Guild Wars 2

Mesmer Race? Sylvari. Racial skills are a nice alternative to your Mesmer Elites, Take Root for instance is better for tagging or just needing an Invulnerability and Distractions for a group of monsters. Further, there are Grasping Vines for a long root (something we Mesmers dont’ get), and Healing Seed for granting allies Regeneration AoE. Thorn Wolf is decent helper pet, and while Spirit Druid is iffy (long cast and rooted cast at that) it is useful to have that AoE Immobilize when kiting or just trying to tag mutiple monsters.

Gear? Berserker is a standard choice, but I prefer Rampager and Rabid stats myself in most cases. For looks … too many nice ones.

Pick a look … any look… (Some repeated by accident there).

Postscript: If you are PvP or WvWvW more oriented, you may like the Asura for the reason stated earlier.
… Pyro, you are making me want to get that Shadow sword for my Assassin look set.

20 Domination is usually for G.Sword trait. Faster I.Zerker summoning for Cripple AoE and faster Mirror Blade recharge, both of which are used to feed the Shatters. Further, you can use F3 with 20 Domination (15 trait specifically) to stack up a large amount of Vulnerability before a F1 Shatter.

For the builds, its less about Power vs. Critical Dmg + Precision and more towards “Which kittening traits help you more.”

Whatever happened to the version where YOU leaped in (and it was an actual LEAP move), and then you could use the secondary skill to teleport back to where you started leaving behind a clone? (Also known as that Buggy Beta attempt which they apparently gave up on and gave us … this buggy attempt).
Ya know, the method they had that didn’t rely on trying to have NPCs try to navigate 3D terrain and getting stuck on every little piece of rock as their “Leap” is actually 2d?

They could simply do the reverse even. YOU leap forward, leaving behind a clone targeting the enemy. If you hit, you cripple the target. THEN you can use the Swap skill to trade places with the clone behind you, immobilizing anyone around you as you left.

Eh, might as well post the build I used to defeat Liadri.

30 Domination (III, X, XI)
20 Dueling (IV, X)
0 Chaos
20 Inspiration (IV, VIII)
0 Illusions

Celestial Armor with Zerker Accessories and 6x Superior Runes of the Pack.
Sword & Focus + G.Sword
Arena: The one located between Destroyers and Pirates. (Easiest/Fastest for me for P1 stage).
Skills: Mantra of Recovery, Signet of Midnight, Mantra of Pain, Mantra of Resolve, Moa Morph.

Pre: Charge up all the Mantras, yes even Mantra of Pain.
P1: Cast Warden and T.Curtain to block Liadri’s projectiles. Use Mantra of Pain to kill the Orbs (never misses). Use Heal skill constantly to keep up Health.
P2: Begin the run to where the Shadows fell previously and counter-clockwise. Use G.Sword + I.Zerker to do damage against Liadri, switching to Sword & Focus for either Evasion or I.Warden while using Mantra of Pain to keep up ranged DPS while waiting on CD of weapon swap. Use Mantra of Recovery and Mantra of Resolve constantly to keep Cripple and Weakness off of yourself. Near the end, swap back to Sword & Focus, use Moa Morph, and burst to remove the last bit of health with a Mind Wrack + Blurred Frenzy and MoPain uses (remember, dodges make clones in this Liadri build for this ending moment).
Remember to use MoPain or Sword Swings to kill off any Orb during P2 as well.

With the constant cripple clearing, I was able to keep a Square path between the sections where the Insta-death drops occur. Not along the edge of the arena, but rather just a little over half-way between the center and the edge of the arena.

Superior Runes of the Pack instead of Centaur was due to my Centaur Runes are actually on a Rabid set, rather then a better DPS (non-condition) set. Still, they did rather well with how often Liadri would tag my character and proccing the effect for Swiftness and Fury rather often.

Further on the Main Hand Focus ideas, though unsure of strength as the only skill that does direct damage will be the Skill #1. Unsure of strength/overpowered-state of the ideas off the top of my head.

Skill #1 Overload (Auto-attack): You throw a clone of your Focus at your target, which explodes on contact (think Grenades). AoE medium damage of up to 5 targets with no tracking. Random condition between Torment x1, Confusion x1, and Weakness x1 (4s duration each). Projectile Combo: 20% chance. Range 1200. Cast Time: 3/4s.
Skill #2 Images of Remorse (Clone): Up to three targets in a selected targeted area gain Weakness for 5s, Torment x3 for 4s and have a Clone of you targeting them. Up to three allies in the area gain 5s of Regeneration. Cast time: 1/4s. CD: 13 seconds. Range: 1200
Skill #3 Web of Disruption: AoE zone that cripples targets for 2 seconds and applies a 1s effect/condition that interrupts the next skill used/being used (and removes itself once this occurs). Pulses both the Cripple and the Effect/Condition Interrupt every second for 2 seconds (initial, at 1 second, at 2 second for at most 3 “hits”). Allies in the zone gain 1s of Aegis per Pulse. 1/2s cast. 20 second CD. Ethereal Combo Field. (Note, creates a field that does work with the Warden’s Feedback trait for reflection).

Has something for the Condition Dmg side, with Torment and a bit of Confusion. Not to mention the conditions from the Chaotic Interruption trait.
Has something for the Power side, ranged AoE damage auto-attack, On-location Clone generation for Mind Wrack, and Interrupts (with the Halting Strike trait).
Has something for Boon-lovers, (Regeneration on Demand, Aegis for Allies, and Bountiful Interruption trait).
Has nothing for the Mobility lover, though.

MH Focus.
I want my character to have the option to charge into combat while holding TWO mugs of Beer!

And if the auto-attack for a MH Focus is to throw said Focus at the enemy where it proceeds to blow up for AoE damage? All the better.

