Guild Wars 2

Aless.5376:

It was 1 button, 1 skill, 1 ability call it whatever u want that came from 1 player. Legit kitten .

Which “1 button” can do this?

Fought a burn guardian the other day on my viper reaper. I gave him his burning back and he dropped immediately^^ Condies… I love’em and I hate’em

Curunen.8729:

It is a stupid interaction for a stealth skill to get reflect when traited.

Either reflects shouldn’t reveal or mass invis should be changed to a different skill type instead of manipulations.

I always felt Mass Invisibility is more an illusion skill (even though it doesn’t actually create an illusion)… but then this could be just me. It still felt off when they made it a manipulation… didn’t fit imo and the trait interaction is stupid.

From a PvP/WvW point of view I see a lot of issues with Mirage, but one problem stands out and imho needs to be resolved before everything else. I shortened the post several times to increase readability. I hope the intended message is still there^^

The Mesmer’s dilemma
Core Mesmer can either shatter offensively or defensively before needing to actively rebuild the shatter resource: Illusions. Conceptually, however, a Mesmer relies on confusing and disorienting its foe requiring to leave illusions up and refrain from frequent shattering. Committing to a shatter works against the Mesmer’s intended design to confuse the enemy. And after a shatter (except temporarily F4) the Mesmer is vulnerable and “alone”.

Chronomancer’s resolution
Chronomancer hugely improved shattering, making it feel more worth while and less sacrificial. It took the core Mesmer’s dilemma and offered a resolution in favor of shattering. This set Chronomancer and core Mesmer apart favoring shatters more and leaving the concept of confusion and disorientation somewhat behind.

The Mirage’s dilemma
Mirage on the other hand lacks the distinction between what core Mesmer and Mirage “want” to be and Mirage is faced with the same dilemma as core Mesmer is. Additionally the mirage cloak and ambush mechanic adds a new layer to the core dilemma: offensive vs defensive dodges (an issue core Mesmers might already face with Deceptive Evasion).

Possible resolution for Mirage
If Mirage wants to offer a resolution to the core dilemma in favor of not shattering, then either its traits need to reflect that and/or the shatter skills need to be reworked even possibly merged with ambush skills. But currently I see no real uniqueness and no real value in the Mirage specialization and it only adds problems instead of resolving them.

Mystique.6793:

I really love the idea of my mesmer’s weapons being conjured, so I use the phantasmal skins. The 1h sword is whisperblade. Just made the axe too in anticipation of Mirage. ^^

Totally agree. There is only one skin mesmers should use and it’s a phantasmal skin

I agree, the signet works rather counter intuitive. Passively you gain condition damage, which means most likely you will be applying confusion and torment. In such a situation, you don’t want to actually stun your target for such a long time, even if you just want to make sure a shatter hits. The active effect of the signet is somewhat counteracting the passive benefit… Personally I see no reason to ever use this signet.

I have actually abandoned Inspiration to focus on the new nice confusion + blind application of dueling. Here is the new build (the traits must obviously be switched with their patched counterparts, if applicable).

So far it works out, the dmg output is greatly increased (due to longer and more condition application and better buffs from power food). I have not yet had the chance to really test it out rigorously, but it feels nice… and let’s put it nicely… thrilling^^

Curunen.8729:

Me Games Ma.8426:

Lily.1935:

Dodging while ressing…….

Dodging while stomping…… <3

lol I hope they don’t nerf either of those possibilities – sounds like too much fun. xD

Ditto. It seems like an obvious core feature for mirage and I’d like to think that’s why they made that. Also dodging and mantra casting might be thing. I think we (or maybe it’s just me) do not yet fully realize the full potential of that ability.

I personally feel for people starting GW2 “late”. I started out in WvW shortly after release and before I used Staff/GS with a Staff + Sword/Pistol build and rampager gear to be able to dish out bleeds and (when glamor still was a thing) combine it with confusion (like pistol phantasm shooting through feedback bubble to apply it). And because everyone just started out you could slowly grow into things. These days, especially if you want to roam in WvW you need to be near optimal if you don’t wanna get stumped all the time. Hybrid dmg on mesmer was always a bit odd imo, but it was smth I intuitively wanted to do until I was so impressed by osicat’s shatter videos that I was lured into going full zerker^^

However, I was thinking today, why not try that GS/Staff combo I liked so much before… and I must say, that is the thing I’ll be doing now. I had so much fun with it this afternoon and could even take this one annoying bursty thieve, that kept slaughtering me before^^ It allows for some descent burst dmg with GS and nice mobility and sustained damage with Staff. Only downside: it is absolutely full glass and you have to be aware of possible burst surprises.

