Guild Wars 2

I was with a group last night that wanted to run the new Aetherpath. When I attempted to enter the dungeon, however, it would only offer Story, not Explorable. I asked others to try and they hit the same issue.

Now, to rule out the obvious, I know I had done TA story with that character before, and I run TA explorable paths daily. I also know at least one other person in the group had done story, as they were in my party when I did it.

We resolved the issue in the end. One of the party members said they had not done story with the character they were using and switched to one who had. Suddenly, I was able to access Explorable. The problem makes no sense to me, however. Most people do not seem to have done Story on any given dungeon, but so long as I had I always seemed to be able to open the dungeon for everyone. Is there more to this than I realised?

Is there a way for anyone to check what characters they have unlocked dungeons with? It is easy for me, as I only use one character in Dungeons, but I have guild mates who have no idea which dungeons they did with which characters.

I think it is funny all the people who are now looking at AP as if it were some kind of benchmark for how good you are at dungeons. I have met players with <1000 AP because they only run dungeons, and I have met people with >5000 AP who have never run one. My high-AP show that I have done a whole lot of Personal Story, Crafting and Jumping Puzzles :P

The elitism over character-level is perhaps a little OTT in some cases. A lvl40 in AC will hold the lvl80s back, sure, but a lvl75 is good enough for CoF IMO :P

Gear Elitism is a little unfair, IMO. I am not a skilled enough player to run full Beserker. My Guardian has Zerker trinkets/weapons, but 3 Knights/3 Valkyrie armour. It lets me take that extra hit I need to make up for my inexperience in dungeons. My build is also DPS oriented (eg RHS, not AH). Most people I have met seem happy with my performance, and that one extra hit has allowed me to save the party from wipes before, but some players only care whether or not I have full Zerker and do not want me in the party.

Class elitism is almost always unfair. Sure, Warriors and Guardians have an almost unfair advantage, and there are many dungeons a Mesmer is extremely useful to have. A lot of hate out there for Necros, but most of the Necros I have played with have been extremely good players. I rarely see a Thief anyways, so I never complain about them. Eles can be useful, and Dungeon Eles tend to be fairly skilled players. Engi and Ranger… yeah, played well they are good, but in my experience most of the players have been pretty bad. You cannot judge on the class, but when you see a Rifle/Turret Engi or a Bear/Bow Ranger who cannot get past the first battle in the dungeon, you can probably take a fair bet the player sucks :P

I started playing Dungeons with the addition of LFG and have been enjoying myself. Most people have been happy to teach me the tricks of each path and I am now speed-running several paths regularly I can find people running everything in AC and (now) TA, but I have difficulty with other dungeons.

I have not done a single path of CM because no one seems to do it. I do CoF 1&2 regularly, but never seen a group for P3. I cannot find anyone for CoE or HoW Story, and rarely see people looking to do explorables with them either. I am interested in getting the Dungeon Master achievement (hey, the content is there: I may as well try it all), but cannot seem to find groups for half of the dungeons. I tried TAFU once, so I know why people did not like it :P Are these others like that, or do I just play at the wrong time of day and people actually do these, just they are not as easy/popular?

I also have a class question. I have been using my Guardian exclusively, and found it works extremely well in Dungeons (more fun than other areas of the game). I also have three other 80s and was wondering if they would be good or not. I have a Shatter Mesmer, a Flamethrower Engineer and a D/D Stealth Thief. Would any of those be good options if I am in a party with two other Guardians, or would none of them work well?

Oozes are only hard if the party does not work together. With only five players, even most PUGs can coordinate on this. If you go in with a friend or two and make the rest from randoms, this can be pretty easy. A group used to each other would probably face-roll it :P

From what I have seen, this is too hard for open world players who are lured in by the living story. For dungeon players, however, it is a fun challenge that is not too hard to overcome. I think ANet needs to decide who living story is for: the average player, or adding end-game content for higher-skilled players. At the moment, they are bringing both in and upsetting the lower-skilled players :\

First and very obvious issue is that you did not adjust your character for the content. If you have bouncing attacks, you must be using Staff. Staff is obviously the absolute worst weapon for the Ooze bit (I have a Mesmer, so I am familiar with the mechanics). Any other weapon would have been better. Greatsword would have been fantastic (for the AoE push). Sword would have also been a good choice, but you need to position yourself so your cleave does not hit the Ooze. Sword/Focus and Greatsword would have given you two control skills for pulling/pushing the mobs off the ooze and would have made this a very easy puzzle.

The first boss is challenging, especially if you do not know what to do. The Ooze room teaches you an important mechanic that it vital to success against that boss. You need to use the pheromone (one of the players has it) to draw the ooze to the puddles the same way you drew it to the doors. If the pheromone-player does not do this, the party is screwed.

