Guild Wars 2

I think you just described almost every class though.

Only 2 of the 9 classes got access to ranged weapons, and all the gameplay I’ve seen puts everyone , except the Deadye, at mid range to melee range.

I also like Axe 3, the idea of being able to jump clones from one Mob to the next, thus avoiding the “build up” required in open world for a mesmer has awesome potential

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/163637673

Mirage starts at the

2:07:02 mark.

In short this looks like we have a serious DPS specialization, especially in PVE, where AOE spamming will not auto kill the clones.

Having to admit this is kind of exciting.

It’s an extra slog for your character wide bag.

Previously you could have a maximum of 5 Account wide slots in that bag. They just added a sixth slot.

I purchased the expansion and confirmed.

Necrum Davengers.3519:

Obtena.7952:

Necrum Davengers.3519:

So this new expansion is about new maps, mounts and elite specialization.
What about:
Dungeons
WvW
Fractal
PvP
These things are not important Arena? I’ m sorry but after the HOT expansion, you continue going down to the hill.

Gee … just like the last expansion. Why would you think otherwise? No offense but those things you list are simply second rate filler content. Any expansion based on those tidbits of content would be a failure.

I mean, lets throw it back at you .. how would you conceptualize an expansion based on any of those things? It doesn’t make sense. Those elements get ongoing changes; they aren’t ‘expansion’ worthy.

“Any expansion based on those tidbits of content would be a failure”
Go thell that on Wow and Final Fantasy XIV wich are more popular than Guild Wars 2.

So let me get this straight. $29.99 for most of what WoW or FFXIV , except some end game content and PVP content Is not worth it, but for just adding those ancillary components you would pay $39.99 for an expansion plus $14.99 a month?

I’m thrilled with the content. If you compare to ever other B2P or F2P option, suprisingly enough this expansion actually provides More content with the possible exception of ESO (though ESO is a hybrid between P2P and B2P)

But sure, compare it to the two groups that still charge $14.99 a month just to be able to login and look at your charactrer’s inventory.

OK, so after more Digging I’ve seen some stuff,

However that leads to more questions.

1. When doing solo, at what point do you switch to Chrono ? Obviously if you have completed the entire trait line you do, but is there a cutoff where Part of Chrono > any trait lline it is replacing?

1. When Doing Solo in Open World PVE, whn does S/SH +F end up outpacing something like GS + S/F for example? This may be another way to ask question 1, but I feel there is a little difference.

Simple question I hope. Still quite a ways from unlocking all of chronomaster, so was wondering what a good build and gear would be.

Everything I searched on seemed to be potentially out of date

Thanks much

OK the title may be confusing, especially since I’m really referring to the posting community versus the actual professions, but I’ve noticed a lot of professions seem to swing madly from “Hooray we are viable/near top” to “OMG this prof is worthless”

Now I know that the above sentiment is more often than not player driven, but there is often a kernel of truth to the concept as well. But until/unless Arena Net moves to the concept that Blizzard is finally adopting (i.e. in Legion they are splitting PVE and PVP perks out from each other) , swings are inevitable. As a long time Mesmer I’ve seen this mood swing first hand, A-Net swings from letting the Mesmer to be pretty good to being fairly awful, before sometime remembering how badly they have nerfed the profession, and swing it back to usable to nearly OP.

So the question becomes, is there any class that tends to stay is an “acceptable” place, I’m not looking for OP, just something that I can learn , and feel reasonably comfortable in knowing that if I stink it’s because I need to L2P, not that the guide or work that I’ve done is now null and void because as the previous FOTM prof(x) has been nerfed into oblivion.

If there is such a profession, does said profession change based on game type?
i.e. profession x is always good in WvW , profession y is always good in PVE

Subject pretty much covers it. What race would say from a lore perspective fits each profession.

Hi All,

I check the forums, searched on map or world, and nothing came back. I used my L80 on a Thief , and was wondering if there are any good builds to speed through map completion. I don’t have any class with map completion yet, so this one might be my first, and I know that Thief was recommended as one of the best for map completion.

Thanks,

samulihei.1952:

Sun Lian.4075:

Again.. try to work something out. I already did and I really don’t feel a dmg nerf.

Also, have you thought about having 2 necros in a group that now stack more bleed? Since chill didn’t stack, 2 necros now synergize conditions more.

I just can’t anymore. It’s like trying to argue evolution to religious people.

