Guild Wars 2

The devs of GW1 (and i guess even the original class devs of this game) have long gone and been replaces by people without any clue what they are doing.

Seeing a dev playing 5 signet warrior tells everything, really.

Map size should be increased, but without adding anymore people to the matches. It will make zergs less efficient.

WvW’ers need to do dungeons (or sPvP) and map completion for their legendaries, so that’s only fair.

Besides, if you were playing since the game came out, you should have received a lot of badges via achievement chests already.

If they want to fix that for mesmer, they should as well for every other class. I don’t have a list, but there are a lot of abilities with aftercasts that can be bypassed by stowing your weapon (i actually haven’t even a key bound for stow weapon so i wouldn’t feel it, but mesmers have way bigger problems atm).

Hi, guys, i don’t wanted to start a new thread, so i’m reviving this one (also stealth-bumping this topic, but if this forum is anything like the mesmer one, no dev will ever look here anyway).

Since i got tired of having my mesmer main being nerfed to death i reactivated my thief. Since i want to play unusual and/or underpowered builds, i decided on P/P power.

Could someone tell me what i could do better about my build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZQQNAqaVl0Mp0pdPxwJ0PNBPBt9sTQA8MKPpzg0WA-TVCBwAv2fYl+AIPAAJHBAsK/wp+DgTBAFlgJMBRKgyFGB-w

That cavalier backpack is mainly because i don’t have a 2nd ascended berserker one and don’t want to transfer my other from mesmer to thief and back whenever i change characters.

I might explain my choices here:

- Heal: Withdraw is for swiftness/vigor uptime and to create gaps when i need them.

- Utilities: Shadowstep is a given for me, same for SR which also doubles for damage as Sneak Attack in it does a lot of dmg with 5 100% projectile finishers. I took the signet mainly for the cleanse, also it gets me to 70% critchance which is my sweet spot for the build. The endurance reg combined with good vigor uptime and Acrobatics 3 should give a LOT of dodges.

- Elite: Not really sure, i mainly took it because it spreads a lot of blinds with Pistol #5, helps taking WvW camps, deals with mesmer phantasms and gives stability. It also helps when fighting other ranged classes.

- Traits: 6 in Critical Strikes was a given for me, for critchance and -dmg. I could take Signet Use as a trait to have my cleanse/endurance reg available faster.

I wanted to go 3 in Acrobatics for the additional dodge and vigor on heal, but decided to go for 4 since i lacked cleanses.

The same goes for Trickery, i wanted 3 for the additional initiative, but took Bountiful Theft because it’s just so good. Also i can easily swap to Ricochet this way.

Another option could be 2/6/0/3/3, so i can take either Mug or Sundering Strikes. Results in higher dmg but i end up squishier.

/edit: I got a second set with Traveler runes, so i can go away from the Withdraw + Centaur plan for mobility, if Signet of Malice or Hide in Shadows should be better.

You can always move away from a mesmer. Unless they are using staff and/or focus and traveler/centaur runes, a mesmer won’t be able to catch anyone. And since our only immobilize skill can now be countered by autoattacking the clone once, there is not much we can do except /wave’ing.

PU doesn’t really count as squishy as it provides Protection and Aegis and you also get +300 Toughness just from going 6 into Chaos. If that statement was meant as “play PU or not at all” that’s a clear balancing issue right here.

Also using clones to absorb backstabs won’t work. If the thief has you as his target, he will still hit you.

Actually, fighting a D/x thief, while hard and totally in his favor, is doable if you can land your shatter burst. Sadly you can’t just try over a 100 times like the thief so you have to make your 1 attack count.

P/D condi thief is a completely different topic. From my experience, those fights are impossible to win kittenter. But P/D is op anyway, so that’s not a mesmer issue.

Mind telling us something about those aspects?

One of the main problems when fighting a thief as a squishy mesmer is Shadow Refuge. If i for some reason can’t kick him out of it with iWave (skill / weapon swap on cd, thief dodges, too near to me so even when kicked back will stay in the circle etc.) there is absolutely no way for me to know, when the burst will come.

