Guild Wars 2

Power + Bombs, AA them to death.

Stormbolt.7293:

Interrupt a heal, and they’re done.

Shelter, Healing Signet, Withdraw, Signet of Restoration, Healing Turret. You can rupt reliably only Necro and Ranger. And other mesmers if they’re healing not in stealth.
I’m not saying that PB is worse, I love it, using it more than MA, but to say it’s for rupting healing is a bit too idealistic.

Fay.2357:

Also, tell me the last time you heard someone say ‘someone drop an ethereal field so we can blast it!’. Ah, that’s right, that’s never happened.

Actually… some years ago, there were a few commanders in wvw who liked to get Bubbles (Big Pink Bubbles!) before clash on their meleetrain.. when someone called Nullfield/TW, sometimes he said to Blast it
‘Cos Big Pink Bubbles on Charrs is OP! (And it’s easy, hammer guard/WH warrior in a party and a fast blast while moving through…)
The problem is that there is no low-CD Ethereal field, you can’t just waste TW/Nullfield for blasting.. while staff eles have their Fire Fields on a much lower CD. Quaggan, even their water fields have lower CD…

Chasind.3128:

prays for nerfs that actually make sense that won’t diminish d/d ele builds & force them into only using staff

prays for balance changes which makes possible for every class to play multiple builds on Tournament level

SlyDevil.3952:

It’s the literal Reveal buff being applied, not the definition of the word being used. It’s like crippling your foe vs. Crippling foe. A crippled person can be crippled in more ways than just slowed movement speed, but the game’s definition supersedes anything else. It’s a badly worded description, but the functionality is matching what is described.

That’s why I said it’s working as intended, but.. What’s your gain to Reveal an enemy who can just sit in stealth for the duration? It is supposed to be a counter to stealth, but right now it’s maybe a minor annoyance.. I can do more with “normal” Analyze as I can time it when I see they’re using pistol poo, while this trait will trigger only if you can hit them while they are already in stealth..

If the thief will never get out of stealth while the mesmer has the usual tankiness… I say the nearby NPCs.

Daniel Handler.4816:

But since you think this is drivel I’ll bite. Rank the field in order of importance. Let’s see how practical your balance is.

Poison
Light
Dark
Lightning
Ethereal
Fire
Water
Ice
Smoke

Poison – useless
Light – useless
Dark – useless
Lightning – swiftness
Ethereal – useless
Fire – migh
Water – heal
Ice – useless
Smoke – stealth

Order of importance: Might > Healing > Stealth > Swiftness > Useless

If the auras would stack in time, maybe ethereal/ice would be a bit better, but this way..

GrandHaven.1052:

Bubi.5237:

~snip~

Strange was dueling today and didn’t have issues with it.

Just made a noob vid: https://youtu.be/ChkGHOISMcQ
1.)Using Lock On while SR is ticking will make the Thief lost Stealth at next Tick.
2.)Using Lock On after SR will not make the Thief lose Stealth.
3.)Using Lock On while Thief is Blasting for Stealth will make him lose the Stealth at the next Blast. (Hard to see, but I believe it’s working this way.)

I see it as they coded “Revealed” so you can’t ENTER stealth while you have the buff but it will not remove it.

T raw.4658:

Bubi.5237:

Josh Davis.6015:

Edit: Also, just because this is an elementalist thread doesn’t mean we’re only looking at elementalist, and it also doesn’t mean we’re only looking at doing nerfs.

I think they’ll nerf necro thief and buff ele.

Fixed for accuracy since thief actually carried those 4 eles to ESL victory

Nah, they always nerf necro. Maybe then they will nerf necro and thief while buff ele.

Make Illusions immune to burning! How can you burn an illusion anyway!

VisualDeadlock.2163:

I dont really understand how these combo field and finishers work.

You create a Combo Field first, then use a Combo Finisher on/through it, triggering the listed effects.
Blasts are AoE
Leaps are Auras/Personal gain/Additional effect for your attack
Projectiles are a lot of time with 20% chance to trigger and the effect works on you/player around your target which was hit.
Whirls are similar to projectiles, almost every whirl finisher shoots the projectile finishers’ effect in random directions, that’s why mostly used in melee-range.

You don’t have to have a target to use (a lot of) skills, and if you turn off Autotarget (which is really bad for some skills, like Leaps.. You want to leap a lot of time without a target, but if you have Autotarget On, it’ll search a target for you and leap in that direction..), you can just shoot FT #2 to your #4 and detonate it (press 2 again) when it’s “really close” to the line of firefield. Easier to do with Bomb #2 which has a nice big AoE to blast.