The Generators are actually really, really easy. It seems the party did not work together. If the party splits up and each does their own thing, this section is probably nearly impossible. If you work together, pull holograms to generators, then focus your attacks… really quick and easy. Best if everyone goes melee in these sections, or only uses ranged to pull then switch to melee in the stack.

As Jeromai said, communication seems the issue. Last group I did this with, I stopped before each battle and made sure everyone in the party understood the mechanics and knew the plan of attack. It takes a couple of minutes, but saves many more in wasted time.

It is a fun path, but the rewards need to be turned up if people are going to keep doing it. You can do TA Up and Forward for more rewards in the same (or less) time. If they make it worth twice as much as those two, and make the cutscenes skipable, it will probably be fun enough to keep players coming.

SynfulChaot.3169:

Ranger pets shouldn’t attack it unless the ranger unleashes their pet, which they should not do. Mesmer illusions shouldn’t attack it unless the mesmer tells them to as they attack the target the mesmer was targeting when they are summoned and disappear when that target dies. Necro minions might, but who runs necro minions?

I have done it with a Necro minion master. It was a PITA because their pets did keep attacking the ooze. Done it with Rangers and no issue. Mesmers could be an issue, depending on which Illusions they use (eg iZerker could hit the ooze), but pretty unlikely and easy to work around.

I have finished this dungeon path, and in general I found it quite enjoyable. It does need a few tweaks, however.

Firstly, this dungeon is less PUG-friendly than normal. My first group only got as far as the ooze puzzle door. We could not coordinate the group so, after a while, I quit. I am not sure what, if anything, can be done about this, but there were three of the five players on board on what to do, so it should be possible for those three to do it without the other two screwing things up.

My second group was much better coordinated. We had our difficulties with the puzzles and bosses, but we experimented and worked out the mechanics. Good challenge! In fact, I found many of these challenges really fun and completing them made (a) me feel smart and (b) the group feel like everyone contributed equally. Great work! I have a couple of complaints, however. Areas I think things could be improved.

Firstly, the final boss. Mostly, the mechanics were fun and interesting, but those whirly-gears? Every time a player downed, they got whirly-geared and insta-killed. Every time a player tried to res another player, they were immediately whirly-geared and had to give up on their team-mate. The whirly-gears last too long too, IMO. Not a challenging length of time, just a tedious one (especially combined with targeting downed/defeated players). I got hit in the groin by whirly-gears, so I am taking this personally!! If he did not target downed players or ressing players with them, and they did not last 40 days and 40 nights, they would not be so bad and the boss would be more enjoyable.

My other issue was the amount of time this took. It was absurd! I could do three other explorables in the same time (even after taking into account time spent learning mechanics). I do not have that kind of time to waste on a single dungeon when I could do so many other things in the same time (and perhaps take a break in between those things :P). In addition, I got a dramatically lower reward than doing the old TA paths! A longer dungeon with lower rewards? That is clearly a flaw! I only got 50 blooms (I normally get 60, +9 from Wondrous Bags) and without a chest after each boss I also got less than half the loot I normally get from an explorable. This is silly.

Seriously? That is a horridly aggressive schedule. Four months? Story-wise, lesser races (eg Skritt) would not work anyway, so they would run out of races very quickly. In addition, to do it properly, each new race would need a new starting area and home city. There also needs to be a whole lot of personal story quests added. That is a huge amount of work! I think we will be lucky to see a new race, let alone one every four months.

Banatine.3691:

I think the time limit is a joke anyway. 15 minutes for the Shatterer is childs play. 30 minutes for the Claw is meaningless.

Actually, last time I did the Shatterer we barely killed it in time. Not enough players, most only auto-attacked and many just tagged and AKFed. 15 minutes is tight enough that players need to actually put in a little bit of effort or it can be failed.

I ran an alt through the map (leveling/map completion) during prime time on SoS last night and Teq happened to spawn while I was in the area. The map was almost a ghost town. The only players other than myself were people farming Risen (for whatever reason). No one cared about Teq as the whole server seems to have given up :P

I have been going on making alt after alt, with little thought to what I would do after I hit 80. My characters are:

• 80 Shatter Mesmer [Artificer, Tailor] mostly Rare gear, 100% world completion. I only use this character when I need to go somewhere my other characters lack WPs for (eg during Scarlet Living Story).
• 80 Mace/Focus Guardian [Armorer, Weaponsmith] full Exotic. I have recently begun using this character in Dungeons (most fun I have had with the Guardian), so I will likely keep this focus.
• 80 FT/EG Engineer [Jeweller] mostly Exotic. Enjoy this character more than the Mesmer, but rarely use it.
• 78 Stealth-focused D/D Thief [Huntsman, Leatherworker]. Almost 80, but no current plans for what to do once I get there.
• 31 Ranger [Chef]. Currently no plans to play again :P
• 11 Necro. Intend to level after finishing Thief.

