Guild Wars 2

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQRApe8fnMdAlkiVhAehAElilrADJAkASdK5gWXN4d0mabtA-TphAQBA4IA0l9HgYZADcCAAxDAgDHEAA

I was looking for feedback on a build that I made after the latest quarterly patch. I’ll give a short description of the build and the reasoning behind certain choices I made.

So this build is a hybrid condi/power build that is centered around CC locking and condi bursting an enemy. I tried to make it as tanky as possible while still retaining strong condition damage. I chose to take mace/shield and sword/torch. I realize that the lack of a ranged weapon makes me very vulnerable to being kited, however, I did not want to give up the CC-lock potential of mace or the burst-burning and mobility of sword. My utility bar is mostly dedicated to more defensive skills so that I can sustain in fights.

Despite having 2 stances equipped, I chose to run Rousing Resilience over Last Stand. I did this because Rousing Resilience has synergy with Outrage, being a stun break on a 10s cd, and Last Stand does not offer a cd reduction on stances. Another questionable trait choice is that I run King of Fires over Eternal Champion. I did because I wanted to increase my burst potential when using the sword burst skill and I find that necros often corrupt my pulsing stability with their sceptor auto attack which can shut me out of attacking until the berserk mode is over.

Against other classes, I find that this build is strong against eles and necros because they tend to be weak to heavy CC and burst condition damage. Classes I find trouble with include mesmer and pistol thieves. This is because they can often kite away from my damage and apply damage to me when my mitigation runs out. If I can, however, land a successful stun-lock combo on them, I can generally burst them down. I haven’t had the chance to fight many DHs on this build, but I imagine that I would struggle because of DH’s high aegis uptime and my lack of unblockable abilities.

Some of the major flaws in my build seem to be the lack of stability, ease to be kited, and the lack of unblockable abilities. The reason I don’t opt for skills like Balanced Stance is because I feel that I would lose out on too much sustain from my other stances and Outrage has a lot of synergy with Rousing Resilience. I don’t opt for a ranged weapon because of the reasons I listed before. I do not opt for unblockable abilities because I don’t believe I can waste a utility on Signet of Might, nor can I waste a trait line on Arms.

So that’s the build I’ve been using the past couple of days. Could use some feedback on what I should tweak/change or if it’s just a horrible build and I’m just a noob warrior (which I am). Trying to get better at the class so don’t pull any punches; criticism is welcome.

This was one of the people that called Mesmer “completely useless” after the last balance patch without actually taking the time to explore how much utility and strength Mesmer still had. Forgive me if I don’t take your opinion seriously.

Jana.6831:

Thieves have always been elitists and passives are poison to any game that isn’t PvE. I was fine learning thief without most passives – but alas back then I had a good sustain line which I’m now missing.

Totally Agree! You know what we should do? Let’s remove stealth, boons, and damage modifiers from thief so that only the really skilled people can play them! Stupid jokes aside, the presence of some passives does not eliminate the need for skilled gameplay.

Chaith.8256:

Here’s whatdo,

When the patch hits, pick up a new rune such as Rune of the Scrapper, Melandru, or Dwayna, or Grove.

Pick up the new Paladin Amulet,

Run Chronophantasma (resummon Phantasms when shattered) over Seize the Moment (quickness on shatter). Play around with various utilities & Inspiration Grandmaster trait combinations to find what you like.

You won’t be able to revive against multiple enemies alone, but the build will absolutely be strong and alive in the Emerald division which you are in, guaranteed, if it’s what you like doing (to each their own).

I’m sure Bunker Mesmer will no longer be the most needed, and strongest PvP build in the game anymore, but many PvP teams will still be testing its viability.

So please do the GW2 forums a solid and wait until you play the updated build before creating anymore threads on the topic.

Best post I’ve seen in awhile

“ANET listens to volume, not reason.”

So you admit that your argument is not reasonable? Alacrity quite literally broke the game in several parts of PvE and Chronobunker stalled out fights to such an extent that it actually hurt the Esports viability of Guild Wars 2. Watching people fight on point for 5 minutes while Chronos spam their damage mitigation is not interesting. Sure core mesmer needs some sustained damage buffs but the Chronomancer nerfs were completely justified. The worst that will happen is that Chronomancer will take thief’s role as a +1 class and utility with Portal. That’d be fine with me seeing as how Mesmer has been in a great place for over a year and the most desirable class for the past 5 months.

