Guild Wars 2

whyme.3281:

• rework Blood magic (to allow dagger/well, dagger/vamp, vamp/well builds, because those would need 60-70 points in this trait line)

Yes, totally agree with this. I’ve been wanting to make a dagger/well/life stealing build since launch, and I’ve had to choose between life stealing and wells. The other top priority thing should be fixing Necro condition builds, or condition damage in general so they are more viable and conditions don’t step on each other.

One more thing I would add is to use your dungeon tokens to buy dungeon armor/weapons. I’m not sure if this service will move to Vigil Keep as well, but in case it doesn’t.

Ravious.4269:

The main problem is they are not friends with the current PvE meta. They are supposed to be balanced in PvE groupings by seriously crippling the opposition, but compared to might stacking, cleave, and the guardian/warrior/mesmer combo the tradeoff is just silly.

That and in PvE one of their dominant slices of pie (conditions) is technically flawed.

Totally agree with this and couldn’t have said it better. I’d say the #1 thing they need to fix in PvE is a change across the board to how conditions work. Here’s hoping that one day I’ll be able to play a Conditionmancer and have him not suck.

1. Necromancer
2. Elementalist
3. Engineer

I currently have 2 sets of armor on my Guardian. A knight set for when I run my Altruistic Healing build and a Berserker set for when I run my burning DPS build. Between the 2 builds, I think my DPS build if more fun to play, but I have better survivability with my AH build. I could see running an AH build with Zealot gear because the healing power buffs your AH heals. However most AH builds run in melee and the reduced toughness might not be worth it.

If I was to use Zealots for my AH build, I’d change the traits to use meditations instead of shouts and use the Rune of Rage that was suggested for the increased fury duration. Increased fury will also proc your Empowering Might, increasing your damage and granting boons to your allies, which heals you. The synergy is really great with this. Another thing to consider for an AH build is the trait lines are the same, whether you want to do meditations or shouts, so you could switch your skills/traits around on the fly depending on the situation.

Here’s the latest pics of my guardian, overlooking Ebonhawke.

mahariel.4981:

Do you think it’s fine that I make an LFG asking for an experienced player, get an inexperienced one and have to kick them since they don’t fit the criteria?

I understand that some people, yourself included, like experienced runs and that’s perfectly fine. When I see a LFG post and they say experienced, that tells me that you should know the fight/mechanics of the dungeon before joining. I have no problem with this. My disagreement is that you vote kick someone just because you see they have a particular weapon equiped. They could have a really good build that maybe you never thought of, but you’ll never know since you vote kicked them.

The purpose of this thread was to get ideas for builds, not complain about getting inexperienced players in an “experience run” dungeon group. I never said I was looking for the most efficient Mesmer build, but a build that uses a staff and is somewhat viable/usable in PVE. I know that the Blackwater build has some bad traits for PVE, which is why I said I would modify the build to be more useful in PVE. I think what I’ll end up doing is coming up with my own condition build, buy Carrion gear cause its cheap, and then see how I like it. Just cause I choose a condition build now, doesn’t mean I have to stick with it.

Skcamow, thanks for your explanation and apology for the comments in this thread. I’d rather not get in the middle of the argument, but I think helping someone understand how to be a better player, as opposed to just kicking them, is something that helps everyone out, so I agree with you.

Qaelyn, I agree with you as well. When I run dungeons, its with guildies and friends who are more interested in showing players how to fights right the first time, instead of just kicking less “experienced” players. I stay away from the LFG tool for the same reason you do (try to avoid elitist groups). After all, it’s a game and people play it to have fun.

On the topic of my thread, I just wanted to get ideas for builds that didn’t involve a GS because I don’t care for the skills. Mahariel states that having a GS means you’re an inexperienced player, which is correct for my mesner, since I just hit 80, hence why I’m asking the question. I’m more interested in whether someone had a condition build that was considered viable. After searching the forums, I’m leaning more towards running with the Blackwater build with some tweaks to make it better for PVE, and less for WvW.

I was just generally speaking, since it seems like most of the Mesmer builds people run are Zerker Greatsword builds. The problem I have with using Sword on both weapon sets is I’d be forced to be in melee range all of the time. If I do go with Berserker gear, that seems kinda squishy to be in melee range all the time, unless I’m missing something. I get that there is some survivability with Blurred Frenzy. But it’s on a 12 second cooldown, 9.5 if you’re traiting for it. For the purpose of this build discussion, forget I mentioned WvW. I’ll be doing PVE and dungeons (Fractals) mostly anyways.

