Guild Wars 2

wolfyrik.2017:

Ricky Rouse.1583:

I agree entirely, superspeed needs to do something other then be “well its swiftness…but faster!”

It’s not even faster. Superspeed has been bugged for almost a year, it doesn’t break the 33% speed cap. Anet knew this and Irenio must have known this when designing the scrapper and yet he still made it a core part of the spec.

This is one of the things that really infuriates me about anet and the class devs in particular. They ahve this information, they know that they can’t make things like Ai utilities or even Superspeed work as they intend, they know it. It’s been proven over the last 3 years. They simply cannot balance them or keep them fixed. Yet here we are both of them, stuck awkwardly on scrapper.

There is no excuse.

[/rant]

Have you tested that? I don’t believe it’s true. I haven’t done a concentrated test, but anecdotally I’ve definitely run next to people who have swiftness, popped super speed ,and passed them while they still had only swiftness.

Irenio CalmonHuang.2048:

Player minions don’t carry over their player’s critical chance; phantasms are a special case.

I’m curious why phantasms are special? I think it’s safe to say that any build using minions is a) definitely reliant upon said minions for damage, and b) already generally not that great. Why should minion builds be blocked from doing decent damage? Especially when it comes to critical damage, NPCs as a rule attack very infrequently compared to players, so it only makes sense that with this inherent reduction in likelihood of ever critically hitting, they should at least do full damage with critical hits when they are landed.

Edit: questions need question marks

Dahkeus.8243:

Goosekilla.2796:

In pve, the fire field might be worth taking over slick shoes if your group is having trouble stacking might. In pvp it’s not even close; slick shoes are wayy better for the build.

It’s a PvP build…if you want a build for PvE, you’d probably want to change a lot more than just adding a fire field.

Agreed, but I don’t believe whomever suggested using bombs mentioned anything else. I probably should have quoted them in my reply to make it more clear I was responding to a suggestion and not making one myself.

In pve, the fire field might be worth taking over slick shoes if your group is having trouble stacking might. In pvp it’s not even close; slick shoes are wayy better for the build.

This is what I’m using right now. Almost certainly not optimal, as discussed above, but Rage Cube asked for a build, and this is what I’m using. It has crazy condi removal and stunbreak, can lay on some pretty decent damage, and heals like crazy.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASnUUBtbhlXB2XBEqilJji+tr79W8ZOgAYc9qgIA-TJRGwAAuAAg2fIaZADPAAA

Edit: typo. There are no gals in this build

Mnemesis.8257:

This is where I’m conflicted. Now that we have a Lightning Field, the swiftness from Streamlined Kits is essentially Obsolete. There is no need to waste a trait line for Swiftness when it is readily available on demand. Utilizing double Orbital Strike + Acid Bomb + Pack Runes= Permanent Swiftness. I will gladly use 4 skills every minute or so to gain IMS if it means I free up an entire Trait Line for more adaptive play.

Understood, and it’s the trait line that I’m least happy with – both in my current build and in general. The free stun break from adept is nice. Adrenal implant dodges are kind of nice, but with as much vigor as you can get elsewhere (including optimized activation, seriously!?) it’s also somewhat lackluster. The other non-gadget GM is situational at best, and even then only if you have toolbelt skills that are worth it. So yes, the immob from streamlined kits is a big reach/sacrifice. There aren’t many other ways to get that kind of immobilize lockdown, though.

I’ve found that, in terms of kits which synergize well with hammer, elixir gun works quite well. With streamlined kits, it provides the immob, which is easy to land when you’re in melee with hammer. I find a quick swap to e-gun > acid bomb can be great for getting out after a melee burst, leaving the enemy stuck in a dps puddle. It also provides a blast finisher. Combine with speedy recovery, the adept scraper trait that gives super speed for finishers in lightning, backpack regenerator from alchemy, and super elixir skill for insane health regen. I’ll go in with hammer lockdown and big damage, then acid bomb out, keeping perma weakness on foes while my health fills right back up and damage skills cool down.

Good ideas. Your numbers definitely need tweaking to be in line with other similar effects on other classes; the current suggestions are definitely OP. The intent is definitely the right direction for gyros, though.