Out of curiosity, are those Fears supposed to go through Invulnerability, Stability, and even hit someone in mid-dodge?

That happened to me repeatedly in a small guild fight.

World Event Champs? Note, that most BIG enemies (Dragons, Shadow Behemoth, Fire Elemental) aren’t Champions but rather something else. Further, there are some enemies that are Legendary status rather then Champion (Taidha Covington for example).

Temple Assaults (Grenth, Lyssa, Balthazar, Melandru, Dwayna) all tend to have at least 1 Champion to kill during their Event Lines. Grenth and Melandru’s are both the event before the Chest event. Lyssa tends to have the most Champs to kill, though I am unsure if they do count.

Frozen Maw world event is a Champion.
Eye of Zhaitan world event chain tends to have at least 1 Champion Risen Abomination. You can end up with 3 Champion Risen Abominations if you get enough people there during an early part of the chain of events … its fun on that.
Dredge Commissar world event is against a Champion.
Foulbear Chieftain (Ogre Wars) world event is another that has two champions during its event.
Modniir Ulgoth world event has 3x Champions at the start of its Boss event, and the boss itself is a Champion.
One of the Settlements for the Karka Queen world event (Camp Karka Waypoint) has a Champion that needs to be killed.
Drakin Cinderspire (Fire Shaman) world event is a champion.
Gates of Arah High Wizard is a Champion, while I think there are two other Champions on the fight to him.
Claw of Jormag loves to spawn multiple Champions to fight and slay with others, even if he himself doesn’t count.

Did I miss any Champions just from world events?

Its possible to do with 20. Even 15 in a pinch and cutting it excessively close with 1 barrel remaining is doable from personal experience.

1) Upgrade ONLY the turrets, have them manned, and blowing up the Stalkers, Igniters, Veterans, and such. This is the best benefit I’ve found for using the Upgrades, though Caltrops Shot is not worth the time to upgrade. Focus completely on the Napalm and Ammo Capacity while taking turns with the other turrets on upgrading.
Turrets tend to be the fastest way to kill most Charr, having an ally out there to make them stay still for a shot works WONDERS.
2) Have people out at the spawn points, intercepting and engaging the Charr. Further, Stuns, Roots, and such as useful as well to grab their attention. Pulls and Pushes are simply perfection for trying to group them up. Guards and Mesmers are great for this, to block/reflect projectiles from Stalkers.
NOTE!: Have the person at the Charr Spawn points be teamed up with an ally manning the Turret. This way, they can call a Target that the ally on the Turret can see and send their firepower towards. Especially on the stalkers.
3) Any left, watches the camp for any Charr that are missed by the ones outside and supports the same allies who call for help if they are overburdened or has one/few that escape their grasp.

Lastly, consumables help.
Seed Turrets, Ogre Pet Whistles, Frost Guns, Rocks, Nets, etc. Anything that brings an extra body/target or is a great CC is always a wonder to have on hand.

After thinking it over about where I would like the Phantasmal Warden to spawn, I can’t help but realize that maybe there is a second option that would work well for every Phantasm we have.

Take a leaf out of the Bouquet of Roses #1 cosmetic/costume brawl skill, and turn it into a multi-stage activation.

If you press and release, before .5 seconds are up, it summons the Phantasm at your location.
If you press and hold until after that .5 seconds go by, it turns the cast time into 1 second cast and summons the Phantasm at the target’s location.
(Or make it .75 second and 1.25 second for the times, respectively.)

Disenchanter, Warden, Swordsman, and Defender would all benefit from this. Duelist and Warlock wouldn’t care, as its usually better to always summon it at your location. Berserker would find it annoying admittedly, as it would take a quarter of a second longer to summon the Phantasmal Berserker on the target for it to spin, but would have the option to summon it at your location so it chargers towards the targets head on (Fixed annoyance by reversing the “At Your Location” and “At Target’s Location” for Berserker for this skill alone.)

With the horrible joke of Vengeful Images only applying to the first 5 seconds of a Phantasm’s existence I know most of us were angry and sad. Righteously so.

What is even worse?

The fact that the retaliation on Phantasms doesn’t even do DAMAGE anymore.

So yes, they went and changed the minor Trait Vengeful Images into a 5 second buff of NOTHING.

ANet, please put ANYTHING there now other then this completely useless trait that anyone going into Inspiration has to take. ANYTHING.

… why am I even kittening playing my main character anymore.

Jokes about Trahearne aside, I wouldn’t mind this as an Elite Racial Sylvari skill.

That said, after 60 seconds Caladbolg doesn’t desummon. Rather Trahearne shows up and starts begging in his monotone voice to give back Caladbolg, with sound, and following the player carrying Caladbolg until they swap weapons. That would be enough to get anyone to drop the sword.

Would be great for utility purposes (even BETTER Defensive prediction, ability to place outside of damaging AoEs), but sadly unlikely going to happen. Though if this did change, there would be complaints when trying to fight some enemies like say … Dragons and casting Phantasmal Warden/Zerker on its head?

Even with that said, any changes to Phantasmal Warden would change how I currently use him in PvE … for good or ill. Thats discounting players who have learned to love using Into the Void while casting I.Warden as a combo of better insured damage.

I know they could change the Phantasmal Warden AI to emulate the various Turret skills, Ground Targetting. Skill is casted, and the I.Warden does the AI bit to decide which enemy to lock onto (and die with).
If the Mesmer has an enemy targetted, the I.Warden locks onto that enemy and proceeds to follow its normal (and admittedly strange) AI.0
If the Mesmer does not have an enemy targetted, it picks the closest hostile mob to ITSELF and locks onto it. If it locks onto a nearly dead mob … oh well.

