Showing Posts For Ramiah.5648:

Guardian's Spirit Weapon (and other)

in Guardian

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

I noticed you did not take A Fire Inside from Radiance. That was considered Mandatory not just a couple months ago. Has it really changed so much?

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Protect us… Holy Song!

The Nerf Bat

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

They could replace the damage done by the Phantom with effects/boons that buff the Mesmer and clones?

Of course this would mean that the other skills on the weapon would have to be adjusted and buffed to counter the HUGE loss in damage from the Phantasms as even when you dont go Phantasm build they hit for ALOT.

Well, and that’s the issue, isn’t it? No matter what happens now, any changes they make will have to be sweeping and fundamental. Any suggested changes by us or the developers really should start with: “Here is how Mesmer should function from now on…” I used to scoff at some of the things suggested on this forum because they seemed too extreme and crazy. I look back on those posts now with a feeling that those people were on to something.
Something is very, very wrong with Mesmers. It seems like no one can really figure out what it is, most of all the developers. We are starting to see that it’s probably a fundamental problem with the profession. When you build on a (really unfixable) bad foundation, you often have to destroy the house, re-pour the foundation and build it all over again. But, how do you justify doing that in a game you are already receiving money for?

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Protect us… Holy Song!

The Nerf Bat

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Well, I didn’t actually say they were bad, just that no one played them.
What gives me hope about seeing what Anet has done in GW1 is that I know they can make an amazing game. When I finally embraced the Mesmer overhaul of GW1, I really enjoyed the profession more than ever before- but that took 5 years for them to get around to. As I said, I am fascinated to see what they will do to this profession, and am very excited about it. It’s a shame I will be playing another profession (or another game) waiting for them to move on this. But when the major patch hits, I’ll be wondrous.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

The Nerf Bat

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

I almost never saw a Mesmer outside of PvP… EVER until they reworked them. I was actually really angry when they did cause I used the Mesmer Fast Cast to play fun builds with elementalist or sometimes even Necromancer secondary (not optimal but they were fun for me), and they made it not work for most spells.
I actually switched to using Cry of Pain when the update hit. Still, I almost never saw a Mesmer in most teams I joined before the changes.
I am not talking about Mesmers in Guild Wars 1 vs GW2. I am talking about Mesmer Pre-patch GW1, and after-patch GW1. Your comments make me think you never played Mesmer before the patch hit and probably joined the game after it had been out for many years.
In fact, PvE skills weren’t even introduced when the game launched so you couldn’t play that build. This Page is the official update where the developers say they wanted Mesmer to be usable in PvE since they didn’t “fit” there. Additionally, if you scroll down, you will see that even interrupts were changed to do something extra instead of just interrupting-normally damage or a CC. The fact that they are now trying to turn us into an interrupt class, when they clearly felt that was not very good in GW1, is quite amusing.
It’s interesting you tried to troll me when you didn’t understand what I was actually saying.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

Credit where Credit is due. I-Warden

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

I am super happy about the new bounce mechanic. Too bad the hybrid conditions/power build I was trying to create is dead in the water since the Illusionist Celerity nerf. Does like… ANYONE play anything other than Phantasm or Shatter nowadays? I’m so very confused. How did this add to build diversity?
It’s things like this that make us forget the little things they add to help us out. It’s awfully hard to notice you were given a small cookie (clone bounce mechanics are awesome now) when they hit you really hard in the face with a shovel (and Illusionist’s Celerity is now out of reach for most builds) at the same time.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

The Nerf Bat

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Uuummmm… okay that’s really funny. You guys are right about them moving in an interrupt-heavy direction, and here’s why that’s funny:
In Guild Wars 1, Mesmer started out as an interrupt, or a punish-if-you-do-this (the current equivalent is confusion), profession. The reason Mesmer got completely reworked in Guild Wars 1 was because not many played Mesmer outside of PvP. Anet decided to go a completely different direction and turned them into signet-users and nukers+debuff/support.
How hilariously ironic that in Guild Wars 2 they started with a different kind of (non-interrupting) Mesmer and then began moving them toward a gameplay style (interrupts) they ultimately admitted was not fun or desirable in their first game.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

The Nerf Bat

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

The problem with Mesmer is, even played by a semi competent player are still very strong dueling class. Unless that changes Mesmer will continue to see people QQing about them and will continue to be nerfed

You could see from the Beta just how “balanced” this game was going to be, it was a NIGHTMARE.

