Showing Posts For mooftak.9605:
CTRL+R used to turn on FPS display (verified this past weekend) but today seems to be doing nothing at all.
RNG is RNG . Now stand by for one person’s anecdotal evidence that does disprove that they don’t drop, but doesn’t prove anything else.
In Feb I looted 4 in about 2 weeks time, yet even with that I looted enough chests that I felt like buying a 5 pack of keys. Took half of March and all of April off, so no looting anything. Came back nearly 2 weeks ago, I’ve opened 3 chests in that time and am still sitting at 5 keys between a lucky drop key in this last week and the keys in chests I’ve opened. I get my dropped keys from open world (not dungeon, not wvw). No 80 toons and I don’t pvp/wvw, so open world and limited story (mainly one toon from 26-50 this most recent couple of play sessions prior to the 1-8 warrior) is pretty much all I do.
Wild baseless speculation time: Is there diminishing returns on the key drop rate? The more one plays, the lower the drop chance gets? It would explain why my casualness has looted more keys than the folks with 1600 hours played. Meh.
I have a similar post (I’m 49) here https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/LF-feedback-on-lower-level-build/first
Reddit also has some decent mesmer threads, though with the changes on the 30th, some of the condition stuff won’t be up to date.
Look there for stat/armor suggestions. Staff is a great defensive weapon and it looks like 1h sword + pistol is a good combo for your alt set. 2 handed sword is a good replacement for either depending on if you feel you need the defense of staff or not. I would think if you run staff/2h that you would probably be in the same boat you’re in now, burst wise. One thing to note is that if you’re 40, you can get clone on dodge (dueling major trait X) which is awesome and pretty much (from what I can tell) required across the board.
Overall I’d say that we don’t have the burst that some classes do, so from my experience, some DE’s I’ll see folks bursting down mobs before I can do anything, others I’m in the thick of it with everyone else, just depends upon the skill of the players around me. On the other hand, we have a lot of tools at our disposal, and I’d rather be alive after facing 6+ mobs and take a minute longer than kill 4 of them quickly before dying.
Thanks for the reply. I have time warp purchased, but haven’t used it yet. As far as out of combat mobility goes, I honestly don’t mind not having the focus. Getting around really isn’t that big a deal, and I do have some decent level focus and torch drops sitting in my bag in case I decide to use them. I’m not opposed to going back to sword since I am comfortable with the abilities, I switched to gs/staff to get through molten without getting downed quite as much and decided to mix things up for a bit after (hence scepter, which I hadn’t used since level 5). I’ll give time warp and your other info a try when I have time to play tomorrow.
<snip>
Not quite sure what you’re talking about. Everybody here has been talking about explorable modes.
Hope that helps clear the misunderstanding up for you.
Ok then, sorry for the interruption.
I’m looking for some feedback as to whether I’m being stupid or not. Things seem to work out for the most part, but I am sure I could do something smarter.
I currently am level 48, traits 8-20-0-0-10 with major traits being:
Domination-working towards 5 (clones cripple when killed)
Dueling-2 (phantasms have fury), 10 (clone on dodge)
Illusions-4 (distortion grants retaliation) or 3 (3% damage buff for each illusion)
I’m using staff and scepter/pistol. My hp is 6k at this point and my gear is a mix of prec/power, precision/condition damage. I’ve got tier 1 cultural weapons My gear was obtained via drops, the only white being my helm (l44), yellow boots and shoulder (l39), green chest, blue pants/gloves (l44/46). Basically, if it’s an upgrade armor wise, I use it.
Skills wise:
Heal-I’ve been alternating between the mantra and the standard ether feast. Standard is more satisfying, but the mantra came in handy during some kite fests at earlier levels.
7-Mantra of pain-I’m open to changing this out and would likely take Feedback if I were doing a dungeon or experiencing difficulty with ranged opponents.
8-Phantasmal disenchanter-Mainly to remove conditions, though the clones are nice.
9-Signet of Inspiration-I hardly ever “use” the skill as I play solo (ungrouped), but I like the occasional swiftness and having 1) some random buffs along with 2) one less skill to worry about the CD on (since I never activate it) seems to be working out well.
