Guild Wars 2

Beyond cynicism, one of the things that pushed me to actually create this topic was a situation earlier today. I wiped a group of 3 just outside of their camp. I started on the camp and before long the three players I had killed began coming into the camp attempting to kill me one after the other. I would kill one, he would respawn and start his trek back, and by the time I had killed the third, the first one to die was already back at the camp and the cycle continued on until I decided to leave it alone and abandoned the camp. I guess I just wish there was a viable system that might make those guys say “hey, we keep getting killed trying to stop this dude from taking our camp. Sure, we could keep this up and prevent him from capping, but would that really be wise considering every time he kills us we….” Right now the only way to finish that sentence is “Would that really be wise considering every time he kills us we give his team a few points?” It’s just not enough.

I definitely wouldn’t want more players avoiding conflict, and I suppose that is one facet that I didn’t really consider when pondering this idea, so fair enough. I agree that the war score on player kills was a step in the right direction, but its not very personal. Maybe I’m just a cynical kitten who wants the players I kill to be punished beyond just knowing that they lost. In either case, it gives me something to think about hehe. So scrap the lowered participation idea. Does anybody have any viable suggestions for ways in which players can be punished for their deaths? Perhaps a system that involves an additional reward to the player who contributed the most to the death? That way (in theory) the impact of players avoiding conflict due to the negatives of dying will be mitigated by players going out of their way to seek out conflict for potential gain.

A while back I stumbled across this video that presented itself as a comparison of gw2 and WoW in terms of the combat mechanics. In reality, the video was picking out very specific faults in WoW’s combat system (such as improper melee ranges and projectiles honing in on the target) and then showing how those faults were rectified in Guild Wars 2. If anyone has seen this video and saved it, or simply knows the title of the video and can send me a link it would be greatly appreciated.

So when the game first launched (as far as I can remember) the only punishment for death in WvW beyond needing to run back out into the fray was a subtle charge for repairing your armor. With the removal of a silver cost to repair gear, there is little to no impact when it comes to player deaths. I would like to propose a solution that would easily rectify this situation.

Please, make it so that participation is lowered upon death. Preferably this would mean that dying resets your participation to 0, but if that feels too drastic you could have it bring you down to tier 2 participation, one tier below the required paricipation level for receiving skirmish reward chests. Once again, if that seems too punishing, you could have it drop half a tier or a full tier per death. I just can’t help but feel as though this participation tier system is the perfect remedy for an issue that has been nagging at me from the beginning.

Many times over the years I have showed a friend Gw2, and inevitably I show them my favorite game mode. The question I always get is “what happens when you die”. Everyone is disappointed by the real answer to that question.

Rayden.3695:

Subject A: Horse
Subject A condition: Dead
Subject B: Kicking Subject A

Please stop, it’ll get maybe fixed with the next set of elite specs.

Maybe subject C needs to see more kicking of subject A before they realize something needs to be done about its condition.

Something needs to change. When HoT launched it was exciting. We were all pretty pumped to see our favorite classes expanded upon and try out the new skills, traits, weapons, and builds. Once the novelty of it all wore off, we were left with the incredibly lame reality that these new elite specializations were not the god send we had hoped for. Instead of increasing build diversity across the board, it put nearly every single profession in the position of essentially needing to take this magical trait-line in order to remain competitive. Now from Anet’s standpoint, I can see the appeal. It allows them to market the game as essentially free so that new potential players will be enticed to give it a whirl. Once they hit level cap, they will realize that in order for their characters to be competitively viable they will need to run a build using an elite specialization, which hopefully causes them to pay $$$ for the expansion. It makes sense as a marketing scheme, but it doesn’t make sense for a fun game. In order to achieve the effect that Anet was after, these elite specs needed to be strong enough to make them essentially a requirement for any build. By doing so, not only did they increase the maximum potential damage output of nearly every profession, but they made each and every class incredibly easy to play to a certain degree of effectiveness. Had this idea of theirs ended up making it possible for classes to be more powerful without also making it insanely easy to achieve that degree of power, I wouldn’t be bothered by it to the extent that I am. Think of it like this. Each and every build in the game has a maximum in terms of its combat potential; a skill ceiling. The final output of each build in terms of its damage and survive-ability may differ, but they all have this point where no matter how good you are, its physically impossible to do anymore than you are currently doing with said build. Once this ceiling is reached, it wont matter how much “better” you are then your enemy, assuming they have also reached this ceiling. Heart of thorns raised the maximum output in terms of damage and survive-ability, while simultaneously lowering the skill ceiling of these optimal builds. The result is that it no longer feels like the skill>build>gear game that I initially purchased back in 2012. We are pigeon-holed into using an elite specialization that is way too powerful and way too easy to play. Is this ever going to change?

