Guild Wars 2

Yeah, a shame, though if ANet’s resourceful they might hopefully bring the voice actor back to play a more important role as well as somehow make it seem as if the trailer voice wasn’t just a cool voice. It’s a hope.

N’kay, so what do you want? I’m not talking about new zones, or an expansion, or Trahearne dead. No, I’m talking about things that are part of the story and not things you don’t want and are unlikely to happen. Just little nods in the direction you hope for the story to touch or use some time.
Examples:
I want a bad-kitten norn mesmer as a main antagonist.
I want a sylvari that uses just plant magic.
I want tengu to have their own samurai/ninja-based skills when they’re introduced[not as Playable Characters, just as a spotlight of a story]
Orr to be cultivated[eventually] and become more livable.

I want SAB back, but more so I want Rox, Braham, Kasmeer, and Marjory to try it out. Maybe some clever, witty comments like “Kasmeer, you cannot just portal to the end” or a reference to Moto’s marketing scheme of saying “it’s too hard for you” to norns and charr working on our original duo.

New zones wouldn’t really help. Even if they added a zone every month, or 2 months, or even every 6 months, it would force the game world to expand faster than its player base, leaving a vast majority of the world untouched and abandoned in the future. It’s better to keep the old zones and simply vamp them up to add new and interesting things to keep players circulating through.

An Siorai Tharian.4516:

Is there any proof that these teaser momentoes are actually coming from ArenaNet? Have any of these teaser momentoes gone to a reputable gaming journalist, like Game Informer for example?

Yes

So far Scarlets shown us her Molten tech, Aether tech, and Toxic magic-biotics. Together with the hints of the Pocket Watch and Metronome and Mysterious Probes, here’s my train go thought:

Both hints, as I’ve just seen and been reminded of, have to do with flames. The Mysterious Probes seem to be thumpers of a kind that possibly use Molten tech, given both the thumping to seem dredge sonar-like the forcefield being flame-like. Now, we know that Scarlet mostly does these alliances and gain some new invention or kitten nal, but they have, up until now, seemed rather random. According to her lab in the Tower of Nightmare, the Aetherblades seem to be the most effective for her purposes. From the same lab, we know she was adjusting the heat resistance of her toxic plants. Along with this, we know she has some connection to the alternate universe of the inquest ruling the world, or at least someone with inquest tech. She also seems to have an interest in draconic energies. Also, take note that Tequatl is supposedly tied in with the LS and not a random buff.

And so heres the theory. Perhaps she means to cause a wide-scale invasion by Primordus on the land of Tyria to annihilate life on the land while using her toxic plants and molten tech to create a new life on the burned and infested Tyria. And, with that, Scarlet will probably use her armada of airships as her base as she cultivates the land again with her steam creatures, a combination of her splicing machine and organism. And, likely as well, she may even be trying to learn to control and splice together Elder Dragon minions to further her goals. Might I remind you the exact words of Tequatl’s boost in power being “Evolved”, as well as the Toxic boss as being able to evolve rapidly. This may show significance in her experimenting on Elder Dragon corruption.

So, to sum up what I said, Scarlet is [possibly] going to aggravate Primordus underground using Molten tech, hide in the sky with her Aetherblades where the dragon’s creatures can’t reach her[being made of stone] and try to incorporate the lava-type minions of Primordus into her Molten tech. Her Toxic plant heat resistance will likely be used to let her splice herself with the newly acquired Dragon-Molten tech, and her subordinates, as she did with the Clockheart. Now, along with her ability to evolve at rapid rates as shown with her Tequatl and Toxic experiments, she’ll be able to live through the disasters of the world despite the uninhabitable conditions she’ll create.

I think Season 2, having used Season 1 as the beta, will be like having content equal or better than the most popularly approved and liked of Season 1, thus a continuous flow of awesome, one thing that I support the LW for. Being evolving with new and interesting things keeping me captivated in the game.

She may be researching the Soul Batteries, right?
They’re located in the Fire Isles, and the Krait Obelisks have similar properties to Bloodstone, so she may be trying to replicate them to adapt them into her tech.

They seem like the thumpers in the Edge of the Mists’ desert area, the ones that pound on the ground and call a wurm up. Maybe Scarlet’s trying to annoy Primordus?

I’m fine with her
You just see a lot of the anti-scarlet fans because people who don’t have a problem don’t usually find the need to express themselves not having a problem.

Build name: The Smurf
Originator name: Dondagora
Link to build thread

@Chaos:
Why can’t there be easy, yet effective builds? I’m not saying that we should all just use the most OP build there is, but is choosing less powerful or effective builds that are also hard to use “honorable” or stupid? The latter, I think. Now, hard to use builds that are also effective? Sure, if a person is willing to work on using it, then that’s not stupid, but simply just choosing a playstyle, not necessarily that the build is better than others(though it may be). If a good player wants to play a shatter mesmer, doesn’t it make sense that they choose the best shatter build that fits them over the “honorably” worst shatter build that takes 10x more work to make it as effective?
And contrary to what Qaelyn said above, though I think it’s mostly right, the builds should be judged by potential, as in how good it will get if paired with an equally good player that’s able to use it perfectly. The potential ability of a build is what makes a good build, in my opinion. In fact, this is an interesting topic. Might start a topic about this.

