Guild Wars 2

No, the game isn’t really a beta either.

The reason Anet calls this client a beta is because it’s a cider port and not actually a Mac application. So when the Mac client performs worse then the Windows client (which it always does) they can fall back on the term beta. I don’t think we will ever see a full native Mac client since the cost is just way too high.

This pretty much just cuts Metal there, I don’t think a wrapper could take advantage of Metal as much if at all compared to a Native Mac client. What we have here is what GW2 will always be on the Mac. A second thought that won’t change, only slug along with the Windows client.

Guess we can say we’re lucky to even have a cider port.

tobascodagama.2961:

DiogoSilva.7089:

However, keep in mind that League of Legends has a public beta server, where developers can quickly polish loose ends and refine balancing of upcomming changes. All those tweaks are done in a matter of days, not very different to what Anet is currently doing, with the exception that they’re less disruptive due to being released on a public test server first, before being available on the main client.

A public test server would do wonders for anet, and I believe they know that, but as they have nothing of the sort right now, it’s much better to keep realing quick changes for the most obvious problems than staying idle for a few months until the next patch in a critical period like this one.

In a way, you can say that the main client IS being treated like a public beta environment. Disruptive, yes, but necessary at the lack of a real PBE.

Actually, the PBE is not used for balancing. The LoL devs have talked about this before. Basically, PBE environments are not conducive to balance testing. There are a lot of reasons why, but it comes down to:

• PBE is not an accurate sample of the player population
• Players on PBE are usually more interested in trying new champions and items than playing “seriously”
• The PBE iterates too quickly to draw accurate balance conclusions

LoL does a small amount of preliminary balance on their PBE, but they make most of the big balance decisions by watching the live servers. Which is why their balance team is called “Live Balance”, actually.

LoL frequently launches a new or reworked champion or item to the live servers in an unbalanced state. But even when a reworked champ (and the GW2 patch that just dropped is closer to a rework than a new release) is out of balance on launch, they usually wait a week or two before fixing the numbers.

I’ll use Ekko as an example, because he’s a new champion who had a complicated kit with elements that were clearly overtuned on launch. Here’s his timeline:

• Launch: Patch 5.10, June 4
• First Nerf: Patch 5.11, June 16
• Second Nerf: Patch 5.12, June 23

The important thing about this pattern is that it builds confidence. They’re ok letting their new champion be a little bit OP for a while if it means that everyone agrees they did the right thing when they nerf him.

Nerfing things within 24 hours of release — even if you planned the nerfs beforehand but didn’t get them into the release build in time — is the exact opposite of that. It destroys trust and confidence. Especially when the same balance team is obviously content to let far worse balance problems go unaddressed for months or years.

Well said. I have much doubt Anet will ever come close to Riot on this.. Would be nice though.

I left this game mainly because of the lack of content but also the constant give and take with Mesmers. It’s the only class I play and I have no interest in the other classes. I was so excited for these changes and wanted to come back and enjoy it, now I remember why I quit originally.

I just don’t understand Anet and the thought process they have with the Mesmer class.

We ask for buffs and we finally get them. Then we complain about the buffs lol..

As a PVE Mesmer I’m completely lost right now on how to build for max DPS in dungeons and fracs. It’s almost scary to think my s/s s/f might not be the go to thing anymore.

I can’t say I’m very happy, I was at first though.

When I bought this game I expected there to be expansions like GW1, or at least PERMANENT content added over time. There’s no sub required to play, I wasn’t expecting massive content updates every month, but there’s been nothing.

What do we have? A “story” I don’t care about, no new permanent content worth mentioning, and the same game 2 years later..

I hate Living Story a lot, such a waste of development IMHO. If it works for A-net then good, keep at it. I won’t be staying for long though.

SAB was by far my favorite thing in GW2.

Everything about it was extremely awesome! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to play World 2 due to medical reasons. I would love if A-net would finally bring it back. It doesn’t need to fit into LS, it doesn’t have to make sense. I just can’t understand why you pour so much development into something and then take it away.

Such wasted potential here.

Poundsmack.1506:

I’m curious about this too. We mac users feel pretty neglected here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m super grateful to even have a Mac client, but it seems like it’s not getting a lot of love from Arena Net.

Any ETA on when it’s going to move out of beta and be at least within 90% as good as the PC version?

