Ha ha! Glad I’m not the first. I do have a photography certification, so I do know a little bit of what I’m talking about. =) I wish all the best in your quest.
My favorite part is the Foefire, near the end. Of the novels, Ghosts of Ascalon was my least favorite, but I love the lore for Guild Wars.
No, you will be a horrible player to have on a team. You will have a low damage output, conditions you apply will be over-written by another class, and you will bring very little to the table that will be helpful. Post level 80 you will only be useful in WvW in player combat, and even then you won’t bring much to a team except the ability to provide cover to ress under and longer stealth periods.
If these are the only weapons you want to use in pve for Mesmer, then just don’t play Mesmer. You will need other weapons. You will need more than one set of armor. You will need variety.
Your pieces are beautiful, but some of them feel like they lack clear focus. I am not a canvas artist, I write. I prefer to paint a picture with words. However, to my point, each of the loading screens in GW has a clear focus. Kessex has the ruined Nightmare Tower, Silverwastes is an open scene with a large airship slightly off-center, Gendarran features the Windmill and farms in the Cornucopian Fields, and Frostgorge has a Kodan sanctuary as its main feature, to list a few examples. I like the colors, but I get lost in your images. I don’t know where I’m supposed to be looking to see something.
Most builds using that weaponry set-up are not wholly viable in pve instances. When I was first introduce to Prismatic Understanding, I leveled up a second Mesmer using ONLY those weapons, just to develop a playstyle for them. That said, PU is “only” good in pvp situations (PvP play and WvW player vs player combat). In almost all pve situations it is only a handicap.
I know there is another Staff build that a few people like, it is the Chaos Maestro build by Chaos Archangel. I have never used it, but I know a few who like it. I think it does use sword/focus as the off-hand set.
If you’re just starting out as a Mesmer, it is understandable you’ll want to pick a weapon set to focus on learning to play with, but don’t limit yourself to them. I’ve mentioned before in other threads, Mesmer relies on flexibility of player in its class. You will need to play with all the weapons and learn them. I love to play with scepter, but it’s a sacrifice on damage. I love to play with greatsword, but it’s a sacrifice on mobility and defense. I hate playing with staff, but it is one of our strongest defensive and mobile weapons. I leveled my first Mesmer with sword/pistol + GS up until L40 when someone said I was making a big mistake not using focus and readapted my playstyle for focus. (Tbh it was a bigger mistake listening to them, but, well, hindsight.) I have all of the weapons on both of my mesmers for all weapon combinations and I switch builds/armor based on situational need.
(edited by Calliope.8675)
Depending on the runes you want to get. If you were looking at Travelers, each of them run between 8-10g (depending on the market). Perplexity runs about the same, unless the prices have gone up again. Strength runes run 10-13g. Melandru runes at ~8g. Then again, you may luck out and only want a rune that costs pennies.
However, there are some runes ONLY available through dungeons, in which case they will cost you time and days of farming. They will not appear in the Trading Post at all and cannot be made through crafting.
Or go to dungeon vendors. >> I like being as cheap as possible. Or if you have the materials saved up already and the craft leveled, you could make your own. It saves you spending coin if you have the materials on hand (money that’s already earned and not lost). However, if you have neither the materials or the craft leveled, one of the above alternative options will be your best bet.
Unable to play at the current extent of the moment. You’ll have to find someone else to hold your hand for this one, Sensei. Tealot has been there already, so he could help you find your way. =)
All of you are denied! The guild is full!
Kidding…
It looks like a big wad of bubble gum. I like the picture though. I like the watercolors.
I look forward to the next chapter as well. =)
Shatter and CI use Zerker armor, though I wear Assassin with my shatter build, using runes for higher precision. You could use Zerk armor is the traditional go-to armor for power/bursty builds.
You can use Shatter in WvW, but I recommend having a wingman with you if you’re intent is to roam (cap small points and engage small enemy groups).
Personally, I find shatter to be the hardest of the three builds Miku listed. In the PvE aspects of WvW it will do just fine, but it is the hardest build to 1v1 with.
I know a lot of people who run the CI build with staff. Staff is a great defensive weapon for mesmer. It also works really well with this build because of Chaos Storm. The interrupt does a decent burst of damage, plus it immobilizes, so if they are stuck on Chaos Storm there is a chance they could repeatedly interrupt themselves on it.
Both builds run on the glassy side. I play them both and I love them both. And when I get frustrated with every cheese engi and stealth spammy thief I just swap my mesmers and grab the one that is always running PU. =D Give someone else some frustration.
I believe someone made a case for Assassin’s armor (being better than zerker). I carry Zerk, Assassins, Ramp, and Soldier on my first mesmer and rabid/dire on the second. Rampagers was a mistake, but I cannot bear to be rid of it even though I almost never use it.
