Guild Wars 2

I liked the difficulty of HoT from the beginning. I love the complexity of the maps.

Doesn’t change that HoT was a failure that ANet feels to correct with PoF (and indirecty stated that in the PoF announcement).

The lessons learned (as I see them):

1. Mobs
HoT mobs have been overtuned, everything was deadly from the start. Normal mobs felt like veterans, veterans like elites etc.
PoF: normal mobs are easy to kill, veterans seem a bit tougher than in vanilla.

Lesson learned: People like to feel strong. If people get destroyed by trash mobs, they get frustrated. Feeling strong is back in PoF.

2. Maps
HoT: Very complex, very challenging to navigate and crowded with mobs, very confusing layer-wise.
PoF: Maps are open and wide, mob density is down by a lot. More space, more overview, easy to navigate.

Lesson learned: People just don’t like to get lost all the time and miss events because they can’t get anywhere.

3. Masteries:
HoT: Tons of different masteries, most of them very restricted in use. Double gated (in case of raid mastery even triple gated) by xp and mastery points.
PoF: Very limited amount of masteries. Still double gated.

Lesson learned: Too many filler masteries makes leveling masteries feel like a terrible grind. Casual players feel like left behind.

4. Story
HoT: Total failure to deliver. Don’t know who is more confused, the writers or the players who try to understand what’s going on.
PoF: I pray to five of the six gods that they don’t mess it up again.

Lesson learned: Please let ANet have learned their lesson in story telling.

There is more, but I got other stuff to do.

Tested the soulbeast
hit stuff with greatsword.
Golem died.

Tried to workout rotation
clunky as kitten.
Camping beastform best
but boring.

Played holosmith
LOL
New engineer main.

Played both demos. Really liked the first one. Mounts are a great addition and the new landscape and monsters felt like a good addition.

I tested the soulbeast and the mirage. Both felt like a downgrade.

The soulbeast is just terribly clunky, especially with gating the pet swap while in beastmode. The dagger is good for nothing and stances feel half-baked.

The mirage has no flow to it at all. Without dodges it’s going to be a pain to get out of circles.

I will buy the expansion eventually, as what I want most is new content. Maybe I will main a scourge (played it a little bit, seems fun) or a weaver.

Soulbeast feels terribly clunky.

Dagger is a waste of a main-hand weapon. Who came up with this?

But to be honest, I mostly played power soulbeast. The problems for me are mainly:

1. Too many swaps with too many gates. We got weapon swap which is fine. but we also got pet swap, wich is now gated behind the soulbeast mechanic. While before I could swap the pets for F2 (in PvE mostly for break bar), I now have to leave beast mode and swap to use F2 – wasting time and putting beast mode on cooldown…

I don’t get ANet’s desire to put a cooldown on everything, especially on a class that has two swaps with cooldowns already. Why does beast mode have a 10 sec cooldown? Put the cooldown on traits related to it. Let us jump us in and out of beast mode at any time to actually achieve a fluid gameplay.

Just too many gates, too many cooldowns, too many steps to achieve the same result as before. I understand that the dev’s want us to make decisions. But the way that soulbeast plays does feel more like avoiding decisions.

2. Stances suck. No idea if I will ever once use even one of them. Shout+signet/spirit outclasses them for power gameplay IMO.

3. Traits: If we take beastmastery can we please get the 25% runspeed for the character all the time instead of just in beast mode? Who came up with the current trait and thought it would be a cool idea?

This just for a start.

The real problem is:

185

Always hurts to see a fellow 185er.

Liked the map. Liked the raptor. Liked the setting. Events been standard, not a bad thing.

Disliked the need to identify items. Why would I identify crap again, oh for the chance to find some jewels in between. Feels like a forced gold sink, a forced time sink and and yet another bloody step in the bloated inventory managment…

The question is, should I still update my guide.

On the one hand, the changes to traits and skills are sort of managable.

On the other, this guide has been around for close to five years, maybe I got too narrow-minded on how to play a mesmer in open word and it is time to let it go…

Well, his personal build is using the same weapon setup, mostly similar trait setup as the Lazy Chrono Kai Build, as well as the same heal and blink. Sin gear instead of berserker and mass invisibility for whatever reason.

Render me not very impressed.

Looks way too familiar…

Also he is taking chronophantasma, even though he doesn’t shatter.

