Guild Wars 2

Wanze.8410:

And this is where we have different perceptions of the market and wealth distribution (which is fine by me, as neither of us ill be able to prove he is right). I dont think the amount of precursors bought by wealthy players is substancial enough to make an impact. Just because i might make 10 times more gold per day than the guy next to me who works on his 1st Legendary, doesnt mean i feel the same dire need to craft 10 just because i can afford it.

This still ignores the fact that crafting a legendary is very expensive (in both gold and/or time, which are basically the same thing). What percentage of the player base do you really think has the time/gold/gems to acquire one? It has to be quite small.

Ensign.2189:

As much as people like to point at precursors as a dysfunctional market full of manipulation, my experience is that it’s nothing of the sort – it’s a very efficient, rational market with prices that reflect fundamentals.

I completely agree, and nothing I’ve said previously is meant to convey anything but. All I’ve said is that when looking at the price of high-demand, low supply luxury items, a higher percentage of the price is inflated by a small percentage of the player base than for most other goods. After all, part of having a legendary is displaying to others your wealth or grinding time (which is really just another form of wealth).

Wanze.8410:

Do you really think the wealthy 1% buy and sell more precursors than 99% of the player base? They might buy more individually than Average Joe but even if they buy 5 in the same time as Average Joe buys 1, they would still only make up 5% of the market., marginalizing their impact. Lower Precursor prices would also result in lower income for average players from random precursors.

I have no idea how the ratio is of precursors being forged and dropped from loot is but i think that their buy order prices actually reflect the average gold you have to invest into exotic weapons to throw into the forge to get one.

I don’t know, but I’d hazard a guess that a substantial amount of players buying and selling precursors are in the top wealth percentiles. I make this assumption because a) precursors are expensive, and b) crafting/forging precursors is expensive.

Moreover, all it takes is a small number of wealthy players active in such a small market to influence the price. I’m not saying that this is bad, nor is it manipulation, but merely a truism. High amounts of disposable wealth + scarce and limited luxury items = an inflated price for said items.

Imperatora.7654:

Bunda.2691:

Again, I have no problems with this, but it does help reveal how the existence of a 1%, to borrow the term from real life, does have an impact on high-end scarce goods.

Except without the 99% who consume said items, the price would fall and fall and fall some more as supply outstrips demand. Flippers don’t consume anything (pretty much by definition), so they don’t sink items. If items are still being added to the system the price will fall until such a point where consumers start using them.

The price of precursors are set by the people using them, not the people flipping them. If a flipper puts the price above that which consumers will pay, the demand will drop and supply will fill the gap.

This may be the case for mats, but not for precursors. There is no way that 99% of the population is consuming precursors, just like 99% of the population is not consuming Cristal or other high-end goods. As a result, the market is created by those buying and selling the item. In the case of precursors, this is inherently the wealthier players, by simple virtue of the fact that precursors are rare and expensive. And this submarket is generally inaccessible to the majority of players. Sure, someone might get a lucky drop, just as someone in real life may win the lottery, but these occurrences have little impact on the market for top-shelf goods.

My point is simply that there is a built-in markup in the price of precursors that is in part affected by the prevalence of wealthy players with disposable gold. That’s it. I’m not offering my opinion on this, but I do understand those who are frustrated because they feel as if the market is inaccessible to them, just as, say, the market for vintage Italian cars is inaccessible to most people in real life.

Wanze.8410:

Bunda.2691:

Wanze.8410:

Of course the price is determined by the players who can afford it (and those who get a drop) but i think i just draw the line between normal players who accumulate their wealth through playing the game and players who accumulate their wealth through the TP alot higher than current precursor prices. I certainly dont think that just because someone can afford to buy a precursor on the tp, that that person is rich.

I might have an accumulated wealth as kitten0 of my regular guildmates together but that doesnt mean that i bought as much precursors and forged as much Legendaries as them combined. So they determine the price of them, not me.