I wasn’t sure where this should be posted and I did not see a discussion tab on the official arenanet youtube channel. I just wanted to give anet a heads up that on their youtube channels introduction paragraph it reads as “This is the official YouTube channel for ArenaNet, the company behing the MMORPG Guild Wars 2!” “behing” being the typo. Just figured it was something that should be fixed haha.

Levetty.1279:

JesseBensen.4817:

Levetty.1279:

JesseBensen.4817:

Levetty.1279:

If MTD combined with PU was the problem then maybe they should have finally got off their kitten and fix how stealth is implemented in this game.

And no leaving your clones out to auto attack now provides better condi damage then shattering them.

Even if leaving your scepter clones out to attack applies more condi dmg than the torment from shattering, you need to remember that its not all the shatters do. Once you factor in the torment, confusion, interupts/power damage, I find it hard to believe that leaving clones out would be more beneficial for you.

Power damage in a build with no power. Yeah ok thats going to make up for it…
I just said the clones will be providing more condi so I don’t know why I have to consider the low amount of torment and confusion from the shatter and you have better interupts then F3.

I know this because I play the class.

It has always seemed obvious to me that anet originally intendd mesmer as a hybrid profession. I personally play it as such because I find it to be a lot more fun/engaging and it works just as well as full condi, so yes, in a build where I have 1900 power and 1350 condi dmg, the raw dmg helps. Not everyone plays scepter/torch staff, so you cant generalize a trait’s overall effectiveness with how it works in one build.

Like you are?

No, I’m not. I am simply trying to explain that the trait still has value.

Levetty.1279:

JesseBensen.4817:

Levetty.1279:

If MTD combined with PU was the problem then maybe they should have finally got off their kitten and fix how stealth is implemented in this game.

And no leaving your clones out to auto attack now provides better condi damage then shattering them.

Even if leaving your scepter clones out to attack applies more condi dmg than the torment from shattering, you need to remember that its not all the shatters do. Once you factor in the torment, confusion, interupts/power damage, I find it hard to believe that leaving clones out would be more beneficial for you.

Power damage in a build with no power. Yeah ok thats going to make up for it…
I just said the clones will be providing more condi so I don’t know why I have to consider the low amount of torment and confusion from the shatter and you have better interupts then F3.

I know this because I play the class.

It has always seemed obvious to me that anet originally intendd mesmer as a hybrid profession. I personally play it as such because I find it to be a lot more fun/engaging and it works just as well as full condi, so yes, in a build where I have 1900 power and 1350 condi dmg, the raw dmg helps. Not everyone plays scepter/torch staff, so you cant generalize a trait’s overall effectiveness with how it works in one build.

Levetty.1279:

If MTD combined with PU was the problem then maybe they should have finally got off their kitten and fix how stealth is implemented in this game.

And no leaving your clones out to auto attack now provides better condi damage then shattering them.

Even if leaving your scepter clones out to attack applies more condi dmg than the torment from shattering, you need to remember that its not all the shatters do. Once you factor in the torment, confusion, interupts/power damage, I find it hard to believe that leaving clones out would be more beneficial for you.

NICENIKESHOE.7128:

Saying MtD is OP because you can trait it with PU is a straw man argument. Not everyone trait them together and nerfing other traits because of how well PU synergies with other traits is an ill thought out action. You’re only hurting diversity by taking the many wrong medicines to fix the problem.

In case you haven’t notice, MtD itself is unchanged by the patch. It is the same as before, and IP baseline only boost its effectiveness in ideal situation. How many times do you see condition mesmer, wielding condi range weapons, run into enemies to deliver that extra 2 stacks of torment? Hitting it with a 50% reduction nerf bat gutted MtD, and mesmers are encouraged to leave their illusions alive because live illusions deal more damage than shattering. This is a change no one want, you can’t out cleanse constant conditions nor can you dodge illusion autos.