Since i just don’t have enough skills to constantly evade/block/invul for the whole stealth duration and 1 backstab is usually enough to take ~50-80% of my life, i either have to take it and pray that those heatseeking heartseekers won’t hit me while i stealth and heal up or run for my life and hope i can put enough distance between us so he will destealth before he catches me.

Just change it to grant 3 (number subject to change) boons at random. Nerfs the skill and fits nicely in the chaotic and random theme of the mesmer

/edit: Exclude stability from the random pool.

If you want to continue playing your mesmer, a little advice: The class has been nerfed since release in nearly any patch that contained any form of balancing.

PvE can probably still be easy if you just grab a greatsword and start pewpew’ing away, but once you start doing PvP (either sPvP or WvW) you are in to some frustration.

I would start off as a guardian or warrior as described above. Even if you end up maining another class, you still have a solid alternative for doing dungeons or other stuff.

/edit: I actually started off as a guardian and switched to mesmer later. I got 100% map completion on the guard, so it’s still the char to go for me if i want to do some PvE content and don’t to go there all the way on my mesmer (another tip: Mesmers are slow).

I updated my post above by adding a suggestion how cleansing ire and bursts in general could be changed.

Conditions as a weakness could be fine, but Cleansing Ire kind of totally removes that. Seeing how fast adrenaline regenerates and how LB burst does not need to hit anything for the cleanse, that’s an easy 3 cleanses every 7 seconds.

Also, at least in WvW, since warriors can be built to be practically immune against soft CC, cleansing ire will almost always cleanse something that’s actually damaging.

/edit: I propose the following changes:

- Cleansing Ire does not generate any additional adrenaline and cleanses 1 condition per burst, regardless of how much adrenaline was spent.

- Burst skills always use up adrenaline, no matter if they hit or not.

This way, warriors are more vulnerable against conditions and might have to work for their adrenaline instead of just having it whenever the cd is there. On the other hand, they won’t have to rely on lb and instead have a reliable cleanse on a fairly short cd that they ckittene whenever they want.

2/6/0/0/6 would be the only viable shatter build left with 2 required GM traits and Mental Torment to ensure you at least are hitting slightly harder than a wet noodle.

Making DE the 3 point minor trait would already be plenty helpful as you could pick another trait for 4 and have at least some more build diversity (most will probably go for either Blade Training or 1200 range blink, whatever they didn’t pick for their 2 point trait).

That’s a mix of different sylvari cultural armors. Can’t tell you exactly which, but you can take a look at them here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sylvari_cultural_armor (The “helm” is actually his face).

As for the color, i have no clue, also most colors look a bit different on sylvari plant/wood than on everything else.

Given that warrior have all around good stats (high armor, high vitality, good damage, mobility, cc , healing etc), other classes would either need the same stat distribution or be better in one region and worse in another. Since this is currently not the case, it would probably be better to see a totally medium profession as the benchmark (engi, ranger) and balance around them.

Of course that also means that warriors are too strong and need to lose 1-2 of their advantages (like most if not all mobility skills or ~50% of their dmg).

Underwater is a zone where mesmers are actually fast and can put off a fight. Of course it has to go.

Try hiding your helmet (uncheck the checkbox). It should carry over to the costume. At least that’s how other costumes behave.

Moa Morph in PvE must be really op. I once moa’d a Moa, but it just proceeded as if nothing happened.

After sword got nerfed hard, mesmer needs a new melee 1h weapon. Dagger would probably the best option, as Mace and Axe are both not really fitting (well, it’s not like we couldn’t use a melee pistol or something the like…).

Sadly, if you’re after RvR fights, GW2 is still the best option out there and, despite all balancing flaws, the combat system is (for me) still one of the best, providing fast and fluid fights.

Everyone’s too busy making new chapters for the living story. These things bring in money, balance doesn’t.

Playing a shatter mesmer (the once iconic mesmer build that really makes use of our class mechanic) against metabuilds like P/D, S/D thieves, Sword/LB condi warriors, meditation guards etc is like:

- having a fixed trait distribution because the build just isn’t playable without being at least 2/4/0/0/6.

