Guild Wars 2

True… and even non condition builds can use staff clones to boost warlocks. Tick that one comment as typing without thinking it fully through.

Early levels your level makes a much bigger difference than your gear. My first character I just ran with what I picked up as I went – cheapest way to level and you’ll be fine. TP overcharges for starter gears, and unless you farm the mats, it’s even more expensive to make it. Once you hit 20, THEN start caring. You can fully equip yourself in greens for a handful of silver, which you should have by then (but don’t forget your trait book at 11!) as that is the first tier crafting level most people who’ve touched crafting reach. From then on crafting tiers are every 15 levels for master (green)/rare (yellow), so your only gap fillers would be random loot or random loot off TP. Fine (Blue) will start being better 10 levels higher, but I admit on my future chars, I just didn’t care and crafted myself rare armor every 15 levels.

As for handling areas, as I said, level means a lot, especially in the beginning. What stomps you 3 levels above, you’ll stomp in 3 levels. If you’re doing 100% explore and events as you run across them, you should have no issue keeping your level with story and zone. If for some reason you don’t, there are multiple zones for every level group (hitting starter zones is a quick way for extra levels and stacking up skill points so you can afford to experiment with utilities), you can craft, you can PvP (you will get leveled up to 80 for it. WvW you used to just get stomped as the scale up didn’t make up for your gear difference… the recent update may have changed that. sPvP and tPvP has its own gear set up and your scale up is less fake, so you can actually compete). Mists (PvP wait room) is also a good place to test out a character as the level up includes traits and skills, plus check out armor.

You never have to ‘grind’ your level in this game – do whatever you enjoy the most and it will fall in your lap.

Conclusion: Clones are useless for the purpose of deceiving except against noobs… and you really don’t need to deceive noobs anyways. They’re just shatter fodder.

I would like to see off hands added as a visual element, fake boon bar, and attack while running (attack while running should apply to summons for every class). Not sure they can take off the NPC tag (not sure how it’s tied with AI), but that would help against a cheap trick. Basically want clones to survive a glance. There will still be tells – is one dodging, is one attacking faster or attacking with the offhand? Did they use a non-auto-attack move? Did one switch weapons? There are plenty of tells, just want it less obvious.

Personally I just do a 100% map explore on each map my story took me. First few maps it will keep you at level with your story, and then soon passing it. I was level 80 by the time my story hit mid-60s. Also helped that I would do any even that popped within radar range.

Short story is that your story missions are NOT enough to get you 80 on their own. Events, hearts, exploration, crafting, pvp, etc all are things that can get you the rest of the way. This game is a flat % based progression, so it’s easy to hit 80. 80 is not end game – by the time you’ve done all of the missions, dungeons, fractals, and story, you would be 80 five times over.

Good luck in your adventures!

I almost have the target I’m avoiding selected. With #2 being random, it’s stupid to spam it without purpose… I use it just before an attack (usually ports me same place so attack hits me anyways), when I’m in a red circle (usually ports me closer to the center of the circle), or to avoid a stomp…. which is only useful against people that don’t know what a Mesmer is and try to stomp instead of just attacking me. It’s a beautiful skill to avoid a stomp… but I can count the times it saved me outside of that situation on one hand. Simply said, instead of getting me out of the immediate danger to then work on a recovery, it always puts me in MORE.

Thus #2 – good in PvP against a stomp. Bad for every other situation in the game unless you get lucky.

Sadly it is. By removing hair, they save any kind of clipping through the helmet. You can logically place that anyonyone that would put on a helmet would whip up their hair so it won’t stick out from the helmet and give an opponent something to grab and pull on…. though still would be nice if they put up a generic “pulled up” hair style that matches color to go beneath helms. Sadly Syvlari are a bit more complex, but something is better than nothing.

For now though, it’s a case of not a bug, live with it. You may want to put in the suggestion forum easily implemented ideas that could give hair without clipping concerns.

As the subject says, with the changes of it not rallying on non-XP things, wanted to see if this also stops PvP rallying. Sorry if a search would have solved this (light searches only brought what seemed to be conjecture, not testing), and wanted a clear and clean answer.

Thanks!

In this game you are given many mobility options – Each class has their own set, and Warriors can leap, block, dodge, and whirl through. This is not a “stand there and spam skills” or “kite in circles until it dies” MMO – that’s part of the reason why I love this game. While you can build to face-tank or kite in PvE, you will get STOMPED in PvP. You simply have too many tools to avoid damage, so the best defense is to not take it… period, for any class. The only time it makes sense to bunker is for retaliation builds where your getting hit hurts them (Guardians are the king of this). So if you are not getting hit, then you don’t need armor, you need damage to kill them. Balance it to your playstyle, but the true end game is a glass cannon that out smarts the opponent so they can lay in their damage and never get touched.