I understand that not everyone used it in conjunction with PU, but it doesn’t change the fact that dueling/chaos/illusions with maim and PU needed to be nerfed. The point I was trying to make is that because the trait system changed so drastically, builds that used MtD before the big balance patch couldnt afford to take things like PU due to how many points were needed for MtD and Deceptive Evasion. MtD wasnt all that OP before because in order to use it you had to give up significant traits. Now, you dont need to sacrifice as much to use it, making it a problem. Anet has already changed the original PU at least 3 times, and being that they had already moved MtD down from a grandmaster trait it wasn’t unreasonable for them to come to the conclusion that changing it was their best bet of fixing these absurdly overpowered builds. Mesmer has been my main since the 3 day headstart weekend before the official release of gw2, so believe me when I say I am not in favor of anet destroying the Mesmer profession, but in this case I believe the nerf was beneficial for the game and mesmer players as a whole. Prior to the nerf, it was fairly easy for anyone with a mesmer to slap a build together using MtD and carelessly spam illusions and shatters while better players than them died on the receiving end. The DPS from MtD in its current state is still high enough to justify taking the trait, the difference is that you actually have to think before you press f1-3.

Did you get a chance to seriously test out some of the builds when the original patch first hit? dueling, chaos, illusions using PU and maim was so severely overpowered that if anet didnt nerf it, I would’ve been shocked. Every fight I had with it ended the same way, about 5-15 seconds in the enemy dies to a combination of torment and confusion. 1v4 against respectably opponents were as easy as a 1v2 had been prior to patch. This had to happen.

-Priest of Lyssa

Apologies if there is already a thread about this in existence, I didn’t see one. I was just wondering if there has been any mention of a release date for the Heart of Thorns expansion.

There isn’t really anything I’ve seen that would provide any proof of this, but my guess (wishful thinking more so) is that mesmer might be getting a new main hand weapon, and I would definitely be in favor of that weapon being pistol. It may not sound very “mesmerish” to a lot of people, but then again neither did greatsword. The mesmer has changed considerably since guild wars prophesies, and I would absolutely love to see those purple/pink glowing projectiles more often I think it would fit quite nicely with the magical duelist theme anet has been going with.

Fay.2357:

JesseBensen.4817:

Verock.8234:

Fay.2357:

JesseBensen.4817:

if you want to be “that guy” try running either 2/0/6/0/6 as hybrid shatter mesmer or 0/0/6/2/6 as full condition shatter. Both work amazingly well as a solo roaming build with scepter/torch staff, and require very little skill to play. At the end of the day though, its cheese in its ultimate form. -Priest of Lyssa

Actually, both of those builds are pretty awful. Running shatter builds without DE is a great way to get stomped by anyone competent.

Agreed, you need the extra clones.

In my experience with PvP (not WvW), the problem with condi mesmer is the burst. In a 1v1 fight, you may win. However, this can take upwards of 40-50 seconds. The condis continue to stack on, but there is nothing to close the gap. By the time you have your opponent downed, they’ll have another teammate on you for the 2v1.

The great part about power shatter is the heavy burst and disengage. You can provide that extra damage to down an opponent and move on. You can roam well. You can’t do this with a condi build.

It’s a fun build to play, but you won’t see competitive teams running it because it doesn’t have synergy with other classes (for the reasons mentioned above).

Once again, these are not builds I would recommend for an experienced mesmer, but do not knock the viability untill you have tried it yourself. Both of the mentioned setups do work very effectively as solo roaming builds, but ofc there are far better options for any player with a good amount of mesmer experience. These specs are what I would consider very “noob friendly” as they give the mesmer a large margin for error whilst still maintaining the potential to be incredibly strong.

I’ve tried shatter builds without DE. They’re trash. If an inexperienced mesmer can make them work, then an experienced one can make them work better. I’m what you might call highly experienced, and those builds are awful, no matter who uses them.

That’s just flat out wrong. Those builds aren’t the best by any means, in fact, they are fairly sub par. Still though, theyre better roaming builds than 75% of the Mesmer specs I see in wvw. What I mean by noob friendly is that they are builds that can perform as well as they can perform fairly easily regardless of skill. They will beat most builds, but obviously not the best builds, and it would be a lot easier for a noob to beat the average player of any given class with those specs than It would be for them to do it with many others. that is all. They aren’t builds I would use, but some people like lazy builds. Claiming that any shatter build that doesn’t use DE is trash is purely subjective, and you are not the ultimate authority on the Mesmer profession. I am also “what you might call highly experienced”, Mesmer was my first profession during the 3-day head start and has always been my main. I spend 99% of my play time solo roaming with my Mesmer in wvw, and I am very well aware of what works and what doesn’t because I test almost everything, I would never post my favorite/best builds on a forum because I would prefer not to see them turn into cookie cutter builds that will end up being nerfed next patch. don’t claim that a build you’ve probably never used is trash just because it doesn’t contain your favorite trait. It’s not the ideal spec, but it can be used without much effort and for some people that’s exactly what they want.