In open world you want to shatter for the burst. Things die too quickly. That’s why compounding power is a bad choice unless you only solo champions. Persistance of Memory wins by a mile in open world. Shattering gives you alacrity, he totally misses out on that too.

Fooling around on a golem does not reflect any open world content sorry.

IT IS ALIVE!

Sorry, couldn’t resist…

Let’s all pray for an expansion soon, so there is new stuff to come up with.

Wow, I didn’t even remember I created this topic.

My guide has been around for four years. It is still up-to-date as far as I remember.

Might help…

I have no doubt that if ANet finally got some content available again, they will fall back into old hype train behaviors.

For now they should just hide in shame for the amount of content we received since HoT release. And that is how the silence actually feels like to me…

Open world events, go ranger or druid power with axes.

Tag everything and get tons of mob xp. If you want, trait shouts and be sort of suppotive.

PvE soloing go with reaper, trait for unholy sanctuary and just enjoy the ride.

If someone has a left-over twilight, he/she can just send it to me.

I will craft eternity equip it myself and jump around in circles.

Here, at least I am honest. Not that honesty is worth anything nowadays…

My leveling guide is in my signature.

In the end it is all about preferences, but I would highly recommend a power build with power weapons.

MH axe is great for tagging tons of mobs that give xp (like in dragon stand).

That’s pretty much it.

Tipper.6973:

Season 3 will come out sometime this Summer. It’s likely to feature a new map (hopefully more than one) and will segue us into the next expansion.

ANet has stated that a large chunk of their team is actively working on expansion 2 at this time. We have no idea how far along they are, but if I were to make a (mostly uninformed) guess, it won’t be out for another ~16-18 months.

My plan is to play S3, then take a break from the game until the next expansion.

If they have learned anything from the LS2 to first expansion time gap, than that they should avoid it.

I think the reason, why LS3 is coming so late is, that ANet wants to have some solid amount of the next expansion finished and use the LS itself to build up hype to release the expansion shortly after.

Well, in my humble opinion, it didn’t help the game.

Added too little content and more stagnation afterwards.

We are back to the main problem of GW2, it is just not going anywhere.

Harbinger of Dhuum

Introduction:

Your bonds to the realms of the underworld have grown stronger. This didn’t go unnoticed.
Countless enemies have been vanquished by your hands, and by the strength given to you by your true master.

You have proven to be worthy! He, who was gone but never left, will allow you to be his vessel – his harbinger, foretelling his return to our plane of existence.

As a harbinger, you will force your foes to see their true destiny, giving them visions of what is yet to come.
You also have the power to turn visions into prophecies. Prophecies are stronger and will affect every enemy close enough to be enlightened.

Specialization mechanisms:

Skills:

Traits:

I hope you like the idea. ^^

My signature might help.

Last patch of nerfs sort of hit hard, but you should be able to get around still…

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNMQNAR3XnUqA1Ci9CCWsActgl/AD+s2WnrLvuMQA4JN8DGelMs0A-TBSBABXp8zMlgAcBAe4BAgnuGa2fYhjAAlq/AA-e

For open world PvE.

MH axe for crazy tagging (mastery xp from events with mobs that give xp like in DS). If you go single target mostly, switch out for LB.

GS for mobility and AoE burst.

A bit of group support with shouts and GotL, Celestial Avatar for skipping, mobility and condi removal.

Pretty simple to get around all HoT maps with this build.

Is ASCII allowed on this forum?

Then we clearly need the facepalm one for ANet failing at balancing one small aspect of their game without kittening over the majority of players in all others.

Ah, and yay eSports! Srsly!

eSports!

Thank god, ANet got all their priorities right. What I am talking about is starting with an “s” and ends with “arcasm”.

redcomyn.4651:

Oh, I don’t know…, perhaps the ‘cannon’ part? Don’t most people here think that glass cannon is the best way to go, hence the popularity of berserker everything?

Attacking a sniper should be priority. When a crosshair appears over your head, start circling around the mob. After the special attack fired off, you can stop circling the sniper again.

Don’t stand in the fire. Dodging helps so does Blink.

There are way more annyoing mobs in the jungle, at least in my opinion.

I have never used anything else but berserker gear on all of my characters for all of HoT. It worked fine for me.

I like to use it for my shatter rotation in open world PvE on my chronomancer when I am lazy.

