Guild Wars 2

as a new mesmer, I felt that the mantras recharging in the background was over-the-top bordering on OP.

now that it will only recharge after the last charge is expended, I think it is balanced now.

You don’t get me loading you with 4 stuns or 4 heals in a few seconds.

i seem not be able to apply staff mark effects like chill and fear on enemies who are blocking

like

ranger GS 5
guardian shelter healing
warrior shield block

not working on them

i see…thanks XD

i feel like its a wasted trait when it doesnt even apply the condi effects on the enemy.

i thought unblockable meant even if you are blocking, my marks will still damage you and trigger all the condis and effects on you.

but it seems like if a ranger is blocking with his greatsword, or a guardian with his healing shelter, or a warrior with his shield, my marks trigger yes for damage, but none of the condis/effects are applied to them.

i don’t chill him on staff 3, i dont fear him on staff 5 =/

it seems like unblockable only means that my staff marks damage will go through but the condi and effects does not…

i thought i missed my plague signet a couple of days earlier too =/
and i was loaded with condi at that time

maybe it depends on luck now if the blind is transferred if you got more than 5 condi on you.

Vieux P.1238:

FlawlezZ.3178:

thief was nerfed so hard last patch and patch before and is countered so hard by mesmer and ele and guard i play mesmer now, what else am i supposed to do ??!?!?!?

thief is dead ! maybe not in organized pvp, but solo pvp very much
i play mesmer now: solution ! much stealth much good burst damage very good !

No thief was made so you have to use skill’s for now on. & not just mindless zombie skill button mash 1 & 2. Heart seeker…..heart seeker!

mesmers just became the old thief. you don’t need to be good to play a PU mesmer well.

nice i love your video editing and good skills!

ODB.6891:

Ravezaar.4951:

…DS is an inferior defence mechanic in gw2 cause it dosent SCALE with 1vX…

This^

This is one of soooo many reasons why they need to stop trying to have DS/RS as our defense mechanic. It is apparently too much for them to balance that properly. Strengthen it versus more than one attacker…and it is completely OP versus one attacker. They could try making it scale versus the number of attackers. They already have the code in game to do exactly that…its what they use to scale bosses in open world. The problem with that is that it would make DS/RS ridiculous in WvW. The only real solution would be to remove the second health bar function of RS/DS and have it only work like an engineer’s kit…based on life force as a resource. Take away the whole part about being attacked taking away life force. It would be like a combination of warrior’s adrenaline and engineer’s kit. Just let us have our utilities/active defenses in place of using DS/RS as a failed hp sponge.

i guess this works too.
take away its use as a 2nd health bar.

modify all our existing mechanisms to include more defensive abilities.

example:

shroud 2 should become instant cast, blink and stun break + its current chill.

spectral grasp should become instant cast, blink and stun break + its current chill.

spectral walk should become immunity to all damage for its duration and stunbreak on return.

wells should give added protection boon on cast with pulsing stability

signets should give added aegis boon on cast

corruptions should have their effectiveness amplified by at least 1.5 times.

scepter 3 should add stun for 3 seconds on hit

etc

um…are we sure we want to remove DS as a 2nd healthbar?

if we do that, there are too many things that needs to be changed for a necro.
hell everything will have to change.

now that i think more about this, i defintely like the idea of a staff thief.

a martial arts melee staff thief that jumps into combat twirling and striking with the staff in a brilliant breathless flow of moves that leaves those watching in awe and those on the receiving end in pain!

they could give a staff thief a similar animation to the hammer legendary weapon juggernaut
a flowing trail of silver light that is so awesome!

Sigmoid.7082:

EremiteAngel.9765:

we should start with 100% LF.
this is our only defensive tool.
we got nothing else.
and that is also how we were designed.

so 100% LF is only fair.
we don’t ask other classes to start with less blocks or less invulnerability or less vigor or less protection or shorter duration immunities etc.

SO PLEASE DON’T ASK US TO START WITH LESS Lifeforce. IT IS OUR DEFENSE!

we dont have invulnerability
we dont have stability
we dont have block
we dont have blind
we dont have blink
we dont have invis
we dont have immune physical damage
we dont have immune condi damage
we dont have leaps
we dont have teleports
we dont have grabs
we dont have vigor
we dont have evades
we dont have protection

We have some of these things. They need refining but we have them.
Also 100% would be to much to start at. I honestly think we should start at 10 or 20%. No point in being locked out of the class mechanic which entirely holds us back.

I use DS as more of a ‘oh kitten’ moment when you get stun locked and you need to enter your DS to tank the damage.

other people can depend on evade or block or invulnerability or blink or invis to get out of the ‘oh kitten’ moment but we dont have those.

we have to absorb all the damage with our DS.