I intend to use the Guardian as my primary Dungeon character, and probably nothing else. I have no idea what to do with the others. Any suggestions to what areas of the game they would be most useful for?

I am sure everyone sees this every day. You go to sell your loot at the trading post only to find that half the items you are carrying cannot be sold directly. They cannot be sold because the people making offers are offering less than the system lets you sell for.

1) Why is it even possible for a person to offer less than you can sell for? If there is a check on the sell end, there should be an identical check on the offer end.

2) These buggy offers should be cleaned out of the trading post, since they can never be fulfilled.

Agreed the path needs tweaking, but I would not hold out on it. It does not even need a massive change, just a small tweak so more party compositions can reasonably expect to complete it (ie similar difficulty to other paths :P).

Do whatever you want. I have:

• 80 Mesmer with 100% map completion I only use when my other characters lack WPs; generally bored of this one.
• 80 Engineer for general mucking about (farming, fun). In time I will get more WPs and use this in place of the Mesmer.
• 80 Guardian for Dungeons (fully geared-up).
• 75 Thief, just because. No long-term plans as to what I will do with this one.
• 31 Ranger that I doubt I will ever use again
• 11 Necro I will level after the Thief, just because.

Previously deleted a 70 Ranger and kitten Elementalist because they sucked hard (no idea why I made another Ranger).

Been playing since pre-order early start and still not seen a Legendary precursor, and honestly think most of them look awful anyway :P Ascendant Weapons seem pointless outside extra Infusion Slots (not much improvement over Exotic), so I could not care less about them either.

Amazing all these people who cannot get in due to overflows. On SoS, we can barely scrape together 20 people :P

Back items are a good thing, IMO. My issue is with the lack of variety. The flower is perfect for my Sylvari, but none of the others suit any of my other characters. I have four other 80s sitting and waiting for a back skin that `fits’. Charr, as usual, get screwed pretty hard with none of the back items looking any good on them

I have run it perhaps a dozen times, once got a Dragon Chest which only had a Fine item in it. Each of those times, I spent up to an hour helping coordinate the attack. The time:reward ratio is screwed up, so I am hitting up dungeons for some real rewards.

I have IRL friends who fit the casual definition, because they (a) have no interest in learning the inner workings of the game, and (b) do not have the time to learn challenging content. They may, at most, have an hour a night to play. Between work and children, they just cannot log on more than that. They just want to log on and have some fun, not get pummeled and feel like they wasted their time.

Almost all Charr armour looks terrible, which is horridly disappoinging. Even Gem store stuff looks terrible, so I cannot even PAY to look good! WTF?

I am an intermediate player. I know too much of the inner-workings to be casual, but lack the skill of a hardcore player. I find the difficulty of Tequatl to be fine! I have given up attempting it, however, because of the reliance on six turrets who are always either griefers, AFK, or do not know what they are doing. This means every attempt I have made was impossible because the 6/150 players that matter hamstrung the whole group.

Even when we have six good players on turrets, we have never gone close because of all the dead/AFK players meaning we do no DPS to Tequatl. The fact it takes so long to drop the first 25% life seems to be the biggest issue. If you could do it in 5 minutes, rather than the 14.5 minutes it usually takes my server, the battle would be pretty epic.

When I play my Charr (and only my Charr) I frequently find myself being in-game racist. I call humans weak or cowardly. Asura unreliable. I do not even bother demeaning myself by speaking to Sylvari. I lock horns with Norn on who is the strongest. I do not know why I do this, but it just seems natural.

Sea of Sorrows seems to have completely given up. Often, we do not even have an overflow due to low interest. Very few players are interested in coordinating or planning, with even less interested in actually following said plan. The mood on the server is one of `why bother?’ After my last attempt, where all six turrets were out of action the whole time, I have given up.

Can it be done? Sure. Is it well designed? No! There will need to be major changes because Sparkfly Fen is going to turn into a ghost town in another day or two at this rate.

God yes, the Sylvari are horridly lacking in suitable gear. Charr are worse-off, but while in Rome…

Sea of Sorrows is in a very cough sorry state around Teq. We are not even filling the main server any more, let alone having overflows also failing. Then half the players are AFK and/or trolls, so we barely make any headway.

Playing the game, I have accrued large numbers of items that I personally have no use for, but I know other players do. Clearly, the ideal solution is to use the Trading Post to sell them; if no buyers, I could at least make a few coppers from an NPC trader. Sadly, being account bound, I am stuck with these. There are two key groups here: gem store items (eg boosters) and ascendant materials.