- Playing with 4 weapon skills per set (Sword #3 and GS #3, untraited even Torch #5).

- Having to play perfectly and dodge at least half of the attacks aimed at you to not die instantly.

- Using up a good amount of your skills for that one attack that could turn the fight around.

- Throwing a dice to determine if said attack does anything in the first place.

- Bringing your enemy below 50% just to see them run away with superior mobility or just stealth forever.

The maps are way too small for mounts atm. It would require ArenaNet to at least double the size of every map.

WvW needs a map increase, anyway.

Warriors can attack after using Impale without getting their sword back via Rip first. This is a clear oversight and should be fixed.

The same goes for Bladetrail, obviously. If the way backwards is blocked or a thief is hit, warrior should be forced to buy a new GS.

The iLeap “fix” made playing hard, so currently i feel pretty…random, i think. If they would revert that change or made the clone invulnerable for ~3s after spawn i would feel ok, again. I’d still have a hard time but that’s mainly because of other classes being too strong.

I have an 80 mesmer, guard, thief and engi and i still like my mesmer most. My first main was actually the guard, so if i could start over i would make the mesmer first and level a (power) ranger instead of the guard.

If the map is big enough and the player cap low enough, there will be plenty to do for solo players or small groups.

Give objectives to the map, small stat bonuses (yeah, i’m not a fan of stat bonuses, too, but since there won’t be ppt, it’s not that much of a deal. Obsidian Sanctum should of course be left untouched by them) and patrolling NPCs that require objectives to be capped. Maybe even 1 or 2 bosses that spawn at RANDOM times and provide decent loot and access to bank, tp and crafting stations until the next spawn.

As long as the map is big enough, i don’t think a bit of PvE here and there won’t hurt.

Why not go a step further and provide “building” places that start of as ruins but can by upgraded with mats, so you can add walls, towers, a hidden one-way tunnel to attack unsuspecting enemies etc (with mutually exclusive alternatives so you have to decide).

WvW should be a giant sandbox PvP map, not a zergfest like it currently is.

You take this way too serious…points are meaningless as long as there is no season (and even then because of the level of rewards).

Personally, i think WvW would only improve if they removed PPT as a whole, tripled map size and treat WvW more like some kind of PvP server.

As much as i think mesmer sword needs a buff, the #1 chain is actually fine (damage could be higher but that’s it).

Also, remember that clones use the #1 attack, too, so 1-2 of them would probably render any short duration boons useless.

That aside, i don’t think we need a new condition. Regardless of what it does, it would make cleansing damaging conditions much harder, especially for classes without any spammable or full cleanse (e.g. mesmer).

Personally, i wouldn’t use it, but there should at least be an option to not use limited finishers.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bowl_of_Orrian_Truffle_and_Meat_Stew or -condi duration when fighting a condi build using +condi duration food.

They should balance existing weapons first before adding new ones that will likely be also unbalanced.

I wonder how many development hours were spent on discussing and implementing this change.

“Here are the patchnotes for tomorrow, boss.”

“Wait, you didn’t nerf mesmers?”

- discussion end -

PU condi is still good, a tad too good when paired with PU, honestly. But shatter on the other hand has received nothing but nerfs since release for nearly 2 years straight now.

Now that we don’t even have a reliable (well, it wasn’t really reliable to begin with) immobilize and 1 less stunbreak, it’s gotten really, really hard to not just say “screw this” and be done with it.

So, i could swap main- and offhand on my mesmer, let’s see…

Scepter: MH only.
Pistol: OH only.
Focus: OH only.
Sword: That’s it! I can finally swap Sword/Sword to Sword/Sword, that’s all i ever wanted!

I can use F2 for it, for all i care, it’s not like Cry of Frustration is doing anything, anyway.

If you want to fight for or against a faceless team, OK. But there’s no “PVP” there.

Yes, there is, because it’s the only gamemode that let’s small teams play “poke-the-zerg”, killing off stragglers and see how long they can survive against superior numbers.

