Guild Wars 2

Dual swords – if blurred frenzy was on 3 and the animation used both weapons that would be fantastic.

And yes it would be good in general to see more classes have dynamic #3 skills for MH/OH weapon sets. It just looks a little, I dunno… bland using each one separately – if you had one thing in each hand, whatever it was and had 5 ways to use them, surely one of those ways would involve using BOTH items together.

Lots of interesting replies, certainly given me some new perspectives on these traits.

Yeah the pistol trait is definitely a decent one, I missed that.

Focus I’m sort of 50/50 on it – one one hand the reflect is great, but at the same time there are many situations when it is not useful for the iWarden, and also times when TC is not positioned for reflecting purposes or when you hit Into the Void immediately. If you’ve already got that many points in Inspiration anyway then of course it is well worth traiting for.

Mice.8921:

Well, I’m concluding that there aren’t really any advantages to being an Asura – but you feel and look like a tiny purple ninja…

And that is an advantage in itself! ;D

Play one for the funky animations.

The three points you made can make a slight difference, but are not significant when it comes down to it.

I love elasticity with GS/staff – only recently switched to use GS Training trait and not really feeling the benefit of it.

Also in hindsight I should have geared the OP and title more towards the GS rather than attacking all other weapon traits, so apologies if it is misleading.

Xavi.6591:

Skip Mind Stab.

Of course, I only mentioned it for completeness. Yeah it’s not great, but it has it’s uses in groups. Funnily enough skipping it makes this even more of a problem, because you’re only cycling between 3 skills and an auto attack.

Iruwen.3164:

GS has relatively short cooldowns for its important skills, it’s a different story with other weapons. Staff has long cooldowns, focus can apply swiftness quicker and so on. Plus there are other improvements, like torch removing conditions or focus reflecting projectiles.

Focus is the one thing I can see the benefit from. Staff possibly. Sceptre/torch, I never specced into them, even for confusion builds so I’ll have to take your word for that. Sword – only really useful if you use OH as well, otherwise it should be called “spear training”.

I’m questioning the usefulness of these traits, particularly GS seeing as I’m currently using it in my build.

Assuming you’re using illusionists celerity (should be a given), and taking the GS -20% as an example: MB goes down to around 4.8s from 6.5, mind stab to 9.6s from 12, iZerker to 12s from 16, and Illusionary wave is still huge at 24s. Does that really make much difference?

My current build is a GS/staff hybrid, and in practice it’s not fast enough to get more than two MBs, one mind stab, one zerker and one illusionary wave in per rotation, before switching to staff, and you can do that without the trait anyway.

I can stay in GS for a tiny bit longer and get a third MB and second mind stab in (possibly another zerker), but even a small break in rhythm for repositioning or adapting to the environment means I’m waiting for a couple of seconds when I could be in staff already using abilities.

Staying in the traited weapon for an extended period of time is still inefficient compared to switching up. Unless I’m in a situation at range where staying in GS is the best decision, it seems not to be worth it.

I could say similar things for other cooldown traits. Am I just being completely thick here, or are they underwhelming?

Wish it worked with confusing combatants… (Please someone say it does – I’ve never timed it to check).

You could play any two classes, what playstyles do you prefer – in your face, ranged, deception and distraction, magic, gadgets… ?

^Why do you bother replying? It’s personal feedback – I want to enjoy this class, but don’t because of the weapon sets.

Skills I never use are:

iDisenchanter – long cast time, better forms of condition removal available
iDefender – can see it’s usefulness, but not in my build
Mantra of Concentration – clunky, useless
Mantra of Distraction – same as above
Illusion of Life – prohibitively long cooldown
Signet of Domination – a whole utility slot for 90 condition damage… waste of space tbh.

Well I’ve shelved/stasised my thief – all gear and money transferred to my mesmer. Only thing he has now are the town clothes, living like a beggar in lion’s arch! :p

He’ll stay like that until we get some new land and underwater weapons and 1-5 skills – that’s the only thing keeping me from deleting him, the prospect of either a two-handed melee weapon, an offhand sword, or something else. So that might be a while…

Got to love mimic – people just don’t expect it.