Not necessarily. For an average person, a 25% increase in price of a one-time luxury purchase such as a precursor isn’t going to prevent them from buying it. Think of it like a Superbowl ticket. For the average fan, the price is well out of their budgetary price range, but many still splurge on the extravagance as a one-time purchase when, say, their team is in the game. For these fans, the difference between $1000 and $1250 is not a barrier to purchase. However, the $1250 price is a barrier to multiple purchases.

Now equate this this to a precursor. For many players, the precursor is also a one-time purchase, and thus they too will not be deterred if the price is a bit higher. Thus the price is less about what the average player will pay for it than it is about what the people who buy and sell it frequently will pay. And those who buy them frequently tend to be a) players who want to gear legendaries on multiple characters; b) those who craft legendaries for profit; c) those who can afford multiple legendaries; and d) speculators. All four of these categories are necessarily wealthier players, and I’d hazard a guess that they made most of that money on the TP, because it is the easiest way to do so.

Again, I have no problems with this, but it does help reveal how the existence of a 1%, to borrow the term from real life, does have an impact on high-end scarce goods.

How do you explain then that precursor prices have been stable for 6 months?

Just because the price isn’t increasing doesn’t mean that it isn’t inflated. Compare it to something like a bottle of Cristal. The price has not increased over the past five years, but the price remains high because of scarcity (real or artificial) and the ability/desire of the wealthy to purchase it regularly.

My point is that if you got rid of the wealthiest 1% of players, or if you capped the amount of gold you could possess, you’d likely see the prices of precursors decrease. Same thing with Cristal.

Wanze.8410:

Of course the price is determined by the players who can afford it (and those who get a drop) but i think i just draw the line between normal players who accumulate their wealth through playing the game and players who accumulate their wealth through the TP alot higher than current precursor prices. I certainly dont think that just because someone can afford to buy a precursor on the tp, that that person is rich.

I might have an accumulated wealth as kitten0 of my regular guildmates together but that doesnt mean that i bought as much precursors and forged as much Legendaries as them combined. So they determine the price of them, not me.

Not necessarily. For an average person, a 25% increase in price of a one-time luxury purchase such as a precursor isn’t going to prevent them from buying it. Think of it like a Superbowl ticket. For the average fan, the price is well out of their budgetary price range, but many still splurge on the extravagance as a one-time purchase when, say, their team is in the game. For these fans, the difference between $1000 and $1250 is not a barrier to purchase. However, the $1250 price is a barrier to multiple purchases.

Now equate this this to a precursor. For many players, the precursor is also a one-time purchase, and thus they too will not be deterred if the price is a bit higher. Thus the price is less about what the average player will pay for it than it is about what the people who buy and sell it frequently will pay. And those who buy them frequently tend to be a) players who want to gear legendaries on multiple characters; b) those who craft legendaries for profit; c) those who can afford multiple legendaries; and d) speculators. All four of these categories are necessarily wealthier players, and I’d hazard a guess that they made most of that money on the TP, because it is the easiest way to do so.

Again, I have no problems with this, but it does help reveal how the existence of a 1%, to borrow the term from real life, does have an impact on high-end scarce goods.

IFreedom.4637:

Lets see hmm
1. The cancer understanding mesmer ddosent even have to fight you to win.
2. Every time u attack the real mesmer, the cancer understanding mesmer will blink/ stealth away.
3 unlike thiefs where a smart prediction of movement and planning is part of the fight, there is no counter play or tactics involve in fighting a cancer understanding mesmer unless you build full cheese/ condi cheese.
4 cancer mesmers not good in pvp. My bum! 2 cancer understanding mesmers can hold a point against 4 opponents easily.
5 out of all the 3 builds I play for spvp, cancer understanding, shatter and phantasm. Cancer understanding requires the least skill. Even lesser than hambow.

6 more aegis then a class whose specialty is having aegis

Curse those oncologist mesmers.

^Definitely the autocorrect comment of the year.