Just a few details exist before this can be implemented.
What happens when you spawn the I.Warden on a vertical surface?
Stuck warden, can’t shatter on target, only replaced by being the oldest of 3 phantasms, and various other annoyances that would pop up.
Would you alter/fix the AI so that the I.Warden no longer believes its attacks are 900 Range, and thus only moves after the enemy when it moves that far away?
If you change the AI, then there will be complaints about how its no longer capable of being Defensive in blocking Missiles taking away from the Defensive method … and likely having the I.Warden spin MUCH less then before. If you don’t change the AI, it keeps the Defensive option of spawning it on allies and making it likely to do it spin but earn the ire of the more offensively oriented players who want the damage.
(Idea to appease both? Keep AI as is, and fix I.Zerker … everyone mostly goes home happy =P)

Just having it exist though without it being “Locked” onto a target to die with? Bad idea that goes against how Phantasms currently function and will be the source of many sPvP and WvWvW rages until its completely flattened via a nerf the next day.

Can you please add in a Trait Retrainer consumable into the game for PvE? Being able to swap between builds in dungeons and even in Open World would be great, without needing to hit town over and over.

For pricing, just make buying it cost 1.5 times more then what the Class Retrainer costs to retrain your traits.

Oh very nice, I had to go and buy the Eye of the North pack for GW1 … finally, … but the Cosmetics were still worth it to be honest.

The Heritage Chest piece really does finish the look off better then the AC Light Armor did.

Huh. No mention of Confounding Suggestions in all this?

First question will be, exactly what content is this for? PvE, sPvP, WvWvW, Dungeons, etc? Further, will you favor the Staff over the Sword & Focus, the reverse, or be constantly swapping weapons the second the CD clears?
… There are just too many ways for you to lean. If you grab Deceptive Evasion, I wouldnt worry about the Staff Training and may find yourself using the Sword/Focus over the Staff in most cases and Blade Training is great to keep using Blurred Frenzy to try to stay alive while DPSing. If you don’t get Deceptive Evasion, you’ll be relying on the Staff’s Phase Retreat to produce you MOST of your Clones, and thus the Staff Training Trait is nearly a must and you’ll likely be favoring the Staff over the Sword and finding the Blade Training to be a bit less useful..

My own Hybrid, which I consistently call an “Odd Duck” build is kinda similar. It lacks the 20 in Chaos though, and thus lacks the Staff Training trait for 20% off CDs. This works out fine, as the Sword/Focus tends to be my primary weapon with the Staff acting as backup/ranged or swapping to for ally reviving (Drop a Chaos Storm on the ally’s head, and start reviving while using Mantra of Recovery, Chaos Armor, and Distortion to stay alive along with Aegis Procs).

0/20/0/20/30 traits with Blade Training, Deceptive Evasion, Mender’s Purity, Restorative Mantras, Compounding Power, Illusionary Elasticity (Or Phantasmal Haste if I find myself not using the Staff all that often), and Illusionary Persona. Restorative Mantras is swapped for Warden’s Feedback when I know I’ll be facing Projectiles though. Weapons usually tend to be Sword/Focus + Staff, though I carry 1/each weapon along and my utilities tend to be Mirror Images, I.Defender, and Signet of Illusions in PvE … Swapped out for Feedback, Null Field, and such depending on the fight/situation of course. Sadly, its missing both the +20% Mind Wrack damage and the 2x +15% Phantasm damage.

I tend to rather like Rampager’s Gear with Sharper Images. It makes the Clones actually do damage in most of their swings. Further I.Warden and I.Duelist can lessen the damage disparity between a Rampager Mesmer vs. a Zerker Mesmer on most mobs. In fact, I am quite comfortable entering a fight with a PvE enemy with just 3x Clones and the Phantasms/Shatters on CD, as the clones (whether Staff or Sword) will still do damage but also be beneficial depending on which I have out.

This happened almost by accident, and while its not an exact match it was close enough to suddenly ping a connection for me between the look and Elizabeth.

Coat: Heritage Great Coat Armor
Shoulder: CoE Token Armor
Gloves: TA Token Armor (Any works, really)
Legs: CoE Token Armor
Feet: Whisper’s Armor
Dyes used: Celestial, Sapphire, Midnight Ice

For further Allusions, the Runes are 6x Superior Runes of the Mad King giving a small reference to the Songbird. Mesmer + Portals for well the Tears. Mad Memories and/or Arcanus Obscurus for a certain little scene.

What do yall think? Any pieces of gear or combinations that may fit better then what I already have out there?

Edit: Image two post down.

Went and made another armor set … my Third Rampager’s stats with Mad King Runes this time. Strangely, this cosmetic wasn’t so much as planned, but fell together by circumstance and I couldn’t resist.

I know, I know. Its not an exact fit for the character inspiration but rather a loose approximation, but I couldn’t help but make a small connection with the setup.

Meet the allusion to Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite! Its Pretty, yet Practical as well. Includes a flock of Birds on the Elite Skill in homage to the Songbird, and even Portals!

The mystic forge does not take the exotic fractal drops at all, currently. They don’t even show up in the various items to put into the mystic forge.

That is, unless they changed something since I found my last fractal drop, which is an exotic weapon that lacks any stats beyond damage, and needs a fine transmutation stone to actually place its look on something with stats. Unlike an actual skin which does not need a transmutation stone.

Working as intended … sadly. It was made/changed to the current “No Swiftness Boon, if the ally/player who crosses over the wall already has Swiftness” to prevent a maxed out duration of Swiftness from one skill by any opportunistic players.
Even Symbol of Swiftness from Guardians only gives out 1s of Swiftness per pulse, to any allies that is standing in its field while already having Swiftness, rather then the 8s it gives to anyone without.

All other Swiftness skills, that I can think of off the top of my head, are not fields/walls but rather instant effect for the boon.

So all the other Swiftness skills have a max ally limit, usually 5 people. Temporal Curtain is only limited to how many people run over the line … if they don’t already have Swiftness.

