I never said I hate the GS, I use it from time to time depending of the situation, but it’s really rare
I used that phrasing only for dramatic effect.
I think every mesmer will agree, pure damage is S/x domain. There is no arguing around that. Now I get the GS hate most people have, but there are a couple of reasons NOT to go S/x+S/x.
a. shared cooldown on first 3 skills for both mh swords
b. pure melee range. this is mostly a l2p issue but there are those situation where you REALLY want to stay at range or going melee all the time is suicide
This poses following problem. Our only other mh weapon is the scepter. Sort of a no-go for pve damage wise. If we now take into account our 2-hand options we are left with GS and staff. GS wins on damage here especially with well placed izerkers.
So to sum up:
- If you want to minimize inventory swaping go gs+s/x (and once they fix pwarden s/f ideally with traited focus)
- be sure to keep following weapons on hand:
MINIMUM: Sword, Focus, GS, Pistol
IDEAL: 2xSword, Focus, GS, Pistol, Staff, Torch
ALL OUT: 3xSword, Focus, GS, Pistol, Staff, Scepter, Torch
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?
In PvE the signet is awesome because Phantasms tend to not die very often and damage in general is pretty low, making the passive healing very nice.
In large scale WvW the signet is heavily inferior to Mirror because A. Your illusions tend to not last long in a zerg and B. 2s of Reflect while healing is just awesome in a zerg.
For roaming the signet is great if you are a PU build due to the extra healing you can get while stealthed and the fact that you almost always have 3 illusions up. Otherwise Ether Feast is probably still a little bit better.
I don’t sPvP much so I can’t really say how useful it is there.
This. Basically it can be summed up like this:
1.) Are you getting CONSTANT low-medium damage and is there NOT a lot of aoe or multiple enemy target damage?
-> signet is nice because it will keep you topped off. Common situations are most PvE, small scale wvw
-> question here is, would another heal not provide the same?
-> utility to reset all cooldowns allows for bursting, useful in small scale wvw, spvp
2.) Are you exposed to BURSTS of damage with a lot of aoe flying around?
-> signet becomes near useless
-> to be encountered in pvp, large scale wvw
The signet allows form some interesting new builds, especially pve wise. It synergises well with PU because the stealth allows to reduce incoming spikes of damage for wvw. Serious spvp players will likely stick to other heals.
It’s our more situational Healing Signet equivalent and about as useful/useless as HS. PvE wise it pulls ahead of HS simply because we have a lot more damage ignores compared to warriors for melee(S/x) and reflect covers.
Don’t be blinded by it’s “wowthisissocool!!!” effect based of off some pve encounters.
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!
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.
for a build with high crit chance and DE I don’t see a problem with it due to the almost constant vigor from critical infusion.
You don’t see such problems when you never tried without or never go meleeing your targets.
When I started the mesmer (first char) I also thought that DE was great. For roaming with GS … just #2, #4, dodge, F1 and mob down. And since you’re not constantly fighting you can do that all the time.
But when you go high level content (arah) you sometimes need two dodges in a row. And with DE you tend to automatically dodge once when encountering a mob, destroxing your endurance. Last time I tried DE again, I saw this behaviour again. You just keep dodging.
And when you learn to time your dodge (to evade an attack) you see how oten that created clone will be destroyed without attacking once, because it gets hit by the attack you dodged.
I don’t really follow. First you say that DE is counter useful since it makes you “burn endurance”. This is a clear l2p issue and has nothing to do with the skill.
Then you complain that the clones are destroyed on successful dodges anyway. That’s not what DE is for, it’s there for providing another method of clone creation. You don’t want that clone after the dodge when you evade an attack, you want the clone when you are at 100% endurance and you know you won’t have to dodge for the next couple of seconds but would like to have another clone. Again, strict l2p issue here or more exact, know which clones are useful.
Back to your main point though, you are right in the assessment that DE is in no way needed. It is a very useful tool though, I’d say almost to useful for 20 points compared to what we get at 30. Also please don’t use things like “For roaming with GS … just #2, #4, dodge, F1 and mob down.” to prove a point. That’s not even Mesmer 101. That’s like saying warriors use 100b and mob dies. That has nothing to do with how that trait/skill is to be used.
More anoying than PH not affecting most of our phantasms (come one, who was deep illusions ever since the nerf anyway?) is that pwarden is once again bugged to stand around and look pretty. Well let’s hope they get around to fixing the bugs introduced in the patch once again and not accidentally nerfing something in the process, again.
My first try for a phantasm build is 10(III),20(IV,X),0,25(IV,V),15(III). Train of thought was:
- 20 Dueling, can’t live witthout DE. Just can’t
- 15 Illusions, that IC just to sweet
After those 2 it’s mostly see what I can go for. All out Phantasm damage is the first try I’m going for. Losing PU from 30 Chaos hurts stealth builds, but the idea is to have my phantasms more tanky and cover me with healing.
