Guild Wars 2

I find it funny that people complain about storyline missions, 2.5 years after the game has been released.

Are they easier on some classes? Sure.

Are some of them tedious or long? Absolutely.

Are they undoable? Probably over 1 million or more other players finishing them beg to disagree.

Solution:
- read up on hints for a problematic storyline mission if you can’t comeup with a solution on your own.
- Improve your gear. It’s maddening how many people run around in dated blues and greens when the game throws karma gear at you left and right.
- Read up on how to improve playing your class. Especially with complicated classes like Elementalist.
- Bring a friend/guildy/relative w/e along if you still can’t beat the mission.

Story missions prepare you for the mechanics needed later in the game. If you are having trouble here, don’t expect things to be fun or get better at max level. Dodging and understanding your class requirements just increases.

A listing fee is just that, a fee. You don’t get it back.

As of this writing the TP fees are:

- 5% listing fee
- 10% transaction fee

Total of 15% fee for selling something. The fee is there exactly to keep people from constantly relisting expensive items.

Devata.6589:

Cyninja.2954:

“I get more and more the feeling this game really isn’t for you.”

If it comes to the cosmetics parts no it isn’t indeed. Funny thing is, this game all being about cosmetics it should be.. Now you obviously not caring so much about cosmetics you can wonder if it should have been your game.

Devata.6589:

Cyninja.2954:

Devata.6589:

So in the end, 2,5 years after release we are left with a game that is not for those who like cosmetics but mainly for those who like stats or are fine with grinding. Of course that is also undermining their complete business model. Sure their is still a group left they is fine with simply buying what they want but the big question is if that group is big enough.

“I get more and more the feeling this game really isn’t for you.”
If it comes to the cosmetics parts no it isn’t indeed. Funny thing is, this game all being about cosmetics it should be.. Now you obviously not caring so much about cosmetics you can wonder if it should have been your game.

And you still do not understand what I’ve been trying to point out. This game was NOT catered to people who like to play dress-up. It was catered to people who don’t like powercreep. How is this so hard to understand?

Why would I quit? I enjoy the game as is, get cosmetic items if I want to and set personal goals as needed. Why is it so hard for you to let go of this game and realize, it won’t change to what you want it to be due to 1 simple reason: companys need to make money and Anet business model draws revenue from optional cosmetics.

you mean who like cosmetics and other fluff right? Something you clearly don’t like as you talk about it in this negative way.

Really all I have to say about that statement is lol. This game promoted to be for casuals where the biggest goals are not stats but gear that let you shoot rainbows with one-horns was not meant to be catering towards people who like cosmetics.

On the other hand, this statement of you says a lot and even only supports what I said. At least for everybody who does think the game was supposed to cater towards that group.

“Why would I quit?” I don’t know. Why you ask me? It’s not like I said you had to quit.

I do not wonder at why it should be my game. I knew exactly what type of game and what type of philosophy from anet I got into. You are the one having a major beef with the game and Anets approach to monetization.

The game is promoted for casuals. Yes. You can casually get to 80 with doing just about anything. Even at the most casual grinding you’ll get there in less than 3 days played. That is way less then any other MMO at release.

You can now get geared casually in not more than a week (exotics being close enough to ascended. But I’ve already stated, this I would accept as only step away from their original manifesto).

You will not encounter powercreep or treadmilling when introduced to new content.

Result, a casual friendly MMO.

On a side note, I have my fashion collector title (more than easy with dozens of cheap under 1-10 silver skins off the AH and Karma available skins). I even have my faction set 1,2 and 3. All easily aquired over 2.5 years of playing.

You want everythig handed to you on a silver platter while at the same time killing the hand that feeds you (Anet current monetization approach). Learn to live with it while hoping they might change, or leave. Your choice.

Full Zerker Mesmer.

L2dodge. Every single Vinewrath boss attack and the 5 minibosses during the breach phase can easily be avoided.

Understand that using purely defensive gear you are actually negatively impacting the fight (not as much as being afk or dying, true) but this game is designed so that pve can be played at maximum damage output (except for Tequatle).

If you really are having problems, switch trinkets to something more defensive until you reach a point where you feel comfortable. Better then going straight tank and having to rely on others to do your share of damage.

Devata.6589:

So in the end, 2,5 years after release we are left with a game that is not for those who like cosmetics but mainly for those who like stats or are fine with grinding. Of course that is also undermining their complete business model. Sure their is still a group left they is fine with simply buying what they want but the big question is if that group is big enough.

“I get more and more the feeling this game really isn’t for you.”
If it comes to the cosmetics parts no it isn’t indeed. Funny thing is, this game all being about cosmetics it should be.. Now you obviously not caring so much about cosmetics you can wonder if it should have been your game.

And you still do not understand what I’ve been trying to point out. This game was NOT catered to people who like to play dress-up. It was catered to people who don’t like powercreep. How is this so hard to understand?

Why would I quit? I enjoy the game as is, get cosmetic items if I want to and set personal goals as needed. Why is it so hard for you to let go of this game and realize, it won’t change to what you want it to be due to 1 simple reason: companys need to make money and Anet business model draws revenue from optional cosmetics.

Devata.6589:

Obtena.7952:

Devata.6589:

Maybe but if there are to many of ‘me’ it will in the end mainly be ‘their’ loss.

OK, but that’s neither here nor there; it’s an empty threat because Anet knows better than anyone about how their choices to develop the game affect customer retention, acquisition rates, etc… They know better than any of us. Arguments about ‘losing customers’ have no basis in facts. These scare tactics and fear-mongering are laughable, especially if you’re the person holding the data.

Ah this again. I did hear the same from people defending the temporary content in the threads about that. Eventually also Anet had to come back on that.

Also Anet can be wrong or blinded by some things. And the data does show income only going down while the Living Story was supposed to keep it steady. Another thing where it looks like Anet was wrong while again enough people on the forums stated from the beginning the LS would not be able to hold customers.

No, Anet is not some oracle that is all seeing.

No they are not, and I’m sure things developed and changed as they went along (see ascended armor). Their recent announcement of HoT and its features shows that they are still commited to some of their initial design decisions. (Buy2play, cosmetics are optional, no powercreep).

Once they decide to move away from that, we can talk.

Devata.6589:

Getting to the place indeed always took time while I don’t think that is considered grinding (nor do I have a problem with that, it makes the world feel bigger). And yes half a hour was usually enough to get the mats you needed for the next item you where working on. (No need to grind for gold multiple hours to buy the mats you need like in GW2)

Then crafting useless items.. well that is likely true for some crafts (that I did not like those) but for the fun crafts that isn’t true.. Well considering I did not see cosmetics as useless.

The second thing on the list you could create with engineering was dynamite what was already fun to fool around with. Then a bomb, then better dynamite then a mini, then a target dummy, then other types of dynamite, then fireworks, then some strange toys, then companions that would heal you, then exploding sheeps.. and so on and so on. No grind in that, it was like being a boy in a candy shop getting from the one candy to the next. There was never a lot of leveling between those items.

Now that is exactly what we should see in a ‘casual’, ‘cosmetic’ focused game like GW2 for it to be a real big success imho. And of course the hunt for that sort of things.

“WoW crafting was primarily a tool to get to max crafting” Lol, no I did it to get the next item.. now in GW2 crafting is useless until level 400 or 500. Are you sure you are not mixing up some things?

“or the next expansion to craft those 1-2 items that became obsolete 2 months into the expansion.” Well like in the example, it where not 1 or 2 items and the nice thing about toys and cosmetics is that they do not get obsolete in the next expansion.

I completely get where you are coming from, don’t get me wrong.

You are the type of person who wants the best gear / stats, maybe also wants to do the hardest dungeon. Me on the other hand, I have no problem with doing the hardest dungeon but don’t care for gear and if that locks me out of that dungeon so be it, for me those cosmetics are a huge part of the game.

So from your perspective I can completely understand you love how GW2 is not a grind for you and I can understand how WoW was grind for you. But for people who like cosmetics and the hunt for cosmetics it’s just the other way around.