The Mac beta will never move out of beta. They only keep the beta tag on there as a safety net. If issues arise or they want to drop support for it they can, it’s a “beta”.

Blind Jimmy.1634:

According to https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Communicating-with-you/page/19#post4335997 we will hopefully hear an update soon.

Very cool! Thanks for posting this

Yes.

It’s putting scepter on par with other professions and their auto condition attacks.

^ What Nageth said.

Whenever you’re going to go into large groups LA/World Bosses/WvW turn your graphics all the way down. This will stop the crashing.

I have this issue as well.

Whenever the game is minimized, put into window mode, and trading post brought up the gamma drops.

Going into settings and moving the gamma bar just slightly will put the gamma back to normal, even though the bar is in the same spot. I’ve tried turning off App Nap but this hasn’t correct the issue either.

I’ve had this for quite some time.

“We‘re always working on the performance of the game with every update, but we have a big batch of improvements coming in this feature pack. We’ve changed the way many of the underlying systems work, making them more cost-effective, which will reduce how often players will be seeing issues caused by performance. This is most notable in large combat situations like WvW and at the PvE world boss events. These improvements affect both the server and client performance, so in these situations, you should see increased frame rates as well!”

Will this also increase performance on Mac?

Yep works fine with Yosemite for me too!

• MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012)
• Processor 2.3-3.5 GHz Intel Core i7
• Memory 16GB 1600 MHz DDR3
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M

Better communication is definitely welcomed!

It’s great to see a red tag replying so much.
CDIs are also very welcomed back.

Thanks Chris!

The rage in this thread…

While yes, I would love more content and less LS.
I’m still excited for the feature pack, and profession balances.

I know the one fight I use GS every time is the troll in HoTW.

Esplen.3940:

Well, I listed the areas where I find it useful in Fractals. For dungeons, I rarely ever use them unless I have to range something.

I’ve seen some people keep it as their secondary on all sets for good shovebacks onto walls (but you have to be careful to not just shove everytime you can sigh)

That’s a lame excuse though since Focus can pull mobs into a wall also.

Yeah, it’s very frustrating when another Mesmer pushes mobs away from the group lol..

I wish I could say follow how you want to play and make a cool tanky build but I can’t .. GW2 is not that type of game.

(Which is was suppose to be)

I’ve been in plenty runs with other Mesmer’s that want to run what they want to run..

They go about using staff, torch, and scepter in PVE and it’s horrible! The whole group winds-up wiping because there’s not enough DPS, and their “buffs” don’t help save the group. I’ve had a few tell me their condition builds do more then berserk.. and they also refuse to TimeWarp.

Run with friends and they won’t really care what you play, run with pugs make sure you play meta or be prepared be yelled at, or kicked. To me playing whatever you want is kinda selfish because you’ll be brining down the whole group for your fun.

So I can’t give any advice on how to make a “better” tank type build for Mesmer.
Anyways I hope I didn’t come off mean, just being truthful. Either way good luck

Actually I seriously love Mesmer underwater, and I love underwater combat. I’m use to MMO’s with flying mechanics and underwater is as close as I can get.

But yes thank you Anet for buffs and bug fixes with no nerfs!
There’s still more work to be done though.

Esplen.3940:

Grawl Lava Fractal (Both boss fights), rotate between Sword + Pistol (if vs Grawl) or Sword + Focus (if vs Elemental).

I love running full melee on that fight, lots of fun haha.

it helps indeed
i just dont understand one thing..
in the first build
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQRAsc8dl0npKtFpxVNUrNiqhgyupJdgERKZnSA-TxRBABPt/wVK/KU/goq/AwRBIvXAgZKBJFwTLjA-e
why there is Signet Mastery if it doesnt run any signet?

Fay.2357:

Signet mastery because there’s no better option. You’ll sometimes toss on signet of inspiration or signet of the ether, and that way you don’t have to swap out traits when you do so.

I run Mental Torment (20% Shatter Damage) when I don’t have a signet on. It’s good to shatter your clones right before the target dies, good AOE damage.

Zaxares.5419:

As someone who runs a condi Mesmer build, I’m eagerly anticipating the change to Scepter. However, as I mainly do PvE, I’m expecting it won’t actually affect me that much since mobs tend to aggro onto my clones and thus don’t run around as much to maximise the damage from Torment as they would.

I’m considering bringing out Illusionary Elasticity for another test run now that the clones work properly though.

You should be excited for the Mantra buff then, I know I am!

