Guild Wars 2

/bump

15 char

PvE encompasses many aspects, which one are you referring to? Open map content? World bosses? Dungeons? Personal/Living Story?

In open map content I think mesmer does very well on it’s own. I play shatter mesmer for this area because it’s easy to burst a mob (or small clusters of mobs) down very quickly. However, this comes with using certain weapons and utilities all the time. I’ve learned that if I want to solo a champ, for example, I need to change my set up. I can keep the build, but I find staff is better than my greatsword for kiting purposes.

World bosses are always going to be extremely tough and will not die very quickly. There are zerg trains that go from boss to boss to boss for the better part of the day, so that will scale the event too. For some the bosses will lose their HP slower and others a little faster.

In dungeons… mesmer is a little lackluster as far as damage output goes. At least, that’s what other people have said, I choose not to concern myself with exactly how much dps I’m putting out vs a zerk 100easies warrior. I believe Pyro has said we are a utility class and it is for our utilities that parties tend to like us around. Being good in a party instance like this comes with practice. I do not personally care about the zerk meta so long as I am scrubbing you off the floor every two seconds.

As a mesmer I had some difficulty with living story. There are a lot of conditions in the new story and Mordrem hit harder than Risen do (at least I think so). I typically needed to change things, traits, armors, or utilities to improve my own survivability. I think at one point I even ran PU so I could stealth the last half of a story chapter (the attack on the Pact camp in the Silverwastes). I have significantly less trouble with my personal story. I do have trouble now and then, but for the most part it is easier to handle solo. I still tend to run shatter for it.

As to HoT changes, I’m not really looking forward to only being able to trait into three lines. I think we should still be allowed to trait freely, but c’est la vie. Even if I pay anet’s not really listening right? Given that I was in the beta yesterday, I think mesmer may do well or have a very difficult time with events. As I said for living story, Mordrem hit hard and they tend to apply a lot of conditions. In HoT we will see new enemies who apply equally many conditions and do hit quite hard. During the day it’s not so hard to move around in the HoT map, but at night the Mordrem numbers increase as they attack the different “rally points” on the map. I would say each event needs at least five people to complete successfully.

Please, no more argumentative replies. More thoughts on Moa vs Lich, of course, are welcome as well as feedback.

Personally, I like keenlam’s idea, however I’d want a duration increase of Moa to 15 seconds as well as a partial cool down decrease, maybe to 120 seconds, since we added time to the Moa duration.

bump

/15 char

Please be aware rules are being revised for the guild.

Tealots.6095:

Why don’t you tell us about HoT in general!? What’s the content like? Is it fun? Do you think Mesmers will have a huge role in content progession, etc.

I was in the first stress test beta and I think crowd control builds are going to become more important for world bosses and dungeons. If you’ve ever fought Three Toed Tootsi in Dry Top the control bar on monsters is similar, except it starts at full. You have time to hit the target with as many ccs as possible to wear the bar to 0, which creates the weakened state. I think our lockdown builds will see an increase in popularity.

The demo story we got to play was interesting too. I liked it. I was playing a Rev of course, because I wanted to see what they were like. (Condi necro in heavy armor with a lot of access to torment and confusion.) The primary event was pretty boring and unexciting.

The armor was nice on the Rev. The weapon skins were recycled, of course, just different colors. Their icons looked like the mistforged weapons.

Ross Biddle.2367:

I’d like to know how much gold you can farm me in an hour. I’ll need a rough average. If you could send me your earning hourly so I can keep a record (with proof) It’d be much appreciated.

Farm your own money scrubface.

So after hours and hours of farming…. I finally got the BETA portal. Depending on how much gets released for us to try out what are some things you guys want me to look into?

I will try to catch up guild invites tonight. ^.^ A lot of people had their invites canceled due to maxing out the guild. Thank you all for your patience!

At the present OMFG is at capacity for members. Feel free to add your name here if you wish, but I will be discussing options with Pyro.

Pyro is a party pooper, we’re all well aware of this. If you get the signs I’ll picket with you outside of Anet’s offices!

Well I didn’t see any other threads on the top page. Hmmmph!

Thank you though.

That’s what I was wondering.

/bump

StickerHappy.8052:

It’s just like music, once you’re a fan of a band, whatever direction they take in making music, you will still be fan

I don’t know about that. I’ve stopped liking bands when they pick up a sound I don’t like, though I do continue to like their older music.