Another thing you can try is disabling Melee-assist. If it’s on, you can’t walk through enemies while attacking, which is annoying.. You can just walk inside the enemy and use the attack just fine, and some whirling attacks are even hitting more this way (like Guard’s GS Spin-To-Win #2).

If you want to check how they work, the most common blast finisher is maybe your Healing Turret’s F1 skill Detonate Turret. If you just stay inside the field, put down the turret then detonate, it’ll trigger a Blast finisher, showing you the effect. Or you can use shield and double-tap #4.
For Leaps, I would say Rifle #5. It seems like a blast, but it is a leap finisher, and a targeted one at that, so it’s easy to test with.
Projectile/Whirl finishers are rarely used for a reason, most of the time it just happens and none really care. The 20% chance makes it hard to count on it for a build, and just a few skills have 100% (on your engi).

Josh Davis.6015:

Edit: Also, just because this is an elementalist thread doesn’t mean we’re only looking at elementalist, and it also doesn’t mean we’re only looking at doing nerfs.

I think they’ll nerf necro and buff ele.

Nova Stiker.8396:

Ravenmoon.5318:

Nova Stiker.8396:

Signet Necro.

Realistically, get rid of Cleansing Water. As an Ele main, I can do without it easily.

_

Replace Diamond Skin in Earth Magic with Cleansing Water (call it, Cleansing Earth) and now Ele’s cannot have high damage, high condition removal and high recovery. They can only pick 2 of the 3.

Problem solved.

Send your CV to ANet.

CV?

Curriculum Vitae

GrandHaven.1052:

Bubi.5237:

Revealed/Lock On trait bugged

As my testing indicate, the trait Lock On although applies Revealed, the thief does not lose his stealth.. Meaning the trait is close to useless.
Tested with Thief’s SR and Blasted Stealth, didn’t worked. I can see the last 1-2 second of Revealed when the Stealth ran out, I see the gained Vigor when the traits activate, but it will not kick him out of stealth.
As of now, it will deny any more application of stealth, knocking him out of Stealth only if he wanted to get more, but will not Reveal if he’s just sitting there doing nothing.

Examples:
1.)Thief using SR -> hit him with Lock On while SR pulsing -> next pulse will reveal him
2.)Thief Blasting for Stealth -> hit him with Lock On -> Next blast will reveal him
3.) Thief used SR/blasted for Stealth, now sitting in Stealth -> Hit him with Lock On -> he is still in stealth for the whole duration.

And as an extra, he has the Revealed buff, so with the trait , that’s +200 power for him and still sitting in Stealth, perfect for a Backstab ^^

You can say that it’s working as intended , but… really?

Strange was dueling today and didn’t have issues with it.

I tested it with my friend and not in actual combat, maybe he had some strange trait to deny it (he did not play spvp for a long time, pve-slacker), or I don’t know..
I got the Vigor, I saw the 10 stack Vulns on him, saw the last 1-2 sec of Revealed when he got out from Stealth.. strange. Maybe I should make Vids of it next time?

Strages.2950:

Even a simple duel system in HotM would be awesome, you offer someone a duel, they accept, 5 second timer and boom you’re dueling until one person is dead. That is all. No need for a special instance, no need for anything of the sort. You want a 2v2? Have 2 people in each party. You want to learn to hold off a 2v1? Accept a 2v1 duel (duel prompt would have to say there’s 2 ppl in the other party). Would do LOADS to help people learn how to counter specific builds and toons.

Although I understand what you’re saying, they would have to make the dueling players a 2nd and 3rd faction, so other players’ random abilities/passive procs will not influence the duel. While in pve, there are closed interact-to-get-there “arenas”, you can’t cast from outside into it, perfect for duels.
And then you can add a betting system, ’cos it would be awesome!

Nah, all they have to do is add 1v1/2v2/etc. DM arenas into the mist so we can slaughter each other while waiting to “play”.. Ooops, I would never Q up again, sorry

Pistol is a condition weapon, only used in power-builds if Shield is taken (rare for pve), as Rifle has #3 and #5 skills which are hard-hitting.
Another thing is that off-hand pistol’s #4 is a “bit buggy”, most of the time misses the enemy (maybe not so much in pve, but in pvp it’s almost impossible to hit someone with it).
If you want to rotate some kits, a (melee-range) Rifle 3 – 5 → FT – 2 → Bomb AA spam is something which maybe is more dps than simple Bomb AA spamming.