Edit: As for your spoon/sword reference, think about it like this: A noob can kill a slime with the sword, while a master can kill a dragon with the very same sword. Again, bringing out the build’s effectiveness to its maximum is skill. While killing the slime with a spoon is skillful, it becomes foolish if a noob can do the same work just by using the sword.

When defending a keep/tower in WvW, you can position yourself inside the keep just far enough to the gate so that when you use Feedback it covers the gate. Great defensive strategy.

-Ghosts and Tricks[Instance]
The Priory scholars that had come to see Wuldor have found something rather strange about the Norn’s powers. He’s shown to control an army of phantasmal humans, however certain signatures of the remnants of these phantasms are similar to the ectoplasmic signatures of the Ascolonian ghosts. In the catacombs, it is discovered that a large population of the ghosts are actually missing from the ruins. This leads to some scholars to believe that the ghosts were either tricked using mesmer illusions to fight for Wuldor, or that Wuldor is actually a necromancer controlling the ghosts and disguising them to throw the scholars off.

-Fortress of the Mists[Instance]
Wuldor has been located via the Fractals, staying in a pocket dimension via his connection with the Mists, being a Norn Shaman. Entering through a portal, the heroes assault his fortress where he reveals the true nature of his powers: Through the absorption of godly powers left in ancient Ascalonian ruins and a scepter of massive power found in Orr, Wuldor was able to do something previously impossible before; cross schools of magic. He uses necromantic powers to overtake the will of the Ascalonian ghosts and adds in his mesmer powers to give the ghosts a more true and real physical form, enhancing them. In the final battle, Wuldor creates a phantasm of the greatest warrior of Ascalon. At 75% health, he enforces the phantasm with newly gained guardian powers. At 50% health, he uses new elemental powers to give his phantasm a magnetic shield, the power to use vapor form, a sword that causes burns, and to surround himself with a tornado. At 25% health, the phantasm morphs into an Magical Monstrosity, still at 25%, but now a combined creature of Spirit Weapons, Elementals, Phantasms, and Necromantic Minions. After defeating this, Wuldor sees himself in the monster that he created, having found the flaw in his reasoning too late. His powers go haywire and his whole phantasmal army becomes Magical Monstrosities. Creating a wall of magic to temporarily buy time for the players to escape, he places his hand on the player’s head and transfers his knowledge of the gods directly into the player’s mind. After the players escape, Wuldor shatters all his minions in the Mists, collapsing the fortress to become a prison that his creations would be unable to escape from. He himself was able to escape, but turned himself in despite being strong enough, even after the battle, to make a break for it.

Events:
-Protect Centaur Refugees: Centaurs who have given up on the war on humanity due to Wuldor’s crushing power are pouring into Lion’s Arch, however phantasmal humans assault them on the way. Protect them.

-End the Battle: A fight wages between the phantasms and centaurs. Stop it by defeating both sides.

-Destroy the Illusionary Fortress: A base for Wuldor’s operations is set up nearby. Raid it and destroy it.

Aftereffects:
-Displaced Ascalonian Ghosts appear in Centaur infested areas.
-Lion’s Arch begins construction of a Centaur District
-New Dungeon opens involving the forced preparation of centaurs to ready for war despite many losing the morale to fight.

Giant of Humanity

Wuldor, a Norn Scholar and a Mesmer, is long held to be one of the most ingenious researchers and shamans to study the nature of the spirits like no other. This Norn has returned from a long journey with much knowledge, however instead of going to the Priory or Hoelbrak, he immediately heads to Divinity’s Reach. Many high-ranking officials of each race take interest in this matter for various reasons, sending players to help or investigate.
Logan Thakeray has invited and recommended the human characters to come and help on a mission against the centaurs, finding himself in need of some extra muscle. A letter is sent, and the heroes arrive to the instance “Ally of Humanity”.
The Pale Tree feels a disturbing presence and possibilities in the future. Sending trustworthy sylvari letters, she asks them to observe the activities involving the humans and centaurs, believing something disastrous will soon come to pass. They arrive to the instance “Ally of Humanity”.
Rytlock Brimstone needs some troops to send to Divinity’s Reach to set up a deal with the Queen. Using the Charr characters as a commodity, he bargains their labor to gain some privileges within human territory. This sends them to the instance “Ally of Humanity”.
Eir has heard rumors of a certain famous scholar coming back from a long journey in the deserts and wastelands. She simply thought that, while he’s back, the Norn characters might be interested in seeing what he’s learned, as he delves into the Mists and spiritual studies like no other.
Asura Councilors send letters to certain prestigious asura with a certain skill in combat to find and learn from the Norn scholar that has recently come back from his wanders to Divinity’s Reach, thus lending asura characters to the instance “Ally of Humanity”.

Achievements:
-Knowledge Unknown: [Meta] Complete 7 Giant of Humanity achievements. Gives an helm skin that tattoos the character’s face with glowing marks called “Knowledge of Gods”.
-Ally of Humanity: Complete Ally of Humanity instance
-Massacre of Kessex Hills: Complete Shaman of Gods instance
-The Enemy of my Enem: Complete One’s Conviction instance
-Magical Multi Major: Defeat the Magical Monstrosity
-Illusionary War: Take down 25 Illusionary Fortresses
-Phantasmal Bane/Slayer[Title]: Defeat 100 Phantasmal Army enemies
-Ally of Two Feet[Title]: Defeat 50 Centaurs in dynamic events

Story Instances:
-Ally of Humanity[Instance]
Wuldor arrives at the throne room of DR at the same time as the characters, offering his services to help with the war against the centaurs. After talking with certain key people of various races, the Queen finds Wuldor to be a genuine ally to humans and useful enough to be an asset to their efforts.