Personally I find there is a lack of variety in weapon skills/sets compared to other classes at the moment; underwater even more so – I can’t stand underwater combat as a thief.

Utilities, elites and traits are all fun to use/spec, with options for great mobility and stealth. But I really don’t like any of the main weapons and their skills.

Considering deleting my thief (first character from 3 day headstart), because of the weapons(or lack of weapons) available.

On land
- Decoy, Mimic

Underwater
- Decoy, Mirror Images

I change the third utility fairly often, mainly with SoI underwater and either Pain Inverter (asura), Blink, Arcane Thievery, or Mirror Images on Land.

Elite is mostly Mass Invisibility, because it has a great sound/visual effect (love the wave that travels into the distance), and very useful for additional stealth in pve when you just don’t want to engage something.
I also use the asura attack golem very often – it does a decent amount of damage, and provides an additional target that isn’t you.

As for mimic – it’s great with staff/GS and constant bouncing attacks for free 4s block/reflect while skills recharge. Plus I just like the animation and incredibly short cooldown.

I use GS and staff together too, for offensive and defensive purposes. Outnumbered => switch to staff. On the attack => switch to GS.

Tbh, never had any targeting problem with the GS – I find it one of the easier weapons to target. Mirror Blade is what you should be using – at least twice in one rotation, with some auto attacks, zerker and possibly (situational) mind stab in between.

MB is devastating at close range, especially if traited for bounce and cooldown.

2 handed hammer, with blast finishers and more defensive options compared to the GS.

Definitely in support of this – thieves could do with a 2 handed melee weapon.

In fact the one thing that bothers me most about thieves is their weapon sets – I don’t particularly like any of them outside of two skills – PW and unload.

One of the staff skills should be the spinning leap 2 you get with an oakheart branch.

A second skill could be the overhead strike with the metal bars you can pick up in the game.

Edit: In fact, as of right now I’m thoroughly bored of the thief – this weapon set would be the only thing keeping me from deleting my thief character.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Curunen.8729:

Advent.6193:

Psssh. Here goes the slippery slope again. Portal = nerfed. TW (and Quickness, period) = nerfed. Now, it’s Confusion. And, of course, once that gets well and truly boned, then what? “Oh, I don’t like that Staff bounce, it gives me burn/bleed/vuln stacks! Nerf, plz.”

Goodness, you’d think folk don’t realize that Confusion is one of the major Mesmer
Conditions, or something. Do Mesmer players cry about all the Poison and Bleed
Necros stack? Here’s the only “fix” Confusion needs: keep it from triggering on Trait-Dodges/(non-attacking) Attunement Swaps. Past that, if you can’t disable your autoattacks, that’s not a Mesmer’s (or Confusion Engi’s) fault.

Agreed.

Bleed, poison and burning is just as powerful as confusion, and punish you directly with damage compared to you punishing yourself by not paying attention.

And if people still moan about it, give it an obvious visual effect around the edge of the screen – purple blur or something, so there’s no way a player will be confused as to whether they’re confused! :p

You mean like the visual effect that’s already there?

More obvious – make the entire screen purple so the player can’t see anything.

Wouldn’t make a difference to me, but I don’t think it’s necessary in any case.

With a cooldown, you couldn’t pop two clones out in quick succession – and if you do this you have no endurance left to dodge anyway.

I agree it is a powerful trait, and a no-brainer for anyone speccing 20 in duelling, but I don’t think an internal cooldown is the solution to balancing it.

Advent.6193:

Psssh. Here goes the slippery slope again. Portal = nerfed. TW (and Quickness, period) = nerfed. Now, it’s Confusion. And, of course, once that gets well and truly boned, then what? “Oh, I don’t like that Staff bounce, it gives me burn/bleed/vuln stacks! Nerf, plz.”

Goodness, you’d think folk don’t realize that Confusion is one of the major Mesmer
Conditions, or something. Do Mesmer players cry about all the Poison and Bleed
Necros stack? Here’s the only “fix” Confusion needs: keep it from triggering on Trait-Dodges/(non-attacking) Attunement Swaps. Past that, if you can’t disable your autoattacks, that’s not a Mesmer’s (or Confusion Engi’s) fault.

