Guild Wars 2

Carighan.6758:

MIrra.3604:

You seriously want an “IWIN” button every 90 secs?

No, I want an ability which is useful for another purpose than to make people cry on the forum. Because really, Moa doesn’t do anything. Sure, it moas someone. The keep is still lost. The boss is immune. The enemy team compensates because they had to assume the 1v1 might not go in their favour.

What’s the point of this ability? Looks funny, completely pointless.

I find it usefull in team fights. If someone gives us trouble and relies alot on active defense, i target and moa him, problem solved.
The 3vs3 turned in a 2vs3 (not temporarily, because we killed the moa) and we can cap the point and probably win the team fight.
Im talking about spvp tournaments by the way.

Nerf forum whiners
Problem solved

zaxon.6819:

the issue many people have fighting mesmers.. like mentioned above.

NEVER TAB TARGET.. you are dieing because you fail to learn the basics.

also turn off your auto target.. all auto target does is force you to target clones instead of staying on the main mesmer.

ileap+ blurred frenzy is the only way a shatter mesmer can lock you down and land damage.. if you dont have 1 ablilty to avoid 1 move then you may be playing your class wrong.

you are playing spvp. dont be shy calling target on the mesmer so he has a big red target over his head and you can tell what one to click.

if you are playing vs a shatter mesmer he is very squishy and has no condition removal.

i heard you saying stun+ frenzy.. think you mean root.

if a mesmer goes invis they are most likely trying to hide the fact they are about to shatter combo. they will invis and dodge which does not break stealth then set up an ileap combo. be ready to dodge the leap or use a stun break.

its similar to fighting a glass cannon theif. if they steal+backstab combo you with basalisk on… you dont sit there and wait to die. you react.

again.. in response to the person saying it clones are overpowered because you need to tab target to get to the real mesmer…….

STOP TAB TARGETING.. it is like keyboard turning.

Leap+blurred frenzy is not the omly way to land damage as a shatter mesmer/cat. Any decent player (as you said) can easily dodge this combo. There are many, many ways to land bursts, like delayin the swap, dodging trhough a player, attacking from stealth, attackin from behind an object, feigning retreat and do a sudden burst, or even simply attacking from behind.
Ofcourse, this doesnt happen much in hot join and even tourney, so for now you (the OP and others in this thread who need help) can just focus on dodging that illusionary leap, and always have a defensive skill ready if you do get hit.
Just leap+blurred frenzy is rarely a good idea against a decent player who is focussing you.
I actually have auto targeting turned on, i just avoid using it because it may target something i dont want, i aleays just click things.

I never feel like people who play asura have an advantage against me. Im still acting the same as when ifight any other race: predict movements and actions, always be one tep ahead etc. For me seeing the animations isnt the most important part.
In one way i support this suggestion, but in another im againdt it.
Pros: people who have to/want to see animations can set everyone to human. The pros dont need explaining.
Cons: i chose sylvari because i think ts he most awesomest race, i spend alot of time in combinig dyes and clothes, i don want people to just make that go away in a simple click. Now, i know theres alot of people who dont care abou looks, but i do! I spend time on it and want people to see it, kind of.
Casting bars are a very bad idea for reasons ofhers (and anet) have stated.
If i was forced in another model i would actually complain on the forums instead of adding critisism.
I guess making the height difference between races less is quite reasonable… As lomg as asuras are still the smallest and norns the biggest. I just dont think its needed.
Seeing onl humans eould be pretty borin aswell :/.

@papagoonosh
Im an “above average player” so hot join doesnt give me much trouble.
But with my premade tourney team i run 0 condi removal aswell, and i rarely actually have problems. I usually support the mid point, jumping in and out of the fight, targeting people, setting up bursts and stuff. While im bursting i negate all damage, so i immediatally follow up by blinking ou of the fight and/or stealthig. Conditions arent much of an issue i find.
At the moment we have forest of nifhel for tourneys and the mid point is pretty great, after a burst, a phae retreat or blink can take me near the stairs and i can break line of sight. Then i wait for my burst to recharge and maybe put chaos storms, phantasms and those things. I also run the mirror heal and runes of air, so that helps me avoid damage aswell.
Im a mesmer by the way!