And I am always lazy.

Morte.5916:

What does a mesmer do about Mordrem Snipers?

Keep moving and burst them down. Never understood the drama about those npc glass cannons.

Fay.2357:

Grenix.3762:

AliamRationem.5172:

I just got a mesmer to 80 myself. I wouldn’t say it feels powerful as the damage seems low, especially if you’re using greatsword – which I highly recommend in open world HoT! Self-healing is also fairly limited, but mesmer seems quite survivable anyway.

The illusions are highly effective at distracting enemies and greatsword’s range makes it difficult for them to reach you. You also have plenty of tricks like blink, decoy, etc. to make it that much more difficult when you need to.

I’m still playing around with builds but the illusions + greatsword combo seems effective in pretty much any configuration.

I’m definitely finding this to be true. The best way to not die seems to be avoidance – plain and simple. Decoy has been really great and firing at range with the greatsword gives you that much more survivability. I’m almost thinking the best off-hand weapon might be staff due to the teleport back and quick casting of clones which provides more cover, as you imply. The shield is really nice but I’m not totally sold yet and our options for the main-hand with shield seem a bit awkward to do anything else but get out of the fray.

Greatsword is great for one v one but tackling those pocket raptors and other groups gets really technical really quickly. I wish we had a better way to handle multiple mobs.

Shield is your best bet for pocket raptors with its aoe hard cc and good damage. Additionally, mainhand sword has blurred frenzy, one of the strongest defensive skills in the game. Shield also comes with the double block, better than almost any other skill Mesmer has for damage avoidance.

Avoiding damage rather than tanking it is always optimal on every class. Mesmer has an enormous amount of active defense between blurred frenzy, shield blocks, and shatters. HoT has a lot of nasty stuff that requires good use of these skills, as you’ll run into many mobs that won’t be deterred by a simple short range blink from phase retreat. All the frog archers, ranged chak, wyverns, and mordrem snipers will kitten on you if your only active defense is mobility.

In the end, mesmer/chronomancer is fairly subpar even with all the active defense in open world HoT.

Just play a necromancer/reaper with “Unholy Sanctuary” and you can go on and on and on and on… Just killing stuff without all the worries.

Personally I played most of the expansion as ranger/druid, which is easy too (even though I get bored of it fairly fast now). Damage is subpar, but you have an out-of-jail card all the time with “Celestial Shadow” which is making HoT open world just super easy.
Also, with your bouncing axe, you tag bloody everything in Dragon Stand, giving you insane amounts of XP.

I still spend time on my mesmer, but I sort of feel crippled in HoT when I try to get things done in a reasonable timeframe…

You can check the guide in my signature. It might look a bit dusty, but is actually still up-to-date as not much has changed (the chrono build has actually received a buff last patch).

ANet will use SAB as distraction from the legendary weapon fiasco.

So you are lucky this year!

TheLastNobody.8319:

Lul, well mike I’ll give ya points for not fluffing. But I don’t believe a word listed on this page. Like ya said, I’ll wait and see how things actually work out, not what you type up on a page to generate hype.

I have a hard time to see how people can actually generate hype out of those lines.

Never underestimate creativity though!

Donari.5237:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Donari.5237:

Clearly this is not the whole of the news for the update, merely the need-to-know stuff.

Clearly.

Source?

Source is the quotes from MO’s post that I placed in my comment you excised and my knowledge of the English language. When MO says “here are SOME of the things coming,” I assume he does not mean ALL of them. “Here are a few things I want to give you heads up on … you know more of what is coming thanks to the AMA … etc.”

If he used that language when in fact he listed the entirety of the patch, he’ll have earned all the vitriol coming his way for being misleading. Meanwhile, he has said “here is some stuff, there is more I’m not saying yet.”

Oh, great. So you guesstimated more stuff.

And I thought you might have a clue.

This is the company that said we would get “an expansion worth of content” early in 2013.

We all know how that worked out. If we get anything more than some new icons for skills and new skins in the gem store, I would be positively surprised.

But I would not count on it…

Donari.5237:

Clearly this is not the whole of the news for the update, merely the need-to-know stuff.

Clearly.

Source?

For some reason we got more content in the bi-weekly updates back in the old days than we get now in three month intervalls.

Seriously, what the heck are you doing with all those employees and all the time over there at ANet wonderland?