Now what weapons you use is all up to you – warrior is blessed by being one of the few classes that doesn’t have a weapon that sucks.

Greatsword: High mobility and best damage skill in the game – assuming you can pin someone down long enough for the 2 or 4 second 100B. Has a cripple move for chasing.

Hammer: One of the best CC weapons ever created. A weaken (less dodge rolls for them, a cripple, a knock back, and knock down, AND a stun? If your target isn’t riding high with stability, they are screwed.

Lonbow: An AoE ranged weapon that creates your only combo field in the game. Many argue Warriors have better bow skills than Rangers.

Rifle: Kitten single target damage. Your killshot can literally one-shot glass cannon builds. Plus Rifle Butt is extremely useful as both CC and keeping melees away from you.

Axes: A crap ton of whirl moves, so you can always damage anyone around you. Plus Eviscerate is amazing damage. A shield-bash + eviscerate is a kill combo favored by many.

Maces: Another CC weapon. Weaken at end of auto-attack, a daze and a stun. Off hand adds a in-line knockdown. Schwahrheit uses this weapon for the CC to set up his GS combo.

Swords: Your bleed kings – basically every button you click causes bleeds. Set up right, and you can have people riding with 20+ stacks of bleed. A lunge and a cripple keeps them from running, and the f1 move adds a long duration immobilize. This keeps them in your flurry, or you can use it to 4s immobilize and then cancel for another combo.

Shield: A stun and a 3 second invulnerability button that you can still move around with. My Guardian is deeply jealous.

Warhorn: A 1200 range aoe support weapon. One knocks off their CC and gives everyone swiftness. Another gives everyone vigor and them weakness meaning you can dodge twice as many times as them – as we said, mobility is the name of the game. Add in a kicking condition trait, and this is a boon in any party.

As you can see, there is no “must have” weapon. They are ALL good, and all have a purpose. Pick how you want to play – you can knock them on the head with a mace and shield until they are ready for a GS combo like Schwahrheit does. You can stick to them like glue with sword/GS like CoaxialMazer does. You can be a whirling eviscerating killer. You can go around being a CC king with a hammer. You can be tooting horns and planting banners being the wave that keeps your party killing. Pick how you play… the only point to drive home is to learn to control mobility. To avoid damage and not let them avoid yours is the game where you’ll end up on top. I went from tank to a 0 tough/vit glass cannon just to force me to learn this, and after learning it, I’ve died less than I ever did with a tank build.

The Mesmer downed skill 2 I swear teleports you to a WORSE place, 100% of the time. If there is no worse place, it will teleport you to the SAME place. It is an evil skill and you should never use it. The only times I’ve ever had it teleport max distance is to land me in a spike trap, lava, or the nearest veteran mob available. Otherwise it will teleport you under the boss or mob so it’s positive if you’re with buddies, you’ll get cleaved to death and can’t be saved. If your alone, and greater danger does not exist other than where you are, you will not be ported greater than 5 units so your clones attack will make sure your stealth is useless as you’ll just be hit anyways.

Of course this could all just be me having crap luck 99% of the time. I would like there to be intelligence placed into the random port – or at the very least max distance away from the targeted mob (or better, ground/cursor). That still will have huge flaws, but at least it can be more useful. The preferred option would be to have what the Thief has, as I love that skill… but that would be the further homogenization of the game. I would gladly settle with the teleport 700 units away from target (900 would only be a concern as that would likely take you out of Mind Blast range).

We have a game that allows you to level past 80, earning skill points for gear. I would love to see a “Total XP Earned” and a “XP Level” stat. I want to see my Warrior over level 9000! As XP is already stored as a value for achievements, it should be easy to translate this even if current level is not recorded, as the amount of XP needed per level is static.

Make this happen, please!

I have mixed opinions – this game it is indeed way to easy to reach 80. I play 2-4 hours a day, and still made 2 level 80 characters in less than a month. Even assuming max hour daily play, that’s still a level every 45 minutes. Reaching 80 really is no achievement.

However, this game does handle levels differently. With scaling, it keeps content more challenging no matter the level. Sure, you lose out going to a starter area and shooting everything for 380k+, but you’re also not grinding out those areas for no gain or effort. Add in the continued level factor for earning special/legendary gear, and it works.

What I WOULD like to see different is to show your “XP Level” – a stat that shows how many levels you’ve earned total. I’d like to know for curiousity, kitten, and progression sake. Who doesn’t want to show off their level 1,238 Guardian?

War horn is an amazing support weapon. I mean seriously, a 1200 range aoe boon cast that you can trait to remove conditions on everyone? It’s a godsend in WvW, and is part of any non-selfish party build. I’ll leave others to post as I’m still new to warrior, but I know I’ll be glad to see one more war horn on the field.