Ross Biddle.2367:

I recently pulled out a pistol for an encounter with a particular perplexity thief, which was the first time I’d used pistol since sometime after release. Over all this time I ran scepter/torch + staff initially, then changed to scepter/torch + sword/focus. So it was quite rare, and almost a little random. Right tool for the job is all I can say (thanks to iWarden being broken, cheers Anet).

Dear God, that fight looked so unfun. Well played though.

I like pistol in solo or small group roaming. Anything more than 3v3 or 4v4 and it loses a lot of value, but in small fights the phantasm is probably our best hybrid weapon skill across all weapons. It works quite well in a power or hybrid PU build as well (see Blackdevil’s build). That ranged stun can win fights for you.

Wanze.8410:

So from personal experience, I would argue that rich players arent responsible for inflated precursor prices, especially because prices have been stable for 6 months. The huge price inflation in August was due to the 2 farmfests of the jubilee and the invasions, which made alot of general players so rich that they could afford a pre cursor. After that, prices didnt go down because the demand was still there.

I’m actually going to have to disagree with this. Like any scarce luxury item, the price is generally determined (and inflated) by those able to afford it. And when the demand for an inherently scarce item (think Harvard education, Superbowl ticket, panda-hunting license) is high, the price will rapidly outpace inflation and be determined by only the subset of the population who can reasonably afford it. Assuming that precursors are such an item, I see no reason why the price isn’t determined by the pool of wealthier players.

And let’s face it: most of the wealthier GW2 players likely acquired their gold via the trading post. I personally have no problem with this, but it’s easy to see why the average player gets upset, in the same way that the public gets upset at bankers’ bonuses and CEOs’ salaries. Because just as those salaries make Harvard that much more unaffordable for their children (an actual problem), so too do BLTP traders (myself included) make precursors that much more unobtainable.

For solo roaming, it’s very hard to survive without PU, especially in higher tiers with large populations. And because of mesmers’ limited role on zergs, and the fact that it’s fun to go solo roam from time to time, mesmers need some survival mechanic that let’s them choose fights, flee when necessary, potwntially take on more than one opponent, and survive against backstab thieves. PU unfortunately meets all these criteria, which is why many solo roaming mesmers take it. That’s it. Stealth is what lets mesmers and thieves solo roam so well.

The minute I run with one or more people I ditch PU as fast as I can, because there are so many more fun and potent traits and builds. But for solo roaming, it just has too many advantages.

And this is also why people complain about it. Because in 1v1 fights, there is no one else to blame for a loss than yourself, or what you perceive as a broken mechanic. And it’s easier to blame the latter.

And in truth, PU is overrated. If the PU mesmer is running condis, you can generally flee with ease. If they’re running power, than their damage is necessarily limited, and you should be able to survive their dps.

Again, I fall back on PU when I solo roam because mesmers’ other defensive mechanics are nowhere near as good. I wish they were better so I could move away from PU. Bit until then, I’ll likely continue to fall back on it.

I’m guessing that keeping them (and bloodstone dust, and other rewards like those from the alliance bags) account bound helps sell gems for bank and character slots. I have no problem with this, but we probably won’t see it changing any time soon.

Essence Snow.3194:

I find this rather hard to believe unless of course you mean “best possible adventuring game focused on trading” or something along those lines. If in fact you do believe in trying to make the best possible game then you need to acknowledge what our system does to adventuring and rewards. I am fairly confident that most players of this genre will agree getting a drop or earning something directly is more fun than gathering gold to buy a reward.

I think you’re way too bullish on the human condition. At heart we’re all a bunch of self-interested gold-hungry kittens.

This doesn’t mean we can’t aspire to be better, but I have a feeling that an MMO is not the forum in which we’ll start.

Zaxares.5419:

Holy quaggans, really?? O.o If that’s what it’s like for Ectos, I’m hesitant to imagine the velocity of markets like Iron Ore or Silk Scraps, in that case.