It would be a ridiculously long evade, too the point of being severely OP, if it evaded for the entire skill duration. I think Theonord is on the right track with aftercast, though. Similar to the 2 and 4 shills, the hammer still feels a bit clunky. It’s way better than during BWE 3, but especially those defensive effects need to be more responsive. Combat in this game is fast-paced; when I hit reflect, block, or evade, I need it now, not in 1/4 second. I think this will be improved because Irenio has previously said that he understands that these skills need to be able to be deployed reactively.

Edit: correcting auto correct

It would be a ridiculously long evade, too the point of being severely OP, if it evaded for the entire skill duration. I think Theonord is on the right track with streetcar, though. Similar to the 2 and 4 shills, the hammer still feels a bit clunky. It’s way better than during BWE 3, but especially those defensive effects need to be more responsive. Combat on this game is fast-paced; when I hit reflect, block, or evade, I need it now, not in 1/4 second. I think this will be improved because Irenio has previously said that he understands that these skills need to be able to be deployed reactively.

lorddarkflare.9186:

Manuhell.2759:

Daniel Handler.4816:

Um…… Swap sigils proc on kits.

And kits aren’t given by default. They’re a type of utility skills, and thus optional. In theory.

Daniel Handler.4816:

Kits are your weapon swap. Equipping a single kit gives you 19 skills equipping 5 gives you 35.

Again, they aren’t a proper weapon swap. Any other class gets it by default, even atypical ones like elementalists (where their class mechanic and weapon swap converge into a single mechanic).
You didn’t mention the case where we have zero kits, by the way. What about our weapon swap then?
If they’re optional, playing without kits shouldn’t be an issue. And yet…

Daniel Handler.4816:

Engie is all about customization, you decide how many skills you need to be effective 15 or 35.

Sure, in theory it would work that way.
In practice they have to balance over the upper spectrum so that having that large number of skills doesn’t end up making you overpowered. Making single skills (like, all the other utilities) mostly irrelevant.

Only in PvE and only because it is so DPS obsessed.

In PvP, the loadout is more more relaxed. Of the three Meta builds, each uses a different amount of kits from 1 – 3. There, Elixirs more than hold their own.

As Turrets are the requisite kittenty utility line that all classes seem to have, that just leaves gadgets as the line that needs to be able to meaningfully compete.

Keeping the above in mind, in all modes, the best way to ‘fix’ kits is to:

A – Concentrate all hard hitting kit damage skills in 1 – 2 kits. Gives more incentive to bring other utilities since kit swapping to get the hardest hitting skills will not be needed.

B – Buff gadgets by giving them a passive and an active effect. These should be comparable in efficacy to the 1 -2 skills we bother to bring kits for anyway.

This is easily the most illuminated response in this thread, and needs more visibility. The mentality that all-kit builds are necessary or even desirable is much more a reflection of the basic style of PvE in this game. It’s exactly what Anet is trying to change with raids – requiring more utility out of players instead of having dungeons that ultimately amount to elaborate whack-a-mole.

In PvP, you see a lot more builds that opt for non-kit utilities. Still, at least one kit is practically required across the board, and that should be addressed for the sake of build diversity. Both of darkflare’s suggestions are great for this, taking into account the context of the game, and making minor adjustments rather than a total rework of the class.

Finally, I would note that while kits always outclass everything on paper, having to click more buttons to use the skills you need can become more of a liability than an asset in game modes that are not focused on a dps rotation. In a rotation, it’s easy to train yourself to hit a series of keys in order repeatedly. In, for example, PvP, you have to play reactively. A kit may have a lot of tools, but if I have to hit two buttons to get there it isn’t always as good as another skill that offers fewer abilities, but can be deployed immediately when I need it. The fewer opportunities for getting my intended actions screwed up by fat-fingering or the ~1/4 second it takes to hit an extra button, the more reliably I can do what I want to do when I want to do it in a fast-paced dynamic environment.

Adamantium.3682:

guildabd.6529:

…

• Hammer #4: Blocking only works at front. Should block attacks from side and behind.
  …

I’ve said this in a few places, but the block is working normally for me. The problem is that it is delayed, but it definitely is working from behind and from range as well.

Try pulling a profession NPC in Heart of the Mists, turn around and run away from them a decent bit then use the block. You’ll block an attack, at least I did.

