Guild Wars 2

I don’t think anyone would ever claim that open world core Tyria PvE is “hard”. Mesmers simply clear trash slower than other classes, and thus progress slower than other classes is all. We are one of the few classes that don’t have the +25% movement speed signet so moving around the map is more of a chore as well (though signet of inspiration somewhat makes up for that).

The training menu is the place where you learn your skills and traits. Previously (at least when I leveled up my characters), you had to gain skill points to learn utility, healing and elite skills, while traits were unlocked automatically as you leveled up. This has changed a couple of times and the current system is such that you go around gaining “hero points” and spend them in the training menu to learn utility, healing and elite skills as well as certain traits.

Specializations are for you to choose the trait lines you want to use. Previously, you could allot points into any trait line you wanted and could put a few points into each trait line if you wanted (may not have been a viable build but you still could if you wanted). Now, you have to choose 3 trait lines, and gain the benefit of the full line. Note that you have to pick a single trait for each tier (adept, master and grandmaster), but you will reap the benefits from each one you pick.

In terms of whether you should start a new character, that’s entirely up to you. Some of my friends find it easier to get back into a game by simply starting from scratch, while some find it easier to pick up where they left off. Level 33 isn’t very high so even if you were to start from scratch, you wouldn’t have wasted too much time.

Lexander.4579:

place continuum split, spam all shatter skills, use signet of illusions and spam all shatter skills once more

once split resets you repeat the above step without the split, collect free wins from bodies of people with billion confusion stacks

It’s the season to be salty fralalalala lalalala.

I think the main issue is that GS is a power weapon, and power Mesmers are few and far inbetween. The few who do run power Mesmer run power shatter, which is a wham bam thank you pam kind of build, in the sense that you go in burst and get out. Thus Mental Anguish would be a much better pick for that slot.

Imagined Burden requires not only you but your clones to be alive and spamming GS1 in order to achieve even the hint of a considerable amount of might, which is an extremely inefficient and unviable way to participate in PvP.

The cripple is nice, situationally useful, but even so, rather underwhelming. There are other far more efficient defensive options at your disposal.

The 20% CDR is naturally nice, but really the only change you will actually notice from the trait. It’s not worth it to take a GM trait purely for a 20% CDR.

The underlying problem is that Imagined Burden is a sustained damage trait, while GS (and power Mesmer in general) is a burst weapon/build.

I’m not saying that this is good, but it’s just the way it is.

SmirkDog.3160:

DeathReign.7821:

I personally crafted my own legendaries (notice the plural form) but I couldn’t care less for a title to make myself feel like a special snowflake.

“Um it doesn’t matter that you crafted them yourself? Who cares. Bee-tee-dubz I made multiples, just saying. Not trying to brag or anything.”
Anyway, there are titles for dumber things (Honorary Skritt, anyone?), so I still don’t see why there can’t be one for crafting at least one legendary weapon.

Please refer to point 1:

Firstly, let’s address your tone. Your posts are full of unwarranted pseudo-superiority that is immensely off putting for people to give honest opinions. Step off your high horse.

The difference with those titles (Magnanimous, Deer Commander etc) is that the title itself is the reward for completing the task. Gaining the legendary weapon is the reward for crafting/buying it, simple as that. Stop feeling so entitled.
Also, the brunt of your initial post seemed to want recognition and differentiation from people who bought their legendaries, a point which you have conveniently ignored thereafter.

Firstly, let’s address your tone. Your posts are full of unwarranted pseudo-superiority that is immensely off putting for people to give honest opinions. Step off your high horse.

Secondly, why does a title matter? Crafting a legendary is for the aesthetic appeal of the legendary itself, not an arbitrary title. I personally crafted my own legendaries (notice the plural form) but I couldn’t care less for a title to make myself feel like a special snowflake. Why does the fact that we crafted our legendaries make us better than people who bought them? They had to invest other resources (real currency as an example) in order to obtain the legendary, so why shouldn’t that be recognised as well?

Awesome, thanks!

Hi all,

I was just wondering if using the autokey scripts/macros in order to play instruments such as the Harp or Flute is legal. Is it a bannable offense to use them?

Thanks!

phokus.8934:

OriOri.8724:

phokus.8934:

I feel like we go through cycles of different posters like the OP who come here and make the most clueless posts. They just post complete nonsense.