This is actually another problem. Our entire class mechanic is focused on being great a dueling. No other class is so supremely focused on a single target. That’s another reason I am fascinated to see what they will do with the profession. They are going to have to completely redo illusions, our profession’s main ability, or we will either be way WAY too strong at killing 1-2 targets, or way, WAY too weak at dealing with… practically anything else. I am not surprised at all that there are still complaints about us in SPvP. We are STILL pretty amazing at it… and nothing else.
At this point, Anet is in a heap of trouble. The concept of a magical duelist sounds amazing except that it’s too specialized in a game where all professions are meant to be generalized. No matter what they do, they will ruin the profession in one way or another. The only option I see at this point is to re-release the Mesmer profession as something entirely different.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

Guardian's Spirit Weapon (and other)

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

I’m actually hoping that some day they make spirit weapons function like Necromancer pets, except keeping the fact that they die untraited on the weapon’s secondary skill use. There is absolutely no reason not to do that now that they can be targeted. I can’t imagine why they have left them they way they are for so very long. I’d play a Guardian if only the Spirit Weapons had a longer (unlimited) duration, OR more HP/returned to being untargetable, OR had a more useful skill spread or usage (why not make bow heal at the guardian’s location or at a Ground targeted location?). I don’t even want all these things, just one of them to make them at least worth something. I so desperately want to like this profession as I like playing buffers/supporters/healers, but I want to be able to summon, too, and Necromancer/Mesmer just do it better right now.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

The Nerf Bat

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Thats the rumor there, but i dont think anet could go through with that, unless they are planning on changing our entire class around into a different direction.

Honestly, i don’t think they really know WHAT they want mesmers to be…

Very, very, very much this. At this point, nothing will surprise me. If you remember, they COMPLETELY reworked Mesmer in Guild Wars 1 from the ground up, several YEARS into the game. Ultimately, you can’t “balance” a class with unique capabilities (AOE quickness, Portal) and not mess it up somehow. The Devs themselves have said that Portal is giving them problems. The recent Illusionist Celerity nerf is the proof and the start of the Mesmer re-work. I am absolutely fascinated to see what they will do with this profession. The Mesmer we play in a year or two may look absolutely nothing like it does now, and it’s already changed so much since launch.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

Focus Nerf ?

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Wannabe esport game , so this kitten will go on to the end of time .

In fact, I’d go as far as saying that smallscale class balance is diametrically opposed to a balance (!) RPG class setup. It assumes comparability between classes, which is pretty much exactly what you don’t want in the RPG who’s systems you’re designing.
If a Thief is stealthing, then a Warrior should have nothing she can do about that. That’s what a Thief does, he stealthes. If that element isn’t crazy overpowered, how can it feel cool to play the character? However in return, when that Warrior comes barrelling down at her foes at full speed, there should be no way for people to get out of the way and avoid the hurts. That’s what the Warrior does, charge in and overpower things.
(intentional exaggerations in that part, used to illustrate)

ZOMG! This is one of the most intelligent things I have ever heard. Seriously, if this was the thought process of people (and it should be) we would have a lot better games out there. This constant and frustrating need to balance everything around… EVERYTHING is really silly. It’s like saying every class should be able to beat every other class in the same circumstances. Sometimes, that just shouldn’t happen.
Uh, oh! I found a warrior with full adrenaline, this is gonna be bad for me… unless I’m a Thief or a Mesmer, except he has friends so after I kill him from stealth, I’ma gonna die while my stealth is worn off and my stuff is on cool down.
It’s give and take based on MANY factors, not just based on whether or not every class has the same ability to take on every other class in every situation.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

Rangers only from now on?

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

The crazy thing? Not every forum has whiners. Most of the forums that do, have justified whining. The problem is, it’s hard to distinguish if that justification comes from the fact that they were OP (a bad design choice to begin with, therefore the justification) and you took away their toys, or if the profession really is just bad.
With Rangers, it’s the second one. There’s not a thing rangers can do that another class can’t do better. Arguably, they are finally making Rangers worthwhile in certain aspects (My goodness if spirits finally become the buffing/support build I have always dreamed of, I will be hard pressed to play anything else), it’s taking a lot of time. Currently, I can’t think of any reason to bring a Ranger over another class. That being said, that’s what people used to say about Necromancers, and they are mighty yummy lately. Hope the Rangers are on their way up, too.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

If you were a Dev, what's your solution?

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

So, one of the biggest problems I see repeatedly in GW2 is the overnerfing of a “problem” because of an issue, and THEN building it back up. Collateral damage always occurs, as certain skills become utterly useless while they normalize from the floor they have now created.
Guardian Spirit Weapons, for example, were un-targetable. Then a patch hit that made them targetable. Spirit Weapons were NOT designed with this in mind, however, and had low HP and pulled aggro often. This made them useless. Slowly, they have been increasing the HP of Spirit Weapons and increasing their damage, but for a few months in there, 1/4 of the Guardians skills might as well not have even been in the game.
So now we have Illusionist Celerity. Obviously, something had to be done. Every Mesmer took this trait no matter what the build. Shatters wanted more clones, Phantasmers wanted faster Phantasm spawning, even straight Glass cannons took it because some of their damage skills would come off cooldown faster.
The problem with moving it is that there were so many skills affected by it, cooldowns need to be looked at again. It’s fine to move it to 25 in Illusions- IF you re-evaluate the cooldowns that were affected by it and re-adjust them. This was definitely not done. Now, we are in this weird zone where things definitely cooldown too slowly, but it will take months for the Devs to go through and change all the skills.