Warrior has always been strongest with others. They have a lot of group support (shouts and flags), hammer is great CC to work with other DPS, and that finisher set up means you can mop things up. The fact that they are so reliant on others to make them more powerful makes them a bit less of a solo class, but I think the devs should look to see how to make other classes reliant on others for a boost in strength rather than make warriors full potential at solo… this is a mmo, not console rpg after all.

That aside, I do think you should consider expanding your weapon set beyond two. Rifle is a beautiful single target weapon, but lacks multi-target. Bow on the other hand is great multi-target as almost every skill can hit groups. By locking yourself, you are locking yourself from functionality and abilities of your character – in this case, creating combo fields.

Hammer for warrior has two finishers – Staggering Blow (3 – whirl) and your burst Earthshaker (f1 – blast). Basically you see anything that’s not a red circle on the ground, and do one of those and you’ll likely get something. Warriors have the fewest fields in the game (only bow f1, woo!), but a crap ton of finishers. This pretty much means that you’re screwed on setting up combos, but you can always finish them.

This may help: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Table_of_warrior_combo_skills

Depends:
Sigil of Force – 5% damage increase. No cooldown and no proc chance reliance… just consistent reliable damage. Wethospu’s post also shows that it wins in most cases. If you can afford a second GS, I would get a Sigil of Night. Swap to this at night, and that’s 10% damage. Don’t need number crunching to show this is the best DPS increase when it grows dark.

Sigil of Generosity – Beautiful anti-debuff sigil. In PvE, this is pretty much all you need to keep debuffs off of you. Saves you from soldier/runing or relying on mending (except heavy condition casting bosses/mobs, which are relatively rare).

Sigil of Blood – Gives your sword HP on crit. 450+ hp every ~5 seconds can add a lot to survivability.

Sigil of Energy – Gives you 50% upon weapon swap, which means an extra dodge. Warrior doesn’t have the combat mobility of many other classes, so this extra dodge can be nice.

For a non-condition build, it’s a big nerf. However considering I could keep 12-20 stacks of confusion on someone solo with the trident, anything that dared attacked me was toast. Soloing champs in less than a minute? A veteran dying instantly if it has a rapid attack (poor spinning jellyfish)? It was an expected nerf, though I wish it was posted.

Now with clones having standard trident attack (weak attack + bleed), my trident has been regulated to Whaler. My shatter combos and standard spear attacks do more than my bleed stacks ever could (which is why I never bothered with trident attack unless nothing was touching my clones), but I’m glad the whaler was changed from bleed to confuse. I now have a reason to use him instead of just spear phantasms beyond the swimming up to a fight move.

Personally I love the sword, and the fix to the Sword Wave to hit low targets makes it even better.

1. It’s a bit quicker and perfect synergy with Virtue of Justice. The 5 hit also has more synergy with Empowered Might if Mights is what you are concerned about
2. Gap closer is instant and unpredictable (unless your reflexes are in the fractions of a second). In PvP that is a hundred times more important than slightly more damage. Add in the cooldown being 10 instead of 15 seconds, and I actually prefer the swords 2 over the GS.
3. It’s true that this really isn’t a killer damage move, but still useful. An anti projectile move that lets you still damage the attacker? Thank you.

Now if you’re going to talk about cleave, then yes the GS is 100 times better than sword… but that’s not the purpose of the sword. But then, if you’re farming multiple mobs in Orr, why are you using sword instead of hammer?

[edit] Fixed my horrible grammar in the first sentence. :p

Relating spirit weapons to phantasms is just LOL. They’re cooldowns are much shorter, trigger on cast (not illusion death), can have up to 4 handy (2 weapon, 2 utility), plus Mesmers have spammable clones. Add in the fact they’re not linked to you so they have to pick between attacking you OR your phantasm if you spread out instead of just AoEing you.

In short, this nerf made Spirit Weapons the worst minions in the game…

Was going to switch my Guardian over to a Spirit Weapon build for something new, and now I’m not so sure. I always considered their being a temporary summon as the counter to being invulnerable. The spirit weapon attack rate is already slow, and the attacks pretty obvious – if they can be interrupted, you negate them even if they have high HP. If they are just squish, drop a few AoEs and you negate them. It was a build that had a limited use in small scale fights/pvp as you give up shouts/concencrations in favor of a minion.

