Guild Wars 2

I have a small guild based on this concept, specifically to function as an escrow and tp market investment management guild. We charge 5% for escrow exchanges instead of the TP 15%, and a percentage of earnings for managing market portfolios, depending on certain factors (how much invested, trade frequency, etc.).

Just give two rings to each Risen Priest of Balthazar Mini you have, that should cover 500 or so…

I went to the Seattle Meet n’ Greet with some of the anet devs, and at one point asked one of the devs who works on mesmer about mesmer speed (we even gave them some coffee my friend roasted called ’Mesmer’s Morning Blend’ with a little joke on the back about getting the speed buff you need to keep up with the zerg). The answer was pretty much “No” because mesmers have an ability to be really mobile already, and have a lot of other powerful tricks.

Sorry, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon, if ever. :/

I’m not trying to cause friction or anything, and I know that there will likely be a fair amount of people at the Seattle Tap House tomorrow night, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to veto anet on the call to only have a few devs/employees come. Only because many of us in the community have formed friendships with some pretty SUPERFLY people, who should really be there.

If you don’t yield on this one, not only will I not buy you guys tasty beer, but we will have another party elsewhere! And it will be better, with blackjack and kittens! :P

But seriously, looking forward to tomorrow, even if those we were really hoping to meet have to be excluded due to the crowds.

I would really like to do something with all of these mystery tonics, I have almost 1000. It would be cool if you could combine 250 tonics (mystery, specific ones made from mystery, etc), 250 ectos, 50 coins, and whatever else (mystic binding agent?) to create one.

Please consider this!

I have to say, the fact that anet is removing these items from WvW play is really quite frustrating. Anyone who took the time to research and go get them in the world (and spend serious gold on them) could use them equally. If there is an issue with CD (like Omnom Pie CD was added) or bug (Skale Venom doesn’t work properly on some weapons), then the item itself should be addressed. It’s a matter application; of strategy and tactics, not unbalanced one sidedness. If some jerk is spamming gears, then send a thief to gank him.

Just because all players aren’t aware of all the facets of a game doesn’t mean you should neuter the game to satisfy the lazy, uncurious and unskilled – the lowest common denominator of players who want to autoattack to win. Consumables add an unpredictable element that keeps things interesting. Zerging back and forth could use a little spice in my opinion. This sort of knee-jerk reaction to consumables will just make people more secretive about their tactics in the game, and not promote an open and honest dialogue about the state of WvW between devs and players.

I wish they could keep their patch notes straight…that’s really frustrating.

Nope, Skale and Gears are cold hard cash items, not Karma….
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Skale_Venom_
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gear_

Wasn’t there talk of Skale Venom and Gears being removed from WvW? I’m not a fan of this move, but I didn’t see any mention in the patch notes…does anyone know what the story is?

Reddit Refugees will be there, at least some of us. Plus the Seattle Tap House has excellent beer, so it’s especially hard to pass up (Russian River Brewing ftw).

It’s nice they fixed Mirror, but I had thought Mind Stab hit 5 mobs…it really needed a buff, not a nerf…

I never said the shatters alone would down them, they do tend to finish the job after the opening fray. In regards how permastealth thieves manage their initiative and stealth/condition clearing, all I can say is that theory is vastly different than application.

@Eliyaho – I don’t know what to say, as we seem to have very different experiences in dealing with thieves. Maybe you’re not shattering enough? Illusionary persona also gives an extra shatter, and you can do 7+ shatter combos pretty kitten quick, so they might clear conditions once, but rarely twice within the span of a couple seconds.

I use this setup with 0/20/20/0/30, and it works great in wvw. The trick with thieves is to use shatters liberally since they are aoe and (in my build) inflict confusion, which means every time they stealth they are just killing themselves. I’ve killed countless thieves this way, though you usually have to look around a bit before you find them on the ground to finish them off. Also, the GS5 knock back is great for knocking thieves out of their shadow refuge, not to mention knocking people off cliffs. With illusionary persona, staff 2, and blink, thieves shouldn’t really be a problem. Runes of Air can help too, due to the 20% lightning strike, and the speed is very nice to boot.

Yea, bugged on Sanctum of Rall as well.

It seems so erratic as to when it will work vs not work. For example, in CoF p1, in the acolyte room you can blink over the chasm from one fire cage platform to another, no problem, but in other situations (often much tamer) you only blink to the edge and don’t make the whole distance to the other side of something (jump puzzles, for example). Or even getting stopped just by uneven terrain that you can walk over without issue, but can’t blink over.