That is unfair to religious people and evolutionists both.

Puck.9612:

They just need to unlock all the pets in wvw the same way they do in PvP. Just because some of you enjoy this games crappy pve doesn’t mean we should all have to suffer through it.

Well I’m game with that as soon as they unlock all pets in PVE . Just because some vocal minority enjoys this games crappy PVP/WVW should makes us all have to suffer through it.

Deal??

So I’m doing open world completion since I still have 50% of the original world to explore. I’m also approximately 50% complete with unlocking the scrapper elite specialization. I keep reading How much better , and how especially in PVP core is weaker than scrapper, so I’m wondering, at what point in the scrapper unlock does it become more efficient to use scrapper over core?

Eastcorn.5901:

Whatever armor set, runes and sigils you want to wear is not important for world completion, so I left it out:

Power:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUhSsYJXwvLQ7FLDG0XASf7H/RNiB48zfQB

Condi:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqalUUhSsYfWwvLQ7FLpF1XNEANw4PmGlBYJuiHAA

Lazy:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlcThatY1VwvLQ7FL3FF4CGhBgYB9D5w4I2EJBA

Thanks so much for these builds. The Lazy one in particular has been great for world completion, and will help me get HP’s enough to move on down and complete scrapper

Hi All, this is a “No Chronomancer build” because I haven’t gotten enough HP to get it finished, but I would like to finish exploring the core world. Mostly Solo

Err, Based on your Description Necro is ideal. I’m not certain you would look and say “fixed” not knowing your full image. But they can do great DPS, and I posted a question about PVE world exploration earlier this week, and the consensus seems to be Either Thief or Necro.

I suppose I should have mentioned where I’m coming from. I have to L80’s already a Mesmer and a Engineer. Each one has about 50% of the world complete, but it has been quite painful getting just that far, especially with the mesmer.

I have HOT but have not completed either, again because of two things

a) I suck at grenades with engineer
and
b) While I understand the mechanics with a Mesmer, because of squishiness I have too little margin for error, and again AM just not that great of a Mesmer.

So I’m ultimately looking for a class, and it sound like it might be thief ranger or necro, that would be good for getting 100% of the world explored.

Since back when I played WoW I maxed every healing class, would that then lend me towards a Ranger/Druid ? or is the healing at endgame sufficiently different not to have a comparative?

Hi,

So I know the answer to this question is probably necro, or ranger.

I have a slightly different question. Could someone help rank the classes?

Specifically how would you rank revenant , rogue and warrior.

Coming back to th game after a long hiatus, and wondering how viable Mesmer is for both PVE (Fractals, Raids, etc) and PVP.

Thanks

Back to playing the game after the HOT expansion, and as always I’m drawn to my Mesmer.

While grinding for the Chronomancer , is there a good build? Or is pretty much great sword + anything?

So after a Hiatus since about May, I’m back playing these days, and well obviously a lot has changed. Mesmer is still my favorite profession, and also the one class I have at least gotten about 50% of the map explored. I’m L80, but was wondering what were good specs to complete exploring the existing map prior to October 23rd.

Thanks in advance

Kythan Myr.4719:

Riesenschnauzer.6049:

Coelho Nat.4697:

My opinion: some parts of the game must be easy or for casual players, whereas other parts should more challenging (e.g. some temples, bosses, etc.). However, for those harder parts, the rewards need to be increased since the current ones don´t worth the extra effort.

Wait.. Doesn’t that completely destroy the argument for more challenging content? I mean if the purpose is to get better rewards, then you turn the game into a progression grind quest like WoW and every other MMO out there.

If Challenging content is so important to a certain group of people, then shouldn’t the content itself be reward enough?

Yes, maybe once or twice, but you need something to keep you coming back. Look at champ trains and SW. Why do people keep coming back over and over to do those?

Obviously the rewards. But again what that tells me is that most of the people clamoring for hardcore content aren’t interested so much in the content but mores in establishing themselves as the “elite” because they have toys other people do not and those toys are more effective, more powerful, etc.

Of course that means everyone who wants to invest time has to play the content, not because they want to, but because in order to meet the current “meta” and be accepted on some other fun stuff they must have that gear. Gee, that sounds an awful lot like the toxic environment you see in MOBAS or old School MMO’s.