Verock.8234:

Fay.2357:

JesseBensen.4817:

if you want to be “that guy” try running either 2/0/6/0/6 as hybrid shatter mesmer or 0/0/6/2/6 as full condition shatter. Both work amazingly well as a solo roaming build with scepter/torch staff, and require very little skill to play. At the end of the day though, its cheese in its ultimate form. -Priest of Lyssa

Actually, both of those builds are pretty awful. Running shatter builds without DE is a great way to get stomped by anyone competent.

Agreed, you need the extra clones.

In my experience with PvP (not WvW), the problem with condi mesmer is the burst. In a 1v1 fight, you may win. However, this can take upwards of 40-50 seconds. The condis continue to stack on, but there is nothing to close the gap. By the time you have your opponent downed, they’ll have another teammate on you for the 2v1.

The great part about power shatter is the heavy burst and disengage. You can provide that extra damage to down an opponent and move on. You can roam well. You can’t do this with a condi build.

It’s a fun build to play, but you won’t see competitive teams running it because it doesn’t have synergy with other classes (for the reasons mentioned above).

Once again, these are not builds I would recommend for an experienced mesmer, but do not knock the viability untill you have tried it yourself. Both of the mentioned setups do work very effectively as solo roaming builds, but ofc there are far better options for any player with a good amount of mesmer experience. These specs are what I would consider very “noob friendly” as they give the mesmer a large margin for error whilst still maintaining the potential to be incredibly strong.

Fay.2357:

JesseBensen.4817:

if you want to be “that guy” try running either 2/0/6/0/6 as hybrid shatter mesmer or 0/0/6/2/6 as full condition shatter. Both work amazingly well as a solo roaming build with scepter/torch staff, and require very little skill to play. At the end of the day though, its cheese in its ultimate form. -Priest of Lyssa

Actually, both of those builds are pretty awful. Running shatter builds without DE is a great way to get stomped by anyone competent.

While I do agree that deceptive evasion is often considered a staple in any decent shatter setup, if ether of these specs are played properly it really isn’t all that nessescary. Bear in mind that these are not builds I would suggest running for any experienced mesmer, but they are both extremely effective builds that do not require much skill to play. Obviously mirror images is entirely required for either of those setups to bypass the lack of deceptive evasion, but for a more skilled mesmer dropping Prismatic understanding would be the better route to go.

As was previously stated the answer varies greatly based on circumstance. That being said, if I had to pick one class to always target first, it would be ranger. -Priest of Lyssa

I’ve gotta say, as a general response to those who claimed that confusing images long channeled time should be changed, I disagree entirely. The long channel time on this skill makes it a very effective dodge baiter as well as a nice option to track the location of thieves in stealth. On top of that, if anet were to change it to an instant 5 confusion stacks without the channel, you can almost guarantee that they would not keep all of the power DMG it inflicts. As it currently operates, its a fantastic skill for a hybrid buid and it would be sad to see that change. -Priest of Lyssa

My favorite 2 man Wvw roaming duo has always been mesmer/thief. Preferably a Tanky PU mesmer with a close to glass cannon backstab thief. I tank, he spanks. -Priest of Lyssa

if you want to be “that guy” try running either 2/0/6/0/6 as hybrid shatter mesmer or 0/0/6/2/6 as full condition shatter. Both work amazingly well as a solo roaming build with scepter/torch staff, and require very little skill to play. At the end of the day though, its cheese in its ultimate form. -Priest of Lyssa

