Guild Wars 2

The title of Unranked isn’t clear though. What solo queue player wants to play a match that is technically pointless? They solo queued before because they wanted a form of competition without a team…unranked is the same as hot join basically.

Apparently they haven’t turned the matchmaking on yet, hence how you get paired with people who can’t tell their left from their right.

It is a lot more effective in WvW than it is in PvP. This is because in WvW you can develop much higher stats. The equivalent to a berserker PvP amulet can be created in WvW with additional vitality and toughness. You can also get much higher burst, on my WvW engineer you can get 4k + 7k jumpshots, which you rarely get in PvP.

So yeah in PvP the stats are lower, and people will target you more once they realise what build you play.

Phoenixlin.8624:

Benjamin.8237:

as the map with the most votes isn’t necessarily the map that the majority want to play.

I can’t understand whether you are serious or just trolling.

Well it works the same way in politics. Say forest gets 3 votes, foefire gets 3 votes and temple gets 4 votes. Temple got the most votes but 60% of the voters didn’t want that map making it still a minority. So the random element means that more votes increases the chances, but it isn’t completely unfair.

Phoenixlin.8624:

Yeah genius ideas after Megaservers, NPS and traits.

But the voting job that never works is obviously a new level of success forAnet.

Well the vote system just increases the chance of getting one of the maps. Having a flat vote isn’t always fair, as the map with the most votes isn’t necessarily the map that the majority want to play.

The map can be balanced but it’s balanced differently to normal PvP. My team went double engie, bunker guard, ele, necro and we absolutely 500-0’d every team we fought so far because we group up and smash em all. It prioritises team fights over holding a point so…it kinda is a zergfest.

Lordrosicky.5813:

kitten here come the “pro” babies who got spirit watch removed in the first place. It is a voting system and so fair. How can you people be satisfied playing the same 4 maps and same game mode over and over. Variety is good for 99.5% of people. If its so important to improve yourself then why not going and play custom arena with your “pro” mates.

Everytime Anet ACTUALLY DOES SOMETHING FUN LIKE THIS PATCH it gets shot down by people who are so ingrained in the same boring format.

tl;dr: Play custom arena vs other “pros”

In all fairness what is fun about maps that can be down to luck, and put skill second behind gimicky builds and map features. I gain no joy from these new maps, and I’ve only slightly enjoyed courtyard so far as It seems to get voted in by pve players who we roflstomp 500-0.

Dhunis.9072:

If you play just for leaderboards I feel sorry for you.

Playing for fun is a huge factor but the idea of this patch was to add more esports. You know, working leaderboards that do measure skill. If that works, then playing for the leaderboards is very important

There are multiple ways to gain access to a 1v1 server, and yes people do use macros but I don’t and I often get in so it isn’t necessary.

1) Sometimes the small buttons bug out and you have to click the large buttons, or vice versa.

2) Clicking very quickly is definitely needed if you want to beat the other 6 or so people trying to get in.

3) Unfortunately your ping also has a lot to do with it, and a faster internet speed means that your client will update quicker meaning you can get in faster. On my alternative internet I struggle to get in as it’s only 40 down but on my main I get in reliably.

You could also ask some people to let you in through a whisper. People will often stall to let you in.

Shiren.9532:

It’s actually a functional advantage, at least in PvE and WvW. The Black Widow and Jungle Spider have identical skills, but you can only bring one Jungle Spider. If you want two spiders with F2 immobilises you can bring both a Jungle Spider and a Black Widow Spider. This is the same for the other pets with HoM duplicates.

They share a cd so if you use F2 and swap it will still be on cooldown. It isn’t a P2W situation.

Lopez.7369:

I’ve actually seen people legitimately lose to these NPCs before. It’s mind-blowing.

Have you tried fighting the Necro NPC when it’s in downstate? 3000 dps downstate attacks for the win.

This discussion took surprisingly longer than I thought it would to turn into a kitten who’s got the bigger kitten competition.

These debates are always so intelligent and balanced.

