Guild Wars 2

My warrior ^^

The gas mask skin was just what I needed to complete the effect! Now I’m just looking out to see if a better (more appropriate) shoulder skin comes along

I am hoping it’s a nice alternative for solo roaming when the BL zergs get too big

What do you call a Sylvari putting his clothes on?

Salad, dressing.

Here’s my new and first asura mesmer called “Happysura” xD. I wasnt going to keep her to begin with ,but then I made her so cute and (imo) unique, so she’s going for lvl 80! I just can’t resist those huge floppy ears

I actually HOPE that Tengus share the same models for both genders, besides small characteristics just like Charr.

Why did the Sylvari roll over?
Because the grass is greener on the other side.

What I find more outrageous is how a mob like a crab can suddenly drop a giant greatsword.

So with the upcoming DE changes alot of turmoil has started on the forums, for good reasons. The mesmer in itself is a design catastrophe at this point for multiple reasons. Mainly because of our class ability Shatter not interacting with all builds the way it should. We have exactly 1 valid pvp build that makes “real” use of shattering multiple times in a drawn out fights, the other builds (Phantasm/Pu/Clonedeath) are more hurt by shatters than what they get out of it.

This is a big problem concerning longterm design changes. Because we have a very narrow use for our class ability across all builds. A phantasm build is essentially a build that doesnt make use of its class ability(aside from distortion), that would be the same as designing thiefs around not using steal, warriors not using burst skills or necros not using death shroud. See how silly that sounds? But the reality is that we are essentially designed that way in every build that isnt centered around shattering.

I understand that decision making should be involved in all builds, but at the moment shatterign 3 phantasms for example will always be a decision you wont make for offensive purpouses (Mindwrack, Diversion, Cry of Frustration) in phantasm builds.

The same is true for clonedeath/condi builds, when having clone death traits equipped shattering illusions results in less damage than the enemy actually killing them, again bad design. The passive function of abilities should never outweight those of active ones with lenghty cooldowns that involve a high risk , like shatters.

Heres a small list of traits that advertise to basicly ignore shatters:

Empowered Illusions
Crippling Dissipation
Sharper Images
Debilitating Dissipation
Phantasmal Strenght
Compounding Power
Phantasmal Haste

On the other end of the spectrum we have a ton of traits that only take effect when we actually shatter, standing in a huge contrast to those other traits, ontop of it most of those share the same lines as traits that advertise shattering. This leads to the state we are in now, basicly you either shatter or you dont shatter, there is almost nothing in between.
Something needs to be done here, traits that buff Phantasms and Shatters should be split into different trait lines and made easier accessable to increase build vaerity.
For example shatter bunkers could be a thing but get completely hindered by trait placement.

As a shatter mesmer you NEED Deceptive Evasion and you NEED Illusionary Persona, theres no way around that, leaving you with 20 points to spend in other builds.
If we take a look at the current most used pvp build for shatter we are gonna end up with the 20/20/0/0/30 build. Now why is this one so effective? Because you can grap 2 major traits in the Domination line that hugely improve the build. Inspiration has some very strong traits for shatter builds, but they are placed to far down the line. Restorative Illusions and Shattered Conditions would be both exceptional tools for shatter mesmers but they are both grandmaster traits, leading back to the problem of relyance on Illusionary Persona and Deceptive Evasion.

Now there are 2 solutions concerning this particular problem, either move those traits in a way that they are accesable by builds that run DE and IP or , and im going to get alot of hate for this, make Deceptive Evasion a baseline ability.

Now this sounds insane I know, but just think about it for a second. There is a reason why every build thats used in PvP uses Deceptive Evasion, its not because the trait is overpowered by itself, it is because every build using shatters is basicly designed around Deceptive Evasion at this point. And this is what hinders the Mesmer class and build diversity the most.

Shatter Mesmers NEED the clone generation , otherwise Shatters wouldnt do sufficient damage in their current state, the same is true for mesmers who want to utilizy more defensive shatter traits, without DE chaining shatters is naught impossible because you would be bound to cooldowns from weapon skill that produce clones and shatters, making the whole concept more and more difficult to pull off.

