Guild Wars 2

You’re all reading this pretty darn literally. If at 24, on average, you start to decline in speed then that doesn’t mean by 25, 26, or even a few more years ahead you are suddenly slow, it means you have begun that process. I also said I have my doubts that this will even rear its head because of how much experience comes into play. However, I would say that the mechanical element at the highest tier of play (I mean the HIGHEST, not Legendary) is such that these differences in speed would make a difference to one’s ability to be effective. Stuff like reactive action cancelling, interrupting and the like

I still have a few years ahead of me. Feel free to be jealous of my youth

Prepare to be shocked https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/e-sports-reveal-how-our-brains-age

A bit of a weird post considering the esports scene is a lil dead but for anyone that is genuinely interested in clashing horns with the best of the best here is an interesting thing to note:

The very best players on the scene are so because of their immense experience accrued since beta or release. However, Guild Wars 2 is now over 4 years old. Depending on their age when they started to play the game, some of these players may have already reached the ripe old age of 24, which marks the beginning of a decline in cognitive and motor skills. Veteran esports giants in games like LoL and SC2 tend to retire around this age.

Now, I don’t think we’ll this kind of phenomenon as strongly as in these games, just because of how wildly experienced the best Guild Wars players are, but it’s possible that we could see some player turnover soon. Perhaps we’ll see some new stars yet!

Also I cant tell if you’re chastising me for not taking cleanse or praising me. Either way, if you’re going to argue about the build itself I wouldn’t bother.

But you’re right about my dazes, they do need some work. Thanks for the critique albeit delivered with a condescension that I guess should be expected on these forums.

I’ll only take on board what you said about daze shatter cos the rest is bull

https://youtu.be/b2GDrp-oSK4

Levetty.1279:

TheOneWhoSighs.7513:

In a +1, you should be able to kill Druids.

1v1, you should be able to kill mallyx revenants. Let alone +1.
Glint Shiro is quite a bit tougher, but still manageable.

Scrapper is without a doubt better than mesmer.

And necro… necro is necro.

How the hell can you beat a Mallyx Rev with a condi Mes?

Cos Condi Mes can cope with Mallyx Rev. I duel against an excellent rev main and so far have yet to have any problems, however it might be that he hasn’t had time to learn to play against it. Even so, Condi Mes has the ability to clear any conditions, it doesn’t function that much on boons and has the ability to outkite… I don’t really see why they shouldn’t be able to beat a Condi Rev.

messiah.1908:

so it b4 getting delete . you need to practice more with condi build

Yeah I’ve just picked it up… any particular criticisms you have in mind?
Anything constructive is appreciated

Deleted cos of copyright claims hahaha

Since you seem so open-minded, ignore everyman.

I don’t think mantra healing would work because of the long time it takes to channel mantras. You’d need access to stability/quickness (so I’d take seize the moment and stab on shatters) and even then, any amount of gank pressure would eat through it anyway. I’m pretty sure Fay or somewhat actually calculated the maximum amount of healing you could produce using mantras and it was still less than the average dps output of a thief so theoretically speaking, the build falls apart.

Your build has power block but you probably won’t interrupt that many key skills in a real game because of how much stability there is in the metagame. Furious interruption is IMO the worst out of the three traits to choose from: Shattered Concentration is always alright, and the signet trait is decent for (at least) reducing the CD of moa.

I was thinking about the same thing as you, and this is the best thing I could come up with:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW8encfC1qhVoBmpBMrhlTj68Iiisreav2tlMAShlD-TZBGABzv/AAHEg0eCA7XGogLAAA

It provides support through Portals, Moa, and Distortion sharing. It let’s you AoE distort key skills to mitigate damage for teammates when timed correctly. It’s definitely not as easy as the traditional build. It’s more bruiser than bunker.