-Shaman of Gods[Instance]
As Wuldor, the heroes, and the Seraph/Charr troops commissioned go to assault a centaur outpost, Wuldor reveals himself to be a mesmer of incredible power… power he says was gained from knowledge and allegiance to the human spirits, thus claiming to be a Human Shaman of a kind. With his phantasmal human army, he expands his reach for miles, attacking multiple centaur-plagued areas with full-force. As our heroes battle our way through, centaurs coming left and right in waves. After this is all said and done, the centaurs, as in nearly all of them, flee, heading away and out of Divinity’s Reach, seeing no hope now for victory. However, this is not enough for Wuldor. Believing the nature of centaurs to be too deeply engraved into their souls, Wuldor creates a Wall of Magic to prevent the retreat, smashing into the near-full populace of the centaurs of that region with his phantasmal army. The Seraph, and even the Charr, were appalled by Wuldor’s lack of mercy.

-One’s Conviction[Instance]
Wuldor, in the throne room of DR, pleads that he did nothing wrong. While technically true, Queen Jennah withdraws her support of him, to the horror of the Ministers, who mostly believe Wuldor was the best thing to happen since their kid’s portable SABs. The other racial leaders mostly agree with the Queen’s decision, however Wuldor states that he doesn’t need the support of humanity to fight for it, going “rogue” and continuing his crusade against centaurs and separatists with his phantasmal army.

Just thought of something while watching your video, but on the topic of Kralky’s line and your mention of crystals, I started thinking of the Zephyr Sanctum. They use crystals, their Aspects, to power their flight, and they seem to move freely around the world as they don’t usually dock their ship or come by often. I’m thinking perhaps that they sail and fly via the ley lines using them to power their Aspects. I’m not 100% sure, but I also think that where they docked was near or on the Kralky-Thaumanova line, so it may not have been a complete coincidence that they chose to dock where they did.

They should just take their time adding things. First, make the most out of what they have right now, then maybe give a happy surprise of a zone when they feel that it’s right. You can’t just force an infinite amount of content out of a game at once, you have to let it move at it’s own pace. Hell, most MMO games don’t even have a story as good as GW2, so expansions are a secondary add-on to me.

1. Marjory/Kasmeer are my first, as they have that professional feel to them, like they don’t just wander aimlessly and happen to be in the middle of things, but are intentionally sought after for situations that fit them perfectly, meaning they will likely never be in places that don’t make sense for them, thus they always have a valid role in the story.

2. Braham/Rox are next up, as they’re extremely close to being much more like the player characters than any other NPC. They’re adventurers, of sorts, that seem to like wandering and going wherever they’re needed, much like our heroes. Their personalities work well together, much like Marjory and Kasmeer, but unlike M/K’s relationship, they aren’t exactly opposite poles that attract so intimately, feeling more like a neutral + and a neutral -, working together but being fundamentally the same with a few key differences that make them a good team.

3. Keel is third as I find she has that “Warden of Justice” feel to her, meaning her motives are very clear and cut; goodness. It feels a bit refreshing to see some straight up goodness like that every once in a while. The thing that makes her interesting is how she accomplishes her justice, but we can always predict that she’ll do good, and thus I get a bit of reassurance that while with her we’ll get some kind of good ending instead of more strangeness.

4. Dessa/Moto are two asura that are becoming more interesting, so they’re higher on my favorites than they would have been before, so yeah.

5. Canach, while not the smartest character, was certainly pretty awesome in his antihero of justice phase, though I wish we could have seen more stealthy ways he used geurilla warfare.

6. Scarlet is, by no means, a bad villain. She’s decent, but perhaps that I just get to know the good side more than the villains so she’s not higher on the list. I find that there is most likely a plan and that, because players were still early in her plot, we just couldn’t put it together at the time she was introduced.

+1 Pyro’s

I was thinking the same thing, a while back.
So, yeah, I’m for it.

-Mesmer’s Cloak
-Phantasmal Defender

It looks so… touchable. Shame about the name, completely convinced me to steer clear of those things.

Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7dl4zqpXVTgGbdJhpCE/UBmjSx17OpCuukiYfbA-j0CBIgCyk3AEJQUJw5PFRjtKCokiRjVxETBjIq2YWZ1cWQWKgTFGB-w

A build using all traits with “Master” in them, thus “Master Mesmer”… or “Mesmer Mastery”? “Master of Mesmer”?
Anyway, that’s not important. For the most part, it’s a Glass Cannon of sorts. And yeah, I know it isn’t the greatest[or remotely mediocre] build in the world, but I just thought the concept might be interesting to make.

