Guild Wars 2

I believe the Mesmer NPC can transform you into one in HotM.

The Mesmer will point at you and pink partials will surroud the finger, there is an unmistakable audio que as well. Your best bet is to simply dodge. However they can do this from stealth, most Mesmers taking Moa will only have 1-2 stealths if thats the case. (Decoy and Torch, if Torch is taken.) So this isn’t always possible.

If you do get Moa’d like others said, you can run or evade but the kit for Moa has a few tricks.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Polymorph_Moa

Do not bother trying to fight a Mesmer with Mantra Of Distraction as a Moa.
Do not bother fighting if you aren’t Zerker/Max power at least.

The combo is Screech (Weakness, less threat from the Mesmer.) Kick, (cripples) and Peck. Peck’s first hit deals good damage, but if you land the whole thing they need to back off. If you see three clones up hit five. Nine times out of ten Mesmers using Moa in a 1v1 think they’ve won. And will not think twice about the Mind Wrack. Hence the extended evade on the 5 being so useful.

Alternately, in a teamfight scenario call target on the Mesmer and tell the Thief (you WILL have a thief on your team even if you PuG) to kill it. Have a teammate peel, heal you, be ready to rez, ect.

Moa is the biggest threat to Bunkers, MM, Lich and Rampage. If you aren’t running these you should be fine.

You think Staff Ele vs Staff Ranger is bad?

Have you SEEN a Staff Engie?

First Kaio-Ken in the form of Rampage As One now we’re doing the Fusion Dance with our pet?

Please give us something from Ele, I cant count the amount of Eles telling me how bad ranger is and how all I do is press one button. Yes, atuo attacks do damage, last time I checked Ranger wasn’t the only class with an auto attack.

I would kill for Cantrips or something equally “insulting”. Worst case scenario, we get Mantras.. the only one that I find useful being Distraction..

Lockdown Rangers now with permastealth and spirit turrets.

Im trying my best to improve myself, I’ve hit a skill wall that can only be overcome by duels.

“Dueling servers” are a joke, constantly getting trolled or the peanut gallery is commentating how bad and skilless every class is aside zerk ele, thief and mes, people look at your build before dueling and specc so you have a greatly lessened chance/demand rematches and switch to cheese/hardcounter builds out of rage, and if you somehow overcome all this they will wait for you to duel someone else and attack mid duel, then claim you are the troll to get you kicked. Not everyone is like that but a annoying “minority” is. (The 13 year olds playing thief who get salty and go SA to troll)

Unranked and Hotjoin are zerg fests.Get into a 1v1? Actually about to learn something? Get ready for three others to join in, because you stopped rotating side points for a second. Also the occasional Premades.

Ranked is for Premades. “If you dont have a team you dont deserve to win.”.

WvW is more zerg oriented and I have recently and surprisingly found good fights in EB. Had a good time playing bodyguard for uplevels from bad thieves that “raom” (read: gank uplevels) in Etom. But its still zerg wars.

TL;DR a place to get legit duels would be appreciated.

The only “nerf” I feel could be used is the way Slick Shoes works. I feel the intended use for them was to run into a enemy or group of enemies and knock them over as a disruption, and a chance to attack obviously.

2 second knockdown is perfectly fine. Hell that’s normal. But the issue is the aoes are triggered more then once. And you cant even dodge out.

Edit: I have a pvp engie pls dont hurt me, I just think the above is a bit unfair.

Replace Quickening Zephyr with Signet Of Stone. You’ll need it as an ohkitten button.

You’ll want to engage form max range, if you cant and they dont see you, LoS and send your pet in to eat Aegis. If a Mediguard starts the fight on his terms you are at a sever disadvantage. To prevent this…
*Keep look out, you’re a ranger, you should be scouting lore wise.
*Flashing blade ignores LoS, walls, ect. If you get targeted they can teleport to you from 600 range. 1200 if Judge’s Intervention follows the same rules, I believe it does but dont quote me on that.