I played the Rev in BETA and it is basically a condi-necro/mesmer in heavy armor, at least with the weapons we got to use during BETA. I will be picking up Rev again once I get the expac, but I think Mesmer will remain as my main. I am also a collectionist (made up word, I know). I had to have one of each of the current classes and Rev will be no different once it is fully released. However, I am uncertain as to how much I will like the mesmer changes.

Fay.2735:

Ross Biddle.2367:

Fay.2735:

Ross Biddle.2367:

Anet just broke Pyro.

I’m not Pyro

Hey look, an imposter.

Pyro is the imposter

The Ghost of Pyro Past is Pyro. Just a by the way… Even Pyro told us to watch the signature area to know who was who.

bump

/15 char

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

If you maxed out your withdrawl from the guild bank, then you wouldn’t be able to get any more from an email; the limit of 500g/week is collective of both guild stash and mail.

So let’s say you withdrew 350 this week and your friend withdrew 200g more and mailed it to you. Then when you clicked the “take all” button on the email, you would receive 150; the other 50g would remain until the reset (Sunday midnight UTC iirc).

That would explain what you are seeing, although other explanations are possible. As Zendraxus suggested, it would be worth checking the stash log to see how much your friend friend withdrew.

It was 200g because that was roughly the amount I needed and I know I didn’t touch the mail to remove the money. Or, at least, I think I didn’t. I remember I looked at it so it wouldn’t keep glowing, but then I didn’t do anything else with it.

I’m now encountering a new problem. I run the events of one of my guilds and I recently purchased three skins for it (Shadow GS, Sword, and Torch). I got the GS and torch early in the week, so they’ve been in the bank for several days already. However, the sword arrived today and when I went to put it into the guild bank the GS was missing. The log says that I am the one who removed it, which cannot be possible since I have not been in the guild bank since I put the first skins in 3-4 days ago. The skin does not show up in any of my inventories or other banks.

Our team is signed up, however I still need a sub, so please help us out here guys!

TW – 144 seconds from 180
Mass – 72 seconds from 90
Moa – 144 seconds from 180

Ether Feast – 16 seconds from 20

Depending on whether or not Mirror gets a new classification as a glamour or manipulation, it could drop down to a 12 second cd. If it becomes reclassified as a clone skill it will remain the same at 15 seconds.

Bunda.2691:

However, maybe they could code it so DE doesn’t activate if 3 phantasms are up. Would solve all issues.

And Anet would never do that either. It’s too logical and therefore they cannot add such a fair balance to our beloved class. Thou shalt overwrite phantasms with clones if you dodge, whether inadvertently or not. =[ I think, supposedly, Anet was going to introduce something like this some months back and then never did, but it was something more to the effect of if you had three clones/phantoms up already then you couldn’t spawn anything new.

If, by default, we mean it to replace one of the “passive” traits in our lines (the ones no one really looks at because you no choice in whether or not you want it) then I would pick DE. The majority of the builds we see have DE in them and clones (as well as their creation) are crucial to the mesmer. I feel like IP is less crucial since it tends to be build specific, though, I would find it interesting if it became a default trait.

bump Friday is tomorrow (in the US). =P All guild buffs will begin rocking tonight at reset.

Ok, sign ups are tomorrow, I need one person to be our sub. OMFG membership will be required while on the team.

*Pyro you need to log in more for practice fights. =)

Invites up to date.

A few days ago I had a friend send me some gold out of our guild bank since part of it used to hold the gold for my account (and thus ensure I don’t spend it all too fast). The guild bank was saying I had maxed out my withdraw amount for the week and could not get the amount I needed. I asked, specifically, for 200g to buy a could of things I wanted from the TP. My friend sent me exactly 200g, which has sat in the mail while I decide if I really want to buy the items now or wait. When I logged in this evening I was 30g short. My mail only contained 170g out the original 200. Can anyone explain?

There are variants to PU. The traditional build is what most people tend to think of when you say “PU,” though the power variant isn’t half bad. Despite the poorly written negative statement from messiah, it’s not as bad at they make it out either.

Yes, you do stay alive longer. The point of mesmer is to harass other classes and tie up other players by making them divert energy to focusing us. A very good PU mesmer can hold a 3v1 well (I watched Pyro do this).

Yes, you do lower damage, but that does not mean your condi damage is low. If you’re doing low (condi) damage (even with the power build) then there is something terribly wrong with what you’re doing. Even my shatter mesmer can crank out some decent bleed damage if the clones stay up long enough.