Of course that would mean that all other damage values and abilities like clone death would need to be readjusted accordingly , but in the long run and for the sake of a class that should actually be able to utilize their class ability at all times and across all builds it is the only option to realy fix the mesmers.

Ontop of that we finally need a good reason to actually shatter phantasms.
Move all the phantasm traits to trait lines that fit them more, add traits that give added damage if you shatter phantasms for example, this could be a grand master trait.

I could go on but I´d like to hear what the Mesmer community and Anet thinks about this. This issue has been here since release and never realy got adressed, if at all it got worse.

…Have a Kitkat

After a hard day of felling trees, a group of Norn lumberjacks are sharing tales of their past prowess. “Once I cut and trimmed a thousand trees in a single week.” one boasted. “Bah, that’s nothing. I once cut ten thousand trees in a month, building one of the largest dams in the Shiverpeaks at the same time!” boasted a second.

“You younglings don’t know a thing about real lumberjacking.” added a third. “I was once the head lumberjack of the Crystal Forest.”

“Wait, don’t you mean the Crystal Desert?”

“That’s what they call it now.”

This game having the best graphics of any MMO is one of the few things the GW2 community agrees on pretty much unanimously.

Greatsword iBerserker on a beefy Norn Mesmer. Every time I use it I yell “BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL!” at my monitor.

Scepter auto attack is hilarious too. Like playing imaginary tennis. The movement are so exaggerated its even worse than an Asura.

Naked.

Bravo sir, I tip my hat to you!

This is a huge (read: HUUUUUGGGEEEEE!!!!) issue I have with a lot of the population that plays MMOs.

People seem to forget that EVERY PERSON playing this game is, in fact, another human being who is just as capable at being good/bad at this game as you are.

It gets annoying how much ignorance goes around, and this includes attitudes towards other players and the game developers. Not that there isn’t cases where what people say isn’t true, but people need to be more empathetic and put more thought into situations than just spouting “BS!” or “Nerf!”.

Carpboy.7145:

I agree dual pistols would be awesome! But have any of you ever thought of a hammer? :0 phantasm would use earthshaker(not as often as other phantasms to keep balance) and maybe something like mighty blow on the #2, and a block that has a ranged launch for the counter attack (meaning you block an attack at 600 range or so and then launch them) plus mesmers with mjolnir!!! Please Anet make it a Christmas miracle!

Just had a really cool thought about a hammer block from range, when you block you teleport to target and slam the hammer into the ground and daze/stun

Gather the mats until they announce the new set of legendaries.

I would like to see more titles available to characters. Specifically more unique ones.
Examples:
- After killing 1000 Ascalonian ghosts you would achieve a title like “Ghostbuster”
- After dying from falling damage 100 times you would recieve one like “The Clumsy”
It would open up many more customization options for characters and allow us more flexible in outlining how we roleplay our characters.
Thanks for reading.

i’d say you’re missing out if you don’t play mesmer honestly. It’s the only class i’ve clicked with… all the other classes just pale in comparison because i could hardly care about the numbers. the game play, the play style, the skill and capability that can synergize with a good player’s skill is amazing fun. it just has a lot more potential than other classes imo in the right hands. it can be pushed far, whereas i feel limited with other classes into its box

How dare he suggest that a game is ‘just a hobby’! This is real people. Every day Tyria is under attack and we need every man, woman and child to defend it to the death. Out there in the ‘real world’ we don’t have centaurs running around burning towns and yet he has the audacity to question why we prioritize this game over real life? He must be on drugs or something. The Government should employ us to keep the world of Tyria safe. While I’m staying up to ungodly hours in the morning to do my part, there are millions of people all over the world who are doing nothing to save Tyria. What’s my reward? A handful of silver coins that CANNOT be used to purchase groceries (try it, you’ll see). A seraph guard relieves for me a few minutes so I can finally go to the toilet, then I quickly come here to see if I have any new assignments and I’m subjected to reading this?? Outrageous!

