Guild Wars 2

This is what made me stop playing a while back. I don’t/can’t play during the hours most people do, so I’m stuck with no WvW, and therefore nothing interesting to do (in my own opinion). So I log out.

Sad, the recent changes and upcoming expansion rekindled my interest a bit, but I literally just logged in and out within 20 minutes due to zero activity. Haven’t bought the expansion yet, and at this rate I can’t justify it.

Run away! Run away!

It’s been a while, but a few months after launch I ran across a huge, dark-skinned Norn thief named Deebo. Laughed a lot.

Torch invis and 1200 range blink help a lot in my limited post-patch experience. You can blow up a glass LB ranger with your GS combo (swap to it after torch invis) before he knows the fight started. If you miss, though, be ready to blow all your cooldowns to stay alive until you can try again. You’re glass too, so it’s be quick or be dead.

What is it you’re looking to do in the game? For PvE, Runes of the Pack, Strength, or Ogre are solid choices. I’m not certain which is considered best right now (strength took a small nerf but used to be the meta), so you might do a little forum digging.

You might also consider 4 in Inspiration for Warden’s Feedback. PvE is all about damage – your choice of assassin’s gear is actually considered good for PvE mesmers, as your reflects are more likely to crit. Assuming you take Warden’s feedback, you have many sources of it.

Last Refuge is similar to Necro’s old Reanimator 5pt (or rather, 1pt) death magic trait. Reanimator was not always a bad skill, but occasionally interfered with gameplay. Same story with Last Refuge. Both mandate a sometimes unfavorable mechanic beyond player control as soon as you spec into the trait line.

Reanimator was removed, so it stands to reason that Last Refuge could be as well. Or, at the very least, it could be moved to a major as has been suggested many times. Minor traits, since they are not chosen, should provide an objectively beneficial small boost.

Just wondering what everyone’s thoughts on this might be:

I’m currently geared with Speed runes on my thief, but have been considering going strength after the critical damage nerf. I’m 50/50 roaming/zerging. The issue would be that I’m giving up the perma-25% movement speed that I have become so accustomed to. I’ve been playing around with withdraw in place of HiS for healing, along with the about face – withdraw forward trick. It’s pretty good for positioning, but I’m worried that losing the 25% bonus will totally wreck my mobility. However, it does make me interested in dropping the movement speed altogether (due to using Withdraw and Infiltrator’s Signet rather than HiS and Blinding Powder)

I’m considering these possible builds:

http://tinyurl.com/pto6p5w (speed, possibly traveler runes)
and
http://tinyurl.com/kwxuxvy (strength runes)
OR http://tinyurl.com/mw4lklq (dropping Shadow Refuge for 25% movement signet)

Food would either be 100P/70F or 10% damage while moving. Not a massive difference in base power between the two, but with the 7% modifier and ~100 power difference, that’s somewhere around 12% more damage with the strength runes, assuming I keep fleet shadow rather than mug (in which case, ~17% difference, but moving like a slug). If Strength runes weren’t so expensive I would just try both, but such is the meta.

TL;DR – Do you use movement speed runes or pure damage runes in WvW? How do you fare with positioning and escaping if using damage runes? If using 25% speed runes, have you experimented without the 25% bonus and found it to be an issue?

Unfortunately, OP, this thread isn’t going to do you any favors. While I understand the sentiment, asking for validation (even if/when deserved) will not get the response you want. Human nature. Not sure if you can delete it, but I would recommend doing so if you can. Or, if it’s that important to you, prepare for the heat. You will get recognition, just not the kind you want.

I like the weapon, but I’m not a fan of the sound effects. Sounds like clinking a tea cup with a spoon rather than pulverizing things. I suppose the intended effect is “steel on steel” rather than “crushing things” but I just don’t care for it. Needs more thunk and less clink, in my opinion.

Anyone feel the same, or perhaps the opposite?

^
As a Mesmer main who is now playing Warrior and has also played Thief extensively…

wat

As somewhat highlighted in the post above, cultural armor is another issue. In my opinion, though, you’ll just have to take the hit – that is, if you’re a human and unlock T3, then decide to go Asura…sorry bub, your choice. Keep the human skins unlocked but that’s it.