That is why we should start with 100% DS.

we should start with 100% LF.
this is our only defensive tool.
we got nothing else.
and that is also how we were designed.

so 100% LF is only fair.
we don’t ask other classes to start with less blocks or less invulnerability or less vigor or less protection or shorter duration immunities etc.

SO PLEASE DON’T ASK US TO START WITH LESS Lifeforce. IT IS OUR DEFENSE!

we dont have invulnerability
we dont have stability
we dont have block
we dont have blind
we dont have blink
we dont have invis
we dont have immune physical damage
we dont have immune condi damage
we dont have leaps
we dont have teleports
we dont have grabs
we dont have vigor
we dont have evades
we dont have protection

we should start with 100% LF.
this is our only defensive tool.
we got nothing else.
and that is also how we were designed.

so 100% LF is only fair.
we don’t ask other classes to start with less blocks or less invulnerability or less vigor or less protection or shorter duration immunities etc.

SO PLEASE DON’T ASK US TO START WITH LESS Lifeforce. IT IS OUR DEFENSE!

we dont have invulnerability
we dont have stability
we dont have block
we dont have blind
we dont have blink
we dont have invis
we dont have immune physical damage
we dont have immune condi damage
we dont have leaps
we dont have teleports
we dont have grabs
we dont have vigor
we dont have evades
we dont have protection

what do you guys think? imagine a staff wielding martial artist thief that flashes in and out of combat, laying waste to your opponents with stuns and knockbacks.

and imagine staff 3 whirl reflect all projectiles.

rangers will cry facing you now!

Carighan.6758:

Silv.9207:

There’s a lot of situations. In www it’s useless in zerg but in roaming can 1-shot you by hide, making him “OP”.

See, that sounds balanced to me. Good against single enemies, however it comes with a downside, cannot provide sensible DPS in a zerg.

that will change when chronomancer arrives

thief with staff is just not a match.

UNLESS

the staff is not a magic staff, but a physical cudgel.

Cudgel wielding MONK Thief

with more martial arts involved, wielding the staff as a Cudgel.

Staff 2 overhead top-down strike: stuns on hit and is unblockable

Staff 3 overhead staff whirl: reflects projectile

Staff 4 staff thrust: knockback on hit with damage

Staff 5 staff block: blocks for up to 2 seconds and counters on melee hit with a strike that does 50% more damage

Lokheit.7943:

EremiteAngel.9765:

focus 4 = dark tethers grow on the ground, chill + immobilize on hit up to 5 opponents in a 380 radius

focus 5 = dark magic circle forms on the ground in a 240 radius, locking in all opponents without stability, if opponent breaks out with stability, instantly strip all stability stacks and inflict blind.

Not want to derail the thread as I don’t think we’re getting that kind of weapon (even if I think it would be cool) but… that stuff would cost the full initiative bar per use. This got me memories of Daecollo’s ultra OP ideas.

i dont think its very OP.
focus 4 mayb 3 initiative per cast
focus 5 mayb 5 initiative per cast

so I could spam focus 4 maybe three to four times at the risk of my own survivability to provide more lockdown and support for the team

and then focus 5 mayb 2 spams and I put myself at risk when I drain all my initiatives.

so they won’t be spammed, but if spammed, the thief will be in danger of dying too.

Brokensunday.4098:

EremiteAngel.9765:

Usagi.4835:

As others have already pointed out, you cannot compare Adrenaline to Death Shroud. Necromancers use Death Shroud for both offense and defense and, on certain builds such as those that might not go into Soul Reaping to take Soul Marks, aren’t able to build lifeforce as reliably or as quickly as warriors can build adrenaline.

Admittedly though, for those that do take staff and Soul Marks, building up lifeforce is a little better compared to prepatch.

this^

lifeforce is our defense!

we dont have invulnerability
we dont have stability
we dont have block
we dont have blind
we dont have blink
we dont have invis
we dont have immune physical damage
we dont have immune condi damage
we dont have leaps
we dont have teleports
we dont have grabs

we only have life force.

Design for necro: you dont have everything because you have 2 life bars.

TWO LIFE BARS

we should start with 100% lifeforce if any changes need to be made.

if they were 2 real life bars then it need to regen to max out of combat lol
you forgot we don’t have evades

you’re right. if any changes need to be made, we should always regen to 100% lifeforce out of combat.

messiah.1908:

8 confusion wont kill you that fast unless you spamming skills like crazy
he probably used also mirror when you rapid fire which can take 50% hp of you

well it took about 2 seconds for him to stack 8 confusion 10 torment on me.
and another 3 seconds of my own rapid fire spamming with quickness to kill me.