So, what would you have done? Would you have waited a month on the Mesmer changes and then released the trait change AND the skill changes all at once after you tested it? Would you have implemented a public test server and let the players give feedback on a change while you tweaked it until it was ready to go in it’s entirety? What about changing how the trait worked so it only functions on clones or somesuch, so that certain builds (like Phantasms) wouldn’t want it?
What would you have done to remedy this problem if you were a dev?
Additionally, Blurred Frenzy was a serious problem. Traited, we were invincible for 2 seconds every 8 seconds, which is too much, especially in PvP. It was double-nerfed, though and that seems extreme. What would you have done differently?

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Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

I'm Excited for the future of Mesmering

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

The reason I’m worried about the future of the mesmer is that the dev team has conclusively demonstrated that they have no idea how to appropriately approach balance.

I totally agree with this sentiment. I would just say the devs know how to balance, and they do an amazing job of it, it just takes them a while to get there. In GW1 the Elementalist and Mesmer were rebuilt more or less from the ground up in the twilight of that game.
Let me re-iterate that, two classes were practically rebuilt when the game was about to end, and the other professions received a lot of changes. It was amazing when they finally got it all set. It’s a shame it took them till the end of that game to do it.
Anyone else wonder why they don’t just have a public test realm and be done with it?

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

I'm Excited for the future of Mesmering

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

So, a while back, I asked how people felt about all the changes and nerfs that had happened to Mesmers and would probably continue to happen as Anet tries to balance a class with unique capabilities.
Then this patch hit.
And most people are incredibly angry, even though, frankly, we should expect this kind of thing.
But I look to the other classes I liked but never could convince myself to play: Necromancer and Ranger. Both these professions were considered a joke. It wasn’t so much that they were weak, it was the fact that they just weren’t as good as we were at… basically everything.
The recent changes to those classes make me wish I was willing to play a “dark” or “nature” profession right now. They are fantastic, and finally the weak builds/weapons of those professions are starting to come into line with the rest of the game.
But what to do with a class so odd from the rest it was hard to find a place for? Well, honestly, you have to break something down before you can rebuild it. We saw this exact thing with Guardian Spirit Weapons. Overnight, Spirit Weapons, which had a unique capability of being untargetable, went from marginally useful to utter garbage. For months, you were laughed at if you summoned one of those things, but now they are slowly rebuilding those summons and it’s starting to look pretty good.
I hear something similar happened with Ranger Spirits back in beta, which is why they started weak at launch.
So, I am hopeful and excited for the future of Mesmers because I have seen Anet work, and I know that eventually the class will stabilize into something even better (at least from a versatility and balance perspective) than it started. We saw some AMAZING changes with professions in GW1, especially Mesmer, and it became something wonderfully fun and effective.
That being said, these times of instability are incredibly frustrating for those of us who don’t like having to play something else in the meantime. I wish they had a way to fix all this at once, instead of gradually. Still, I am excited to see what Mesmer will become when the dust finally settles.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

99% sure shatter will get nerfed soon

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Shatters will most certaintly be nerfed. At that point, Anet will start to rebuild the class like they did with Necromancers and Rangers (who are looking really, REALLY tempting to me right now) and we will eventually have a Mesmer that looks somewhat similar to the profession we first started with, but plays vastly differently, is as powerful as the other professions, and has many different arguably similarly effective builds.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

Greatsword/Staff now viable

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Frankly, I have been wanting to play Staff/something ranged for a long time, and it never quite worked with Greatsword (and I do no like Sceptre) so I am happy for the changes.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

Are Mesmers too unique?

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

This was more of an interesting “huh, would you look at that” kind of thing. I don’t have any problems with the class, really it’s one of the top 3 classes I like (Guardian and Necromancer being the others).
What’s interesting is the connotation some people read into what I wrote. I specifically chose the words I wrote to mean exactly what I said. For example, we have unreliable AOE meaning that while we definitely have access to AOE, it’s not on-demand and immediate. There’s another post on the main page of this forum asking how to tag in events/WvW because we can’t just throw down a Well/Symbol/Grenade/etc. and rake in the kills. Sure, we can set up clones and then detonate, hoping the enemy we targeted isn’t killed before they get to it, but it’s far less reliable than pushing a single button and tagging everything.
Additionally, my exact point about trait choices is that they are all pretty synergistic instead of having obvious needs. Playing a pet necromancer/guardian/ranger/etc. has very obvious trait choices and you can take them all, but Mesmers have to pick what they want. If you want the weapon cooldowns for all your Phantasms plus all the Illusion/Phantasm traits… well you can’t actually do that. Most people leave out Phantasmal Haste, which is my point- you can’t take it all for your “pets.”