I thought I’d try my hand at condi shatter…

It seems really fun, and I’m a big fan of being able to take blind on shatter again. Having next to no sustain/condi removal seems to not really be a problem at all.

https://youtu.be/98I6wonnLts

it lets me weapon swap combo pretty well (ileap, swap, wep swap (geomancy),shatter for crit damage) and i get 50% vigour uptime

I gave it a try (I haven’t seen the build but I can guess) and it seemed pretty effective and really fun. I used merccs and double geomancy/intelligence with scrapper runes

I can only speak from a PvP perspective, but this is the status quo as I understand it:

Mesmers were in an extremely favourable position just since last patch as the prime bunker spec (a first for Mesmers). This is because Alacrity (a new buff [technically not a buff]; it was 66% cooldown reduction, now it’s 33%) introduced through HoT proved extremely powerful and there was a trait that granted alacrity at the end of wells, providing team-wide cooldown reduction.

Now that build is completely non-functional, and DPS specs are outclassed by every profession other than warrior. However, Mesmer still has access to a couple of very strong play-making skills, Signet of Humility and Portal. These are pretty much the only things that now distinguish the class from every other class, so I guess in the new season any builds capitalising on them could be popularised.

A condition based shatter build is also making the rounds but I really don’t subscribe to it, since Necromancers are the new FoTM and can throw condis back in your face.

Uncle Dalty.8327:

I would have to agree with condi shatter being our best as well. I’ve been running a mix between condi, power, and rupt and have been doing fairly well. However, I’m just not seeing how chrono is ever worth bringing. The build I run currently is dom, ill, duel. I get better cd with illusions than with chrono, and I’m able too retain most of the burst dmg from a power build while using rupts to lockdown the enemy. The condis are there for survivability (blind, weakness) and an added punch at the end of the burst (confusion, torment). If I substituted any of these lines for chrono I would lose a ton for basically 25% movement speed so I can stop taking runes of the traveler and superspeed on shatter which is clearly a double edged sword. Maybe if I were running a full condi build… then maybe chrono would be half useful but I find condi builds to be sooooo boring and frankly easier to play than the op bunkers were. No appeal to me in spamming skills and waiting for an enemy to drain out.

I know Chrono traits now suck balls, but the line still grants you access to Continuum Split which is really important. Bringing a traditional Mesmer burst build pretty much means you’re outclassed by meta picks (Daredevil, Dragonhunter, Herald), whereas Continuum Split allows you to fulfil the utility-bot niche. Portal and Moa are basically all we have left (so learn to use them really well).

Falir.4251:

Morfedel.4165:

Matty.1953:

I can’t see why people keep saying condi shatter is Mesmer’s best option despite Necro being the FoTM.

We were talking what’s best for mesmer, not what’s best condi.

I think he was saying that condi Mesmer isn’t that good since there are so many necros, not that you should just play a necro.

This

I can’t see why people keep saying condi shatter is Mesmer’s best option despite Necro being the FoTM.

So guys it’s a little out there but I’ve come up with this and it seems pretty decent. Main shortcoming is decapping points but here it is:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8encfC1qhVoBmpBMrhlTj68IiisjMAShlreav2vF-T5AIABrv/QYPBAAuIAAA

The synergies between distortion sharing, boonshare signet on phantasms, and distort on signets is pretty huge.

But yeah my tweaks lend the new build towards a more bruiser-esque build. Hence, I mow call it Chronobruiser

Silverkey.2078:

I am not really convinced by the benefits of the signets here. Moa has a long CD, so you get very little benefits from the distorsion and condi removal. So you have essentially one condition and 1s invuln every 24s. Not really amazing. Not to mention that distorsion means you loose cap, which is somewhat annoying.

I think bunker chrono still works with Paladin (or maybe as some suggested with more healing), I just don’t quite see how your signets help much with that.

I’ve actually changed the build up a bit now: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8encfC1qhVoBmpBMrhlTj68IiisjMAShlreav2vF-T5AIABrv/QYPBAAuIAAA

This way your phantasm skills also proc the same invuln and condi removal (+boon sharing, although the build itself doesnt necessarily produces boons, but teamfights do)

I find this way you get to capitalise on the signets trait a little more.