Alissah

I dont feel like people playing an asura have an advantage in combat… After you identified their build and have enough experience to predict their movements and actions, size just doesnt matter. Seeing thr animations is only for knowijg if your predictions were right.
I think thr “burst phase” is even more harsh than in WoW (talking about 1vs1 here). In gw2 if you fail to mitigate a perfect burst, t can literally be over in 2 seconds. Unless youre uber tanky i guess… But in y oppinion bunkers dont have a place in 1vs1s.
I know some very good players who play asura. I also know some very good players who play norn.
I havent played WoW but ive seen some duels and team fights there… It all seems very slow compared to gw2, even the bursts, thats just an oppinion ofcourse.

@stealth
Incase you were talking to me: thank you! Maybe in the next video ill put some duels with people i know, and gt them to roll mesmer or something.
Fighting 2 shatter mesmers isnt much different than fighting just one (except from having to down both of them at the same time, and being less forgiving when you get hit). You need control, if you control thr fight they wont be able to hit you, but make a mistake and youre done for. I dont have alot of experience as an ele so i cant speak for that.
When outnumbered, the terrain can mean victory or defeat, when theres alot of objects to hide around i usually have a better time, because they cant see my bursts coming:). Each playstyle/build has their own terrain where theyre moest effective, so youll want to move the fight if you have to.
When the fight starts i either stealth, or hide behind an object (LOS). When theyre at bursting range i simply burst them and dont take damage because im using blurred frenzy. After the burst ends i get the kitten out of there and wait for my burst to recharge. Then i repeat these steps until theyre dead easier said than done ofcourse. This only works if theyre not very skilled, because then they would just chain CC you.

@diogosilva decently placed aoes can counter a mesmer. But thats just like any attack can counter them, by dealing damage. Lets say me and a grenade engi are in a corridor, hes throwing grenades in front of him. If i run through them i tKe massive damage. But in order to not take massive damage i have to use my blink offensively, putting it on cooldown and unable to use defensively for when i get into trouble later, which gives him the afvantage. Offourse, corridors are a very bad place to fight as a shatter mesmer, so running away would be the better option.

Cheers,
Alissah

@blimm
Bunker mesmer. Not the mid point though, but for the far or close point. I never choose to run it because its just less fun for me. I prefer supporting the mid point by jumping in and out and landing bursts.
Blimm: “but the build itself doesnt require skill to be played” (my mobile cant coick the quote button so im doiin i like this).
What you say there id somewhat true, but it also isnt.
The “easy” specs dont requireskill to be played, but it requires skill to be played good.
There are also many ways to land a burst as a shattercat, its not always as easy as “use Ileap and mindwrack”, any decent player will dodge that and counter you.
There are also many variations on the shattercat build, you can spec for burst, support, mobility, phantasm hybrid, condition hybrid and all thosrthings.
Maybe the reason why “hard to play specs” arent viable is because, well, theyre not viable. If its not viable youre going to have a hard time. Maybe when you play an “easy” (viable) spec, maybe all youre doing is facerolling people with unviable specs?

TL:DR: it doesnt take much more than a good build to get started, but theres a huuuuge skill cap, especially on shatter mesmer. (I cant really much judge for all professions but im sure there is a high cap)

@OP:
I like the idea of putting interupted skills on a 25% cooldown or somehing, bu right now i feel as if interupts and Ccs are already very effective. Not because they can finish the skill they were using, but because it makes them ulnerable to a (coordinated) burst.
Example: i use temporal curtain to pull the enrmy team together in the circlr, where a friendly engi is spamming dem grenades, then i inmediatally immobilise them all and stack 25 vulnerability on 1, then we all burst and magic happens.
On a sidenote: just because people fail to dodge your basic shattercombo or phantasm doesnt mean the spec doesnt take skill. Try duelling a very skilled player (assuming youre using the easy spec for only 10 mins) and see what happens.
Hint: it wont end well for you.

I think scepter ele is still viable, but i agree with you on the staff.
From my experience condi warriors are pretty dangerous… A single skill (pin down) does 15k damage… Then theres the seord offhand with more bleeding. I also run 0 condi removal. After surving the pin down id have 1k hp left in wvw and 3k in Spvp. Its not overpowered or anything, but its viable in a 1vs1 when you dont havecondition removals.

Just wanted to get the following out there: its not impossible to do a 1vs2. Prove is in my signature link below!
And as others have stated: the basic shatter combo is fairly easy to predict/dodge. If youre in a teamfight and youre being focussed, call your team for help or play defensively for a while. A simple shield stance or somehing is more than enough to mitigate mind wracks from 2 mesmers. If they delay the burst untill your shield stance is over, your team already reacted to your call for help on voice chat and is now slapping them.