What really was killing me on the block was the combination of bad aftercast on the other skills and some sort of precast (it felt like) on the 4 skill. I also couldn’t tell if it changes direction with me? The animation (little electric bubble effect) often stays facing whichever direction I was facing when starting the cast rather than following me throughout the block duration.

Make the move snappier, and it’ll be great.

If anything, this says more about necro dagger needing too get tuned back, along with probably everything else. Power creep has absolutely taken a noticeable toll over the years. It makes things boring. It is the reason that DPS is all anyone cares about.

This is a tad off-topic, but it’s hard for me to see discussions about the work that needs to be done on Tools trait line and not bring up the oh-so-obvious flaw that we still have a Grandmaster trait that makes a minor trait in its own line literally completely obsolete: I’m talking about adrenal implant and optimized activation. I don’t know why they don’t change optimized activation to just do what it used to: flat +10 energy recharge on toolbelt use. So simple to fix, so obviously needing it.

Irenio, have you seen this thread?

Ederyn.3107:

Goosekilla.2796:

Ederyn.3107:

Irenio CalmonHuang.2048:

Hey all,

Since the Scrapper reveal I’ve been up to my eyeballs in Druid development.

That’s all for now!

Here we go….now you’re your post is correct.

Unfortunately, yours wasn’t…

I don’t care is not my mother tongue.

Fair enough. In that case, pretty well done. Better than I could do in yours, for sure. In the future, the trick is to only use “you’re” if you could replace it with “you are” and still have the same meaning. You’re welcome.

Ederyn.3107:

Irenio CalmonHuang.2048:

Hey all,

Since the Scrapper reveal I’ve been up to my eyeballs in Druid development.

That’s all for now!

Here we go….now you’re your post is correct.

Unfortunately, yours wasn’t…

This is a great idea. It actually feels well thought-out and thorough, unlike the current f gyro mechanic. This game is about trade-offs, and a mechanic like this really meshes with that approach well. Could also open potential for other traits to interact with it, too. Like the hammer trait could scale a CD reduction off of your number of current drones.

Stasticeel.2745:

Why do people not look at the function gyro as a nice extra revive in PvE, where I could revive an Ally and continue fighting. This sounds awesome.
And yea it is not something powerful for PvE all together I still think in all modes some implementations from the elite can be put in our core class. If this happens it is a success in my book.

We will get future specializations and maybe those will have other things which are “useless” in PvP for then.

It’s not that the f gyro isn’t a neat new feature. I like PvP, and play it more than pve. I think the f gyro is “neat.” The problem is that it just seems so sloppy and trivial compared to what other professions got. I mean this is another bot that runs a rez/stomp animation, and wasn’t even ready to show at the scrapper reveal – the second-to-last reveal!? Somehow I really don’t believe this was the plan all along.

At least regarding medic gyro, there’s an aweful lot of math supporting the knee-jerk reactions. Kind of hard to imagine how that was thought to be something workable. I agree that it’ll be good to test everything, but if a move is so terrible that no one will slot it for more than 30 minutes of BWE3, then I think they’re not going to get very detailed feedback out of that.

Stomping with function gyro will be extremely clutch (potentially, if it can survive). Right now, elixir S is that way.

Adamantium knows what’s up. If it doesn’t stack, traits need to be reworked to not trip over themselves. If stacking the buff as-is is overpowered, then change durations and cooldowns on skills/traits that apply it. The fact remains that a lot of engineering trait lines seem like each trait was made by a different person, none of whom ever had any contact with the others. It’s really absurd that Revenant is getting purely aesthetic special effects on dodge while we still have traits that blatantly trip over themselves or minor traits of the same line.

Despite any of the counter-points so far, it is objectively stupid for TWO engi grand master traits to trip over themselves or their trait line. We already have adrenal implant in tools which completely, obviously, and inexcusubly trips over not only an entire boon (vigor), but then also has a minor trait IN ITS SAME LINE (i.e. mandatory) that grants this very boon!
Now we get this final salvo, applying super speed – a non-strippable and non-stackable buff – at intervals shorter than the applied duration. What!?

Further question: will they work with traits that trigger for “explosions”? Looked like they aren’t based on the current tool tips, but I really feel like that would just make way too much sense not to.