Every time I get my daily, monthly, open a Black Lion Chest or get an Achievement Chest, my inventory is filled with junk I will never, ever use. Boosters, Bank Access, etc. I know there are players who love these kinds of things, but I am not one of them. Why can I not trade them as I would a fancy weapon?

The new ascendant weapons now mean my inventories are getting clogged up with dust, stones and other materials I cannot use. I have no interest in farming up all the materials required, and I do not do Fractals so the effort would be a waste anyway. There are MANY more players who want BIS weapons and would love to buy rather than grind, so why make these things account bound?

Honestly, if I could make one copper for every item I sold, I would be happy :P

From what I have seen (on my server, at times I play), hardly anyone cares about the Invasions any more. I can access an area 30 minutes after is started and not get punted to an Invasion-free overflow. If I happened to already be in the zone and it started on top of me, progress is slow or even non-existent. I cannot understand why they bothered keeping it in the game; it just interferes with regular play.

There is no need for dedicated add removal against the Shatterer. He is not targetable when he summons new adds, so everyone changes target, clears them in a few seconds, then waits to attack him again. Tequatl is a different story, but there is no excuse for not getting a few hits on the Shatterer.

Thank you for the advice so far. I have already taken most of it on (I never even considered the health pool getting too large to heal!), but there are a couple of points I would like a little more clarification on.

Hexxen.7216:

Other than Mirror Blade your boon generation is 0 so I would say lose the Signet if you are just using it for a Stun Breaker and pick up Mirror Images since you have Illusionary Celerity to reduce the CD already anyway.

I used to use that at lower levels (before I had Deceptive Evasion). I figured I was getting enough clones and started looking for something else. Is this still the best choice for my build, or would I be better looking at something completely different?

keenlam.4753:

- Masteful Reflection is good, but its quite situational. Compounding Power is better as a default option. You can always switch to MR if you need it or use Mirror instead of Ether Feast.

I had passed over Compounding Power since it seemed to suit a Phantasm build more than a Shatter one, as my Illusions do not last long. Does it boost the power of Mind Wrack (and therefore provide a big boost to a Shatter build)?

Nretep.2564:

• Are you sure, that you prefer @Domination IV over GreatSwordTraining or EmpoweredIllusions ?

I ran Empowered Illusions for a while, but since I mostly use Clones (no damage) and
Shatter with the Phantasms only attacking once, I felt it was not a great choice. Similarly, my Greatsword already recharges fast enough though Illusionists Celerity (the two skills I mostly use are always ready when I switch back), so I am confident I can go without it. That said, I am not 100% certain about Rending Shatter either.

I am on Sea of Sorrows and wish to learn how to Dungeon/Fractal. My guild and I tried once (AC Story) and got so badly obliterated we never tried again. Another time, a group (I was not with) tried Fractals and had the same problem. I would like to learn how to do this content, then perhaps teach the rest of the guild. Is there anyone on that server who can help?

Gear… I am the least certain about. I am a middling-skilled player (IMO). Definitely not skilled enough to be effective in full Beserker gear! Indeed, I have been playing since the week before release and still not earned the Lifetime Survivor achievement. I die a lot :P My idea in the gearing was to try for a balance of damage and survivability. I have several Traits influenced by crits, so a decent crit-rate and crit-damage are essential. I have Bleeds and Confusion, so a little condition damage seems advantageous, though Power would surely be more important.

I was thinking Carrion weapons, as that boosts Power/Vitality (my two primary stats) and gives enough Condition Damage to make my Bleed and Confusion worth-while (I hope). Sigil of Hydromancy seemed good for the greatsword, as I would usually want to make some distance after switching to it (ranged weapon). Sigil of Fire on the Sword adds AoE DPS to my primary damage weapon, while Sigil of Speed gives me ready access to Swiftness. I have been using a (lesser-quality) Sigil of Speed since quite low level and found it surprisingly useful!

For Armour, full Valkyrie again boosts my primary Power/Vitality stats while also making my Critical Damage meaningful. I was unsure about Runes, but Divinity seemed a good idea to boost all my stats.

For Jewels, full Knight brings in the necessary Precision and a little Toughness (to balance the high Vitality) without sacrificing Power. I was entirely clueless on what to do with the Back Item, so just went Berserker. I doubt I will get into Infusions any time in the foreseeable future, but the calculator included them, so I added them :P

Do I have the right idea here? Is there anything I really aught to do differently?

I recently got my Mesmer to 80 and am beginning to look at putting together Exotic gear and finalise my build. Currently, I play PvE, but am considering giving WvWvW a try in the foreseeable future. The prospective build is:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgUQNAR8alwziqXUThGa9ICqHdX29dkU0awWJF42FC-jgyAYrkhzEkpJwkFICEQ6rIasVtioxqrx0vER128ioVDA-e
I shall explain my choices here.