Traits:
-Signet Mastery: -20% Signet CD
-Protected Mantras/Phantasmal Fury: +400 Toughness while channeling mantras/Fury to Phantasms
-Mantra Mastery: -20% Mantra CD
-Master of Manipulation: -20% Manipulation CD
-Glamour Mastery: -20% Glamour CD
-Master of Misdirection: 33% confusion duration
-Masterful Reflection: Distortion=Reflection

Utility:
-Mantra of Recovery
-Arcane Thievery
-Feedback
-Signet of Inspiration
-Mass Invisibility/Time Warp

Weapons:
-Staff: [Rampager] Superior Sigil of Torment
-Scepter+Focus: [Rampager+Rampager] Superior Sigil of Nullification+Purity

Buffs:
-Bowl of Fancy Potato and Leek Soup
-Potent Master Maintenance Oil

Armor:
-Full Rampager
-5 Superior Runes of Mesmer
-1 Superior Rune of Lyssa

If you some way to make this work better, be free to give feedback, though I don’t recommend actually trying it.

Try using a scepter, spam some clones, stealth with Decoy, and Blink to the opponent. This might fool them into thinking you’re a clones, even if it’s a mesmer-experienced player. Or maybe use decoy and go around to hide behind the corner and the opponent just takes care of the clones without realizing that the mesmer isn’t even mixed in.

Purple is unisex, blue enough for stereotypical males, red enough for stereotypical females, thus balanced in the center of that spectrum so all may feel accepted universally.

Gave myself a shot at it: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQJARWlwzqq3UTmGa9IhpH/u4I/0DlT9nXqgtB-jECBYiQIjAMcBKnrIaslNFRjVNjIqWnEziuIa1SBIryI-w

-Good armor and health
-Pretty good damage[secondary]
-Staff and GS, as two handed weapons, don’t require the commander to go running about slashing or blasting things left and right, making it easier to follow. Their auto-attacks are also pretty good overall, so it’s not a problem if the player takes a moment from attacking to form a strategy. They’re also pretty aesthetically morale boosting, I find, as the other weapons make the commander look a “small”.
-Blink would be used to get where you need to in battle so you’re never a step late, whether that be to lead your group around a corner or to retreat, you’ll always be at the head of the force.
-Feedback is universally useful, while attacking and defending. By standing behind the gate and measuring your distance, you can place the bubble around your gates to negate and protect them from damage.
-Mirror Images are mostly for getting illusions when you need them, whether it’s getting the speed boost while leading or confusing your foes. It will also help morale a bit, seeing the commander even if just clones.
-Time Warp: While not as wide spread as Mass Invisibility, it has a larger quantity that if can provide for, being able to help turn the flow of battles in a tight spot, figuratively or literally.

Traits: 0/10/30/30/0
-Far-Reaching Manipulation for Blink range
-Chaotic Revival and Retaliatory Demise for when you’re downed to help get back up fast and safe, as it doesn’t do well to have a down or dead commander.
-Chaotic Dampening, Medic’s Feedback, and Restorative Illusions for general defense and survival.
-Compounding Celerity for speed when needed

I think you guys are taking “love” to mean romantically, where this is more platonic friendly love.

Two theories:
First, has anyone thought that the Pale Tree is currently the vessel of the god Melandru? It could be that when the Elder Dragons came, the gods went to find safe havens for themselves to exist through and possibly even help without putting themselves at risk, for one reason or another. This could explain how the Pale Tree is connected to the Mists and how sylvari are connected to it. Also, the appearance of the Tree’s avatar is pretty spot-on with Melandru’s, and it might also explain why the Dragons’ corruptions don’t touch the sylvari.

I’m also skeptical of another Pale Tree, though I’m still open to it. Malyck’s “Tree” doesn’t have the dream, or he’s too far away to get a signal, or he’s disconnected altogether, however he apparently has some significance to our own tree and is somehow touching the Dream. He is called the “Harbinger” and the “Seed”, something Ronan knew but never told, and was mentioned next to some stuff with a cave/root.

My thoughts are that Malyck isn’t a new sylvari born of the Pale Tree, but the sylvari who gave birth to the Pale Tree. Either being an old friend of the Ronan who was met in a cave, or possibly accidentally killed by Ronan, Ronan then buried Malyck near his own family’s graves. The reason he’s something “Ronan… never told” is because Ronan was either deeply saddened by his death or ashamed that he caused it. Malyck became the seed of the Pale Tree and became what it is today, but through the Pale Tree Malyck may have revived through a pod. What Malyck is “missing”, that feeling of emptiness, may just be his memories from before reviving. As for the Dream, he had none because he was above it. Given the Melandru theory, he was born before the Dream was created, as the Dream touches sylvari before birth. Malyck, as a name, also means things like “Angel, Messenger, King”, meaning he could be the “King of Sylvari”, or at least until Melandru kicked him. Anyway, this would explain the cryptic message from that Amaranda the Lonesome gave when trying to touch into Malyck’s Dream[below]. He would also be the “Harbinger of Sylvari”, which could be why the Nightmare refer to him as such, instead of the misconception of him being the “Harbinger of a Nightmare Tree”.

“A distant shore… And darkness. A root. A cave. You. You are the seed. What Ronan knew but never told still lingers in the dream.”

Thoughts?