I put in some buy orders for gold and silver ore the other day with at least 25k orders ahead of me and had them filled within the hour. Love the common market.

Superior rune of antitoxin isn’t half bad, especially against thieves with their nonstop poison application.

Yeah, what changed? Before the last balance patch they mentioned the need to improve the underpowered scepter. Now it seems they want to nerf it, both through the torment decrease and, more importantly, the clone-death traits.

If anything, EOTM simply reveals some of the current staleness of WvW. But coming from T2, it provides a nice alternate game style. WvW for raids and roaming, and EOTM for kooky, over-the top fights and karma training.

That all said, I’ll reiterate that WvW has gotten a bit stale, though I’m not sure what needs to be done to it. But running on teamspesk with an organized guild in WvW remains, in my opinion, some of the most enjoyable gaming in all of gaming.

The hyperbole doesn’t really help. And as far as I’m concerned, more content is always better than less content (especially so with content as good as EOTM). Give it time to see what happens, and then maybe choose a server that meets your PvE and WvW needs.

I think the whirl finisher on iZerker was already removed. Or if not, it no longer shows up on screen.

re: scepter auto

I’d like to see .5 seconds of chill added to the third attack in the chain. This doesn’t sound like much (and on its own it isn’t), but it would provide a tiny bit of soft cc, and more importantly encourage the use of scepter clones, which are currently useless. Having multiple scepter clones out would now provide an amount of chill uptime, and add a bit of (soft) cc to the scepter, which right now has none.

Weapon swapping won’t always fix it. Happens to me sometimes, always in WvW. I’ll be unable to move even after waypointing. It’s a bug, and happens to other classes as well,

Zoid.2568:

Me Games Ma.8426:

BlackDevil.9268:

So…
You have played 3020h on your mesmer, you killed someone with… what? shatter-triangle? I’d like to kill people in circles and squares, yeah exactly…. And just because some scrub thief that should never lose to a mesmer in 1v1 told you to l2p, you made this topic?
I think you can easily answer the question yourself with 3020h. Else I’d say it’s a l2brain issue.

Sorry maybe you don’t know what i meant by shatter-triangle:
Put 3 illusions in a close triangle around you and wait for the thief to stealth up.
1s wait->f1+other useful skills (sword 2, gs 3/2, staff 5)

Also I really don’t know if the mesmer is OP. I asked a few ppl I know and they all told me it is.

What makes all people (mesmers excluded) think that we’re op? Is it PU? Is it the burst that’s equal to backstab thieves? Is it the invisibility? What is it?

Do you really want to know? you can pretty much burst while evading, while stealthing and being among 3 illusions to hide yourself. Also, targeting the original and not the clones can be a kitten.
Not only that, your F1-F4 abillities are all useful and serve four purposes.
F1 = Burst DPS
F2 = Counter DPS
F3 = CC
F4 = Evade

Then you can also swap weapons and spawn illusions at all times and short cooldown on your evade on main-hand sword.

Mesmer is OP, but hard to play. A class being hard to play shouldn’t mean it’s supposed to outclass all other classes. Hard = Fun, for some people.

Edit: And don’t forget the moa.

You’re joking, right?

I mentioned this in the mesmer thread, but I’d like to see a small tweak to Mind Wrack: change it to a two-button skill. Hit f1 once and mind wrack behaves as it does now. But hit f1 again, and clones explode where they stand. This would add utility and strategy to shattering without really providing a huge buff, and help give mesmers a little aoe attack, even it remains a bit clunky.

I’d like to see a small and simple change to Mind Wrack that would very slightly buff shatter builds and more importantly give Mesmers a bit more aoe: Change F1 into a two-button skill (ala counter or riposte). Hit F1 once, and mind wrack does the same as it does now. But hit it a second time, and illusions explode where they currently stand. This would allow you to more easily pull off mind wracks in big fights, and add an additional strategic element to shatters.

Anyway, just a thought. This mechanism could be used for all shatters as well, but it’d be most important with wrack.

iMoa. Problem solved.