Here’s hoping they don’t lose that limited use as well…

Personally 20/20/0/0/30 is my favorite. It’s ridiculously flexible – you can flip to supportive vuln stacking, GS cooldown, or illusion damage on the first tree… and shatter or phantasm spec on the last tree. Second tree is pretty locked with blade training and deceptive evasion (sword is too good to give up with blur and swapping for a self shatter build). In addition the “Duelist’s Discipline” is glitched right now, so you’re nerfing your duelist phantasm by 20% while the first tree’s empowered buffs it by 15%. Because of this and flexibility, I would say it’s no contest between shantasm and Osicat’s build UNLESS you are a chaser (where a 1200 range lower cooldown magic bullet is great). I do think, however, using GS on a 10/30/0/0/30 is not the best choice. The whole point of pure shatter is in your face shatters, and GS has zero defensive abilities. Staff has 3 defensive moves (as you can trigger chaos armor off storm) on top of it’s nice phantasm. Plus the #2 can be used to bounce off other people to your real target to make it a gap closer. I just can’t think of a better weapon for a mesmer that relies on shatters. You can s/s, s/p, s/f your other weapon set, but your survival depends on not being hit, and Staff has that in spades.

As for the other builds – Legion is a pure phantasm build where the phantasms tank you up (with regens and protection). This USED to be a bunker build until they nerfed illusionary membrane to all hell. Retaliation on your illusions is also nice. Unfortunately I see this struggling against, say a d/d elementalist.

As for the last, I would have to look at it more closely as I have not tried it. Really, I have not had too many issues with conditions – a sigil of purity/generosity has always been enough for me except against condition builds… if they slap a condition on me, I just go up an slap them back. And if you know you’re going to hit against a condition build, just prep Null Field. The countless spec I see as advantageous as a more tanky build.

As for the mobility comment – Mesmer is in the top 3 for combat mobility. Worst in game for out of combat mobility (and claiming runes fixes that is bonk – I shouldn’t have to be the only class to sacrifice runes for non combat mobility). But to be honest – if I were to pick between combat mobility and non-combat mobility, the answer is obvious.

Personally I like the Guardian elites. People have already explained the awesome skills tomes have – if you’re in any kind of party situation you can take a step back in, you suddenly have the ability to spam CC, debuffs and boons? Heck, I don’t even used #5 on the Courage tome half the time unless I know people are near death as aoe heals, blinds, dazes, massive cone TEN second (untraited) protection/regeneration are more than enough to keep a whole group up while they do nothing but dps.

As for Renewed Focus – that 3 second invuln is awesome. It’s the complete opposite of a stun – you are given an automatic anti-thief/burst weapon. You see your aegis flash with no one around? Tap that button, and the average thief will have expended their entire burst combo while you are invuln and you can then wipe the floor with them. You getting walloped, and your super-heal has a few seconds left? It’s a 3-second off your timer button. Renewed focus has saved my butt so many times. Plus it allows you to pass on aegis and regens to people from your virtues with only a 3 second ‘cooldown’.

The ONLY time I find Guardian Elites lacking is solo PvE situations. When I have no one to use tomes on, and don’t need the savior button of Renewed, it just sits there unused. Because of this (and similar situations that apply to other classes), I would love to see the elite slot unlocked to have any utility skill + elite skill. This actually would open up MANY options on builds.

GS2 is a 3 stack vuln and a clone creator. What more could you want on a shatter precursor?

Really I see the whole problem revolving around non-combat run speed. Anet doesn’t want Mesmer to have speed in combat as they consider blink + portal as more than enough mobility already. While I DO agree we are perfectly fine in combat, it is a problem outside of combat. We cannot keep up with buddies unless we set up runes + weapon sets just for running… whether they copy our moves to other classes to homogenize the game or not, I think a good compromise is to add a concept that the phantoms speed up your movement (33%) when not in combat. They already have a run speed combat trigger that slows you down, I would think they could take that trigger and attach it to a signet (signet of midnight looks to me as the most balanced add and most fitting).

Personally I almost never use the 4th shatter in PvE on a full clone combo. If you trait self-shatter, most enemy attacks are singular obvious attacks. Save it as a kitten button for when you can’t dodge/port out of its hit.

A suggested shatter combo:
GS4, GS2, swap, roll up to target shatter #2
Sw3, mirror images, shatter #1
Sw2, roll back, pistol5, pistol4, roll back, shatter #3 (doing this will stagger your shatters, which is what you want for shatter 3)

A combo like this will lay in 3 shatters, prevent taking most damage, and end with you back in GS range. If you find you are quicker than the weapon combo, you can slip in a portal drop in your sword combo and one at the end of the rolls so you can port up to give a quick sword smack and trigger an enemy attack (thus having him keep a distance) and port back. Alternatively you could blink forward (low health mob you can just finish with a smack), or away for a stronger GS1 or if things went wrong. Of course situation dictates combos, and repeating combos will get you killed in PvP.

On bosses, though, I go phantasm. If you flip on phantasm damage, haste, and bleed on crit, phant longterm DPS will beat your shatter burst. However you have other items to consider beyond the straight numbers – shatters can lay on confuse, bleeds, and vulnerable stacks if traited. I have not crunched the numbers to see which really wins after you factor in the condition damage, but I would rather be lazy and too many bosses have invuln throwbacks to hit melees with. A hybrid build (20/20/0/0/30) is pretty nice as you can flip major traits on the fly to fit GS, phantasms or shatter builds.