Riccardo.7254:

Kirito.9207:

skcamow.3527:

This guide contains the best dungeon builds to run for mesmer currently:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-How-To-Mesmer-in-Dungeons

This one here.

The best meta builds you can run.

actually on that link there is more than one build to look at, that’s why i asked
i’d like to know what you people are using and maybe how can i work on mine

Well the guide is pretty clear.

Your main build in dungeons and fractals:

• 1) 6/4/0/0/4 — General Purpose DPS: S/S + (S/F or S/P) — This is the primary build

When you need any type of reflects use:

• 2) 6/4/0/4/0 — Full Reflection Uptime: S/S + S/F — This is the secondary build

I usually just stay in the primary build.

And of course if the bosses are dying so fast and there’s no point in using your phantasms or the boss destroys your phantasms and they won’t stay up use:

• 3) 6/6/0/0/2 — Full DPS, S/S + (S/F or S/P)

This one I have no comment on, don’t use:

• 4) Others, like 6/5/0/0/3, are a compromise between build 3 and 1.

Either way hope this helps

cyyrix.6105:

frifox.5283:

It means if he says it’ll be OP then most likely it will be OP. Not a fact but an opinion with high chance of being correct.

Lol. Clearly you weren’t around when he went off about Signet of the Ether being game breaking after it was announced.

The Signet of the Ether being game breaking statement is laughable at this point, the signet is good, but it is very situational and can’t be used at all times.

Anyways back on topic.

I guess I just don’t understand why adding condition on auto attack is such a bad thing. So many other professions have it, our sword stacks vulnerability too. I don’t think it’s something that is going to go away, and at least the devs are bringing us somewhat back up on par with other professions.

skcamow.3527:

This guide contains the best dungeon builds to run for mesmer currently:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-How-To-Mesmer-in-Dungeons

This one here.

The best meta builds you can run.

Very situational.

I ONLY use GS in dungeons/fractals when the fight is ranged and I have no other choice. I enjoy GS too, but the damage and melee stacking capabilities are not good.

Run with friends and they won’t care what build you use, but if you want to be efficient and work best with pugs I suggest not using GS.

GS is fine in open world PVE though.

Edited my original post.

• Updated original post to be more clear on the changes.
• Added an image showing each skills tooltip
• Added YouTube link

Lovely, there’s people already complaining about Mesmer changes screaming OP!

I wish these people would take and play Mesmer for a month straight, come back and tell me they’re alright how they are..

The counter play?

Just mash 1 key and AA the clone dead before we can swap places…

The skill was never reliable and now it finally is.

Updated my original post and added

“Your phantasms gain distortion briefly on creation.”

Sorry for the confusion. Was out of the house and couldn’t edit the post until now.

I do like the Mantra DPS radius increase. Will give our Meta DPS build more AOE damage hopefully.

xev.9476:

Kirito.9207:

- Offensive Mantras have bigger radius

Unless I misheard, they said Distraction and Pain will now affect up to 5 targets. That’s not entirely clear from, “Offensive Mantras have bigger radius”.

Sorry I was still trying to find the exact numbers and edit it in, fixed now.

Interesting that they’re focusing on torment and not confusion for Mesmer with scepter.

Wow fixing iWarden, adding torment to scepter AA, fixing iLeap, Elasticity effects staffs clones.

WOOOOO!!!

MSFone.3026:

We’ve heard this before though re. bug fixes. I’m happy that there is another chance, but really we’ve been here before. I think there is a big chance whoever said that is just doing PR and they don’t actually have much worked out. Hate to be a downer, but like I said we’ve heard this before, like almost the exact same thing last feature patch, and here we are…

I mean kitten iWarden, at this point it’s almost like if it’s still not fixed will it ever be?

I feel you. I’m being overly positive right now because I’m desperate for some changes. It’s in the back of my head though, the doubt. Like you said we’ve been here many times. Last feature pack we were promised bug fixes, that didn’t work out so well.

tetrodoxin.2134:

I don’t think they’ll show bugfixes in the Skill Bar, except maybe they changed the functionality from scratch.

Yeah, unfortunately I think you’re right on the bug fixes.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Nice! A little over 2 hours before the cheers and tears. =P

Yep haha.