Hope this helps,
Alissah

redslion.9675:

How do you feel in group fights? I’m starting to think different skills must be taken into account in tpvp fights: unless you are in 1v1, can you really read the action of all your enemies?

It may be in those fights things such as builds and strategy (decide whether to revive someone or down an enemy, for example) become more important.

It happened to me that, fighting on a point, I could use skills such as 100 blades and hit people without setting it up with cc.

Just asking, I personally don’t know if even good people tendo to fail readings enemy movement in these situations.

As a mesmer, i act almost exactly the same in group fightd as i do in 1vs1: jump in the fight and burst while evading, jump out. Then repeat untill we won.
The only difference in a teamfight is that im not the only one dealing damage, and i have to pay attention to what my team is doing.
Example: an engi is magnet pulling someone and going to follow up eith confusion, i use Ileap(immobilize) and burst. This way the pulled enemy has to use defensive skills and take contusion damage, or dies to my burst.
Sometimes i pull thr enemies together with temporal curtain and burst all of them at the same ime, causing alot of panic on the whole team if done right.
Reviving in team fights… It would probably mean i get downed aswell, but i usually letnthe bunker revive and CC and apply boons etc.
Always keep an eye out for fleeing teammates/enemies or if theyre low hp. You can pull them back in the fight (like a grenade engi throwing on the point) or you van burst them down while theyre vulnerable.
When an rnemy in a teamfight goes down theres several things i can do: i can wait unill someone shows up and revive them, then ican burst or interupt the revivor, but theres the risk of them having stability or not dying to your burst if theyre bunker. Or i can pop distortion/stealth and just finish them.
Overal, i feel quite comfortablr in team fights, there may be more enemies than me, but theres always my team mates to back me up. Its just a matter of knowijg what you could do with your build and practice!
This is all with a team whom i trust and know ofcourse.

Happy team fighting,
Alissah

A mode with no teams (free for all) to organize guild events and stuff in.
An option to set how many trait points are avaiable.
Customise existing maps, by placing traps and environmental weapons and stuff.
Just random fun things

I support this, right now rangers are just invincible underwater. Even when CCing the pet, poisonong the ranger and all that. But isnt the water breather already knocked off when youre drowning?
Maybe make it: when you take damage the bleeding out goes much faster, and the only way to counter it is by going to the surface?
Or make CCs last longer on drowning players, and enable finishing while theyre CCed? Right now they could just swim away when youd finish them.
We can already finish people underwater, but they have to be on the ground… The animation looks really silly atm.

I think the first shatter doe 9% danage and then 6% and 3%. Also, dont forget that illusionary persona does 9% damage aswell, if your illusions arent in shatter range yet. You canget 9/9/9 with mindwrack though, but you have to spread them out and summon a new illusion every time one shatters. Its also really easy go dodge when theyre spread out.

Happy shattering,
Alissah

Ive been a mesmer ever since, but i did try out all professions except necro and guardian in Spvp. I think engineer is pretty fun, but you have to swpa kits alot, using my utilities so often makes me feel weird :o. Im a pretty decent player and ive duelled people who mastered the engineer. To them playing mesmer feels weird, and all the kit swappig and stuff feels natural.
Thief is quite fun to play aswell, because it has so much mobility and stealth, just like a mesmer!
I guess ele is fun too for the mobiliy anf healing. Healing is something i miss on my mesmer, but healin isnt needed when you dont get hit.
I can never play another for longer than an hour, and ill start craving for my mesmer again, so its all normal.

Happy… Learning to play again!
Alissah

For Spvp i recommend full berserker, because you need the burst.also note: when you use a shatter at build most damage comes from your sword and not the staff. The staff is simply there for the amazing survivability. In Spvp tournaments i prefer the 20/20/0/0/30 build fir group fights, when you land a full burst tou can insta down kitten cannon and low health targets. In wvw i run the 0/20/20/0/30 for mobility and even higher survival, because in wvw uou can compensate for lower damage by taking more berserker pieces.
If you want the staff as main weapon for damage, pick up a rabif amulrt and just spam staff clones. Its less viable in group fight tourneys though.

Hope this helps,
Alissah

My favouriye duo is with a high stealth thief because, well, they have so much stealth! When i try to duo with someone with low mobility/stealth they sometimes get focussed when i target drop. And when they go down theres not much i can do as im pretty glassy, especially in an outnumbered situaion. When i duo with a thief they can alsays drop shadows refugee to revive. I also like roaming with mesmers because theyre sinply my favourite!
So: anyone with mobility and or stealth .