It has come to a point in which I am not sure if OP is trolling or she simply is not good at PvP. If you are in a scenario in which 5 enemies are focusing damage onto you, is it balanced if you can actually survive the onslaught? In terms of a 1v1 against a thief using BV, even with the full stun duration of both BV attacks on you, the thief simply will not have enough burst potential to insta-kill you if it is running a build with any form of sustain. Maybe a full berserker thief running critical striking, trickery, and the offensive traits in Daredevil may be able to spike you down in that time frame, but this sort of build simply does not have enough sustain to work with all the current AoE damage and conditions. Anet specifically mentioned that only thief AAs would see a buff to damage because they wanted more sustained damage for thief. Their burst is not buffed with this patch based on the information given so far. None of this mentions the fact that you can stun break, interrupt, blind, and dodge. It’s quite literally an issue of skill at this point. You no longer have access to build based around passive damage mitigation and are actually required to use some form of thinking or strategy if you want to survive. Is there really something wrong with that?

Edit: Just as a side note, you are currently one of the two most desirable classes in the current PvP meta and you are complaining about a buff to one of the most least desirable classes in both competitive PvP and PvE. Is that logical?

What about the fact that improved CC/damage still does not protect thief from all of the AoE conditions, CC, and generally huge damage that other classes can deal. Just because thief can counter 1 chrono spec does not suddenly make it viable in PvP. It can still be destroyed by almost every other class among equally skilled players. I find it hilarious that as soon as chronobunker is exposed to some form of counterplay, people claim that Anet hates chronomancers. You may have been able to roll your face on the keyboard before, but now the class can finally take some measure of skill to play. Anet themselves said that they were dissatisfied with the bunker meta. Let it fall.

The patch nerfs many of the passives available to chronobunker, meaning that if you want to play the class effectively, you can’t just spam invulns/evades/blocks on cooldown while providing 66% cooldown reduction to your entire party. Basically, it will take skill to play mesmer again, not just faceroll cheese builds. If you are sincerely suggesting that thief should not have been buffed, I cannot take you seriously. This is a class whose only role is to decap points and +1 fights, and becomes useless as soon as the enemy team has 2 decent bunker players.

Ithilwen.1529:

To repeat myself, I was trying to explore the reasons people reflexively whine for Mesmer nerfs when being beaten by another class doesn’t provoke the same response.

Look across the class forums and you’ll see that every class has people who are screaming for nerfs. There are no reasons to explore because this does not exclusively affect mesmers. Elementalists and Revenant both get the same if not more QQ over this matter. Pre-HoT mesmer was still incredibly powerful with its PU build and was among one of the best 1v1 specs in the game at the time. Mesmer hasn’t been a sub-par class in PvP for well over a year. People beaten by Reapers/Revenants complain that condition spam is ruining the meta. People beaten by Druids/Chronomancers/Tempest complain that excessive support/defenses are ruining the meta. The point is that mesmer is definitely not the only class getting called for nerfs, and most of these calls are justified across all of the classes. I’ve actually noticed that people’s “egos” are more hurt after losing to a thief or warrior because they know that they did not lose due to a cheese build, but rather because their opponent was simply a better player.

@Ithilwen Interesting. You are trying to make mesmer out to be the victim when it is currently superior in PvP and attempt to use irrelevant issues to change the topic of this discussion into a gender issue ……. interesting. It really provides incite on your character, but I suppose that is irrelevant as well.

I am in favor of a nerf to chronobunker, but I do not want them to be nerfed exclusively. I think that most of the classes in this meta require some nerfs in order to bring PvP back into order. Most of the elite specializations (excluding berserker and daredevil) simply have too much defensive ability to justify the amount of utility or damage they provide. I am a reaper main in PvP and completely agree with people that say its condition damage needs to be toned down. Chronobunker is simply too strong at the moment and I believe that the nerfs being put forward are justified.

Saying things such as “why do you hate mesmers, Anet” is not helpful towards the issue. I saw that you had another thread concerning how Anet can improve base mesmer and this kind of constructive criticism is much better for the game. A QQ thread is almost always useless and does not result in any sort of progress.