Creating a legendary weapon really isn’t as bad as it seems. It took me less than 30 days from start to finish to forge Bolt. This was during the summer time when I wasn’t working or going to school and thus had the time to grind it out. Obviously for most people it will take longer, but 5 years is enough time for most capable people with jobs to make 2 or 3 of them. Basically what Im trying to say is that it really isn’t as impossible of a task as it may seem at first glance. Also, you shouldn’t go into Guild Wars 2 with a traditional MMO mentality. Its nice to have goals in a game, but only if you can find a fun way to achieve them. Explore a little more, search out new things you haven’t tried yet, for I can almost guarantee the game is full of them. WvW and s/tpvp for those of us who enjoy player vs. player, map completion, exploration, dungeon running, fractals of the mist, living story, Event exploration (discover random events all over the world, some of them are actually really interesting/fun) world bosses, god temples, jumping puzzles, and so much more for those interested in player vs. environment. But the most important thing that will make the gaming experience infinitely more rewarding and fun is to take advantage of the social aspect. Join a guild with likeminded people interested in the same aspects of the game as you, or make use of them to discover new aspects you haven’t tried. Talk to people you see in WvW or while exploring in Tyria and make some in-game friends. You’ll soon find that even the activities you loathed in the game will become tolerable, the tolerable parts will become fun, and the fun parts will become the reason you don’t feel like logging off.

I kind of lost it when you suggested the prestige cd be reduced to 20, which would give a 16 second cd when traited. Do you realize how ridiculous that would be?

-Priest of Lyssa.

personally I prefer to go hybrid. Its always nice to have power, giving you the ability to quickly take out larger chunks of HP to secure the kill, but when up against high armor targets the condition damage can be quite essential to avoid a stalemate, especially considering you will be traited 6 into toughness reguardless of the PU build you are running.

-Priest of Lyssa

Hello, as far as what type of armor/runes you should use depends completely on your preference. If this is strictly for PVE and you want to go with the highest dps possible, ruby orbs are cheap and would be right up your alley. If you prefer to use an actual rune, just find something that compliments your build and works logically. I would definitely advise gearing for exotic b4 ascended, as ascended gear will be a more long term project. The infusion slots on ascended gear is intended for either agony resistance infusions, or wvw infusions which give plus 5 to a specific stat, as well as either plus 1% DMg to guards if it’s an offensive infusion, or a -1% damage taken from guards of its defensive.

Ive found that when using debilitating dissipation trait on a phantasm spec, it adds some punch to the scepter auto. Basically by just maintaining 2 phantasms you can auto attack and the new clone will kill the old clone, giving bleed/weakness/vuln to enemies near it.

Ever since the last balance patch, I have been noticing that occasionally in wvw when I use certain skills they do not go onto cd, but instead allow me to use them twice in a row. It happens quite randomly, sometimes 5 times within 20 minutes, sometimes only once per day. I main a Mesmer so that is the toon ive been noticing it on. But for my fellow mesmers out there, imagine you are using a pistol and are capable of chain summoning 2 phantasmal duelists in a row (this is the skill it happens on most frequently for me) Its game breaking.

-Priest of Lyssa

I would say if anything the +20% would hit harder due to you having 200 extra power from trait stats. when I run shatter in wvw I generally go for the 0/20/20/0/30 because the damage difference is minimal as far kittenter strength, but I feel like I still get better damage from the one with 30 in illusions because I can shatter more often due to the shredding recharge rate tied to illusions. also illusionary persona gives you an extra ability apart from damage which is using diversion and distortion without any clones, can really be a saver.

-Priest of Lyssa

There are a couple I made post nerf that I have found to work quite well. the first is a sword/sword staff build with the traits 0/20/20/30/20. making sure staff and sword both have the 20% faster recharge and still keeping phantasmal fury and phantasmal strength along with the perma regen from the 15 point trait in inspiration. the second os sort of a hybrid spec leaning more towards conditions. it uses scepter/pistol staff and the traits are 0/20/30/20/0 it uses prismatic understanding for a buff in survivability, as well as sharper images to cause bleeds on crits from illusions. if youd like to know more about either spec send me a pm in game and I can go over the gear and everything in more detail

-Priest of Lyssa

I generally use menders purity 10 point inspiration trait to remove 1 condition when I heal, but apart form that and lemongrass you really need to practice avoiding the heavy condition attacks which is easier said then done, but you are only level 38 so expect it to take time. conditions are one of the mesmers major weaknesses.