That doesn’t mean its bloody annoying to place down a Temporal Curtain and suddenly be caught by someone else’s 5s Swiftness boon right before you run over your Curtain. Bloody annoying that is.

They should make it where it sets your Swiftness Duration to that 15s+Boon Duration increase, if your current Swiftness Duration is under that amount. Otherwise, nothing occurs when you hit the Temporal Curtain wall.

@Eleri.9823
Is that a Human Racial chest armor? Cause I would be very tempted to copy … or close to copy that look for one of my armor sets if it wasn’t.

Icelin.8412:

Love the Sailor scouts brings back tons of childhood memories, but shame on you for having Sailor Mercury in the back with no blue hair at that! She was my favorite. …
Sorry I derailed off Guild Wars 2 topic but good memories.

Further Derailment.
Here you go, a screenshot of the Sailor Mercury with Blue Hair … and other wrongful details. =P

Vawn.3041:

A bitz.3825:

Practical? I’m not sure but they win some internet.

What chestpiece, shoulders, and gloves are those?

Temple Chestpiece, Country Shoulders, and I think Temple Gloves.

Kinda funny, as my Mesmer shown above actually does have a set that looks exactly like that. =P

@Andrax.4576
There is nothing Practical about that armor set!

Here are a couple of my more practical cosmetic looks for my Mesmer. First there is a “Noble” look that is probably the least practical of the trio. There is an Assassin look that almost completely hides all skin. And finally, is what I’ve formerly dubbed “Business” look but tempted to call a Canach look now.

Heh, yes I decided to just post one screenshot with all three rather then post three different screenshots =P

Sclerite, Fervid, Icebrood, Risen, Branded, Destroyer.

Each matches up to a certain Dragon. =P
At least, thats my guess.

Love the new AoE Rings.

I can actually SEE them on the ground, rather then wonder if that line is actually red on the ground, or simply my imagination playing tricks on me.

… Blasted Red/Green Colorblindness.

Clark Skinner.4902:

It is my impression that Guild Missions, particulary Bounty and Puzzle, and to a degree Trek, were designed to be done with the aid of a resource like Dulfy.

Can you imagine trying to find bounties without the map of their pathways, and without being told the strategy to beat them? How much time would be left to fight them?

Can you imagine trying a puzzle for the first time, with the ungenerous time given, for everyone to orient themselves, speak to the NPCs, look around trying to figure out the puzzle, and administrating who should do what to continue? Finding the traps, the keys, the consequences and learning from them takes time. Dulfy’s guide does that for us all.

On Guild Puzzles?
Easily can be done without a guide. You just NEED to be able to communicate with guild members. We of [EG] actively called for guild members to be on RC if/when they joined our First run of the three puzzles, and only talk about things or details relating to the puzzle.
Proximic’s Lab? Done on first try, no guide on the very first day it was released (no Dulfy guide.) Wrote a guide ourselves for this one, though Dulfy’s is much better.
Langmar’s Estate? Finished on the second try. The first try we ran out of time, due to trying to puzzle out the Portrait room. We helped Dulfy with the guide on this one, rather then rely on it to get us through.
Angvar’s Trove? Finished on the first try. Again, helped Dulfy with the guide.

In all cases, we went in blind, swarmed in trying out various things then saying over voice chat or guild chat what worked, or if something occurred, then getting everyone to stop what they are testing, and then sync up to pull off the puzzle at hand.

In other words, no the Dulfy Guide is not needed for the Guild Puzzles. They DO mean a LOT of guildies will not be left behind and miss out on the end of the puzzle AND make it a heck of a lot less confusing though. Especially when trying to get people to sync up to do a task.

Guild Bounties? Its the Location Maps I love from the Dulfy site. It lessens the area that is needed to be searched rather drastically. Never bothered reading the Dulfy Strategies as you usually can figure out the trick to the Bounties just by reading the tooltip on the Bounty itself if its not dieing for some reason. That said, a number of us have started memorizing the locations/paths for various Bounties to the point we don’t bother loading up the Dulfy guide anymore.

Guild Challenge and Rush? Its very nice knowing exactly where to go. I have never really read the Dulfy Guide beyond that though.

In the end, the Dulfy Guide is not NEEDED but that does not make it WANTED or USEFUL. People can learn how to do the guild missions without the guide, and sure they may fail a couple times before they learn the tricks, tactics, and/or locations to specific ones though. The guide is especially useful for guild members who haven’t had the chance to do the Guild Missions repeatedly just yet.

Phantasms never applied healing to themselves for as long as I can recall.

Two Phantasms next to each other still apply regeneration to each other for me though.

Nothing changed as far as I can tell.

Huh.

Must have been the case that I simply never noticed it before the bug was mentioned.

Bought 20 and found 10 so far.

I’ve gotten 3x Light Consortium Underwater Helms and the mandatory Mat drops.

I’m jealous of you all for getting something other then that underwater helm. -.-

Mark Katzbach.9084

Fixed a bug with Dodge roll where it could get stuck in the queue and unintentionally execute after a stun or immobilize.

Anyone else now notice this happening to us, AFTER they mentioned fixing a bug?

My Mesmer now seems to get hit by this bug EVERY SINGLE TIME since that update.

Nah, the Greens at minimum (They USED to be Blues loot before an update) kinda fits most JPs to be honest. There is a chance for more of the rarer loot, but with Greens I don’t feel to bad throwing into the Mystic Forge for chance at a Rare.

That said though, I wouldn’t mind more rewarding Loot to be honest. A random T6 Mat with a chance for multiple though would be a nice addition to JP chests, and shouldn’t cause much of a problem.

Jumping Puzzles are a part of a way for me to unwind by doing something completely different, yet I still walk away with a little something before I go back to a dungeon/farm/wvwvw/etc. The scenery in quite a number of them are quite nice as a reward as well.