But yes, Engi’s using more keys than your average class for the same dps (maybe spammish Dagger-Dagger Ele is the same).

arenta.2953:

difference is engineer’s theme with turrets, grenades, bombs, and mortars. added to the RIFLE

So a sniper is supposed to use turrets, grenades, bombs, mortars… That’s like Sniper + Engineer + Demoman + ~Soldier (Mortar is almost a Rocket Launcher)…
If you want to play a sniper as killing enemies from range with a Rifle, Warrior is a hundred times better than engi. Engi is nothing Sniper-like.. Quaggan, 3 of your Rifle skills are short-range and #2 is misses “every time” when used at a longer range…

Just check this thread out: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Axe-skill-1/page/6#post5360460
It’s ugly. Ugly as hell, Anet still not changing it BACK! Not even new animation is needed.. Well, GL to your “Old Request”.

If you want to play a sniper, play Killshot Warrior.. what’s the difference?

nacario.9417:

What it comes down to is that we all want an equal fight. I would love a working system that makes it as fair as possible for both teams based on who is in queue. Like a soloer would be paired with other soloers or equal numbers in premades on both sides, like 1-2-2, 1-1-1-2. Premades of 2 or 3 will face a premade of equal number. A full premade wiøl face a full premade. This could ease both sides in favor or against soloq.

Well, the matchmaking we have now is trying to do it.. spvp just don’t have enough players all day to make is possible with 100% chance, so sometimes you got the premade vs full pug setup..

Dawdler.8521:

Magic! .

Or we can count dd cele eles as 2 person when Qing up!

GrandHaven.1052:

kitten . Guess I have just been lucky, ive played tons though.

Or I was really unlucky.. I mean my f2p acc had 16 wins out of 18 matches (created right after the show, this was before yesterday), and I don’t remember a lot of 4v5s
Maybe rnGOD was just compensating

GrandHaven.1052:

I believe the DC PVP issue was fixed, I havn’t had any since the patch yesterday?

Yesterday I played only ~8 matches, in ~5-6 there was DC (sometimes me, sometimes others). Go figure why not more matches ^^

As I’m playing only casual unranked, dunno about what’s in ranked, but..
I’m more concerned about the fact that during the last few days most of my matches were decided by which team got less DC.. not even which team had more dd ele!

Dawdler.8521:

premade – non-premades in one queue (1-2 players) and premades in a second queue (3-5 players).

Can you please explain to me how will you make 5 man teams from 3-4 man premades?
That’s why we don’t have Solo/TeamQ only YoloQ.. If you want to allow 3-4 man premades, you have to put 1-2 YoloQ-ers into the mix.
So you either make separate 1-2(-3-4) and 5 man Q or you have the full-mixed we have now.
Both has pros and cons, and Anet decided that full mix is better.. for them..

(If you have only 1-2 and full team Q, 3-4 man teams will “cry”.. ’Cos gw2 is for casuals.)

StickerHappy.8052:

Be Careful: Your mesmer needs to be atleast Level 20 before the merchant sells it, Checking the Merchant if you’re under Level 20 will not show Backpack Straps on the choices.

Wrong. Just checked on my f2p acc with my lv10 mesmer, the 8 copper Backpack Straps is on the list (the last one). And I remember buying it with my lv3 mesmer from him, so it’s not true.

Revealed/Lock On trait bugged

As my testing indicate, the trait Lock On although applies Revealed, the thief does not lose his stealth.. Meaning the trait is close to useless.
Tested with Thief’s SR and Blasted Stealth, didn’t worked. I can see the last 1-2 second of Revealed when the Stealth ran out, I see the gained Vigor when the traits activate, but it will not kick him out of stealth.
As of now, it will deny any more application of stealth, knocking him out of Stealth only if he wanted to get more, but will not Reveal if he’s just sitting there doing nothing.

Examples:
1.)Thief using SR → hit him with Lock On while SR pulsing → next pulse will reveal him
2.)Thief Blasting for Stealth → hit him with Lock On → Next blast will reveal him
3.) Thief used SR/blasted for Stealth, now sitting in Stealth → Hit him with Lock On → he is still in stealth for the whole duration.

And as an extra, he has the Revealed buff, so with the trait , that’s +200 power for him and still sitting in Stealth, perfect for a Backstab ^^

You can say that it’s working as intended , but… really?