Pollux.3247:

Xaylin.1860:

I actualy really really really like your Confusion trait idea. If they do not change the mechanic for Confusion in general this would be an awesome way of giving Mesmers back their Confusion superiority. It basically would be the Mesmers ‘Terror’.

Thanks Xaylin! Merge it with Master of Misdirection, make it a Master trait, call it Migraine and I’m completely sold

Regarding the iMage, I also like your idea of making its attack blast into a combo field. That would make it have his own personality, and as you say, stay condition focused.

I also agree on the balance issues of having it doing any type of cc. Remember that we could summon 3 of them, so either the attack rate should be extremely low or the cc (daze, fear, whatever) extremely weak to compensate. Also, though it would be useful in PvP, in PvE it wouldn’t work that well. And I’d rather see its utility boosted for both game modes if they are to improve it.

This is a wonderful suggestion, adding a trait that makes confusion do damage. Let me make a slight twist which I think could do wonders for mesmer & confusion and be easy to implement: Have X percentage of power added to confusion damage. This would give confusion some bite, make scepter & torch viable in power builds, mitigate the glamour nerf, give f2 shatter a purpose, and overall make confusion a bit more meaningful for mesmers, while not really buffing condition builds, which are already in an ok place.

Also, I’ll run a front line dire build (similar to zergmower) with my guild sometimes in order to be tanky and have glamours ready on command, but it takes practice, and doesn’t work as well in more disorganized zergs. Also, you’re kittened if you’re caught alone as your 1v1 DPS is pathetically weak.

In short, I’ve found dire to be situational at best. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a shot.

I generally carry three sets: Zerker, Knights, and Rabid, all with runes of the traveller (expensive, but unfortunately the best). This way I can mix and match pieces depending on my current role. Same with trinkets and weapons. Invest in inventory slots and 18-slot invisible bags.

There are some niche builds with dire and apothecary/settlers (apoth w/ melandru and lemongrass poultry is tanky as kitten) that work too, and I have a set of soldiers from the good old retaliation days, but my PVT gear mostly now just gathers dust.

Nice footage, Ansau. You’re likely running a 30/20/0/20/0 or 20/20/0/30/0, which, as you said, are fine for boon stripping and support. I’ll also run GS & Sword/Torch in large fights sometimes, darting in and out for bursts and shatters. But as others have mentioned, the dps of this build is necessarily less than other front line heavies and necros. And given mesmer’s inherent difficulties in surviving in melee (no matter how good you are), it’s hard to build for and sustain good dps while staying with the front line.

For many of us, frontline means staying on the leader/commander and providing dps and support to the heavies. Mesmers can do this, though I’d argue they should go condi for clone-death and glamours, as their melee dps in large groups is subpar. But I’d still consider darting in and out of the fray to be back line, because we’re generally safest behind the melee (as opposed to guards, warriors, and necros, who are safest when on the commander). But this is as much a discussion of semantics, so no worries.

My real point, though, is that while a boon stripping build is completely fine, it has little to do with the build in my original post, and it’s dps is necessarily going to be significantly lower. Shatters are not the easiest to pull of in large fights (as others have mentioned). And greatsword is by far mesmer’s best dps weapon in large fights, especially when traited (yes, better even than sword); the fact that it can be used at range only increases its value from a risk/reward perspective. Staff too provides similar ranged utility, mainly in the form of chaos storm—on a 28 second cooldown, yes, but still better for ranged than any main- or off-hand weapons. Plus, when you’re running full zerker (which gives GS some real damaging power), you lack the sustain to enter the fray, thus making sword/x too risky. Hence, staff.

iZerker —> Mirror Blade --> f1 shatter provides nearly as strong an aoe burst as mesmers can put out, and can be done from maximum range. This is essentially the point of this build—performing this rotation on a 12-second cooldown, interspersed with other skills and so forth. I’m not saying that there aren’t other valid zerg or large-group builds, I’m only offering something I’ve found to be effective.