The CDR on Moa is REALLY noticeable in games, I’ve found. And also signet of midnight has no cast time and is a stunbreaker, meaning it can be used on-demand in any situation. Since’s its on demand, as in as soon as you press the button [in any situation], you’re granted the invuln + blind (negating two instances of damage, not one; aoe). This means that the 1s is enough because you would only use it as a reactionary tool, and because the distort is low you can just about to justify it on point. You also get to save team-mates which makes people like you

to be honest out of all the builds ive been tampering with, this is one of the more successful ones.

Oh and, Chronobunker doesn’t work anymore. That build was completely based around alacrity which, as you know, might as well not exist in its current state. Plus, Mesmers still don’t scale well with healing power (plz don’t mention mantras)

Jourdelune.7456:

Which Amulet do you use?

Paladin’s.

I go for Paladin’s because without stealth, you’re pretty much cannon fodder for thieves. Paladin’s gives you a little extra stopping power. Otherwise, I’d probably have opted for Marauder’s.

I’ve changed the build somewhat btw: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8encfC1qhVoBmpBMrhlTj68IiisjMAShlreav2vF-T5AIABrv/QYPBAAuIAAA

I wouldn’t take an interrupt build in PvP. With the stability flying around in the state that it is, you’re not going to be throwing out as many rupts as you think. And Shattered Concentration isn’t going to be enough, either.

I’d say Chrono’s most viable options right now are

[Chrono/Insp/X] OR [Chrono/Chaos/X]

with X being either Domi (Power) or Illusions (Condi)

The Chaos line would be PU

highest burst highest burst

Saturn.6591:

Matty.1953:

Mesmers have traditionally played DPS for years. It’s only after recent patches that the play style fell out of favour. You guys already probably know this, so why are all being facetious?

Yes, Mesmers did always run full glass in PvE. However, Mesmer’s DPS also always was subpar compared to pretty much all the other classes. Not to mention our DPS has a ramp-up time and can die easily (although the latter part improved quite a bit since they’ve reduced non-targetted damage on player summons/pets). Thus, if you want to play DPS, don’t go for Mesmer. Mesmers were and are only brought for the support they can give, and not for their DPS. Because every other class did/does way more DPS than Mesmer.

Yeah, but Mesmers have always had some of the highest burst, which has allowed them to fill a dps role. This was especially true before the patch because thieves didn’t dominate the metagame. Pre HoT Mesmers had some of the highest burst. At the start of the game Mesmers had some of the highest burst.

Sure, Mesmers now don’t have some of the highest burst.

Mesmers have traditionally played DPS for years. It’s only after recent patches that the play style fell out of favour. You guys already probably know this, so why are all being facetious?

messiah.1908:

here’s some [questionable] gameplay but it’s with super speed and more damage on shatters. It’s not very long cos I forgot to hit record :d

I might record a game tomorrow with the changes. I’ve been practising my GS recently so my bursts are pretty on point

messiah.1908:

so much stability was running their that your powerblock hardly was used. i think you should drop the signet trait and take remove boon to make it better.
also you have 3 skills with long cd to interrupt thus i think you need the mantra more than the signet (just break stun and blind…)
yes the video doesnt give much idea of the bruiser build as you seem to roam more but that is unranked with pugs…
and if bruiser why not GS over staff it will give you more dmg

Yeah actually, agreed. More damage on shatter is probably more appropriate so I’ll give that a try. The signet trait I have to disagree on though. One boon per clone shattered is actually pretty disappointing considering how many boons are applied atm, and the signet trait allows me to remove condis, stunbreak and distort without any cast time. Because of the inspiration trait, that distortion is also granted to allies, and since its on demand that makes it a very potent utility skill.

As for the GS question, I also agree. I’m gonna give it a try and get back to you. Since I’m bring less cc, ill have to bring super speed on shatter instead of slow on rupts.