Idea of the Style

Focus on finding the players who have bows and guns equipped and just draw them out, maybe using clones or phantasms to lure them away from the main group. From there, just reflect, reflect, and reflect until you have the clear upper hand and bring out Timewarp for the kill, gaining all boons and curing yourself as you bash on your foe.
Best to start with Mimic, since the short CD time will let you use it later in the fight. Use Feedback next while attacking, and if the opponent tries to get out of it, you just have to roll in and move around it to make sure the target has no clear shot at you. Start with using the scepter to generate clones as you’re fighting, maybe bringing an Illusionary Swordsman into it for damage, and shatter them with Distortion after the Feedback is down, giving you reflector around yourself. Once that is done, block twice, creating two more clones, and create a phantasm if possible. Switch to Sword/Focus and Immobilize the enemy with Illusionary Leap/Swap and create an Illusionary Warden to beat them up a bit, possibly getting most or all of the 12 hits in. Stand inside of the Warden’s bubble attack until they move away. The basic weakness of the next part is that the enemy might figure out attacking isn’t the best idea and just bides his time to heal, in which you’ll have to go out of the Warden’s bubble to attack or switch to scepter when you can. On the other hand, they may be fooled by your clones created from Illusionary Leap and the blocks, or may just try for an AoE attack on the Warden/you. When/If this happens, just use Blurred Frenzy to completely avoid it and shatter everything(Mind Wrack/Diversion). Well, that’s ideally. In general, though, reflect when you can, use Blurred Frenzy against AoE, and finish with your elite.
In the case that the target switches to melee, just create clones/phantasms, pull them places with focus, and block their attacks with Scepter/Sword. Also, use your MH sword to pressure them a bit with Blurred Frenzy, possibly convincing them it would be better to use ranged.

I’ve been told my cycles are too long at times, so you can ignore the middle section of this if you want, though the front and ends are more towards the gist of the build.

This build is untested.

Any advice and constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated.

Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQRArc8dl0z6pXTzqGaNJhJFEP4neo8l/cUF6epC6G-TwAg1CqIKSVkrITRyisFNIZVxmgJBA

Merlin Wall

The Merlin Wall(Yes, I like puns) is a build that focuses on reflection and blocking and countering. While not necessarily tank-like, the Merlin Wall is most powerful against range-focused opponents, though it is not impossible to fight at close ranged, though it is best to avoid such. In fact, this build is just about solely focused on the defeating ranged opponents, being able to block, evade, and counter all their attacks. While not strong against much else, it is a very strong counter-build against rangers and engineers, with their range-based combat.

Traits
0/10/20/30/10

Dueling:
-Retaliatory Shield: Gives Retaliation when blocking, punishing enemies a bit for attacking afterwards. Best to let this run out before defending again.

Chaos:
-Master of Manipulation: With two Manipulation skills, this comes in handy, giving a 20% reduction in CD.
-Debilitating Dissipation: Punishes those who kill clones with Bleeding, Weakness, or Vulnerability.
-[Alternatively]Mirror of Anguish: To punish those pesky control skills, though it has a large CD so it may not be as useful.

Inspiration:
-Medic’s Feedback: Reflection even when healing, giving yourself a bit of cover when helping a teammate.
-Warden’s Feedback: Of course, grants reflection to Focus skills, giving you even more anti-ranged ability.
-Restorative Illusions: When using Distortion, you can also heal as a bonus.
-[Alternatively]Temporal Enchanter: Glamour skills get a 2 second increase in duration, good for Feedback. Very useful and viable option.

Illusions:
-Masterful Reflection: Distortion[shatter] gives you reflection. Together with Restorative Illusions, this creates a kind of second Mirror[healing skill].

Weapons

Scepter/Sword: This combo was chosen for both the blocks both weapons provide and the clones scepter generates with ease. These clones can be killed by the enemy to push some conditions onto them or shattered with Distortion to get some health and reflection. Plus, you get the Illusionary Swordsman as a bonus.

Sword/Focus: The sword this time was chosen for the Blurred Frenzy, which sadly doesn’t use Masterful Reflection, but is good enough to avoid damage, even melee when needed. The focus, of course, is traited for reflection with the added bonus against ranger pets with the crippling Temporal Curtain provides.

Sigils: Both off-hands are done with a Sigil of Superior Accuracy, with the scepter holding a Sigil of Superior Nullification[60% chance to remove a boon] and the MH sword holding a Sigil of Superior Earth[60% chance to cause bleeding].

Skills

-Mirror: This healing skill reflects while used, making sure there are no openings in the defense.

-Mimic: Lets you absorb a single projectile and ignore the rest for four seconds. This is good to start with due to the shorter CD it has.

-Arcane Thievery: The condition remover for this build, this allows you to trade three conditions of yours for three boons of the enemy.

-Feedback: The basic reflector of the mesmer, this forms a bubble that reflects around the target. You can scurry around it to keep the target blocked off and harmless. It lasts 6 seconds, but can be pushed to 8 if choosing to use the Temporal Enchanter Trait.

-Timewarp: Lets you attack 1.5 times faster, which is just something good.

-Mass Invisibility: A stealth, also just good for getting away or avoiding targeting. You may also be able to get the opponent to pull out AoE attacks so they can’t use them later, if needed.

Equipment

Armor: Full Runes of Lyssa, getting some Precision to activate those Sigils and a boon per heal. The final ability, getting all boons and no conditions using an Elite Skill, is furthermore the most helpful in the final stretch of a fight when reflects are used up and you just need to finish it.

Trinket: Rampager’s Amulet with Rampager’s Jewel, giving good Precision and Condition Damage with a bit of Power and Vitality to top it off.

Noss.4105:

Interesting. Have you thought of going 20 into domination instead of chaos for some vulnerability stacking, Empowered Illusions and possibly Halting Strike?
Also it seems odd that you have 2 sets of swords, but don’t pick up reduced cooldowns for them.