Traits

• Triumphant Distortion – previously granted distortion to mesmer when you have obtained a kill. In addition to this effect, you will also receive 1s of distortion on all of your phantasms that are summoned.
• Illusionary Elasticity – Your clones that you use with Winds of Chaos will now be affected by this trait.
• Maim the Disillusioned – Increased amount of torment inflicted from 4s to 6s

Weapon Skills

• Illusionary Leap – We changed the way the clone is summoned. It is now summoned now at your target’s location instead of your position. This means you will have a much faster response time between Illusionary Leaps and Illusionary Swaps.
• Illusionary Warden – We fixed a bug with this phantasm that caused it to fail its attack sometimes when it is attached to a melee enemy.
• Mind Stab – Dmg increased by 17%, radius increased to 240
• Scepter – autoattack now applies Torment on each strike. Ether Bolt will apply 2s of Torment. Ether Blast will apply 4s of Torment and Ether Clone will summon clones that applies 2s of Torment.

Utilities

• Mantra of Pain’s Power Spike – Changed to 5 target, 240 radius AoE attack.
• Mantra of Distraction’s Power Lock – Changed to 5 target, 180 radius AoE attack
• Mimic – Reworked it so it copy all boons and durations from an enemy your target, making good combos with Null Field and Arcane Thievery.

Watch the Mesmer changes below
Twitch Link: http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/b/560815877
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu-cKaSZbnQ
Thanks to duffy.net for better clarification on skill changes and image.

Menaka.5092:

Kirito.9207:

From the looks of what they posted, it seems we’re getting a big possible chunk of love this time around.

even the april 15 preview did look good…

True.. Just gotta stay positive, but this is Anets last chance for me. If this isn’t positive changes and fixes I’m gone for good.

Martin Kerstein.3071:

One Note Chord.5031:

I might take the under for a day, until we discover the new bugs.

It’s probably too optimistic to think the feature patch will actually address any of these, though.

On the contrary! I talked to one of our developers, and there are a lot of Mesmer bug fixes that will be deployed with the Feature Pack. I do not have the full list yet, keep an eye out for the update notes once the Feature Pack goes live.

Oh my.

This is great.

From the looks of what they posted, it seems we’re getting a big possible chunk of love this time around.

If you read other profession overviews of what is changing and compare it to ours it seems like Mesmer has a lot of changes coming.

Hopefully they’re good fixes.

I’m still hoping for Phantasms to be invulnerable until the first attack is finished.

Devs already said we don’t have this because of Portal…

So hopefully they have changed their mind, would be great.

“weapon skills, and illusions”

Hopefully some PVE love as well!

The anticipation is killing me already.

Xyonon.3987:

So I wasn’t the only one who felt a bit weird when my phantasms tried to kill those bugs in dry top, yet they dealt 0 dmg? :S

The new mobs are great, yet phantasms seem too weak against them. I’d suggest to reduce their summon time and grant us a trait wich gives phants distortion until their first salve. (PvE balance)

For PVE I really think this is something that should be done. Distortion until the first attack is finished. Just don’t put it in PVP.

Yeah it’s cool, I’ve been up there.

Still don’t like being a portal/veil bot though

Yeah it’s annoying to see NPC Mesmers do insane stuff.

I had a friend ask me to put down a portal like Kasmeer does. He was shocked when I told him portal doesn’t work like that.

Edit: What I mean is, he thought I was able to put portal wherever I wanted, not where I was standing.

Esplen.3940:

The only debuff on transforms is for the Watchwork one which was released after the main server optimizations came through. Additionally, with the Embers and Ogre Whistles, I believe that was being abused in WvW to obtain disgusting amounts of numbers in a zerg. With the Ogre Whistles, specifically, they had no duration so you could theoretically have an army of pets following you laying siege to the land.

That’s why it was “unoptimized”.

Like I said I can’t remember exactly what it was. I just know Mesmers didn’t take it very well.

Esplen.3940:

I’m sure they’ve said it, but I feel like it’s being misquoted just like the “Play how you want” quote.

What it came down to was with all the transformations and pets it was a big load on the server.

That’s why they added the debuff when you use a transformation now, to relieve stress on the servers. It’s no different then our clones. Having 3 clones up adding 3 more AI on the server is a lot supposedly, adding more skills seems like it would complicate them even more.

Edit: Hopefully someone who remembers this better can chime in. I somewhat forgot it exactly and could be saying it completely wrong.

Wonder if this skill will be reworked in the balance patch. I know they said it was going to be awhile.