It’s like a balance of team utility and damage

messiah.1908:

i really want some support mesmer action so maybe my experience is not like you thus pls OP post unrank fights versus good group (not pugs if possible)
if i see it better i promise i’ll be the first to pop in and say so

Check out my Chronobruiser video and the build for it (they’re in the mesmer forums right now)

Just made a quick video to show you the build I posted before. To be quite frank it was a terrible game and I spent most of the time chasing but it gives you an idea:

https://youtu.be/PBfwhTyqDvI

The build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW8encfC1qhVoBmpBMrhlTj68IiirjMAShgqOav2vF-TJBGABzv/QaPBgCuAAAcQAAA

So basically, when trying to come up with something that Chronomancers could play in the coming season I first asked the question, ‘What have Chronos lost post balance patch that prevents them from being effective?’ The answer’s pretty obvious: alacrity doesn’t work anymore, which pretty much wipes out wells and anything built around it. Also, the protection from chaos armor has lost some of its duration, so the Chaos line in general has become slightly less useful. Then, I considered what we still have. Inspiration had one slightly annoying nerf and a load of useless buffs, but all in all the line still functions well. We still have Moa and Portal.

I tried to come up with a build that encompasses the last few saving graces of the Mesmer profession, with a couple of twists.

Since there’s no point in taking alacrity with wells, I opted for slows on interrupts. There’s no internal cd and both your skill 5s are aoe interrupts, so you can spread a significant amount around.
Illusionary Reversion is now basically the least kitten trait out of the three, but they’re all kitten.

Inspiration is pretty standard, apart from Mental Defense instead of Illusionary Inspiration. The build in general has much less boons than the previous meta one so there’s really no point in bringing it.

The interesting part is in domination. I chose Domi for its utility, rather than its offensive characteristics. With aoe interrupts power block is really effective, and confounding suggestions gives you an on-demand stun which is really useful for a bunker. I chose Blurred Inscriptions instead of removing boons on shatter because you dont need the extra offence and it reduces the cd of moa by 40s. This made me think of Signet of Midnight, turning it into an on-demand invuln and condi remove, a stunbreaker, and because of Inspiring Distortion, you can use it to give invuln to allies around you. It makes it a perfect supportive utility skill.

Yeah… I’m not sure about the overall concept of this build. The healing is by no means exceptional and very easy to counterplay. You’ve got no damage. You don’t even bring portal (one of the mesmer’s few saving graces) and it appears that you have no stun breakers nor mobility (apart from iLeap and about face/phase retreat)

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Chronomancer_-_Domi/Insp_Shatter

This is what I run atm. Feel free to edit in more info like matchups, useful tricks and variants.

http://puu.sh/mPtyk/224e98baf4.jpg

Was just waiting for a PvP game when I managed to pull off this cheeky play…

http://www.twitch.tv/omalleyclarkm/v/38687774?t=49m43s

It made me smile

Gewd.8125:

messiah.1908:

Gewd.8125:

The main reason why mesmer is imbalanced right now is because of this:

Nearly unstoppable and very short cd quickness + stability stomps/resses. This is essentially equivalent to having your opponents waste all their best skills and then healing your team mate for 8000 hp.

The only other class that can do this is rev but they are not as durable and are very susceptible to getting cleaved before they finish.

And the 2nd reason is double 3 second PULSING aoe stun.

Honestly continuum split should never have existed. I don’t know what anet was thinking.

Portal is also a bit imbalanced too, it forces someone to sit at an empty point.

have you tried to play bunker guard with mercy rune or suport rev with those rune ? you will have 30% res speed…. it wont solve a thing as ppl will probably will used those

also i have never encounter much problem with wells as i used my stun break or time my dodges when needed or stability to make the mesmer used his CS and elite skills

also portal just watch the map or ask you team to give you location of enemies to decide if to leave to point

Runes of mercy only add 20% res speed while quickness adds 50%. It is not even close. And you also don’t get quickness stomps. And you lose the ability to use better runes. And you don’t get stability every 10 seconds.

You can stun break out of double gravity well, but then you can’t sit on the point so it is a guarenteed decap. And most mesmers will wait until you are at 50% hp to drop them.