Conditions are the mainstay of this build. I would say 90-95% of your damage will come from conditions, especially torment. And if the person you’re fighting doesn’t have enough condi cure or is just stupid, they can kill themselves pretty quickly on your conditions.

Also contrary to messiah’s poorly written statements, you do not want to abuse your stealth. We are not a thief. We cannot simply re-stealth ourselves after revealed wears off. We have four stealths we can put on our skill bars plus an additional one we can trait for (which I do when I run PU). All of these stealths have cool-downs, and, therefore, shouldn’t be spammed the way a thief can some of theirs.

And I’ve been killed pretty quick on my PU in the past. I’ve been caught by Pistolwhip thieves when my stun breaks are on CD and can’t get away. I’ve been mobbed by the entire enemy team, unable to disengage. Smart players will learn to pick you out from your clones, mark you, and have the team focus you – relentlessly.

You can be a lazy PU or you can be a proactive PU. The latter is far more viable (ergo, effective) than a lazy scrub relying on the AI.

NA, but I can make a separate list for EU. =) I guess people will just need to tell me which side of the world their servers are on. I can recognize some of the NA members here. =P

Well, if we get enough interested people we could form two teams. =) I’d really like to participate myself.

Advent.6193:

Who would you send in, is the question? Got a decent amount of Mesmer PvPers, on both sides of the Ocean.

And not “sending” anyone. This is voluntary.

Make a Charr. Lore-wise Charr don’t trust casters because of the Flame Legion, which makes it hard for them even in their own warbands. Besides, Charr mesmers are pretty rare and even if the armor looks crappy, just make the toon look like a kitten!

As a note, [OMFG] will be rocking guild boosters all weekend every weekend.

There are people who do accept cash for commissions, but they are all taken through another site (like Deviant Art) and negotiated there.

If anyone else is interested, a roster needs to be ready by Friday for ToL sign-ups!

Ross Biddle.2367:

Squishy.3694:

Sounds like great fun! Still trying to figure a way to get into OMFG first…

I hope you’re ready to get your first nipple piercing.

Ignore this grubby little street urchin. I’ll add you to the roster the next time I get in game.

Staff is considered one of our most defensive weapons, so you’re not going to see a high damage output. However, it does work well no matter what kind of build you’re going to run. For me, I found Mesmer easier to level by the time of L40, but then again I played when Anet didn’t hamstring us with needing to farm our traits.

If you’re doing open world content I recommend shatter build. I’m a huge fan of this build for PvE. Mesmer is all about combos. Our most recognizable combo is the Blurred Frenzy + Shatter (F1/F2). It is best to have three clones out for this. So let’s just say you’re facing a single target. Focus 5 (Phantasmal Warden) + Sword 3 (Illusionary Leap) + Sword 2 (Blurred Frenzy) ~ make sure your warden finishes its attack then shatter F1 (Mind Wrack) or F2 (Cry of Frustration). By this point your target should be dead or very near to it.

Now, for your staff, this is the perfect kiting weapon. I’d recommend practicing with a lower level vet/elite/champ. The Troll in Queensdale might be optimal. Whenever I use staff I use it for a shield. Chaos Storm is excellent in this capacity. Standing on it will generate swiftness, aegis, or retaliation. Swiftness is good if you’re running in circles, aegis will block a single hit, and retaliation will return damage you take back to the attacker. You can also Phase Retreat for a quick getaway to put some distance between you and the target.

My favorite weapons at that level were sword/pistol with greatsword. Don’t worry about what you use. You’ll develop a playstyle as you go. I [I]do[/I] recommend carrying and experimenting with multiple weapons. When I made my second Mesmer I was going to level up using only scepter/torch + staff because I needed to develop a playstyle for those weapons and I felt I could not do it with my first Mesmer. Unfortunately, I encountered a personal story chapter where I was getting overwhelmed by monsters because I was unable to kill them fast enough with those choices and ended up swapping out the staff for a gs – that one time.

Welcome to the game. =) Good choice on mesmer, though my opinion is biased since I love mine.

To be 100% honest, while leveling up a character I’ve never worried about the stats of my weapons and armor. Instead I just maintained their levels and upgraded as regularly as I felt I needed it.