Hvaran.6327:

Rozbuska.5263:

Meta builds are plague of games. One of reason why I enjoy engi so much from start was there wasnt meta builds for him, there was ton a different builds with different playstyle and all works great. And then meta plague carriers from other classes discover that engi is also great class capable of everythng and ruin all that amazing theorycrafting what happend here before. Now are ppl scare to post their builds because here are builds what someone called meta and present them as only usefull.

very true kitten.

I think it goes about any class like this for pve/pvp. Especially in pvp i would say that diversity is high enough if go out of “meta-box”.

I don’t want to necro a thread like this but… if you’re decent with engineer you can play most builds that aren’t meta and do well in soloq and teamq. Won’t work in tournaments sure, but you can do decent.

Fluffball.8307:

No you are not one of the first to play a survival condi ranger. The build has been around in some form for more than 2 years. The SotF was added to the build the second it was added to the game.

My evidence for this is the fact that I read the forums, and almost everyone here plays a condi ranger in sPvP.

As for the shortbow, it was obviously the default weapon when spirits were big. Now new people are using it because that build got added to meta battle.

I don’t want to start an argument but I have played ranger since launch, and the survival build more extensively since the Sotf patch. Either way people aren’t playing shortbow because it is here from the survival meta, they use it because it is more effective than axe. The Sb axe/dagger build has more survivability and is more viable for pvp play, as the OP asked, and it will also beat an axe/dagger sword/torch ranger due to the bleed stacks/kiting. The double weapon build works great in an apothecary set up but it isn’t meta for pvp anymore.

One thing I will argue is that on the metabattle site axe is a waste. It doesn’t contribute to the build as much as sword does, I believe axe is only on there since the build was posted the night rom used it in a tournament, most use sword.

Wholly agree with these changes, I don’t think hide in plain site needs an icon though, as that defeats the purpose of the skill. Also please;

Fumigate should remove conditions from yourself as well as allies.

You did a condition rotation vs a warrior with berserkers stance up hehe. But the builds all right I guess.

FunkyBassline.5289:

messiah.1908:

tpvp pov –
…

mesmer and thief are the hardest to master as they must learn the enemy moves play smartly and not spam or do same combo rotatations

lol

heheheh no rotations

Looks like they did a good job at upsetting you.

Depends what class you play and how good you are, you can very much so carry games as a single player and equally a high personal score isn’t the same as a high skill.

Personally I’d have the ICD lowered to 10 seconds to match a standard weapon swap cooldown, and make the ICD unique to each kit. That way we actually proc more often and reliably. But yeah I’m all up for this, used to make elixir gun builds even more fun.

Fluffball.8307:

witcher.3197:

On the topic, this is the strongest condi build in PvP atm: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Ranger_-_Condition_Survival

Strongest is debatable. Many (most?) rangers prefer s/t + a/d.

Where is your evidence for that? As one of the first rangers to play survival sb s/d I can say it is one of the strongest condi builds and most condition rangers I meet play it now.

Ele doesn’t really sit at range either, unless you count slightly further back spamming air 1 in D/F. Even staff ele doesn’t really range.

In my opinion the best gear for phantasm builds is knights with a mix in of berserker or cavalier. Why? When you have the +30% damage to phantasms they still hit rather hard, and this gives you a lot of defence while still giving you a high damage output. I use this with a 24350 phantasm build which is very strong, but of course there are others such as 26060 etc. I’m sure someone else could chip in there.

Hey guys, I’m a pretty experienced Engineer but the one matchup I struggle the most versus is Fresh air Eles, usually focus ones. I find that they can kite me too easily and peel off my conditions, celestial rifle works better imo but if I play p/s I struggle a lot. Any tips?

Bluefox.9580:

x/x/x/6/6 is typically used with might stacking runes/sigils for offensive/roaming, and defensive runes/sigils for support running. It’s certainly the safest way to experiment with Ele, but you’ll likely find the first several hours quite painful while you learn the combos.

I doubt perplexity will serve you very well in the long run. Your best defense against a thief, or any profession, is to know how they work.

Fresh air is usually used by S/x for bursts. I’ve always found Fresh Air to be rather gimmicky, a sort of “hope they’re not a good player” kind of build. I really don’t recommend it.