I just got my Mesmer up to level 80 and am wondering on what build to go with for PVE, Dungeons, and {very} occasionally WvW. I know the most viable is a Zerker Greatsword, Sword+Focus (or Pistol) Phantasm build. However I don’t like the Greatsword at all and I really like the Staff skills. I was thinking about doing a shatter condition build with Staff but I’ve heard bad things about Mesmer condition builds. Was wondering if anyone had any advice or could point me in the direction of a viable build I could use as a basis for my own build.

Thanks in advance.

Here’s my Necro. For those that are interested, the dye colors are Tea Shade/Gold/Spite.

So I had an idea on how ArenaNet could fix the 25 bleed-stack-limit issue that condition Necros face. The issue isn’t that Necro’s bleed stacks are ineffective. The issue is that there are a lot of classes that apply bleeds, bleeds only stack up to 25 stacks, and bleeds are the #1 source of condition damage that Necros apply. (Yes, Necros can stack a ton of vulnerability, but not typically in a condition build.) To that end, my proposed idea is to change poison from stacking duration to stacking intensity, giving it the same 25-stack limit that bleeding does. Then, change the Necro weapon abilities, skills, traits, etc to affect/apply poison instead of bleeding.

For example, Blood Curse (#1 Scepter) would be renamed to Poison curse and apply poison instead of bleeding. The Hemophilia trait would be changed to increase poison duration by 20% (obviously be renamed as well). ETC……

To me, it makes more sense for Necros to apply poison instead of bleeding anyways. In this scenario, the only real problem I see is if Rangers or Thieves are stacking poison. However, I think there are fewer classes out there using poison then using bleeds.

What do you guys think?

I’m running into a different, yet similar issue. I open GW2, minimize to the desktop and start Bandicam, then go back to GW2. I know that Bandicam is working in the background because I see the FPS overlay in the corner. However, when I hit the button to start recording a video, the entire game freezes and I can’t move the mouse or anything. Eventually my computer will reboot. I tried using Bandicam to record other games and I don’t have the issue. I’ve ran tests on my RAM and video card and it reports no errors. I even tried updating Bandicam to the latest version, and that didn’t work. So I cut a support ticket and they told me to try turning off the FPS overlay. Tried that, didn’t help. Then they told me they don’t support 3rd party applications running along side GW2 and I should contact Bandicam to resolve this. Problem isn’t with Bandicam, as I can use it to record any game other than GW2.

This started happening for me after the February patch was related a few days ago. I think the issue is a memory leak in GW2 that gets exposed when Bandicam interacts with GW2. Since the patch, I’ve also noticed graphics performance hits, so it could also be the way GW2 interacts with Bandicam and the video drivers. Support ticket is still open, so I’ll see what they say and report any updates I get.

Here are my specs:
Windows 7, 64-bit
Core i7 2600k
16GB RAM (DDR3-1600)
AMD Radeon HD 7950 with 13.1 drivers
GW2 is installed on an SSD, videos are stored on a 1TB HDD.

Nothing above is overclocked, and I tried switching the video output directory to the SSD and got the same result.

I have a level 55 Necro and I think it’s a really fun class to play. The problem I have with Necros so far, and I’m sure other professions have the same issue, is different builds require that you stack different stats on your gear. So if you want to switch, it’s not as easy (or effective) to just swap weapons. So I’d recommend going into the Mists and trying out different weapon combinations and see what you like. It won’t give you a complete picture, but it should point you in the right direction. That being said, when I started my Necromancer, I used Scepter/Dagger as my main set and Staff as off set. On my gear, I stacked condition damage and precision and that seemed to work until around level 45 when I got bored with it. So I switched to my current build, which is Dagger/Dagger as main, and Staff as off set. Dagger/Dagger seems to work really well and does good damage. Axe/Dagger also does a fair amount of damage. I’m now stacking Power and Precision on my gear. I’m more of a glass cannon at the moment, but that’s ok because I have Death Shroud to use if I’m in a bad situation. Some people like the staff, but I only use it as an AOE when I’m doing dynamic events and need to hit multiple mobs.

Here’s my current build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fQUQNAoYWjMaF7JbSb87JgpHZzt3QK612IFEfMA;T8Ag0ynEOJdS9kyJKpMSJkyWkTKpUrQGRMJA