The fact that you can change crafting without losing your level, I whole heartedly agree with bound crafted items. Or at least bound to account for those of us that split crafting among characters. The OP has the simple facts – it costs more to craft than it does to buy it. This is mainly due to the fact that crafted items are NOT unique; you have common loot items that sell for 1 copper over vendor, so crafted can’t compete unless it too sells at that point. So when you get more money for selling the mats than the item, and can get any item you want off the TP, why would you ever craft?

Really, what I think it needs:
1) Personal crafting items. Town clothing and weapons would be a good path and also take town brawls beyond just donators or limited time tonics.
2) Completely unique statted crafted items and more effort in crafted item looks.
3) A much more advanced crafting system. Cooking hits the nail with stacked and creative combinations, but is unfortunately stuffs it into it overly basic interface meaning so much of it is missed.
4) Keep a reason to keep crafting. Let light armor take an armor chest piece and add a cape. Let a Jeweler change the color of any armor that has jewel accents. Give weapon smithing actual unique weapon skins. Allow any crafting to be able to upgrade the tier (blue to green to yellow) of existing levels so you’re no longer waiting 10 – 15 levels for items. level 71 yellow anyone?

I pretty much consider the staff the best shatter build weapon in the game. #2 is BOTH the ability to get up to their face quicker (bouncing off a bunny or mob/player to your target aka Osicat’s “Cat Leap”), or get out of danger after a burst combo. Self Shatter is 25% of your burst damage, and that takes being in their face. The staff is your best tool to be in their face as a glass cannon as it has two survival skills. Add in a very powerful phantasm and a debuff/boon aoe, and you’ll find yourself using every skill on the staff before switching to your attack weapon.

Personally I run with Staff and S/S in PvE and PvP. My double burst combo is enough to kill most trash, and if not, a blurring blades finishes them off. Staff gets me out if something goes wrong. If I’m going against a champion or boss, what I use depends if I’m soloing it or with a party. With a party, it’s Staff and GS. Staff to drop storm and phantasms, and GS to dps with at range. Solo depends on the behavior of the boss – if it’s ranged, I want to stay in it’s face with staff and s/s. If it’s melee and I can kite it, GS with s/s if I’m feeling aggressive or staff as it’s safer and a better kiter.

Note that the off hand is very interchangeable. I use sword because it synergizes with my traits making for quicker summons and I just love the flavor of dual wielding swords. Scepter has a block and better clone generation than swords, though, which means you don’t have to load your utility bar as much to keep up shatters. Focus gives you your only real speed buff and pull. Pistol is much better CC than sword and has the second most powerful phantasm. One of my favorite things about mesmer is you can actually pick weapons to fit play styles rather than be locked to meta weapons.

About Myself: I’m a very competitive player in all aspects of any game I play. I like people to see my tag and know they have a top ally or a worst enemy. This does not mean I kitten or brag and shout – it means that I’m always working out strategies to be the best and am a team player. I was attracted to this game because it’s not about 1/100th second timed macros to be the best, but actual strategy, reactionary twitch skills, and team play. I’m new, so I’m still learning, but if you are a guild looking for the best of the best, I will be one of those in only a short time (though grindy Legendary gear may take a bit longer :p).

What I’m Looking For: While it’s true I generally seek out competitive guilds in the MMOs I play, I’m not looking for just myself. Have 2 roommates that also play, one of whom is very casual about his play. As gaming with them and having fun is far more important, my only requirements is a friendly and active guild with VoIP (vent or TS). Also looking for a guild that has groups that do PvE (open, dungeons, fractals), Wv3, sPvP and tPvP.

Server: At this point, any – though I prefer T4 or above as I want massive WvWvW. We were on a T8 server, and Wv3 was sadly pitiful. We swapped to a higher pop server at random (Sanctum of Rall), and while I have been loving Wv3 on this server, it seems many others had the same idea. Only 2 of 3 of us made it, and now the server is pretty much constantly full – he has yet to find a time to join. On Thursday, we’re off cooldown, so we have one chance to swap servers that have the spots. Want to be able to be able to know we will find a family where we go.

Player Info and Play Times: (will update with my roommates user names when I get home)

Drawing Guy.3701
Weekly Play Time: 30 – 40 hours
Normal Play Time: 6pm – 10pm PST on week days. Most of the day Sat and/or Sun
Playstyle: Completionist PvE; Competitive Wv3, sPvP (yet to play), tPvP (yet to play)
Personality: Sarcastic and laid back. Will help anyone that asks for it if I can. Willing to talk or debate any subject game related or not.

Borsin
Weekly Play Time: 50+ hours
Normal Play Time: Varies. Guild activity increases play time. Only school/part time work interferes.
Playstyle: Hardcore PvE and Wv3
Personality: Laid back and talkative. Willing to help anyone if not busy with any other tasks.