I know this question was asked once before, and I believe the general consensus is that the trait will probably affect both. That is based on other similar effects in the game that say “Increased stun duration,” but actually affect both stun and daze. Don’t ask me to quote such an effect, though. I just remember seeing that answer to this question XD would be nice to get a dev response on this, too…

Adamantium.3682:

Goosekilla.2796:

… Cut for brevity

It’s not unusual to see minimal-to-zero dev interaction in profession sub forums. However with HoT prep the devs have been doing a fantastic job interacting with each forum as the elite specs have come out, and not just simple yes or no type stuff they’ve given some real insight to the design process as I gave an example of above. I expect nothing less from Irenio.

My only hope is that it starts for us this week, I think waiting until after BWE3 to have meaningful discussion with the developers is a bad idea. Every elite spec thread I’ve had time to read across all professions has included significant changes, and multiple iterations through each BWE. We’re talking a lot more than just number tweaks here and there, there has been significant functionality iterations.

I don’t see a reason why Scrapper would not need the same amount of work and iterations on it, and rather than complaining about only having one BWE I would rather spend that time having open discussion with Irenio and improving the Scrapper before we get our hands on it. Stuff like overall design decisions and intentions that we can know for sure from what little we’ve seen, not stuff like DPS on the hammer.

That’s true, although there has yet to be a single thread on Scrapper I could find, even in the dev notes forum. Do other progressions also get shared by devs? I feel like rangers and engis are some of the rarest professions currently in high-level play, they’re the last two being revealed for HoT, and both have the same primary dev?! How in the world is he supposed to do both? Unless, again, I’m missing something and all the other profession’s devs are also in charge of multiple professions. I guess I’m saying it feels to me like Ireneo is being placed in an exdraordinarily difficult job being in charge of two professions, and worse, the two professions that were scheduled the most aggressively with respect to HoT release. My spirits are further dampened by the fact that they may be the two professions needing the most work currently (I say maybe because I think necro is probably more deserving of “needs second most work, after ranger”).

Edit: I formally retract my dubious-ness, per lorddarkflare’s educational reply. Although that stands more to strengthen the point of this thread: feedbax naow! I’m sure druid reveal is stealing a time, but… we’re important too?

Bump. Honestly I haven’t even heard a thing. In fact, I hardly remember any threads that have ever gotten an anet reply indicator. Hobosacs… Maybe 3-4 other threads. Ever. In the past several years. Am I looking in the wrong place?

I believe this is just a mechanic of rocket charge. If you watch the whole video, you see it always kind of moves ikitteng-zag pattern. I think that if there are multiple enemies, the second leap will hit another nearby enemy. The first and third leaps hit the target.

Edit: jk I watched closely and it looked like none of the gollems were being dazed in that clip… I could see stun, but saw neither daze icons nor visual effects on the target or any other gollems. Are test gollems immune to daze?

iKeostuKen.2738:

…a group knock back that moves at a high speed.

You mean kind of like throw mine, but with twice the cooldown?

I’m going to give gyros a fair test when they come out; I’ve thought of the roles you mentioned, but when I start to really think, these are not the “big picture.” The useful scenarios you mentioned are a few very nice opportunities in which certain gyros are useful, after which you have to wait another 30+ seconds before doing it again. Ai boys with health are ok if I don’t have to worry about them dying (I.e. have a short cool down). I’m extremely dubious of them with a 30 sec CD starting after they die.

Druitt.7629:

Naive question: Is the Medic Gyro chosen in the healing slot, precluding HT, or is it chosen through another mechanism, which would allow it to be used with and to extend HT?

It is a heal skill, and will preclude the turret.

I really think all of gyro issues in general would be fixed if the CDs started when deployed. This will specifically differentiate them from turrets, which right now are best when not kept out (I.e. drop, overcharge for a brief effect pick up/blast immediately after). With CD starting when activated, it provides incentive to sustain your gyros so that they stay alive the whole 15 seconds. The main issue I see right now with them across the board, inculding medic gyro, is that they are attemping to be a sustained effect – they’re all balanced around being alive for their full duration – but they have the CDs of burst effects. It’s the same problem turrets have almost always had. The CD is just massive with respect to the instant effect because it’s balanced around being sustained, but, especially recently, this game is very fast-paced, and rewards active, quick, effects used at the right moment. It just isn’t a game that is built for sustained effect skill types. Necro minions are the same story.