Agreed.

Bleed, poison and burning is just as powerful as confusion, and punish you directly with damage compared to you punishing yourself by not paying attention.

And if people still moan about it, give it an obvious visual effect around the edge of the screen – purple blur or something, so there’s no way a player will be confused as to whether they’re confused! :p

His character isn’t bad – ok it’s pretty flat, and very annoying having him replace the fantastic order mentor.

My main gripe is the voice acting for him is awful. I know the standard in the game isn’t amazing, and often it is laughably (in a good way) funny/cheesy.
But I don’t know what happened with the VA for Trahearne – it’s so dull and lifeless it’s painful to listen to. Kind of ruins an already mediocre character.

Dastion.3106:

Yes yes, good players will be able to discern clones, we usually dodge to do a quick shatter combo, etc. etc. it’s been said.

Whatever the reasonings, I think an important point that here we have a player of another profession who has noticed a predictable behavior of Mesmers and utilizes it to his advantage and he’s sharing that with us.

It’s rare we have player of another profession pop over and offer friendly advise, it’s a refreshing change.

Agreed, it’s nice to see cross profession sharing – makes for a better community.

Not to mention the on kill/overwrite traits – dodge clone production is a good way of blowing up clones and applying those conditions if your illusions are not being actively killed.

Navi.7142:

I have another one:

In your dreams you are dodging like hell to create illusions. ^^

Dreams?
You move out of someone’s way in RL and think you’ve left a clone where you stood.

MrForz.1953:

Curunen.8729:

The only 3 classes I would think of as marginally underpowered when compared with the 4 above are engis, necros and rangers, although I do see a good number of these in pve at least.

facepalm

Hey, I’m just responding to the OP’s claims – I know how powerful those 3 classes can be. When I say underpowered, I mean like 0.1% (arbitrary) below eles/thieves and such. Otherwise all classes are on almost equal footing.

IMO portal is the only thing mesmers bring to the table that no other class has and can even remotely be considered overpowered. For the record I don’t even like or use portal, no matter the situation.

I fail to see a problem with any other ability when compared to eles, guardians or thieves in particular – each of these played well can give anyone a run for their money, mesmer or not.

The only 3 classes I would think of as marginally underpowered when compared with the 4 above are engis, necros and rangers, although I do see a good number of these in pve at least.

Mesmers are not easy to play well, and can easily be beaten if not played well.

MH focus would be awesome – dual wield fans

Crossplay.2067:

A little piece of me dies inside everytime someone says a particular weapon doesn’t fit the Mesmer profile. We are a class based on strange, misleading and unorthodox attacks. Bows could easily be adapted to fit us. As I started in another post, they could be used like Klingon Battleths with the occasional shot fired, just to remind people that we are using a bow. Another idea came to me today. Ever watch Bleach? Quincies fight an awful lot like Mesmers, if you as me, and they ALL use bows!

The only thing is there has to be some restriction, otherwise you may as well give every class every weapon.

Yes I agree with you that you can make any weapon fit the mesmer because of the deception and not using things as they’re “meant” to be used, and I’m sure you could make most weapons fit most classes too, even things like a hammer thief or a rifle guardian.

I dunno, maybe they should give every class every weapon, with different class specific abilities and let the player decide for themselves what style they wish to go with.

:D

Right, so we need the following:
- melee longbow/shortbow
- ranged hammer
- ranged (flying) daggers?
…
- MH pistol.

Oh and thief should get a new 2 hander – maybe a staff or spear?

Planning on either guardian (hammer) or ele (lightning hammer).

8 on 8, what’s that – 32 vs 32 max? :p

I’ll admit, I’m not too fond of swapping – it just looks weird when every 10 seconds or so during combat a different item magically appears in your character’s hands (well, it can make sense with a mesmer for it to have appeared out of thin air!).

But that’s how this game works, and if you’re not swapping then you’re not being as effective/efficient as you could be. It might not be the most aesthetically pleasing option, but then the game doesn’t aim to have “realistic” combat.

The only class that can get away without much swapping is the thief.

Great podcast, looking forward to what you guys do in the future.