I’ve found good stats to aim for are:

1800 power (with might stacking), 2100 without.
2400 armor
16k HP (guard stacks make this easy)
at least 50% crit rate
180% crit damage

Try using these stats for a basis, you should be able to achieve quite a bit more.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAoYhMMKc24wzBf0AGACxoDDmIQ5ubDD-TBSEABIcCAQZ/BoU6BwDA4S1f0SJ4SKDYTPQAAEgb2mBwRP6RP6RPa38oH9oH9mlBQfCA-e

I’ve used this build and slight variants for over a year and a half now with exceptional success. It can be interchanged with staff on the fly with only one trait change (wind borne dagger -> blasting staff) and can be easily adjusted to standard 6/6 for additional condi cleanse.

You can beat good players with it, the build offers a lot of survivability with focus and you can counter people pretty easily.

Guts.4967:

I’m going to make a bold statement because I know everything about the celestial amulet. It’s totally not might stacking that’s the problem.

Guts.4967 09/11/2014

I’ve met some excellent warriors who played celestial stats with longbow and sword/warhorn. That build is very strong and it is a ‘hybrid’.

Aberrant.6749:

170 isn’t a lot considering how many players there are around, so I wouldn’t get mad if you don’t get one.

Depends what you consider a “lot”. During Halloween I played at least 200 PvP matches and I earn’t around 20.

rdgway.5879:

Thank again for the help everyone.

I have another, very basic, armor question. After looking at the wiki, it seems like as long as I get the right prefix, the rest is just for looks. In other words, exotics from the dungeon and exotics from crafting are the same. Is that true?

I’m trying to find the cheapest and quickest way to get good armor.

Thanks again everyone!

Yes. I recommend getting the stats you want and applying the skins for them later as that is the easiest route to take.

If you want to play PvP I recommend berserker as the best gear set due to it’s high damage. In fact I go full zerk everywhere, even WvW. Going full zerk means you do way more damage, but I wouldn’t recommend you go full zerk in WvW unless you get good at avoiding damage…

Hi!
For Leveling I would recommend taking Staff and Sword/Focus or Greatsword. For mobility you can use focus to get swiftness and you can use staff 2 to move forwards or backwards. You do this by using about face phase retreat about phase. Phantasms do good damage too, such as focus 5, greatsword 4 or staff 3. Leveling as a mesmer is very hard as we are a trait dependent class and until you get your master tier traits it’s going to be a tough journey.

I decided to spend more time testing this, and I tried a celestial version with 26006 making use of signet traits, and that also worked surprisingly effective. At the moment I’m not happy with the burst potential though so I believe in a MtD build rabid 06026 or 04406 is the way to go. Not sure I’m going to drop my 44006 yet though because the Maim builds, for me, are far too situational. I’ve fought a fair few with my 44006 build taking decoy, blink and portal and I’ve beaten them through kiting them. It seems that the conditions are easily avoided and with no cleanse you can still beat this build. But we’ll see I guess.

I’m confused here, what do you want us to contribute? 44006 is the de-facto shatter build. In the state of it today I wouldn’t drift too far from it.

Illusionary Persona? What you mean like…shatter builds?

If I play on my Ranger I get PMS all the time. Don’t get as many on my Mesmer or Ele though.

I could help you out sometime.

Personally I don’t believe you need any condition cleanse on a 44006 mesmer as you can kite any enemy in such a way that they don’t land the conditions on you in the first place. I mean if you get caught by a large group and you’re outnumbered you’re going to die anyway. But I’d only stick the cleansing on your staff or equivalent and keep your gs for fire + air.

When I said med guard I meant I struggle to fight the top ones as a Mesmer. For me I struggle to fight them, I don’t think they’re op in other regards.

I’ve looked at it and played around with it a bit, and it’s still not great. The good? Well more Torment = more damage, and you can get some good cry of frustration spikes on people with sceptre 2. The problem I find is that it’s tied to the shatter skills, and going into those trait lines limits your capabilities as a condition user. If we look at a 04406 build the damage it outputs by itself is a bit similar to a wet noodle, but it does have a very capable burst.

I’m interested to see what people make out of it tbh, but I don’t think it’s game changing for that build.