A friendlier alternative would be the choice to “transfer” the skins to another race (i.e. Human T3 legs -> Asura T3 legs), but that would require more effort. I really doubt anyone wanting a race change would let the lack of this option stop them.

Big changes from before, but yep, looks shatter-y. Shatter is very kill-or-be-killed (especially so with GS/Sw+Sw) – not that this is a bad thing, it’s just the main reason I shifted away from it for all-around WvW. You could sorta-kinda back line in a zerg fight, just not nearly as well as some other classes IMO. You will also likely die a lot in a Stonemist or keep brawl, and/or have to hang back and not contribute a whole lot. For roaming though, I readily admit that shatter is tons of fun – enjoy!

To add to the condi removal discussion – I really like arcane thievery. If the CD was a little shorter it would be perfect – stealing a pile of guardian boons or a signet of rage is just really satisfying and effective, and it’s instant 3x removal to boot. For pure removal I agree with Sinaya though – it’s hard to beat Mantra of Resolve, even untraited. It’ll be tricky to recharge it in a shatter build though, you’ll need to be spot-on with the decoy or blink recharge or have to blow an even longer CD – diversion or mass invis (and mass invis takes so freakin long to cast you might as well just recharge instead, haha).

Anyhow, glad you got it sorted and hope you like it!

Here’s my WvW build, using GS and Sw/T:
http://tinyurl.com/mcnzwbc

It’s a power PU build and works pretty well for small scale and roaming. I use zerk trinkets + soldiers/knight’s mixed armor, but yours isn’t far off from mine, just a tad more defensive, so you can more or less ignore the armor page. Yours should work fine. The heal can be whatever you prefer, arcane thievery can be swapped for the condi mantra, and sometimes I take Mental Torment instead of Empowered Illusions (I played shatter forever and still shatter a lot, hence taking deceptive evasion over phantasm fury). Lots of room to personalize, this one is based on Osi’s hidden cat power PU concept (his thread is stickied).

It’s not really a zerg build, but it’s pretty effective at messing with enemy groups. Torch invis into the back line (from a flank if you don’t like dying!), pop out into blurred frenzy right in the middle, blink away and swap to GS to drop a phantasm. Just be ready to use some more invis to get away, positioning is everything!

If you’re going for GS+ Sw/Sw for the aesthetic (and therefore must use offhand sword), I would go with this:
http://tinyurl.com/poxph34

I would feel obligated to use the condi removal mantra here because of lack of cleansing conflagration. Still not fantastic, but welcome to mesmering, right? You could also give up points in domination or dueling for condi remove on heal in the inspiration line.

This build would be much more offensive due to having two heavy-hitting phantasms, so you could consider phantasmal fury over blade training, but I would personally take blade training for the MH sword cooldown reduction (and bonus offhand reduction too!). You could also swap phantasmal fury in for the manipulation range, but I really like long distance, short CD blinks. It might be worth swapping manipulation CD reduction for illusionary defense, since I would play this much more like a phantasm build…but shaving those few seconds off of the blink CD has saved my kitten A LOT…haha.

There’s a lot of discussion of making gold, and I can certainly understand the frustration of being broke, but I’m not sure that’s the main issue here.

OP, it sounds to me like you might need a break from GW2. There’s nothing wrong with it, I’m currently back from my 3rd or 4th several month break myself. If you find yourself not enjoying what you’re doing with the game, don’t play! Pick up another game, or invest more time in some other hobby or interest for a while. Moderation will spice things up for you and you might find yourself interested again in a few weeks or months. My last break was about 4 months long and I don’t feel like I “lost” anything by not playing. GW2 is great in that respect. Ask yourself WHY you’re playing, and if the answer is “because I need gold to enjoy the game” or “so I don’t miss my dailies” (I’m guilty of this one) or “because I have nothing else to do” you should probably stop.

Hope you get it sorted, I empathize.

Money available to players are limited in a single moment…the DOZEN THOUSANDS golds speculators have doesn t magically appears from nowhere while they just click ……

They comes from farmers and buyers….they are just parasites….they give nothing and they are useless.
They subtracts gold from the economy..