Usagi.4835:

As others have already pointed out, you cannot compare Adrenaline to Death Shroud. Necromancers use Death Shroud for both offense and defense and, on certain builds such as those that might not go into Soul Reaping to take Soul Marks, aren’t able to build lifeforce as reliably or as quickly as warriors can build adrenaline.

Admittedly though, for those that do take staff and Soul Marks, building up lifeforce is a little better compared to prepatch.

this^

lifeforce is our defense!

we dont have invulnerability
we dont have stability
we dont have block
we dont have blind
we dont have blink
we dont have invis
we dont have immune physical damage
we dont have immune condi damage
we dont have leaps
we dont have teleports
we dont have grabs

we only have life force.

Design for necro: you dont have everything because you have 2 life bars.

TWO LIFE BARS

we should start with 100% lifeforce if any changes need to be made.

Auesis.7301:

EremiteAngel.9765:

ranger is getting staff…so no thief wont be getting it.

Both Elementalist and Necromancer got Shouts. Exclusivity isn’t an argument. I’ve actually never read or heard anything from Arenanet saying that 2 Elite Specialisations can’t get the same weapon.

true but Anet is too original for this. imagine giving 2 professions the same weapon for elite spec. this is too beneath anet’s originality.

so no they wont give same weapon to 2 different classes for their elite spec.
not their style.

also can you imagine, a focus offhand for thief.
immubing the power of dark magic, a thief transcends to become a Assassin Mage.

focus 4 = dark tethers grow on the ground, chill + immobilize on hit up to 5 opponents in a 380 radius

focus 5 = dark magic circle forms on the ground in a 240 radius, locking in all opponents without stability, if opponent breaks out with stability, instantly strip all stability stacks and inflict blind.

ranger is getting staff…so no thief wont be getting it.
eles took the warhorn so i guess my initial guess that thief will get it is wrong as well.

rifle seems like a high possibility, but i am thinking more of a focus might be better.

a MAGIC wielding assasin.
A Dark Assasin.
Dark Magic.

FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS.
i want a focus offhand for elite spec thief.

thanks nicenikeshoe!

that helped a ton =D

http://www.twitch.tv/vaanss_

watching his skills leave me in awe (not me)

Fay.2357:

EremiteAngel.9765:

okay so…i think condi PU stacking of confusion needs a rework…

I literally rapid fired myself to death when the mesmer stacked 8 stacks of confusion and almost 10 stacks of torment on me.

What I am most unhappy about is that he stacked those in like 2 seconds. 8 confusion 10 torment in 2 seconds?

that is a death sentence to anyone.

i know I shouldnt have rapid fired and should clear the condi first, but i fought him a second time, cleared it, and he restacked it just as quickly.

and the worst thing is confusion now does damage even if i am not attacking. and that hurts.

i suggest limiting confusion damage to only when attacking, for those applied by mesmers because they stack them easily and can just stack and go invis and watch the enemy die.

Try dodging the block and shatter next time. If you eat obviously telegraphed skills, you deserve to die. Additionally, you don’ melt yourself on the passive ticks of confusion. You probably just spammed skills and killed yourself. Don’t do that next time.

hmm now that you mention this, it is true that i don’t know how the mesmer stacks confusion on me

i thought it was just his auto attacks and clone auto attacks that stack confusion on me?
and he was prob running perplex runes so my hits on him also stacked confusion on me.

i dont recall seeing any shatter in motion (no clones started running towards me)

and what is the block thing that you mention i should dodge?

EremiteAngel.9765:

guys plz don’t overreact.
I think I didn’t write my title well…
I’m not asking for nerfs or claiming it is OP.
I’m just elated that it is so strong.
sorry i should have used so strong instead of too strong.

let me quote myself again. sorry for misunderstanding.
i did not post this thread to ask for nerfs.
just elated that ranger quickening is strong.

i strongly disagree with this unless it applies only in pvp.
in wvw, i like running around with full life force and that is how it should be.

enemies in wvw are bigger badder and nastier. they hit harder, survive better, kite more and literally are a bigger badder nastier wolf compared to PvP.
so no i want my 100% LF in WvW.

not every build caters to easy lifeforce building.
and no i don’t want to be pigeonholed into taking a lifeforce building build.

Edit: okay so it was more a learn to play issue for me! sorry i was wrong and too quick to vent my unhappiness at getting instant killed by the mesmer =D

thanks Fay and Nicenikeshoe for the tips!