Finally, concerning your points about how those who play DH and warrior are often commemorated for their ability to play well while chronomancers are called OP, this logic is completely justified. At the moment, DH, Warrior, and Thief are considered to be weaker classes that don’t really have a purpose in higher tier PvP. If a player is able to excel using one of these professions, despite its many handicaps, it is often due to the fact that these are skilled players. In the case of bunker chrono, it is a fairly easy class to play that thrives off of passive defenses and fast rezing speeds to dominate team fights. Playing a chrono bunker shows the strength of the build, not the player. This has nothing to do with its “feminine” design. If mesmers were currently in as bad a place as warriors or thieves, people would applaud those who play mesmers skillfully. Excuse any grammar or awkward wording; writing was never a strength of mine.

Tl;dr: I believe that the chronobunk nerfs are justified but I also think that base mesmer should be tweaked so that it doesn’t fall out of PvP use.

If you at any point played PvP post-HoT release, you would know that a nerf to Scrapper survivability is completely justified. This is a class with excellent melee dps, good blocks and reflects, multiple water fields and multiple blast finishers, long duration stealth on command, okay condition removal/boon uptime, and decent mobility all in basically the same build. It needs a nerf, just as many other elite specs do.

Concerning open world survivability I have been fine on my engineer. My gear is full glass condition damage with a max dps trait set up. If you are struggling, the class likely isn’t the problem. You just need to tweak your build or gear to a point where you are more comfortable playing in HoT areas. At the moment, a full glass engineer still has more basic sustain than thief. I’d recommend taking stealth and stun breakers with you in case you are in a situation where you need to disengage and wait for healing turret.

In any case, the nerf to survivability will likely encompass Scrapper’s boon uptime, condi removal, blocks, and stealth because these are what really gives the class an edge in the hands of a skilled player. The water fields and blast finishers will probably be intact and that’s really all you need for sustain in PvE. I’m in favor of the nerf.

Wow, been awhile since I’ve seen a thread this pointless.

^ doesn’t get the joke

How to avoid instadeath from traps —-——> stun break, dodge

The reason Anet killed off Eir was pretty simple. Out of all the member’s of DE, she had the least potential to become an interesting character. I don’t think it is arguable that her personality had little-to-no depth and that she was generally pretty kitten cliché. Her purpose in the end was only to help characterize her son and add some depth to his personality in the way he dealt with her death. She was a lost cause and Anet clearly recognized that. RIP Eir.

Does the condi build out-dps a full zerker warrior with Strength, Arms, and Discipline using Gs +Axe/Mace?

You misunderstand me Zabiyaka. While I agree with you in that Eir should not have been killed, I DO NOT want them to bring Eir back as her original self in the story. Staging death or bring people back from the dead is horrible for story telling. It devalues the meaning of death and its impact on the story. If another character dies, people can just say “oh he/she is probably going to come back like Eir did”. I would be a fan of Eir returning as a spirit or druid possibly, but not as her normal self. Death should be definitive an final.

Except tht Eir was a boring, 1-dimensional character lacking any depth or personality like most of Destiny’s Edge. Instead of attempting to expand her character, Anet chooses to kill her off. Some top quality story telling there.
/sarcasm

- People complain that elite specs are too powerful and that the game is Pay 2 Win

- Anet nerfs elite specs in response

- Same people complain that elite specs are useless and that their initial strength was only there to get people to buy the xpac

Eir was an incredibly boring and generic character. Ritlock and Canach by far seem to be the most popular characters. I’m glad they removed her.

First if all, the precursor scavenger hunt was supposed to be an alternative to buying the precursor or obtaining through RNG. The point WAS NOT to make them easier to obtain.

Second, the reason Anet wanted masteries to take so long to obtain was because of what happened at launch. They DO NOT want people to breeze through all masteries in a week or two, complian that the expansion was too short, and leave the game. If they had created the masteries to be done that quickly, no doubt many of the people complaining now would be complaining about it being too short.

The reason Anet made the masteries require experience is because they want to encourage people to do the events in the new maps and actually care about leveling. The reason Anet gated parts of the map behind masteries was to stop people from just face rolling through all 4 maps without actually seeing what each map has to offer.

Overall I feel that people will always look for a reason to Q.Q over something. If you’re going to leave , then leave. You won’t be missed.

Omega Zoa.3859:

Sigh…people forgot the meaning of “grindwall” Each HP will have some tweak to it and it’s not all located in one spot repeating over and over again for days on end..I played a mmo where I frikkin cut trees for 2 months just for a cape..that is a grindwall…this? Not even.