Might make sense to you or not, but some people actually like that style of playing.

The pride probably vanished when NCSoft took “care” of the game.

They made the game, they knew what this did when they made that statement

Pretty OT, but after nearly 2 years i highly doubt that.

Coming back from Wildstar just to see that my build (GS + Sw/T Shatter) got nerfed just one more time.

Playing GS + Sc/T now, because staff freaks me out with pulling me out of stealth everytime. Let’s see how long it takes for them to nerf the rest of our weapons to ground. Even now i have GS #3 and Torch #5 which are hardly doing anything.

Play asura, they wear the same armor regardless of gender. Problem solved.

Wait what? GW2 has gear progression?
You realize has soon as you hit lvl 80 and buy full exotics which are dirt cheap, you can do pretty much any content in this game right?

And that’s exactly what i mean. GW2 was announced as having a horizontal progression instead of the typical gear grind. As a pure PvP player, Wildstar wants me to grind PvE events for weeks to obtain BiS gear.

Also, Ascended gear in GW2 is totally not required to be competitive in, say, WvW duels whereas gear level has a huge impact on Wildstar PvP.

Rgearding the topic: After playing Wildstar for some time now, i think that GW2 is still the better game in terms of gear progression and combat system but is lacking features.

Housing would be a great way to bind players and a suitable gold sink for those who want it. It doesn’t need to give any boni. The current home instances are quite lacking and static without any costumization.

Also i think WvW should be expanded in a more open, much bigger world. Kinda like EOTM but without all those narrow bridges. More open space and less objectives, essentially turning WvW in some kind of “PvP server” inside the server. Make waypoints more sparse, disable hardressing either in combat or entirely and i think the system would be much better.

As for PvP, it needs more options, maybe BGs with different winning objectives.

Also, of course, further balancing is needed.

Given all this, i would even be willing to pay monthly for the game.

Greatsword, definitely. Be it killing runners, crippling chasers, bursting random guys, throwing thieves out of SR or kiting builds like PU condi, i can’t seem to play Shatter without it anymore.

But, as stated multiple times, you can’t force people to play the way you want to. A lot of people transfered to low-population servers because they want to play that way. Leave them alone.

That said, if it’s true that high tier server have no queues most of the time (hardly believable for me, seeing that Dzagonur has EB queue every evening and 1-2 borders on top most of the time), there is nothing to hinder those people unsatisfied with their server to transfer up. ArenaNet makes money with it and the players are happy.

You need to have the camera face the target at the moment you activate the skill. Your char does not have to be turned and you do not need to face the target (with camera or char), when the skill resolves. It can still get obstructed, though.

I like to use it for stealing boons vs warriors, power rangers etc. For condi removal, it’s too unreliable and you probable are better off with Mantra.

Well, someone asked, so…i prefer low tier servers, because:
- there are less queues,
- less blobs,
- less OS trolls,
- more capable duellers,
- individuals tend to be more skilled,
- the whole community is a lot more personal and
- a single person can achieve much more than in higher tiers.

Also, even if i’m in a minority, i like being outmanned. When i see that icon on my lower right bar, i know there are enemies out there and i can have my fun trolling them. I will die at one point, so what? I’m not here to make points or loot, but to have fun, after all and i have my fun fighting against superior numbers seeing how long i can last.

I have been beaten many times by Mesmer on almost every class so it seems like Mesmer is in a pretty good place.

No offense, but that’s most likely your fault and not because of what class you are playing.

People play on bottom tier servers, because they want to. I’ve played in T3 and i’ve played in T9 and i have to say i much prefer the latter one.

In a team fight, that might be true for torch, as you don’t need the traited condi remove and can concentrate on more damage with offhand pistol or sword.

When solo and roaming, however, the added survivability and possible cleanses help a lot.

Also, Decoy isn’t just stealth, it’s a stun break on a fair cd and a target drop, whih helps immensely in team fights since opponents lose track of you and give you an opportunity to strike.

As for our elite, Mass Invis is simply the best one we have.