What your basically saying is, you want a crafting profession for doodles and useless stuff, and no, none of the items in engineering in WoW were any where near useful for years. They were fluff, I’ll agree to that. They were funny (sometimes) and essentially served as comedic relief. The majority of crafting was not.

It’s not about maximum stats. It’s about Anet stating that they want to allow players to experience as much of their game (events, dungeons, story, etc.) as they can with a minimum of grind required even with the addition of new content. This game is Buy2play, they’re business model demands some kind of revenue. Optional and cosmetic items is their approach.

I get more and more the feeling this game really isn’t for you. You might want to check out some other more traditional MMOs where the “fluff” is added in for “free” thanks to a recurring subscription.

Arkinos.7245:

Cyninja.2954:

Devata.6589:

Obtena.7952:

Ashen.2907:

Obtena.7952:

I didn’t say you did, but it is why anything that is a grind is not Anet’s fault.

I did not speak of fault. I merely pointed out that by ANets own definition there is grind involved in the acquisition of ascended gear.

Now that you mention fault:

Anet defined grind as boring repetition. Anet knew that some people would find crafting to be boring and repetitive. Anet chose to implement something that they knew fit their own definition of grind. Fault might be a poor choice of words because it implies something wrong, but responsibility fits.

Now, if your Devata, you want direct rewards. That would address the crafting with something that is most definitely identified as grindy … locking specific rewards behind repeated content.

Lol, not when implemented correctly. In WoW crafting was one of my main things I did (next to hunting down items). The reason is that the mats you needed never where a big grind. Go to some place and farm it for a few min and you got it. Not comparable with how it works in GW2.

The work usually was getting the recipe or simply leveling up, but with the craft I liked (engineering) also that was not a grind because ever level there was another new fun / cosmetic item you could make. Meaning you always where working towards your next goal (some item). So no, there is no need for crafting to be a boring grind.

You are to much trapped in the way things work in GW2 it seems.

Your and my experience of WoW grind must have been a very different one. Take off the rose tinted glasses. The grind in WoW was just as bad if not worse crafting wise. Go some where and you had you materials after a couple of minutes? More like fly (ride for the vanilla players) for multiple hours hunting shared material nodes to craft useless items just to increase your crafting skill.

There is also one of the biggest differences. WoW crafting was primarily a tool to get to max crafting level for the next expansion to craft those 1-2 items that became obsolete 2 months into the expansion. In GW2 crafting actually provides items required in the ingame economy, big difference balance wise.

The difference is that Blizzard never aimed to make a grind free mmo.
Anet does claim that.

Now while its obviously crap that only works because of their very convenient definition of grind, there are still a lot of people buying that crap.

I never said Blizzard aimed to accomplish such a feat. I was answering the comparison that crafting in WoW was supposedly “fun”. At the same time pointing out that even when comparing both crating mechanics, one of them provides near no usefull items at endgame, the other one does.

Second you might want to reread the part about powercreep and not having to grind to keep up with it, which is essentially what anet promised and has delivered on. Every game has grind, maybe you’ll want to educate yourself about how many forms of grind there actually are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grinding_%28video_gaming%29 . Even repeatedly replaying a shooter stage, fighting game, etc. can be considered grinding due to trying to hones ones skills.

Devata.6589:

Obtena.7952:

Ashen.2907:

Obtena.7952:

I didn’t say you did, but it is why anything that is a grind is not Anet’s fault.

I did not speak of fault. I merely pointed out that by ANets own definition there is grind involved in the acquisition of ascended gear.

Now that you mention fault:

Anet defined grind as boring repetition. Anet knew that some people would find crafting to be boring and repetitive. Anet chose to implement something that they knew fit their own definition of grind. Fault might be a poor choice of words because it implies something wrong, but responsibility fits.

Now, if your Devata, you want direct rewards. That would address the crafting with something that is most definitely identified as grindy … locking specific rewards behind repeated content.

Lol, not when implemented correctly. In WoW crafting was one of my main things I did (next to hunting down items). The reason is that the mats you needed never where a big grind. Go to some place and farm it for a few min and you got it. Not comparable with how it works in GW2.

The work usually was getting the recipe or simply leveling up, but with the craft I liked (engineering) also that was not a grind because ever level there was another new fun / cosmetic item you could make. Meaning you always where working towards your next goal (some item). So no, there is no need for crafting to be a boring grind.

You are to much trapped in the way things work in GW2 it seems.

Your and my experience of WoW grind must have been a very different one. Take off the rose tinted glasses. The grind in WoW was just as bad if not worse crafting wise. Go some where and you had you materials after a couple of minutes? More like fly (ride for the vanilla players) for multiple hours hunting shared material nodes to craft useless items just to increase your crafting skill.

There is also one of the biggest differences. WoW crafting was primarily a tool to get to max crafting level for the next expansion to craft those 1-2 items that became obsolete 2 months into the expansion. In GW2 crafting actually provides items required in the ingame economy, big difference balance wise.

Race change will likely never happen, simply due to the amount of coding and effort to properly implement it. (I love all those people going "oh this is easy, just change A, B, C and D and it will work. If programming an MMO was only this easy. Reminds me of the guy who wanted to develope WoW2 via Java.)

Second it goes completely against their central game design that you are playing a personal story with decisions and consequences (though most are cosmetic and narative in nature, they are final and mutually exclusive). Like it or not, your discomfort will not change this.

Accept this or reroll. There are battles one can pick to fight, this is not one of them.

Obtena.7952:

Devata.6589:

Obtena.7952:

I didn’t say you did. The fact it’s subjective is why anything that is a grind is not Anet’s fault though. Their definition is pretty crafty that way. It’s basically saying “If you choose to not play the game in a way that’s not boring to you, it’s not a grind”. Brilliant IMO.

Anet simply provide many different ways for players to enjoy themselves that reward play to get gear, even ascended. It’s, in essence, what a sandbox MMO allows you to do.

What I consider fun / not boring it working directly towards items, doing task that belong to the items (Like getting a dragons head for.. well killing that dragon).. Hunting down items. Not grinding gold to buy them.

Them my conclusion is that there is very little reason for you to enjoy this game; you’re issue isn’t about grind. I’ve already pointed this out to you many times. You’re not actually against grind, just the method you get rewards.

This. I think most people don’t understand what grind is. Anet never said there would be no grind, they said there would be no grind due to power creep (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_creep). Same as in GW1. Now you might object and think other things like gathering gold etc. to get skins, legendarys etc. constitutes grind, but none of those items are required but optional goals. On top of that there are multiple ways to aquire/reach said items/goals.

Here’s an example of what would not work in most other MMO’s in the market right now which works in GW2: take a year break and come back with no loss in character power. (I actually did that and came back 3 weeks ago due to HoT hype). My characters level of power remained the absolute same as 1 year ago since there was no gear depreciation. Try doing that in just about any other MMO and you’ll be in for a suprise.

Is there grind in GW2? Yes. Is there powercreep that requires constant grind to “keep up”? No. (minor gated content in fractals due to agony, but getting the needed ar is dirt easy nowadays).

Stumpe.3684:

Regarding gear I have never really bought any just used quest rewards and I have 11 gold to play with regarding upgrades which I’m good to spend with help.

/The Asura Mesmer Stumpi

The other advice is sound but this could pose a problem too. Make sure your equipment is not dated. The game is very harsh on dated equipment, especially those armor values you lose. Scaling also scales you down to “weaker” equipment if your equipment is dated.

Check the TP for some cheap greens or worst case blues. If you feel like spending gold get some rares. You’ll be even able to salvage some of the cost if the rares are level 68+ since you can salvage them for ectos once you outgrow them.

Ether Fest is your go to heal. Try using Signet of Illusions so your illusions live longer and hold off on shattering until your cooldown has run down a bit. Sword/Sword + Greatsword works, if you have trouble with melee range go for GS + Staff. Staff is a very defensive weapon and the aoe on staff 5 will take care of most normal trash. Staff 2 provides movement and lots of clones.