I’m not bashing on Mesmers. What I am saying is they are incredibly unique in every way and that seems to be causing problems across the board with balance. We recently had a huge confusion nerf (an almost exclusively Mesmer ability, so we know it was targeted directly at us). Basically, our uniqueness makes us a target for changes and nerfs because it’s not a standard “change the damage numbers and we can fix this” kind of balancing that is easier to do. This mans uncertainty for the Mesmer profession, and I was wondering how people felt about that.
I’m glad to hear the people who understood the post saying they will continue to play it, especially Nerfedwar’s thoughts that they may bring other classes up in the “uniqueness” aspect to try and reach what we already have.

Just as a side note, it’s funny to see the forums explode when I mention some of the exact things mesmers complain about. For example the Mesmer forum is full of complaints about how we don’t have much self-cleanse capability, and here, some people are defending that. Talk about polarized, hehe.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

Are Mesmers too unique?

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

I have come to the ultimate conclusion that Mesmer is by FAR the most horrific profession to get working in this game. Based on my experience with Mesmer, I believe this is because the profession is just too unique.
First of all, we have unique capabilities that no other class has. Time Warp is considered essential by many a dungeon group, and Mesmer is the only class that can provide it. Portal is another special case. Confusion is a third. As a result, these are the abilities that have been through the most changes. These are also the abilities most complained about.

Another reason Mesmer is too unique is that we use similar tools to other professions, but in a different way. Examples include:
Pets- Utility-slot summons that can be traited easily vs. weapon abilities that can’t be traited fully.
Reflection- Defensive protection of a team vs. punishment of ANY projectile use.
Boons/Conditions- Specializing to provide or clear one of these vs. the ability to provide and clear both- and all on the same build.

Ultimately, this profession is outside the scope of any other, and it’s been a nightmare both for the programmers and the players who anxiously await the next major change to our unique abilities. This has created major problems in the game with the class. While all other professions have a way to AOE, we have very unreliable and unpredictable AOE. While other professions have clear ways to cleanse conditions on self, we have little of this. All other professions can get run speed increases fairly easily, but we cannot.

So, here’s the questions: Would you rather us be less unique? Would it have been better if Mesmer abilities were more in line with other professions, therefore making it easier to balance? Are you willing to be a bit less settled than other professions simply because you provide skills and create circumstances no other profession can? Are you happy having relatively scattered trait choices and capabilities instead of being really good at your chosen specialization?
I’m not sure what the programmers will do with us. I’m not sure what they CAN do. But I see other unique aspects of the game getting phased out completely (i.e. Guardian Spirit Weapons used to be untargettable, but now work just like any other summon in the game), and I wonder what the future is for Mesmers.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

Did phantasmal zerker get fixed this patch?

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

I made a Mesmer just to see if I would like it, and after much grief over what to spec, I decided on a phantasm build. I was able to EASILY test this in just 5 mins. It’s obvious that the problem is the number of hits the berserker actually lands as it spins through an enemy.
Sorrow’s video is really great, you can see at about 1:00 minute in, it only hits once, and produces a damage of 499.
Assuming a standard of 500 damage a hit, his claim of 4.5k crits is perfectly understandable, 500 times 4 (total hits a berserker should land) times about 2 or so for the crits (500*4*2)= 4000+.
The really sad thing about it only hitting once at 1:00 minute into the video? The Phantasm kinda got stuck on terrain after it hit the enemy and the sword CLEARLY goes through the enemy again, but never deals more damage.
I just don’t understand. If it’s really obvious what the problem is, and I reproduced it with less than 5 mins, I can’t imagine why it isn’t fixed yet.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

Will our useless weapons ever be reworked

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Yea the biggest problem with scepter is the auto-attack, and that’s a shame really, considering it’s not only 1/3 of the scepter, it’s the ability you are using the most. I could actually forgive the somewhat odd problems with Sceptre 3 (charge up animation, inflicts confusion and after the nerf, is even worse than it was before), if it weren’t for the fact that the scepter was so very restricted in the auto.
But the really odd thing is that except for sword and staff, ALL of the Mesmer weapons have some problem with them right now. Greatsword’s phantasm is wonky, Pistol has that weird thing where the trait doesn’t actually increase the range of the phantasm or something weird like that, torch has that weird phantasm that is slow and inflicts confusion (again it was already bad, but is now even worse).
I kinda feel like almost all of the Mesmer weapons need a rework.

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How can I do this on Mesmer?