So do you think Echo of Memory needed to be nerfed? Knowing that it hurts both power and condi builds? Similarly the nerf to RI, well that trait probably needed some form of nerf, but this just unfairly hurst core mesmers because they won’t have access to IR and chronophantasma. There are some people here that feel that even though we probably needed some nerfs, the ones we got were in the wrong places

I honestly think 35 is fine for getting 6s of blocking. Warriors have 25 and Engineers have 30 but they can’t use their ability back to back. 35s for EoM is probably where it should have been from the get go. Although, anything higher than that is over the top.

But I was commenting more on the OP asking for Phase Retreat to have an increased cooldown.

Isn’t it only 3 seconds of blocking, though? 1.5 secs per cast?

Crowley.8761:

DeathReign.7821:

This is so mesmerising.

-cricket sounds-

This is so mesmerising.

(ba dum tshh?)

Hot Boy.7138:

DeathReign.7821:

There is, however, a difference between an informed and knowledgeable suggestion and a suggestion based on false ideas and ill conceived concepts.

People will be more likely to take your suggestions kindly and objectively when you display the former rather than latter.

You can speak as formally as you want. You can try to justify the disrespect any way you want. Whatever makes you feel a little better about yourself.

“Justify the disrespect”? Please tell me where I have disrespected you. Pointing out your lack of knowledge is not disrespect, it’s a fact.

It’s frankly adorable how you hide behind being offended to cover up having a vastly lacking pool of knowledge, while wanting to be taken seriously at the same time.

Edit: In fact, it’s actually rather ironic that you, the only person here employing the use of ad hominem, are the one to be preaching and crying about disrespect. It’s also rather ironic that the people who cry the most about toxicity are usually the most toxic ones. Just pointing that out.

There is, however, a difference between an informed and knowledgeable suggestion and a suggestion based on false ideas and ill conceived concepts.

People will be more likely to take your suggestions kindly and objectively when you display the former rather than latter.

Hot Boy.7138:

flog.3485:

Hot Boy.7138:

I did mean Phase Retreat. I couldn’t think of the name. I never use staff. All this time I thought it broke stuns also. In any case, i stand by my suggestion.

So you offer a suggestion on a weapon that you admittedly barely/never use? Wow…….that is heavy

Yeah, I am offering an opinion on a weapon I don’t use.

Do you not see the problem with this way of thinking? You don’t use the weapon, thus have no knowledge on how it works (and have demonstrated that as a fact), but still think you are entitled to an opinion that holds any weight whatsoever? Sorry, that’s just not how things work.

Read up on the skills. Gain some experience with it. Then come and try again.

So you mean like a generic, boring greatsword? No thanks. I very much prefer what we currently have. It’s unique and creative.

I’m in agreement with Exciton here. In PvE, “invincibility” comes down to two things: good timing with active defenses (blocks, dodges, invulnerability skills) and familiarity with boss/fight mechanics. Having defensive stats do not help you become invincible, it merely gives you limited wiggle room to make small mistakes.

As Exciton said, what you should be aiming towards in terms of PvE is to hit that 100% boon duration cap.

As a tangential point, it sounds to me that you’re looking to be “invincible” through the means of having high defensive stats so you can facetank things and still survive. Mesmer isn’t the best class for that, and neither is Knight’s gear the best choice for pure survivability. If you want to facetank AoEs and get the best returns for passive defense, I would probably look at decking out a Warrior in Nomad’s gear. Warrior has so much passive defense that you don’t really need to do much to survive. You won’t do any damage whatsoever but hey, you’re “invincible”!

apharma.3741:

Left click – activate skill
W – forward
S – backward
A – turn left
D – turn right

STOP IT. STOP IT NOW.

Fay.2357:

Disclaimer: I have very large hands

Ooh

Weapon swap: ~
Weapon skills: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Heal: 6
Utility skills: Alt+1, Alt+2, Alt+3
Elite: Alt+4
Continuum Split: Alt+5
Strafe left/right: q/e, but I never use these keys. I use a/s while holding down rmb.
Shatters: f1, f2, f3, f4
About face: c
Look back: x
Dodge: v
Call/take target: ctrl+lmb/ T

Pretty close to standard in comparison, I suppose!