Celtic Lady.3729:

Ashandar.2570:

DiogoSilva.7089:

If I’m not wrong, those aren’t all the april changes we’ll get, but simply some tweaks to prepare players in advance for what they should do or not do until then.

Please keep in mind that one or more announced features announced may be suspended indefinitely at any moment.

I laughed.

And then I cried a little.

I don’t care what they announce any longer. From now on, I have to wait and see what actually makes it into the game.

And soon afterwards it will get patched out of the game again…

Sir Mad.1092:

DiogoSilva.7089:

If I’m not wrong, those aren’t all the april changes we’ll get, but simply some tweaks to prepare players in advance for what they should do or not do until then.

Ah, after re-reading it, you may be right. I really hope you are, actually.

Hope is nothing but missing information.

Hoping for anything more than what is announced by ANet is a bulletproof way to get disappointed.

Your heart is in for a rough ride:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Upcoming-changes-in-Spring-Quarterly-Update/first#post6072393

May your heart rest in peace…

Nah, as we get tons of content in the next quarterly update, we will be distracted from all the drama.

Oh right.

So let’s wait another four monthes for some actual content I guess.

Yay!

Gaile Gray.6029:

Healix.5819:

“If you own the expansion, you’ll be able to simply log in to the game to gain free access to upcoming Living World releases!”

https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/game/maguuma

Thank you. I was just going to post that when I saw that you had.

At any time after it got released or while it is “active”?

Belenwyn.8674:

HoT was never planned to be shipped as one big lot. It is to be supposed to come in several batches. To evaluate whether HoT is a 100% product or not you have to wait until the evening before expansion 2.

The problem with that is, that they don’t ship the parts that have been suppost to come in those batches…

Colin left the company, that is how much HoT was a 100% product.

The Manifesto has been dead for years.

- BUT -

Every move towards the ideas and inspirations of what they had in mind back then is a move in the right direction.

The further they moved away from their own vision, the more generic the game has become. Sometimes a step back is two steps forward.

When Braham died.

Judging a season by the first game is pretty naive.

And eSports yay…

Hey OP,

I can still recommend my builds in my signature. They might have taken a bit of a hit with the last nerfs (like the whole chronomancer) but they still get the job done.

I do not recommend a pure melee build for several reasons:

- GS is great burst damage
- getting into melee takes time
- you want to stay mobile and still do damage
- many mobs have nasty melee attacks, chak poison will totally get you out of battle if unlucky with a melee setup
- more AoE
- it is super easy to solo many hero points with a GS
- instead of worrying about blocking or evading attacks, just do damage
- etc.

Go solo with a GS even in melee with my build(s). Most of the time it is more efficient than using or switching to a sword as a chronomancer in open world.

But hey, I won’t tell you that I am right, just give it a try and decide by yourself.

Main’d a druid at launch of HoT, sort of enjoyed it. But in the end, the druid is as much of a mess as the chronomancer.

ANet has no idea what to do with the specialization and it suffers from many bugs/flaws from the main profession.

Really, nothing but nerfs for druids and chronomancers.

I pretty much quit, didn’t touch the game in forever.

You can always go with the guide in my signature. It will cover your way to 80 and all things open world.

I didn’t update my guide after the last alacrity nerf (curse you ANet), but this shouldn’t make too much of a difference for a newish mesmer.

Just quoting myself from two monthes ago on this topic:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Shaving you said?

This is how it works for rangers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlhdIR0sGyc

Not any different for mesmers…

ANet has no idea how to balance stuff.

They also got their focus wrong: eSports for the win! As if anyone cares. They try so hard to be something they are not that they make GW2 even more of a niche it already is.

Meanwhile in the real world:

B&S drains players for vastly superior PvP. While PvE is a bit old-fashioned, it is at least something new to toy around with.

Black Desert around the corner: Awesome PvE and a home for WvW people.

Other titles in the making (mainly for the WvW and PvP crowd).

What do the GW2 players get again? A patch with minor PvE stuff every three monthes that destroys professions for an unpredictable time every time.

Are you nuts ANet? Do you think people will support this model by buying your next expansion?

This must be the worst business plan in computer gaming history. You must be living in an ivory tower over there…

Majic.4801:

Guild Wars 2 is the worst form of MMO.

Except for all the others.

Winston S. Churchill sees what you did there…