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Okay, I think I am starting to realize that a lot of what I am looking for is mutually exclusive on the Mesmer.
If I want staff, I won’t be good at events, and shouldn’t use Runes of the Centaur for perma-swiftness with Mirror.
If I want to do solid support/damage then I should go sword, and that’s not ranged. I am thinking that perhaps the reason I have struggled with finding a build I like for Mesmer is because there isn’t one.
theCOREYCOLAK did mention a build using Greatsword and Staff, that sounds like exactly what I am looking for. Range and damage speed of the greatsword for events, plus the support and utility of staff. I will see if I can make something like that work.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

How can I do this on Mesmer?

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

All right, I am trying Mesmer again, having gotten frustrated previously and giving up on it, but I need some help finding a build that lets me get the abilities I want on the class. I am looking for:
1) Long-range.
2) Run speed increase (probably through Runes of the Centaur, but they seem useless on most Mesmer builds).
3) Able to do reasonably well in events. Not looking for Orr-farming quality here, but at least gold on events would be very nice.
4) Useful on teams.
5) Able to use staff effectively, if possible.

If you can help me find something that works with these things in mind, I would be very happy. Seems to be a good community here and I would love to be a part of it, but haven’t been able to find a way of playing Mesmer that was fun yet.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

How about minion AI?

in Necromancer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

I almost shed bitter tears of anger tonight. I had finally (FINALLY!) after being so incredibly indecisive made the choice to play a necromancer as my main. All was well for a while, and I was very happy with my choice. Bone Fiend and Blood Fiend did very well, and then I leveled sufficiently to unlock bone minions and run it alongside my locust signet and bone fiend. They hardly ever attack. I though it was fixed, that you auto-attacked 2 times and off they went, but no, not them. Shadow fiend was another dashing of my hopes.
Apparently it’s still a pathing issue and apparently they are still awful, especially in certain parts of the game.
I think I’ll have to take a day or two off of the game to re-assess my decision to play this profession.

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Protect us… Holy Song!

Ups and downs of a Mesmer.

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

I think the main problem is that it doesn’t combine well in every build and that’s something that plagues most professions except necromancer (at least in my experience). For example, what’s the deal with the scepter trait giving a bonus to condition when it only has one, rather long cool-down condition damage ability? Why is focus on the same trait line when it doesn’t have any damage conditions at all?
Certain things, I definitely see. Shatter builds are great and you can get all the traits/armor/runes/etc you need. Phantasm builds are pretty good too, with the ability to take almost all the phantasm traits, but even then, you have to choose between getting Phantasmal Haste or the weapon skills that spawn your phantasms.
I feel like playing a Mesmer is like being schizophrenic- the traits/weapon abilities are scattered all across the profession and it’s hard to make something solidly built out of them. Sure, the things you can do are fun, but it never fully stabilizes because something is always missing, just out of reach.
Maybe that’s the design purpose of mesmers- to be flexible but not “solid” in any specific thing. In a sense, whatever goes on, there is at least one ability available to you to make it better. But the price you pay for that flexibility is, by necessity, an unstable build. I understand that’s the Mesmer way, it just wasn’t right for me.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

Ups and downs of a Mesmer.

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Wow Malakai, this is exactly how I feel and couldn’t really express it. Thanks so much for posting this. I also feel like the synergy of mesmer kinda… doesn’t exist and it has put me off the class dispite it being what I was most excited to play when Guild Wars 2 was announced and the professions were all revealed.
I have a mesmer and was thinking “once I get to 80 it will all change” but it never really did. I just can’t seem to find a combination of things on the character I like. Other classes are more “tight” in their builds. Necromancers, for example, take all the minions and then use minions as utilities, or focus on condition damage and then focus on those traits and take epidemic, etc.
I have struggled constantly to find a Mesmer build I liked and finally gave up when I realized I couldn’t get what I wanted. I do not want to shatter. The abilities/traits/etc. are all there that would make me LOVE this class. On paper, it looks amazing, but the pieces just don’t come together to make it work.
And I feel like because very specific builds of mesmer are good, they aren’t ever going to look at the things I want to play as a Mesmer.
I eventually gave up.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

Why a staff?

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

I mostly run Minions because that’s why I chose Necromancer (I would have been an easier-to-play guardian otherwise) so that sounds good. I had totally forgotten about 3→4 to do AOE weakness on top of chill AND poison so that’s much better than I had thought. I am not very good at targeting yet, but I think with some practice that will improve. Normally try to drop right in front of the enemy to make sure it hits if it’s running, but sometimes still miss.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Why a staff?

in Necromancer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

So, after much agonizing, I went with Necromancer for my main. I liked the Charr with a staff and was looking forward to it since everyone says staff is essential, but I am wondering why.
Sceptre/dagger has lots of AOE as well (and it’s larger and recharges faster), and better debuffing, with the ability to weaken in addition to poison and cripple. Additionally, the staff seems to do less damage. Is it the fear or condition cleanse that makes it essential? Should I only pull it out when I am in a dungeon party or something?