Firstly, I have grown quite comfortable with Greatsword/Sword+Pistol. I recognise that Staff would probably be more optimal than Greatsword, but I prefer this weapon. Phase Retreat and the Staff Clones are excellent, but I prefer the functionality of Mirror Blade. Similarly, I much prefer Phantasmal Berserker to Phantasmal Warlock. I find Mind Stab near useless, but I find it a small price to pay. I mostly use the Greatsword for those two skills anyway, using the Sword/Pistol as my primary weapons for engaging in combat.

My combat style is largely Shatter-based. 90% of the time, I throw a coupe of Clones and a Phantasm, let the Phantasm use its attack (it seems a waste, otherwise) then Shatter. For 1v1 against weaker mobs, I Mind Wrack. Many vs Many situations, I find Cry of Frustration useful. I rarely use Diversion, mainly using it as an Interrupt when Magic Bullet is on cooldown. I regularly use Distortion against more powerful enemies (eg Champions) or when dealing with a group of enemies at once (use Distortion, Sword auto-attack to stack some Vulnerability, then Blurred Frenzy for more invulnerability and damage; 2-3 Illusion Mind Wrack to finish the job).

Ether Feast is the best general-purpose Heal we have, so no need to justify it :P

In Utilities, I have Null Field for condition cleanse. Honestly, I sometimes with this thing had a 15 second cooldown :P Decoy is mainly used for its Stun Break properties, though I sometimes use it defensively for the Stealth (eg if I need to make a little distance and am out of endurance). I am currently experimenting with Signet of Midnight as a second Stun Break and defensive tool. In my third slot I have previously experimented with Blink (I personally had a lot of difficulty using this well; probably not a skillful enough player) and Feedback (which I rarely used; more on why later).

I have honestly never once found any of the three Elites useful. I think Time Warp would be the most useful if I get into WvWvW or learn to play Dungeons.

Traits. I originally used Kai’s levelling build, and have been experimenting with it since.
Domination:

• (I) Mental Torment to make better use of Mind Wrack.
• (IV) Rending Shatter, as I suspect the AoE Vulnerability will act as a force multiplier, thereby making my contribution in group situations all the more valuable. Still experimenting, however.

Dueling:

• (II) Phantasmal Fury just seems plain useful. Phantasmal Berserker and Phantasmal Duelist both hit multiple times, so with a bit of Precision and Fury, they have a good probability of multiple crits for more damage and more Sharper Images Bleeds. YUM!
• (X) Deceptive Evasion seems essential for any Shatter build to get more clones up faster. It is also awfully useful defensively, as it often takes aggro.

Illusions:

• (IV) Masterful Reflection is the reason I rarely used Feedback. Though the duration and cooldown are not as kind, the fact that it covers all enemies (rather than a small group) makes it potentially more useful (IMO).
• (VII) Illusionary Elasticity is another I am currently experimenting with. Since Mirror Blade and Magic Bullet are both skills I make extensive use of, enhancing them seemed worth trying out. Currently undecided.
• (XI) Illusionary Persona. A no-brainer skill for a Shatter Build and it makes an absurd enhancement to the value of all Shatters.

I lost in PvP/WvWvW, ergo my opponent was using and OP class/skill. Everyone knows this!

A long time back, you added the ability to craft without having to extract items from the bank. Could the same be done with the daily `fuse 25 crystals’ process? It would save unnecessary fuss of having to go to town to access the bank, then return to the place of power.

I loaded up the game this morning and checked out the new achievements. It looked unlikely I would get many, but decided to give it a go. I then took my Mesmer into Tier I Candidate Trials, and failed miserably. I did not die (the Pirate AI seemed more interested in attacking clones that regular mobs are), but I could not stop any of the treasure from being taken.

I play solo PvE and am of middling skill. As such, Dungeons/Fractals are impossible for me, Candidate Trials appears to be impossible for me, and the new mini-games do not appeal to me as I am not a PvP player (and, again, not skilled enough to compete with other players even if I did like it). That means I only support while doing events and support while completing my daily… so, nothing.

From what I can tell, this update has added absolutely nothing I am capable of enjoying. I respect that this is a game made for a large number of players, each with different play styles and skill levels. However, this is also the first living story where there has not been a single thing I can do! Even if I never won Sanctum Sprint, it was easy to finish the race. Collecting Kites, charging crystals; all these things were readily available to me. This time, nothing. I hope that in future updates, the developers remember to include a broader spectrum of the player base!

I am a day or two away from having my first lvl80, so it is time I learn the general `rules’ of gearing up.

From what I can tell, Power and Vitality would be core stats for all characters. Obviously, a full glass canon could skip Vitality, but I like a little meat on my characters.