BigBen
Weekly Play Time: <10 hours
Normal Play Time: Varies
Playstyle: Casual PvE and Wv3
Personality: We usually go into a separate channel (as we’re talkative) when he plays and party with him as he cannot play often. Anyone is willing to join us when we do, as the more the merrier! He’s friendly, but due to his limited play time, is the one that needs the help.

As you can see, we three are pretty varied. We would be a great asset to any team, and I look forward to being part of your family.

Really, I would be GLAD to share portals with select classes such as Engineer or Necro (my GOD thief does NOT need more mobility options) if Mesmer can get some more non-combat mobility options. The fact that my mesmer has to rely on Runes or other people for speed buffs is bonk. My portal doesn’t help me keep up with the group. My portal doesn’t help me run across the map. I do see portal as a mesmer key ability – you’re an illusionist, and being able to disappear and reappear in a different place is central to that… but if that ability being exclusive also means movement speed is excluded from being, yeah. But then, wouldn’t this change just be even more homogenization?

As others have said, though, trends like this worry me. You can’t make classes on the exact same level without making them exactly the same… which makes it boring. Moves like this would be doing exactly that. I’ve always found our craptastic lack of stability options (so mesmers can be stunned, crippled, dazed, knocked down, etc up the wazoo) already as a movement penalty. You are pretty much guaranteed your CC will stick on a mesmer if you hit them.

We’ll see how the game goes. I like the current diversity, and would like to see “balance” moves go for even bigger differences. No “this class” or “this move” always counters “that class” or “that move”, but rather creative use of that skill and class to win.

I glass cannon my mesmer – if I’m getting hit very often, I’m not playing it right, so retaliation is a bit weaker on my char (though I can easily trait it with Cry of Confusion for longer). I already tick 12+ stacks of confusion with my burst combo. Would much rather have my phantasm tick 5k damage than someone getting themselves for 390 IF they attack during that 3 second window. So, yes, I still find it to be one of the weakest phantasms on top of having one of the longest cooldowns.

As for the “prestige” move, any kind of 3 second channel is painful. That’s 2-3 attacks I’m not doing while waiting for the blast. Blessedly you still have blink to avoid damage/interrupts, and you can make the smoke useful, but would much rather be using that time to lay in damage, setting up phantasms or a burst combo or whatever. Really, though, why would you trait “Blinding Befuddlement” in a trait line that already has too many good options to pick from? It’s a line that buffs both phantasms and shatters… to use it to buff a torch skill is just….

Personally I love running around with swords. It’s cheap to spec, and every single skill has a use. The #1 auto-attack may be a bit meh in damage, it is a boon ripper (though not fast enough that I ever use it in PvP). The key with this is having it on your clones. #2, The blurred frenzy is a FREE hit – quick enough to lay on them, and they can’t damage you during it. Doesn’t need a target, so you can use it as a damage mitigator. #3 is Illusionary Leap – your clone generator move (each main hand weapon has one). Love it. It leaps at the target and cripples, causes all previous leap clones to leap and cripple, is a leap finisher, and you can swap to teleport to the target when the leap hits by them. This makes it a great chase move, and gets them by the target quick for a shatter. Few question that sword is a pretty good main hand weapon. But then Mesmer is one of the few classes where almost every weapon is good (except torch. Clones kick butt on trident, but if nerfed, this weapon would suck too).

The #4 Off-hand sword gives you riposte. As others said, it’s a block with good damage or a ranged daze. Both very useful. #5 dps phantasm is yet another leap finisher. In short, if you have someone dropping fields, you can be zapping them with your sword illusions constantly.

Really, for me, it’s a debate between sword and pistol for offhand. Pistol is better multi-target control, better chaser, and a nicer phantasm, but it’s harder to trait for. Sword I see as better against a single target, for you have a partner to give you combo fields, or did not trait pistol. Focus I see as a situational use weapon – attacking keeps. Gives you a pull and a projectile bubble. Other than that, it’s not for me. Torch is just… don’t even carry. It gives you a weak phantasm. It gives you a 3 second channel move that you can easily interrupt (be it yourself or someone else), negating it’s weak damage.

Personally I’ve never really considered Guardians tied to their traits for playstyle. They’re screwed with almost no traits that shorten weapon timers – you have 50 points pre-defined, and 20 to pick according to what utilities you prefer: 30 in Valor for toughness to crit (as half the game triggers on crit), purity (guardian can basically ignore debuffs with purity + signet) and AH (every weapon you have can cast buffs as with 2/3s of your utilities and your F1-F3 with 5 virtue) – so you have a small constant heal that synergizes with everything. 20 in Honor to get your only real weapons skill reducer or EM + buffing your dodging with vigor and heals. The end of the day is you’re left with Yaki’s statement. The only people I’ve seen break from this (0/x/30/20+x/x) is people that went with spirit weapon builds.