I concur with Pyro. That sounds like a terrible trait. In group situations, aura share (from eles or blasts) is prioritized onto players rather than pets, so your illusions will almost never get auras to share onto you anyway. Illusions don’t have the ability to generate auras themselves (minus swordsmen leaping through fields, but you get the auras generated from that anyway for the first leap iirc) so you’ll never see that trait in use. Ever.

However, it might be potentially interesting if you reversed your suggestion. Every aura you gain is shared onto all your active Illusions.

And have yet another useless utility? Definitely not. Our utility skills are land locked as it is with so many skills being must haves. Adding 5 seconds of chaos armor on a 35 second CD would make it a more useless and unused utility skill than mirror images.

Regarding phase retreat, pray tell what mobility skills are you speaking of? Blink? With a 24 second CD? Phase retreat is the strongest thing about staff. Remove it and you might as well remove staff altogether.

Fay.2357:

25% uptime is the theoretical maximum. The icd of the trait ticks down while the distortion is active, so once the distortion ends there is only 4 seconds remaining on the icd. This allows you a pattern of 4s down and 1s up; 25% uptime. That’s obviously not quite realistic, but it is the theoretical maximum.

This might be a little pedantic, but isn’t that 20% uptime? Every 5 seconds, you have 1 second of invulnerability, so 1/5 = 20% uptime, right?

Danikat.8537:

Or it could be simply that they hadn’t come up with the design for the crystal wings when they made the Ascension. What are they supposed to do in that case? Never put a cool design into the game in case some people think it’s better than a legendary? Hold it back indefinitely until there’s an opportunity to make another legendary backpack?

Update the legendary perhaps?

It’s all well and good that the Crystalline Wings look so great, and I’ll probably get it for a character that I haven’t got the Ascension on because it looks so good, but it’s just a shame that the Ascension, a legendary item that took so much blood, sweat and literal tears to obtain, seems so lazily implemented (gliding).

At least give it a nice gliding animation like the Crystalline Wings have. Let’s be honest, the Crystalline Wings look far more "legendary’ than Ascension or Ad-infinitum.

I couldn’t agree with you more. I am in the exact same position as you are. I’ve also always felt that Ascension always felt so top-heavy. I would love to see it become a quad-wing.

Also, the gliding animation for the Crystalline Wings is so much more impressive than the static nonsense we have on the Ascension.

I’m not one to say no to new classes, but I don’t feel like the Monk would bring anything new. Guardians pretty much replaced Monks in GW2, imo.

Eddbopkins.2630:

I don’t know if it’s 100% l2p, it not having a internal cool dow kinda makes it unchallenged in damage potenial. When I cleared 5 stacks with cleansing fire those 5 stacks did full damage to be when I activated a cleans skill. Since I have the stack on me befor activating it, once I click cleans the confusion does full damage then it’s cleared making cleansing a double edge sword, well more like a single edge that I stab my self with befor clearing takes affect.
Since attunement switching causes some effects regen water, protection earth, fire might flame blast, Air swiftness and lightingstrike, it seems to do extra unessasary damage that puts eles in a worse state when fighting confusion

AFAIK 1 step cleanses do not proc confusion damage provided it is confusion that is being cleansed. 2 step cleanses do. To put this into ele terms, Cleansing Fire procs confusion damage since it is a 2 step cleanse (deals aoe damage first, cleanses second). Swapping to water when traited should not proc confusion stacks providing you cleanse the confusion. Don’t hold me to it though, as I haven’t tested it myself.

Regardless, proccing 5 stacks of confusion once to cleanse it with Cleansing Fire will not wrack up 10k damage. You died because you mindlessly spammed your scepter 2/3 skills in air after swapping to it. That part is purely L2P.

About your point on “unchallenged damage potential”, if someone hits you with a skill, logic dictates that it should have some effect. The gravity of that effect depends on how you handle it.
If I were to successfully hit you from stealth with a power shatter combo, you should drop or at least be very close to death. Same with condition skills. If you get hit by shatters (extremely obviously telegraphed, dodgable skills), you should be punished. Simple as that.

All in all, it is indeed an L2P issue on your part.

Eddbopkins.2630:

I forgot confusion is d damage on skill use

So it’s an l2p issue on your part, not a Mesmer one. /thread.