It’s basically a roulette of who get’s the fotm kiddies next. Thiefs and Warriors are passing the torch on, let’s hope it doesn’t land with us again. Then again mesmer always was a tad more complicated than other classes so let’s hope more flock to necromancers still.
Real Mesmers don’t care though. For me Mesmer was my main ever since launch and I’ve stuck with the class through the worst of times (Illusionary berserker “unintended” damage nerf anyone?).
:)
Not sure this is working as intended. Let me explain, currently if you switch any item with agony resist with an item that doesn’t have ar (or has less) the agony resist does not scale back up once both items are exchanged again. For example:
- weapon set A has +10 ar (2-hand weapon)
- weapon set B has no ar
If you swap to weapon set B you lose 10 ar. Once you swap back to weapon set A you do NOT get the 10 ar back. You have to wait until you zone (due to fractal being over or reloging).
This is also the case if you enter a fractal with non ar gear (I accidentally didn’t have my ar rings and back piece on when entering a fractal. switched those out mid fractal but my ar did not increase).
Would love to know if this is working as intended. This basically makes swaping to a non ascended weapon set very disadvantageos if ar is not covered via ring/back piece slots since ar will remain lower even when switching back. Not to mention the hassle of having to relog in case you forget to put fractal gear on.
Just thought I’d link straight to the wiki which now shows total reagent cost for agony resistance in the new slots in rings/back piece. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Agony_Infusion
This might be my personal opinion but this kind of makes the entire speculation about how far to take the ar moot for 99% of the player base. Remember, these are ONLY reagent cost, the actual cost of +1 agony resist items are not even in there.
2 More points to consider, the current completable content in fractals requires 50 ar at level 40 (easily doable with max +5 ar in new slots) and 70 ar at level 50 (I believe people have cleared this with less than 70 ar, but 70 ar is doable with +10 ar in new slots).
What I take from this, I’ll eventually upgrade my rings and my back piece to 15 ar total (10 new slot and +5 from offensive/defensive/omni slot) to be able to run fractal level 50 in due time. I’m quite sure if/when new fractal levels are released we’ll be seeing more ar slot get opened up (looking at you hopefully soon to be ascended armor).
Final note, thanks to everyone who is actively working on the wiki to keep all of us well informed.
With the change to fractals to always put an easier one at the start, every party I have been in is still rolling for the swamp fractal because it’s easier.
This needs to stop. A party should be locked into their first fractal when they start it so that going to the mistlock hub and back won’t change the first fractal. It should also have some sort of punishment for players who disband their party to try and work around this.
Here is an idea, how about you let others play the way they like, and they will let you play the way you like. Stop being so uptight.
It’s amazing how many people feel the need to “force” their views on others of how things “should be played” are running around.
Then when you’re done with those dungeons, what next? Is there something else you could be doing while that’s going on?
Runs are smooth and fast compared to dredge BECAUSE prior to the patch, it was pretty simple for groups to actually avoid dredge altogether, and people actually left to avoid doing it. Yes, because it’s long. But it’s also longER because most groups, since they never really play it in the first place, don’t know how.
And if you can run all four of those paths in the time it takes you to do one dredge fractal, I don’t want to run fractals with you.
First, I think it’s great that you are this active in fractals. At least someone who backs up what he is saying (if those pictures aren’t photoshoped etc.).
Second, stop talking out of your a***. There are enough people who have done just as many or more fractals than you (me being at about half with over 100 pristine relics and over 300 fractal 48 runs pre patch. nothing to brag about, just saying you argument with 20-30 scrubs is bs). Only because you enjoy tedious grind in fractals doesn’t make this good design. Dredge fractal clearly HAS issues when compared to other fractals due to length,frustration and kitten scaling at higher levels. Also I’m not even going to comment on the “loot is great” comment. If I wanted to farm I certainly would NOT be doing fractals.
Biggest issue here is that dredge is just in no way comparable to other fractals. If all were equally long, there would be no reason to complain (aside from bugs and maybe uninteresting design. both to be found in dredge but not part of what I’m going for atm).
There are 2 ways to go about this:
a. make other fractals just as long.
b. make dredge shorter and more fun
From the patch notes: Improvements of infused gear
Newly created or dropped infused ascended equipment will have empty Agony Resistance slots.How is this an improvement?
I look at this as a backward step – let me explain:
- Previously you would get a +5 AR agony resistance on infused items automatically.
Now we have to grind for an agony resistance infused drop. This now increases the effort (not decreases) to get +5 AR back on this item.