They slightly fight inflation but the damage to PLAYERS economy is way worse than inflation itself….
While promotiing a HUGE inflation when it comes to really rare items

Proving that even the smallest thing they could be useful for isn t working.
(iinfact account and soulbound are for example better antiinflation mechanics….)

Your opinion does not change reality. You can’t have a useful system where manipulation does not occur.

You are insinuating that you know better than an economist how to run an economy.

Did you run out of arguments?

Let see the universal answer to ANY post on the forum:“you are insinuating you knows better than a game developer?”

[/quote]

These are very different statements. Perhaps I should have reworded: You are insinuating that you are more knowledgeable than an economist, regarding economics. Unless you are an economist by trade, you should take a step back and inform yourself that you do not have the same deductive tools available as one so educated.

I understand that people do not change their minds quickly, but I suggest you take a genuine look at alternatives instead of just outlining what you see as a problem. You may eventually come to see why there is no issue here. You are upset by what you perceive as unfair, I understand that – but there is no unfairness here. For now we must agree to disagree.

LordByron.8369:

Diviner.7405:

It is so EASY to power trade on the TP, and yet so many people complain about it.

Where are you pulling this 30% from? I can make up numbers too.

If you buy and reselll in order to create demand and gain a margin you have to get past

15% taxes that the “farmer” will lose
15% sell taxes

And your profit…

Obviously its not 30% (because the prices are different and the second 15% has the first 15% transaction cost added)i simplified it.

So instead going from
Farmer +15% taxes => player needing it
with benefit of both final user and farmer we will have

we have
farmer +15%=> TP flipper => buyer that will pay 15% more and then also your profit.

Proof of this system inequity:
It will work only if FEW do that ….when too many tries instead the system fails (see gossamer)

[…]

This system would be only acceptable if TP war was the main part of the game and you could win by dominating the TP….its not in a game called guild wars 2 based on Killing stuff.

You are waaaaaay off base. What you’re upset about is the fact that people are impatient. That’s the entire reason TP flipping works. I’m sorry, but that is life. People only pay/sell for what they are willing. It is NOT the fault of the seller that the buyer is willing to pay a premium to have their item immediately, or that the originator of the item is willing to take a loss to have their gold immediately.

Regarding speculation: There is nothing wrong with intelligent individuals looking ahead and determining what materials will be in demand, and then stockpiling. The price would rise, regardless, due to the demand. There may be a spike due to the stockpiling, but if you miss the train, too bad. Once again, people only pay what they are willing.

There is no way to have large scale trading without supply and demand. You are insinuating that you know better than an economist how to run an economy. I’m not sure what changes you would propose, but lacking a large scale trading system would only exacerbate the “problem” of people making tons of money. I challenge you to come up with a system where no user can make gold through intelligent play/planning. It is absolutely impossible.

On topic: Grats, OP!

That looks solid. 200 less power and 300 vitality for 350 healing power and 16% more critical damage, hard to argue with that. If nothing else I may shoot for that gear setup, I’ve got celestial rings in the bank I was never going to use anyway. May swap the runes for traveler’s, as I’m awfully impatient, but it looks good. Thanks for the suggestions guys!

That’s an excellent point Harbinger. Based on KUTUM’s suggestion and yours, This is what I’m looking at:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARSlUgiDnGyNEfIFhtgqCxDnRFz41DIGxGC-jECBoLBi+IQJPKrZPCilhFRjVXDT5SQW9KpyAovAA-w

The boons on virtue pop are great, but JiB seems much more powerful for clutch plays.

You definitely hit the first change I considered making, which would be 5 out of virtues and into JiB. The 20% damage is attractive, but in practice I’m not certain it would be worth taking.

Being upleveled, I don’t have a good sense of how much combo damage I can dish out after popping an aegis, but I do occassionally get some hits off with aegis up (though I run in a small group or zerg currently, being sub-80). Any experience with this trait (Unscathed Contender)?