Here is the adapted build I currently use (and you can see, where I included your suggestions^^: click me

Alright, thanks for the detailed response. The forum obviously was still full from the last time it eat your post^^

Gonna try Staff. Always found it lackluster with pure power or pure condi, but with hybrid, it might be actually good (when the game released I actually always used GS and Staff with full rampager gear^^). I probably won’t use torch. Although you make good points and I see it’s value, it’s just a weapon I can not get used to. I think I’ll go offhand Sword, because, as I said, I am used to it already^^ You make also good points for the heal, gonna try that too.

Regarding runes, for now I’ll keep berserker runes, but I’ll keep antitoxin in mind, and who knows what is also added with PoF. Tried out the Sweat Bean Buns. Seemed legit… the price is a bit off-putting, as you mentioned, so I’ll keep experimenting with other food too.

Thanks again and I’ll update my experience, once I got more to say

Fay.2357:

TyPin.9860:

Did some1 already ask the actual most important question? What is with dodge jump? As I recall ‘dodge jump’ jumps a bit higher than normal jump (at least that’s what we figured when doing the adventure box thingy). So will ‘mirage cloak jump’ also jump higher?

It goes farther than a normal dodge, it doesn’t go higher than a normal jump.

hm… So then ‘mirage cloak jump’ won’t do anything? Since you move with superspeed on ground and in the air the the in the same manner?

Did some1 already ask the actual most important question? What is with dodge jump? As I recall ‘dodge jump’ jumps a bit higher than normal jump (at least that’s what we figured when doing the adventure box thingy). So will ‘mirage cloak jump’ also jump higher?

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the hunger of the forum^^

I was actually also trying out torch and sword offhand, since mirage won’t have shield. I must say, maybe it’s due to being used to it, I prefer the sword.

I was also eye balling the runes of antitoxin. But honestly I feel with the inspiration line conditions aren’t really that much of a problem. Same with the food. The condi duration might be nice, but the defensive condi reduction seems a bit overkill to me. Personally I die more often to a power thief bursting me than to a condi user. Only problem sometimes is necros, even when they are power, and their long chills…

In light of the expansion and the apparent condition focus on mirage I wanted to try some condi-power burst for WvW roaming. I came up with the following build: click me

Now keep in mind that the shield and trinkets stats are only the way they are, because I took stuff I had lying around in in my bank. I am not sure yet, if I should go for full viper on everything… However, I have been struggling with a choice for runes. Currently I use Berserker runes. I kinda feel, unless I hit a very good shatter, that the condies have not much impact on the fight and I am contemplating switching the runes (also maybe food… not sure). But I am unsure what to go for.

I know things might change with new runes and the grieving stat combo, but I wanna get some practice and feeling for it, before I really commit to it…

Also, if anyone want to suggest using scepter… I don’t really like that weapon. Despite it having consistent condition pressure, I wouldn’t really wanna use it.

I think I’ll gonna try power based Axe/Sword + GS… I mean currently I use Sword/Shield + GS, but mirage seems kinda mobile and with good evasion access and main hand Sword isn’t that offensive anyway, so for me, I guess, not much would change…
Only need to figure out how to deal with the lack of 25% movement speed… maybe the superspeed on mirage cloak can compensate a bit…

pinkglow.3429:

You can go chrono and mirage, live a little?

Only one elite spec allowed… I’d like to live a little… but Anet won’t let me.

GWMO.4785:

that is similar to sword/shield. start with tides of time, followed by illusionairy leap. swap. and finish with blurred frenzy and mindwreck

I know, I do that… but… with axe it seems so much meatier^^

cuz shield is chrono and axe is mirage… sniff

@mod: posted in wrong subforum, feel free to delete

…why can’t I? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Axe#3, if I remember right, teleports you and your illusions onto your target…
Imagine chaining Shield #5 + Axe#3 (during shield cast) + F1… it could have been so nice^^

Curunen.8729:

That new grieving stat looks insane – may be better than viper.

I’d wait tbh.

Yeah, from what I saw this might be the choice to go if you wanna maximize dmg. However, with Scourge and Spellbreaker there might also be a lot more condi mitigation around… we’ll see.

Red Haired Savage.5430:

TyPin.9860:

Fay.2357:

Shame it’s on warrior though.