Your damage will be mitigated by a few things.
*Heal – 30 sec CD, any MediGaurd without Shelter is already dead.
*Blacks and Blinds – You have the perfect tool to deal with this, Rapid Fire. Call me a fool for wasting my “burst” on burning active defense, but that’s the name of the MediGuard’s game. Without it they can choose die like a man or we’ll find out why Virtue Of Courage is on such a long cool down. VoC (50s) Shield of Wrath (45s) vs RF (10s)
*Meditations – Heals, You can bait these with your pets. Save the Wolf’s fear, stack immobs, easy with Dog and Mud. The average medi will have one on Resolve, one on Smite Condis, and one on Contemplation of Purity, the biggest one you want to bait.

Your wolf’s fear is a valuable CC, Entangle as well. Save them after you’ve burnt out the active defenses or if in a pinch. Activating either before Contemplation of Purity is a waste, however if a Medi is forced to use Smite Condis to break one, thats one less threat to deal with.

They have the advantage in sustain, but its very possible. Play smart, watch the blinds that you can, and dont panic.

Its alright, the pvp community is easily worse then most MOBAs at this point. Dont take anything anyone says to heart, in fact turn off all chats in pvp.
Several people in HotM map chat admitted to waiting for people to leave bad games just so they could troll.

Sube Dai.8496:

Something tells me the druid is going to end up like a staff guardian :|

With our luck, yes. The Specializations are about “support and control” so I expect to be planting flowers that heal people for 10hp for 2-5 and 1 being loot stick.

Also, That Light trap is insane. For the longest time Rangers asked for a way to reveal Thieves. We got it, on a skill that needs a target..

Guard gets it on an AoE with 25 vuln. best part is they can drop it on a Shadow Refuge. But why do that when you can Whirling Wrath, or Pull them out?

OP, you forget. you cant call out Thief or Ele on the forums, they are the highest skill cap classes! /scarasm

This is what map chat actually believes. Yes any class can be skillful in the right hands but to neglect every other class, call everything easy or bad and proceed to play the strongest FTOM specs and claim to be skillful is another.

Once D/D ele is nerfed, people will rave about how hard and skillful the next FOTM spec is.

Gravity Well – Make a kittening black hole.

Engies you can have my moa, I dont care anymore.

Edit: New dev working on Mesmer? Doin’ a kitten fine job. <3

Rapid Fire isnt supposed to be used for damage anyway.
Rapid Fire
*Tracks Stealth
*Applies vulnerability
*Mitigates Longbow’s awful close range AA damage.

Ideally, it would be above the min range AA damage, perhaps “decent” dps at best. However the real use would be to set up for melee attacks, to use the Vuln. Or perhaps as an opener to do more max range AA damage.

I feel Rapid Fire is in a strange place where its simultaneously broken and underpowered. Ever try fighting a Mediguard as a Ranger? When a Thief is on you in melee range it only pressures a dodgeroll. Bad examples as they are the two “anti zerk” classes.

What MW has over RF is unpredictability. Mindgames are Memser’s strongest point (and rightfully so.)

My issue with that Serbert is finding people who will duel me on friendly terms, much less a thief willing to tolerate “ez mode rangr”.

I’d duel my guild, but nearly all of them are PvE’ers bar three, two of which dont really play anymore. So they are out of the question.

Dueling servers are a joke. Not only are they regularly trolled but a lot of the players there some of the most petty and toxic the community has to offer. I’ve gone there for duels many times. I lose or in the event I win by catching someone off guard they demand a rematch with a different spec made to counter mine. Accept and get a response such as “gg ez” decline and prepare for profanity. I also panic on these servers, people are watching and judging at all times.

Im not disregarding your advice, Im going to try and find someone but Im not sure where to look.

Dolphins are amount the most violent and dangerous sea creatures (among other things I wont get into)

Trust me when I say the Shark is a safer option for a pet. Thats not saying much becuse the ocean is a horrible place filled with demon spawn that science has passed as “Wildlife”. If it doesn’t sting or bite, it most likely will suck your soul out.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Tragic Positive.9356:

…Any lesson is meaningless without pain. If you really want to get better, play the standard Zerk, and pay for your mistakes. Just like you should capitalize on mistakes of your enemy. That’s how Zerks do. Playing a soldiers version will only distance yourself of your initial goal.