Ayrilana.1396:

You don’t have to rely on mesmer portals if everyone does it together and doesn’t proceed further until everyone has caught up.

That doesn’t always work, when dealing with the overall time limit.

Langmar’s Estate can be very time consuming in some parts when dealing with low numbers. To the point you may not get a second chance if you have to redo things because someone fell behind. The Statue Room alone can take a while, with the random placement of the weapons in the twelve Weapon Racks while dealing with enemies. The Portrait Room can be lengthy without numbers to have a person at all twelve curtains, or six serious puzzle jumpers running from the inner to outer portraits at the same time. The Statue Room ALONE makes it a nightmare to WP back to the start, and start rushing through the previous puzzle parts to catch up to, and push forward an ally who fell behind.

For Proximic’s Lab, things are EASIER in comparison. Only the last room really takes up a large chunk of time, though the Costume room can be lengthy without practice. Its also fortunate that the minimum number of people needed to proceed with quite a few parts of this Guild Puzzle are quite low. Only in the Costume Room is the worst place to fall behind at, as you can’t grab a few fellow people who fell behind … or good guildies who WP back and meet up with ya, and get through just as easily as if you had a guild zerg.

As a Mesmer, I’ve actively been trying to figure out how to “Recover” allies who fall behind for whatever reason from the main group.
Advice #1 for [EG]? Doors open, drop whatever you are doing and head towards the exit. Be wary of DIEING by dropping too far though, especially in Langmar’s Estate’s Portrait Room and Multi-Floor Room.
Advice #2 for [EG]? Every Mesmer slot Portal, and drop one before the door, if you are going to continue on into the next puzzle part, or place one just AFTER the door if you are going to run back and rez allies.
Unspoked Advice #3 for [EG]? Don’t stay behind to help rez downed/dead allies, UNLESS you are in a party with a Mesmer or following one around. That way, you can catch their portal after rezzing your allies without taking too big of a risk of not knowing where the portal is going to be.

Proximic’s Lab for Mesmers? Its EASY to recover allies who fell behind at any stage once you reach the Maze portion. It should be very easy to figure out how and where you can setup a portal link to get allies who fell behind into the Maze.

Langmar’s Estate is simply ROUGH to recover from, if anyone falls behind though there is a … slim chance from the Mutli-floor room. There is one setup that can work, but it will require either perma-swiftness and staying out of combat to reach the point before the time limit expires, or a fellow Mesmer setting up their own Portal for you to catch.

Where you ask to place ’em? It should be easy enough to figure out is all I am going to say.

=X

Anyway’s, on the OP thoughts?
Its similar to the Guild Rush. You have to complete, not just participate, to get the personal rewards. It seems unfair, if you are one of those who falls behind. ANYONE who has ever gotten the Crab Guild Rush knows just how frustrating that can be for some allies. Some people make it. Others slam into a Karka over and over when trying to reach the end in that nightmare of a rush … or Insta-death Worm.

The problem with giving the Personal Reward for doing anything but getting to the end? People would show up, do the literal bare minimum to get the MUCH more valuable personal rewards, and ignore ever reaching the end of the Guild Puzzle with its Jumping Puzzle level loot. Especially as there isn’t any real fighting, or scaling, for these Guild Puzzles.

No, they should add a way for allies further in the puzzle to come BACK after the doors close to get an ally who fell behind and redo that part. Rather then needing to start from the very beginning and hoping they can rush through the previous parts, get the ally, and push on to the end before time runs out.

Does Lawful Evil or Professional Evil count as Evil-looking? Strangely, I find this look much more … serious and evil then my assassin + tentacles look.

Shot with the Consortium workers because … well, why not work with the shady group?

Oh, and of course my Cosmetic doesn’t match the standard Consortium uniform. That uniform is meant for the day laborers and victi … I mean, the normal workers who don’t fight.

Untraited Mesmer Healing? Decent healing, but nothing special simply because of Ether Feast being a potentially LARGE self-heal with 3x Illusions out on a decent CD. Mirror is probably the only unique Healing Skill we have, but its usefulness is … iffy in a number of fights when compared to the equivalent “Shelter” that Guardians get with their 2s Block. 2s Reflect is great when facing Projectiles, but a 2s Block blocks … well everything while Mirror still allows AoEs, Melee, non-projectile ranged attacks, and such to still get through for the benefit of the projectile hitting the attacker back instead.
Very, very circumstantial skill. And bringing up the 15s CD for Mirror vs. 30s CD for Shelter isn’t that much of a help as the Healing for Mirror is also lessened in comparison to Shelter.
-Not my cup of tea, but others have made great use of the skill. Especially in WvWvW and sPvP where projectile attacks are more common.

As for healing outside of the #6 skill? Doesn’t exist without traits beyond a few random Regenerations that randomly procs on Signet of Inspiration or Chaos Armor.

Traited Mesmer Healing? COMPLETELY different beast of things, once you start spending trait points into Inspiration or aiming specifically to improve it.
Mender’s Purity – Healing Skill #6 (Any of them) now clears a condition. Very useful in conjunction with Mantra of Recovery (or Costumes/Consumables that places a skill in the #6 slot). So for 10 in Inspiration, we can recover from a lack of Condition Clearing in our Healing Skills.
Restorative Mantras – For 20 in Inspiration, this fixes our Lack of Healing for allies AND it also heals yourself as well. Mantra of Recovery via Charge and 2x Uses roughly matches the burst healing of Ether Feast on yourself alone. Mantra of Pain turns into a semi-spammable Area Heal. Any other Mantra can be labelled as a backup heal if needed (MoPain beats them though) on top of their effects.
Harmonious Mantras-30 in Domination gets you a 3rd use out of Mantra of Recovery before needing a charge (in comparison to Restorative Mantras which turns Charging the skill into a usage roughly). Combined with Restorative Mantras, the healing from Mantra of Recovery is hard to beat. Add in Mantra Mastery, and its even more challenging.
Phantasmal Healing – 15 in Inspiration grants nearly CONSTANT application of Regeneration to anyone standing next to any Phantasm you have out. Suddenly lacking reliable regeneration on skills isn’t much of a problem.