It’s really the weapon that defines the Guardian. Unlike other classes where you are picking weapons by best DPS or favorite skills, each guardian weapon has different utilities (symbols, blocks, heals, buffs, debuffs), so you should ALWAYS have EVERY weapon. Swap according to the situation.

There are several reasons. One is it is the default hair color of Guardians – one of the most common human classes, and what most people associate with Guardians. The other reason is how prevalent it is in stories for mysterious or magic based characters. White hair on a young person has always been a tool to hint that a person is beautiful, but has knowledge beyond their years. People have already listed about a dozen – I modeled one after a Targaryen, which means white hair and violet eyes.

I personally would like to see a lot more options added, including odd or playful options. We have hundreds of dyes, but humans don’t dye their hair?

I honestly cannot disagree that AoEs being some of your strongest damaging attacks being a bit bonk. AoEs should be used more strategically rather than a “just use it. More people just = bonus kills”.

That said, though, most moves in this game are AoE. Some classes, such as the Ele, are almost completely AoE, so a nerf to AoE would just be a straight nerf across the board to them. I don’t want to be stuck on a #1 auto attack as my only true damage attack. So while I do agree AoEs should come with a compromise, it doesn’t apply to this game unless they make completely new and more viable single target skills. Because of this, I fear any kind of AoE nerf.

Personally all of the races have a unique aspect (other than racial skills) that I find helps them stand out or even give them an advantage.

Asura are smaller, and thus harder to target and have advantages in jump puzzles. They have the best looking dodge roll, and some of the most amusing emotes.

Norn are basically giant human vikings, so aesthetics are there. There giant size actually makes weapons fit their attack range, so combat looks a lot more natural to me (instead of whiffing air and seeing damage numbers). They have some of the funniest personal stories.

Charr beg to be named after your house cat. The only race with a truly unique movement style that makes me wish it actually had a speed advantage (non-combat). Plus you can easily create sports team mascots with them!

Sylvari has the best dance emote hands down. Plus I like their swim action more than humans. I also feel they are one of the most unique races in the game.

Humans actually I think DON’T have any visual (non-story) elements that are better than other races. Their massive sell point is the simple fact that they are humans, and thus the most attractive race to us. There’s a reason I have 3.

Rednik.3809:

Drawing Guy.3701:

I don’t know – if the difference is $50/100G for a top server vs free for a bottom server, I think cost will play a major factor in the decision towards lower pop servers.

There is one significant problem in whole concept of “low tier=low cost”. Problem in “price of returning”. What happens if someone decides to perform a transfer to a server with low cost and be disappointed? He will either have to go down even further in the hope of finding the better server in the bottom of the list, or… to pay for a transfer to a server that is higher on the list. And pay another price, much higher than those which he has paid for the first time.

This is dictated by WHY you want to change servers. If you’re looking to get off a zerg server and help a lower server, you are helped by a lower price. You are discouraged from going to a zerg server by a high price.

I don’t have a problem with paying for server transfers – Every single MMO I’ve ever played has had paid transfers. The only exceptions is free to lower pop servers, forced transfers for balancing, or I knew someone that worked there. Heck, pay to play games like WOW have paid transfers, and they aren’t supported by a service system like GW2 is. For F2P games like GW2, I see it as a means that they support their development and servers, so I see paid transfers as needed. I just see that putting tiers on those paid transfers as a tool to help low pop servers, which ArenaNet obviously also thinks.

Rednik.3809:

I read this topic and I wonder how people can be so naive. Does anyone really believe that the paid transfers will lead to equality of servers? No, it can only increase server imbalance. Why? Because anyone who wants to pay money for a transfer, wants to be sure that his money is not wasted. So he did not go to the server in the middle of the list. He will not go to the server in the bottom of the list. He will not go to the server that needs people. He will go to where it is confident in his good position – he will go to the top. And any transfer will take place only on the server that are already in the position of winners, more and more increasing imbalance, because no one wants to pay the money and be disappointed from the weakness of new server.

I don’t know – if the difference is $50/100G for a top server vs free for a bottom server, I think cost will play a major factor in the decision towards lower pop servers.

Personally I look forward to paid transfers. The bigger problem is not people hopping to where the win is, but going to the T1 servers. I’m in a T8 server, and WvWvW is WEAK. The fact you can take 90% of the entire world just by hopping in a 10 man team because the maps are empty is lame. I’ve been seriously considering changing to higher pop servers (T2 or T3, losing side) so I can have actual WvWvW battles. However I would much rather have people come to us. I’m hoping the transfer ranks are extreme – join a T8 server for FREE to a T1 server costing thousands of gems.