I disagree, if you cannot stay alive long enough to see the mechanics, you won’t learn anything, you’ll just get frustrated. And you will be contributing a lot less to your team if you are always in the respawn Q because you keep getting one-shot by thieves. Much better off doing 30% less crit damage having 300 less power so you can stay alive and contribute something, and learn at the same time.

I suggested the KNIGHTS/Melandru version so he can see those mechanics before being nuked. Once you learn what to do and get better, you can swap to Zerk amulet, once better again, swap the runes to Pack.

I’ll give this a go until things get better, Hopefully find out why thevies kill me if its more then high AA damage and blinds.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

If you like LB/GS, stick to it, you will get better. Try using this for a bit, so you survive the initial bursts, then as you get better, you can change to zerk amulet and different runes for more damage. Once you learn what you need to do to survive them, then you can worry about killing them.

Why would I make a Power Build that is made for soaking up the damage?
… I can’t seem to find the reason.

If I wanted a build that will sustain – I’d definitely go Condi. Not only I’ll live longer, I’d even deal more damage. Period.
If I wanted to burst people – I’d go full zerk and learn my mechanics, positioning and do my job which is bring people from 100 to 0 in the least time possible. You already are a bother for your team since your damage and utility is lover than the one of a Mesmer and you can’t stand on a point… Now you’d even cut the only thing you bring in half – which is Damage.

Any lesson is meaningless without pain. If you really want to get better, play the standard Zerk, and pay for your mistakes. Just like you should capitalize on mistakes of your enemy. That’s how Zerks do. Playing a soldiers version will only distance yourself of your initial goal.

I’ve been playing Zerk Ranger long enough to be better then I am. I played Mesmer for quite a while, and I understand 90% of all the skills and classes, can usually tell what they are going to do based on weapons. But I still lose.

I dont kill myself on reflects like a lot of other rangers do on my bunker Guard. But there are times in combat I get “stuck” its no a glitch or a condi I just cant get to where I want to be in the fight, by the time I’ve positioned myself the enemy has moved, either on my kitten with a ten foot pole or where they make it really hard for me to do anything. I have no way around this and Im really starting to think that and medicore reaction time is related to my mental disability and then comes another depressive episode. (like now)

I dont know any melee specs, if you can point me in the direction of one I’d be more then willing to try.

My issue with GS/LB is for Thieves they either teleport behind me or blind me. And warriors just do so much damage I can try and kite GS all day but in the end Pin Down and Arcing Arrow are my bane.

I am playing SoF Power Ranger, but Im used to condi traps but that works so well nowadays obviously. For the sake of a scenario lets assume its a duel (it usually isn’t, I hate dueling servers) because its just in general on any map.

Title says it all.
Edit: The specs giving me trouble are GS/LB for warrior. And D/P / S/P Thief.
Any way to use S/D on Power by the way?

PU Shatter Hybird, I’ve explained on another post how it sounds broken on paper, but we wont know until its in game. Stealth games between Mes and Thief are candidates for hate.

Power Ranger and Condi Ranger get my vote as “most hated”. Even when Ranger was among the worst classes it was hated for no reason. Now they are going to be even stronger then they are now, imagine the hate times ten. Like how Rampage as One is Kaio ken times ten.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Aylpse.6280:

5) Necros and Rangers nonexistent. You’ll be left with the diehards for these classes. Ranger’s pewpew is confirmed to have a range nerf, this should drive away the 2 spammers. Necromancer got the shaft and wont be around to check Engineer. Lopsided rock paper scissors.

Ranger’s pewpew was confirmed to have the range made baseline.

Are you serious? So its literally just going to be Necro screwed over..

The PU buffs scare me, as a Mesmer; more then anything else.
“100% stealth duration”
I am not a fan of stealth games. PU can be delt with now easily, it lacks instant bursts. You only have to count to two or three and then stealth yourself to counter it.

With that change, they could be in stealth for 12 seconds, its like a Shadow Refuge where they have time to set up clones and potentially oneshot a Zerker from stealth, Mind you, normal Shatter can almost do this. Add boons to the mix and the mesmer being untargetable most of the fight.