Precision and Critical Damage seem important for most characters. I assume bunker builds, and possibly full condition damage builds, skip these. Would I be correct that anything outside these specific builds would want a bit of them both?

Toughness seems to appear on a lot of gear, so I guess you probably pick up enough of this without specifically looking to add it. Am I right about this?

Condition Damage is where it starts to look vague to me. Outside builds that focus on this, is it worth having a little? For example, Guardians and Mesmers can otherwise have a full Power focus, but still apply conditions. Is it worth their while having a little Condition Damage on the gear to milk some more damage out of those passive benefits?

Healing Power. Everyone has to heal, but does everyone (anyone?) need a little of this? Of all stats, this one seems the most confusing to me.

For Sigils and Runes, what is the general approach players take? Staking their most important stats? Building secondary stats (eg boon duration)? Does this vary wildly from build to build and there is no general rule?

I have been sitting on my Laurels. Yeah, I know, I just had to use it :P I have enough Laurels for one piece of Ascendant jewelry. Which is the most efficient to pick up?

I am still a fairly new Mesmer player, but I have found uses for them all.

After picking up Deceptive Evasion at 40, you are able to shatter a lot more often, which makes the other options more appealing. Prior to this, I found they were almost never worth using, as Mind Wrack was the better option 90% of the time.

In tough battles, I will throw up the clone and phantasm from one weapon, dodge roll, then use Distortion. This gives me a few seconds of complete damage mitigation (important) while I switch to sword, stack some vulnerability, and throw up another clone and phantasm. When Distortion ends, I use Blurred Frenzy for more damage mitigation, make another clone, then Mind Wrack. This does a lot of damage to them, while I have taken little/none. Against enemies you cannot burst down quickly, damage mitigation is important. I also now use Masterful Reflection, which I can use to hilarious results while Feedback is on cooldown, or enemies are too spread to use it effectively.

Cry of Frustration is, honestly, not very good in PvE. Enemies use skills so infrequently that you may not even get one tick of damage out of this. Timed well, it can still be good. Mind Wrack has a cooldown, so once you are a clone factory you will be ready to shatter before you can use it again. Cry of Frustration gives a little extra damage at a time you would otherwise be unable to. I am currently experimenting with Confusing Cry, to see if that makes this shatter better, but at the moment I see it as the `better than nothing’ shatter.

Diversion. I originally thought this was utterly terrible. The benefit does not increase with multiple clones, and the delay makes it too difficult to time effectively. Then I picked up Illusionary Persona at lvl70. Now, I can use Diversion without clones, and it is instant. If I have no clones (eg just shattered) and see an enemy winding up an attack, I use Diversion as an extra Interrupt (saving others, such as Magic Bullet, for when I have clones up). Between Distortion, Diversion, Blurred Frenzy and Magic Bullet, I can maintain a fairly long window of `nah, nah, you cannot hit me’, which is always fun :P

I would happily pay real money for gems, if there were actually something in the gem store that seemed worth my money. Every single item looks a load of rubbish I would be disappointed to get as a random drop. Paying cash for them seems downright insane!

fishergrip.4082:

What exactly do you have questions about? Can’t give advice if you don’t ask any questions.

Sorry, I am a bit lost myself. I am hoping that I can just get some general pointers on my options. My highest level character is a Mesmer, which I saw several obvious builds for (eg Shatter, Phantasm, Condition) before I even began playing. I began building with a couple of ideas in mind and, as I played more, gradually refined the build. With the Guardian, however, the only obvious builds are bunker/anchor types, which are not so useful for solo play. As such, I have no idea what to play with as I level up to work out what suits my play style.

ArchonWing.9480:

Hi, that’s a familiar name we have here. Wanna play together?

Always happy to team up again

ArchonWing.9480:

Both focus and shield are good offhands, but focus is better in close combat I feel. I prefer to use shield with scepter since the knockback isn’t too good unless you’re fighting ranged.

That makes a lot of sense. Mace/Focus or Scepter/Shield do seem the more sensible combinations in that light.

I took a bit of a break from the game. When I was playing before, people were pretty spread across all content. Now, I notice some very obvious trends. Some events seem to be popular, with players camping out just waiting for them (eg pretty well all of Queensdale!); others are so un-popular, I have not seen them done once in the past few weeks (eg Krait Blood Witch). It is not even level-based, as I would have guessed. In fact, I see more high-level players doing low-level events than I do high-level events.

What are the super popular events, and why do people emphasize them so much? What are the events to avoid at all costs, and why?

I have been spending it, but I have collected approximately 350 scrap. I have no Magic Find and did not go out of my way farming or hunting down parachutes. I got most by killing random mobs as I roamed from place to place.