So I’m completely new to the Guardian, but am interested in a decently heavy-hitting WvW Roaming build with moderate mobility/control. This is what I came up with:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARSlUgiDnGyNEfIFSWhCsqQ8gpoiyorHQUE1QA-jECBoLBi+IQJPKrZPCilhFRjVXDT5SQW9KpyAovAA-w

All the things for meditations (possibly with the new heal, if it’s decent), plus some damage and healing traits (including heal on dodge + energy sigils). Aimed for ~2800 armor and ~30% crit chance (50% with fury from meditations) and as much power and crit damage as possible.

Comments/recommendations from those who know what they’re doing are requested, thanks! I imagine something like this has been built and tested plenty, but my search skills are apparently inferior.

tyrone.5974:

I ran the shatter build for a long time and death was always happening lol. People that so run it still run a lot of toughness in terms of jewelry. The pu build has been amazing. There are so man variations to this class that’s why I love it.

I started my journey to ascended items as well. Going for zerk stats on most, stacking toughness on everything to me seems a bit overkill. You will be possible to kill but deal no dps.

Yeah, it’s a right of passage, haha. Zerk shatter is tricky, but fun. I’ve been pretty happy with (ascended) zerk amulet, back, and rings with 2x cavalier accessories. Zerk weapons (exotic). Full rabid armor set gives plenty of toughness once you dump points up to PU.

If I were to go back to shatter, I would likely go knight’s for the crit-inefficient pieces (head, chest, legs). One misstep and it’s splat city with nearly full zerk. Hybrid PU is considerably more laid-back, haha.

cyberwolf.5830:

Now I’m using a shatter build which is much more fun but I die a lot:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAscWlwziqHTzoGb9ICqHYH49dkU0asWJF82FC-jkDBYLERj0HDRjKBM5JYZPopPIJQRsMsIasKGYKXCpqYR2cWQ2iOpeDYCBIaCA-w

I think everyone should run shatter for a while. It improves your mesmer-ing. I ran it for months and even with a phant/hybrid/PU build there are play aspects you can pick up from shatter that help a ton. You’ll learn positioning, when to use what shatters, when to use blurred frenzy, etc. It’s much less forgiving than typical “roaming” builds (though I have no experience with full condi), and can be much more fun as a consequence.

This build is more or less what I ran, swapping sword for focus (before traveler runes gave a speed boost, I used centaur + focus for perma-swiftness and stomp-guarding). Staff is clutch for shatter, as you need to be as slippery as possible.

I run a variant of BlackDevil’s hybrid for roaming:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Maximised-Hybrid-Phantasm-Build-Roaming/first#post3168255

Pick up a full set of rabid armor for toughness and a bit of condi (you can leave your trinkets zerk, I run 2x cavalier though). You can read my post in that thread to see the differences between what I run and what BlackDevil runs. I find this to be fantastic for roaming (PU in general is great for it). You will have a weakness to conditions (welcome to being a mesmer!) but you’re slippery enough to avoid a good bit of it outright. Mender’s Purity is getting a buff soon, so that will help (a little) as well.

I use traveler runes with a build based on BlackDevil’s and love them. It’s not really the crit damage (I’d actually prefer the power), but the boon duration. 45% additional boon time (rather than 30%) with sigils of battle on both weapon sets makes for great might uptime, not to mention the extra protection duration. You also get 10% duration to all conditions, rather than 15% to bleeding only.

In short, they’re good but not necessarily better. If you’re using the potion trick, it’s debatable, but I don’t care to use it so I went with traveler’s.

As a side note, if the Mender’s Purity change goes through Dec 10, it will remove two conditions rather than one. You might consider dropping the torch trait for it, so you can replace that lackluster iMage

Also, cool vid! Wish I could see your previous one, but it won’t load for me. Something to do with the music, maybe?

Thanks for this, BlackDevil! After an unfortunately necessary hiatus from GW2, I came back looking for something that wouldn’t be a complete re-gear from shatter. I wanted to share my experience and slight changes I made in the hope of providing tweak options for those interested.