Eventually, you’ll have them all unlocked. I think while you are a low level Blink, Decoy, and Nullfield would be the best ones to grab first. Then you will need to pick two more to unlock the next tier. You might like Mantra of Pain and Signet of Inspiration, the latter one is only marginally helpful for the RNG swiftness. After that I strongly recommend Feedback and Mantra of Resolve. I have a personal attachment to Mirror Images, but the next three are entirely up to you. Of course once you get elites unlocked you will want to snag Time Warp since that’s all people really like us for.

In PvE open world content, shatter does fairly well. For dungeon builds I think there’s a link around here somewhere that will list a couple of recommended builds. Pyro said I was very bad for persisting in running shatter while in dungeons. =P Teams really only care about A ) if you are dying (a lot) and B ) getting them killed (a lot). For PvP my favorites are PU and CI, the builds are identical in their trait-lines, but have different trait selections. PU is a good training-wheels build, but I also really enjoy using it after I’ve lost multiple times in PvP because it has a certain amount of stability (not the boon). I will toss up some links for those builds in a bit.

Best advice, take all advice with a grain of salt when it comes to this class. There is a lot of whining and other players tend to hate us quite a bit. Most importantly, don’t let anyone tell you you’re doing it wrong. Biggest mistake I ever made was changing the way I played mesmer because I listened to bad advice. Find weapons you like to play with and then choose a build that utilizes them best. (Though, all builds are compatible with almost all weapon variations.)

Popped you an invite to OMFG as well, that way you have access to our teachers and arenas. =) Welcome to Guild Wars!

Chaotic Interruption Lockdown
Prismatic Understanding
Shatter ~ Prior to the release of certain armors, Berserker was preferred for this build. An alternate is Assassin or a mix of the two. I carry a full set of both.

Please note there are variants of every build with different traits and weapons. I picked weapons I enjoy the most with those builds along with the traits I prefer (as well as utilities).

Invites are up to date!

Alright, as you know we recently made some changes to the guild in-so-much that we now have officers who will coordinate events.

Introducing Friday night Fractal runs. All experience levels welcome.

Saturday night fights will continue (with or without Aeoldyn’s presence). Newbies to the class are welcome to participate or watch – this will be a good way for you to learn. Please don’t forget to donate time to the arena while you are visiting!

Every Sunday 30 minutes after reset we will do guild missions. Please attend for missions that way we can unlock more. After missions we will divide up for PvE content or more fights in PvP. Also, don’t forget Su Flea’s guild lottery drawings are every Sunday evening right around reset and he will begin collection for next week’s lottery then.

To be determined…
[OMFG] Fashion Contest – If you would like to donate money or prizes to help this event please send them to me in game. Thank you.

Note While I am on NA this does not mean EU is left out. Pester Kentigem (Daniel Handler) if you would like to see some of these events adopted EU side.

Since we obviously have a very large competitively based community, how many people would be interested in an OMFG team for ToL? I’d be very interested in seeing a five-mesmer team, however, I would also like to see a balanced team. So, if you’re interested in either or, please sign up here. Please also indicate if you’d like to be on a five-mesmer team or if you’d like to be on the mixed team.

Thanks everyone!

Roster Thus Far…
Chaos Archangel
Tealots
Ross Biddle
Calliope
Fay/Pyro

Unless I see a definite yes or no, your name won’t get added. We need an alternate.

Invites are up to date.

Sebrent.3625:

No sPvP section/list ?

I rather thought that if you were going to ask people for build related info then you would have to specify what realm you were asking for (pvp, wvw, pve), which would make a pvp section moot point.

Though, if I might suggest, I would say speak to Rylock, Supcutie, or Pyro.

Jurica.1742:

How to always lose to Warlord 101

Thanks for adding me to the shatter one btw, I am indeed willing to help people out. I was wondering why I’ve been getting so many whispers over the last few days lol.
I’ll put the guide out tomorrow morning. I planned on doing it yesterday but I ended up dueling Warlord all day :P
I’m almost done with school for quite a while now so I will reinstate the guide properly, no more talking about doing it.

Other categories I’d suggest are:
- 1v1ing
- PvP mesmer (we got WvW and PvE)
- Mesmer mechanics (stuff like positioning, cooldown management ect, not 100% sure how you’d call that category)
-Weapon specific (sword, torch, staff, greatsword, scepter, focus ect)

Still think some of those would fit under other categories, you just have to remember to ask those questions. Weapon specific could fall under the build specific categories. “I want to run x-build, but will it work with abc weapons?” All of those points can fall under the build sections.