Happy duoing,
Alissah

mercury ranique.2170:

== Suggestions ==
1: Remove the listing fee of 5%
2: Raise the tax to 15%
3: Add a penalty to the removal option of 5%. If you want to take an item your selling off the market you have to pay 5% of the price you where asking.

Im sorry, i read that wrong. it was at work… and on my mobile… on a really dark screen.. and i was really stressed… i thought you typed "add a penalty to teh removal option of 5%, if you want to take an item your BUYING off the market, you have to pay 5% of the price you were ordering.
im so sorry :’(.

if what i thought you said was true:
i order 100 items for 1 silver each (total 100silver).
the next day i only pick up 50 items, the other 50 i ordered got undercut so i ahve to cancel them (fee: 2.5 silver), i sell my 50 items that bought for 1S, 30C (fee: 9S, 75C).
profit=50*130-50*100-975-250= 2S 75C
the bold numbers are all added costs if what i read was really happening… thats why i was concerned.. i thought you meant a tax for cancelling buy orders, it would add risk for even the average tp user: normally they would place a buy order and get gear/crafting mats cheaper than if theyd buy instantly, but with that suggestion they would be punished for ordering for a wrong price.
thats why i was concerned, and now im ashamed of myself for not reading it right.
if you dont mind, im going to play some now and see if i can still enjoy my free time.

bye,
alissah

O.O before i read this thread i already forgot weakness existed xD
what about this: each time a player inflicted with weakness uses a skill, weakness rises in intensity (stacks to 10). applying weakness by using a skill will still (as normal duration stacking conditions) increase the duration.

for each stack of weakness: lose 1% endurance per stack when attacking, damage dealt is decreased by 1% per stack, critical chance is decreased by 5% per stack, skill cooldown rate is slowed by 2% per stack, active boons expire 2.5% faster per stack.

example: player A has 60% critical chance.
player A receives weakness and somehow makes 10 stacks(-50% critical chance).
player A now has a 30% critical chance.

weakness would be effective on both bunkers and glass cannons. It could be used defensively (to control the amount of skills a player can use, or to simply make them do less damage) or offensively (prey on the weak!).

most weakness inflicting skills only last 5-7 seconds so players most likely wouldnt reach 10 stacks on taht one skill, so i dont think it would be overpowered, while still adding something you notice (i think noticing you have a condition makes each condition unique and more fun).

I guess it could be a bit complicated when you first encounter weakness and read what the tooltip says, but its not that complicated at all: use skills, number (intensity) goes up, bad

Happy discussing a (currently) useless condition,
Alissah

i can only choose 3? hmm….

1: a different gamemode that doesnt rely on bunkers
I feel bunkers ruin the pace of the amazing combat GW2 has, what i love so muhc is all teh active defense>passive defense (something ive never seen in other MMOs), but in teh case of a bunker, they can kitten up and get hit by a perfect burst, but their defensive stats would simply allow them to heal up. Then they proceed to slap me for 50 damage, its kind of silly if you ask me.
i dont mean to offend anyone, but i just think tournaments would be much more fun if everyone ran low defense amulets (at max only 1 defensive attribute).

2: more attribute (gear) customisation.
what i mean here is: get a berserker coat, knight leggings, valkyrie helm etc. this isnt much of an issue, but id just realy like to see an option to do this. maybe, an option in custom arenas to allow more customisable attributes, but hot join and tournaments use the simple amuelts we have now (to prevent even more overpowered bunkers).
example (dont have to read this if you dont want to): i can choose from 2 builds, a burst shatter build and a mobility shatter build, i prefer the mobility because its simply more fun, but i lose out on damage. in WvW i can counter teh damage loss by switching more armor pieces for berserker, so i gain more mobility, same burst, less passive defense. its kind of like a meaningfull choice i can put a lot of thought in, and i cant in Spvp.

3: make pvp more noob-friendly
i made up a suggestion that should do just this, lately ive been very discouraged to write suggestions, because i feel like arenanet doesnt lsiten anymore, or barely, especially after spending so much time on the forums. but seeing all these Jonathan Sharp posts, i may aswell try and hope for the best…
it looks something like this: players get the option to suffer from statistical disadvantages (lose X% from attributes, only use 2, 1 or 0 utlity slots, slower movement speed, things like that), as reward theyll gain a % bonus glory and rank points at the end of the match. Maybe even special reward skins to show off youre a good player, or some sort of achievement.
if good players get motivated enough to play at a disadvantage, then the new people wont get facerolled by them as much, and they wont get frustrated and quit. (this comes from a very experienced PVPer btw)

Sorry for the huge wall of text, just had to get it out there. and @JonathanSharp i really appreciate you posting here, even if its just sharing oppinion/let us know youre watching

Also, I think all professions are currently balanced in 1vs1, but most dont have alot of builds, because most (more than 75%?) traits are simply useless. it doenst bother me all that much, because theres still a lot of personal style involved in how you play that build.