NoTrigger.8396:

Vayne.8563:

There’s no difficult content in this game that I particularly enjoy. I can do it. I HAVE done it. I’m not lazy. I’m not interested in what you’re interested in. That doesn’t mean I don’t care. It just means that’s not my thing.

ok its not your thing and thats completely fine. no problem with that.
but why are people like you against something that wouldnt affect them at all?!

im not interested in the stuff that you enjoy, but do you see me on forums saying that i am against content for players like you? no.
why? im not interested in it, it doesnt affect me, so i dont care. simple isnt it?

I think you would be surprised to find out that if you, and others wanting hardcore content, were to pitch the idea of Hardcore content that wouldn’t bring any kind of advantage for accomplishing the content , most people would be fine with it.

But the thing is most Hardcore players don’t want that. They want challenging content that if it is achieved will result in them somehow getting better gear or some tangible recognition for their accomplishment.

The majority of Hardcore requesting players want to recognized as great, the “harder” content is merely a means to an end.

Now if you are one of those players who are only interested in challenging content for the thrill of besting it, and in your mind that a “casual” who spends a few hour a week in Silverwastes getting what you get in the “Challenging content” is OK, then I salute you.

Coelho Nat.4697:

My opinion: some parts of the game must be easy or for casual players, whereas other parts should more challenging (e.g. some temples, bosses, etc.). However, for those harder parts, the rewards need to be increased since the current ones don´t worth the extra effort.

Wait.. Doesn’t that completely destroy the argument for more challenging content? I mean if the purpose is to get better rewards, then you turn the game into a progression grind quest like WoW and every other MMO out there.

If Challenging content is so important to a certain group of people, then shouldn’t the content itself be reward enough?

MauricioCezar.2673:

So, 2 things resume what I am not okay with :

• http://www.tentonhammer.com/columns/persistent-worlds/persistent-worlds-whats-biggest-issue-facing-guild-wars-2

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJUMino2KDA

Each of the articles talk in a different way, about the same topic, and both bring up the question: Are you okay with this? Are you okay with the game being more and more “Easy” and less challenging (aka – Auto Attack still makes you beat content easily).

I decided to show my personnal awser here, at anet own forum, so maaaybe, it gets considered as feedback : NO, I am not okay with that.

I really want to roll a new PC when HoT arrive to play trough all the PS again, and face HoT into a different perspective, but after watching how poor the PS and content are in the game actually, I am inclined to agree with what those articles talks about, gw2 is actually way too easy, and becmoing even boring.

PS: Don’t get me wrong, I am a vicied fan of gw2, that experienced the whole gw1 campaigns and played over 5k hours just because I love it. So, i kindly ask to this topic be received as feedback to better construction of future “Patchs”.

Heh, my 7 year old daughter, who never played much video games until GW2 hit L80 as a Mesmer in about 3 months playing about 2 hours a day. She basically ran around doing some exploring a mostly face rolled (the 1 key is your friend). Now on the one hand, playing a game where “Daddy, help me!” Is not constantly repeated is nice, on the other hand it kind of makes me feel that we could add a lot more challenging content and still not get anywhere near “hardcore” content.

Personally speaking though I would prefer that Anet focus on making every weapon for every class actually viable for every mode. I think that bothers me more than the content.

frifox.5283:

Using that signet actually may be mandatory. I was doing some tests and noticed an interesting bug:

Staff clone, with SoI equipped

• 6,527 HP

Staff clone, w/out SoI equipped

• 2,433 HP – for first 2.2 sec
• 4,171 HP – 2.2 sec after summon

This calls for a bug test to be conducted. Do staff clones really have ~44% less HP for the first 2.2 sec when they are summoned? Is that just client-side bug or both client and server side bug?

This is how I noticed the problem:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPgmIvtwvLc

Frifox does it still work this way?

And for solo PVE would a Condi build be preferable?

aspirine.6852:

Well it’s not just guardians that have bad elites. From all professions the utility skills are much better than their elite skills. Anet really bombed at making the elites in this game.

I don’t know. Mesmer elites are all pretty good. Supply crate from the engineer is exceptional as well.

Granted, it sure would be nice if every profession had elites that you actually wanted. Or if you could replace the elite skill with a utility skill

DeathPanel.8362:

Shiyo.3578:

EdgarMTanaka.7291:

.

I mean, what other games has a whole bank specified to crafting mats? What other games has a button to store crafting mats in the bank without having to go there?

WOW does

WOW also charges you 15 dollars a month. That much money can be used to buy more bank slots in GW2 with ease.