For anyone debating whether the condition damage is really worth it over the additional power, as I was…it absolutely is. With the condi duration food (veggie pizza or koi cakes), you WILL hit 20 bleed stacks regularly. This is incredible pressure, and at ~500 unbuffed condi damage, you’ll be ticking for 50-60% more than base bleed damage. Add might stacks (from sigils, Bountiful Interruption, and GS), and your opponent MUST answer, or die. Watching 4 figures tick every second is delightful

My changes -

Runes: Traveler. Yeah I know, not really a cheap option, but they fit this build absolutely perfectly. The set is perfectly synergistic – more crit, and the boon and condition duration are fantastic (particularly the boon duration!). I’m also not keen on doing the potion trick, so the speed boost is reason #1 I went with them.

Sigils: Battle on both main and off sets, plus accuracy or perception. Might uptime is excellent with 45% boon duration – not to mention all the protection available with the stealth skills.

Traits: I really dig Debilitating Dissipation with Deceptive Evasion, and feel I have enough escapes that the 20% blink CD isn’t necessary. Not to say I won’t run into a situation where it would save me, but I haven’t needed it so far.

10 more into Dueling currently is very appealing for this setup due to the confusion on clone death and long CD of the phantasms. Grabbing Duelist’s Discipline in addition to what is already in place is very tempting to keep your heavy hitter out on the field (and your stun locked, loaded, and longer range). However…Mender’s Purity is currently slated for a buff to remove TWO conditions. Heavy condi really is the best counter to this build (assuming the opponent can find you before they hit panic mode), so anything helps, but I would say this trait is currently debatable. If the change goes through, hands down for the 10 in Inspiration.

That’s it, nothing major – this build is powerful and fun, and there are some great trait swaps available to taste. Thanks again to BlackDevil – hope to see some more youtube uploads from you in the future!

Id: KILL. MURDER. Backstab build? DAMAGE! TAKE. KILL.

Ego: Take ALL the traits! I am a unique snowflake, and I feel good about myself!

Super-Ego: You are a reprehensible piece of kitten. Repent! Spec Shadow Arts only, ignore remaining 40 points, only spam Shadow Refuge on helpless, downed friendly Warriors.

Disclaimer: New, non-main elementalist here. Funcrafting. Here ya go:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=Vl;4R0-X095NNkY0;9;5J;0J;127;557;9;6k51Q

A level 50 AoE/Storm build for PvE. Glyph traits, boon synergy, big Staff AoE, and vigor on crit because you’ll need the dodges AoEing packs of mobs . The lesser elemental glyph provides some aggro-distraction, and fire and water elementals have AoE snare abilities for those packs of mobs you’ll be murdering. The conjured bow and greatsword both have “storms”.

If you wanted to take it past level 60 (there are more effective options from my research so far, but to each his own), you could grab 30 in Fire for Persisting Flames and the conjure trait, or get Evasive Arcana (more AoE) and have some points to play with.

I’ve just started leveling an elementalist myself, also currently at level 13. Just wanted to say that I find D/D quite good. I co-main Mesmer 60%, Thief 40%, so it could be that I’m used to active evasion, but I think D/D has tons of options for PvE survivability.

Fire attunement has Burning Speed, which I tend to use to plow through a couple mobs, then drop ring of fire (sometimes the AoE hits, as a bonus, but mostly I use it for distance). You’ll be out of melee range, and can get off skill #2 for a few ticks while kiting, then hit with Fire Grab (#5) for big AoE damage.

Air is good for RtL/Updraft (#4->#5), AoE-ing and knocking down everything around you. I tend to use this to open, followed by fire or earth, depending on my mood or what’s on CD. Lightning Whip seems to be the hands-down best auto-attack for eles, also. I like to use the aura right before swapping attunements.

Earth is amazing for kiting and nearly as good as fire for finishing. Swap in after air (w/aura up) and #4->#5 for big AoE lockdown and damage. Arcane shield is great as a utility when you want to get that Churning Earth off (I would still use Earthquake first with more than 2 mobs aggroed). #2 is great for kiting groups, and the auto-attack has just enough range to keep out of melee and drop bleeds. #3 is also great for immobilizing veterans, just don’t follow up with the leap!

Water has great heals. I don’t see much love for the #2 channel, but at level 13 (and before) it provides great survivability (and AoE) on a low CD. Time will tell if it’s any good later on. The AoE chill is yet another great kiting tool.

