Guild Wars 2

Valarauka.2719:

It really is a great sword.

Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all week.

Just don’t lose your focus.

I’m really excited – medium scale open world pvp with pve in the background. No mandatory point capture and tiny maps of pvp, hopefully not as bland as the wvw maps. And best of all, server mixing = should be nice to play with players on other servers, on the same team.

Fingers crossed it’s going to be a solo roamer/small group roaming dream. Exactly what I’ve been waiting for.

Good these are still going – nice to chill out, listen and pick up any tips.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Curunen.8729:

Either way, we’ll see what happens when the patch hits – I’m not going to hold it against them.

I’m sure someone in there has a good overview/vision in mind for the mesmer.

They’ve never displayed it. Not once. So whoever this guy is he needs to open his mouth and get involved with the rest of the development team.

Fortunately I didn’t watch the video, so I’m blissfully ignorant about the way they handled it. I’m hoping by being positive it might encourage any of the devs who care about thus class to step up and make the changes needed.

Either way, we’ll see what happens when the patch hits – I’m not going to hold it against them.

I’m sure someone in there has a good overview/vision in mind for the mesmer.

Funny, I used to love the GS from the start – hands down my favourite weapon.

Awesome animations, awesome visual effects.

Now I never use it unless farming world bosses…

hihey.1075:

Curunen.8729:

^Agreed.
Especially C – so often they think they’ve almost got you, they overextend, and that’s where you can turn it around pretty quickly.

Any skilled player has always in mind the cooldowns of the opponent part. I will never overextend if I know my opponent has a powerful Cooldown ready, unless I have a way out of it.

A lot of people do – some more, some less, but everyone’s going to make a mistake once in a while – I certainly do.

Yes, it’s good to know there can be some sort of dialogue about these things.

Very weird – especially to be highlighted in this preview when there are many more crucial things to fix/change.

Anyway, I’m indifferent to this one.

Not much else listed. Good to see they took on board the feedback for DE.

Interested to see other changes, but I guess we’ll find out nearer the time.

^Agreed.
Especially C – so often they think they’ve almost got you, they overextend, and that’s where you can turn it around pretty quickly.

I got a transmutation crystal from the last one – really can’t have enough of these!

Default.4015:

Free PvEer loot bags for the first couple weeks. After that its a map where you no longer have to look for fights during off hours or kill the stragglers off of zergs just to find someone outside of a blob/tower. The fact that all servers will be feeding into this maps population means no stale matchups and no ppt to draw huge zergs. Just a place for small groups/soloers to run around and play for the fights. Should be a lot of fun if roamers use this map to fight against one another away from the zergs that usually ruin fights.

My thoughts exactly. Should be great fun for small groups/solo roamers.

Morrigan.2809:

Breached Wall- Diessa Plateau.
Dostoev Sky Peak is cake compared to this piece of torture

Hmm, stange – I found that one pretty easy just by doing the JP.

Same for green EB keep – personally found that one incredibly easy. Zoom close in to the character and those beam jumps are trivial.

Dredgehaunt Cliffs – Dostoev Sky Peak.

Nothing else in wvw (personally think all wvw vistas are easy – some are just a waiting game) or pve compares to this vista. Been ages since I’ve done it, and it’s the one that has stayed in my memory because of how horrible it is.

The number of times getting knocked off those platforms, or even finding the right path up to it… glad I never have to do it again!

Kaos.9162:

It’s going to be amazing to see the champ train meet the hammer train, lmao.

Heh, that’ll be well worth watching.

Viking Jorun.5413:

Have you fought a sword thief? One word: cleave.

Sword thief don’t care what he hits. As long as you aren’t running cripple on shatter, you’ll lose to any decent sword thief.

That’s like saying you’ll lose to a decent PU mesmer simply because they have the trait.

Just having a sword doesn’t automatically mean a decent thief will win in a 1v1 – all down to the players and the situation (terrain, etc) – win some, lose some.

The counters, dazes and interrupts have a good chance of messing up any thief’s skill usage, providing they are timed correctly and followed up with a burst.

Why is there this constant bickering between wvw and pve players as to who gets what?

To me it’s a new map, with largescale pvp opportunities, with LS going on in the background, which might make for some unpredictable and fresh situations. I’m quite exited about the whole thing. What’s wrong with having LS elements in the map?

Any pure pve players entering should be prepared for pvp combat and stick with a group if that makes them feel safer. And for pure wvwers – we don’t know if there will be wvw objectives tied into this map, whether around the LS and npcs or not, but regardless there will be other players here to fight.

For the record I don’t like pve combat, don’t do dungeons (beyond arah story) and have never set foot in fractals.