It’s also a tad misrepresentative too. WoW added one medium sized tab in your vault for crafting in September of this year. A full 2 years after GW2 was released, and it is nowhere near a full functioned

Wowbagger.3176:

Hi there!

I’ve recently come back to GW2 (I’ve played quite a bit on and off since lauch). I got 3 level 80 characters now, but none that I really like and feel that I can settle down with. The three I got are Engineer, Thief and Elementalist. I mostly do open world content and exploring/jumping puzzles (I rarely do PvP) and I don’t have a lot of time to play. I’ll try to lay out what I like and don’t like about the classes I play and see if some of you pros can come with some tips on different way to play the classes I’ve chosen or tips on other classes I should try out! Thanks!

Engineer
What I don’t like: Quite fun but too much to handle for me. I never feel like I get a hang of the class and I also got a kind of a problem with the Charr:y feel of the class (I’m a big Asura fan). Right now I’m running a SD build without any kits (using my rifle and various gadgets) but I’m really lacking DPS and the CC that I bring is mostly knockbacks which is not very useful when playing with other players (which I mostly do indirectly – events and dungeons etc.).

What I like: I feel like I can use my utilites and swap out my skills in a more meaningful way to suit the encounter with the engi than I can with the other classes I play. I like jumping around and having access to a lot of CC – however I think it’s lacking a bit of AoE (I know I could go with the flamethrower or grenades, but I don’t like it so much) and general DPS.

Ok, well for PVE and especially roaming you are hamstringing yourself.

1. Go with some kits. You don’t like hades, ok that’s fine, but at least go with Bomb Kit or Flamer thrower, and then the Elixir gun. Then spend the 2 trait points for speedy kits and you have swiftness with 100% uptime.

Bomb Kit is absolutely fantastic DMG wise. Technically the Grenade kit can out dps it, but it requires a lot more button mashing and aim. Bomb Kit would also completely solve you AOE issues. There is something awesome about laying down a flame bomb and then (while still in the fire field) use the Jump Shot from the rifle. Many times I get to hear my Human Engi state “I make a pretty good team” after pulling this one. as I get my fire shield as a result of the combo.

Elixir Gun just gives you escape ability to spare, decent damage (including a little AOE) and lots of utility. And while PVE roaming, you just flip between Elixir and Bomb.

http://www.wolfineer.com/the-engineer-handbook/

Is just a great place to start. He also keeps build and options for builds.

Honestly though, it’s worth the effort to learn how to use grenades, whether PVE , PVP or WvW they can just be awesome. Something else great about the kits, is that they work well regardless of wether you want to dabble in Condition builds, or want to stick with a Power build.

For me I also must admit there is something to be said about the look. The ability to essentially go with a Steampunk Musketeer motif is pretty cool.

Seamus.9645:

Hey everyone. I checked the forums but couldn’t find any posts about my issues specifically.

I recently took a promotion at work which necessitates moving to night shift. The nature of my work will leave me long periods of nothing to do once I finish my clerical duties for the night and it was recommended to me by my boss I come up with a way to pass the time.

I love to write so I am looking to get a laptop that I can do that on but would also like one that can play GW2 as well. The thing is, is that I have a very beastly PC at home that I built so this one would only be used occasionally during a few hours of the wee morning and for nothing more than dailies, solo PvE and PS stuff. No PVP or WvW so basically I am looking for the cheapest laptop possible that will run gw2 w/o lag in the listed areas (I understand that hubs may lag of if I run into a popular event) all in all I am realistic in my expectations I am just trying to find the cheapest laptop possible that I can install GW2 on and run w/o a problem.

I had started to hunt and compare the gpu integrated/dedicated, etc, etc. But I figure if someone already knows it’ll save me some time!

Also, the smaller the better. Ideally something in the 12 inch range (or smaller) would be great.

Hi Seamus,

I know you said small and cheap, but if you can get closer to the ~700 range, Lenovo has this one:

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y40-80/

The entry level one should be absolutely fine for you an the R9 275M graphics card should be more than enough to power GW2 (Shoot most games) at 1080p , albeit not will all the bells and whistles but those latpos are 2200 or more.

Abyhow, just thought it might be worth mentioning.

Lifestealer.4910:

Pay 2 win thats why, make all the mats have ridiculous gold cost to give incentive to people to buy convert gems to gold.