Happy hoping for pvp improvements in an already amazing game,
Alissah

agreed, keeping illusions after the target died would be way OP. just imagine running into a mesmer in pvp, the mesmer summoned 3 duelist’s in advance, you fail to dodge the magic bullet and dont have a stun breaker. then you take 12k damage.

Panda.1967:

Mesmers are the only class that loses over half their effectiveness and survivability every time they kill something.

thats not true. with that “logic” i would lose half my survivability and effectiveness each time i shatter aswell.
hint: only noobs spend time hitting clones, and mesmers have much more survival options.

haha, reminds me of the bottle of sesame ginger sauce, one day people suddenly started selling it for 10 silver, it used to sell for 1.5 or something. the next day it was normal again xD.
http://www.gw2spidy.com/item/12275
the graph says 18 may, but i cant remember it being not too long ago ;o, i guess time jsut flies past slower than we think.

I’m sorry for being unclear there.. Ill try to keep t short this time
Today: order 100 items
Tomorrow: pick up a fraction of the items i ordered, cancel the rest, place new orders with monry gained from cancelling, sell the items i bought.
Day after tomorrow: pick up trade profit and bought items, place new orders and sell etc, cancel old buy orders
The text in bold is no longer optimal after this suggestion, because you lose 5% money that normally wouldnt be there.
Day trading is the easiest kind of trading for me, because i can order the same tems each day, if i order too muh i can sinply cancel them.
Note: prices are always changing so i cant leave old buy orders open, they will get overcut.
Example: after several days without canceling any orders, i have 22 ordered for 100copper, 3 ordered for 106C, 85 ordered for 121C, etc.
Thats why canceling old buy orders is daily routine for me, those overcut buy orders wont do any good, if i cancel them ican invest the money somewhere else(the next day).
I hope ts more clear now… I wont be posting any more for a while because im at work with only 5% battery life left.

TL;DR: makes learnig and impoving on TP harder, adds much more risk, bad idea

Edit: that wasnt short at all

I guess a /hug emote would be nice, but if there was an option to marry a player id most likely avoid it :p.

Very bad idea, for o vious reasons as others have stated. Toughness already decreases damage taken, critical and non critical. Also, your example doesnt make sense, because in pvp 2 good players will neer take turns hitting each other, or using defensive skills and dodging. If that example was true, even without exxagerated numbers no one would be able to win 1vs2 or 1vs3 etc…

Uhm… Dont get me wrong, i love catsuits.. But… It would be kind of… Weird… To see people running around them in gw2 :/…
Actually, i would be completely creeped out

After every path i take 10 minutes just to look at every mesmer traitto see if something got stealth nerfed, and most of the times theres atleast 1 :/. This sugestion would let me play those 10 minute instead so i approve. Also, it would be better if arenanet just put all changes in the patch notes, because most of the time theyre simply incomplete and we find the nerfs out the hard way. I can think of plenty changes that i found but were never in any patch notes

1: im not sure how that would work.. Arcane thievery is tr only manipulation that targets an enemy.
2: if phantasm mage dealt daze: the attack shouldnt bounce anymore and the attack speed should be slower
3: such a powerfull condition/control effect on a #1 skill would be overkill, aswell as unreliable. Ou control skills should be on demand, not very 3rd attack under conditions

We alreay keep a single targt stunlocked for over 10 seconds, you just have to build for it. Ive actually made a build that focusses on lockdown but i cant share it at the momen because im at work, maybe ill show it later.

Happy shatter bursting/figuring out a new build,
Alissah

Haha, hunting running people wwith white flags would be more un indeed. As for he jumping puzzle… I only kill in the onsidian one at the start… Never halfway through or at the end, when i used tk be useless in pvp combat i always got upset because they spawn killed me, and i just wanted to jump. So now im much better at combat, i still let people pass who are there just for jumping.