One final thing: the build has relatively good small group or soloing capabilities as well. While squishy, your phantasms hit hard and are on incredibly short cooldowns, and your weapon skills let you kite like a mofo.

@Ross

Good questions. The way I see it there are basically two options for mesmers in large fights: 1) Tanky frontline builds that stay on commander to provide veil, time warp, portal and so forth to the heavies; and 2) Backline dps. This build falls in the latter.

The frontline builds, while providing important utilities, unfortunately lack damage (though you can get tags with clone-death condi builds). I run those a lot, but generally only with my organized guild. When I’m running with a less organized group, or when I just want to change things up, I’ll switch to a backline dps—and that’s where this build fits in.

I generally use it to bomb their back line, but mostly I’m in a position to drop a healthy dose of aoe dps on wherever it’s need, while also being able to support the heavies (veil/null filed, chaos storm, etc.) from the back and protect my own back line if necessary, all while also being able to tag the melee train (with izerker and chaos storm), though tags are less a concern.

You probably won’t have the raw dps and utility of a staff ele, but you have much better mobility and single target burst, allowing you to switch between bombing groups and picking off casters, all while getting to play the most fun class.

I’d also forgotten how much fun a double-traited phase retreat is. So much mobility!

In my never-ending quest to find a workable large group / zerg build, I’ve started using the following GS/Staff build to great effect. The upcoming ability to use dual sigils (fire/battle, most likely) will only make this better. But I think this is close to tops for back-line damage in big/zerg fights (for mesmer, at least).

It’s a 20/10/20/0/20 max-range dps/support build, relying mostly on greatsword with maximum cooldown reduction combined with staff for support and defense. 12 second Phantasmal Bezerkers and 4 second mirror blades are the bread and butter, mixed in with support from null field and chaos storm, and good clone generation for not taking DE.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQJARWlwzKqHVTmGaNJhJFBH5oUY9sTShqTdpC4G-jECBYLBiiAisAI5RZNBSQsMsIas6aYKXER1CBMaBA-w

In small groups, swap out null field for phantasmal disenchanter, empowered illusions for crippling dissipation, blinding befuddlement for comounding power, and trait manipulations, and you can kite like crazy.

Anyway, I’d love feedback. Thanks.

“Illusion of Drowning: Changed skill from a multi-hit to a single-hit, increasing damage to compensate.”

I mean, finally, right?

Seriously though, any idea why this is being changed? And more importantly, aren’t there a few other things that should take priority?

Was a little bored the other night so spent a little time trying out the trolliest possible builds. Favorite was a 0/25/30/0/15 blackwater variant with perplexity runes and limitless confusion application (clone deaths, interrupts, shatters, scepter/torch, chaos armor, etc.). Confusion is still pretty crappy, but with so much invis uptime combined with 1200 distance blink and six-second phase retreats, you become the ultimate mesmer troll.

Anyway, anyone have an even trollier build than this?

I still think it needs some sort of movement or control. .5 sec of cripple or chill on third attack, or maybe a swap with the created clone on the third auto attack.

I’d actually be fine leaving the chain as is so long as scepter clones are given something. That’s why I like the idea of a small control condition added to the aa chain, which would onventivize the creation of multiple scepter clones (which at present are useless).

Mentioned this a while ago. Have the third autoattack apply .5 seconds of chill. Not much on its own, but dangerous if you get three (currently useless) scepter clones out.

Here’s the problem. Right now mesmers have three really build archetypes: Phantasms, Shatter, and Clone-Death (whether the devs admit it or not). By mucking with DE and mesmer-initiated clone deaths, nearly a third of mesmer playstle is neutered. And besides, aside from trolly blackwater builds (which is a stealth/boons issue), since when are clone death builds a problem?