Just wanted to give a short update/info. Yes the mote is very buggy. It will eventaully show up. I had to restart the instance about 40 times when I finaly got lucky and was able to finish the achievement. This was 3 days ago, so it definately is doable currently. Just very buged.

Edit: Nothing fancy to do. The challenge mote should be right next to the npc when you spawn in. If you don’t see it, leave and retry. I was solo when I finaly got lucky. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Fay.2357:

The key about mantras, that all of this discussion has been entirely missing, is what happens when you put multiple mantras together in a build. I always like to refer to mantras as the “spice” of mesmer builds; you don’t want to overwhelm a dish with spices, but appropriate application will enhance the flavor and overall enjoyment.

This is how mantras are normally used. You put MoD in a build for a strong extra interrupt. You put MoR in a build for strong condition removal. You put MoC on when you just need that high output stability. The problem is that you don’t ever put more than maybe 2 mantras into a build (excepting PvE nukers, that doesn’t count) because of how badly they function together.

Most utilities, when heavily traited for, synergize well together. Even signets, as faulty as they are, once traited will gain in power the more you have. Mantras work in the completely opposite way. Even after heavy traiting for mantras, as your build gains mantras it becomes slower and clunkier. You spend more time standing around chanting, more time being vulnerable, more time doing essentially nothing. At the maximum of 4 mantras in a build, when you’ve expended them all in a big fight you then have to stand around for 11 seconds to charge them all back up.

This is why mantras are a singularly awful design. A change or some sort of trait adjustment needs to be made so that adding more mantras into a build doesn’t cripple it. Potentially something like when expending the third cast of a mantra, gain quickness, allowing you to rapidly charge up another one.

Interesting analyss and I fully agree. Had never thought of mantras that way but you are right. In a way they are our signet 2.0 skills. Adding on top that running 1-2 mantras (since more make the build clunky) devalues the current mantra traits (again adding even more on top of the clunkyness). This on top of our already heavy dependance on specific traits for our illusion class mechanic (yes, builds without DE or IC work, but those are near core traits mechanic wise. That’s 4-7 trait points fixed in very powerful traits needed to partly compensate for weak ai/illusion mechanic).

ASP.8093:

(cont’d from above)

Mantra of Concentration – again our mantra skill is outperformed by other skills that accomplish the desired effect better. Granted this might not get fixed with an instant cast time.

Actually, in PvE, where there’s a lot of annoying pulls and knockbacks you can see coming, it’s better than Decoy. I absolutely adore this skill against random environmental nonsense like those breath trap things.

(You know why we don’t take it more often? Because stability won’t save you from being just being killed by damage like invulns, teleports, and (sometimes) stealth do. And mesmers generally don’t do well when they try to just take a lot of hits instead of avoiding them.)

Cyninja.2954:

I just don’t see how our mantra skills are bringing any value to our class. In general they are either underperforming compared to alternatives or they are paired with mediocre competition skills. For a unique class mechanic that is more than underwhelming.

Look again.

MoD is the most precise interrupt in the game. That you can use while stunned or while executing your own burst. You need high skill to get high impact out of it, but the potential is there, and it’s a solid callback to the mesmer’s GW1 identity.

Traited Mantra of Recovery requires playing every differently from Ether Feast, but it makes you wonderfully “slippery” and gives you great tools against condition builds.

Mantra of Resolve does its job and does it pretty well.

This really isn’t bad, overall!

I agree to some of your arguments but it’s noticible that we come from a different ends approach to mantras. Mine seems more pve focused while yours is more of a WvW/spvp approach.

Again I didn’t say all our mantras are useless, just that similar effects could be accomplished while not sticking to an overcomplicated mechanic that, again in my opinion, does not fit in with our class or makes it unneccesarily convoluted.

MoD is indeed one of the few skills that mimic or at least come close to GW1 mesmer. Unfortunately it’s use is almost non existant in the pve parts of the game. Hence me calling it unique and useful in pressure/controll builds.

Agreed on why MoC does not see much use in pve. Mesmer as a whole has enough options to straight up ignore or avoide damage here and MoC does not contribute enough to justify a slot. Does not invalidate that a simpler mechanic might fix this or at least increase use.

I’ll give MoR with traits a higher tier spot. The synergy with condition removal through traits does push it in competativ environments. Again, not needed in pve and outperformed by other skill+trait combos.

I stand by my assessment that mantras as a whole considering all game modes are underperforming for a unique class mechanic and in general. Maybe my solution is not the ideal one, but I based it on an “easy to implement” and “most effect possible” scenario.

ASP.8093:

Cyninja.2954:

Question is, how much do mantras actually get used at the moment compared to our other heal/utility skills. A question only Anet can answer through their data.

Well, anecdotally speaking…

Mantra of Resolve sees real play in a number of builds, both PvE and PvP. There seems to be a real non-trivial choice between this skill, Null Field, and Arcane Thievery, with tradeoffs between each that different players weigh differently — a sign of decent balance between these skills (even if you’re one of the folks who think overall mesmer condition cleansing is anemic — which, tbh, I disagree with). It’s far more popular than Phantasmal Disenchanter, as well.

Mantra of Distraction sees a fair amount of play. It’s a big part of one of the better mesmer builds, and sometimes finds its way into others.

Mantra of Recovery has a particular niche (Mender’s Purity) and it’s very strong in that niche. It’s not our most popular heal by a mile, but I think most classes have a definite “best of breed” heal skill (ours is Ether Feast), so I’m not too worried about this. It’s way more popular than Mirror.

Mantra of Concentration doesn’t seem very popular. I don’t think the thing holding Mantra of Concentration back is the recharge cycle, though. It’s just not as multifunctional as Blink and Decoy, which are our go-to stun breaks. (I used to use it when I ran PU, and I found it was pretty handy for getting out of all sorts of nonsense.)

Mantra of Pain is a mostly used for gimmick things and I think there’s room to rework it. That’s one mantra. (Maybe make it more like Arcane Blast or Arcane Power rather than this sorta-spammable minor effect that mostly gets used in oddball kinda-do-nothing-y healing builds?)

If anything, I think signets are in a way worse place than mantras. And there’s other mesmer skills that, AFAIK, are straight-up less popular than any of the mantras (Phantasmal Defender and Illusion of Life, for example).

First off, I like your break down. What I’m lacking is your understanding or at least mentioning of why those skills get picked making it seem the skills are fine (or at least some of them) in their current state.

Mantra of Resolve is our only accessible semi low cooldown skill for condition removal. Considering Mesmer as a whole is lacking or requires special attention for condition removal that doesn’t say a lot. The alternatives are very underwhelming aswell:
Nullfield – situational and imo the most useful of the remaining condition removal skills. Cooldown to long for PvP, etherial field combo effect less desired in PvE/WvW.
Arcane Thievery – very situational very high cooldown skill mostly if at all useful for PvP and small skirmish WvW.
P.Disenchanter – underperforming condition removal skill in part due to weak ai and general pet performance problems.

To sum it up, “in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”. Doesn’t make MoR fit any more in with other skills or our mechanic. The competition is just way worse.

Mantra of Distraction might have it’s uses in preassure/controll builds. I don’t see any use for it in PvE. Granted it’s one of the few on button press disorient skills in game making it somewhat unique.

Mantra of Recovery – so basically our one class mechanic heal skill gets outperformed by our other class machanic heal skills. Looking at our heal skills (while subjective) the general usfulness can be sumed up as follows:
1 – Ether Feast – usualy best in slot
2 – Mirror – second best in slot thanks to the reflect
3 – MoR – let’s put this here. It synergizes well once some traits are used to buff it up. untraited it’s near useless
4 – SotE – interesting Idea, falls flat due to horrible illusion survival.
Basically MoR outperforms our one healing skill that is broken due to our weak class mechanic.

Mantra of Concentration – again our mantra skill is outperformed by other skills that accomplish the desired effect better. Granted this might not get fixed with an instant cast time.