To paraphrase Inigo Montoya

“You keep using that phrase, I do not think it means what you think it does”

You might be able to achieve ascended gear faster by using real money, to get gold, but it only gets you there faster. If you go farm silk, you still get their.

If you believe getting ascended gear at an accelerated pace is “Winning” why even play?

kuben.9826:

Never saw such topic, so don’t bite if it’s here already.
The game wouldnt be “p2w” for most people. You’d have to do everything by yourself-no shortcuts for those who “don’t have enough time to farm money for legendary”.
What do You guys think?

I’m not sure I follow. How do you propose Anet continue to make enough money to release new content and support the game?

The fact of the matter is that any game that is
A) MMO in some fashion
B) Continues to release new content

Has to have a way to generate new cash inflows to pay for that. It’s Econ 101. Anet has to remain profitable for NCSoft to continue fronting a game like GW2.

discosoc.6510:

Anyway, I guess the thread can be summed up as “the class gets better if you can manage to get to 80.” Unfortunately, I have a feeling that most of you offering that advice got to 80 before last years’ overhaul.

SO FYI, I just got to L80. I never connected with GW2 until January of this year (bought the game in August/September 2012) When I started playing again, my Mesmer was the highest level Character I had (L 18) So basically over the past month and change I got all the way. It’s hard but fun the whole way. Now I will admit I probably got about 15 Levels through Tomes of Knowledge and Crafting, but excepting that aspect I went completely PVE, and not even through Dungeons.

As people have mentioned in the post, it depends on how you want to play.

I can tell you though, playing with Greatsword + Sword/Focus, or Sword/Pistol is probably the most fun. Everyone here is right when they say Sword/Sword is great damage, but when leveling up you need either something long lasting with good damage (pistol) or something with more AOE damage (Focus).

The primary Drawback to Sword/Sword especially early on is that it is very much melee intense. That means Clones + Phantasms just don’t last all that long. Honeslty I nearly gave up on Mesmer from L20-40 until I settled on Greatsword + Sword/Pistol. The Pistol does very good damage and is at range, meaning the mob you attacked has to focus on it, or you. Menawhile you switch over to Greatsword, and attack the mob at range.

Now I’m not saying my method was the most efficient, even for Personal Story plus PVE roaming, but that it was fun, and while comparing to my Engineer I wasn’t doing as much damage, but I never felt completely Kitten. (Honestly that award goes to my Guardian having gotten myself swarmed, didn’t know how important escape mechanisms like blink and Decoy had become to me)

So I did the “level as fast as you can” plan, so now at L80 I’m trying to explore the area, so exploring. Was wondering what a good kit (gear, traits, skills) to just roam.

The Lazy guide says Zerker gear with runes of the Centaur. I understand that for PVE a power build is generally the best. I do have some questions though

A) Would Knights or Soldier gear be better for roaming? Or is toughness and vitality overrated?

b) Presuming you have the gold to spend, would a separate runes of the Traveller be more efficient than runes of the Centaur? Again this is only to go roaming/exploring the map in PVE.

I’m guessing I will have more questions, but these are the first two I can think of.

OK, So I’m technical a recently minted L80 Mesmer (my first L80)
And since I haven’t found a good active guild, I’m still mostly doing the whole “Explore the world” process, since between scrolls of knowledge, resource gathering and crafting you can find yourself L80 without trying all that hard.

I was looking at guides and notice that the Phantasm builds seem to be a bit outdated (i.e. they use builds like 10/…, when now a days 6 is the highest number for traits.) I like the idea in theory of a Phantasm build since the ones I have seen seem to focus on constant regen/healing (albeit small amounts) while packing a reasonably good DPS behind iy.

So Are there still reasonably good PVE and PVP Phantasm specs, if so

What Weapons? I presume S + S/F or GS + S/P
What type of Armor? Assassin’s or Berserker’s I’m guessing
What Runes/Sigils ? Would seem like Scholar would definitely be up there.
What traits? Do the old trait line still translate?
What Skills?

I hope to do PVE and May at some point get involved in PVP, though I’ve never done much of that in the past in any game save World Of Tanks.

I’m not opposed to a shatter mesmer, but I like conceptually the Idea of keeping your illusions alive , versus rushing them off to do their doom ( and your benefit)

OK, So ultimately this has to do with the power of the Main Hand auto attack and the cleave.