If you go 30 in Inspirations? SHATTERS can either Heal You (and only you), or remove Conditions from you. The healing is relatively weak in my opinion for 30 in Inspiration, but considering it works for any of the 4 Shatters … well it can be a notable sum (but again usually not worth my 10 trait points). Removing Conditions on the other hand has always been a tempting option to use in a number of fights.

TLDR: Without Traits, Mesmer Healing isn’t anything special. Specifically TRAITING for healing on the other hand can make it VERY beneficial, with only the Guardian overtaking the Healing done IMO.

Edit: Whoops, thanks for catching that Kanto.

@Shadow
Down right creepy and fits extremely well, nice match with the Arah armor on that.

@Tinni
High Contrast, huh? I’ll have to try that myself, using dark Blues then and see how it turns out. I’ve also heard that Pastel Lemon can kinda match the color (but not glow) of it, as well today.

For anyone who took the time to try to find something that fits with this new Backpieces.

Whats worse then meeting an assassin unexpectedly? When the assassin also has tentacles growing out of their back, meaning you won’t die pleasantly by any imagination. Still trying to decide on the colors, and wondering if I should change it so that it matches the shell more (Such as the metal parts of the pants and boots, for an illusion of it all being made of the same material).

For the Fervid Censer? It matches the standard outfit I’ve already been using, so its just added. Sadly, I can’t find a good match to the Fervid Censer’s bright glowing yellow to dye the flower on the T2 Racial to match. Not to mention a bit of clipping issues, but that was expected and ignorable for the most part.

Fellow Mesmer here, and I’ve noticed a few things in trying to get Phantasms/Clones to be the target of an enemy.

One) Open with a Clone, then a Phantasm, then use a damaging attack. The initiator holds a LOT of aggro in most fights. Not all, but its a good general rule.
Skills: Mirror Images, Decoy, I.Defender, Phase Retreat (followed by a cancel so you don’t auto-attack).
Note: One DE in Cursed Shore with the Risen Giant basically LOCKS onto the Initiator of the fight to the point that NOTHING else matters to his aggro. Only when the Initiator of the fight dies or goes out of range will he focus on somebody else … until the initiator is revived or releases and runs back.

Two) Not all enemies react the same. “Animals” like wolves behave on the “Proximity” level more then anything else. Thus being a ranged fighter with Illusions constantly generated in melee can handle these fights rather well. Risen mobs on the other hand seem to ignore proximity once they have a target.
Skills: Scepter Auto-attack, Sword Clones, Mirror Blade, I.Defender. Deceptive Evasion also works on this, when doding backwards … just can seem that it doesn’t work when the enemy immediately swings and pops the Clone generated.

Three) Damage also sways aggro. When dealing with Clones, this means your Condition Damage and Crit Chance applies slightly to if a Clone has even a chance. For some enemies where Damage done to them is the primary means of determining who to attack, Clones aren’t going to draw much attention. For others, having a decent Condition Dmg and Crit Chance means they can keep up.
Skils: I.Zerker, I.Warlock, I.Duelist, I.Swordsman, I.Defender (Retal), I.Warden. Staff Clones, Sword Clones, and G.Sword Clones with High Precision and Condition Dmg.

Four) Toughness plays a key in aggro … but its relationship when the fact you and your Illusions SHARE that Toughness makes it strange. Toughness does mean your Clones and Phantasms have a CHANCE of being able to take a few hits, and likely WILL last a number of hits with Signet of Illusions slotted. The thing is that sometimes I’ve found it HARDER to loose aggro onto clones in a Rabid or Knight set of gear in comparison to my normal Rampager’s armor. Of course I’ve only noticed that on specific fights such as the DE Golem in Malchor’s Leap that I solo for a quick Champ kill on the Daily (and no Chest dropping DE is up) and I know his aggro methods aren’t the norm.
Other times combined with Proximity, Knight’s and Scepter vs. Wolves for example, I won’t even be blinked at by the enemies I kill as Clones and Phantasms constantly spawn in melee, while I’m sitting comfortable at range from the pack of wolves and the Veteran wolf.
Note: Having NO Toughness can also cause the enemy to ignore you quite often as well. It can be common to initiate a fight, see the enemy run at you, only to suddenly swerve and attack a NEARBY player with HIGH TOUGHNESS because that enemy relies on Proximity and Toughness over anything else.

Five) Healing seems to also pull aggro, again dependent on the enemy for the degree. Strangely the AoE Regeneration given by Phantasms when traited 15 in Inspiration seems to help draw the attention of enemies. Go figure.

That said, the one Phantasm that Draws aggro the most I’ve ever seen during a fight is the Phantasmal Defender. That discounts say opening blows with a I.Duelist or other high damage Phantasm, of course. Between Proximity, Multi-activation Retaliation Damage, AoE Regeneration, and the fact enemies seem to react to him holding a shield as a player holding a shield … its kinda common for him to draw aggro from anybody when I use him … if he survives long enough even with the Signet of Illusions equipped.

Sylvari Mesmer since they first released during on of the BWEs and loving it.

Take Root is wonderful for PvE. Either it saves you from something horrible (Vet Karka Roll), and/or you get those 5x Mortars that do decent damage/bleeds AND act as distractions for enemies.

Summon Fern Hound … probably my least favorite of the trio of Sylvari Elites, but still a nice summon. The fact it is completely immune to conditions is great when facing something that loves to put out Bleeds, Burnings, and Poison. The fact that he usually LIVES the entire 60s in my normal build (I.Defender + Signet of Illusions) is icing on the cake.