Was thinking exactly the same^^

Someone has to, nobody’s posted to the Warrior forums yet.

I corrected that mistake^^

Cuz warrior just became one^^

Fay.2357:

Shame it’s on warrior though.

Was thinking exactly the same^^

Turk.5460:

TyPin.9860:

It’s far from that simple. This kind of simple thinking is actually part of the problem. Not saying there aren’t any issues with certain condi builds, but the main problem lies with people not knowing how to fight condi builds. Short of condi thief I personally prefer fighting condi builds any day on my power shatter mes. Because power dmg, once applied, “sticks” with you. Conditions can be cleansed (praise inspiration^^).

And who are you to dictate what Dire or Soldier should be. Both are just pieces of equipment with certain stats. What a player/build makes of that is something else entirely. Why people remain to think in such inadequate categories, is beyond me.

It’s like you didn’t even read the thread. Amazing.

Admittedly I only skimmed through it. But conditions were always the target of complaints for a wide variate of reasons, which, for the most part, were founded in ignorance of game mechanics. And I have always been a proponent of the gw2 condition concept despite rarely using condition dmg builds myself.

We can talk about specifics. Like why a certain condition and/or power build is unbalanced. For Mesmer a variety of skills/traits contribute to making condition shatter able to go full glass and still remain relatively safe, because you can be somewhat offensive and defensive at the same time (like all shatters causing big dmg, clones with condition application, condition application from stealth without stealth break, …). Your approach, however, in focusing on gear would impact not only Mesmers but all classes. I’d propose specific changes to traits and skills, which have a smaller impact on other classes and address core issues.

And there is only one valid core issue imo: The classic gw2 condition approach is somewhat being worked around by some builds, which can apply condition bursts resulting in burst dmg (within 2 or 3 ticks). Conditions, in my opinion, should outlast the opponents ability to outplay them and only become a problem over time. Its a problem when this is complimented by dmg spikes in a pure condition build. Although a counter argument to this could be that those spikes are generally slower than power dmg spikes and can often be negated by proper cleansing.

Turk.5460:

ThomasC.1056:

Considering any warrior (or whatever) running dire or soldier would have the same HP and same armor, then soldier gives “all the tankines in the game”, doesn’t it ? So soldier should be the zero risk and low reward ? I’m more into thinking that the risk exists because the damage output may not be enough, so we’re back to “power is underperforming”.

No, Soldier should be low-risk, low-reward. Which is its current state.

Dire should also be low-risk, low-reward. Which is not its current state. It is currently low-risk, high reward.

We can’t make this any simpler.

It’s far from that simple. This kind of simple thinking is actually part of the problem. Not saying there aren’t any issues with certain condi builds, but the main problem lies with people not knowing how to fight condi builds. Short of condi thief I personally prefer fighting condi builds any day on my power shatter mes. Because power dmg, once applied, “sticks” with you. Conditions can be cleansed (praise inspiration^^).

And who are you to dictate what Dire or Soldier should be. Both are just pieces of equipment with certain stats. What a player/build makes of that is something else entirely. Why people remain to think in such inadequate categories, is beyond me.

Guys, don’t u get it? The might on phantasms is very important from a balance point of view: It gives more opportunities to steal that boon^^ (can u steal boons from phantasms?).
Also: eKwaLity

So I have been out of the loop for some months now. But I started today some PvP. Never played any PvP season under that new system.

I used that build as roamer:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8elknhG1YZawWNwsGLnG1ZVEFXX90etbLZAsABFA-TZBFQBC4JAAgLAQL2fIglBWwBBAA

And it seemed okay. Won my very first ranked game with it. But I wanted to get some input from you guys, what I should look out for and what I could tweak in my build to make it better. Personally I am not so keen on the inspiration line. Just took it for the mental defense and the condi cleanses (no idea how often you find condi builds nowadays). And CS is probably also not the best choice…

I love the demolisher’s amulet though^^

Just some ideas to help understanding the game when spectating and to be able to present certain aspects.

• red and blue AoE circles:
  If a red player lays down an AoE field, make it appear red and if a blue players does it, show it as a blue circle. So one has a visual comparison of number of AoE fields.

• show statistics:
  In the end of a PvP match you can observe certain stats. Make them available to see for spectators throughout the match (if they aren’t already… I usually don’t spectate myself). In GW1 one could also check team HP, moral and such things when spectating GvG matches via histograms. I hope similar options will appear for observing PvP matches one day (with stats, that make sense ofc^^). It would also give casters the ability to present and discuss certain aspects of both teams during and after a match.