What really separates PvP from WvW or PvE is the lack creative diversity. You can’t mix and match stats in pvp and sometimes Anet makes a shoddy attempt at adding another stat, just in case you have something in the alternate universes that adds to your HP or condition damage or whatever. You can mix and match runes (in the alternate universes). There’s ascended gear. PvP has a set number of enemies. Winning/losing depends both on your skill and the skill of the other players. Same thing can be said for dungeons (which I feel like Fractals falls under, though you might call that a “special” dungeon). Success depends on both your skill and that of your team. In PvE/WvW your life is largely in your hands – only.

Now I do think this is a fantastic idea, the whole list thing, since not everyone is a member of OMFG. By the way, for those of you who are, teachers are considered very knowledgeable of the mesmer class. Testers are also knowledgeable, so don’t be afraid to ask them questions either. Testers are there to test builds, primarily. So when someone decides to theory craft something new, you can ask them their thoughts and if they’d mind trying it out. Scholars are others who feel they are still learning mesmer. Don’t let that discourage you from asking a question of them. =) We can all learn things from each other.

I see we have an SAO fan.

All invites up to date.

Invites up to date.

bump

1. char

Totally not gonna work. I’m a stubborn person. It’s not going to work. lol

Sebalon.5913:

Yeah, it’s a shame. I ended up going on YouTube to watch the intro cutscene for the Asura I created, but then I realized it wasn’t the one corresponding with the options I selected.

What you pick in character creation doesn’t show up in the intro scene. They’re all basically the same. “Yadda yadda we’re the xyz race and through it all we persevere. The dragons are rising. cut to other races and their rising dragons To take down the elder dragons we will have to work together. ……. To do this, I have left my home. cuts to you standing somewhere with a fight going on”

I was hoping this was what got “fixed” last night. Nope. I was hoping there would be more “fixes” today. Nope. I hope Anet is up on the time that upgrades have been running, because I don’t want my guild set back for their screw up.

Gudy.3607:

The difference is that the old stack is “Account Bound On Acquire” while the new one is “Account Bound”. The different ownership restrictions prevent stacking, even if it’s really a distinction without a difference.

They should fix that because it’s really kitten annoying.

Pristine Fractal Relics and Tomes of Knowledge are also not stacking.

I realize there is a similar thread here, but I don’t have a problem with clovers since I’m not making any. The items I am having trouble stacking are the Tomes of Knowledge. All of the ones that were previously in a stack are fine, but I had a few hanging out on different toons and they won’t join the stack. Sorry, but I don’t have enough space to have a hundred single stacks of something lying around.

ahem Warlorrrrd… This one is for youuuuu! Though I wouldn’t call you sexy.

It’s been said elsewhere on the forums that mesmer is a utility class. Most of the reasons people want us on a team is not because of something we can do with our weapons, though skill helps, but because of our utilities. In dungeons our primary job is to bring reflects and timewarp – boonstrips and stealth when necessary. Though ANet has been taking away just how much we can reflect, so those instances where it is necessary are fewer.

In open PvE content I think mesmer stands apart from the other classes with the ability to solo difficult situations. In part this is due to clones, as they offer a nice distraction (sometimes). We are a versatile class, but not wholly strong in one area or another. For dungeons you will notice posts for “zerkers only” and sometimes they will tack on “warriors.” Warrior is the meta class for speed running an instance in PvE (that 100 Easies with GS!). However, I recommend learning to play with all of the weapon variations our class offers, it will help you in the long run.

For PvP… we are lackluster. There are two builds that are accepted as the most “fair,” but also require a higher skill threshold (and are glass). If you just want to have some fun and fool around, you can do that, but don’t expect to get to high ranking matches with mesmer and do well. =/ That is just the unfortunate nature of things.

Depending on the server you pick depends on how successful you may be in WvW (this a mixed PvP and PvE environment). If you choose, or have chosen, a server that has a low ranking, you can get away with a glassier build like shatter and do well in WvW (usually). Every other class will give you a hard time, so it will be all about getting the drop on them and bursting them before they can kill you. However, if you’re on a server that is ranked higher then solo roaming will be harder and you will either need a small group or a zerg to run with. Personally, I despise zergs, but recognize them as a necessary evil.

One major thing to keep in mind: conditions are the Achilles heel for mesmers.