Add to that the fact that engineer utilities are at an especially high premium because we use utility slots to replace weapons, and you’ve got a pretty sticky situation for gyros. I love engi, and I’ve mained one for about 3 years. I like the fact that we use kits instead of weapon swap, but it needs to be reflected in our other utility skills.

Edit: I realize I kind of contradict myself by saying we need to encourage sustaining gyros, and then immediately afterwards saying that this game doesn’t play well with sustained effects. I guess I meant the best thing besides a total rework to make them more burst-type skills would be to enable then to actually be sustained. If they are going to rely on a mechanic that is inherently impotent in this game, at least let them do that well.

I actually really like this idea. It’s possible that it could become a bit OP in terms of becoming too easy to do all the leaps in a combo field. Kind of like how that revenant skill is a triple blast finisher, prevented from being OP by the fact that the second and third blasts happen too far away to hit the same field as the first blast. Similarly, it’s possible that scraper hammer 3 would be a bit OP if we could so easily ensure that all three leaps get combo bonuses. Hard to tell without testing.

I’m right with Adamantium. Although I’d add that what I think what the purge gyro really needs is a stun break. I believe that would really make it a tempting skill to slot.

“Search your feelings. You know it to be true.” Lol so right.

Adamantium.3682:

All the stability might be offsetting this? It’s funny we went from one of the worst at accessing stability to having a TON in this spec.

It would be nice if one gyro could break stun, but I would hate for it to be on the explode button (thumper turret all over again) and I also don’t really want one of my awesome fields tied up in a stun break.

Good point, although it isn’t really the same – stunbreak is reactive, stability has to be proactive.

The reasons you mentioned really convince me that Purge Gyro would be the place to put it. Purge doesn’t even have a detonate chain skill (?!), so this would really add something tempting to it to compensate.

Either the Bulwark or purge would make sense, but the gyro set completely lacks any stunbreak. Looks like they are all instant cast, but that doesn’t help with the movement lock of a stun. Am I wrong?

Toolkit wrench auto attack actually hits quite hard, too. Pop elixir u first and it’s pretty amazing how fast they drop. That’s for direct damage builds, of course.

@Dirame your skepticism is warranted, and in truth I rarely kill anyone in 1v1. However, that’s because team members will almost always arrive before the conclusion of such a drawn-out affair. In a 1v2 it still fairs similarly, though, and then your teammates can easily outnumber elsewhere. It is really a bunker build. But nothing in this game is as close to unstoppable force as this build is to an immovable object (aside from the occasionally bugged beyond broken move after patches, lookin’ at you grenade barrage). That means that when team mates do arrive, I’m usually still near full health whereas the opponent is not because of the slow attrition.

I’m aware that p/s in a soldier amulet seems bizarre, but it does end up working better (for me, at least). The rifle without a doubt does much more damage, but the utility of the p/s set is key for survival which is the focus of the build. It’s about grinding them down, letting them mess up and eventually die before you because you just absolutely refuse to ever die yourself. Here’s why I go p/s not rifle:
Compare auto-attack: any fair comparison in a build with baseline condi damage and obviously rifle is way better, but pistol does still keep ticking away. Not great damage, but it does deal damage and slowly wear them down.
Skill 2: i find net shot hard to hit. it can be done, and many more skilled players have great results, I’m sure. However, in the end i find net shot only ok. Does zero damage and is hard to hit from much range (which is when you most want to stop them moving). Compare to PDV, which does good damage scaling with power, and the poison can really ruin enemy heals when timed well. That goes along nicely with the build’s general approach of slowly grinding them down. Some damage, and don’t let them heal it off. The mh pistol conditions are all about utility, not damage. The real pistol condi damage is in blowtorch offhand (which of course would not go with this build).
Skill 3: again I find this hard to hit on rifle. it does awesome damage when you do hit with it in melee, but again this build doesn’t care about doing tons of damage, just need to stay alive longer. Pistol 3 does meh damage, but it can stop a burst. The blind really blocks most burst openers pretty well, and many players I’ve found stop bursting when they see confusion pop up (it wouldn’t do much really, but the mental effect still happens). Again it’s about the utility in the blind/confusion and not so much about the damage.
Skill 4: I am not a fan of this on rifle, especially in a build with no stability and only elixir s stun break. Shield 4 is very versatile. Reflect, blast, knockback.
Skill 5: Rifle does massive damage and gains some mobility here again, which is good, but not super critical for this build. Shield 5 blocks, which is great, and in melee range gives a stun that can open them up for retaliatory attack. Saved my hide several times. Mobility isn’t an issue in this build with perma-swiftness and super speed (on TK swap every 20 sec). I find I feel plenty mobile. Also magnet can work as a gap closer in a pinch, and box of nails tends to keep enemies slowed down.