Seriously though, it’s good to know I’m normal.

Not hardcore enough. If you die you forfeit your actual life.

GGWP.

A little history lesson for those who’re interested.. and some writing practice while I mindlessly kill hours at work.

A few months back, while browsing through my local Barnes & Nobles with no intention of buying anything (But plenty intent on annoyingly sitting in the middle of an isle reading while people were forced to make disgruntled ugly-faces while they stepped over me) I came upon a book in the bargain section called “Extreme Science.” It looked really interesting, talking about things from Project MKULTRA to the history of LSD to.. omg.. Mesmerism! Being that it was only 10 bucks but filled with awesome, I bought it)

Franz Mesmer, as the name implies, is the father is Mesmerism. He was the first to lead hypnosis out of the occult and into science… barely. He was able to cure people of various diseases from psychosomatic blindness (How in the world do you make yourself believe you’re blind?), to more physical ailments ( His breakthrough case was that of Franzl Oesterline, a 27 year old woman suffering from what Mesmer described as a convulsive malady, “the most troublesome symptoms of which was that the blood rushed to her head and there set up the most cruel toothaches and earaches, followed by delirium, rage, vomiting and swooning.” These symptoms were so severe that Fraulein Oesterline moved into Mesmer’s house to receive round-the-clock care.*)

.. But he didn’t realize he was hypnotizing people. He thought his success was because of magnetism. He assumed the magnetic “tides” of the world also affected us as humans, occasionally throwing our “animal magnetism” out of balance and causing illness. Headaches? Nausea? Go swallow some iron and stick a kitchen magnet to each side of your head. Chronic Diarrhea? Rub a balloon on your scalp. That’ll work…

In fact, it actually did.

Using magnets to induce a feeling of “fluid draining from the body.” He was able to cure Fraulein Oesterline nearly instantly. Mesmer didn’t believe the magnet had healed her though, he believed that he had restored her depleted animal magnetism. The magnet, and some fancy hand gestures (known as the Mesmeric Pass), were simply his tools…. Yep. He cast a Mantra of Resolve on her, and his Focus was an Adamant Guard Gismo.

In Mesmer’s time, people were using leeches, drugs, and all kinds of painful, disturbing stuff to cure people… Like Heroin to cure a cough. So Mesmer’s methods were preferable. He successfully cured quite a few people, and ended up with so many patients that he started hosting group sessions.
Being a fan of theatrics and showmanship, he would darken the room, light candles and play soothing music while he groped his patients into healthiness..

Of course, with fame, comes an ample amount of haters. Even Benjamin Franklin had his hater-pants on tight. The scientific community could find no connection between magnetism and Franz Mesmer’s curing.. but failed to notice the profound effects of hypnotism on the mind.

Still, his legacy persisted. Perhaps one of the most interesting things about hypnotism is…

“In the latter half of the 20th Century, hypnosis expanded its horizons and moved into new territory. Our understanding of the trance state has been refined, so much so that the state/non-state debate, which preoccupied academic minds for generations, has come to seem rather outmoded. Advances in brain imaging technology, and the work of therapists like Stephen Wolinsky and psychologists like Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell, have shown, in effect, that both sides were right.

Brain imaging scans have shown that hypnotic suggestions do have an effect on perception. A study conducted at Stanford University showed that the colour processing areas of the brain were activated when subjects received a hypnotic suggestion that the black-and-white photo they were looking at was in colour. Griffin and Tyrrell explicitly linked hypnotic trance to the REM state, in their monograph Hypnosis and Trance States; A New Psychobiological Explanation (1999). At the same time, Wolinsky demonstrated that the so-called “Deep Trance Phenomena” can all be detected in everyday waking consciousness – in other words, “normal” consciousness is made up of layers of hypnotic trance that we move into and out of all day long. Hypnosis does produce a distinct state of mind – but it’s a perfectly ordinary and natural one that’s part of everyday consciousness.*

Yeah.. We’re hypnotized ALL THE TIME.

