yes, partly it will. Because a 4s window is shorter than a 6s window and the time frame, where you can expect another burst from stealth, is potentially shorter.

This is a weak argument. Any class with no cd’s is capable of withstanding an initial burst from stealth, regardless of how long the stealth lasts. People getting blown up right now are not used to the new mesmer, but give it time.

What you seem to advocate for is nerfing everything else, so that PU can remain the same. This will lead to another quasi mandatory trait a Mesmer needs: PU, because without it, the other traits will be lackluster. I see not a single reason what so ever that PU should give +100% stealth duration.

Wow strawman. He’s saying wait and see if the almost certain nerf to our burst damage potential will alter your view on whether or not PU will still be considered a problem. Right now it’s the one-shotting that people are up in arms about, that it happens out of stealth that is longer than usual is not the issue.

I like the new PU. I don’t care about the boons, but the stealth we get to veil and mass invis finally feels where I want them to be. Veil and mass invis always felt way too short for their cds. I have a feeling that if you nerf the stealth duration, no one would take this trait. I know I wouldn’t.

I’m with windwalker on this one. We’ve got huge powercreep with every class atm. I would hate to preemptively nerf PU when a power nerf across the board is most likely gonna happen at some point.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Don’t forget the jellies not spawning bug that’s been there for almost 3 years now.

omg… I had no idea these jellies even existed and I’ve been doing bounties since they were introduced. I checked the wiki and you are correct. That’s a very long lasting bug.

Bluefox.9580:

Try bringing a regen heavy class and a diamond skin ele to dps him down.

Pre patch we ran a shout heals warrior and a zerker bow ranger. With the water field heal that auto cleansed me every few arrow shots, the burn wasn’t as bad since it only stacked in duration. Now however, with the burn stacking intensity, I’m taking massive damage with not enough cleansing ability.

We’ll try a diamond skin ele with shout heal warrs (I have no idea what warrs got with the patch so hopefully this is still a build…) and hopefully we can pull it off. I’ve written off my ele for bounties before as I was just too squishy but we’ll give this one a shot. Thanks!

From Dulfy:
Fight Mechanics: Half Baked Komali has a fire shield that makes him extremely resistant to damage and applies 1 stack of vulnerability to attackers each time he is attacked.

The burning he applies is crazy due to his almost perma fire shield; which we cannot wait for it to drop as we will run out of time to kill him. Usually my 2 man guild can down him no problem pre-patch, but post patch he is extremely strong with the new burn stacking mechanics. As well, we decided to go sinister for the bounties, but the conditions were cleared almost instantaneously with the fire shield mechanic of -20% condi duration so our dps was pretty pathetic, haha (we didnt know fire shield did this at the time T_T). Still, we got him to like 80% health by the time he timed-out.

Please take a look at the duration of komali’s fire shield.

it’s been 2 days. We’ve been nerfed 3 times already. All you mesmers that claim it’s no fun anymore, get ready for some more “fun”.

I think it’s fine as is. The point is to focus down a single high priority target in group play. Who cares how it works in duels? Balance is group play.

I was running around with PU to proc random swiftness in LA when all of sudden mass invis stopped stealthing me. No idea how to reproduce as of yet. I’m running dom, dueling and chaos with PU. Was working fine previously then all of a sudden stopped working with no change to my build although i was playing around with my skill bar.

movement impeding skills won’t affect leaps….

That’s really frustrating. Chill on thief just got more useless. greaaaaaaaaaaat.

I just finished my guy’s look today too!

Mesmer #3

Yes, it was baseline as mentioned in the stream as well as a bunch of other stuff. Dulfy did a great job on the info in the reddit thread:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/33qrg0/specialization_ama_livestream_notes/

yea, so that mind wrack is just linked there to show you what master of fragmentation does to mind wrack. It’s not actually the GM trait. Master of fragmentation is the GM trait that sorta collected all the buffs to shatters that you could trait for in the old Illusions line, like reflection on distortion and retaliation on cry of frustration.

[BT] Booty Touchers condone this message.