Gravity Well is so well projected (slow, obvious cast animation with sound effect) that for you to get caught up in one would mean that either you failed, or the mesmer used it from stealth.

WhiteRabbit.6931:

Stand The Wall.6987:

wow reading your post is annoying as hell, as well as factually wrong.

Get some glasses and stop trolling the forums!

Or… you can be a bit more constructive in your post… Telling someone that he’s wrong, and then not argue or explain why, is kinda lame dont you think!?

Forum warriors be like…

That’s because of how boring and outrageous your post is — it wreaks of ignorance. But sure, I’ll give you the info you need:

You say mesmer damage is bad: you’re wrong, their overall dps might be lower than that of other classes but their burst is higher.

You say the shatter skills are bad: on demand insta invuln and daze, massive damage off mind wrack. The only underwhelming skill is Cry of Frustration and thats only because you’re not condi dmg in most cases

you say clones die before you react to shatter them. No, youre just not micromanaging your clones well enough. Instead of blaming the tools, why dont you even consider that you might need to improve yourself?

How on earth can you call the GS bad? The only skill thats remotely below average is the AA and even that isn’t THAT bad when you autoattack cancel (so learn to play)

The one handed sword is brilliant. iLeap works fine, you just need to learn how long the aftercast is and you wont have any problem immobilising enemies

Our traits doesnt synergize that well, and you are forced to give up things that should had been implemented as class mechanics from the start, to improve ur dps (Deceptive evasion, illusionary reversion, chronophatasma, time catches up)…
1) Mesmers dont run chronophantasms or illusionary reversion
2)Now that shattering yourself isnt a trait anymore you dont need to rely on deceptive evasion (insp offers options for clone generation as well)

ronpierce.2760:

Matty.1953:

ronpierce.2760:

I said a bit, yeah, you can still fit bunkers into SH, but it’s not nearly the same as forced point-capture fighting.

Nevertheless, that’s derailing from the larger point; in many ways PvP is broken accross the board. After all this time even conquest has flaws. It will never be perfect and stripping it of decent rewards would only hurt the popularity of the mode. It’s not THAT bad as it is.

And premises happen. Premades usually make a joke of anything, that’s nothing new. But I would argue DPS roles at the very least stand a better chance and has more room for success in SH than they do at all when it comes to fighting on a point.

But it’s not about making bunkers ‘fit’ in SH. They shine in stronghold, just like conquest.

My point is the opposite. Less about bunkers and more about giving DPS more of a place.

Also, it’s more fun than Conquest. Personal experience.

Agreed on both counts.

ronpierce.2760:

I said a bit, yeah, you can still fit bunkers into SH, but it’s not nearly the same as forced point-capture fighting.

Nevertheless, that’s derailing from the larger point; in many ways PvP is broken accross the board. After all this time even conquest has flaws. It will never be perfect and stripping it of decent rewards would only hurt the popularity of the mode. It’s not THAT bad as it is.

And premises happen. Premades usually make a joke of anything, that’s nothing new. But I would argue DPS roles at the very least stand a better chance and has more room for success in SH than they do at all when it comes to fighting on a point.

But it’s not about making bunkers ‘fit’ in SH. They shine in stronghold, just like conquest.

So I was thinking of a community run tournament in which builds are set before and all players have to run the set builds. Builds will be contrived in order to eliminate passive procs and bunker specs, making it easier and more fun to watch. If any one class seems more powerful than the rest, one can simply change the build to bring it more in line with the rest of the classes.

Anyone want to help me make this happen?

ronpierce.2760:

Pyriall.1683:

ronpierce.2760:

Pyriall.1683:

Stronghold is interesting. I would love to see how competitive teams approach playing it. That being said, it should not have been allowed to count towards league progression this soon after its initial release.

I disagree, it’s the only way I can stomach pvp right now~ I have a great time playing SH with my viper reaper.

Why do you disagree? It should never been allowed to count towards progression this early after its release. It clearly needs some work as there were ways to cheese wins.