The lesser elemental glyph is good for distracting mobs, and Arcane Shield is amazing if you’re having trouble staying alive. Both are quickly accessible (i.e. not third tier). Just my 2 cents as an also-new elementalist.

Edit: I just noticed we have identical situations, haha. Attunement swap like a madman! If you’re finding yourself out of options, there’s almost always something useful popping off of CD in another attunement. Also, I’m constantly strafing at ~250 range, just out of melee. Play it like shortbow kiting (Thief) at closer range, with more CC options. Somewhat comparable to Staff or GS for a mesmer, also at closer range. Nothing really replaces blurred frenzy though .

Pyroatheist.9031:

I fail to see your point.

Oh blind one, you must ascend to higher levels of being in order to grasp the…wait…

……

Nah, it’s because there isn’t one. Typical internet “smart” guy wants a boost to his ego (disagree, Xephiare) with a “greater than thou” post instead of making a valid argument or contribution (as evidenced by his “I’m not posting anymore” exit).

On topic: The argument can be made that sword is still better in any PvP situation other than ranged spam. Your “cryptic” message has not changed my mind, nor do I even know what you’re trying to convince me to agree with. If you would like to do so, speak plainly and drop the act.

Edit: Looks like you moved to another thread.

I’m personally excited to try out Halting Strike, though I do feel bad for anyone not running Shatter or 30 Chaos (and of course, we all hate the Blurred Frenzy nerf ). Not sure they accomplished their “diversity” goal. Time will tell.

@Lue: If you’ve never been chased across the map in WvW by a mini-zerg (or full-on zerg), it’s probably because you died due to lack of swiftness . I suppose it depends on your intent within WvW – if you’re constantly with a group, the swiftness is usually provided by others. For solo roaming, slow = dead. While it’s possible to juke a zerg using terrain w/o swiftness, it’s less likely you’ll get steamrolled (and then have a long, slow walk back and have to re-stack on-kill sigils if you run them). Personal preference, I suppose, but worth considering.

Agree with Pyro about the scepter. I’m not sure if we’re considering the same scenarios, but in active PvP and small scale WvW there are a million reasons you won’t get that full chain off. Positioning helps, but a good opponent is going to be pressuring you to do other things besides chain that clone out. Regarding MH sword, blurred frenzy and iLeap are undeniably useful in a shatter build – for landing shatters and adding burst. I understand differing opinions of course, but I don’t agree at all that sword isn’t efficient in a shatter build.

I do like that we can have this conversation though, as it means the Mesmer has plenty of good options and is well-designed .

I have to disagree with giving up MH sword. Sword/Focus is a fantastic, versatile combo. Blurred frenzy is great in absolutely any situation, and the immobilize from iLeap is very useful. You’ll rarely have time to complete a scepter clone chain, and you’ll be generating tons from Deceptive Evasion (and normal clone skills) anyway. Any benefit gained from being at range can be gained by using a GS or Staff as an off-set instead. Also, as a glassy build, blurred frenzy will save your kitten (on that note, I would recommend a couple of pieces of toughness gear – Legs and Helm give the worst crit-to-stat trade, so swap those first, and get some armor on your trinkets.

I also use Centaur runes for perma-swiftness. Great for staying alive – you will be chased by groups, a lot. It’s unfortunate that mesmers have to rely on this rune set to keep up swiftness, but so it goes. As for the traits, I would take sword CD reduction over far reaching manipulations (assuming you use a MH sword) for WvW, but that’s personal preference. I use blurred frenzy and iLeap basically every time they’re up. If you put 20 in Domination, Shattered Concentration is crazy good against a number of opponents – Guardians, Eles, Engineers (and nearly every class has something worth removing – like Signet of Rage or Rampage as One). Knocking protection off of people is a game changer. 20 in Chaos is also viable, as Staff CD reduction is fantastic for survivability. Playstyle preference really, I like both options – try them out!

Just my two cents

If true, these changes are not bad at all. Not sure I care for the scepter change, but I see why they did it. In addition to the great points jportell made:

Halting Strike would be viable, and would make Diversion significantly more powerful (staggered ranged clones will murder anyone trying to spam an ability). Combine with the improved Imbued Diversion for some small-engagement (and s/tPvP) murder – though it’s still tough to give up IP. Shattered Concentration will also allow MH sword’s third strike to do an additional 20% damage relative to it’s current damage (not that you use it that often, but still…). Granted, if you’re not boon stripping, it’s mostly a damage nerf. I like synergy, though.