I take the precision sigil over intelligence because intelligence effect is blocked by the energy sigil effect (I think that is still the case since they are both “on swap” sigils). I’ve used the chance to chill on hit sigil before with grenth runes, which actually does pretty nicely and fits the theme of the build well (grind down the enemy slowly). That’s a great alternate.

I disagree that power wrench is the only good tools trait i get. The permanent 50% endurance regen (equal to vigor now) means a lot more dodges and opens up alchemy adept for protection injection. The +10% damage with full endurance isn’t bad either, especially with elixir R to insta fill endurance (gets some of the damage that, as pointed out, is badly needed). Reduced toolbelt recharge is also great in general, but especially for elixir R toss for rez. Elixir gun instead of elixir R would change all that of course, and I’m sure would be a good build for some people, but I’ve just found it less effective than elixir R and tools.

There may be a better amulet, but I’ve just always found myself not doing as well with others. The soldier appears mismatched to the build, but it just works out in my experience shrug

I have always found this build to be the most effective. I am sure people very skilled with the skill builds can do better, but this build is incredibly forgiving and does enough damage to wear down almost any enemy before they can get you. Two years ago when I started playing engi this was the most effective build I could find, and it’s weathered every patch. Mainly PvP and small group wvw, but also awesome in pve.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqelUUhSuY1Vw+Kw6FLsF1YbMGfB4HWiBgYHNFPBA-TJBBwAAOBA12fwcZgNPAAA

Optional changes:
elixir H for heal turret. Turret does more heal with group support, same Condi removal as elixir (409 with chug and throw) but ht is faster.
Elixir b instead of r: I like r for 6 dodges (sigil of energy, perma 50% energy regeneration), imob clear, and the clutch rez throw. B gets more damage and stability.

Use your blocks, elixir s, and heal to stay alive. Use f1 often, and always before doing shield 4 to get the blast heal. If they try melee burst, shield 5->prybar.
main damage is prybar, throw wrench, and pdv. Use static shot to blind. Always self rez with throw r, can escape with throw s, always use cutback maneuvers in stealth to throw off enemies. Hide magnet pull lines by using through particle fields-> prybar face.
Use med kit drop if you get behind on healing. Ht-> oc, pickup for max healing over time, detonate for helping allies.
elixer s stomps and rezzes.

Enjoy

Grenth’s Tank
pvp build for tanking/holding points.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQFAUlUUpkrdex+KseNCdBNyp0FRuwi85AczOD-TJxFwAo2fYaZAAPAAEXAAA

Kite in rifle.
After they burst, apply chill with heal turret, if you’re in range, blow up for +health and knockback. Use quickness from synaptic overload in toolkit to break them.
Or interrupt w/ rifle 4 + f3 ->close gap while quickness autoattacking ->rifle 3 + rifle 5.
f1 + rifle 5 gives extra healing.
Use slick shoes as short cd stunbreak, elixir S as the ohkitten button.
Rifle 3 + rifle 5 does pretty sweet dmg, too.
Use turret pbaoe pretty much on cooldown: drop, overcharge, pickup unless it’s time to burst (synaptic overload off cd) or you need the extra heal boost.
Use gear shield to stymmie their bursts. Box of nails for area control. When they try to stay at range, bash them with your wrench. When they try to get close, blast them away with your rifle.
Mainly be obnoxious and keep them chilled until they make a mistake or run out of gettaway moves. Then bash mercilessly.

Well done. Shut us up tonight guys. Still good fights and really enjoying this challenge you’re dumping on us!

Nice push at your Bay tonight SF. You guys get a good head count on that one?

Awesome fights all weekend GoM and SF! Hamburger hill is ours though and you will never win it.

If you put down portal inside walls in wvw, then go out through the gate, then drop another portal and portal back inside the walls, you can no longer go out through the gate. I think it just still registers me as outside so it won’t let me go out.