I understand the limitation on WvWvW. With free transfers, the game has already been plagued with groups/guilds that hop to ‘where the win is’. When you see graphs that belong 90% to one side, it’s frustrating to the worlds that can’t handle being zerged and suffer for it outside of WvW. With open guesting, people could group up on other server groups to throw off bonuses or even team up against their own worlds to give super bonuses for PvE. Short of it is, it’s too easily abused. Besides, the purpose of World v World is you representing your own server in global battle, and it should stay that way. As long as I can sPvP or tPvP with friends on other servers, I’m satisfied.

Obviously the biggest frustration is the wall between locations. I too come from an international guild. We want to keep daily play on local servers to keep lag down, but we also want to be able to play together. While guesting is still a step up from most MMOs where you can never see friends period unless you have a paid transfer, it still falls short of all hopes and expectations.

I will hope, but for now I still look forward to guesting. While I wont be able to play with all my friends, guesting still opens a few more doors for others in NA.

So far the only defense I’ve seen for the staff is it’s good at defending a keep (a single limited instance), or it’s a nice buff stick because AH + buffs = heals. I don’t think the staff sucks – there’s a reason I always carry one – but outside of a WvW defense, can’t think of a reason to use on in a fight over pretty much any other weapon, which I think is a bit of a problem. It’s not about removing limitations, as I think they should remain… it’s about opening it’s purpose up a bit so it is a viable option as an actual weapon (not just used to empower + symbol drop then switching to a real weapon) outside of a WvW keep.

Really I would say it depends on your play style and what you’re doing. If you’re in PvE or WvW where you will have lots of kills, 15 Radiance is beautiful synergy. Virtue of Justice blinds, and kills restore it, so you can spam it greatly increasing survivability with misses from blinds and heals from might stacking. Add in this with DPS from crits, and I would say this is more important than Honor. However if your main bit is against bosses or small scale PvP, then that synergy is lost. You can get crit chance in the high 40s with 0 points in Radiance, so I’d dare say to even completely dump for Virtue as both Master of Consecrations and Consecrated Ground are both nice abilities.

Personally I would go with a 0/10/30/20/10 build. You keep your crit chance up, your virtue blinds for a damage avoidance clicky, and signet mastery for faster cooldown on your heal. 10 points in Virtue allows for Master of Consecrations, which you can flip to Consecrated Ground for when you need to drop your circles on others (very useful in defending a keep). Use writs in Honor for when you’re concentrating on consecrations, use hybrid (as you can easily have both shouts and consecrations on lower CD), or even be on the fly flexible to unscathed/spirit weapons.

There are several minor improvements I would like to see made on crafting:

1) Filter off ingredients that have 0 recipes left in the Discovery tool

2) Add sorts. Alphabetical, grade, and stat provided. This would apply to both Discovery and Crafting tabs. Crafting sections can keep or collapse sections (so you can have armor groups listed together, or would be especially useful for finding a specific recipe in cooking).

3) Specific for cooking – Have an indicator to note an “end recipe”. Cooking items currently have no way to indicate if they are a base for a higher recipe. So when you have low level food, you have no idea if you should keep it or trash it. Admittedly you can always craft/buy more, but a little “*” at the end of the name or description or some other indicator would be very nice.

Honestly the staff only has two purposes in its current state:

1) Protecting a keep in WvW. With LoW and moves that can go through doors, it’s very useful for that single rare instance.

2) Buff stick. Because, you know, it’s worth having a weapon slot taken for a temporary might and swiftness buff. Or you could just do what I do and drop in the empower and symbol before a big fight and switch it back to a real 2-hander.

Other than that, I find it to be one of the worst weapons. It’s #1 attack is only mid-range, non-combo and weak. #2 attack is also only a close range attack as you are never going to hit a long range target with that slow ball. RoW is 10 times better cc than LoW (casts faster, works in open fields as it blocks all sides, can still be used to block narrow areas, same cooldown). Symbol of Swiftness I find to be one of the weaker symbols (and multiple shouts grant swiftness). I just can’t think of a single reason other than my first one I listed you would EVER use staff over hammer or pretty much any other weapon.

Suggestions for changes to the staff skills:
1) Wave of Wrath: 10 to 25% buff in damage

2) Orb of Light: Add a slight homing. Make it take more than stepping to the side to avoid it’s damage.

3) Symbol of Swiftness: Have it also add vigor

4) Empower: No change. Plenty useful, and a no-moving cast is a balanced penalty for the buff.

5) Line of Warding: This is our tongue in cheek “You Shall Not Pass!” move. Sadly it’s quite easy to pass as stability ignores (something most bosses/champions haves as well as most PvPers), plus unless you’re on a narrow path… you just go around. Would like to have it punish people for trying to pass – burn or shock (or even holy/light? gasps) damage for passing through or bouncing off it. Sure, you can still go around, but it gives it purpose beyond extremely situational cc.