This suggestion would change alot for me… Im a day flipper and this would make it unescesary hard to make money. Example: i order 100 items for 80 copper each and i plan to sell them at 100, with 10 copper profit per trade. The next day, i need to pick up atleast 33,33333 items to have 0profit, if i pick up any less items and and cancel my oter orders, i lose money. In the current tp i would still make 33*10=330 copper profit, but with your suggestion i actually lose money… I would realize getting any profit on the tp is now muh harder, even too hard compared to he profit i can or can not get out of it and i would probably quit, resulting in less trafic in the economy, and that is always bad :/.
Usually i place more buy orders than i can actually buy in 1 day, this is so i dont lose out on money by missing potential sellers, id say this is the safe way of doing it. Your new suggestion would actually punish me for playing it safe. If i order too much i will make less money, if i order too less i will lose out on money, so the whole tp game suddenly got a lot less attractive and complicated, remoing all the good things about day trading.
I’m sorry for the huge wall of text and if i offended you, this is just my way of saying no, i guess
Edit: i forgot to mention that gold would inflate, because much less people will play he market.
Also, if you or your friend doesn have enough money to pay the listing fee, simply borrow he listig fee money from someone and give it back when the item sells

For my perma swiftness i just use runes of air + focus, its actually part of my build. In my oppinion runes of air are betterthan centaur, because t also gives a usefull combat bonus, the 10% critdmg and lighning strike. I think centaur gives things like bleed duration, useless stuff. The focus is also not as useless as people think! I have a video in my signature where i use it if youre interested

I think moa removes spirits minions etc because those are chain skills eithout a buff on your bar… Thieves guilf cant be activated twice so it doesnt gt removed, just theorycrafting here

I think its funny hoe confusion used to be useless.. Then they buffed it… And now tey nerfed it into nothingness a 1 second cooldown on confusion enchantments would be enough in my oppinion… Also, confusion is the only condition that has a very simple counter anyone can do at any time: do nothing, take 0% damage, its quite *under*powered if you ask me, and now its completel ly uesless.
Sometimes i think arenanet balancers have no idea what theyre doing… They should talk with mesmers who actually play the game instead of nerfing confusion into nothingness in a single patch….
I wish arenanet talked more

Ryuujin.8236:

Shanks R Us.2489:

jportell.2197:

Thieves guild is easily counterable? HOW? Thief stealths… thieves guild pops you couldn’t interrupt it because several interrupts require a target and if you could… whats that? The thief can just stealth and retry knucks! Once thieves guild pops these guys offer consistent DPS and CC. And by consistent I mean their unload hits for 5k and on the death break down the second most damaging skill is twisting fang (dagger #3 no offhand). Don’t tell me this can be easily countered… When it comes to summons thieves guild out performs every other summons in the game.

Perhaps.

You can dodge the initial volley of their pistol unload and kite them. Also, I play an engineer, so, I have:

-Glue puddle to keep them off me.
-Freeze grenade to keep them & thief off me.
-Flash grenade to make them miss.
-Shield block to block their attacks.

I guess I meant to say I can easily counter it.

And while you’re doing that the thief himself backstabs you… game over, he wins.

When it comes down to it, almost every elite is an in-win skill. I’d rather have seen GW2 elites be more along the line of GW1 elites, an above average skill that is too powerful to be in the same bar as other elites, and helps form your builds playstyle, but not a single skill that flips a battle on it’s head

I disagree, i main a mesmer and i’ve never felt like elites are an “i win” skill. If you got backstabbed by the thief while his thief guild, then that means his strategy worked: let the thief guild ditract you, setting you open for a burst, and then backstab. Simply adjust your strategy and try again.

Clones can eat bouncable attacks now…. Why? Please tell me its a bug and theyre fixing it soon…
2 days ago i actually made a new build that uses the staff as main weapon… And it was much less effective than t could be, thr might doesnt even improve clone condition damage.

Flintbrow.7985:

Nobody cares about your mini’s.

But theyre so cute i bought all of them!

I e been shattercatting much more than other builds since the global cooldown, and ive nver actually felt like it had a significant impact on my playstle… Infact, i never noticed anything.
No offense, but thats just my point of view

Im not currently in an organised group, but as far as i can tell from videos… Shatter builds will do judt fine, maybe put the 20 flexible points in inspiration for glamour traits. Portal is huge for organised groups, but only supports 10 players in and out due to the limit t has now. Osicat has some videos in an organised 10+ group, heres the pink if youre interested: http://m.youtube.com/user/osianic2
Sorry that i cant be of more help, but i hope i helped a bit anyhow