Power Block : 100% chance on interrupt to put all enemy skills on a 1scd.

Imagine this, you get the daze and for 1 second they can’t use any skills, that’s strong enough to warrant a GM trait but not game breaking, after all they can still move so it’s like a weaker stun.

I main a Mesmer here.

Med Guard > Survival Ranger > Thief

But the way the current matchmaking works does sort of work. If the matchmaking balances players to get a balanced result which would be a 50/50 win/loss ratio, then it comes down to the individual skill of a player to attempt to carry their team so that they continue to win, if they fail to do so they will lose and get pushed closer to the 50/50 ration right?

Just give them more burst. Burst everything.

DrDivine.5378:

I tend to get wrecked a lot by meditation guardians in 1v1 rooms, any advice on how to deal with them with this build?

You have to kite them out at the beginning of the fight, usually with greatsword auto attack and greatsword 3. Whittle down their health until you feel confident to engage. When they use their focus 5 skill back out and attack it till it is used as it can crit for 5k easily, and remember to count their judges intervention cooldown because that allows them to get whirling wrath on you easily. The key is patience and practice.

Meditation Guard as a build is very anti-zerker and is great at beating zerker classes, and the top meditation players are very good at abusing that. This means it is essential for us to kite until we can get a good burst on them, before they do the same to us.

As much as I’m an advocate for build diversity, I see no problem with shatter being the top build for PvP. You can play any build you want and do ok more or less depending on whether you play in NA or EU. But honestly shatter is a high skill cap build to play to a high level and that is an important thing, bad shatter players are a useless asset to your team, good ones are essential (not technically but you get what I mean).

For WvW Sword / Pistol or Sword / Torch are very viable set ups. The Staff / Greatsword build requires a slightly higher skill and is more appropriate to PvP (not that it won’t work in WvW). I’d take a look at some of the guides here such as the traditional Osicat videos and the newer Vash videos on how to position yourself. I think pyro still has some old WvW guides hanging around too so you could check them out, just remember that some things are outdated. The sticky at the top of this forum is very useful too.

Sandrox.9524:

SlimChance.6593:

killahmayne.9518:

I think thieves countering shatter mesmers is more of an accurate statement. Thieves have a lot of stealth and disengage potential as well as mobility, isn’t too hard for them to single out the mesmer in a group fight and drop their health with a steal combo.

Also in duels, a D/D thief can just CnD off of your clones until they land a backstab, pretty much as many times as they want. You can catch em with a shatter but it can be difficult. It is even more difficult for S/D thieves, they just teleport all over the place and daze you. It is a really tough match up for shatter mesmers for sure in this current meta.

It also doesn’t help when thieves “steal” Consume Plasma from us. If I played thief, I’d single out the Mesmer as well. We give them an Elite skill!

Really, I think if Consume plasma was changed so that it was a “random” 5 boons instead of EVERY BOON, then it wouldn’t be so one-sided. Mesmers have to live with “random” in all their skills, it makes sense that a skill “stolen” from a Mesmer should also be “random”.

Is there any other profession that can get EVERY BOON for 10 seconds in one skill?

Engineer prolly

Ranger.

DrDivine.5378:

Jurica.1742:

Do you mean if mes can take on DPS guardian? I’d say yes. DPS guardian is a tough matchup but a billion times easier than thief.
You just have to dodge their burst and they’re free to attack. Boon strip that we have really kittens them.

I was wondering if the double ranged shatter could take out a dps medi guardian in 1v1s, or do you think they could counter this build?

Average meditation guards easily. Top Meditation guards and we’re going to have to play perfectly or even initiate when they’re low on health.

Well if we look at a top team comp from EU what we’re looking at is generally Warr / Guard/ Ele / Mes/ Thief. 1 Bunker, 2 bruisers and 2 roamers.

So what I’m thinking is we take 1 mantra support Mesmer but with more emphasis on the healing, with sceptre and sword for blocks.

A CI Lockdown Mesmer alongside a Phantasm mesmer (knights 24350).

Then two shatter mesmers with one being GS/Staff with boon strip and the other being sword/ torch with +20% damage.