RedCobra.7693:

Ran in Spvp with a few friends last night against all types of thieves, i have to say that this build is absolutely delicious xD it feels so safe against them with the counters, and i took your advice hihey with taking the GS it works like a charm just to switch for that one knockback skill, i tested this build against some other classes and the one that it was terrible against was another mesmer, the fact that the enemies clones proc your blocks is bad but something is worse with the counters, if a clone procs your counter from your off-hand sword the dps will hit the clone, NOT your target, this severly reduces dps against classes and in group situations (after testing in WvW) it works like a charm it can be quite frustrating trying to focus dps onto a single target, so i think im just going to keep this build specifically for killing thieves :P

This is the main reason I don’t like to run with those blocks regularly.

Great against thieves, but as soon as you throw pet classes into the mix, the chance those counters will hit their intended targets is not great.

I have to say I was also not fond of the torment addition to iCounter – preferred the direct damage.

I’m looking forward to this, even with scarlet’s minions inside – should be a little kittenaotic to begin with, and I love the look of the screenshots.

Anything that gives new scenery for wvw.

Good to take elasticity if you want to build around the staff – makes the AA pretty decent.

Zerker, soldier, knight.

Assassin’s if I desperately need precision, but usually restrict that to weapons. Valkyrie if I need vitality, but that’s very rare. Cavalier is usually better on trinkets at the moment anyway.

I don’t play condition anymore, so no condition sets.

Having problems here too, out of the ordinary.

Frequently dropping out of wvw.

I don’t know much about dungeons, but I know I wouldn’t play a glamour confusion build in pvp/wvw anymore, let alone pve when almost everything else will be more effective.

Anyway, anything will work so if you enjoy it then go ahead. I am confused what purpose rending shatter is serving here for one?

You mean holding off on ascended weapons/armour? Maybe, considering there is no way to change stats at the moment.

I still think zerker weapons will be good enough after the change, so may be worth crafting them up to max if you like given they’re flexible enough to be used in different builds.

As for armour, I’m not touching that until a stat change feature/item is introduced, or the price is drastically cheaper. If that’s never, then so be it.

Yeah, Sc/Sw + IP will frustrate many a thief.

I question 20 in insp though – might be better off 10 in dom for mental torment, or chaos for blink cooldown.

mergi.1407:

Why did the Sylvari roll over?
Because the grass is greener on the other side.

Nearly spat my tea out. Two thumbs up!

defrule.7236:

I have an idea, give legendaries stat and skin choosing ability. They have access to all stats and you can also add skins to the “skin bank” to choose from.

Ascended stuff – stats choosing only.

That’s a great idea, would certainly help the folk who find legendary skins to be ugly.

I can’t imagine anyone buying a legendary purely for stat change, and transmuting an exotic skin over the top, for example.

Isn’t legendary 90% about the skin, not the changeable stats (at least, before stat change became available)?

I don’t know many people who like ascended skins as it is, so they are purely for the stats, which is why I believe this thread makes sense.

Mmm, I don’t find PU/stealth annoying to fight – condition classes/builds (ie necro, engi) are far worse. Even pure phantasm mesmers are more annoying.

Of course, PU combined with conditions/phantasms is what becomes the challenge.

Personally don’t care what someone else plays – I’ll just stick to the build I find most fun at this moment (which happens to be stealth shatter with IP). I admit that there’s not enough variety in the builds out there at the moment, but things will change and builds will shift as the months pass.

Memser staff auto already bounces – traited with extra bounce you can deal with multiple targets. #4 is defence against (and triggering conditions on) multiple targets, and #5 is ground targeted AoE anyway. 2 is simply utility (well… complex utility, with many and varied applications).

If anything, the iwarlock could be changed to the sort of AoE attack you might want, although I feel the staff feature set is fine as it is. I don’t see how anything else could be changed for more AoE.

In fact, OH focus has more AoE application than the staff, and if there were a MH focus with similar AoE abilities, that would fill that void nicely.

For the record I haven’t jumped at it – I have no intention of making any ascended gear beyond using trinkets, and maybe weapons (depending on how the upcoming crit damage changes affect berserker weapons).

To me considering how much effort/cost goes into an ascended item, it seems ridiculous that you’re then locked into one stat combo.

Something human females say – is it “My leg!” or “My lady!”? I can never understand.

Really weird line.

How would it detract from legendaries if you had to pay for the stat change?

Not to mention not having the fancy skin/effects of a legendary, which some players don’t even like.

As it is now it gives players little incentive to try out new builds using the best stats, so anyone who wants variety in their class is better off having half a dozen exotic sets and switching them up (edit, unless you’re one of the few that can afford several ascended sets for one character).

I’m going to keep pushing for a stat change item – even if it is through the gemstore, and only works on exotic and above.