People strongly underestimate line of sight here :/. Simply use the #5 skill to get close to a corner/barrel/wall/whateer and hide behind it, then wait untill the morph wears off,. As for thieves guild: it doesnt change a whole lot in a fight for me, i just jump in, burst while evading attacks, jump out.
Supply drop isnt so bad either… Phase retreat as soon as i get stunned, first fire misses, i may get immobilised, whenever i get close to the turrete a simple mirror (heal skill) or dodge would make the turrets miss. Its not much of an “i win” button if you ask me.
I, myself use mass invis, because it gives me just about the same as moa: i can freely move about, or i can set up a burst. Mass invis is also much lower CD
TL;DR: moa isn’t an “i win” button and doesn’t need nerfing, due to high CD

@lemac that link doesn’t work on mobile, so ill have to look tomorrow! (Hope i dont forget). For now ill say: if it works for you, then keep using it.

RBMoose.1439:

it’s always good to try new things, and experimenting with them gives you more tools and tactics to play with.

I couldn’t agree more!
We all have our own style, and experimenting is the only way to find/improve it.
Protip: go with the build that is the most fun for you.

Oh, the winning team should do the /rank emote and the losing team should get insta downed, or something.. actually, the insta down isnt a good idea xD but definitely something with teh rank emote!

TreeSerpent.3176:

How do you get 2400 tougness

Woops, I meant armor, not toughness xD. I was at work when i typed this so I dind’t have acces to my stats there :P.
note: the picture is without accuracy stacks (250 prec), and food buffs, but it includes 20 chaos (200 toughness) and 20 duelling (200prec, 20crit dmg)
edit: not sure why it underlined that part :o

Meh, lately I’ve been noticing my Iwarden is destroying projectiles too.. i thought it was a bug. but oh well… no more one shotting young karka’s i guess.
What you say about requiring minimal effort for high damage is, i guess true. but i still find shatters more fun to play+theyre AoE. We only have the Iberserker and the Iwarden as AoE phantasms, and the warden needs alot of time to do damage and si therefore unreliable.
example: summon a warden in the Ascalonian fractal, it’ll dissipate from the AoEs very quickly
Also, shattering doesnt have to be risky: get 2 clones, Ileap into the group, blurred frenzy+ mind wrack, maybe mirror images for cry of frustration, dodge backwards. If you use that burst you’re invulnerable for the whole time you’re dealing damage, then you can switch to GS and range attack untill your shatter recharged.

Everything between brackets wouldn’t be part of teh in-game description.

#1: [Chain skill, pistol skill, small projectile finisher] Shoot -> Shoot -> Scattershot (names are subject to change)
first and second shot: Shoot an illusionary bullet at your foe, dealing more damage and conditions the closer they are.
range: 900
damage if range is between 900-1200: 90% damage of greatsword at 0-300 (can only reach this range when traiting for pistol range)
damage if range is between 600-900: 90% damage of greatsword at 300-600, vulnerability for 3 seconds.
damage if range is between 300-600: 90% damage of greatsword at 600-900, an additional 2 seconds of vulnerability, 1 second of bleeding
damage if range is lower than 300: 90% damage of greatsword at 900+, an additional second of vulnerability, an additional second of bleeding (2seconds total),

3rd skill, Scattershot: Shoot 5 bullets (in 1 shot) in a very small cone, dealing more damage and conditions the closer they are. (same as first and second skill).
the 4 additional bullets only do16.5% damage and no conditions. (The bullet in the middle reaches your target regardless of foes standing in it’s way, but it still damages 2, it has exactly the same effect as the 1st and 2nd skill).

#2: insert name here [Pistol skill, chain skill, clone generating skill, leap finisher, projectile finisher] cooldown: 12 seconds
Aim at your foe, when attacked in the next 2 seconds: block the attack, teleport the direction you’re moving (range: 600) and leave a clone behind, then shoot a blinding shot at your attacker.
insert name here [Pistol skill, leap finisher]
end your block early, teleporting the direction you’re moving. (range: 600)(cannot be used while disabled, doesn’t leave a clone, doesn’t benefit from clone cooldown trait)

#3: insert name here [place-able AoE, pistol skill, blast finisher] Cooldown: 15
Fire a slowly moving bomb at target area, on impact it epxlodes in a puddle of boiling chaotic energy, immobilizing foes. lingers for 4 seconds, pulses 1 second cripple each second. small ether bolts fly for a short range (1 per 0.5 second), inflicting vulnerability for 10 seconds on foes and might for 10 seconds on allies.
puddle radius: 100
puddle damage: low
ether bolts radius: 200
ether bolts damage: very low

The main hand pistol would be a power based medium range AoE weapon, it could find it’s way in builds that need 2 off-hands and maybe in shatter builds, trading amazing defense (from the staff) for better damage, but still with a teleport skill on higher cooldown. where normal pistols would have the little smoke cloud, we’d get butterflies coming from the gun.