I just don’t see how our mantra skills are bringing any value to our class. In general they are either underperforming compared to alternatives or they are paired with mediocre competition skills. For a unique class mechanic that is more than underwhelming.

ASP.8093:

Cyninja.2954:

- make Mantras instant and rebalnce as needed. For example make the cast instant but the now available mantra starts on a 4 second cd as to not be used immediately. This would allow for mantras to be rebalanced and more viable for reuse in prolonged fights.

I’d be strongly opposed to any mantra change that increases overall cooldowns or modifiers the insta-cast multi-stack mechanic.

Which is what we’re likely to see if they modify the basic one-charge-up/multi-cast-on-demand system that mantras have right now.

Understandable, no one likes having a mechanic changed they enjoy. Problem is the way mantras work right now they dont “fit” in. Question is, how much do mantras actually get used at the moment compared to our other heal/utility skills. A question only Anet can answer through their data.

If I’m off and the majority of Mesmer players use mantras in their current form, ofcrose they should stay unchanged and get expanded on. I have a feeling that is’t the case.

Is there anything that would make you stop playing Mesmer? If you’ve stopped what would draw you back?

I’ve stuck with the Mesmer since release. The basic Idea behind the class intrigues me and is ejoyable, though I feel there is a general lack of direction. A clear message a long the lines of “THIS is what we want our mesmers to do, feel and be like” would help the community as a whole I think. Ideally followed by some changes going a long those lines.

What has damaged your faith in the devs? Is there any faith remaining? What would have to happen to earn back your trust? Again, please no general statements like “a lot of nerfs.”

Back in GW1 skills got eventually split between PvP and PvE because it became near impossible to keep things balanced for PvE viability and PvP. Mesmers are in a similar boat with their strong synergies and dependancies with their class mechanic. Most other classes have a class mechanic that works off itsself. Necros have their shroud, Warriors their adrenalin, Elementalists their atunements, etc. Only Mesmer and Engineer are dependant on pet like inputs to their mechanic, and of both the mesmer heavily so in almost all regards. This has in general been ignored in recent balance and world design aspects.

What is your one (reasonable) Mesmer wish?

A more coherent approach to our class design. From all 8 classes I feel Mesmers design wise (not balance) are all over the place.

So here is my take on the current situation after loging over 1,800 hours on my Mesmer and taking a 1 year break from gw2 in general comming back and redicovering the game. A lot of very constructive posts but I feel the main point is being missed.

What do you feel the Mesmer is currently lacking ATM? Please don’t use general terms like “damage” without elaborating for what game mode and why you feel this way.

Direction. Simply put, I have the feeling no one at Anet has an idea of what they want the Mesmer to be. Interestingly this was the case 1 year back and still remains up to this point. Now with nerfs across the board on some of our gimmick and utility skills it becomes even more apperent.

Example 1: Illusions
Our illusions are a big part of our damage/utility/function/mechanic. Yet they are paper thin. Even with sacrificing traits and u-slots survivability is more than lacking for anything above 1-2 player content. Not going to go into how buggy some of our phantasms are, that’s almost a given.
Problems caused: huge reliability in PvE/WvW on illusion suvival leads to strong value focus on illusion creating traits (see problem with DE, illusion recharge reuction skills). Basically the solution is to just compensate for poor survival by more spamming of illusions. sPvP is a tad less affected but here the actual wind-up-time until something happens works as a limiting factor.

Example 2: Mantras
Mantras even after extensive buffing (4 second cast time any one?) remain unfun (personal preferance). This is not only subjective but goes along with how our class currently works. Between managing our illusions, using our utility skills (veil, TW, etc.), maybe using our controll skills (mostly only Feedback and traited Focus remaining)(you know the ones Mesmer was suposedly all about) AND managing castable stack based skills is a lot of micro is required and the payoff is non existant. I feel like our illusion and mantra design is contradicting.

I’m a realist, I’m not expecting our class getting a huge overhaul even though the introduction of specializations would be perfect for that. But I would like for the devs to sit down and decide what they want the Mesmer to be.

Without reworking anything, what minor adjustments would you make to any of our weapons/utilities/traits to make them more viable?

Going along the lines of what I stated in part 1 and considering that a class rework won’t happen here are some solutions to the Mesmer “as is”:
- reduce damage taken for Illusion from aoe in PvE. Something a long the lines of 40-60%. I would love to seggest this for WvW aswell but that would unbalance small scale fights to much, but for pve should be a non issue. God forbid we actually ended up doing damage.
- make Mantras instant and rebalnce as needed. For example make the cast instant but the now available mantra starts on a 4 second cd as to not be used immediately. This would allow for mantras to be rebalanced and more viable for reuse in prolonged fights.
- fix phantasm bugs. Not going to give details, the culprit phantasms are easily identified
- reduce phantasm charge up times. Between identifiying the weapon the Mesmer is using, seeing his atttack animation, seeing the Phantasm appear, do we really need this long of a “wind-up”? Would also help in PvE/WvW to at least get the initial damage in. Other classes have way shorter tells on effectiv skills an are not penalized by their class mechanic.
- rework some of the utility skills (Mimic for example). Easiest to find out witch, check which u-skills are underused in builds accross all Mesmer population and either remove them from the game or improve them. Since some other professions are even worse off than us in this regard(necros) I don’t expect this to happen soon.

CrockD.8257:

You can just go to other cities:
Yes, but none of the other cities offer the same level of convenience as Lion’s Arch (in terms of number of services offered and proximity of services to each other, not to mention gate travel) , that’s why LA was consistently the most visited location. If you do a lot of crafting, or are trying to make a legendary or use the BLT a lot you absolutely know what I mean. Time is money and you will be losing a lot of time from this loss of convenience.

You’re right, they don’t add the same level of convenience. They add more. I’ve logged in Divinity’s Reach for over 7 months now and have never 1nce missed LA. Let’s go through all the services that old LA provided:
- Mystic Forge –
at the top spot since this is literally the only thing I could miss in DR. Now if I add and subtract the amount of loading times I’ve saved from not loading into LA every single time I log in… I can live with having to “go there” 1nce every 2 weeks or so.

- Fractal Entrance -
I’m very sure this will find a suitable new “main hub spot” in the near future. Then again ever since the fractal changes I’ve not even managed to go beyond flvl37 (previously for a long time flvl 51) since I’ve lost massive interest and rewards are just not in line with the “fun” (aka stress) of running fractals. Pre changes it was actually fun going through a level 48 run. Now it’s just work (personal opinion, oh and Dredge fractal).

- crafting stations, TP, Bank –
WAY more convenient in some other main cities compared to LA. Especially DR.

- Portals to other cities – o yes, SOOOO important. I’ve literally used these 1nce on every character to get you guessed it: WAYPOINTS. If you seriously use these to get any where in this game you are either hardcore RPing (which is okay, but you are a minority) or you should really learn to manage your time.

- chat hub – valid complaint actually. If you enjoyed the LA chat and spent time talking with people and socializing. This is a downer. Then again you are not the target group for the Captain’s Airship Pass. That place is deserted. So no problem here, wait until a new hub is made.

Lions Arch was the main hub for nothing more because it was designed to make people think it is and for story/lore reasons. All of the capital cities are valid resting/gathering points. LA was just the one used by most people due to lack of desire to actually check which one works best. It certainly was more then substandard for everyday usage/requirements and I haven’t even touched on the horrible subject of loading times on weaker machines.

Then again I check out the Captain’s Airship and I think it’s rubbish. Soulless “everything cramed into a small space” design which doesn’t even have a MF (didn’t see one at least) which would have been the only thing I would have cared about for leaving DR.

Go ahead now, keep screaming “conspiracy” at anet until they recreate a new hub. I for one haven’t even noticed LA getting attacked aside from going there for joining in the Living Story event.

Aioros.4862:

But if you say it’s irrelevant, how is that a goal? Why would someone chase something they feel is irrelevant?

Taurok is right, the only solution is to nerf it to exotic levels.