All Mesmer Zergs!
5 DD Cele Eles in sPvP!

If only 1 class is in play, it’s balanced! Same chances, only player-skill counts!

Random.4691:

I’m at the point where I would like to see Legendary armor exclusive to WvW, if for nothing more to see all the PvE players have a melt down so maybe it will finally sink in what it’s like to be forced to play a mode you have no interest in.

Map completion in wvw.
Badges and wvw ranks for legendary crafting.
Results?
They are no longer needed, ’cos somehow anet read the forum..

You can always go to the Mist (sPvP outpost), find the Armor vendor and buy a “Backpack Straps”, then you can transmute your wings on it.

Terrorsquad.4802:

I agree, more modes are necessary. WvW getting all dem new maps, PvE getting tons of new maps. PvP getting.. a PvE map :/

Half-offtopic:
Even wvw gets a new pve-map.. or at least an eotm v2… And not new mapS but 1 new map.. (And don’t forget, pvp got the fantastic Courtyard! And Orb-runner-map! And.. Skyhammer!? )

1.) Get an engineer
2.) Take flamethrower/grenades/mortar
3.) Take the trait Lock On
4.) Enjoy your Great Hunt!

FJSAMA.2867:

Its false. You only activate combo finisher on yourself when you use 2nd instance of the skill, the swap.
Im not saying its a terrible skill, im saying it is a terrible combo finisher leap.

As the clone-summon part does not indicate a leap finisher, I thought it can’t be misunderstood.. seems like I was mistaken.

FJSAMA.2867:

Kappa, right?
Saying sword 3 is a good skill for a leap finisher when you rely on a clone and an enemy target close and basically standing static cause it may fail due LoS or out of range…
Who stands still inside an enemy field anyway…

If YOU are standing in the allied field and sword #3 to an enemy, you’ll get the “reward”.. Even if the clone was destroyed and you are not leaping anywhere!
And Sword #5 gives you the reward on summon, too. I’m not saying it’s the best leap-finisher in game, but for those limited fields we have, it’s not horrible (12s and 20s recharge.. a “bit” less than our usual Pink Bubbles Field’s..)

Ross Biddle.2367:

Also, the active should set of an atomic like explosion.

You Killshot Mesmer! The Active Should Make Everyone In 1500 Range Moa For 1/4 Second!

You can re-trait anytime you want when you’re out of combat, you can unlock everything when you hit lvl80.
The builds for mesmers are heavily trait-focused, what kind of traits you took will decide the build’s playstyle. If you copy metabattle build, it’ll work. If you want to make your own, it’ll work, too, maybe slower, but gw2 open-world pve is easy, dungeons are easy, low-level fractals are easy.. As long as you don’t make a reaally bad build (like using power weapons with condition gear), you can casually play it.

For WvW, you should wait until you’re lvl80 with exotic gear (weapons, armor, trinkets), as although there is upscaling mechanism, it’s… well.. you better don’t trust it too much (You can get insane stats when “exploited” with selected gears, but mesmer is too trait dependent to be worth.)
BUT! Mesmer in (pug) zergs is only there for your ~4 utility skills (Time Warp, Veil, Nullfield/Feedback, sometimes Portal), you will do close to zero damage to the enemy with your weapon skills.. You’re pretty much a Veilbot.
If you want to try WvW as a high-damage caster, I would say try Ele/Necro, they are both needed and strong.

Not true for EU.
Only Kodasch and SFR are full, and as the full status depends on wvw numbers, the new players will be not counted before lvl60.. Well, I think it’ll be interesting to see if the f2p players will choose very high or medium pop servers

Moonlit.6421:

Bubi.5237:

DeceiverX.8361:

Every class except for the warrior has a method of interrupting or disrupting stealth stomping..

Necros? Engis? Rangers (if no npc nearby)? You can’t target a stealthed player and you need a target for the necro/ranger skills.. and engi’s skill has the same behavior as warrior’s (maybe a bit more reliable at longer distances).
Warriors seems to think they’re alone in this department..

Engi’s have the blast knockback and rangers have pets who can either fear the finisher away or taunt them to the pet instead. Necro yah your a little screwed but on average it’s no big deal (and yes I play necro quite a bit before anyone calls me put for not knowing the class lol).

“Not a big deal” = “I don’t care if it’s necro, but if it’s warrior..!” okay
Don’t forget what was written in the post I responded to: “Every class except for the warrior has a method of interrupting or disrupting stealth stomping.”