The effort to infuse the prototype fractal backpack is expensive (>250 ecto) and this used to give us an automatic +5 AR when it got infused. Now we get a slot for AR which we now have to put an agony infusion into.
(Wiki still has the old recipe list here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Beta_Fractal_Capacitor_ – where you get a +5 AR when it is infused. This recipe looks like it is currently bugged from other posts).This increases the costs, time and effort to get back to the +5 AR resistance when previously infusing items. I fail to understand how this is an improvement – if someone could explain to me how increasing the effort and grind required is an improvement please do.
Short answer: it’s not. This was clearly stated though before hand. That’s why people who actually read up on what is comming made sure to infuse their rings/backpieces BEFORE the patch hit.
Long answer: For anyone seriously interested in fractals the ability to go beyond 10 ar per ring/backitem is nice (only needed for fractal level 50 if at all) but still nice. It is more than possible to do fractal level 30 with 40 ar (5 ar infusions onto every possible ascended slot), hell even 25-30 ar is fine. Yes fractals have become more grindy. This too should not come as any supprise to people who have played the last couple of living world events.
Basically anet is going through most living world events, dungeons, farms, holiday events, etc. and redoing them this year with more grind, less reward, and more only temporary doable achievements. Don’t expect them to change that direction. It’s been evident in every bit of content of the last 3-6 months.
Also expect wintersday this year to:
a. have less events from last year
b. have a poor story and barely new content
c. provide WAY less snowflakes and holiday crafting mats
d. provide some mediorce new skins (maybe reskins of cultural armors with some freez effects?)
e. have scarlett appear cleary stating she is behind it all
hi, i am a ranger with full ptv at every gear, legendary and ascended trinket(trinkets are not full ptv, but have defensive setting), and 0 agony resistance.
maybe 11/26, i fought the final boss (one huge robot remains) in level 11 or 12.in the very beginning of fight, i use nature spirit, protect me, signet of wild(in passive state), troll unguent immediately.
i always die maybe in 30 secs with no exception. maybe 5 to 6 experiments are tested.
so i’ll guess it’s really need ar now.
As far as stats go, you could be full berserker for all it matters. Agony damage goes through ALL defensive buffs/boons/etc. and does fixed % damage of max life (so vitality is worth nothing against it. it actually is bad since higher vitality increases the damage ticks making your heals less effective).
This has been pointed out multiple times. not sure where the confusion comes from.
The total duration is the same regardless.
Only true if people didn’t skip dredge when they get the chance (or which ever fractal takes the longest for the group). I would gladly skip dredge in favor of even cliffside or any other fractal.
The thing everyone is forgetting is that the fractals are designed to be random selection. You are not suppose to just spam enter and exit until you get the fractal you badly want (Swamp). Fractals are designed to be end-game hard content, so expect it to be that way. If you can’t handle it then you need to either admit you are not good at them or gear up your character(s) better/change your builds.
Fractals are neither hard nor have they ever been. Fractals at most are tedious due to mathematical health, damage and mob scaling. No matter how “good” you are, that 48 dredge fractal clown car will take 15 minutes because you have to kill a bazillion dredge. If you actually think fractals so far had anything to do with skill or were in any way hard, you might want to take your own advice and “gear up or admit you are not good at them”.
While I agree the idea is good and makes sense, as pointed out, oo one would run dredge fractal and reroll until they get something easier/faster.
Then again that might be a good way for anet to balance fractals, see which one gets skipped and then make slight adjustments.
As opposed to now where no one will do any short fractal other than swamp?
Tell me, what makes a bigger difference? Skipping dredge for some other long fractal or switching swamp for some other short fractal (ascalon or underwater for example). Scenario A you can save up to half an hour (without wipes and such, otherwise even longer), scenario B about 10 minutes.
It makes absolutely sense to balance the most frustrating content first, hence the rotation long-medium-short to see which fractals (from those that actually matter) get skipped.
EDIT and while going swamp first is done 70% of the time. I’ve had my share of people go:“meh it’s underwater, let’s do that.” I’ve yet to meet someone excited about dredge or cliffside.
(edited by Cyninja.2954)
While I agree the idea is good and makes sense, as pointed out, oo one would run dredge fractal and reroll until they get something easier/faster.
Then again that might be a good way for anet to balance fractals, see which one gets skipped and then make slight adjustments.
Just checked, yup doesn’t work. Bit amazed a bug like this gets past testing since anet even mentioned that old fractal weapons wouldn’t be upgraded to work like skins (meaning those items should have been on the radar). But that they become completely useless is a slap in the face of everyone who had those skins on the bank. Let’s hope they address this issue.
tl;dr: old fractal weapon skins can NOT be transmuted on weapons with stats and are thus completely useless (unless you enjoy running around with weapons with no stats).