Looks like a lot of classes could get some good buffs, which ultimately is good for the game.

Cercie.1025:

I’ll just highlight a few things.

“Most games you go out and you have really fun tasks occasionally that you get to do, and the rest of the game is this boring grind to get to the fun stuff. I swung a sword! I swung a sword again, and hey I swung it again. That’s great! We just don’t want players to grind in Guild Wars 2. No one enjoys that. No one finds it fun. We want to change the way people view combat.”

People keep citing this as some kind of gospel that Anet has violated. What content are you blocked from participating in? What are you forced to do that you don’t care to?

What system would you propose? Zero progression? People would leave – they did, and Anet fixed it. While I personally don’t care for ascended gear, people obviously have different opinions, and I can deal with that. And this isn’t coming from someone with zero ascended gear – I have one character fully loaded, and two more with a few pieces. The only “grinding” I did was fractals, by choice rather than necessity.

If the dragon wings are the problem, and the dragon bash events required for them – the only appropriate response is “so what?” You don’t like them, don’t do them. Still want the shiny reward? Tough cookies – life’s a kitten. You can still play the entire game without wings.

I rather like the dailies as they are. I play for an hour, maybe an hour and a half per day when I can. WvW is my “endgame” (to validate Vayne’s earlier assumption). I enjoy logging on to see whether I should be capping camps, killing sentries, killing dolyaks, or taking a tower (and of course, the 10 enemy kills). Different objectives that require different approaches.

Sometimes, I just feel like roaming and finding good fights, and I’ll jump out and finish my dailies in 15 minutes in PvE after I’m done for some good old instant gratification (more on this next).

It seems there are two camps that are at odds with the daily system for completely opposite reasons: Those who want to grind for a reward (but are limited by 1 laurel per day/10 per month) and those who don’t want to grind for a reward (but want the laurel gear). Both stem from the same sentiment: GIMMIE NOW! Instant gratification. It becomes an addiction, and it’s hard to break. I’ve been there. I recommend attempting to develop a skill outside of gaming, and then seeing how much time and effort it actually takes to get good at something. Then, come back to gaming and see how accelerated that process is, even when you are “limited” by the systems in place.

TL;DR: People will always complain, and patience is more than a virtue – it’s a necessity to enjoy life.

Excalibur.9748:

Yes mesmer is the most OP class atm

Someone lost to a mesmer recently.

Edit: From a thief? Really?

The Warden not running to target is a bug:

From: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Mesmer-List-of-bugged-abilities-and-traits/first

“Focus:

“Temporal Curtain” – This was changed so that it could not stack with itself by players running back and forth through the wall. However it no longer stacks with any Swiftness Boon in duration like the boon itself suggests it should. Spell does not reflect arcing attacks or attacks from a different z-axis position.
“Phantasmal Warden” – Not running to melee range of the target between attacks."

Focus is so, SO good…try dropping a curtain, then starting your Warden cast. About halfway through the cast, pop your curtain pull. If you get it right, the warden appears next to the knocked down opponent and proceeds to ninja-blender them. While the opponent is still down, iLeap—>Swap for the immobilize, then blurred frenzy. Lots of numbers, and with big phantasm damage the Warden is going to wreck face. Added bonus: Stand on top of the warden to ignore projectiles until you both finish with the murderfest (couple extra seconds after blurred frenzy).

Regarding staff replacement: Staff is great. It will absolutely save your life many times, and is amazing for zerg fights. GS is a good replacement for bigger numbers, but works better in smaller engagements imo (just tried it last night for the first time at 80). The phantasm can be dicey, but seems better than the staff one in most cases (barring lots of conditions on one target that needs to die fast).

I’ve been a staff guy since 80, and literally just picked up a greatsword last night. Mindstab is awkward, but it’s not really a bad skill.