So would

Sword/Focus
+
Sword/Pistol

Be a viable Open World PVE build?

I know that I’m leaving some DPS on the table, however I also know that Sword Offhand would further complicate things for a new mesmer (me), as the “number 4” skill auto generates a clone, potential replacing a phantasm.

So I’ve seen this suggested before, but isn’t this self limiting? I mean every test I’ve run seems to show that the CDs for sword are shared, so now instead of 10 skills you may use, you are down to 7. Granted we don’t have even a semi decent mh weapon for a power build beside sword.

So that is confusion 1 for this suggestion. Confusion two is why Sword in the offhand? Why not pistol?

Help a new mesmer understand

Thanks

Since HoT is a “for cost” expansion, which I don’t mind at all, and the original game has been out long enough that your 5 Character slots could already be completely filled with L80’s, will we at least receive an extra slot to have the option of playing the revenant?

I don’t begrudge A-net making money, but it would seem a trifle harsh to have to buy the expansion, and then either drop a character or then also have to buy gems to get an additional Character slot open.

Alert, for absolute Newbies a semi spoiler is about to show.

I know that the Personal story merges considerably at L40, and then again midway through the L60 chain. That being said, that still leaves a lot of personal stories out there.

With that in mind, for those players who have been around for a while, what is the maximum number of slots you have used up for a single profession. I’ve read in many forums of a player that had say 3 races all playing the same profession but has someone gotten more?

So this isn’t a “help me choose” type of question this is more trying to understand where professions fit in the current meta.

So, while I know a good guild run can work with any combination , and pugs often just take whatever they can get, the question becomes for the following what would you say are the top 5 professions,

SPVP

WvW

Fractals

Dungeons

Thanks,

Thanks everyone for the info. As I am leveling my first guardian, I had missed the fire fields in the skills as well as the additional blast.

Quick question but do the blast finishers apply to the guardian as well? I mean for instance

Hallowed ground + mighty blow

Would grant area might, does the guardian get that plus group in the area? Or is it only for the group?

Ok, So I’ve read the Stickied guides/ beginner’s text. I know that I get to here the cliche that all weapons are viable, however I’m certain some are more viable than other.

Let me also make sure I have some basics down.

1) We only generate Light fields
2) We have 2 Blast finisher (Hammer, Focus), 1 leap finisher, and 2 whirl finishers (Greatsword for these last 3)

We have two 2Handers that do very good dog (GS and H) and a 3rd that is sort of a utility weapon.

All one handed main weapons have no combat finishers, and as such should either fill a need (scepter) or provide something exceptionally useful (Sword for blindness, extra combo field for Mace)

Are offhand seem to be a bit on the wild side. Shield is like a utility weapon if you are healing, Foci does good Damage, provide a Blind and either give you great blocking and can provide you a blast finisher (though not exactly an on demand finisher)

So If I’m reading/understanding right, this would mean that a Reliable solo/leveling combo would be

Greatsword or Hammer + Scepter or Mace/Focus
Main Hand Conditions
-Range + Damage needed then Scepter (Though Smite is really more of a melee tool)
-Need More Defense + Reasonable Damage then Mace

Everything other weapon combo appears to be role/group dependent.

So is the Greatsword is preferred over the hammer in most cases because of the Blind, and the fact that you cannot pick up the 3 Combo finishers on the Greatsword anywhere else?

Next question, If facing a particular hard hitting boss/champion/elite would
Hammer + Mace/Focus end up being preferable?

Again trying to make sure I understand what I’m reading.

So When Leveling in PVE the generally accepted plan would be Power based. GS + S/P or S/F. So the question is this, given the fact that pistol has some much potential for condo damage would Ravager gear, once you get to the point of have that gear available, be potentially more useful than Beserker? And could you actual go GS + Staff in that scenario and do very good Damage?

Maybe this is a theory craft type of question but I guess what I’m asking is post Level 60 is Conditional Damage better than Fury if you are mainly running Solo?

Let me say that the computer I dub “The family game pc” Has an EVGA variant of your card and runs on SSD, but otherwise is completely inferior to your system in every way, and with max settings it still gets 60+ FPS.

Have you considered seeing if your drivers are up to date, or if there is some bios upgrade for your video card?