First of all: welcome back to gw2! Mesmer in pvp has a huuuuuge skill cap, even after like 1500 hours spent im still improving (or maybe im just a very slow learner).

And now to answer your question:
0/20/0/0/30 is your shatter template, the last 20 define your spec. In my oppinion 20 domination is simply best for Spvp, because you lose too much burst if you put the 20 in another trait line. That is because in Spvp we cant customise stats, in WvW youd be able to balance it out by getting more crit damage.
For phantasm you need atleast 10/0/0/25/0 for phantasm damage, but the template embolism said is very highly recomended. Just thought id give you this version so you can customise it more.
If all else fails: try to figure WHY it fails, don’t be afraid to change strategy and build untill you find something you like, but most of al: have fun! If you do this right you will soon aquire a certain level of awesome you can brag about.
Also, don’t be afraid to send me a whisper in game if im unclear about something.
If you want to see a shatter build without domination, theres one/some in my signature!
Happy Mesmering

Chaos Archangel.5071:

How about “Mantra of Agility” – 10 to 15 Sec cooldown

Restores 50% endurance and grants 10 seconds of swiftness per charge.

.. Thoughts?

50% endurance sounds kind of overkill to me, even overpowered :O. Also, using just this mantra on a 10-15 second cooldown gives more than 100% swiftness uptime. In my oppinion, if this were to work it should give 25% endurance,, 5 swiftness per charge, on a 10 cooldown, between each charge activation is a 5 second cooldown. This would give 66% swiftness uptime without traits and boon duration, with mantra traits (20% cooldown, 3charges): well, alot more!
A good idea but i had something like this in mind:
Mantra of celerity CD: 20
Power sap CD: 3
Apply criple for 3 seconds to your target, while applying 7 seconds of swiftness to yourself. You don’t have to cripple a target to receive swiftnes (so it can be used out of combat aswell).
I think having a utlity that only gives swiftness and is only useull out o combat is kind of silly, so with this suggestion i stay true to the mesmer concept, buffing yourself and debuffing your target at the same time.
Also, maybe the cripple could be aoe with half effect on the other targets?
Id take this utility in my roaming build to catch runners or make some breatjing space if im out of defensive cooldowns, even without mantra traits.

If you like Shatter builds, just remove the 20 from domination and put it in inspiration. 0/20/0/0/30 are he only essential points to be a shatter mesmer, the last 20 are flexible and define your spec (dom=burst, chaos=mobility/defense, inspi=support).
Some say domination is essential for shatter builds, but in my oppinion thats only the case in Spvp where we cant customise stats enough. Being full berserker makes up for the damage lost from domination.
Happy shattering!

Edit: there were anti-projecile nerfs :O?

For dungeons i run: 0/20/0/20/30 with sword/focus, greatsword. Its a variation on the “Shattercat” by Osicat, specced for support. Damage comes from shatters and your own attacks, recommended to be ran with full berserker, as its simply the best option for dungeons and high level fractals (dont think that needs explaining). The support mostly comes from reflections.

In WvW roaming i run: 0/20/20/0/30, another variation on the Shattercat, but specced for mobility. For weapons i use sword/sword or focus and a staff. I mix berserker/knight’s/ power/critdmg/toughness (not sure what that combination is called). I like having 90+ crit damage, 1800ish power, 50% crit chance, 2400armor, as low as possible vit.
In my signature is/are video(s) of my wvw build in action
Edit: in the support spec I use ether feast/mirror/blink/decoy/feedback/nullfield/mirror images/illusion of life/signet of inspiration/time warp/mass invisibility in that order of common-ness.
In the mobility spec i use ether feast/mirror, decoy/blink/mirror images or portal

I mix Berserker, Knight and power/toughness/critdamage(not sure whakittens called), untill i have the right stats. In pve dungeons i always go full berserker though, simply because passive defense doesn’t matter much there.
For WvW i like having atleast 50%crit chance, 90% critdamage, 1800ish power and 2400 toughness. I add food to certain stats when they’re too low and keep vit as low as possible so heals heal me for more %.
It’s also best to put stat gear (so no crit damage%) on the coat, I heard somewhere that the overal stat gain is slightly higher.