Old Post that was the general ‘I got owned and I want them nerfed’ behavior:

okay so…i think condi PU stacking of confusion needs a rework…

I literally rapid fired myself to death when the mesmer stacked 8 stacks of confusion and almost 10 stacks of torment on me.

What I am most unhappy about is that he stacked those in like 2 seconds. 8 confusion 10 torment in 2 seconds?

that is a death sentence to anyone.

i know I shouldnt have rapid fired and should clear the condi first, but i fought him a second time, cleared it, and he restacked it just as quickly.

and the worst thing is confusion now does damage even if i am not attacking. and that hurts.

i suggest limiting confusion damage to only when attacking, for those applied by mesmers because they stack them easily and can just stack and go invis and watch the enemy die.

Tristan.5678:

Do you like that we are not part of meta and you will get kicked just for being Necro in hardest that we have at the moment PVE content ? its not that hard but still necrom get instantly kicked?
Don’t you think we deserve same game experience as any other class and same attitude every other class has?
Screw this ARENA FIX NECROS

wow there my fellow necro
rein yourself in
pve is not really important
what is important is wvw and to a smaller extent, pvp.

i think we are in a good spot everywhere.
except minions. the looks i can still accept but the AI needs to be the same as ranger pets.

i cant understand why they cant use the ranger pet AI on our necro minions.

unless it is because necro minions are dead and dont have intelligence then well…okay…fine…

just to clarify, this is speculation.
i dont have an engineer
but when i think of what an engineer does, it is to design and build things!
nothing suits an engr better than an army of robots.

imagine doing an aoe stun lock with your golem pve boss summon!

is the minion AI and the minion looks.

minions don’t attack properly unlike ranger pets.
they stand around looking.
okay they are supposed to be dead but still, would be nice if they acknowledge that I am the one kittenurrected them and help me fight.

i mean, can we have minion AI based on zombies (those that go berserk when they see a living thing) and not on corpses that don’t do anything?

and the minion looks…can we have good old skeletons…you know…hell hounds maybe? or fiery demons…ghastly witches…ghouls even…not…not these um…what are these things exactly?

i mean…all the undeads in straits of devastation looks cooler and should be my summons…

eles should have an equal fight against thieves.
i am a very new ele myself and i dont know how they do it, but every time i see an ele fight a thief, its a draw, with the ele having a slight advantage.

http://www.twitch.tv/kamis_bird

very good dual melee weapon ranger online now! (not me)

i watched the video.
I think you did great holl!

having said that, it can still be a very close fight though, especially if you don’t have condi cleanses yourself.
one good transfer and fear from the necro = a dead mesmer.

if you are condi PU and you run condi cleansing mantra as well, then well the necro will have a much harder time since he needs to catch you with a good transfer/burst at least twice.

@OP, i see that you are probably a mesmer?

you can also use your images to block dagger 4 from hitting you.
You can also you your images to eat the plague sending because there is a good chance the crit from the necro will land on your image.

you are probably very well equipped to fight a necro even if you run condi yourself.

load the necro and go invis and stay there as long as you can. interrupt the necro if he tries to heal. if necro transfers the condi on to one of your image, then pop right out of invis and load him again. then go back into invis.

even better if you come out of invis with aegis. after your aegis breaks, try to dodge or chain dodges.

use your blink to widen the gap so the necro becomes harder to transfer it back to you.

you have many pre-empt skills against a necro. even can use your sword evasive skill.
just do whatever you can to pre-empt and prevent the necro from transferring back to you and you have a dead necro.

edit also your f4 invulnerable shatter skill can be used to defend yourself against transfers.

important thing is to pre-empt after you load the necro because very often, reacting is too late.

I think I am very well-placed to explain condi transfers since I use all the available transfers a necro has in my build muahahahhahaha. I’ll even teach you how to counter.

1) plague sending / Trait
-when there are 3 condis on the necro, next crit by the necro on the opponent transfers 3 condis
-blind and block only effective to delay the crit from happening, does not stop the transfer once crit happens cause it is instant
-How to counter: if you see 2 or more signet icons on the necro status bar, he probably has plague sending traited. don’t instantly condi burst him. hit him with 3 or more different condis, then when you see a signet break above his head, you probably triggered his plague sending. Load him after that.

2) Deathly Swarm / dagger 4
-900 range dagger skill that travels and appears as a thin dark-green swarm
-can be dodged or blocked,
-cannot be blinded as it will transfer the blind back? not sure about this because I don’t remember missing it before
-transfers 3 condi when it connects
-How to counter: if you have loaded him with condi, watch for a dark-green-black swarm thing that travels out from the necro. it moves relatively slowly and can be dodged or blocked. Don’t let it hit you if you don’t want to eat all your own condi damage.