Shatter Burst from Stealth → 8-10 Might, go into stealth after revealed, summon phantams (boosted 15% baseline ontop of the might, as a lockdown mes I can say even untraited now with 10 stacks they hit hard.) If this isn’t enough to finish them off, they can burst again at any given moment.

I understand this is all on paper and not in practice, but my point still stands.

First off, OP, please, for the love of god, dont cookie cut “the best teams”. I know everyone marches to Metabattle to cookie cut specs but teamcomps too?

Second, my predictions are two Engies, a Mes or Thief, a Medi Guard, and one Support or Bunker.
1) Permastealth PU Shatter Memsers will rule the metagame and be later (a few months) nerfed, damage or PU will take the hit and HOPEFULLY Lockdown will take its place.
2) Thief will be incredibly powerful, if not completely broken. Hopefully we’ll see Acro thieves as opposed to SA. Despite the “holding points” argument, I see SA becoming Popular to win stealth games vs Mesmer.
3) Engineers will continue to reign supreme. They will be the top of the food chain, anti elites, stronger Supp crates, Elemental bazookas (with any luck on Mortar becoming a elemental bazooka) and that’s just the choice of elites. Nade nerf but we might actually see other kits. No counters however.
4) Guard and Warrior become more ‘important" fulfilling a role similar to before. Guard will be a Thief check and GS Warrior should be checking Mesmer post PU nerf.
5) Necros and Rangers nonexistent. You’ll be left with the diehards for these classes. Ranger’s pewpew is confirmed to have a range nerf, this should drive away the 2 spammers. Necromancer got the shaft and wont be around to check Engineer. Lopsided rock paper scissors.

Why not both?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgk-lA12FBk

B E A S T M A S T E R
I S
B A C K

Chaos Archangel.5071:

With the IP change.. Lockdown Mesmer will overcome shatter in pvp meta. Calling it now.

I really hope so, because thats how I picture Mesmer. A disabling control fairy.

I am Rapid fire, the number two transformed.

I have a bearded dragon is that close enough to a Drake? I just need to get an axe now and I can start the intro right?

I hope necrobumping isn’t breaking the rules but I dont wanna make another thread, I still am struggling really bad.

I tried to record but Overwolf makes things laggy and I do worse under pressure. Im going to upload it soon so people can possibly help me.

But 2.5 years of this bullkitten says enough.

Edit: Cant make a video, lags too bad. The footage is awful and I cant turn off my music.

Finally played enough to get a good understanding.

+Tide and flow of battle here is BIG something Fantastic and nonexistent Conquest.
+The map is beautiful and the NPCs talking makes it feel like a warfeild. Makes me miss the beta days. “You got the keep, keep it!”
+Had amazing success kittenter Mes on Defense. Not sure why, however.
+I can see this game mode being crazy in high level play, with rotations and plays. No surprise seeing its based on a “moba map”. “Siege” no less, my favorite mode outside of “Arena” in Smite.
+Decent to Good balance.

Bad things
-A bit more complex, after two years of Conquest many players were confused, a guidlie explained it several times and we won those games. A TUTORIAL FOR THIS MAP, WOULD IMPROVE PLAYER EXPERIENCE. AND MAKE IT MORE INCLUSIVE
-Archers should do a little bit more damage.
-Heroes need a buff, I feel they should be able to damage players and be a threat to take out.
-Needs a death punishment.

Suggestions
=Tutorial added where the water tutorial was.
=Buff Heroes or..
=Less Heroes. Perhaps where the second set would spawn, instead add a “Planar Anomaly” that summons a Meteor Storm, or grants a buff similar to Ferocity, points on kill. It will add to the tide and flow of the battle to whoever gets it.

I have very little of an idea of whats going around.

But Im having fun, I really love the map and the cheesy lines, something I miss from beta.

Thank you Gokil, I completely forgot the scepter only has 900 range. I’ll try all that next time I fight one. I cant thank you enough.

Shatter Memser is censored? Your kidding…

Im not sure how to avoid the air procs, there is no tell for it. I understand the class and how it works but here.