(And here’s the kicker, it’s not irrelevant, the people who want the gear want the stat advantage over people who will eventually be cannon fodder to them, as we haven’t seen the last of this ascended sham, because otherwise grinders will leave)

I never said they “feel” irrelevant about the stat benefit. I said the benefit is irrelevant. People can give anything value if they deem it relevant(aka they “feel” it’s important to them). That alone doesn’t make it so.

Look at all the achievement hunters. Those give no substantial benefit yet people still do them. Same goes for people who wear rares instead of exotics on accessory slots because they don’t feel the need to upgrade (even though a clear stat benefit could be measured).

As is, ascended gear and the way it’s implemented provides a bridge between vertical and non-vertical progression. It’s vertical, but provides so little value that it can be ignored (if you look at it objectively and not with OCD glasses).

Would I have prefered non-vertical progression? Hell yes!

Am I realist enough to understand that the game would have a fraction of its player base? Yes.

Stop chasing the non-vertical progression dream in mmorpgs and face reality. For a big tripple A title, it won’t work.

You want Living story, balance patches, new content, holiday events, stable servers, multiple developer teams working on your game? Stop hating on the fact that money needs to be made. Vertical progression is just one of the easy ways of monetization (creating content where there is none for people).

Judge Banks.9018:

Same stat bonus difference between Lawbringer and Judgement from WoW. However our set bonuses are not tied to armor, so it in that sense is less of an issue. Ascended runes when?

To recap, kitten T2 from World of Warcraft is the same jump from Exotic to Ascended.

Do not forget that STARS beat Black Temple in tier 3 gear on the majority of the players. In some sense you didn’t “NEED” the best gear to do all the content in WoW.
Gosh that sounds awfully familiar.

Enjoy your stay in World of Tyria. . .CRAFT.

Are you seriously comparing WoW itemization with GW2?

As in one game where min maxing and established holy trinity of damage, tank and damage classes is a core concept and the other where itemization is handled completely differently?

Even IF that were the case, the correct comparison would have been to compare required amount of epic gear for heroic dungeons and 1 tier overequiped epic gear for heroic dungeons (you know, the one where you afk run along since stuff just instant dies).

Still, can’t believe you went there. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Taurok.6708:

I concede that the stat increases on Ascended gear make no difference. Which makes the solution to the “problem” of Ascended gear obvious. Do I even need to say it?

Nerf Ascended gear to have the same stats as exotic. The stat increase does not matter, so nothing is lost and everyone wins. What possible objection could there be to this meaningless, inconsequential nerf?

A part of the player base wants to have goals put in place for them. As in minor useless stat increases they can work towards no matter how ludicrous those might be. Those players will get bored and leave the game reducing earnings and player base. The stats might be inconsequential, their reason for being there goes beyond min-maxing game aspects though.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

DOn’t forge to check each of the WvW maps.

Was adding ascended gear a slap in the face of the people buying in to the mantra of “fun over gear”? Yes. (myself being one of them)

Is it game breaking? No.

Will ascended gear have an advantage over people with weaker gear? Duh, yes.

Is it game breaking? No. (if people looked up the actual increases in stats per color tier they’d soon realize that ascended is a non-factor. also people would stop spouting nonsense like masterwork vs ascended is fine. exotics are where it’s at value-time-gold wise.)

Now my favorite: Will a player with full ascended beat a player with full exotics in WvW?

No. Factors as:
- class matchup
- build matchup
- player skill
- amount of people involved in the fight
- position of the moon relative to the earth and sun affecting the tee you drink…

all have a bigger effect on wvw fight outcomes. I’ll even go this far, having full ascended might even negatively affect your wvw performance since you will be less inclined to try out different stat setups or have less switch-out gear for different situation.

Is ascended gear better for PvE? Yes.

Is it game breaking? No. As long as this game is designed around exotic gear being more then enough for PvE, this is a non-factor.

Will your OCD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive%E2%80%93compulsive_disorder) make you have to get “best in slot” gear for you character? Yes.

Does any one care that you are incapable of playing for fun but rather pleasing a mental condition? No.

Purplesilver.5409:

A already clustered pvp with too many spell effects dont need more comfusion – mesmers. Ive really tried to get into this extremely fast paced, non-tactical pvp, and it IS actually quite enjoyable at times. But as soon as that class appears you completely lose control over the situation whatsoever. Mesmers are OP due to the fact that people cant find the real one, thus the mesmer will take no damage. I understand the concept of this class and its a really cool idea, but you NEED to reduce the number of clones/phantasms it can have at one point. Its inhuman to be able to keep track of just one mesmer, that plus guardians/warriors/elementalists etc. bashing you down in no time just makes anyone wanna ragequit. And even when theyre down, the kitteng teleport around and guess what, CREATE MORE CLONES. Like i said, really cool i dea! but the number of illusions is just out of hand.

/mad necro

Here is a hint for the future. WHEN posting on a forum dedicated to pvp (this actually goes for every forum, but the pvp crowd usually is most “elitist”). Make sure you actually have a basic understanding of what you are writing about. Otherwise you are making yourself look like an i***t.

Then again if you only want to entertain or troll, keep posting the way you did right now. Spot on.

BeastlySerenity.2305:

I recently started playing GW2 over the last week from a break of over a year, and I do admit I was surprised when I saw that there were still no mounts in this game.

I know that some people will argue that there is no need for mounts when you can port from place to place.

But I think the developers are missing out big time, on a huge potential for profits for themselves. Great new content for the players, and overall a great new incentive that will increase the sales of the game.

I am certain that selling unique mounts for gems would be the #1 best seller in the gem store.

The ideas below are just a few off the top of my head that would make mounts fun & useful for both the player and developer.
-Pay gems to buy the rarest.
-When you ride them for a few seconds have them buff you.
-Make some of them fly. That’s right, make them fly.
-Customize your mounts with Dye, Armor, and a New craft Breeding.
-New Mount related Craftsmanship.
-End Game Achievements to earn them. (Dungeons, Raids or Crafting)
-More incentives for players to keep playing.
-Aesthetically more pleasing to the eye than just running on two legs.

There are a lot more reasons for mounts to be implemented, but those were just a few.

Now hear me out on this, because I haven’t seen this next part done in an MMO before.

Breeding for Mounts

What if having two of one species of mount could unlock a Breeding craft that anyone could take up in addition to their current crafts.

Then with enough time and skill, breeders could create unique mini’s and unique colored mounts they could keep for themselves or sell to other players.

They would use dye and food crafted in cooking to influence the color of their mounts in the breeding craft. Being able to customize mounts with armor, and breeding would would add a unique feature to Guild Wars 2 that would pull in more players.
There are really so many ideas that can be implemented to a system that uses mounts.

I think it’s about time for ArenaNet to consider it.

Wrong game m8t. The one you are thinking of has a declining subscriber base and was released in 2004 by Blizzard. Might want to check that one out (or one of its many clones). GW2 is doing just fine without mounts.

As mentioned, might want to tell us what your build is for. Pve it’s full berserker’s. Soldier sounds more like wvw. Pvp there are a lot of different builds and gear swapping is very easy, so experiment.

As far as sigils, if in doubt go for Superior Sigil of Energy with mesmer. Will work wonders if combined with Deceptive Evasion. On that note, you might want to consider using something else besides x/pistol with no points in Dueling since a big part of that phantasms damage comes from bleeds of off crits (which you miss out on with 0 in Dueling).

For runes, if you lack the gold for Travelers, many people go for Centaur and use Mirror as heal (there are other ways of triggering it too, i personally just run traveler’s). Other useful Runes are Melandru or Dwayna (can’t remember atm if dwayna proced on mantra heals, i think it did). A very cheap condition damage rune is Undead.

Juba.8406:

ascended armor + infusion slots is a good deal to me.

6 Resilient WvW Infusion = 30 toughness + 6% decreased damage from guards, that will help a lot soloing fully upgraded camps.

Upgraded camps are already easy to solo. Not sure how ascended gear is in any way needed unless you want to faceroll them even more.