I tried this build out for a bit (4 hours) with a few tweaks. Went with same traits and runes, but went scepter (battle)/pistol(doom) & staff (battle, renewal [a test…]). Utilities I used blink, null field, arcane thievery, and mass invis. I was trying to bring some boon hate to go toe to toe with cele classes so was relying on stealing might to make up for the loss of mirror blade. It actually worked out quite well against cele eles and warrs (although skill level wasnt the highest), but didn’t encounter too many engis. Still had trouble with more than 1 class focusing me but I could survive for a long time in and out of the point via kiting and I could keep it contested although holding it was a bit tougher. I think in high end play with the smarter use of aoes, I wouldn’t be as successful. Still had trouble with thieves but not to the same extent as classical zerk shatter.

Was a fun build, and I’ll test it out further. Not sure how far it can go as to high end play, but it worked out well enough in practice arena. Also unsure how useful the renewal sigil was but I was trying to work that healing power into the build somehow

Downfall would be the loss of portal, obviously.

Still was accused of playing PU lol despite almost never being invis!

I’m going to suggest Hoelbrak runes: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rune_of_Hoelbrak. I did the same as you and wanted to share a heavy zerker set between my warr and guard and went with these runes. I can use them for things like pve and dungeons with that might stack, but also I can bring them into wvw as well, where the -20% condi duration is awesome. It’s a very versatile set.

What about the oasis in bloodtide.?
- a lab run by a sylvari
- relaxing/harmonious
- south of LA
- shrieks?? – it does get attacked by undead, i guess….

The only problem is, what can you get from there?

edit: oops late to the party. We all seem to be thinking the same thing haha.

I think a block should give reveal as it is an active counter play. Anything else, blind, evade etc. should just pull the thief out of stealth, no reveal penalty. Punishment for failure is a good thing. Reward for counter-play is a good thing. Especially since a minimum of 1/2 your health pool is on the line.

yes.

Scepter needs something to establish it as a condi weapon. We see alot of the theoretical numbers, but theory doesn’t equal practice. Remember, it’s hard to hit that last bolt for a clone, and no one sits in scepter for forever. If it’s OP, anet clearly has no qualms about nerfing us during LS patches (see ileap). I think this will be great for a shatter condi build. PU condi will be ridiculous after this patch, but 1 roaming build shouldn’t dictate how our buffs should be determined. We don’t balance around 1v1, we balance 5v5.

Play the scepter buff and see how bad of a decision it is and and get stuck with it for 6 months?!

This kind of talk is hilarious, especially directed at the mesmer class. We have had to deal with a broken warden for how long? A broken ileap? phantasmal haste? izerker? ielasticity? Our other 40 broken skills? 6 months is a blink of an eye from the mesmer perspective. So if it happens to be OP, I hope you all get stuck QQing about it for even a fraction of the time we were stuck dealing with all of our broken crap. The amount of hysteria is laughable!

As for the iLeap complaints, people want counterplay. So what do people do when thieves use sword 2? When they use steal? How about medi guards? Guard sword 2? I suggest doing the same tactics you use against those. Additionally, you can also try killing the clone, dodging during the cast animation, or dodging the swap.

I’m pretty sure you will get bloodstone dust only if you are level 80.

Mesmers are highly trait reliant. You might just have a crappy build. As people have said, go on over to the mesmer forums to find a good build. Mesmers also have a high skill floor (for certain builds), so being a good mesmer means practice.

Still bugged as of today. I managed to walk Sentinel Scalebrush to the brandwatch encampment, but then he just goes into a house and nothing triggers. He eventually leaves the house and goes back to the starting point of his escort mission and you have to do the whole, collect eggs, tame devourers, and escort scalebrush again. I need my traits!!!!

this looks like so much fun to play :O

Great ideas. I really like some of those traits like “A touch of guile” and “persistance of memory” which would help in zerging. And some of those f1-f4 skills! Phantom pane seems so awesome and all the facades (i can’t pick just one)! I want to play this!!

hey, I too have trouble getting tags, but all classes do if you have a large enough zerg. For champ bag tags, you need to do a certain percentage of damage to the champs. The best way to do this is to get a party, since your party’s shared dps is calculated towards the minimum damage necessary for a bag.