BlackDevil.9268:

@ Bunda
No, that would only promote brainless clone spamming builds. No skill involved in that either just with the old confusion builds.
What we need is the interrupt traits working together with daze/stun skills, such as the mantra of distraction and chaos storm. I still don’t really get why they just fixed the CS-chaos storm bug instead of rethinking the skill/trait and at least make chaos storm so it does daze more often as base. 4/5 dazes of chaos storm would improve the weapon so much. Atm it’s like 1/5 lol. The radius is pretty small, huge CD and the rest of the skills of staff are all really defensive, so I don’t see why chaos storm is so crap.

Then again we should need a blast finisher on greatsword #3, our pull of focus being 0.5 sec cd instead of 1 second and Iwarden having a total rework. It’s forced to be a phantasm though so maybe something like the old iwarden that + pulls people every X seconds during his cast.

Maybe off-hand sword #4 block active effect could also get a small buff with the radius around the bolt or having it’s velocity increased.

@blackdevil
I hear your response, but think about it for a sec. By putting such a trait in Inspiration Grandmaster, you’d be making it difficult to take all the other on-death traits and DE. What it would allow, however, is mesmers to take support traits and still put out a little front-line aoe damage. I agree that it’s a bit mindless, but what front line auto attack isn’t.

I like your thoughts on riposte or counter being aoe, but there is the skill lag problem with them in very large fights, in which auto attacks and dodges are prioritized. Hence my suggestion.

What about this for an Inspiration GM trait: clones on death do a small aoe damage and a small aoe heal? Yes, it would lead to tanky mesmers spamming dodges (which, I may add, were just slightly nerfed), but it will allow mesmers a greater role in front line combat, which by nature is inherently spammy.

Mesmers need a Grandmaster trait (likely in Inspiration) that does some aoe direct damage when clones are destroyed. This would solve nearly all problems and make tankier clone-death builds viable in large fights.

Staff/GS dps build or dire gear + clone-death traits. Both are more than sufficient to rack up lots of tags and contribute to zergs aoe.

Just accept that you need to change your mesmer playstyle in zergs and you’ll be fine.

How about adding another stat: Resistance (reduces condition damage by X percent).

Behellagh.1468:

How is limiting the number of entries every player can have on the TP vastly increases the spread on items? Are you saying it’s a function single trader with lots of entries rather than competition that narrows the spread?
Dungeons speed runs have been nerfed to limit rewards. Farming specific critters has been nerfed to limit rewards. Yet TP traders who use the entire player base to farm for them, can use human nature, impatience and indifference, to earn considerable rewards. player.

A couple comments:

1. Decreasing the number of entries necessarily means that there will be fewer bids and asks for every item. This will slow the narrowing of the spread.

2. The reason that COF and farming location nerfs were implemented was not to prevent individual players from getting rich. Rather, they were to prevent large amounts of gold and mats from entering the economy (and having an inflationary effect). Trading is not inflationary, and while it allows individuals to make a good deal of gold, it does not negatively the economy writ large.

3. Devs have made no indication that they want to make the TP “fair,” just as they’ve made no indication that they want other parts of the game to be “fair” for differently skilled players.

Behellagh.1468:

Here’s an idea, limit the number of items each player can list on the TP at the same time. Not stack size but entries. No progressive taxation, no account binding, no time limits. Say 50 entries max, combined buy and sell orders per account. Even base it on highest level character (start at 10 and get 1 additional entry for every two levels).

It actually surprised me that I could list so many items and have so many bids at once when I started to use the TP.

But . . . why? What purpose does this serve? (Ignoring the negative effects of this, such as vastly increasing the spread on items.)

Two reasons:

1) Lots of players with plenty of gold want to play/level their alts with the best gear

2) At least in regards to blue items, you can resell after using them. So essentially, you are just renting the item while you level. This significantly increases the cost because you can get it back when you’re done. The high price of the green is often reflective of the high price of the coresponding blue; some people just forget about the selling-back aspect built into the blue’s price.