Eyyy, fellow Runescape veteran

What? If the basic mechanics of the game were based around grinding (i.e. Runescape), then I could understand a thread like this. You are complaining that the supposed BEST gear and weapons in the game will take grind.
SOLUTION: Continue using exotics, Legendaries are not meant for you.

So I looked up some of the costs for current skills and specializations on wiki to see if there could be a general estimation made for the HoT specialization costs. Came to the following conclusions:

- All Heal skills seem to cost 2 hero points
- All Utility skills seem to cost between 2-5 hero points with the majority costing 3 and 4 and engineer being the only class with a cost of 5 on some of them.
-All Elite skills seem to cost between 8-9 hero points with a majority being 9 and engineer being the only class with the cost of 8 on all of its elite skills (why you so strange
Engi?).
-All specialization lines seem to cost 60 hero points.

If the elite specs were to follow the same trend as current skills and specs, then the cost for a full elite spec should be between 78-91 skill points. 78 implying all utility skills cost 2 and the elite costs 8 and 91 implying all utility skills cost 5 and the elite costs 9.

Of course Anet could choose to throw in completely different numbers than currently seen in game but for now this is what I came up with. Please point out any errors you see. Would you guys consider that to be an acceptable amount for it to cost?

Alright, I’ve been seeing this comment come up a lot when concerning the Druid. People have a fit thinking that they will have to wait hours for a Druid on lfg. My only response to this is that many players have level 80 Rangers on their account. If we are assuming raids are truly difficult content, then I believe it is safe to assume that many of the players interested in the content will have an 80 for every profession. If your group needs a Druid, someone can simply switch.

Right, because stacking in a corner while dodging obvious telegraphs to mitigate all damage is incredibly skillful. Trinity = Build variety in PvE. Enough said.

This thread boils down to “This is my opinion and that is your opinion. My opinion is better”. You think gliding is the same as underwater, that’s great! Other people prefer gliding because underwater combat is generally unbalanced. There is no need to scoff at their valid responses an act like your opinion is superior. Most pointless thread I’ve seen in awhile.

Did you honestly try to relate a fantasy game to basic physics? I guess they should also remove conjure weapons because that is a spontaneous creation of matter (don’t give me some “converted energy to matter” BS because a human can’t do that with its mind) and the entire Revenant and Necromancer classes because souls don’t exist according to science. I understand your reasoning but trying I bring physics into this is less logical than the size of the scythe itself.

Allowing free-to-play people to access map chat will give any starter map World 1 Grand Exchange levels of spam (hopefully you guys get that reference). Since new players can see map chat, many of them will see the guild recruitments that are generally tailored towards new players. They whisper, join the guild, and problem solved. If anything, they can just look up their issue on google or the wiki. New players aren’t as incompetent as you think.

If we’re assuming thieves are getting kits (I’m not saying that they definitely are but it’d be cool) then the idea of an off-hand sword or maybe torch seems really viable. I just hope they are able to pull off the kits in a way that the class that gets them doesn’t feel too similar to engineers. I kind of feel that weapon kits would fit more into the theme of the warrior because warriors are supposed to be the “Master of Weapons” but we’ll see.

What you guys think the new profession mechanic for thieves will be?

After uninstalling and reinstalling again, I was able to gain access to all my characters and play on them except for the one in the map Drytop (I receive the error message again upon entering that map). Shortly after playing on any character, however, the game freezes and stops working. Whenever I attempt to close the game with my Task Manager or through logging out, my entire computer crashes. I don’t know if this is a separate issue, but I still cannot access the game.

Edit: The reason it was freezing was due to an old, corrupt launcher, so I was able to resolve that. Two of my characters, one in Drytop an the other in Straits of Devastation, will display the error when I try to load into them but the others seem fine. I think it might be because of corrupted files in those maps but I’m not sure.

I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game, but the error still occurs for all of my characters. I have no clue what is causing this but I am able to get into character select and the error occurs upon loading into any map. If anyone has a solution please post it.

Several hours after the traits patch, I’ve been receiving this error every time I attempt to play Guild Wars 2. It says “Disk I/O Error, Guild Wars 2 has been terminated”. Hard drive has 200 gb of free memory and other games on my computer work so I don’t think my hard drive is broken. The game was working perfectly fine right before the issue started. I’m not sure how to fix this, any suggestions?