Spiky.8403:

I was just trying to say that random is killing progression for some people (like me), which is not fair. You may say “you spent 900g on mystic forge, why didn’t you rather buy precursor from TP?”. Well, because I didn’t spent all my money at once and also haven’t had them all together.

So yes, when I see someone with legendary I dont say myself “this one must be playing a lot, he deserves it”, but rather “this guy is kittening lucker”

Now someone who got precursor from MF should come here and say me am wrong, stupid etc.

You do know that a lot of people just buy the precursor from the TP. Nothing wrong with going that route. No luck involved in that.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel for you. Spent 300g myself. Just a small fyi:

Spiky.8403:

I have already wasted too much gold to just buy precursor from TP.

Makes literally no sense. You have 0 progress from failed tries on the mf. Your chance of getting a pre after spending 600g is just as high as getting one after spending 10g as far as in game rng is concerned. I know the feeling though. Buying a precursor after gambling away 600g makes you feel as though you spent 1,200g (assuming the pre costs 600g). Just know this, going on gambling might net you a precursor after a few more tries (yay barely breaking even) or might give you nothing (which leaves you stuck with having spent another 600g with nothing).

The argument “I’ve already spent so much on the mf.” Is not the healthiest to stay interested in the game.

Brother Grimm.5176:

There are so many things in you post that are just wrong (Promoting Silk does not effect available supply……REALLY? It does not destroy material and remove it from being available to anyone in the game?) and just flat out back-peddling of your claims of DIRECT manipulation (if DIRECT does not imply REAL-TIME I don’t think you understand what DIRECT means), I’m done with this waste of time discussion.

I think a lot of this is just a semantics argument of the term DIRECT. You seem to think that ANY tiny effect ANet makes to the game that may in some way influence a player is DIRECT control….I do not.

Example A.) (what we had pre patch)
-> 50,000 silk are introduced into the market per measure of time X. (supply side of the graph)
-> less than 50,000 silk are demanded per measure of time X. abundance of silk supply gets stocked in the market adding to the market supply (yes, this is also called supply, but it’s not the type of supply that will mid- or long-term affect pricing.)

Result:
-> price drops, using silk becomes more interesting, demand increases. equilibrium sets in at a lower price

This was the case pre patch. Price bottomed out at 8c per silk (and would have dropped further if that wasn’t the minimum on the TP).

Example B.) (what we had the last couple of days)
-> 50,000 silk are introduced into the market per measure of time X.
-> demand increases for silk over 50,000 per measure of time X
Result:
-> the supply on the market reduces by demand-50,000 until there is no more supply in the market (stored and fresh influx)
-> price for silk increases -> demand for silk reduces due to higher cost
-> new equalibrium is found at a higher price where supply meets demand

Example C.) (what we might have now or will have in the near future)
-> 50,000 silk are introduced into the market per measure of time X.
-> demand remains at 50,000 silk per measure of time X having been forced lower due to higher pricing

Result:
→the price remains stable

Notice how the supply of silk into the market DOES NOT CHANGE. Removing supply from the market reduces the market available silk, it does not affect the supply provided by suppliers though. Yes both are called supply, but only 1 of those 2 is of interest in the long run.

I’m done with economics 101. Wasted enough time feeding a troll.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Ok, maybe this one was worded wrong as the drop chance obviously plays a major factor here but it is not the only factor. My point on this was that if I farm Silk for 30 minutes or farm silk for 30 hours does change the supply of Silk in the game (not by much, overall). What if 100,000 players all farm Silk for 30 hours? Your implication is that Anet’s code would somehow alter the drop rates, salvage rates and loot bag rates so that the current supply of Silk would not be increased significantly? THAT is the part of your tin-foil hat theory that I don’t buy …. at all.

I HAVE never not agreed with the point that all these crazy theories about code manipulation are technically possible (I’m sure they are), but you making wild claims that it is actively how the game works with NO evidence is pure tin-foil hat conspiracy theory BS.

The only implication I’ve made so far is that anet can change the game so that the amount of silk gained by those 100,000 people farming for 30 minutes or 30 hours is to their liking. No one up until now in this thread was arguing them having some kind of code reducing farm or being out for real time reduce drops for players. That was never the issue.

But since you brought this up, read this:

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Anti-farm_code

It’s exactly what you were talking about implemented in guild wars 1. Same company, different game. If they wanted to, they could.

Brother Grimm.5176:

My question was do they ADJUST this on the fly to make sure that some X amount of Silk is all that is possible for a given time frame? The idea that they are constantly manipulating the potential for Silk to be “generated” is absurd. I have no doubt they have the capability to adjust this periodically, but you would have to provide long term evidence that this is the case (something that might not even be possible with DR code in place). Yes, the DR code is similar but does not target any one specific material like you are suggesting.

No one said they are constantly manipulating on the fly except you. The argument up until you brought this up was that they manipulate as they deem fit.

Brother Grimm.5176:

But that is a set number that is not changed in real-time to directly manipulate how much silk is ever introduced to the game….it’s a set value (granted, it may change but again, evidence would be needed to prove it is being altered on the fly to effect ONE specific material).

Again, no one cares about real time. You’re the only one obsessed with it. I don’t have to control a market in real time. Periodic “updates” or hotfixes (which mostly happen to hotfix bugs that affect the market) are possible (remember last years amulet exploit?).

Brother Grimm.5176:

What? If 5000 players farm an area (that generates silk scraps from salvage) instead of 50, you want us to believe this does not effect the supply of silk? Demand has NOTHING to do with you claim that Anet directly manipulates the available SUPPLY…don’t change the parameters of your claim midstream.

I don’t think you understood what I said. If 5,000 players farm an area anet can nerf the farm. Result = no more 5,000 player farming that area. If they want to make people farm something more they can increase the reward. Result = more people farming that specific thing. The amount and the type of farm people do is directly controlled by anet. And that’s only the supply side.

Brother Grimm.5176:

No….that’s called INDIRECTLY effecting their behavior. Directly effecting it would have been removing the champs from their locations (so farming them would have been simply not possible at all) or denying players access to the zone.

Actually no, it’s directly affecting their behavior. Assuming champs are farmed primarily for champion loot bags, which I’d say is the case. Making any type of change to loot bags will directly affect the farm. Indirectly affecting the farm would be if they removed the experience or karma gain. People would farm less, but their main incentive to farm would still be loot bags.

Brother Grimm.5176:

So you don’t think that being able to promote Silk to Gossamer has NO effect on the available supply of Silk? Crafting Ascended or other items that require Silk does not effect the supply? How exactly does Anet control those player decisions?

EDITED Going to break this down since I know keeping it simple will cause more yadayada.

No, upgrading Silk to Gossamer, building Ascended armor, etc. does NOT affect the supply of silk (if we factor out things like more people farming etc.). It does NOT increase the amount of silk entering the market (THIS is the supply). It does affect the amount of silk available in the market (this is NOT the supply.). Doing all those things you mentioned increases the DEMAND for silk, which moves the supply-demand curve resulting in higher prices and more silk used until a new balance is found.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Listing material on the TP directly effects the available supply and a limit of a 250 stack does NOT limit what I can sell (or buy) it just makes it more time consuming (not saying it is not a FACTOR in a players decision, but it does NOT stop them one way or another).

So i’ts not a factor but then it is? I’m not sure where you are going with this. Are we going to start arguing in terms of black and white now? You’re even saying yourself it affects their decision. Take a step back, take a deep breath, then reread what you wrote.

Brother Grimm.5176:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Brother Grimm.5176:

I’m pretty sure silk is generated by items being dropped and salvaged by players.

Exactly how is the supply controlled by ANet?

• Do they directly manipulate every drop to control the items that provide silk?
• Do they directly manipulate every salvage to control the quantity of silk generated?
• Do they make players farm above items or hinder players from farming them?
• Do they put limits on how many items can be sold, forged or salvaged by any individual player (or group of players)?
• Can only X # of players generate silk at any one time?
• Can each player only generate X amount of silk over a given period of time?