PU is still popular (4/4/6/0/0). I am fond of playing with CI lockdown (4/4/6/0/0). CI and Shatter are both harder builds to play in pvp because you are glassy.
I gave you suggestions, as I prefer to be a more offensive player. You asked about phantasm build.
Mesmer is all about flexibility. If you can’t bend you’ll break (or shatter). You’ll need to be more open about trying different weapons. Play with different builds and see which you like.
By the way, Pyro, your links in that thread are broken. “Internal Server Error” shrug
See, burning ears. I knew he’d pop up!
Immortal build – he called it, I think. His ears have to be burning by now.
Builds that run high in survivability are usually low in damage output. So the main things to keep in mind are: How good is your server (ie, their rank – Anvil Rock is bronze, Yaks Bend is gold)? Will you be solo? Will you be in a group? A big group (zerg) or a small one (havoc roaming)?
Not all pvp/wvw builds will translate well into pveland.
Based on my experience in a Bronze tier server, I was able to get away with shatter build for the pve situations of wvw (like flipping a camp or taking a flag point). Fighting 1v1 or 2v1 was harder since I wasn’t able to take hits (nor was I as good at mesmer then). I usually ended up dead.
On a Silver tier server, I could still solo flip a camp as a shatter build, which was necessary (the build – not flipping it alone) since I needed to be able to do damage to kill everything fast enough to get the cap. However, I was more likely to meet an opponent at the camp or crossing the map than I was on my Bronze server. It was usually a thief, mesmer, or warrior. Thief is a hard fight, as is mesmer (a good one), but most warriors will run from you once you burst them to half hp. It is harder to win a 1v1 as a shatter mes, especially against a competent opponent. Once I got introduced to CI I started running that more for roaming. It still allows for some burst, but also gives some survivability options (I play with sword/focus + staff, sometimes I swap out the focus for pistol if I have a small group to roll with).
Now that we’re Gold our fights have only gotten more intense. Solo roaming is near impossible without having at least two or three solid players at your back.
The nearest thing I’ve ever played that could be considered Phantasm based is PU. I’ve been meaning to try a Phantasm build, but haven’t gotten around to it. PU tends to do well in an outnumbered situation (3v1 or 4v1). I was told – months ago – that Phantasm builds are the kings of 1v1 builds for mesmers. I can’t tell you how well they would versus multiple players. My best guess: not too well. I typically see two offensive phantoms + the defender. The offensive ones will only attack one target and will not switch targets. Maybe you will clip another player if they get too close (together), but I wouldn’t count on that. If you do plan on running with a group, this build might actually work out well. You’ll be able to focus more damage on a single target.
Well, I think your server is EU, if I’m not mistaken. I know OMFG has section for players in those servers too and a private arena was recently (ish) opened. I am sure someone there might be willing to teach you in the arena.
Something to keep in mind when thinking about armor sets: PVE. If you have a lot of karma you can get exotic sets in Orr. If you do run a dungeon on the occasion, you can always go to a vendor and get a full set of armor relatively fast with the specific stats you want. Multiple dungeons offer armor sets with same stats on them – each dungeon offers three stat sets to choose from. So if you don’t mind spending a little time in pveland now and then, you can make some money and get some armor/weaponry at the same time.
I have nine characters that are level 80 and each character has at least two sets of armor. My mains (I use four characters with regular frequency) all carry 3-4 sets of armor. This allows me the greatest build diversity.
Shatter and CI lockdown… Depending on how good your server is in wvw, you can probably get away with a glassier build. My server just bumped up into gold tier, so unless I’m in the middle of a zerg being glass is a very bad idea. I’m not very good at theory-crafting though. So perhaps someone who likes it will drop in later with better advice for you.
Good, good. You shouldn’t be a slacker (like me) in school! I am looking forward to the next part.
The first build I was ever introduced to Chaos called “schizophrenic.” Then he gave me shatter build. (4/4/0/0/6) I’m sure you can find it lying around on the forums. Pyro says it’s not good in dungeons, but I’ve not really used much else. I use a hybrid sort of PU build on my second mesmer in dungeons. (0/4/6/4/0) I typically have the need for a lot of reflects so that’s what I’m traiting for. I carry around 4 sets of armor on my main and two on my second mesmer.
Any new chapters?
\ o / Just a reminder! Event’s tonight!
Invites up to date.
You’re going to bake cupcakes for us Lils? We have an EU Coordinator, but I couldn’t tell you where he went or what he’s up to!
The traditional PU build is 4/4/6/0/0: Crippling Dissipation, Cleansing Conflagration, Desperate Decoy, Deceptive Evasion, Debilitating Dissipation, Chaotic Dampening, Prismatic Understanding ~ typical trait set up. Rabid gears, I was told Nightmare runes were good when I first started playing with PU. Scepter/Torch + Staff
You can always try variant builds, some people play a Power PU. Scepter/Pistol + Sword/Torch
I’m sure the builds are posted on the Mesmer forums or on various build sites. :P Search features are amazing at finding what you’re looking for.