If an Engi can use the 3rd ability… then same with the warrior, they can just semi-rally, run to the closest npc and kill it to rally (if traited, 100%)..
That’s if you have your 3rd ability ready to prevent the stomp… almost never happens during roaming, they have to fail to stomp you for so long that if they can stealth-stomp, they’ll do it before it’s ready.

And ranger.. If you take the pet/trait, If you don’t have recharge on pet swap (if not traited but pet or if your pet is killed), If you don’t have recharge on the command.. Yea, if the Stars says you’re lucky you can do it, but let’s not compare it to ele/mesmer/thief, it’s closer to warrior.

Angel.6085:

I could see making it cross server like EoTM, but only after HoT/Guild Halls. GvG would be really difficult to coordinate there if you had to somehow try to get the same IP for opposing parties. The other points are kind of asinine to me.

Afaik you can party up with “enemy” players (see organized eotm farms), then you can join the enemy player’s overflow (see organized eotm farms) and pull your whole guild there fast.
For the ppl watching, it would be harder, true.
I still believe that the gvg scene would be grateful for it, they could gvg guilds not near their glicko.

DeceiverX.8361:

Every class except for the warrior has a method of interrupting or disrupting stealth stomping..

Necros? Engis? Rangers (if no npc nearby)? You can’t target a stealthed player and you need a target for the necro/ranger skills.. and engi’s skill has the same behavior as warrior’s (maybe a bit more reliable at longer distances).
Warriors seems to think they’re alone in this department..

F2P players can join your normal guild, I couldn’t find any filter for them.. but maybe it’s just not in yet.
F2P players can join your normal wvw maps after one of their chars is lvl 60.
Not only F2P players will have no HoT builds, those who are not buying HoT but have normal account are the same. The builds for core and HoT guys can be the same (honestly don’t see f.e. Reaper as the must-have for necros in wvw), as only the elite spec. (weapon-skills-traits) are not there to use for them.

Afaik MMR is supposed to have a class-specific part, but if it’s working as intended or not…

Belial.9350:

Standard models say hi.

Unranked Arena says hi.

lordkrall.7241:

Jay.7546:

I never understood why all three BLs had to be identical. I like Eotm or EB for being differnt. How cool would it be if all three maps were different from one another. Sometimes I have to look at the spawn to see what map I’m on since they are all cookie cuttered.

Because if they were not one would always be better than the others and thus the server having that as a home border would be at a mechanical advantage.

Like EBG?

You should not blame Stealth Finishing, you should blame the imbalance in downed skills.
Ele can deny 1 stomp, Mesmer can deny 1 stomp, a decent Thief can deny at least 1 stomp (well, it’s possible to port to your other location, but if you use #2 just before the stomp’s done, it’ll be.. almost 100%) .
All the other professions can’t deny the stomp (blind/stab/aegis/invul), only if the Stars decided that you’re lucky. That’s the problem, not stealth finishing.

SPNKr.6208:

The biggest problem I have with the build right now is that I cannot fight PU mesmers. When faced with a good one we just trade bursts and defenses until we’re left with stealths, and I’m completely helpless to his further bursts. Them being in stealth doesn’t leave much to interrupt too. Maybe you can help me with this.

Same experience as a stealthless power-lockdown for me, I decided that to counter stealth, all you can do is bring more stealth.. so I’m having fun while playing uphill battles against them ^^
(Tho I have traited signets for having longer fun fighting them. I can kill below-average mesmers, but that’s because CI + Power Block, one good interrupt can screw them..)

Killthehealersffs.8940:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/play-for-free-today/

‘’They can play PvP immediately but must get to rank 20 before using custom and unranked arenas.’’

either its a wrong typo or …. Angewomon ?

Typo for sure.
A new f2p player first has to farm to lv3 in pve, then farm in Unranked to r20 before going Ranked.

Daniel Handler.4816:

“eww we have all these ethereal fields. I know that almost no other class has them and none with our number, but I want a FIRE field.”

eww, we have this Mercedes without the engine but with this nice unique pink color, but I want a WORKING car!

People are waiting on CU(~alpha)/Crowfall (~pre-alpha)/others I don’t remember, Anet’s lucky as there is currently no other good wvw-like game to play.

Can we get a sticky on this thread? Great guide

PS: And you can take a look at the Team Build when you don’t want to Que up as solo: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Team_-_Overskill