Why do you guys even bother replying? This wasn’t a genuine question, it was a “QQ MESMAR OP” thread. Chances are OP isn’t even going to respond but if he/she does, it’ll not add anything to the conversation except perhaps the occasional “nerf Mesmers” or “condi cheese Mesmers op”.

I would love to be proven wrong but we’ve seen so many of these threads.

yin.9653:

I don’t really care if anet will implement hammers to mesmers that was just something I just thought of, a potential fix to our damage a PvE setting.

Oh yeah? Then what was this all about:

As the title stated above I wanted to share my input on how to improve mesmers in a more PvE outlook.

yin.9653:

I don’t think you guys even realized or even understood the main topic of the post.

You don’t get to play the “you missed the point” card when you are actively back paddling. You stated in your first sentence that you wanted to state “how to improve mesmers in a more PvE outlook” but now you just want to say that Mesmers have terrible dps. Yes, we know.

So that was a lot of text to say you want Mesmers to use hammers.

Everyone knows that Mesmer damage is pathetic, but one single weapon (without an inkling of specifics) is hardly going to change that.

A more productive approach would be to formulate just exactly how Anet could improve Mesmer’s damage (in terms of existing skills and traits, or a new spec entirely); what could be added? what could be changed?

Simply saying “I want Mesmers to use hammers” is just that, and does not direct your topic to Mesmer dps like your title suggests.

It would probably be pretty useful to state which game mode you’re planning on using either one in.

InsaneQR.7412:

It has its uses on a block evade build for PvE openworld. The dmg isnt the vest but ok and the aegis every second gives you time to breath and some benefits if traited right.

The thing is, anything works in PvE open world.

Lexander.4579:

yeah its totes okay when one utility skill is about as good as all 3 utility skills + elite combined

So a 3 second evade on a 30s cooldown is as good as 3 utility skills and an elite? What about an evade, stun and frontal aoe with one button press and no cooldown?

savacli.8172:

Oh, gotcha. Then, yeah, the numbers I posted up are what each individual class is capable of when buffed accordingly. Otherwise I’d have to do a breakdown of:

• Base DPS
• added DPS from Might
• added DPS from Banners
• added DPS from Quickness
  […]

And no one would want to do that. But yeah, we know Chrono DPS is terrible, but where she really shines in enhancing the abilities of others. Thus, that’s why taking a Chrono for a 5 man sub is great vs a Chrono in a solo (or even duo) situation is contributing less because there are less players to buff.

In the extreme case of you were wanting to use the old Commander 100% build with Scholar runes (since the 6th Bonus on Chrono rune is obsolete) vs the current Berserker + Leadership you be doing about 9,748 DPS which is about 7.5% of the team’s total DPS.

Again, grain of salt as Chrono’s are prioritizing buff uptime over DPS so the percentage will actually be lower in a real encounter.

Awesome, thanks for that!

So a party that has a Chrono with full Commander’s + Scholar runes would be doing just over 2% less damage (in a 5 man situation) than with one with a Chrono with Zerk + Leadership runes?

And yeah, I’m actually pretty happy playing the party buffer, having always played the Cleric or Bard classes in other MMOs.

Thanks again for your detailed responses!

savacli.8172:

I guess I’m still confused as to how you’re looking to compare to Chrono DPS VS everyone else.

• Are you wanting Chrono to retain her Quickness Alacrity uptime on herself?
• Are you wanting other team members to also be benefitting from this uptime?
• Are you wanting Chrono to have buffs that other team members would provide her?

Ultimately for a fair comparison you gotta treat this as an all or nothing. Either everyone is getting each other’s buffs, or everyone is being compared as an individual (no buff sharing) to one another.

If your perplexity (mesmer pun not intended) is with gear selection you can shoot me a GW2Skill breakdown at what you’re looking a and I can just do some ratios using the 12,974 as a baseline comparison.

Yes everyone retains full buffs (including quickness/alacrity), but I don’t want the dps increase from quickness/alacrity from the Chrono onto the party to be added as “support/indirect dps” to the Chrono’s dps input.

Ultimately, I was just trying to figure out what Pyro so aptly put in a nutshell. Thanks!

savacli.8172:

Good catch. I went ahead and did a Power ratio conversion and found that the DPS would be around 12,974 if the video were to have used Leadership runes (still using 4:28 as my time constant).