Brendar.3548:

You do realize that the soundtrack has been available since launch right?

SAB tunes.

Ah fantastic!

Bows don’t really suit the class – would be like giving a hammer to a thief, or a greatsword to an engi.

I agree that each class should have some new weapons added at some point, but there still needs to be some separation between the tools they have access to.

MH pistol is the first thing that the mesmer should get. Anything else is a bonus. I’m personally rooting for land based spear with tweaked abilities.

Funnily enough this is the reason I prefer playing thief as an asura – that sound and visual effect for thief dodge on every other race is horrible. So much better without it.

Kingfisher.7213:

It is trivial to establish which college is superior.

Statics is simply Dynamics taking a rest, therefore:

• College of Statics < College of Dynamics

Synergetics reveals the Eternal Alchemy (the dynamics of the cosmos… not small scale dynamics like the other college studies, but of all existence) therefore:

• College of Dynamics < College of Synergetics

Since we previously established that the College of Statics < College of Dynamics, we can make use of the Transitive Property to establish that:

• College of Statics < College of Dynamics < College of Synergetics

So, to sum up… rest, cosmos, SYNERGETICS.

Sound logic, I agree!

-Animations
-Superior intelligence
-Culture
-Architecture
-Dialogue and personal stories
-Can make them look like rabbits/hares

Seriously OP? Where did you get that 80% of players dislike charr and asura?
They’re both awesome.

This game has better and more unique races (including non-playable ones – skritt, quaggan, hylek…) than most of the rehashed fantasy games out there, and that’s saying something considering the lore has never been the selling point of GW, compared to other things (say TES for example).

And I have to say, sylvari are a breath of fresh air – sort of the mirror image of standard fantasy elves, in that they are incredibly young and naive, with psychedelic architecture that has more in common with things like Cinderella.

Now all we need are playable Tengu.

I find that mesmers are almost better underwater than they are on land, and one of the few classes that are actually fun to play underwater.

For general travelling there’s spear 2 and 4, so most of the time I have that equipped when not in combat.

Depending on how combat starts, I’d either open with spear 2 (if moving out of the way is necessary), or vortex followed by a few auto attacks (this can be devastating if you grab a few enemies in the vortex) and release the iMariner.

If engaging from range, I’d switch to trident, open with 2 or 5, followed by a few auto attacks, get the iWhaler out and switch to the spear.

I need to make better use of spear 4 in combat; at the moment I mainly use it to flee or reposition rather than trying to trap enemies.
For spear 2, sometimes you want to blink back to the initial position, and sometimes it’s best to stay where you finish – completely situational.

I’ve always got decoy underwater for repositioning and the extra clone, feedback is sometimes useful (especially if you’re a glamour/confusion build). But utilities are up to you.

How about some underwater weapons on land?

Ok, harpoon gun is a no go on land (crossbow substitute?), but there should be land variants of both spear and trident, for the classes that have them (others like the engi of course will not have access).

Midnight – keep the +10% boon duration, but maybe add a small +15% speed boost.

Inspiration – +25% movement and no boons when out of combat (in combat the usual 10s per boon).

Mirror looks good! Might be useful in some builds now.

If anything I find Blade Training more useful for the spear.

The 2 seconds less on BF is completely unnecessary if you’re switching weapons regularly in your rotation.

Noticed a d/d ele doing this recently. In a public match where people may or may not be testing new/quirky builds.

Just change the chat channel and ignore.

That’s just it. Being able to take on whole groups because of AoE abilities, at the same time as supporting your team, while also being powerful in 1v1.

It doesn’t require that much effort – not saying I “hate” it, that’s a pretty strong word. It was the first build I used in pvp back near launch because it is easy to pick up the basics and be effective.

Of course there is an added layer of complexity that takes it from good to god-like, when learning how to maximise the confusion stacks through shatters, field placement, and so on…

Staff is a lot easier tbh (personal opinion).

GS is more fun/satisfying.

I was tempted to name one “Mesmerelda”.

But I named the asura “Sailears”, because of the way the ears billow out like sails on a ship, and I tried to make the largest ears possible in the character creator. ;D