Also, blinking is teleporting correct? Because the game seems to actually treat it as just running really really fast; hits will still follow you (often in totally impossible ways), or traps that you try to blink past (teleport?) will still hit you (i.e. triple fire trap in EB JP’s darkroom).

Either some clarity or consistency would be nice, because blink is obviously not teleport right now, despite what the tooltip says, it’s a flash run. If its simply too troublesome (game breaking, whathaveyou) to implement a personal teleport like this, then it should really be fixed up and renamed.

I realize this is fairly trivial but I’m, by far, not the only one who thinks this; it would be really appropriate (and consistent) if the Mesmer GS5 (illusionary wave) created the scenic ‘painting’ effect, like when warriors use 100 blades, with twilight/sunrise. Right now it creates a pink wave, which is all well and good when you don’t have a legendary, but just disappointing when you do and the only skill where you actually swing the sword doesn’t create the same effect you see on all the other classes when they swing their legendary.

Like I said, it’s a minor thing, but it’s an important touch that would make an appreciative difference.

In CoF p1 speed runs it is aaawwwesome. But yea, it’s cool down is pretty heartbreaking.

Runes of Lyssa + Timewarp + Activate Signet of Inspiration makes for a nice crowd pleaser, but Altruism runes do seem really worthwhile too, as others have pointed out.

Using staff and staff clones helps a lot during the bigger fights (slaver, end boss, etc), especially with triple bounce, because you are buffing the kitten out of those warriors while putting conditions on the mobs. Coupled with time warp it really stacks up.

I also run with GS, and the clones stack bleeds nicely. Maybe try using a sharpening stone or tuning crystal? I also run with skale venom which stack vulnerability. GS also helps with killing the acolytes from a safe distance, which helps avoid a downed/res pile-up, and can knock back when mobbed by mobs. .

Do you run with illusionary persona? F4 in a pinch has saved me countless times…

With 3 war and 2 mes, my group has a 6 minute record!

30-60 a day from running CoF and the Fractals, and salvaging rares with a BLSK. I also run with a mystic forge, so all of my blues and greens go into it (keeps my inventory clean), which usually gets me an extra 1-3 rares per run.

Anyone notice that they fixed the bug where you can’t clone on dodge if you are transformed (AC ghostly form disguise and FotM Charr fractal)? I’m surprised there is no mention of it in the patch notes considering it was a pretty big bug. It’s nice that they finally fixed it though, it was a really painful bug to endure.

Seems like an interesting idea, and there is already a mechanism (somewhat) for such things…the Candy Powered Matter Meter!

Yes, I very much agree. I ended up with the permanent TP item and thought I could be a full service mesmer (sorry, no happy ending!), but it’s the same way. I can sort of see the reasoning for the TP contract (the contract is with you, and delivers only to you), but the general store-style merchant I think should be open to all.

The biggest problem is more that the items are rare enough that you don’t see it often, so people get confused and think the NPC is broken. Though I do love putting the TP merch NPC in weird places (like on the EB jp pillar across the chasm), and it’s nice in WvW as if you die you can still spawn it (I hope they don’t nerf that) and people will come to the TP icon on the map and you get a res when they come to check it out. It’s also fun to taunt those who slayed you with a TP they can’t use.

I’ve experimented a bit, and like 0/20/15/15/20 for a support built. Phantasms give regen, and you get protection every time you get regen. Additionally if you take triple bounce and use the staff you buff left and right. Coupled with full Runes of Lyssa, which gives all boons for 10s when you use elite, you can use signet of inspiration to give all boons to all allies for 10s. It’s really sick when you drop a time warp and your whole team gets all boons, you make friends quickly.

I’d like to try runes of altruism too, but haven’t played with then yet.

I love this build, and have had great success with it, but with my particular traits, you have to be especially careful on timing shatters since you want as much uptime as possible with clones.

I call it The Moxic Avenger! http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVmc0z0Mz9qGG0xMamackq8kir707kiH707khf7khM7kGJ70V

It seems to work very well in most PvE, and usually 1v1/2/3 PvP, although thieves are still tricky if I don’t have a Moa transform ready (usually running Timewarp). Took out the statue of Dwayna solo using only the staff with this build, and not even a full bloodlust stack, though it took forever (not as long as killing sparks for a lodestone drop though
http://imgur.com/a/eZybQ#0

As a semi-shatter/condition build, this would be invaluable to me! Knowing clone/phantasm health would greatly empower me to time shatters better. They may have low health pools, but they can sometimes last a bit, and every .25 seconds counts (little shatter nerf joke there.