I’m not sure what you were going for… but the answer to every one of those questions is yes…

Sorry, but I call BS on that answer…..prove even ONE of them is absolutely YES (without resorting to some wild, tinfoil hat theory….you know with some facts).

You do understand when I say “manipulate”, I don’t mean “let the game generate an RNG number that was programmed”, but mean that they CHANGE the potential outcome to directly determine just exactly how much Silk is available in the game at any one time….If you seriously believe that is even possible you need serious and professional psychiatric care.

Not sure if serious. I’ll bite. Every and all of the games coding is done by anet. Ofcorse they are in control of everything you stated.

• Do they directly manipulate every drop to control the items that provide silk?
  -> Yes, by defining what items have silk on their refinable table. (And by defining I mean coding, you know the stuff that makes the game work the way it’s supposed to)

• Do they directly manipulate every salvage to control the quantity of silk generated?
  -> Yes, by defining the salvage chance and amount of silk provided.

• Do they make players farm above items or hinder players from farming them?
  -> Yes, but that’s beside the issue. Even if the answer were no it wouldn’t change the outcome since player farm is only a result to supply/demand generated through in game situations which are defined by code. Remember how anet buffed, then nerfed champion loot bags? There, directly affecting players farm behavior.

• Do they put limits on how many items can be sold, forged or salvaged by any individual player (or group of players)?
  -> Lol what? How does this have to do with anything? Okay, yes they do. Providing a limit to posting ins tacks of 250 is a barrier. Defining how many resources are required for an item directly affects how many of said item you can produce. Salvage efficiency is directly related to how the refining loot table works.

• Can only X # of players generate silk at any one time?
  -> Your question are not even on topic any more. If anet wanted to they could make it so. They could put in a line of code saying:"Only characters with names beginning with the letter “R” can now salvage silk."

• Can each player only generate X amount of silk over a given period of time?
  -> Sure they can, and the amount X is directly controlled by the code of the game. The code is 100% in control of anet, you getting what I’m going for?

Can we get a close on this thread. It’s over a year old, adds nothing to the discussion and certainly has nothing to do with recent balance changes.

Note to everyone, THREAD WAS MADE OVER 1 YEAR AGO.

Essence Snow.3194:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Cyninja.2954:

TL:DR: Anet is 100% in control of silk price development.

Anet controls the supply and the requirements for crafting. Players control the price we ask on the TP.

Example: If I wanted to drop the price of my Silk, I could do that right away. My choice, not Anet’s.

You as an individual w/o supply relevant to the overall supply will not have a bearing on the market price, which is what most ppl are talking about here.

Market price not individual price.

What will have bearing on market price is if Anet were to decrease amount needed for recipes (alter demand) or increase amounts from salvages, either increase incentive to salvage like they did with the luck addition or flat out increase the silk per salvage (alter supply).

ex) You set a price for your silk. Then Anet alters either supply or demand, maybe both. Then the market price will fluctuate regardless of your price based the changes Anet made.

This. This is not about snapshots of silk price. Yes if you dump 100-900,000 of Silk you will affect the current market price. You will run out of silk eventually (silk which you likely purchased at 8 copper per silk. at least I did). Once the stocks run out you won’t be able to affect the market price any longer.

The only things that affect market price over a longer period of time are:
a.) supply (controlled by anet)
b.) demand (controlled by anet)
c.) short term shortages/over-supply (player controlled but in a market this size you will run out of cash fast)

Am I saying the price is unjustified? I really don’t care, I work with what I got. Anet might very well reduce crafting costs in 1-2 months once silk stocks have run out and the price remains stable at a level they are happy with. Also demand will likely drop once more people finish their ascended armor pieces.

voidwater.2064:

tmakinen.1048:

ANet doesn’t dictate the price of silk the same way a driver doesn’t dictate the speed of the car. This is a true statement from a facetiously technical point of view. The driver only moves the pedal up and down to control the flow of gas, and the engine, obeying the laws of physics, dictates the speed. ANet only adjusts the sources and sinks of resources, and the player population, obeying the laws of economics, dictates the prices.

I don’t think that statement is a facetious distinction.

If someone says “Anet is setting prices for item X”, then what I have in mind is an NPC that sells and buys unlimited amounts of item X for price Y.

Or set TP pricing restrictions for item X, if you ignore possible off-TP prices.

Saying Anet dictates the price of silk is like saying the laws of physics dictate the price of real silk. True, but that’s a somewhat high-level view. I think it’s more precise to say that the high silk requirements for crafting influence price, not set it.

What you’re forgetting is that anet is in charge of ALL the factors that influence the price of silk. If you are in charge of ALL the influencing factors you are effectively “setting” the price. Best example was when they introduced temporary mf recepies to increase the price of iron and other crafting mats 3-4 months after launch. Rest assured they have a target price for crafting mats, and once the current TP price moves to far from that target they can and will adjust it.

Anet in your example is the laws of physics, religion, work ethic, efficiency, weather, divine interventions, etc. all clumped together in one entity. Minor difference.

TL:DR: Anet is 100% in control of silk price development.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Actually, Celestial can give you the highest crit damage available (tho your actual crit percentage will be lower).

In terms of total bonuses to stats, Celestial is significantly better (but does not min/max a specific DPS method per the meta).

Hence why i said “desirable” stats. Unless running a hybrid build you will not need every damage type, nor the +healing power, nor the extra vitality and toughness for pve.

Mystic.5934:

celestial. it’s the only one that’s pretty good at everything, rather than great at some things and horrible at all the others.

Let’s rephrase that: “celestial is the only one mediocre (at best) at everything, rather than great at some things and horrible at all the others.”

We could even expand upon that and say:“You can get better and more desirable stats mixing different sets instead of getting celestial.”

LordByron.8369:

you still need celestial exotic insigna recipe….
Just fyi

As of this writing 2.88s for tailor and not that much more expensive for other trades with over 1000+ supplied. Not really weighing in on the issue I’d say.

VidGhost.3215:

Anet fixed this problem with ascended Celestial gear, you can now buy the recipe from the merchant for Ascended Celestial for 5 Laurels and 3 Gold, each

don’t waste your time was exotic Celestial.. they are so over priced when you include the recipe’s

Only expensive part of Ascended armor is Damask but that will drop to 5g in a month or two.

This. Anyone who didn’t expect this to happen with the addition of ascended armor and built exotic celestial within the last 3 months either really wanted the set, had lots of spare cash or simply no clue or wasn’t paying attention to upcoming patches.

As is, there is literally no reason to build exotic celestial over ascended since due to the low supply of crafting recipes.

As to why anet aren’t doing anything about this, why should they? Not all sets have to be equally easy to aquire. This is also more then evident in dungeon tokens (getting a full set of CoF tokens will take no time at all) and has been part of the game since launch. Be happy the most useful pve and wvw sets (berzerker, assassins, soldiers, knights, etc.) are almost free of charge and not he other way around.

Pve meta for mesmer is easily summed up:

- power builds
- full zerker
- ruby orbs or scholar for max damage (I prefer ruby for pug viability and simply the huge difference in price. been running travelers though ever since those got changed). traveler for convenience (and also enjoying your mesmer 1000 times more). centaur for cheaper perma speed if you can’t afford traveler.
- Superior Sigils of Energy are a good start on at least 1 weapon set
- weapon sets usually are:
A.) S/x+S/x (x=pistol, focus, sword)
B.) S/x+GS (x=pistol,focus,sword)
C.) S/x+Scepter/x (x=pistol,focus,sword) (I really don’t like Scepter for pve and
would recommend setup A.)

Most used meta build is 10/20/0/25/15 with some variations of minimum
x/20/x/20/15. This might change once they fix Phantasmal Haste.

Qaelyn.7612:

Cyninja.2954:

Try playing every class to 20 or 30. If you find one that you really enjoy, stick with it.

But again, that’s not a good way to judge mesmers, because they are not at level 80 like they are at level 20.