I have a baby Guardian I left behind and lvl17 while I have been leveling my Mesmer. I keep thinking about coming back to it, but I am largely directionless. There is no obvious direction that I want to build along. I mostly play solo PvE, roaming maps to get 100% completion. As such, the only time I benefit from the Guardian’s support is in Events (assuming it is one people do; half the time I solo them too). I may do Dungeons/Fractals one day, or even WvWvW, but my current skill-level as a player is too low.

In terms of Guardian weapons, my favourite is the Mace. Seemingly a less popular weapon, I like the `good for me, bad for you’ feel that all the skills have. I keep switching between Shield and Focus, as I cannot decide which I prefer I have mucked around with the Hammer, which I do not mind, but the weapon does not really capture me. Greatsword or Sword seem like good complements to the Mace, but both are a little boring. I did not enjoy Sceptre at all, and Staff is probably too support-oriented for how I play.

I keep changing utilities too, as I cannot really settle on what I like. Consecrations and Shouts both seem good options, as they are useful solo and even more useful with groups. Spirit Weapons look cool and fit the aesthetic I like (I prefer them to Shouts), but they seem a little meh in practice (perhaps because of my low level?). Meditations are OK, but a little boring. I find Signets horridly boring and never use them on any class.

My Mesmer runs around as a squishy magic-swordsman, using Phantasms to boost DPS, Clones to boost survivability, and Shatters to maximise both. In other words, more magical and focusing magic outward. The basic concept I have with the Guardian is a hardy magic-swordsman who has glowy armour of `you cannot hurt me’ and a glowy weapon of `this will really hurt you’. In other words, more martial and focusing magic inward. I am sure it is do-able, but I am a bit lost at the moment on how to go about it.

Firstly, I really, really hope ANet keep the zone after the Sanctum leaves. A massive trading hub? A single place where all manner of items can be bought (and sold), including items rarely found elsewhere? I cannot think of a better addition to the game!

Secondly, I just wanted to say that the Lessons from the Sky Achievement was probably the most fun I have had in a long time. Lots of exploration, cool visuals, and generally low-risk. It was just pure, unadulterated fun.

On the other hand, I hated Sanctum Sprint. I did the 25 necessary for the achievement, and never want to see it again. It was buggy, regularly desynched on me (I cannot recall how many times I found myself stuck inside a mountain) and was just not fun. The rewards for it were poor too. Pittance in cash and Karma, and an item that was invariably completely useless to me.

I am also not impressed by the new crafting addition. A single charged crystal per-day is a little much. Per-zone per-day would have been better, considering you can easily get 50+ crystals in a day. The recipes necessary for them are too rare too. IMO, after the event is over, there should be a Karma merchant selling them. So far, I keep getting the same recipe over and over again (and it must be common, as no one wants it on the TP).

Neither candidate is reaching to the full community!

Cheaper Black Lion Keys? Pfft, who cares about them anyway? Cheaper Waypoint travel? Neither here nor there. Fractals? Only a portion of the public explores these to begin with!

Both candidates need to reach to the wider community. PvP? WvWvW? Explorers? Achievement-hunters? Crafters and traders? Neither candidate is reaching out to the majority of the community with their current policies, leaving many swinging voters who currently do not care for either candidate. Can either of them make any promises to draw the larger community’s support?

I started this game with the pre-order early access, so I have seen how Crafting has improved over time (remember when Jute was super-rare?). I also know the most efficient ways to level crafting, so I am not making newbie mistakes here. I recently started a new character and got to see how the process works from the beginning… and it still needs work. My character was Sylvari and I worked through zones as per my personal story. As a Mesmer, I decided to pick up Artificing and Tailoring.

Tier-One went smoothly. No issues with Jute meant that, by the time I had finished Caledon forest (lvl15) I could craft lvl20 gear. Sweet!

Tier-Two was a significant issue. Following the story through Brisban Wildlands and Kessex Hills, I had quickly acquired enormous amounts of Iron, Silver, Wool, Leather and Logs (200+ refined of each). Unfortunately, Tier-One Fine Materials continued to drop. I had completely explored both these zones and lacked the Fine Materials to even begin crafting this Tier.

As I entered Gendarran Fields at lvl40, I was still wearing lvl20 gear (other than drops). Tier-Two Fine Materials were finally dropping, and by the time I finished exploring both this zone and Harathi Hinterlands I was able to craft lvl35 armour. At this point, I gave up on Artificing realising that it was impossible to manage both at once. Unfortunately, I was lvl60 by this point (we seem to level a lot faster than we used to too —- not complaining).

I am currently lvl65 and beginning to acquire tier-four (and salvaging tier-five) common materials, but still need more tier-three Fine Materials (and more Cotton!) to be able to craft lvl50 gear.