So that changes things up a little:

Power Sub

• PS: 27,254
• Druid: 19,570
• 2 Ele’s: 71,938
• Chrono: 12,974
• Total DPS: 131,736

Chrono contribution: ~9.8%

Condi Sub

• PS: 25,917
• Druid: 25,445
• 2 Rangers: 71,434
• Chrono: 12,974
• Total DPS: 135,770

Chrono contribution: ~9.6%

Awesome, thank you!

savacli.8172:

You run into two problems with that. First off, the only reason you bring a Chrono into a group is for offensive buffing so in a typical raid sub Quickness and Alacrity uptime are demanded from the Chrono class. So, if your Chrono is pumping out those offensive buffs he’s not holding up his part of contribution to the team.

Secondly, if you were to interpose the stipulation of no quickness/alacrity buffs (I’m assuming you mean to the classes that can’t naturally generate it) then I would have to say, in to make the paying field fair to the other classes, that each class should be compared DPS-wise with only the buffs they supply themselves. In other words the Chrono would retain his Quickness/Alacrity but otherwise wouldn’t benefit from Banner, spirits, EA, etc. Ultimately though, I think that a comparison like that would be silly as each class member in the traditional raid comp isn’t taken because each individual themselves isn’t a rockstar but rather they compliment each other extremely well.

Yeah that’s not what I’m looking at. I’m looking at what Chrono’s dps percentage is while also providing perma quickness/alacrity as a base (but not counting the dps increase to the group from quickness/alacrity). The reason I’m looking at this is to see for myself what the % difference to the party would be if I were to go for 1/2/3 pieces of Commander’s gear or sub-optimal choices.

Thanks again!

@Pyro, I’m looking for raw numbers without taking into account alacrity/quickness buffs.

@savakittenhanks for the calculation! Taking into account what @abullenfla stated about the scholar runes, would you say the raw dps that chrono contributes is slightly less than 10% of the total party’s dps?

Hey all,

I was wondering if there were any calculations done on what % Chronomancer’s dps took up of a typical 5 man raid subgroup.

I tried googling but I didn’t really find much.

Thanks in advance!

Hot Boy.7138:

Eh, I’m still standing by my original point.

Surprise surprise.

Reaper Alim.4176:

After playing games like Smite, ESO (pre Dark Brotherhood DLC), Elite Dangerous, ARK, and others. You eventually realized that ANet has thrown away any potential for GW2 in WvW or PvP to become actually competitive skill-based game modes. GW2 is nothing more but a hyper casual MMO, with little to no emphasis on actually player skill, as the other games I’ve listed have/had.

I don’t play the others, but am currently subbed to ESO, and I can say that player skill-wise, it’s not higher at all. The fact that you have zero cooldowns (beside ultimates) means that there is much more leeway for mess ups and when you cast things. Cast something into a block? Cast it again.

The only PvP in ESO is equivalent to WvW here. I agree that the general WvW tactics required in ESO is higher than the zerg blob nonsense we have in WvW here, but that doesn’t correlate to individual skill/small scaled conquest.

The only form of “skill” that is present in ESO and not in GW2 is the fact that there is an ICD on when someone gets CC’ed, so you need to know when your CCs will start working again.

Are you sure it just isn’t on cooldown? There’s like a 30 second cooldown iirc.

From what I know, it’s now almost mandatory to have 2 Mesmers in a raid group, so one will be tanking and the other will be focusing on DPS (on top of keeping quickness/alacrity up of course).

Firstly I would separate PvE from WvW. The two vary vastly in play style and objectives.

PvE, your build seems completely haphazard and all over the place. You seem to be trying to do a little bit of everything but end up not doing anything.

Your chrono line is set up for shattering but you don’t have Maim the Disillusioned, one of the main condi shatter traits.

You are using a focus without having it traited. This adds nothing (minus the projectile denial) to your build. I would suggest swapping to a pistol instead, and instead of chaos, run dueling. You can thus get the Sharper Images minor trait, letting your iDuelist stack on some bleeds. With chronophantasma you can let your iDuelists unload, shatter and let them unload again.

Hot Boy.7138:

DeathReign.7821:

Hot Boy.7138:

I’ve over it.

Balance in this game is just terrible all around.
WTB competent balance team.

gonna try to make a switch to raids and just pve.

K bye!