Summon Druid Spirit. I think I’m one of the few that actually likes him in PvE. 5x Targets hit for Tagging for Loot in big mobs. Massive Health. And the Immobilize is great for kiting. I’ve never noticed his Regen granting or Condition absorbing properties … but that is likely due to how low of a chance they go off similarly to untraited Ranger Spirits or is completely bugged. Still not sure which on that (And hard to test as my Phantasms usually give Regen and I try to shed conditions via Mantra of Recovery + Mender’s Purity anyways).

I also agree on having the Focus become a main-hand weapon option as well.
Double Anomaly
Double Spirit Links
Double Ambrosia (More BEER!)
Double Meatoberfest Chalices (Long mist trail x2!)
Double Bells as well.

The skills mentioned … not so much.

Redux on the first skill
Skill #1 Overload: Tosses an illusionary copy of the Focus at the enemy (not just a fan). Who doesn’t want to see throwing The Anomaly, Ambrosia, or Adam at somebody? No homing capability, but instead of bouncing between targets it explodes hitting up to three enemies and three allies in the radius to give the damage, conditions, and boons too. Combo Finisher: Blast (20% chance)
Ally effect possibilities: Might x1 (5s), Vigor (5s), Regeneration (5s), , or “Clear 1x Conditions” (1x Random of these 4)
Enemy effect possibilities: Chilled (2s), Bleeding (5s), Burning(1s), or “Boon Removal” (1x Random of these 4)
Note: Throwing the Bell in this fashion, should cause a random soft ring of a note instead of an Explosion sound. See Pistol/Rifle Christmas skin in how they replace the Bang of a Gun with a Pop. Throwing The Minstrel causes a trio of notes at a louder volume to place, along with an explosion of sheet music notes because hey, its a Legendary.

Skill #2 looks good, but missing something along with a Targetable Leap would be wonderous instead of relying on which way you are moving. Distortion (Or Evading) during the Leap animation would be a good idea. Phase retreat works around this by being a teleport, instantly moving, and instant cast (teleport) that can break stuns. A Leap can still get hit during the movement. A decent trade off, considering it doesn’t have any damage itself.
AoE Random Boon on landing to nearby allies as well? Aegis (5s), Swiftness (5s), Protection (2s)?

Skill #3? Looks like a great idea. Probably needs removal of either the Combo Field or the Blast Finisher, as it would be near impossible NOT to have it self-combo that way (Take how you can still combo with the Temporal Curtain even AFTER you collapse it for Into the Void). That or sadly just remove the Explode secondary part of the skill.
(Remember, this skill becomes a REFLECT Skill when traited!)

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Help_Albin_Chronicler_trade_with_the_Jotun_tribe

Thats the one you are probably thinking of.
Sadly, its also means you’ll need to do it on a character that hasn’t done map completion for Wayfarer Foothills, as you can only pick up the Hare while you can do the Heart Quest.

It would be great to see more WvWvW servers … and a chance of not facing JQ each week every time, if you redid how they matched up servers.
(Why yes, I am on Sanctum of Rall).

Rank 1: Tier 1 WvWvW only.
Rank 2-4: 2x in Tier 1 and 1x in Tier 2. Alternating Turns for who is in the Tier 2.
Rank 5-8: Alternating Turns for Tier 2 and Tier 3 matchups. 2x in Tier 2 and 2x in Tier 3.
and so on in groups of four for the rest of the servers so they can randomly be in one of two tiers to face off against more servers then before.

Distortion doesn’t use the “Run-to-enemy-and-kill-yourself”style. Distortion-shattered Clones explode right where they are.

What likely happened is that the Clones were spawned and targeting on something they couldn’t actually attack. I’m not sure WHAT they are targeting exactly, but the most often occurrence I’ve seen of this is on Jade Maw with Dodge Clones. They stand in that exact spot (no matter the type of Clone), and don’t attack anything as they are targeting something they can’t path to and attack. I’ve had these specific clones pop up in other places as well, which includes CoE explorable mode.
-Probably the same AI bug that causes enemies to go into Invulnerable mode due to no way to attack their target.

Why bring this up?

Because SHATTERING these clones are strange. It can take from one to five seconds for them to finally explode when you press any shatter, including Distortion. This is unlike the actual behavior, where they shatter immediately when F4 is pressed.

Subject Alpha is one I know causes my Illusions to go into Invulnerable mode at odd times for some reason. I have no clue why, they just do and similarly causes sluggish shatter times.

@Crossplay
Thats the Mark T-B34RC3 in Paths 1 & 2, right?
3x Phantasmal Disenchanters always feels less effective then my normal approach to that boss.
Spawn 3x Sword Clones, kill the Retaliation Turret, and wail away on the Boss. Repeat killing the Retal Turret as necessary.
You Rip Boons constantly (3x Clones and yourself) from the boss. You are stacking Vulnerability for increased damage. Lastly, they are EASY to respawn in a heartbeat so that should the boss break one of ‘em, you spawn more to always have 3 Sword Clones up at all times. If the boss isn’t killing them, then you shatter and replace instantly for a bit more damage. Bonus is applying a 5s Bleed each time one of the clones crit.

Phantasmal Disenchanter works better for me when facing Bosses that are dangerous to face in melee or constantly moves.
FotM Untyped Fractal, I.Disenchanter is a nice addition to launch on the Ogre (when not bugged) to wipe out his Fury/Protection and the bounces clear conditions (Burning from Charr) from allies or wipes the odd Boon from the Charr.
—Note, you need to TIME the Phantasmal Disenchanter cast for when the Ogre is moving. That way, the Disenchanter is no longer in melee/damage range of the Ogre. Its annoying how it spawns in melee with the enemy in this situation.