I agree, especially Berserker seems to be under-performing. I usually play Chronomancer. And with Chrono I have met some competent Daredevils, that kicked my kitten . However, you see them not so much these days, as one would have expected.

This is only a half serious post, because, as this is quite important for my feedback, I am in a state of scrapper euphoria right now.

I just made an engineer… I went to PvP… put together a glass cannon scrapper build and went yolo style into the unranked solo queue. And I had a blast. My win rate was still only about 50%… but the most fun was to run (ahead of my team) onto any point and trigger all the traps (sometimes from 2 or even 3 Dragonhunters) just to be saved by Elixir S. As a result my team had it very easy to fight on point for a certain time (especially if the enemy team was DH heavy). At one point I delayed the enemy team (one Dragonhunter and 2 Revenants were attacking me) for a significant amount of time.

Just wanted to share my euphoria with you guys. Carry on^^

Update: The same thing is possible, with GS#5 instead of Staff#5.

Updated. The same thing is possible, with GS#5 instead of Staff#5.

You raise some very valid points. In my opinion it’s not the difficulty of the actual fight to obtain guild halls, but the lack of guidance within the game, that allows you to understand what is needed for the whole undertaking (including the teams for PvP guild missions).

Personally I and many others in my guild were disappointed how easy it was to take the hall. But we were a load of people doing it, being able to split into groups of around 10 people for each vine, if my memory serves right. I am actually contemplating to try get my own guild hall with my small 3 man guild, that I had since GW2 release.

But besides that, I think ANet doesn’t really understand how GW2 “feels” for smaller guilds, thus being unable to cater to this demographic. I believe they value smaller guilds and casual players. It’s not so much a problem of wanting to include those players, but more a problem of a lack of understanding how the content works for them.

On Chronomancer:
When using in quick succession without any illusions:

Continuum Split -> Chaos Storm -> Phase Retreat (seems optional) -> Mind Wrack -> Cry of Frustration -> Diversion

The rift created by Continuum Split seems to remain as long, as if 3 Illusions had been shattered. This bug is not consistent and requires a certain timing. I made a short video, when a guildie and I figured out, how it works:

https://youtu.be/5dpsWoYTQnU

Note:
I only managed to recreate the bug in the video after equipping Chaotic Dampening and Bountiful Disillusionment. But I have managed to recreate the bug without those traits before. So they aren’t really a key component. The main factor seems to be the timing between Chaos Storm and Mind Wreck. The Phase Retreat, which we first thought to be required for the bug, only seems to help find the “right timing”.

This post has been also posted in the bug forum.

Update:
The same thing is possible, with GS#5 instead of Staff#5.

On Chronomancer:
When using in quick succession without any illusions:

Continuum Split -> Chaos Storm -> Phase Retreat (seems optional) -> Mind Wrack -> Cry of Frustration -> Diversion

The rift created by Continuum Split seems to remain as long, as if 3 Illusions had been shattered. This bug is not consistent and requires a certain timing. I made a short video, when a guildie and I figured out, how it works:

https://youtu.be/5dpsWoYTQnU

Note:
I only managed to recreate the bug in the video after equipping Chaotic Dampening and Bountiful Disillusionment. But I have managed to recreate the bug without those traits before. So they aren’t really a key component. The main factor seems to be the timing between Chaos Storm and Mind Wreck. The Phase Retreat, which we first thought to be required for the bug, only seems to help find the “right timing”.

Goldenrevolver.4371:

raids are supposed to be the elitist endgame content of this game.

That isn’t exactly true. It’s supposed to be hard, challenging content. “Elitist” content implies unhealthy aspects of the GW2 community.

A successful raid needs personal skill, the right builds and good team communication. In the beginning, I guess, most groups will fail in the raids until they figured out, how to beat the content.

But the warning for new players is still important. Raids won’t be as easy as the other 100% casual PvE content in GW2.

Necro isn’t subpar. There are people believing they actually understand the game and its mechanics… but often they don’t.

Necro is on condi and power builds still very much viable for any content of GW2. What will happen in raids is a story for the future.

Not a single person could show convincingly, why Necro shall be subpar. It’s a myth.

EDIT:
If you enjoy the theme, then stay with Necromancer. People with their smug attitude should change.