Anyways, looks pretty good for groups and will be even stronger after dec. 10 patch.

Oh, BTW all your sigils share the same cooldown timer.

I created an alternative version now with Halting Strike, though I still seem to be leaning more towards the original.
I also felt that, having two sets of swords, if you start from the back and move up with your attacks, you just have to swap weapons to get all the skills cooled down. This also works with the sigils, since swap CD is around 10 seconds, so if you swap every 11 seconds or so, you should be able to activate the sigils each time.

@Alissah: Yeah, a full-mantra build doesn’t let the mesmer be very… mesmer-like, but is more like a combat-mesmer than anything else. But that’s also why I chose dual swords with mantras. Dual swords allows more normal combat than magical, which would probably feel more easy to adapt to the mantras with.

Play Style

Strong at 1-on-1, but best in taking out small groups in a small group. Focusing on a single target, preferably melee, maybe a warrior or guardian, the Swordsman-tra will strike with his sword a number of times, using his full set of skills, until one charge of each mantra is used[You can use Mantra of Pain whenever], with the exception of the Mantra of Concentration as that is more situational. By this point, make sure all your sword skills are used and on CD before switching to your second dual-sword set for an auto recharge and repeat the process, using up all your mantras[minus MoC]. Once done, switch again, tap the opponent a bit to get the critical, and roll away. Use Illusionary Leap before channeling Mantra of Pain[or another if it’s ready] and use it as a quick getaway if they close the distance too fast. While the other Mantras CD, just fight the opponent like normal, using Moa-Morph only in the stickiest situations to turn the tide. Once the Mantras are ready to be channeled, just roll away and do it, using Mantra of Pain while channeling to keep the damage rolling without breaking the chant.
When using Moa-Morph, there’s no point in wasting your Mantras since you have a major boost for that time, unless it’s Mantra of Pain.
With this style, your teammates will be healed numerous times through the use of mantras and the high damage and steady crits help beat the opponents down with them unable to touch you with your constant dazing, blocking, evasion, and stability in the middle of combat. Their boons and conditions won’t last long given the crit-rate and your damage and defense will likely wear them down enough to kill.

This is untested and would benefit from any constructive criticism or advice.

Original Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQRAsc8cl4zionRTlGZ9IhJF923nUAdnX6RsvtsB-jkCBojDimCEm4IQEJg5cFRjtKqIasqlYqYER1WzCymzKrSBcxyI-w

The Nirvana

Previously named the Swordsman-tra, this was an attempt to make a full mantra build, or the “Full-Mantra Mesmer”. Why? Because I heard it was hard/impossible and wanted to give it a shot. At any rate, the Swordsman-tra is a tank-ish build with good damage output and able to get some good stacks of Might. Unlike other builds, though, this one only has a single weapon set, or more accurately both the weapon sets are dual swords. This was because after building into the mantras, I found it would be better to create a build that would make the mantras more useful as well, and so dual swords would give good damage output and also make sure the target was always in range and sight for the mantras to activate. This also helps put a lot of non-stop pressure on the opponent. This build seems best for roaming in a small group[1-4 others], hitting hard, taking damage, and healing a bunch.

Weapons

-Dual Swords: The swords are all Cavalier with the main hand of both sets having a Superior Sigil of Intelligence. The off-hands of both sets are different, one having the Superior Sigil of Nullification, and the other of Generosity. The off-hands are both on crits, and with the SoI on the main hands making it a 100% crit on swap, this will become a good source of condition removal and boon removal. The Cavalier gives a good bonus to the critical damage, which helps on swap.

Skills

-Mantra of Healing: Auto-healing for in combat

-Mantra of Pain: For auto-damage, of course. Has a 1-second CD, making it perfect to use with other mantras.

-Mantra of Distraction: For dazing and interrupts

-Mantra of Concentration: The main stun-break of this build

Traits
0/30/20/20/0

Dueling
-Protective Mantras: Gain 400 toughness while channeling mantras, good in the breaks of melee when running after or away from opponents.

-Mantra Mastery: Reduced recharge on mantras[20%]

-Empowering Mantras: 4% extra damage for each readied mantra, which gives 16% at the beginning of the fight

Chaos
-Illusionary Defense: 3% reduced damage per illusion. Not so mantra-based, but it helps give more purpose to the extra clones and phantasms.

-Bountiful Interruption: Good with the Mantra of Distraction and Illusionary Riposte. Together with the Diversion shatter, you should be able to get a quick 5 or 25 stacks of Might in the crunch time of a fight.

Inspiration
-Mender’s Purity: -1 condition when you heal, a good way to remove two conditions with the Mantra of Healing

-Restorative Mantras: Heals allies when channeling a mantra. With this build, you’ll be able to heal allies 4 times at the least per battle, thus making it very good for support.

Equipment

Armor: Full Sentinel and Superior Rune of Lyssa. With upped Power, Toughness, and Vitality, the build becomes more tank-ish with better base damage combined with the auto-criticals the weapon-swap provides. The Rune of Lyssa gives some precision, which helps a bit with the normal crit-rate, which is good, but the best part is the [#6] in which using an Elite Skill provides all boons. Combined with Moa-Morph, this skill will both debuff opponents beyond help and gives the means to smash them on the final stretch of the battle after all the mantras are used.