Another use is in the FotM Underwater Fractal. Combined with Arcane Thievery and Signet of Inspiration, you never worry about that 25 stack of might on the Jellyfish. In fact, you WANT your allies to be eaten when Arcane Thievery is off CD so you can steal and pass around that 25 stack of might. Phantasmal Disenchanter is simply backup for if someone gets eaten while Arcane Thievery is on CD.

A third place I bring the I.Disenchanter is yet again in the FotM. FotM Cliffside this time, for the Boss fights when in the 30 tier and under levels. Having that bouncing orb clearing conditions does help you and allies who get caught in the Wells.

As a Condition Removal use … thats iffy when not solo, and even a little unpredictable when solo. In comparison to the other Condition Removal Mesmers have, this one is subpar and may not even CLEAR a condition from you due to a bad bounce of the orb OR if an enemy sneezes at the blasted Phantasm the very moment its summoned causing it to die. Not only do you need to cast the skill, but then the phantasm needs to cast his skill, bounce off the targetted enemy, and hopefully then bounce to you. Compare that to insta-clear via Mantra of Resolve or Mantra of Recovery + Mender’s Purity, or the AoE Clearing of Null Field every second + Ethereal combo field.

Having it kittenter Fodder with ONLY RESORT to clearing conditions though may work, if you are trying to specialize in a Shatter build. Especially as it will spawn adjacent to the target, thus allowing you to cast then shatter back to back for an almost insured 1x MWrack hit.

Six different people online at the same time.

The guild puzzles will require coordination that REQUIRES multiple people to do the task at hand in the time allotted. I’d say the bare minimum is 4, as there are pressure plates that requires four people to step on in both Guild Puzzles or other tasks requiring that minimum number of people, but even THAT would be pushing the limits on the timing.

@Vayne Thats the typical approach the OP was hating, as it feels (and probably is) like cheating.

For the bomb door?

An alternative, and likely MEANT to be done, method is something I’ve done at odd times. You rush the door, but do NOT set any bombs. You clear the Dredge until most of them respawn and do not aggro you due to distance. THEN you set one bomb followed by killing the Dredge that pop up due to a bomb going off. Rinse and repeat until the door is open.
Suicide Bombs on that door is just a simpler method in that it requires a heck of a lot of teamwork plus can’t really be kittened over by one person but at the cost of very likely repeated deaths. The “alternative” method can go horrible if someone doesn’t follow directions and sets a bomb too early/at start, or goes too far from the doors and aggros more of the ever-spawning Dredge until the door is open (Not to mention the difficulty at higher fractal levels, as the last time I did this was in the 30s).
(Note, you could potentially do a multi-placed Bomb drop that is group coordinated after one or two bombs done this way. Similar to a certain CoE security control panel activation.)

For the second part? There are ways that doesn’t involve LoSighting the adds, or triggering the boss’ retreat range while pulling the adds to slaughter. Such as someone distracting the Champ while everyone else slaughters the regulars, or a group kiting approach that leads that kills any ranged dredge followed by attacking the boss until more ranged dredge spawn. Its honestly been a while since I’ve done that (and never above a 20-tier fractal), but its possible. I just dislike the approach, as suddenly its usually my Mesmer that misses out on the potential LOOT! drops that comes from all that.

Dodge Clones simply target the closest enemy when you dodge. Note, this is sometimes the enemy you have targeted but more often its not. Especially so if you facing multiple enemies.

Thus everything the Clone does, whether it be attack or Shatter, will be aimed at the target it spawned on. For Dodge Clones, this may not be the enemy you have targeted.

Sidenote, its a great “feature” to have when trying to hit/tag multiple enemies by simply diving through a zerg/mob and smashing your Shatter buttons. You make a line of explosions, if the clones survive long enough to shatter.

Can any dev please mention if something is being done to help with this?

I am Red/Green Colorblind, and I know I simply hate certain fights that one absolutely positively see the imaginary RED circles on the GREEN ground. Sure, I can pick them out, if I concentrate on nothing else but watch until a slightly lighter or darker shade of “green or red” arcing line appears on the ground and PRAY I notice it and determine the rough area the circle covers while I still have time to dodge/move out of it.

It has been brought up repeatedly in the Suggestion forums, but I do not think I’ve ever seen a Dev comment on this.

Its bad enough when I’m stuck trying to figure out what a person is referring to, when they describe it by color in real life. Or what color clothing I am wearing to begin with.

I do not need to end up putting my nose nearly up against the monitor, and strain my eyes to catch something nigh invisible in the Cliffside Boss Fights that others sees with easy to avoid the Agony, while just spamming the one key to “contribute” to the fight. Its bad enough when doing that, I’ll dodge right into another one, as I never saw the other blasted AoE Circle in the direction I dodged, because it TOO was an imaginary Red Circle on the green ground and wasn’t straining my eyes adjacent to the ground adjacent to me, as I was too busy doing so at my character’s own feet.

For a Mouse, the Left-Click&Hold Camera movement isn’t a problem.

Throw in a touch screen, and suddenly that Left-Click&Hold Camera Movement becomes a vomit-inducing spin one can’t control. All because a touchscreen uses absolute positioning while a mouse uses relative positioning data.

I’ll find myself tapping at my screen, since I do have a Touchscreen and I’ve learn to fear slightly shifting my finger on the screen or else I’ll see nothing but ground a spinning vortex like I’m in a tornado. (That and apparently, touching a skill then touching a place to put said skill doesn’t work. The Mouse Button is triggered before the new mouse location is set, so the AoE effect is always placed at my own feet or about there.)

I know I would prefer to be able to move the camera around by dragging a finger around on screen, but a simple option of turning off the left-click&hold Camera movement would be a wonderful fix instead for now.

Okay, I have to ask. What exactly do you mean by “Infinite Range Pull”?