-Attempting to play offensive, Ele responds by using Obsidian Skin or Mist Form. If I use Diversion during OS, I am punished later by Lightning Bolts and Sigil procs. MF is obviously less of a treat.
-If I play defensive and avoid combos (ie; KD into Dragons Tooth) Lightning bolts still kill me after awhile.
-Any attempt at Mind Wracks at any point results in OS or MF, again. Im left without clones and the inability to defend myself. even if I was to bait it with Cry Of Frustration, the lack of clones leaves almost no option.
-I refuse to use a torch, obviously the easy way out for this, also the lighting bolts and many other skills require a target, but Torch is selfish and gross.
-CC countered by Stab, boon strips either miss or decide yank off Regen/Vigor
instead of Protection/Stab

Please this is one of the few classes Im really struggling with beating, yes I’ve played one I still cant avoid the Lightning Bolts there is no tell, even if I watch attunemnets its instant.. help.

Necro CAN and HAS owned in PvP, its arguably better in WvW. Necros were used in the World Torment, I cant say if a Necro was on the winning/finalist team however. The issue now stems from two places.

-Thief will always be a better roamer then any other class due to mobility.
-Celestial Amulet Meta
Mesmer and Ranger suffer from the same deal. Bunker Guard is crying somewhere and build diversity is having a funeral.

Power Necro is at the moment, great. Meta aside. Its Lich Form is arguably overpowered (Until they get a break bar, the stability leaves minimal way to counter it outside quick Focus Fire or a GOOD Medi Guard, rare things in soloQ/Pugs) However, outside of Lichform you’re going to need some skill to play it. If uninterrupted it will decide a team fight. You also bring wells, support for your team.
I think its fair to mention you’ll also get a lot of hate for “lol ez mode”, because the only skilled builds are the meta ones according to the backwards NA community. So ignore it.

Terrormancer is another popular build, Its arguably the bustiest condition build. Fears ticking anywhere from 1-1.2k on top of your other condis, that will also tick during the fear. You also have a decent boon strip (Corruption actually. Something better.) Hard counters Meta Engie.

Hope I helped.

Just lower the water and put it in Custom Arenas?
I understand why it was taken out, and I still have my fond memories of playing the map. But I really do miss it, it was pretty. Also pirates.

Had my friend help me out a LOT with this one. Chronomancer hype.

Celestial classes, so much reward for such little risk. They basically choked out build diversity. Sure, they aren’t Turret Engie or MM Necro, but its kitten close, if anything Im more mad people think these high sustained are “highest skill cap” like the last Flavor of the month spec was the “highest skill cap”.

AI builds obviously are a problem. But they cant chase. Its when people start using these builds and trash talking it becomes an issue. but in reality something has to be wrong with them outside the game to make them do that.

I am conditioned to dislike Thief in general because I like playing Shatter Mesmer. Pewpew Ranger is starting to fall in here too, its no fun thinking I outplayed them only to get chain CC’d into rapid fire.

Mister TaCo.8135:

That was a gg, to bad our necro decided to troll and harass us.

*I was the downed thief in OP’s SS.

Heyyy I know that Necro. They literally troll every game they are in. Its funny because they are the one who sucks. :p

Anet, can Mesmers get a longbow in HoT please? Rather then summon & shatter it should just shoot clones across that map. I mean, they can have wings now right? I want to see them fly.

gin.7158:

Phineas Poe.3018:

You’re running a turret engineer build. You’re going to get trash-talked for that.

Can you promise me if I change my build or my profession, people will stop judging me?

Keep playing turrets if that’s what you like. People are just mad the build is OP. But why should that stop you? Any tryhard meta D/D ele could switch to staff rather then cry about your build. Warriors can get a longbow ect. Rangers have 1800 range bug. Rotations are a thing, ect. Its all fair game.

Ignore them and enjoy.

Oh boy do I have a story for you.
I did a game Q’d up solo and got stuck on a four man premade.
“Dont kill beast they have a thief.”
Obviously, a good thief can SB over and steal it. So in my defense I was just being careful.
“lol ignore the noob kill beast”
The Thief was condi, and went mid rather then steal. So they started trash talking me, more focused on how I was wrong then the actual game, they wiped at mid and then kept going in mid one by one rather then rallying, even if I had far most of the time and rotated the entire game. I’ll be honest, Im glad it was a lose. They were really rude.