3) Plague Signet / Utility
-Instant cast stun breaker. Very OP against condi foes. transfers up to 5 condis back.
-Can be dodged or blocked
-Cannot be blinded
-How to counter: you can see this icon in the necro status bar as a signet icon. if you see it, and you are condi, load him up with condi but right after that, dodge, block, invulnerable, invis, blink away. Do anything you can right after you load him with condi to prevent his plague signet from hitting you. It is instant cast so you have to pre-empt this transfer. the longer he takes to transfer it back to you, the more damage the necro takes. This is like pre-empting an invisible foe, where you need to count his stealth timing and dodge or block or evade etc. Same thing for a necro, because it is instant cast, most necros when they are loaded with condis they will want to activate this to transfer it back. Don’t let them do it easily. Pre-empt them with all your evasive skills. If you do that, there is a very good chance that they will miss the cast or take too long to transfer it and by then they will be almost dead.

4) Putrid Mark / Staff 4
-1200 range aoe mark. Casting animation is the same as all the marks so you can’t really tell whether he is casting this or some other mark
- Can be evaded/dodged
- Might be able to block unless the Necro traited unblockable marks
- Cannot be blinded
- Transfers 3 condis back on hit
- How to counter: Same as plague signet, since you can’t tell whether he is casting this mark or some other mark, you have to pre-empt him. Load him with condis and pre-empt him by doing all your evasive/invis/dodge/blink/invulnerable skills so that he can’t transfer it back to you.

TLDR: if you are condi and fighting a necro, after you load him with condi, you need to pre-empt him by using all your evasive/defensive skills so that he can’t transfer it back to you successfully.

Edit: there is still the traited minions transfer on hit I think but I don’t really play with minions much…

use a dire condi diamond skin ele.
I steamroll condi necros with diamond ele

you get to summon the world boss golem.
the mini version.
and he has the double overhead hammer smash that sends opponents flying.

whats not to love?

Justine.6351:

omg someone made a post not asking for buffs ! attack !

XD

guys plz don’t overreact.
I think I didn’t write my title well…
I’m not asking for nerfs or claiming it is OP.
I’m just elated that it is so strong.
sorry i should have used so strong instead of too strong.

did they fix necro minion AI? do they actually attack now?

if not, why don’t they just use the ranger AI on necro minions?
Ranger pets attack just fine.
Which means they can make summon AI work =/
why don’t they help necro minions?

Engrs will be getting a summoning based set of skills for their elite spec.
instead of ‘summoning’, it is called clockwork building.
Building of robot minions with varied skills.
Minion AI will be similar to ranger pet, very aggressive.
Minion AI will not be the same as necro minions.

i think you are not respecting your opponents

i use quickening LB ranger in PvP and if you time your burst right, after the enemy used a couple of defensive moves, the enemy just flops and dies straight up.
including mesmers and thieves.

EremiteAngel.9765:

EremiteAngel.9765:

guys plz don’t overreact.
I think I didn’t write my title well…
I’m not asking for nerfs or claiming it is OP.
I’m just elated that it is so strong.
sorry i should have used so strong instead of too strong.

let me quote myself again. sorry for misunderstanding.
i did not post this thread to ask for nerfs.
just elated that ranger quickening is strong.

I am fighting them more and more and my verdict is no…they are not really OP.

Strong yes.
Very Strong yes.
OP? not really…

i just beat off a decent stun shatter burst mesmer 3 times with this build =/
i feel strong lol

Nier.8741:

Okay, let me check this guy’s credibility.

If I get a level 2 skull crack off on someone, how many AXE auto-attacks can I do before he recovers and dodges the next stun?

I think what you meant to do is check if he knows that a skull crack is performed by a mace and not an axe.
so if OP answered 3 hits, then you will call him out for not knowing that axe doesn’t have skullcrack.

so for those who gave answers like switching to alternate weapon axe, thats just um not his intention I think.

i dun think mesmers can do this 10x better in WvW.
I often pop mesmers dead even when they go invis my rapid fire just tear through them.

i just have to bump this again.
thank you lynnie.
your method works great!
cries
good rangers still give me a hell of a fight…but at least it doesn’t feel like its a 30-70 disadvantageous fight for a necro…feels more like…40-60 now? =DDDDD good enough for me.

i love this idea.
F1 normal shroud
F2 reaper shroud

honestly apart from PvP on-point fighting and PvE content and WvW Zerg/Guild fights, reaper is weak everywhere else (WvW roaming)