-Priest of Lyssa

So after the IC nerf patch, I changed from my old phantasm build which was 10/10/20/25/5 sword/sword-staff. I made this new spec on the day of the patch, and after having a bunch of ppl asking me how I changed from the nerf, I ended up giving this new spec out to a lot of ppl so I decided I would just share it here on the forums for everyone to enjoy.

the build is 0/20/20/30/0 once again taking sword/sword-staff
in dueling I took blade training and phantasmal fury.
in chaos I took illusionary defence and chaotic dampening
in inspiration I took menders purity, persisting images, and compounding celerity.

for the gear I went with a full knights set of armor with divinity runes down the line. for trinkets I am going with a zerker back piece, cavalier amulet and accessories, and then knights rings. for food I went with bowl of lemongrass poultry soup and superior sharpening stones. I decided that because the build has perma regen in combat due to the 15 point minor trait in inspiration, that it would be nice to bring clerics weapons. you get 300 healing power from traits, and an extra 60 from runes on top of the weapons being clerics, which gives me over 200 hp per second in combat, and also boosts my healing skill up to almost 9k when I have 3 illusions up. I know some people might be baffled at why I went 30 into inspiration, and although the major traits are nice, I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for how awesome the minor traits are for a phantasm spec. the 15 in toughness and 15 in vitality sync up very well to give you perma regen and some semi consistent protection. the build is a bunker of sorts, but don’t let that give you the impression that it doesn’t deal very much damage, it just takes some setup but after you get 3 I swordsman out on the field, your enemy will die, and this is really only needed for bunkers, glass cannons will die very quickly with your phantasms criting over 3.5k each. feel free to leave a comment and let me know how you like it, and feel free to post some phantasm specs of your own.

-Priest of Lyssa (sorrows furnace)

if you have issues with the black lion trading company, just relog and that will usually fix it and let you buy/sell on tp and use their in game store

I Monk For L O V E.7528:

Also Theftwind are you this quick to seriously cry hacker in map chat without any testing or completely obvious hacking. Don’t be mad because you were outplayed bro.

and that’s the truth, with some cheese on it. -The longest yard (remake)

I am the Mesmer in the screen shot. my ign is priest of lyssa, and I am not hacking or exploiting, im not sure why your Mesmer friend wasn’t able to recreate what I did but I remember this situation very vividly, the blink skill allows you to teleport only to areas that you could walk to within about ten seconds (that’s not exact but its something like that)

I don’t understand why everyone is so upset about this nerf. I was shocked and disappointed at first but with a little reworking of the traits im back in business. and yes this nerf did directly effect my build to the max it could have, but I dealt with it. Mesmer is still one of the top pvp classes.

I would really advise that you do not think about toughness as a stat to be thrown to the side. that being said it might be nice to base it around a phantasm spec taking number 3 in the ten slot of power for extra phant damage, this would sync nicely with your 15 point trait in vitality bcuz if you can maintain one phantasm at all times youll then have perma regen, which combined with restorative mantras would be reason enough to buff up your healing powr in some ways that wouldn’t take away from other stats too much like sigil of life which works just like bloodlust except for each kill you gain ten additional healing power. maybe some divinity runes to give you some healing power as well as everything else, along with that ten extra crit damage.

I will admit when I first saw the illusionists celerity nerf I was furious, I had been playing a sword/sword staff phantasm build and I relied on those last 5 points to keep my sword phantasm at a lower cd, along with decoy and I occasionally used phantasmal defender. however I must say after some thought anf theory crafting I rally don’t care either way. I was able to adjust my spec without needing to use that trait and make it work almost identical to b4. this also gave me the idea of running an offhand pistol phantasm spec using phantasmal haste to make the pistol phnt attack almost as frequently as a sword phantasm, combined with sharper images (15 point minor trait in dueling) I ended with a nice little power/condition hybrid phantasm spec with amazing survivability. the traits are 0/15/15/15/25 for anyone who cares to try it out. that’s using sword/pistol and staff

sorry posted the wrong traits, its been fixed.

I know exactly what you mean. Mesmer was the first toon I created during the weekend headstart, since then ive leveled up 4 other 80s, but I find myself crawling back to Mesmer after a couple hours on the rest. it has more to do with the amount of time and the skill level I play on Mesmer more then anything id assume. for now ive decided the others are for pve, and Mesmer is for pvp/wvw

I like the idea. im more a fan of mass invis myself. but we could really do away with moa morph and swap out for something like this. also id say one phantasm that does some pretty powerful aoe damage would be enough, if it spawned 3 like you said ppl would complain about it ebing op. although if they were stationary ones it would be something like an engis supply crate (spanws 3 turrets and some HP packets). could be a lot more interesting then turning someone into a moa bird, and then there would be less of the players who don’t have much Mesmer skill moa morphing someone and then shattering their face off for a quick victory.