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Can I play a Holy Mage?

in Guardian

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Oh I’m so happy, thank you so much.
Based on your advice, I theorycrafted a 30/20/0/0/20 and it looks to be perfect. I have all the spirit weapon abilities, and by swapping traits like Eternal Spirit-> Sceptre power, A Fire Inside-> Radiant Fire, etc, I can actually have both a Spirit Weapon “damage” build and a supporting Consecration burning+boon/condition removal build available at all times. By using Carrion gear, I help the low HP of Guardian without increasing my toughness and therefore threat. Additionally, I am good in events with staff for AOE stuff and scepter/focus for the big scary bosses I want to stay away from. This is wonderful.
Oh and I really like the Banded Mail for wizard-ish armor. It looks cool and is a relatively cheap rare, so I could afford it and it would still be decently good armor (better than masterwork anyway).

Thanks for all the advice. I might actually get to play something I love both thematically and in gameplay.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

Can I play a Holy Mage?

in Guardian

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

I’m actually kinda starting to get hopeful and excited.
To be honest, I mostly only PvE and a little WvW. It seems like you guys are saying the spirit weapons do decently well there, and I do like consecrations, especially Purging flames. I wish there was an effective way of doing Purging Flames+Smite Condition on the same build.
When I was looking over spirit weapon builds, I had actually passed up the burning, I didn’t realize how good it was.
Additionally, if I take all the spirit weapon abilities, I can easily swap traits to go consecrations and scepter+torch instead of focus. Then I’d be more nuke-ish, and contribute with boon/condition removal as well as burning. I’d have the option of two types of “holy wizard” builds without having to retrain.
Oh my goodness, this might actually work.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Can I play a Holy Mage?

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Okay so what I’m hearing is that I CAN use staff/scepter+focus (or torch, as some other posts seem to suggest that for range) and be a holy wizard, but considering Spirit Weapons and Meditations (holy nuke-type stuff) aren’t that great, it’s only marginally effective.
That’s very sad. Well, perhaps after the buffs come through, I can revisit it again.
Oh and the armor doesn’t bother me too much. The chain skirts look kinda like you are wearing chainmail robes which I think is neat.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

Can I play a Holy Mage?

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

I have always wanted to play a “holy mage (wizard)” type of character. Most games with priest/paladins have either an alternative for damaging (i.e. shadow spells) or simply can’t deal damage.
So, here’s the deal, give it to me straight, can you play this type of Guardian and be effective? If not, that’s fine, I’ll move on and let my dream continue to be just a dream, but if it’s decent, and I can finally be the character I have always wanted, I’d be very happy. I was looking at maybe doing spirit weapons and staff/scepter+focus. Any other suggestions on making this work?
Oh, and are spirit weapons even worth it now that they can be targeted, or should I look into maybe meditations or something instead?

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

Minions vs. Spirit Weapons

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Now that they have made the Guardian spirit weapons targetable, how do you think they do in regard to actual usage in comparison to the other class that has utility attacking pets- Necromancer minions?
I originally was going to play a necromancer but jumped on my guardian today and played around with the spirit weapons, and I kinda like them a lot now that they tank for me. In all honesty though, how are they?

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Protect us… Holy Song!

Select screen. Attention please.

in Charr

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

I hate to say this, but I LIKE that they did this. It shows the actual size in relation to the other characters. I was totally gonna go Asura and then I saw how small my asura was in comparison to other races and realized I’d never be happy being that small in a world of large Norn and Charr (which I also had in my character bank).

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Can any Charr help this indecisive guy?

in Charr

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

It does really depend on what you want to do.
Charr-wise though? Go with what you feel best defines the type of Charr you want to be. When I heard Charr were playable and could be any profession, I decided Mesmer. Why Mesmer? Because I wanted my Charr to be full of magic, but not Elementalist because the Flame Legion were all fire and stuff and I wanted to avoid that and Necromancer was a little too dark instead of just “magic.”
For you, do you want to be the kind of charr that stalks into the camp like a panther and takes down the enemy, always present but not noticed until it’s far, FAR too late? Do you enjoy the idea of shifting around like a ghost on the wind striking with ferocity and then vanishing into the night? Go Thief.
Or, do you want to be more like a Lion battle commander, shouting out encouragement that rallies the troops (and literally buffs/heals them) and either keeps them going with support or charges into the fray? Go Guardian.
I find that choosing something fun and creative will keep you enjoying the game long after nerfs/buffs/metagame/flavor of the month has come and gone. And as a game, that’s it’s purpose- fun.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Mesmer - Minion Master style?