Unnecessary.
Sometimes I have to wonder about the people on these forums… so many of you seem sad to me. Enjoy your weekend. Hope things get better for you.

I was thinking the exact same while reading your posts.

K, no bye then.

Thank you all for your input! I’ve decided to go with Xyonon’s suggestion of 4 Traveler’s with 2 Platinum Doubloons due to the fact that it adds 3% more boon duration than 6x Durability/Water/Herald.

Thanks again for all the suggestions!

Hot Boy.7138:

I’ve over it.

Balance in this game is just terrible all around.
WTB competent balance team.

gonna try to make a switch to raids and just pve.

K bye!

Fay.2357:

20% normal food is really cheap. You can craft the candy corn loaves with 70 toughness and 20% boon duration, or just buy some omnomnomberry stuff with 20% boon duration and magic find iirc for like 6s each.

Bountiful utility food is really expensive though. Those run close to 1g per use, so I personally don’t feel they’re anywhere even remotely near worth it.

Jeeeeeez. 1g each is pretty freaking steep.

And thanks for the Omnomberry tip! Chocolate Omnomberry Creams go for 8 silver each according to wiki. I was using Fried Dumplings which were 20 silver a piece!

Xyonon.3987:

Food that adds power / precision / ferocity / % modifier are never able to make up what you lose by using so much commander gear.

It’s strongly suggest you use 20% or even 30% boon duration food. It’s a bit expensive I know, but you can also get those 10% utilities cheaper if you buy the recipe and craft ’em yourself.

Until your leadership set, juse use 4 times these and 2 platinum doubloons.

I’m in a hurry, I’ll help you out with more detailed information once I’m back home in ~5 hourse, maybe more :< see ya!

That’s actually a great idea! Thanks for that.

This would be what I’d have in mind with the rune mix you recommended. Comparing the stats, it actually looks pretty decent; the stats aren’t too drastically far from the leadership set I would use (assuming no Revenant in these builds).

The only notable difference (to my eye) is 11.7% crit damage, but I’m not sure how significant that actually is, seeing as how bad Chrono dps is anyway.

Artemis Thuras.8795:

You may be overlooking 20% boon duration from food in that build OP.
edit: also commander weapons are a good option..

edit2: I’d rather take herald runes for the prot uptime over leadership runes.

It means you need a little more commander gear than if you use leadership, but it makes tanking a lot easier. Also the prot uptime will just make runs much smoother.

Thanks for your input!

About the food, I’m trying to maintain 100% boon duration without the aid of food, and perhaps using offensive stat food instead. In my edit in the OP, I have a build with food.

NICENIKESHOE.7128:

you could go for runes of herald, which provide very high protection uptime if you consider heals in your usual rotations. And you also don’t lose out too much boon duration compared to durability. Durability is still a decent option ofc, and I wouldn’t say which one is better than the other.

Thank you for your response! I did consider Herald runes, but I felt that the 5% difference in boon duration was actually rather significant, seeing as how I’m only looking at Durability for the boon duration and not the stats/effects themselves.

Hey everyone,

So in light of the recent chrono nerfs, it seems that the general consensus would be to use Leadership runes now, right? I still have my Chronomancer runes slotted, which are now useless.

The thing is, I don’t have enough Crystalline Ore (or wvw Tokens) to even craft one rune right now, so it will be a long process before I am able to attain them.

I was wondering what would serve as a bridge rune while I work towards the Leadership runes. Something that may not be optimal but would be sufficient for general PvE/fractals/some casual raids?

I already have a full set of Commander’s gear, and was looking at Durability runes for the 20% boon duration. This is what I was looking at. The exotic trinkets are for the event that my party does not have a Revenant. I could then upkeep 100% boon duration without the Revenant, or food. Then I could use food that adds power and precision instead (would this be a viable idea?) This is what it would look like with a Revenant in party.

I plan on swapping all my gear to Zerk/Assassin once I have the Leadership runes, but I don’t really know what to use until then.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Edit:
I realize that I wouldn’t be able to use the Exotic trinkets in Fractals, so this is what my fractal build would look like with Durability runes. With the aid of food and nourishment, I would still be able to maintain 98.6% boon duration without a Revenant, and with Zerk trinkets.

I don’t think it will be as overpowered as people are making it out to be, especially if it’s just one stack of stability.