10-Moa-I was using the 10pt golem npc helper for awhile, but I seem to not use it much, so I switched to Moa since it doesn’t root me when I use it (or I just haven’t noticed if it does).
Playwise, I tend to use F1 and F4 the most for my shatters and tbh, I don’t see why I wouldn’t just stick with F1 since the cooldown is much shorter and I don’t seem to notice any real effect when I F2-4. I usually open with pistol 4 into either pistol 5 or scepter 3, tabbing targets before s 3 when there’s a group and I want to spread damage around (or before I pop staff 3). Scepter 2 is used conditionally as needed/convenient. I try to shatter when I’ve had 3 clones up for a bit. I make pretty good use of weapon swapping and staff 5/2, staff 3 when I have 0-2 clones up (on a different target than pistol 4 unless it’s a vet or champ mob), save staff 4 for when staff 5/2 wears off if I feel I’m in over my head, and generally use staff 1 when either a big group (and my s/p clones are out/on CD), have several grouped enemies low on health, or have a vet/champ with a regular minion that I’m kiting around.
I’ve used sword/pistol and sword/torch in the past (levels 1-28 pretty much), but a run through the molten dungeon at 29-30 put me off melee attacks except for sword 3 when i accidentally staff 2 into a wall and can’t blink out. In general I don’t feel like I’ll have much use for focus outside of wvw or possibly focus 5 in dungeons.
Anyways, if you made it all the way through this and still feel like offering up your thoughts, I appreciate it.
Learn to kite (if you’re not needing to hit sword mh #2). Use the combos folks above posted (I use scepter/pistol and staff, so I use staff 5/2 for the armor (to save staff 4)). If you use torch off hand, or pistol off hand, you’ll have some good options for being able to affect enemies in an aoe. Above all, stick it out and before you know it you’ll be fine. Overpulls are always going to be a problem (with any class probably), but you’d be surprised how many you can take as long as you can kite well. It only gets better once you’re able to get the clone on dodge trait at level 40.
Are you sure you folks are talking about the same stuff here? I see some folks talking about explorables and some talking about SM. Considering we’re talking low level dungeons, I would assume most people are discussing SM, but some clearly aren’t. That isn’t really helpful to the discussion (IMO).
I have to say, as someone who’s level 48 and never done a dungeon besides molten in a pug (at 29-30), threads like this are putting me off even trying to use gw2lfg for AC and CM because 1) I need to save funds for my trait book at 60 instead of on endless repairs before a group falls apart, and 2) I don’t have (currently) a guild of folks who are able to give them a try with me in voice.
My POV, as a swg, wow, and swtor veteran who enjoys the complexity in gw2 but hates having to read guides on boss fights (wow’s dungeon journal is a good way to bring that in game), is that the early dungeons should be doable by pugs of at level characters who aren’t morons, but don’t have every skill and trait available (unlocked/purchased). Make me dodge, make me remove some conditions, break some stuns, etc, but let my group who’s not trying to faceroll, make it through.
I do like the suggestion someone made of having the npcs “guide” you some. That type of ingame feedback is great. I love it when when my toon yells about needing an antidote because I know I need to clear conditions. That sort of thing is essential for someone who has difficulty following all the buffs and debuffs without the audio cues. I don’t mind some information overload (since I can generally focus on a few pieces that matter), but the in game cues we have are an outstanding aid.
And maybe either leave the explorables out of this thread, or make it clear which you’re speaking of. Regardless, I do appreciate folks taking the time to share their pov and experiences.
I’ve been having fun changing from Sword/Torch/Staff to GS/Staff (in the molten dungeon) to Scepter/Pistol/Staff (PVE leveling 30 to near 40). I used the S/P/Staff combo with some mantra healing and random boons to kite a pen of respawning dogs and centaurs for 10 minutes, accomplishing a heart by myself. GS/Staff was a little more effective for the molten dungeon (did it at level 28 with some nice folks). Probably would have been quicker and less frantic with a warrior or guardian, but there’s something to be said for riding the edge.
And staff Chaos Storm→Staff 2 is totally ftw. Thanks to the reddit contributor who pointed out how many options we have with that.