I’ll double check, as I don’t usually spam 1, I wait for the invis to wear off. Maybe getting spiked while invis (after 2 and only moving a foot away) is a latency issue and not a game mechanic issue, but it has consistently fooled me. Thanks for the pointer though.

Which reminds me, it’s also really really annoying when you use phase retreat and go down, and then downed 2 is on cool down; is this by design?

Dastion.3106:

Plus, he’s right. Played well Deception is a guaranteed stomp breaker, the only other profession whose Skill #2 is guaranteed is Ele’s. The Thieve’s is situationally better, but easier to counter by professions with blink (which primarily happen to be the Ele and Mesmer)..

It most certainly is not a guaranteed stomp breaker. Yes, wise timing can sometimes change the game and save you, but when you are teleported a foot away, it doesn’t matter at all, invis or not (however that works…). While having the ability to choose where to blink to would be especially nice, if the downed #2 skill would at the very least be given a minimum distance greater than 1 (which seems to happen exceptionally often), it would actually make this a proper skill instead of half of one.

I could not agree more…over 200 chests now and nothing but boosters and a metric kitten-ton of mystery tonics.

This is the build I use (0/20/20/0/30), but with Staff/GS. I currently use Carrion to great affect, but I’ve been thinking of changing it up…but it works so well. I managed to solo the statue of Dwayna using only a staff with this build. Took forever though…

http://imgur.com/a/eZybQ#0

Yea, this skill is pretty useless, I’m a GS/Staff Mesmer and almost never use this unless everything else is on cool down. Not only is the damage trivial, but it doesn’t seem to remove boons properly, even with direct hits, and takes forever to pull off (relatively).

If the crystal stuck around after the initial hit and created a boon field of some sort until destroyed, it would have some actual viability. As it is, I essentially ignore the skill (I tried to use it, but it’s simply too cumbersome for what it does, or doesn’t do).

I went from the Centaurs to Air, mostly because I wanted a bit more damage but didn’t want to give up the speed boon. The Centaurs can be especially great if running a support build, greatly so in WvW, but I decided to be a bit more selfish (since I play staff/GS and w/ triple bounce so peeps get plenty of boons if they are close to the action anyway). The lightning procs all the time, and and I find it, and the extra crit damage, pretty handy.

If it doesn’t provide the same chance at a precurser, it really isn’t compensation, it’s a buy off. It’s like if you were injured, and it was some company’s fault and they are sued for lost wages; that would include the end of the year bonus that everyone got, but you didn’t get because you weren’t there.

Anyway, I’m sure they will be fair about it given how they have taken it upon themselves to implement this fix/compensation on an admitted mistake.

OK, I think you are right Wise. I know the difference between burn and the AoE proc, but maybe either others had used it or I was simply wrong. I spent some time on a dummy using only clones to attack, but that doesn’t seem to allow for crits to occur (I never saw any for 10 minutes, even with a phantasm with fury). So I went out to Orr and used only clones to kill stuff and I didn’t see the proc in the combat log, even after numerous crits.

I can see that this could be a bit tricky to implement, but if clones/phantasms are ‘attacks’, they should activate the proc, or at the very least the ‘attack’ itself that summons the clone/phantasm should.

Yes, clones proc when they crit. I often pop out a couple clones with staff (sigil of fire) and switch to GS, and watch the light show. Staff is especially nice with activating the proc because with all the bouncing the clones quickly get fury and start procing more.

I find myself being strong support without really trying, just by the nature of the mesmer and my build. With triple bounce, a staff, 2 clones and a phantasm, regen and boons fly all over the place. Until recently I had superior runes of the centaur, which really went over well in groups for the AoE 14s swiftness buff (w/ +20 chaos – upgraded to runes of air for the lightning strike, but I do miss that group effect and always-on swiftness). Null field, chaos storm, and time warp are major staples for me, and stack the boons for friendlies, and in harsher environments I run with illusion of life ready to go, which can work wonders in some rough spots.

I tend to see playing a mesmer as the art of keeping a small army going anyway, so a few more friendlies in the mix is easy enough to support and keep the damage/debuffs high, especially if you get a nice +250 power stack and flame strike AoEs (which clones can trigger too!)

Clones/Illusions are constructs that exist outside of the mind, else the shatter effects would not be AoE. Also, everyone can see the illusions, so obviously the effect is not only on the targeted mob/player. If the targeted player/mob was the only one who could see, affect, and defeat the illusions, maybe we would have less to complain about (aside from the AoE shatter nerf that would entail).