Agreed. Ideally one should play every class to 60 or 80 to see how they play. Very few people take that amount of time though to pick, hence my 20-30 recommendation since you get full utilities at 20 and elites at 30 which might give a hint of how the class plays.

For mesmers this is a tad more extreme than most other classes since we are very trait dependent in our play style. Going to duck into cover now from all the flack I’ll get from the other professions disagreeing.

Try playing every class to 20 or 30. If you find one that you really enjoy, stick with it. Hopefully you’re not going by what’s fotm because then you’ll never be happy with your choice. Focus on what you enjoy about a class and not how it performs. Performance changes all the time, the trick is to enjoy the class mechanics and playstyle to stick through the rough patches.

About the mesmer, very versatile and some unique group utilities. Needs getting used to compared to some other class mechanics. Supposedly better post 40, though I can’t remember ever having a hard time on my mesmer (been a while since I’ve leveld her to 80. Was right after my Warrior though).

Try to enjoy the road to 80 on your first character or you’ll get tired of this game really fast.

All that being said, have fun and good luck.

haha just noticed. good one necro. yeah moving on

So you actively use an inappropriate name, and now it’s Anets fault?

RockoRush.1325:

Ive never had a single strike against me on my account or anything, and you couldn’t give me a warning? or kick me and force a name change? you just automaticly give me a 3 day ban?

Sure they could have. All those things mentioned require monitoring, which again costs time and money. 72 hour ban is just simpler and gets the job done. Be happy it’s not a permanent ban.

RockoRush.1325:

What can I do to get back in game? If I have to sit through a 72 hour ban then im done with this game

Yeah, never heard that one before. just in case you’re serious. Bye.

Ether Signet for about 70% of all pve and most solo content. Mainly stuff where I might take a bit damage here and there but don’t feel like casting the heal. Makes lots of stuff auto-mode. The stuff where prepatch I would take some damage and cast Ether Feast once my health hits 50-60%.

Ether Feast for just about anything else. Stuff where I know I might take a hard hit. Fractal level 40+ I might go with Ether Feast all the time since I don’t feel like switching (though not to heal “hard” hits, those kill you outright. More deal with some aoe damage that piled up). Ether Feast hps is superior to Ether Signet especially since it provides max heal when needed, unlike Ether Signet which is out for 35 sec once cast(untraited).

Running a 10/20/0/25/15 build and don’t feel like reworking it for MoR. Mirror is nice, but since I have Focus traited and usually feedback as one of my utilities I prefer Ether Feast.

K U T M.4539:

My point is I’m not running a phantasm build. Nowhere did I say I was. A phant build doesn’t have nearly the same clone production as a shatter build.

The signet is not what gives the increase in clone production. It can., in a burst, which might be good 1v1, I said the build I ran produced more clones vs a phantasm spec.

Did you even look at how the heal works? If all your clones are dead, you don’t heal at all. So when your clones die, you have to constantly replace them to continue healing.

In case that is too kitten complicated for you to understand, you have to produce a lot of clones to be able to maintain healing uptime in a 1vX situation.

So, in a 1vX situation, a low clone production build, such as a phantasm spec that relies on its illusions not dying to do damage, it wouldn’t be able to sustain itself using the new heal.

I honestly have no idea how you didn’t manage to grasp the point I was making.

Maybe because your point is all over the place. If your 5 friends are not able to kill you running full berserkers in a shatter build (my mistake I guess for assuming you were running a phantasm or bunker build) I’m not sure if they’ve ever played any type of competitive play.

Let’s wrap this up. There was a thread discussing the signet which got deleted. Going by the discussion there the ups and downs are simple:

+ the signet is useful for small scale fights with no burst damage (wvw roaming against certain builds, big open spaces)
+ the signet provides burst potential for a very long cooldown
+ the signet is very nice in predictable pve where it will keep you topped off

- the signet is terrible when pressured or facing burst damage (spvp and tpvp, wvw)
- the signet provides no utility like reflect
- the signet has a terrible long cooldown
- the signet is useless in any situation where clones/phantasms die fast (middle to large scale wvw)

I still don’t see how this is overpowered. It’s a situational heal that has a very niche use. Give it 2 weeks and the novelty will wear off.

Feedback is just about one of the most powerful spells in wvw currently any class can field. It has to be used properly though. As mentioned wvw meta is all about which melee train works better. Whoever gets into the enemy’s back-line first or gets the first kills wins mostly due to chain rallies.

What does this have to do with feedback? Simple, behind every melee train is a ranged damage train of way more squishy targets “tagging along”. Feedback completely shuts-down ranged damage in chokes and can buy time or force repositioning in open field combat.

Things to watch out for:
1.) careful not to place feedback right on top of your melee train. it will interfere with water and fire fields reducing the melee trains effectiveness
2.) placing a feedback on a big crowded group of enemy ranged damage will reduce their effectiveness and force them to reposition. Use this to your advantage to get tags on enemys and support your melee train.
3.) a feedback placed in a choke will shutdown ALL ranged damage that can be reflected. I’ve had commanders on teamspeak shout orders along the lines of “move up to the feedbacks” or order mesmers to drop max range feedback fields in chokes to help advance
4.) during sieg, watch out for people poking out from behind those walls, wait for them to be in los, then drop a iberserker and a feedback field on top of them right as they are about to shoot. watch them run back with half life or less or even die if multiple people had that idea. That elementalist will love finishig off any downed on the walls with his aoe fields
5.) while damaging gates, try to “read” the situation right. Sometimes a feedback right on top of a gate is good, sometimes it’s bad. It’s good if there is only slight damage and you want to annoy some defenders. It’s bad when it over wrights water fields needed for healing the melees. Use with caution

K U T M.4539:

Cyninja.2954:

K U T M.4539:

Cyninja.2954:

K U T M.4539:

Cyninja.2954:

K U T M.4539:

Able to hold 5v1 (One of those 5 being a necro, albeit they were pretty kitten) with a max stealth, near max clone-production build using the new heal skill + PU. Full zerk geared.

Terribad FotM mesmers inc

Yes let’s complain about 1 person vs 5 n00bs. If any class outplays more than 1v3 (and even here there is a clear play skill disparity), that has nothing to do with the class but rather with the quality of opponent.

It was 5 people I knew from an opposing server and couldnt do it using any other healing skill. It tipped the balance.

Good thing this game is balanced around single skills only right? God forbid you have to take into account an entire build. So your one skill outperformed the other heal skills for one given situation that is was designed for (phantasm builds). Madness!

Most phant builds don’t have the clone production to maintain 3 with 5 enemies around.

I’m sure it’s even more broken in a 1v1 phant spec.

Okay, so how did the signet contribute to you having more than usual phantasms up compared to a different spec? Wait, you activated it. Okay so how did the signet which now provides 0 healing while on cd contribute to your survival? Ah right, that was PU and survival from stealth.

I don’t see your point?

Where did I say I activated it? And it has nothing to do with upping clone production. High clone production = Higher clone uptime in outnumbered situations = more healing.

Right here you are implying that the signet is helping you have more uptime in your phantasm build, otherwise that statement has nothing to do with this thread and I have no idea why you made it:

Most phant builds don’t have the clone production to maintain 3 with 5 enemies around.

I’m sure it’s even more broken in a 1v1 phant spec.

Please also explain HOW the higher clone production from the signet means more healing?

Chuck Zitto.2367:

Mesmers were hands down the best spvp class. Pretty much always have been and always will be. So much crying was had about warrior healing singet. So instead of nerfing warrior healing singet they gave the best spvp class basically a better version of healing singet. Your overall hps is slightly less than healing singet but the singet use heal is twice as much as healing singet. Myself and other mesmers I fought with in spvp yesterday were godlike.

Is that why most top teams didn’t and partly still don’t run mesmer in their core team setup? Do enlighten us/them how they are doing it wrong.

Also as was pointed out by others, your comparison to healing signet basically just solidifies the assumption of you having no clue.

Move along troll.