Well if it works, then go for it! Oh, have you considered mantra heal to take full advantage of mender’s purity?

As for the precision thing, I’ve only heard it mentioned in passing. Usually it’s comparing might/bloodlust sigils and their total dps vs crit percentage dps and it is, from what i understand, better to go into power once you get past 50% crit chance. I was hoping some of the more knowledgeable people in the forum would come along and correct me, haha.

For portal, I can never roam with it. That 90s cooldown is killer.

I think you’ll be much too squishy as a roaming build. You will have all the squishy-ness of the standard sw/t & gs shatter builds, but with less mobility (untraited blink), less stealth, less condi cleanse (from traited torch and mantra cleanse) and more ramp-up time since you’ll be relying on phants for damage instead of shatter bursts.

Also, why DE? And I thought stacking over 50% crit was a waste, so I would remove the sigil of perception for something else. Another battle maybe?

With mesmer, I feel more and more pigeon-holed into PU builds. I don’t find them fun. I enjoy shatter a lot more, mainly because I like the hard and fast hitting, kill or be killed style. And with my precious sword having every skill now officially “nerfed/fixed”, I am extremely disheartened. What is left?

I am, for the first time, truly considering a potential new main (I have all classes at 80, feel free to throw suggestions around!). I enjoy the different style of play as a guard. Ole’ reliable guard, always useful, no bugs, can bring a lot to the table with dps, bunker, control, anything! My trouble with mesmer was I never felt useful in wvw zergs and tpvp I felt like I was slamming up against an impenetrable wall (s/t & gs shatter). I want to be useful, guys!

I really regret making a second mesmer in anticipation of the balance patch and a shiny new meta that never was. I doubly so regret making my bolt.

well guys, ya hear that. We are over reacting. The one week old RP mesmer told us so.

Already feeling it in pve. I can’t imagine shatter roaming in wvw

What’s funny is the skill still appears even when the clone dies. So you can still hit it and just nothing happens. So their’s no way of determining if the clone had died if you aren’t keeping track of it. Do not rely on the skill being usable, and watch for that clone.

for reference:
Illusionary Leap: Fixed a bug that allowed players to swap places with their clone after it was destroyed.

I wouldn’t say un-viable, but it sure is a kick in the kitten

did another 400. 2400 in total, 1 toxic spore back piece and a few favours.

Opened another 200 making my total post patch ~1000 – 3 favors

pre patch: ~1200
- 3 favors

post patch: ~800
- 2 favors

It’s getting reaaaaaaaally frustrating. As soon as (IF…) I get this recipe I am never stepping foot in the pavilion again.

I got hit with 12k today! Personal best.

Once only is kinda lame. Can we have it as a monthly thing? Where at the end you get 5 keys or something?

BlackDevil.9268:

blurred frenzy’s damage is much lower than mirror blade when used in close range. Then again much less obvious to use and it’s a faster spike.

Did not realize that. I don’t generally do number crunching with the tool tips so I’m not sure how the damage indicator works. So with 3 bounces, you get 3 might, and 6 vulnerability on the target at ~500 dmg (2 hits). Is that correct? Whereas blurred frenzy hits for ~800dmg. I’m not sure on the math with the boons/debuffs, so I’m guessing that’s how gs overtakes sword in burst damage? Must do some testing after work, I guess.

Wyrden.4713:

check the guys video, volume 7, he uses the torch 4 then gw2 burst few times. it hits quite hard and 1 shots ppl w the combo

edit: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guild-Wars-2-Epic-Mesmer-WvW-Montage-Vol/first#post4068373

Can’t find an example in vid. Mostly see him get out of gs, immediately torch stealth, and do the 3-3-2 combo + prestige shatter burst or uses it purely for defense to cover a heal/blink/whatever.

Is the gs shatter reliable enough? I can see the mirror blades clone and yourself hitting, but the others?

Is this gs-prestige shatter combo worth it over a reliable blast finisher and removing that annoying reveal at the end (that is, not triggering the aoe and using it purely defensively)? Also keep in mind, not everyone runs gs when considering the pros and cons of this change.