And speaking of, there is a ton of gold to be made taking advantage of the above dynamic. In fact, the best way to make gold on the TP is not necessarily to think about items themselves, but rather about how people play guild wars 2, and then what items they need to play the game in these various ways.

Welcome to the war, Chaos.

0/20/30/20/0 blackwater variant with apothecary’s gear is very viable and super sustainy, though does less damage without as high crit.

That said, the trait is still completely misplaced.

I’m just offering an alternative to stealth. And because stealth is so powerful, the alternative has to be powerful as well. But ask yourself, which would you prefer they had when fighting a thief: speed or stealth? I think we all know the answer.

I agree that it’s a bit lackluster. That being said, there are a few really skilled mesmers who can absolutely wreck anyone 1v1 using Rampagers. The skill bar is very high because the builds are quite squishy, but I’d argue that really good rampager mesmers can beat everyone 1v1.

Spicyhash.7605:

Bunda.2691:

How about nerfing stealth in favor of . . . speed. Give thieves some additional speed in combat so that they can dart around and remain slippery. Have speed provide some additional perks, or have skills that give them temporary speed boosts. This would allow them to remain thievey without an over reliance on the somewhat broken stealth mechanic.

Shadow shot, infiltrators strike, withdraw, shadow step/shadow return, infiltrators signet, shadow trap, and heartseeker all give the thief ways to flash around the map and that is already annoying enough.

So what? Speed and stealth kind of accomplish the same thing, but at least with speed you can be more aware of where the thief is. And i suggested limiting it to in combat as well as to not turn them into an overpowered scout.

How about nerfing stealth in favor of . . . speed. Give thieves some additional speed in combat so that they can dart around and remain slippery. Have speed provide some additional perks, or have skills that give them temporary speed boosts. This would allow them to remain thievey without an over reliance on the somewhat broken stealth mechanic.

If you want to try a different, more powerful, but very glassy mantra build, you can go 30/30/0/0/10. With zerker gear, sigil of force, three or even four mantras ready, and three illusions out, you pretty much hit as hard as a mesmer can possibly hit (although the boosts don’t affect phantasms).

Pyroatheist.9031:

Bunda.2691:

Contrition.8945:

Pyro had a zerg build at https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-Build-The-Zergmower.

I have no way to compare to other people and other classes, but using clones that explode for conditions, the +33% confusion duration trait, the minor that clones cause confusion on kill, and traited staff, Illusionists celerity, and deceptive evasion .. (in a full condition build and equip) .. I spam chaos storm, and then spam as many clones as I possibly can into the opposing zerg .. it seems to get a lot of bags.

Not the strongest in a zerg for sure.

Btw I run a strange 0/25/30/0/15 condition build much of the time.

I like the clone-death zerg build as well. Just an fyi though: +condi duration is wasted in zergs (for the most part) because of all the aoe cleansing. Short, hard-hitting conditions are thus best, like burning and torment. Geomancy is good as well.

I use +condition duration in my build to ensure that the burns from the guardian runes will tick even on someone stacking -duration.

Fair enough, esp if using guardian runes and extra burning. I just usually use orrian truffle and meat stew for the additional dodges and might.

Also, been using runes of tormenting to good effect. Works really well at tagging along with sigil of tormenting. Wish the stack was a little bigger though.

Contrition.8945:

Pyro had a zerg build at https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-Build-The-Zergmower.

I have no way to compare to other people and other classes, but using clones that explode for conditions, the +33% confusion duration trait, the minor that clones cause confusion on kill, and traited staff, Illusionists celerity, and deceptive evasion .. (in a full condition build and equip) .. I spam chaos storm, and then spam as many clones as I possibly can into the opposing zerg .. it seems to get a lot of bags.

Not the strongest in a zerg for sure.

Btw I run a strange 0/25/30/0/15 condition build much of the time.

I like the clone-death zerg build as well. Just an fyi though: +condi duration is wasted in zergs (for the most part) because of all the aoe cleansing. Short, hard-hitting conditions are thus best, like burning and torment. Geomancy is good as well.