I am aware of other sources of materials. I know I can use the Trading Post, but it is too expensive. I am not a good player and lose huge sums of money on respawning and repair. I know you can use Laurels, but they are over-priced: 20 random materials, when you need something like 100 specific materials? It would take a week’s worth of Laurels to maybe get what you need.

I believe things need just a little smoothing out. It seems as though the loot tables for fine materials do not match up with the zones where common materials are harvested. This just seems silly. If they lined up, players would be able to craft their gear as they go along, just as originally advertised.

In general, I like the idea of Jumping Puzzles. A nice little detour from the regular game play. What I do not like about them, however, is doing the same sections over and over and over and over. It gets extremely tedious when every time you make even a small mistake (or simply do not understand where you are supposed to jump to!) you have to go all the way back to the start. Death against the mobs means waypointing, which takes you several minutes away from the start even. This is unnecessary frustration.

To me, the biggest issue is how every slip causes you to fall into the same `fail area’. As such, no matter how close to the end you are, you always have to return to the start. If these were split into multiple fail zones, you could provide ways to climb back up to several different checkpoints along the way. As such, you only need to repeat the current section rather than the whole puzzle.

As a small nice bit, the ability to resurrect at the last checkpoint after a death would be really nice too. Not as big an issue, but it would make them more user friendly.

Several generous players have come forward with Gold to help me get the Manual. Thank you so much for the response! Deceptive Evasion has completely changed my game. Honestly, I cannot believe how much of a difference it makes. I have taken on challenges (eg Veteran + adds) that I know would have killed me before, and come away thinking it was relatively easy.

I recently started playing the Mesmer. Initially, I felt very weak: squishy and low damage. As I have gained levels, I have felt the class gradually getting stronger and have liked the way it played. I am largely following Kai’s guide for leveling a Mesmer. I am simply doing PvE to level to 80 while working toward 100% map exploration too.

My basic approach is to start with the Greatsword. I use Spatial Surge to pull an enemy (I try to keep it to one, as I get overwhelmed by two or more). If I pull two enemies, I try to put a clone on one and a phantasm on each. I am not sure if that is a good plan or not, but it seems sensible.

Once am confident it will not cause me to pull more I then quickly use Mirror Blade and Phantasmal Berserker (immediately after each other). I watch what the iZerker does and make a decision at this point. If their health it super-low, I will just kite with Spatial Surge to keep my cooldowns ready. If their health is fairly low, I will use Mind Wrack, maybe followed by Spatial Surge if they are not quite dead.

For enemies who can take more than that, I switch to Sword/Pistol. If I am confident in taking the enemy in melee, I use Illusionary Leap/Swap. Half the time that bugs out, so I will then use Phantasmal Duelist instead and run in. Once in melee, I use Blurred Frenzy and Mind Wrack during it. ASAP, I will use Illusionary Leap/Mirror Image and shatter again; usually Mind Wrack is on cooldown, so I use Cry of Frustration, leave myself open to an attack and dodge it to get the Confusion damage. If they are still alive, I Magic Bullet, switch to Greatsword, Mirror Blade/Phantasmal Berserker then Illusionary Wave. I then kite and Spatial Surge until I can cast Mirror Blade again and Mind Wrack. That is my current routine. I expect than to change once I get Deceptive Evasion

I can see a niche use for Diversion, but never use it. I sometimes use Distortion, but at the moment see it as being more useful at higher level, when I can get clones up faster. I use Ether Feast for my heal. My other utilities are Decoy (which I mainly use for Stealth; always forget it can Stun Break until after the Stun wears off) and Null Field (panic button for bad condition situations). I have Time Warp for my Elite, but never yet had a situation where I felt I could benefit from it.

I have reached lvl42, but I cannot get buy the Master Manual because I cannot earn the money to buy one. I cannot earn the money because I really, really suck! I die all the time, which means I lose my money on respawns and repairs. My biggest issues are as follows:

• I am currently in Snowden Drifts, which seems to bug the heck out of the Mesmer. I constantly cast my illusions only for them to not appear. This has crippled me! I struggled in Brisban Wildlands and Kessex Hills too, but not as much because my illusions were more reliable.
• I cannot deal with groups. I can just barely take on two enemies, but any more and I am screwed. Sometimes I cannot take two even!
• I cannot deal with Veterans. I can sometimes take them down, but if they have adds or an AoE I am generally screwed. This makes Jumping Puzzles and some Skill Points kill me more often than not. One extra player and it becomes a cake-walk.
• I cannot solo most events. Pulling enemies one at a time means they respawn as fast as I kill them. As such, I can reach a certain point of progress, then get stuck in a situation where I can just hold on, but cannot progress further. I rarely die, but am stuck in a loop until a second player comes along.
• I cannot do tight areas (eg caves) where you cannot circle strafe. I think I fail to understand how to deal with these situations at all!