the build seems pretty solid. youll get some nice support via perma regen on all party members near your phantasms from a minor trait in inspiration. I like to play on that a bit by going with clerics weapons plus superior runes of divinity for the extra healing power from your phantasmal regeneration. I try to keep my armor at about 3k, crit damage at 50, and crti chance at 30 (50 for phantasms) health in wvw will sit at around 20k. overall id probably advise going knights armor with this setup along with some ascended pwr/tough/crit, and a couple ascended knights rings. you will still have great dps and youll be able to stay alive a lot longer in some of those sticky outmanned situations.

-priest of lyssa

Mesmer is a very slow class when it comes to leveling, theyre very trait dependant for dealing good damage and it can make you feel like youre playing an UP class when you first start out, things will change drastically when you get to about level 60. as far as how they do in different areas of the game, in pvp/wvw they are one of the top classes as voted on by players, but in pve they can be lacking a bit (particularily in the aoe department) that being said the Mesmer is my main and imo one of the most fun classes as far as playstyle and build diversity. I feel anets been doing a good job with the balancing to make more then one build viable for every class, but this is ery apparent when it comes to the Mesmer.

-Priest of Lyssa

Meglobob.8620:

People who are great at tpvp suck big time at WvW, seen it on LOADS of occasions, ‘I am a top 1000 pvp’er’, ‘why do I die all the time’…

I love farming tpvpers in WvW even more than I like farming players with legendarys…

Both groups are free walking loot bags…

I feel the need to reply about your use of “players with legendary weapons” a lot of them myself included are players who play enough to aquire them, meaning they also play enough to get very good at their classes in wvw. granted this isn’t all of them but id like to face you in a 1v1 and then you can decide if youd like to rephrase that comment. -priest of lyssa

I received an exotic from my first chest

hello, just wanted to comment on how much I love this build. Mesmer has been my main since the 3 day head start and I had mostly been running gc or power builds until I decided to look into bunker/retal a few months ago. must say tis is by far the greatest solo roam build imo. just had a nice 1v3 with myself against 2 guardians and an ele, killed the ele and one guard, and the other guard ran away. thank you so much for posting this, lots of fun

IGN: priest of lyssa
Class: main Mesmer, also proficient with guard and necro
Region: NA
Available anywhere from 8am-10pm central time (it varies, but can make myself available any time around then with lee-way of an hour or 2 both ways)
Experience: hotjoins

Also, the comment about switching the off hands around, I spent a lot of time sitting there thinking about what would be better, the reason I chose axe/warhorn and dagger/focus was that the axe has a snare and vulnerability already so I thought it might be better to have a vuln and snare option on my dagger set. also when im going with axe (the ranged option) its usually because im trying to avoid being in melee range hence the speed boos from warhorn. You may be right about switching them around tho as I could then get even more stacks of vuln when im on my axe set. its a tough choice to make

@archon wing: the big reason why I don’t want to take out ritual mastery, is because the health siphon on wells actually heals pretty amazingly in dungeons when youre fighting groups of 4+ enemies, especially when combined with siphon works 50% better. its basically what I based this build around. also @radsaq, the same thing applies to the cooldown on wells, im just not sure if giving up aat sustained healing from the wells decreased cooldown and not to mention all the extra damage dealing and blindness capabilities. im not sure though, anyone have any idea how that equate out? im sure the life stealing on crits would be much better for single enemies, but that’s rarely the case in dungeons

Edit: also a 0 in soul reaping

Hello, id like to know what everyone thinks about this pve dungeon build. I know a lot of people bash siphon builds and claim that the healing isn’t worth the use of traits, but I have had a lot of success with this build and would like some constructive criticism on how it could possibly be made more effective.

For the gear I went with full knights (power/prescision/toughness) with Ruby orbs, and for the trinkets a combination of knights and berserkers.

the traits would be:

30: II/VI/XI
0
10: IV
30: II/VIII/XII

the weapon sets are: Axe/warhorn & Dagger/focus

Skills: well of blood/consume conditions, well of corruption, Well of suffering, Well of blindness, and I switch up between hounds of Balthazar or flesh golem for the elite.

thanks for reading, id really like to know what you all think of the build.

@Cactus: No disrespect taken, I was mostly just curious if anyone in my home world would sink that low