[*= taken from http://www.historyofhypnosis.org/franz-anton-mesmer/ ]

I See No Tomorrow.7302:

I bound ‘interact’ to E. I press E to win.

If you bind it to the mouse wheel you can Spin to Win!

Most of the stuff I see here do I count personally as total BS that will never happen (hopefully), certain races are just lorewise impossible, because that count for Anet and how many kittenign times have people to tell guys that – as personal story NPCs, which are too unintelligent to become ever a playable race or do count as enemies.

This includes: Centaurs, Grawls, Quaggan, Skritt, Krait, Largos, Hyleks, Kodan.

Races we will also never see in GW2 are Dwarfs, Elves, Gnomes, Orcs and the typical 0815 Tolkien BS, because these absolutely don’t fit into GW2 and Dwarfs will be 100% sure just a personal story NPC race, once we go against Primordus, as you all know, the dwarfs we know from GW1 turned all into eternal stone to be able to fight against the destroyers and Primordus in the underground.

It gives no kittening Kurzicks and Luxons anymore, learn finally about the games LORE!
From everything possible and thinkable as playable race, that fullfills also every criterias a playable race for GW2 has to fullfill, come into question just only the Tengus so far, which are set for sure to become the next playable race within a Cantha Add On, whenever will will see it …

- Tengus have their own city within the Dominion of the Winds
- Tengus have lots of visual differencies and thats important for a playable race for the character creation
- Tengus are a humanoid like race and that way easier to make Armor Models for, unlike for stupid Centaurs or legless Nagas and are due to this also able to swim/dive, what Centaurs CAN’T, every playable races needs to be able to swim and dive and jump on the spot, everything thats physically not able to do that, can’’t become a playable race, because it would lead automatically into extreme animation problems for that no solutions exist.
- Tengus are able to be every playable class, as theres nothing in their lore that would go against this.

However tl dr. to make it brief …

If GW2 will ever see more new playable races beside the tengus, I really do hope that it will never become things like Centaurs, Kodan, Largos, Quaggan, Skritt, Ogres, Grawsls and the like, but instead i hope for it, that ANet comes of with something really NEW and CREATIVE.
New Races, that are unique for GW2 and are totally new to the World of Tyria.
Their introduction can be very easy, because we have had never yet the chance to totally explore the whole world of Tyria to its fullest extent.
We have seen from the game world just only like 20% or so that is explorable land in the current Tyria.
Theres also still alot of space left open for exploration, where within the last 250 years could have been new races coming up in their population just like the Sylvari which exist also only sicne the last 25 years of the game history, that we have never seen before, because those places were already in GW1 also unexplorable and may become maybe now in GW2 explorable first.
Best example for that is Southsun Cove. A place, that we never saw in GW1 and now became explorable for GW2 with a new species there, that we have never seen before, the Karkas.

So if ANet can easily implement a new monster species, then I think they should handle it the same way with new playable races. They should be new, original and unique for GW2, thats the best thing ANet could do for their game, so that GW2 won’t become a typical 0815 cliche MMORPG with the typical cliche races you knowe from Tolkien, WoW and Co.

your heart bleeds looking at the guard and warrior?
wait 80, you take revenge on them

Did you hear about the rodents that tried to raid the Asura turbine factory?

Some say the skritt really hit the fan that day.

If you’re roaming and being chased by a larger group, dropping the Portal Entre (with no intention of ever using it) will frequently make most of the chasers hover over the portal for the 60 seconds it takes for it to despawn. I’ve had quite a few times where just doing that has evened the odds enough for me to either get away or kill the pursuers.

Mesmer mind games ftw.

I can’t wait to see this conversation in game…

Asura: What’s that thing on your shoulder?

Norn in Steampunk Heavy Armor: I don’t know.

Asura: It might be a tumor.

Norn in Steampunk Armor: It’s not a tumor!