Changed date and time of event
I always forget about line of sighting. I’d rather just get the fight over with!
So, Friday (Oct 10th) I will be hosting another OMFG Birthday Bash on the NA Servers for those who missed the first round. =) We will start off this one in Caledon with a jump puzzle. First person to the end gets a prize! Afterwards we will do a Guild Bounty, which will be followed by some friendly dueling in the PvP arena or 5-mesmer tPvP.
~Festivities start at 18:00 (6pm) est.
(edited by Calliope.8675)
PU or CI would work. I use CI myself most often. I find lockdown builds to be more rewarding in wvw.
Try not to run into them. Since the buff to Rapid Fire they’ve become more pesky. I never solo roam as a shatter mes anymore. I could do it as a Bronze Tier wvwer, but when I moved to a Silver Tier it got much harder to move about on my own. More people roam and usually in groups of 2-5 people. I have better luck running CI or some other lockdown build.
(edited by Calliope.8675)
So, these are the screenshots I took during the Birthday Bash. I do not run any enhancement program on my game, but did some minor tweaking in photoshop. I am glad everyone had fun and I will be organizing something again at the end of this week for people who missed the hasty one this weekend.
Chapter three is exceptionally dark. I might have some more to comment on later and will edit this post, but I’m a little distracted at the moment. <3
“Problems arose, and were overcome,” said Setsu calmly…
I think this sentence would have more impact if you broke it differently. “Problems arose,” he said calmly (rest of description). “They were overcome, but that isn’t what’s important.”
“I thought you didn’t want to know how I do what I do,” Setsu said, a point he often made when she inquired after the finer details of his missions.
This catches me each time I re-read the passage. Might just be me, but the phrasing doesn’t seem right. She’s reprimanding him, he says she doesn’t want to know what he does in order to accomplish his missions, and then you say she is always asking about what he does. I think the importance of that last detail may need to be explained or removed.
(edited by Calliope.8675)
So, quite a few of us took some screenies. I’ll try to post mine here a little later on. I will also be doing another birthday bash next weekend. That way people who missed this hasty one can come next week. I will have a better event plan too. ^^; Perhaps the EU coordinator will get something ready for that half of the guild.
Pyro/Chaos would have to respond to that. I’m not able to do such things with Teacher rank.
So, all of these other links you’ve posted, don’t work for me. They all require me to “log in,” however, I did finally get around this. I used your Ch.1 link to navigate into Ch. 2. Voila!
It still requests that I log in. =s C’est la vie. Oh well.
Invites up to date.
We will be having a make up date for our 1 birthday of OMFG. For the NA servers this little birthday bash will be in Metrica Province, Windflame Caverns post-reset at 10pm (Eastern US time ~ 7pm Pacific coast time). I will be providing boxes of fun. There will be story telling, reminiscing of the good ol’ days, and maybe even some role playing if people are interested. Just look for the Purple tag on the map, you’ll find me.
We will be having a make up date for our 1 birthday of OMFG. For the NA servers this little birthday bash will be in Metrica Province, Windflame Caverns post-reset at 10pm (Eastern US time ~ 7pm Pacific coast time). I will be providing boxes of fun. There will be story telling, reminiscing of the good ol’ days, and maybe even some role playing if people are interested. Just look for the Purple tag on the map, you’ll find me.
=D Our OMFG team won their first fight (in the tournament of glory), though they got eliminated in the next one. I think that goes to show people mesmers are tougher than they are given credit for. I’m very happy for everyone on the team. Good job guys!
It requests a log in. I have to be a member to read what you write or is that just an incorrect link?
I would, provided I’m not in the middle of a dungeon ha ha. Hell, I’d be happy with even ONE decent partner.
Solo roaming as full zerk shatter can be more frustrating than fun most of the time, imo.
That’s how I find it on my server.
Depends on the server you play on. I play on a Silver Tier server, and I never find a 1v1, always a 2 or 3 vs me and it sucks. You usually have a punk ranger spammy spammy the Rapid Fire, a cheese nadegineer, and a kitteny thief/warrior.
When I babysit my friend’s account on Anvil Rock I usually have an easier time solo roaming. (Bronze Tier server, no one is ever on and a lot more people solo roam.)
Myself, I usually do better running CI Lockdown with staff+sword/pistol and sucking up the loss of speed. I don’t run centaur or trav runes. Zerker with Mesmer runes, blink, mantra of distraction, and decoy with mass invis., usually. One of us will die (or run away…)!
<3 I play for you, Takka (my Suncore guildie), sensei (when he gets his butt online), Valas (another Sun guildie but almost never on, like sensei), Pyro (when he’s not being a baby and gets online), Lynch, Chaos (of Twilight), Balz, and some people I am probably forgetting… NO WARLORD! I still hate you.