Accessories: Full Cavalier with 3 Power Infusions and 2 Precision Infusions.

Back: Knight with Precision Infusion

Buffs:
-Spicy Marinated Mushroom: Pushes the Power into the 3000s, which feels nice, and gives a good bit of Toughness.

-Potent Superior Sharpening Stone: Power equal to 6% Toughness and 4% Vitality.

I don’t really care to copy skills, since it feels like it will be harder to use in builds reliably, but I think if they just buff the current effect it will be fine, like for the four seconds you channel you absorb all projectiles aimed at you and Echo will send all of those attacks at a single opponent.

Original Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsfWl4zKqHWTmGb9IipHBHFCckK0alewbz2FC-jACBoiCiEBCi5PhNRaIalVFRjVxET5iIq2cuIa1SBMqwI-e

Newly Traited Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsfWl4zKqHWTmGb9IipHEHyBckK0alewb22FC-jACBoiCiEBCi5PhNRaIalVFRjVxET5iIq2cuIa1SBMqwI-e

Thief-Mesmer
This build was more of attempt to copy the thief and merge it with the mesmer, in a sense. It uses a mix of stealth and teleports to place oneself accordingly combined with clones and a traited shatter to trick and damage the opponents while they focus on catching the mesmer. This is meant mainly for WvW roaming and has high crit-rates for better damage with mobility.
Also, the build’s name is a pun on my attempt to combine the words “Thief” and “Mesmer”, creating “Thesmerf”, thus “The Smurf”.

Weapons

-Sword/Torch: The sword was mainly picked for its teleport[#3] that sends a clone to attack that you can switch with, breaking stuns and such as a result. It’s also relatively strong offensively and defensively. The torch was picked solely for The Prestige, letting the mesmer cloak and blind opponents. Already, together with the sword, the mesmer can teleport and stealth much like the thief.

-Staff: While not the most thief-y weapon, it has a good back-step teleport[#2] which can become annoying if used correctly. The defense of Chaos Armor[#4] and AoE of Chaos Storm[#5] is also a plus.

Skills

-Decoy: Stealth+Clone

-Veil: Stealth

-Blink: A targeted teleport, good for moving around opponents

Traits

10/30/30/0/0

Domination:
-Mental Torment: Plus 20% damage to Mind Wrack

Dueling:
-Blade Training: Plus 50 Precision with sword
-Far-Reaching Manipulation: Blink range increase
-Deceptive Evasion: Creates a clone when dodging

Chaos:
-Master of Manipulation: Shorter Blink cool-down
-Chaotic Dampening: Extra toughness with staff
-Prismatic Understanding: Gain extra stealth duration[+1 sec] and a random boon[Aegis/Protection/Regen] when you cloak.

Equipment
-Weapons: All Assassin, with Superior Sigils of Accuracy to maximize critical damage.
-Armor: Upper body is all Assassin for criticals, with the lower body made Rampager for both precision and some condition damage for staff. They all have the Superior Rune of the Thief, which ups precision and condition damage, along with +10% damage while behind foes.

-Accessories: Back is Rampager, all the rest are Berserker.

-Buffs:
Bowl of Curry Butternut Squash Soup: +100 Precision, +10% Critical Damage
Potent Master Maintenance Oil: Precision from 6% of Toughness and 4% of Vitality

Play Style

In a 1-on-1, this build is meant to start off with the Sword/Torch to immobilize the enemy with Illusionary Leap to gain the advantage first, swinging behind them to attack before switching to staff and Phase Retreating away. When attacking, always try to stay behind the opponent. When they try to put on pressure, stealth or Blink away behind them and attack, rolling while stealthed to create clones spread out around them. While behind, you can shatter these with Mind Wrack to get a good critical hit in with +25% damage. The main point of this strategy is to keep moving and staying out of the target’s sights, thus keeping safe while stabbing them from behind.

In a 1-on-many scenario, you can first target a single person, tap them with the sword a few times while using Illusionary Leap/Swap to confuse them and Phase Retreat to evade, then a mix of Veil, Decoy, and Blink to dance around the field a bit with The Prestige added here and there. Thus, you avoid most attacks while taking people down one by one, though this will only work on only small groups of under 5 people, probably. With multiple clones circulating the field, it helps to disorient the foes to deal with fakes, which helps the mesmer get away. Despite the effort, it’s more fit for 1-vs-1 scenarios, so don’t expect miracles if attacking larger groups.

This is untested and would benefit from any advice/critique from those more experienced in builds.

Lorelei.7809:

I thought Krait thought all races were inferior and enslaved any race they came across that they could. Thus, they would not align themselves with any other race or faction of a race.

From the wiki: "These intelligent creatures are vicious and xenophobic, attacking and enslaving all other species on sight. "
“Krait are vicious creatures, completely uninterested in the needs or well-being of others. The krait have never felt threatened by any of the land or other sea-dwelling races. They believe other, lesser races have nothing to offer them, so the krait never bother to communicate with them. Never beaten, they are convinced that they are blessed and elevated: the superior species in the world. The krait will seize whatever they want for themselves — slaves in particular — with a ruthless efficiency. "

That part, “They believe other, lesser races have nothing to offer them, so the krait never bother to communicate with them.” The Court, because of Scarlet, now have something the Krait actually want, so it doesn’t actually conflict with that piece since they covered the reason why the xenophobes have decided to cooperate.