So a confession. I’ve owned Guild Wars 2 since September 2012 (basically just a couple months after it was released). I would love to tell you that it was initially one of those games that just hooked me and I’ve been playing it like mad ever since. Truth is, for some reason I never got into it. It’s possible that the main reason is because the classes I have historically liked in the MMO genre just had anime styled armor which I didn’t like. Maybe I just hadn’t reached the level of burnout with various other games, I just don’t know why it had never clicked.

With the above in mind let me now lay out the further scenario. I had more or less burned out on most games, and because of family responsibilities I had lost my “gaming” PC to boot, all I had then was my beloved Macbook Pro that I had upgraded to last year. That in and of itself limited what games I could consider playing, plus since I also use my Macbook Pro for work, well I only have so much room I’m willing to use. So since, as I mentioned before, I owned a copy of Guild Wars 2, I decided to give it one last shot.

The game has changed, a lot, since I last played. Oh the graphics are the same (gorgeous even toned down for my laptop) , and the professions are the same, and frankly the basic mechanics are the same. However what they have changed is the leveling experience, and class mechanics. And I think the leveling changes are what finally got me moving forward.

In previous iterations of Guild Wars 2 you could have access to all you professions weapons by level 2 and you unlocked their abilities not by leveling up, but by use. While that may sound great and grand in theory what it does is great a low level “grind fest” so that by the time you leave the very early zones you have every weapon fully unlocked. Now the reason why this “grind fest” burned me out back in the day, is that it meant you got a lot of skills but it became very easy to miss key parts of the game which you might otherwise have not. For me the pieces that I tended to skip were dodging, and understanding things like retaliation and effective weapon swapping. With the current leveling mechanic the weapons unlock skill areas as you level. You cannot even use an offhand weapon (or get those nice 4th and 5th actions for your 2 handers) until Level 7. This rather simple change means even the low level mobs require a little finesse now and then, which means you learn to dodge/evade. Am I great at it? Heavens no, but at least now I spent time practicing it.

Another aspect of the leveling that was lacking in previous version was the disjointed personal stories aspects. So much of the personal story is treated as time sensitive, for instance one Human story is about finding a child that went missing at a circus, but in the earlier version of the game their were level requirements to progress each part of a “story’s chapter”. Since each chapter has multiple missions it ultimately destroyed the weight that the the story might contain. Take the aformentioned Circus story, it started at level 10 an concluded at level 20. Being forced to move away from the story to get to the level requirements robbed the story of what I think the developers had in mind (namely something compelling that went beyond the old mom tropes). In the newer edition of this game, they just open up the chapters when you hit the max level needed for the events you play all parts of the chapter. I really love this aspect because it means if you lose the immersion from the personal story it is because you chose to, not because you were forced to. And maybe this was the ultimate payoff for me, because the personal story has been an absolute blast, it has kept me very involved in the game, to the point that for the first time in may 3-5 years I was at my keyboard last night saying “Ok, let me finish this last part to this chapter and then I will go to bed”

So Long story short, From September 2012 – December 2014 , 0 Characters to even Level 24. January7th to January 26th , 2 characters > Level 60, and enjoying every second of it. Finished the Lion’s Arch Chapter of the person story as Part of the Order of Whispers, hoping to finish that same chapter tonight with the Vigil.

It that an L80 only type of deal, or can you start sooner?

Also what would be a good build for such an endeavor?

Thanks for that, pure awesomeness

My other toon is an engineer and I just got him up to the “noble” gear with a pirate hat. I immediately had visions of S/P Mesmer in a light armor variant. I presume it’s wishful thinking but is such an outfit even remotely possible? Shoot much as it pains me to admit if a-net sold skins for light armor to allow a fanciful light armor musketerer look I would buy it.

Ok I do know that the answer to any leveling question ultimately is “if it keeps you engaged enough to go to 80” then it is viable. With that truism now out of the way, is a Condi Mesmer viable to use for leveling. I’ve tried the tried and tru GS + S/F , and while it does seem nice in terms of output, it just doesn’t capture me. In early levels (1-20) I found the play style of Staff + Scepter/pistol to be fun if a little slow. I would not expect a Condi based Mesmer to burn through mobs at quite the same speed as a power based build, but was wondering if it was tolerable.

Presuming that it is, the next question is how should I trait while leveling, it seems like the illusion tree , since it helps clones plus increases cond damage , would be the first to go down, but wanted to make sure I was not missing something obvious.

Thanks,

Hey on the bright side at least A-net only trolled us once. Imagine constant communication saying something would be done and stilll have nothing