Update:
Had now 2 games (out of 18), where the team, which had more Dragonhunters (in both cases 2:1) didn’t win. My prediction machine seems to be broken^^

Ragnarox.9601:

TyPin.9860:

Ragnarox.9601:

Its not true, I encountered teams with 2 DH while I was solo there and we won many times, It’s about ppl who knows their and opponent classes.

One cannot simply charge to DH while there are 2 of them there.

Play smart, stop charging into your death.

How can you say my measurements aren’t true? I mean you can assume I am lying, but than any discussion is pointless. I am saying nothing about the state of DH (I have some thoughts on it… but I kept them to myself so far^^).

I am simply stating a certain observation and ask, if others observed different things. If the above mentioned “algorithm” doesn’t meet your experience, that is fine. But don’t assume I am trying to feed into a certain agenda here.

I have also edited the title of the thread, to not contribute to a certain toxicity

You know you can’t measure if something is op or not from 15 games. You need at least 10 000 games to gather information about everything.

I wasn’t aware that I measured “OPness”…

Also interesting how exactly 10,000 games seem to be enough…

Ragnarox.9601:

Its not true, I encountered teams with 2 DH while I was solo there and we won many times, It’s about ppl who knows their and opponent classes.

One cannot simply charge to DH while there are 2 of them there.

Play smart, stop charging into your death.

How can you say my measurements aren’t true? I mean you can assume I am lying, but than any discussion is pointless. I am saying nothing about the state of DH (I have some thoughts on it… but I kept them to myself so far^^).

I am simply stating a certain observation and ask, if others observed different things. If the above mentioned “algorithm” doesn’t meet your experience, that is fine. But don’t assume I am trying to feed into a certain agenda here.

I have also edited the title of the thread, to not contribute to a certain toxicity

I have the last 10-15 games or so successfully predicted the outcome of the PvP matches I played. I counted the number of Dragonhunters on each team and the team with the most Dragonhunters got my vote. I am interested, if others will have the same experience for my sample size is too small.

This says nothing about the state of Dragonhunter though (for anyone who wants to use this as proof for or against something). Correlation and Causation aren’t the same thing (if the suspected correlation even exists). I am just interested, if this observation is just an oddity on my part or systematic.

I know. But then report them for “Verbal Abuse” (which kinda fits in the case the OP describes) or “Scamming”…

I know the choices aren’t optimal. Maybe a good way for ANet would be to add “Leaching/AFKing” to the options to have a more appropriate choice.

EDIT:
In my experience, the described player type tends to talk down the opponent team, when he wins, and talk down the own team, when he loses. So “Verbal Abuse” might get the most amount of “report hits” for that player.

You should report them. I know many people don’t “believe” in the report function, because there is no feedback what so ever. But I think that’s the best way to go.

Darknicrofia.2604:

Don’t hit them while they’re in Glint heal, you’ve just effectively countered half of what makes Revs good.

Yeah, I have healed up revs so often while they were in Glint heal^^

I still can’t reenter the instance for “Prologue: Rally to Maguuma” after it initially bugged out on me. Maybe just give players the ability to completely reset all progress of this mission (which isn’t possible right now)…

Calm down. You will be able to play it. That bug is annoying, yes, but it will get fixed soon. I am sure.

Downloading the whole game doesn’t resolve the issue for me.

Happened to me too. I was invited in a party during he mission. The other guy progressed and I followed. After we finished everything I was back in the Silverwastes and couldn’t progress on my own.

EDIT:
Game is not fully downloaded yet. I will try again, when I have downloaded everything.

For me it is actually quite easy (unless the other team outshines us by miles).

• I am roaming and keep mainly watch of the cap points. Often have I sacrificed my mates in a mid fight, when I could keep side nodes capped.

• Sometimes I try to identify the weak chain in the enemy team and focus on bursting him down, keeping the enemy team at a constant numbers disadvantage.

• Many people seem to have trouble with condition builds. Depending on the situation – because I usually run a mantra lockdown build – I will either keep the other condi roamer bussy or help cleansing conditions in the mid fight.

• Also I will often tell my team my general role and what I will do in some standard scenarios. Communication is one of the most important things for PvP and many people don’t do it enough… besides the “CAP CAP CAP”-commands people like to throw out sometimes^^

Thing is, I have loss streaks too. But they include often quite close games (450 – 500) and thus, I am not that frustrated, when it happens. Because I know it was maybe just bad luck or I can actually trace it back to a mistake I made. Trying to attribute things to yourself helps quite well dealing with frustration, because the events happen around things you yourself can improve.