I’d argue it’s no worse, mechanically than a massive bunk-fest or conquest. At least it’s a more fun route to take. If we wait until it’s ‘perfect enough’ we’d be waiting a while because someone would always have issues with it, the same with any game mode. If conquest still has glaring issues 3.5 years later, I don’t think it’s realistic to keep it reward-less. All that would do is kill its popularity and ultimately turn into a waste of resources.

It’s not perfect, but at least it’s different and people can have fun with it and it breaks up the bunker meta a bit.

I actually think bunkers would fit really well into Stronghold. Think Chronobunker running Well of Precognition instead of Recall, and bring Mimic. Spam invulns and stealth NPCs to win.

NOBODY CAN ESCAPE THE BUNKER META

Firebird.8324:

(What a veteran pvp player sees when he reads these updates)

Revenant

(Oh and we’re also not going to touch on the fact that the slow/quickness nerf will destroy Rev’s downstate)

Revenants shouldn’t be able to control stomps with their downstate AA in my opinion. If anything, I’d say Mesmer and Ele downstates need nerfs (the only two classes that can mitigate stomps 100% of the time)

Edit: actually Ele > Mesmer since reveal from HoT allows for more counterplay

So, it would be a 1v1 tournament, in which you could run any class. However, whatever class you choose determines what build you play, and you must adhere to it strictly. Builds will be chosen based on balance and play-making ability.

Does this sound fun? Anyone wanna make this happen?
Would you still participate even if there wasn’t a prize? (I doubt the opening tournament would be able to provide that)

Also please suggest build ideas! Don’t forget, the builds need to be on par with each other, and there needs to be the ability to make plays (think shatter over phantasm mesmer, etc)

I’m thinking also of disallowing runes and sigils. To keep it fresh, we can always change the codex of builds every few tournaments (I’m even considering not allowing you to select traits, but allowing minor traits!).

Xillllix.3485:

Well Guild Wars 2 GvG would have had the potential to be the best eSport ever if it existed.

The game’s too imbalanced and not designed to be watched so it could never be that successful as an eSport. My point is, there is currently no game like League or DoTA (designed for eSports) that plays like Guild Wars, or WoW, Blade n Soul, whatever.

Nobody say SMITE because it’s not actually hard enough.

I hope you both are being facetious — I said one that plays like an mmo

That doesn’t even answer the question

Nath Forge Tempete.1645:

Well Matty i totally agree with what u said but… the probablity a legendary guy has an amber friend is quite low (next to zero honestly)

Legendary players are too elitist for that most of the time … and no problem to do unranked cause if u’r amber still now … it means u don’t do pvp that’ much then u don’t have enough skill to do ranked… and not with legendary especially

But I agree there’s a little chance a legendary has an amber friend… some of those amber friend are juste a legendary who took a free to play account…

BUt I agree still

Even so, you can’t implement punishments across the community if there isn’t a way to identify who is playing to the rules and who is breaking them. It’s essentially a non-policeable crime.

And in any case I disagree. Given the state of the game, there are many high-level players that have left the game before the leagues system was implemented. If they were to return now, they’d be amber and they’d queue with their Legendary/Diamond friends (I’m speaking from experience here)

The one thing that really bothers me is Guild Wars’ original mantra of being able to spec for any role regardless of profession. Diversity was one of their key aims and yet this is the one thing they failed on the most.

To be honest, I’d like to see the traits and gear removed from the game. It would be way easier to balance and at least you could get all of the professions in on the fun.

Rainbowsand.2438:

He only gets pwned when he is teamed with 4 squishes. 2 warriors, guard and necro team was a lolstompage again.

I’m not even going to bother saying kitten like ‘define viable’ or ‘define PvP’. I’ll just say this:

If you’re playing Ranked Arenas, don’t pick warrior.

Sure, you can argue that there are really good warriors out there that hold their own, whatever. In equal skill teamfights, warriors are going to be a detriment to their team. If you disagree, I’m sorry but you’re either ignorant or just stupid.