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Perhaps, but illusion phantasms CAN be used to grant regeneration, AOE cripple, reflect projectiles, prevent half the damage to your team for a bit, stack lots of bleeds, cause distortion, stun, confusion or damage, all in an AOE, and recharge much, MUCH faster. They are also more responsive, and attack immediately upon activation.
You can see why it was a difficult decision for me.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

Can you add Dwarves in the next expansion?

in Lore

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

LOL I wasn’t actually saying that specifically the Jotun should become playable, I was naming a random race off the top of my head that is monstrous and not animal-based. But cool to know that ogres actually exist in GW2.
If I got my choice though, I’d make Hyleks playable. I’d never play anything else ever again.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

Can you add Dwarves in the next expansion?

in Lore

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Yea, but I understand what Toumir is saying about the Norn. I have never seen playable Tengu in an MMORPG. I have never seen Charr. I have never seen Asura. I have seen humans and large humans and humanoid-type races with strong Nordic ties. Sylvari are very unique, though. They are frelling plants. Not plant-like humanoids, not elves that live among plants, but actual plants, which kinda blew my mind when I finally grasped that concept.
Someday, I am hoping Jotun or something become playable. Guild Wars really needs a monstrous humanoid race that isn’t based on an animal. Jotun remind me of Ogres… I like Ogres.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Avatar of the Pale Tree

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Derpaderp.

Communication with NON-SYLVARI. As Dream and Nightmare shows, the Pale Tree can and does talk directly to its children as a disembodied voice, but she cannot to non-sylvari. Because it doesn’t have a mouth.

I LOLed. Additionally, it’s rather difficult to move a vey large tree to another location, but the avatar can move freely. Assuming there was a meeting to discuss the alliance between the races in Lion’s Arch or somesuch, it’d be logistically… problematic. Now, she can literally just sit at the table like all the other representatives.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Questions about vampiric master

in Necromancer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

So minions do NOT deal more damage as life-syphon, but everything else does? That’s… interesting. Well, it’s good to know, at least.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Mesmer - Minion Master style?

in Mesmer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

First, to bold something it’s asterisks (*) around the thing you want bolded. If you click “more posting & formatting options” button when you are making a post, then it’ll show you how to do things like that. I like italics myself.
Clones do share stats except Vitality and condition Duration. Sometimes you will have all your phantasm/clone skills off cooldown while you already have 3 out. When this happens, it is more useful to shatter and then immediately re-summon, since you can only have 3 at a time anyway.
Additionally, after playing for a while, you can start to guess how much damage your shatters do, and then shatter when you know the enemy is low enough to shatter and finish them off. Pretty much all mesmers shatter, it’s just a question of how often.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

Account-bound equipment

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

So, I know most equipment binds to the character once you equip it (anything green or higher), but what about these fabled account-bound equipments like the laurel stuff? It says it’s account bound on the wiki. Does that mean that you can equip it on any of your characters and can trade it between them, or does it bind to the character you equip it to, and you just can’t sell it?
If I can remove it from a character that equipped it and transfer it to other characters, then you’ll have to excuse me as I go farm like a mad person.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Mesmer - Minion Master style?

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

The only reason I couldn’t decide between Necromancer and Mesmer for so long is because of the possibility of a Minion Master type build with Mesmer. I seriously considered playing either a phantasm build or, as I found it more fun, a Staff clones/condition build.
Dispite that staff build being the most fun thing I had played in the game, I finally gave up on Mesmer because things just never quite lined up. Vulnerability on the staff/clone auto attack really disrupts it, and wanting to run faster (for exploration and to keep up with teammates) requiring Runes of the Centaur, which is of questionable use with the staff, was frustrating. Also, I didn’t like melee much, so ran scepter in 2nd weapon slot and it needs some serious attention.
Overall, I just wasn’t having fun with Mesmer. If they did a few quality of life improvements someday, I’d be back that very day and build a Minion Master Mesmer.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Questions about vampiric master

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

So, I can’t figure this out in my testing.
Does Vampiric master actually cause minions to deal more damage, the extra being transferred to you, or does it simply cause a portion of the damage they do to heal you? Also if you use Vampiric Master+Bloodthirst, does the damage increase, or it just converts more of the damage into health?
I’m considering not taking Blood Magic at all for a minion build, and putting those points toward Axe Training or something. I don’t have much difficulty surviving and am questioning the usefulness of those skills if it doesn’t cause them to do more damage.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Do you feel like a necromancer?

in Necromancer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Oh, see, I find it so ironic that I actually like the things a lot of you say you don’t like. Chill (as in, of the grave) is a great condition for us, and I have always thought poison was THE necromancer thing, and I’m actually annoyed we don’t have more of it. This is especially true in this game where it decreases healing- as in, actually stops life from entering the body.
I like the look of minions because it’s different, and it’s more socially acceptable, as necros are accepted more by general society in Guild Wars than other games (presumably because people don’t like sweet Aunt Bertha returning from the grave to fight for some jerk). Also +1 to what was said above about necromancers actually creating their minions instead of just animating some schmo that died on the ground.