Excellent as usual, thanks for sharing!

Agreed 100%.

Legendaries have free stat change.
Ascended should have consumable/paid for stat change – cheap enough to be practical, but should be more expensive than equivalent exotic items.

Wait, I’m confused – you want to duo with mesmer or necro?

For what it’s worth, I find warrior + necro to be a scary combination to face, if both good players.

Rarely any, but if I had to then Queensdale because it’s a little slower paced and the scenery is nice.

Frostgorge is just a mad rush – I hate it.

Likes:
- Freedom to play against other players in whatever way I like, unlike the mandatory and monotonous point capture system in pvp.
- Largescale pvp, community and teamwork, even if it does amount to mindless zerging.
- Unpredictability – you never know what you might happen upon, from solo roamers to unique player groups.

Dislikes:
- Lack of varied environments, and overall quite a small playing area. Could do with some of that pve landscape artistry.
- Simple objectives – cap this camp, defend this keep… could be a little more imaginitive/dynamic – this ties into the above, if the playing environment was more interesting.
- Gear and consumable use – this might be against the grain, but I would prefer all gear/consumable stats to be standardised as in PvP, especially if pvp and pve cosmetics are to be merged in the future.

Ideally I’d love a WvW using the entire PvE playing area – from Rata Sum all the way over to the crystal desert. I know it won’t happen, but it would be so fun…

Fox.3562:

As far as I know, that only happens if you try using it while you’re stunned/knocked down. It’s a graphical bug only since the skill is instant cast an will teleport you while stunned, but it is not a stun breaker. You should still be in the knockdown/stunned animation but phase retreat puts your model in a standing position.

For at least 5 minutes? Even after waypointing?

Blurred frenzy got me out of the last one, after trying as many different things as possible.

It just happens randomly on the odd occasion for no apparent reason. Worse than getting stuck in terrain as you’re usually out in the open as a free kill.

This is the trouble – if you farm you end up with far too much, if you don’t regularly participate in world bosses you get pretty much nothing.

I can understand it’s to spread out players over different areas of the game so no events are left abandoned, but there needs to be options of obtaining these materials.

I like that idea, to have it complete one attack cycle on spawning, and then move towards the enemy.

Perhaps put a time limit on the movement – say even if it doesn’t reach its target, after 6 seconds of chasing it will stop and initiate another attack cycle?

It’s not really effective though playing like that, beyond having a laugh – not going to be able to deal out the pain without giving yourself away somehow.

The one where you can’t move after blinking and stand there like a lemon waiting for the enemy to kill you…

I’m aware this is an issue with other teleport skills as well, but it happens far too often at the moment such that I’m afraid to rely on the staff in any fight.

Would rather have stationary in its current form – at the moment in some situations it’s arguably less useful than the iMage.

Ideally however I’d love it to be ground targeted – needing a target to cast, but can be positioned anywhere you like within 1200 range. Would open up a lot of tactical play.

Ok I can say I’ve got used to it now!

Just took a while with positioning/flanking and movement, to take into account shorter time of travel between points.

This looks very interesting, though of course seems like it works best with some organised teamwork.

Andytheffboy.7403:

Osi! The burst is amazing! It’s nice to have burst on both weapon sets. I’ve been testing it out in spvp. I found that the two combo chains well together if you use division into mind wreck. I start with greatsword 4, 2, dodge for clone, F3. That stacks vuln and gives me might which sets up for the next burst very well. Then I swap to sword/torch 5, 4, dodge, 3, 3, 2, F1.

What do you think of signet of ether? Do you prefer ether feast over it? Also, is staff viable in this build?

I have come to the conclusion that with 20/20/30 PU and Sw/T, having staff as the second set lacks that ranged edge you need to take down runners, or deal any decent damage at range for that matter. It’s just too soft. Yes you can survive easier by being defensive, but downing someone is going to take a lot of effort.

You could spec for mental torment with staff and try a shatter/PU hybrid, but from testing I find that a lot weaker than just playing stealth/shatter with IP.

GS makes up for that offensive weakness, so the only way I would take staff there is by dropping torch (and having to make up for that by taking veil, which => less condition protection).

Edit: Alternatively scepter + sword/focus/pistol can be used in place of the GS if you want something more defensive.

Zoe.8310:

PU build??

The flavour of the last 6 months or so – chaos XII – enjoy effortless survival.

rhapsody.3615:

I had traveler runes for a little while. The running animation didn’t bother me- I find most asura animations hilarious and that is why I have so much fun playing mine. I now use centaur runes, which I find sufficient when paired with blink and the speed buffs around me.

Why did you switch, if I might ask?

I’m just going to keep two sets of armour and swap them around if I want some control over running speed.