Hello, I’ve been reading these forums for a few months now (been mesmerizing for much longer and even post all nerfs, still love it). I read this post this morning and decided it’s time for me to finally contribute. So, I wrote up a draft of a guide on our elite skills. here it is
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Mesmer-Elite-Skills-a-guide/first#post2395980
please feel free to use it/add to it however you like

Cubones

Mass Invisibility: Give yourself and all allies in a moderate aoe stealth for 5 secs.
Pros: -can be traited to give 6 secs and provide you with a boon every second you remain in stealth
-drops targets on you/your allies
-great for ambushing (try combining with portal or blink for a little blitz attack) or escaping
-very confusing to human foes
-your clones/phantasms continue to do their thing (and you can make more while in stealth without unstealthing)
-great opportunity to heal/use other skills you really can’t afford to get interrupted
-shortest elite cooldown for mesmer
Cons: -does not improve outgoing damage in any way
-can be difficult to coordinate with allies
-you can still take damage in stealth
-bouncing attacks (eg staff auto WoC) will take you out of stealth if they bounce to an enemy after you stealth
-theif’s shadow refuge performs this skill’s function much better if you are out of combat, using stealth to enter combat/ambush (in combat their aoe target that comes with shadow refuge makes this attack better imo)
-stealth causes loss of agro in pve
Summary: This move can be used very effectively by clever/experience players to dominate human foes in pvp engagements (either pvp or wvw). In pve, this attack tends to be less useful, as CPU is not confused by you appearing out of nowhere/disappearing in mid combat/doesn’t get you and your illusions mixed up. It’s pretty much indispensable to PU builds. Takes practice but is very versatile and useful.

Time Warp: Make a large aoe bubble in which you and your allies gain quickness (do everything 50% faster) for its 10sec duration.
Pros: -your allies will love you for making them do everything fast
-awesome in many vs many fights for making all of your team faster (can heal 1.5x as fast and dish out damage 1.5x as fast, this makes a huge difference)
-it is the longest quickness on a single skill in the game (check this, but i believe it is)
-great for tubo rezzing allies/turbo dunking enemies in pvp/wvw
-great for everything in pve
-gains effctiveness as a skill multiplicatively the more allies you have with you.
-provides a 10s large aoe ethereal field (lots of confusion if you have allies with fast attacking projectiles ahem rangers/thieves ahem)
Cons: -longest cooldown of all mesmer elites
-the difference it makes in a battle of 1vanything (ie anytime you are solo) is only ok considering the cd on the skill
-requires good communication with the team (although not to the extent of mass invis)
Summary: This is a great skill for absolutely any situation in which you are running with allies and is still ok if you are solo (but depending on your build/playstyle another one of the elites may be more appropriate). It’s most effective use is on wvw zergs, 4-5v4-5 pvp battles (especially on a node where you can drop it and have your team just camp there and kitten them), and also amazing at any pve boss fight (think temples/dungeons).

That’s my breakdown of you skills. If you have anything to add, please do. Let me know what you think!

Alright well I’ve been playing mesmer for quite a while. I’ve been reading the forums for a little while, and decided it is time to post something and contribute to this community So here it is: my best job at a fair analysis of our elite skill options.

Mesmers have the benefit of three really great elites, but each has an appropriate time to use it, and some times where they are just worth kitten. Our three skills are moa morph, mass invisibility, and time warp.

Moa Morph: Turn your target into a moa bird (or a tuna fish if underwater).
Pros: -this attack is really cool (you turn them into a bird!)
-great at substantially mitigating both your incoming damage and improve your opportunity for outgoing damage because they can’t escape with utilities/their normal skills
-awesome for conditions, which moas really can’t remove
-superb skill for 1v1 situations in which you can turn them into a moa and spike them down without getting hit hardly at all
-also awesome in 1v2, where you can use this to bring it down to more like 1v1.5 for a while and give you an upper edge
Cons: -the cooldown is quite long
-really loses its utility if fighting against many opponents (ex: wvw zergs) where taking one person out of the fight for moa morph’s duration doesn’t make a noticeable difference
Summary: Use this skill if you are anticipating [not very many]v[not very many] where this skill can effectively reduce your enemy’s numbers by ~1 for the duration. Typically this means solo wvw roaming or spvp (possibly tpvp depending on your role within the team).