I would much prefer to keep the boon stripping, based on running Shattered Concentration with an iZerk→Mirror Blade→Mind Stab→Mind Wrack combo. Stripping 3 boons right off the bat at 1200 range is brutal (Signet of what? Fail?). If you get this off up close with an extra dodge clone, 5 boons (Illusionary Persona). Stripping fury off of any opponent with moderate crit damage is ~10-15% damage mitigation, depending. And of course, no protection = dead opponent in many cases.

The biggest issue is missing or accidentally canceling it. It’s a small area, and it’s awkward to use. This is an l2p issue for me still (or anyone getting used to it really) but really doesn’t need to be, I think. Kill the self root (preferred), or increase the area (possibly OP), imo.

TL;DR – Keep the skill functions intact, IMO. If anything, remove the self root (best option) or increase the area of effect for Mind Stab.

Aneirin Cadwall.9126:

Let’s just have the Berserker use HB instead.

We have the warden for “stand still and murder things”, and it would be objectively worse for not having projectile destruction or a finisher. Unless the CD/recharge was much, much shorter. I suppose it could make for some good AoE pressure (or damage for PvE).

If I had to pick another warrior GS skill, I’d take Bladetrail. Keep the cripple, keep the in-a-line-AoE, and range tends to be good for phantasms. Potential damage could take a dip, but two hits are common with this ability (and modifiers could of course be tweaked).

Shatter for me. Phantasm feels bloated. Could be my experience level (2-3 weeks at 80 as a mesmer), but I always learn something when I get a good fight as a shatter build, which tells me there is tons of room under the skill ceiling. Phantasm, I either run out of options or faceroll. Haven’t tried many other builds, other than some zerg glamouring.

TL:DR – Shatter.

Pyroatheist.9031:

• Torch phantasm: LOL

Fixed that for you.

Pyro prettymuch nailed it. I’ve only been mesmering for a few weeks at 80, but that torch phantasm is a joke.

You should definitely give the warden a whirl (har har…) for a bit longer – you’ll find some really killer uses. Check out these vids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RctnzpKspQ (Alissah’s vid) for a DPS-ier outlook, or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V6ASnuG8uI (Pyro’s vid) for a tankier take. Both are in WvW, but I hear it’s stupidly good in dungeons too. And in sPvP, people scream about that focus pull…so take from that what you will.

So, here’s my personal list:

Warden: 8.5
Staff: 6.5/9 pvp/pve
Zerker: roll a die, add 2.
Duelist: 8 (kind of a one trick pony, and slow-ish)
Swordsman: 9 (one trick…Clydesdale?)
Mage: Nope.

Edit: This is mostly from a shatter build perspective.

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

Mesmer, and Ranger are overbearing compared to other classes. I kill Rangers on my Necro/Engineer, and I kill Mesmers on my Ranger/Thief/Engineer. It’s not that they are unkillable, or cheating, they’re just stronger than the other classes. They have more capability, or single skills are too strong.

You cannot put Engineer or a Thief in the same tier list as Mesmer/Ranger unless you’re going specifically from a WvW/PvE perspective. You also obviously have never fought a Meditation Guardian, or a glass cannon Elementalist to suggest that they need more damage.

Honestly your post screams a lack of knowledge of classes that aren’t Shatter related.

Come on guys, this dude has “troll” right in his name. (joke, of course)

Some fallacies in your arguments:

Ex1: Mesmers are balanced at high level, but OP at low level, therefore bring them down in power level – argument to moderation (mean fallacy).

Ex2: Hammer warriors have CC but cannot burst – incomplete comparison (they most certainly can, just differently).

Ex3: (A = your argument, B = counter-argument) – A: Mesmer burst is too strong, B: X class has equal burst, A: you can’t interrupt blurred frenzy – raising the bar/red herring… B: you can’t interrupt any class with stability, A: blurred frenzy/mind wrack has a short CD – raising the bar again… B: Thief burst has a 4 second cooldown, no clones necessary, A: mesmers bring more to the team – red herring/incomplete comparison. And so on.

These arguments never end, no response will change your mind, and this will likely inflame, though I hope not.

Yeah, I noticed this. I was casually flipping them and then BAM, mega-profit when I logged in the other day, haha. Thanks, other people who know what they’re doing!