Do we already have this? It is possible I just missed it, but I’m assuming not.
Well, I’d like it. I’m not very coordinated in teams and would prefer an arena event for one player to go against one other player, nice and fast. Anyone else feel this way?

Might be just me, but Captain Barnicus looks a bit richer since the Queen’s Gauntlet. I’d also like to see these guys a bit more in the LS. Just a passing thought I wanted to share.

They even mentioned in the description of the LS that krait are xenophobes, so it’s not like they’re ignoring the lore.

This sounds strikingly similar to [OMFG], but anyways, thoughts on this organization Marjory mentions in Kessex Hills?

This build is an attempt at an underwater centered style of fighting. You may be asking, “Why are you trying to make an underwater build at all?” and the answer to that is: I don’t want to accidentally remake an already created build, so I’m going for more focused and situational builds for more specificified purposes.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQBVSPrqeRNDak1jEnUQ9mj6x1ru3LpA38G-j0CBohYoiIUAIk0Y5PKrJSCiVRht+aIaqbYaXER1GeFRrWKAIGGB-w

It’s meant to increase the phantasm capabilities since they are much harder to kill underwater, it seems, help the mesmer’s mobility to a certain extent as the 3-Dimensional play in underwater is very much moving around to avoid enemies. Feedback to lockdown range-fighters and decoy for melee. The Signet of Domination is multipurpose, stunning harder opponents.

This build is made under the assumption that most people don’t use underwater builds nor train much for it, making this more effective in ambushing that majority in an underwater path or moat.

Opinions/Criticism?

I don’t think he was talking more on the tower content than the surroundings. Simply put, I think he’s not saying that everything is instanced, but that he wants a raid-type deal or wants the tower to be open world and not dungeon/instanced.

This is very good stuff, very interesting and thought out.
I agree the Personal Story needs to glorify the heroes more instead of making it “modernly realistic”, which is the reason people turn to games in the first place. I think they will expand on the PS over a large period of time to extend the time limit they set with the dragons. This means that instead of dragons all the time, we will have more “inside” Tyria stories. I do, however, believe they should find a way to clarify the timeline and set the story straight instead of making the players feel confused. I also think being cleverly mysterious “all” the time is not good for the game populace as they may believe there is no direction and lose interest when ANet keeps saying “wait for it”. Sometimes, clear cut stories and not a lot of twists can help the players feel more joy than interest in the game.
At any rate, I believe ANet has probably discussed this among themselves and is figuring out the “smoothest” path without completely dicing up their current direction, which would lead to a major gap in the story and leaving many players with a bit of a gap in their heart towards the game.

We should advertise this to non-members as well. I mean, we have the portals, might as well put them to good use, unless you think this might make the puzzle too crowded.

For the Home Instance, I’m thinking if they want people to return there more often, it might be a good idea to keep it “alive” like the Living Story. Like with each new patch, there’s a small team that adds updates to the happenings in the Home Instance and maybe even missions or chance events of some kind that will make it feel interesting to the player.

As an example to this, Bioware’s “Dragon Age” and “Mass Effect” have times when, if you revisit an area, you can see a new interaction between characters there and maybe have some new dialogue. This can probably work side by side with the main Living Story.

Opinions?

Kraitsabers! Awesome.

I’ve been thinking that our guild lacks an economic base to it. I mean, it’s true that we are more freestyle “do your own thing”, but I also think that it would be beneficial if we took some advantage to our mesmer monopoly; the Portal.
Everyone here understands the importance of a Mesmer in jumping puzzle situations, and I’m not suggesting that we force people to pay money just to use our portals.
The idea is that we could create a sub-guild of OMFG that advertises to non-mesmers. Our people join as “Porters” which can access the guild bank, which will be the more important aspect of it, while non-mesmers join as “Customers[or Patrons]”, which can’t access the bank in order to prevent theft.
The Customers will use the guild-chat to call and see if a Porter is around to help with a certain jumping puzzle. The Porter can then answer if they feel like it. The Porter will then travel to where ever the puzzle is, solve it, and port the Customer through. The Customer will then send a 10 Silver fee into the guild bank. Porters are allowed to take half of their job as a small reward while, at the end of the week, the money will be sent to [OMFG].

I understand there are still holes and kinks to work out, but what do you guys think about the idea?

I don’t know about you guys, but I haven’t seen a lot of the more “sinful” aspects of humans. All I see are a lot of “Human Resilience” and “Honor”, and stuff like that, but not enough… greed, murder, conquest, etc.
It makes humanity feel a bit more shallow.
And sure, there are separatists and the ministries and all, but you don’t really get a good look at those, so they don’t paint a lot on the picture.
Thoughts?

It’s not useless.
I once morphed Mad King Thorn into a Moa.
That was most definitely not a waste(in comedic material).
If we could morph more bosses, it might be a useful way around mechanics, but meh.

What would you want as a mesmer skill, personally? It doesn’t even have to be balanced or make sense much, just what you would think would be a cool thing if your character could do it. This is purely day-dream driven, no need to balance it unless you want to. Some people just have that need to make things make sense, which is okay too.

Examples:
- Hypnosis
I was hoping before launch for a skill that turns an enemy into an ally. In PvP, maybe it would make the target’s allies look like enemies or have an AI hijack the character’s body.