As said before about blinds, evades ect. I don’t know how to feel about that. The attack never connects.

Blocks however.
If there is someone behind you and stabs your shield I think that would be a dead give away to where you are. Sure, but smart players see the “block block block” and should know exactly where the thief is (Behind you, Backstab only gets good damage from behind or the side. Warriors and Guardains will be able to cleave and hit them in stealth if they are on the side)

Its honestly a touchy subject, in high level play Thief isn’t used as a “real fighter”, rather a “finish off low hp target and cap” person. So we cant get a feel if this will break the class or not until the Cele Meta has been shifted out. Seeing as most roles are done better as a fotm celestial spec.

Chose Mesmer.
Lore wise Mesmers are scary. Every conversation with one is a mind game. Before you know it they have wormed their way into your mind and can do as they please with you.
Need a body guard? I’ll just suggest that you should protect me, after all wouldn’t it be great to show everyone your latest modification to your turrets and rifle?
A few copper short for an inn room? Its on the house.
Find yourself engaged in casual conversation and begin to have a panic attack? HIT THE DECKS, MASS INVISIBILITY I AM OUTTA HERE GOODBYE NERDS.

Race wont matter, I’ll glamor myself to fit in best where It is needed. Better yet I’ll just make myself invisible all the time until I get over that whole social anxiety thing. uh.. Perhaps Thief would have been a better choice..

Thieves are fine, Shadow Arts is cheese tho.

Rather then nerf Rangers, they could fix the 1800 LB range bug and see where that takes us from there.

My issue fighting Rangers on other classes is the pets commonly chosen. The Wolf is in all reality, the biggest “l2p” thing I’ve ever been smacked with. But nerfing this would kitten Ranger. The issue is you have to dodge its knockdown and the Ranger’s knockback. Or you eat a whole RF.

That brings me to PBS, it is incredibly hard to dodge. Its being used as a offensive CC. The wind up animation is there now, but its too fast. Slowing this down, or adding adding a flashy particle effect (The Ranger flashes purple fire on the shot or something, purple looks nice with green.) anything of that nature would help. (Pin Down needs the same treatment, although I seem to avoid this more then PBS)

Just my two cents.

Its not fair. Ranger since beta here, bow I sure do like the longbow wish it was better.
“Longbow buffs?! I’ve been waiting forever for this! RULES OF NATURE! "
“Why is everyone a longbow ranger? Hello? Is this Teamcomp? Hello? HELLO!?”

Thus died Salad Rambo, who can no longer press 2 for a leafchinegun. Because everyone is a Thief or Ranger now. I’ve been forced away from my home class fiveever and I miss my pets, the days Power Ranger was a joke build ect. Im not going to say Ranger is OP. But rather everyone is still playing it and I cant have my turn because I want to win a game.

The game is more balanced then you think, Celestial was too weak before, now its too strong. And its the one big kitten stain (hehehe that censorship works well with this sentience.) the game has.

The issue isn’t truly balance, but the players. Someone will always find something OP. Once cele is nerfed, something new will take its place. (However please kill off OP Cele Anet)

Jedge.3619:

I’ve put over 2000 hours into my mesmer. Mesmer is a class that isn’t good against attrition or thieves. I’m mainly a wvw roamer and yes I’ve struggled against various builds/classes. At the end of the day you have to realize that mesmer is broken and won’t ever really be fixed, just have to work with what you’ve got. I tried killing a turret engineer the other night and it was extremely frustrating. Would you mind posting a link to your build if possible?

Standard GS/S/F Shatter.

Trying again to play shatter, my only motivation ow nice my mesmer looks in his chronomancer outfit.

Every game I’ve played today has been a 4v5 on my end. Simply because no one can kill celestial classes. I play as aggressive as I can with them and wait for water attunement to burst. And even with that they still don’t die, both classes just outlast me.

How do I kill them?