Also, a lot of the stuff you guys are talking about is a good indication that they did Necromancer right, where some feel like it’s a warlock, some say shaman, others that it’s a curser or a vampire, etc. I like seeing things like that because it means you can make your necromancer more your “own” version. Heck, you can even take Well of Blood and Spectral Wall and stuff like that +staff and be a cleric/priest-type character. Bloody brilliant.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Can you add Dwarves in the next expansion?

in Lore

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Another problem with bringing back the Dwarves would be that they were one of the 5 original elder-races. While it would be interesting to be able to play one of the elder races, it’d be a bit hard to justify. They “needed” to fade away into the mists of time somehow to make room for new players in history, like humans. It would be a little strange to have an enigmatic, powerful, mythical race playable.
I was really surprised to discover they were one of the 5 original races that fought the dragons, considering how many internal problems and commonplace issues they had in Guild Wars 1. I remember thinking “This… is one of the original, mythical races of Tyria? That’s… rather underwhelming. Your legends severely overestimate you.”

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

What is the source of the Guardians power?

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Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

That’s really funny. In the history, it doesn’t mention it but if you Wiki bloodstone specifically it does. nice.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

What is the source of the Guardians power?

in Lore

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

You got things wrong on a lot of matters. The bloodstone was not created by the gods, it was created by the seers long before the gods came to Tyria (according to our current timeline). The gods merely released the magic (Abaddon specifically). Then humanity’s leader, King Doric, pleaded for the gods to take away magic because humanity was being beaten back with major bloodshed by it. The gods split up magic into the 4 stones to allow an individual to only use the magic of 1 maybe 2 stones at a time, never wielding the power of all 4. There are guesses that perhaps magic was more potent before the bloodstone wkittentered, based on the amount of bloodshed there supposedly was as magic was released. The other thought, and the one that ArenaNet seemed to project at first, was that individuals could only do so much alone, because of their limitations, forcing people to work together in order to wield all the powers of the bloodstones. BTW they were all thrown into Abaddon’s Mouth (volcano at the heart of the Ring of Fire) and then the volcano erupted years (maybe centuries, I don’t remember) later and scattered the regular bloodstone. Only the keystone (should I remember right) remains inside of the volcano. 1 of them resides in what is now the Maguuma Wastes and the other resides beneath the now Steamspur Mountains. The other two are major unknowns.

EDIT: Apparently was —-——— shattered can be combined into a foul word, who knew :P

That’s pretty much what I said (I summarized a bit), except for the stuff that happened BEFORE Doric’s journey. Where did you find out the bloodstones existed BEFORE the gods gave magic to the world, and specifically before Doric’s journey? According to the official guide and manuals of Guild Wars 1 and the wiki, the bloodstone is not mentioned until the gods (supposedly) created it in response to Doric’s request.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Do you feel like a necromancer?

in Necromancer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

Wow Bhawb, I as totally gonna say something about the “all-powerful” problem until I got to your post. Totally agree.
Agreed also that necromancer means diviner using spirits, but I really REALLY like what it has become in fantasy lore- primarily a caster that deals with death, anti-life energy, and the undead.
I also LOVE what they have done with necromancer in this game. In most games that include necromancers, they are stuck as a poison/curse type class with an undead pet. I can be an undead army creater (my personal favorite), or a healer/debuffer, or a vampire, or whatever. I really feel like they did such a great job on necromancer compared to the other classes in this regard.
Try being an elementalist specialized in only one element, or a guardian centered on smiting enemies with holy magic. I personally tried that last one. You can do it, but it’s not very viable.
Similar to DelOnasi, I normally wear gold and white robes , and use my undead… erm… friends to protect the innocent townspeople. I have never seen necromancy as evil, but a tool, like a tank or a gun…. well, assuming you don’t, ya know, kill people and drain their life essences to fuel your own immortality or something…

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

(edited by Ramiah.5648)

What is the source of the Guardians power?

in Lore

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

See, this has always confused me about the bloodstone(s), and I may make a separate topic to explore this further.
So, magic as given to the world and any and all could use it. Then, it was realized the humans were more or less tearing the world apart with it. So, to prevent any misuse, the bloodstone was created and shattered into several pieces with a keystone, which was thrown into a volcano somewhere. The purpose of this was to prevent any one person from having, like, all the frelling power in the world. My guess is that the Seer Arah path is talking about the keystone. So why can I burn the heck out of things or inflict all sorts of nasty stuff on others if I only have access to one bloodstone as a guardian?
Also, it is correct that not all magic comes through the bloodstones. Ritualists from Guild Wars 1 used Ritualism supposedly long before other magic ever was even a glimmer in some godlike-being’s eye.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!

Minions

in Necromancer

Posted by: Ramiah.5648

Ramiah.5648

It just means they won’t be attacked by anything unless you attack or are attacked. Rangers are noticing some hilarious effects- they can command a pet to go attack a mob and it’s friends will just stand there and watch the bear/bird/whatever chew their friend to death.

Thy faithful servant asketh for thy blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song.
Protect us… Holy Song!