Guild Wars 2

Well, I’m toying around with builds and I came across Bountiful Interruption (Chaos XI).
I couldn’t find any answer elsewhere, but it looks like this trait is not working as intended.

“Apply a random boon to yourself when you interrupt a foe. "

This trait applies no boon if you use daze. But taken directly from the wiki:

“Daze is an effect caused by some skills which interrupts and prevents the target from using skills for a period of time. It does not stack in duration. "

While this trait is already very weak (albeit no one would use it in a regular build), it should be at least doing what is written in it’s description. It could use a buff in general though.

It stacks on top of the already existing boons.

Aether McLoud.1975:

Low mobility is a mesmer weakness, deal with it. Can’t have everything of the cake.

Aether McLoud.1975:

Not every class can have good access to swiftness / passive movespeed. That’s why classes are different. You gotta deal with it.

Are you the new game designer at ANet? Good.

How do I deal with it in PvE, when my group is constantly half the dungeon ahead of me? Tell them to wait – great way to deal with an imbalance.

How do I deal with it in Wv3, when my group is moving faster than me – as does the enemy – which ruins group play.

I run a full Centaur set and focus off-hand, just to be on par with most other classes passive standards. This kills variaty, this cannot be what a game designer wants…

Hey mesmers got “more reliable swiftness” by getting a 12.5% chance on a random buff of a signet to earn it. Game designers and their visions…
If you give most classes a passive +25% speedboost, why would you be surprised that the other classes want that too… It is obviously imbalanced in Wv3 too.

Ellisande.5218:

Being one shot is never acceptible no matter what build you are using. This would be true even if there were no death penalty and is even more true when there is a death penalty. And it would be true even if the ability was avoidable and you chose not to avoid it.

The reasoning is 2 fold:
1) A mob shouldn’t be designed to do to a player what a player wouldn’t have agreed to if they were part of the team designing that mob
2) A mob shouldn’t be able to do something to a player that a player could not do back to that mob, however it is ok for a player to be able to do something to the mob that the mob couldn’t do to the player. Between a player who actually existed and had to work for their level and a mob that doesn’t really exist and did not have to do any work to get the stats it has, the benefit should always go to the one who had to actually put in work.

This game would exist of 100% glass cannon max dmg players with this philosophy. Giving up the trinity does not mean giving up diversity, it just offers more options.

There was this big talk, that January and February update together will be about the size of an expansion.
I really hope we get some nice open playfields, with real content (not like the wasteland that is karka island), with rewards compareable to FotM.
I have done 2 dungeons on story mode before FotM, as I really prefer to play in the open word, but since then, FotM has probably been the place I have spent the most time ingame. And even though I am just on level 11 (stopped doing any higher fractals than 10 as I was very unlucky with drops…) I feel tired of the same old mini instances.
Events in Orr are abandoned though, getting more than 3 ppl together is a success. Started some alts, but I never got alts high enough to keep them playing. So I will do a bit of event stuff now, then take a break till around the January 15.

Oxstar.7643:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Oxstar.7643:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

In matters of gold farming: ANet is doing the right thing to shut down methods to earn gold by farming. The gap between casual gaming gold earning and farming is already way to big.
Class balance is playing with number, and unfotunately we do not have them. ANet will try their best, though nerfs will always cause nerdrage anyway.

What’s wrong with people making more money if they actually invest the time and patience into the boring repetetive work that it takes and save up? Isn’t that how the world works?

Also ANet needs player input before they launch class changes like I’ve said a million times now, that’s why they need a PTS server. If a class is yay or nay depends on it’s situational use in actual PvE and PvP content, not numbers done on a dummy.

If the inflation keeps on going by this pace, the only way for new players and casuals to keep up is buying gems and change them to gold. While this might look like profit for ANet at first, it will cause people to stop playing the game because it will feel like pay2win.

This is not what ANet wants. They try to fix their broken economy and I hope they can succeed.

You can get gear through crafting and drops and karma you know. Like I said, grinding is not requires nor should it be. Tons of gold is not required to gear up either.
So with that said, new players can indeed keep up, assuming they are willing to put effort into it.
Isn’t farming for days effort as well?

Have you looked at the inflation on exotic precursors? Chances to get the one you want by just playing the game are what? So the only way to obtain them is to get ’em from the ah.
What is the inflation rate from after 2 weeks ingame till now? 1500% at least. In 3 monthes. While there will always be some variation, this is just bad, really really bad.

Oxstar.7643:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

In matters of gold farming: ANet is doing the right thing to shut down methods to earn gold by farming. The gap between casual gaming gold earning and farming is already way to big.
Class balance is playing with number, and unfotunately we do not have them. ANet will try their best, though nerfs will always cause nerdrage anyway.

What’s wrong with people making more money if they actually invest the time and patience into the boring repetetive work that it takes and save up? Isn’t that how the world works?

Also ANet needs player input before they launch class changes like I’ve said a million times now, that’s why they need a PTS server. If a class is yay or nay depends on it’s situational use in actual PvE and PvP content, not numbers done on a dummy.

If the inflation keeps on going by this pace, the only way for new players and casuals to keep up is buying gems and change them to gold. While this might look like profit for ANet at first, it will cause people to stop playing the game because it will feel like pay2win.

This is not what ANet wants. They try to fix their broken economy and I hope they can succeed.

In matters of gold farming: ANet is doing the right thing to shut down methods to earn gold by farming. The gap between casual gaming gold earning and farming is already way to big.
Class balance is playing with number, and unfotunately we do not have them. ANet will try their best, though nerfs will always cause nerdrage anyway.

Swiftness should be an additional procc that can happen 50% of the time as a second boon. In fights I think, ah crap, got swiftness, out of fight I think ah crap, not swiftness.

Just seperate it and give it fair % for proccing.

I would just like something that is less situational, like human doggies. You can use those every time the timer is up and they will always be awesome.
Every Single Time.
Just imagine, animal forms would be awesome every single time they were off cooldown.

I’d say go for the stats of one set. Get the second later.
You don’t need ascended gear outside of FotW right now anyway, so get the best items for your PvE/PvP/Wv3 sets. No need to go the subpar middle route.

So other people have to learn that lesson too, good. I am fairly tired of 4signet/for great justice warriors anyway, that think their main weapons are those little rocks in downed state.
You have reached midlevel gameplay, time to adapt to different situations. Would you play this game because it is a cakewalk to 80? Sounds boring as hell…

Get some toughness and vitality, they exist for a reason.
If you are specced glass cannon, you have to avoid hits or you will die.
If you have no clue what a mob does, getting hit is very possible.
As a mesmer (my first profession) this was a lesson I had to learn, as a thief it is no different.

I like to play glass cannon, but it requires more than just spamming Attack 1.

I have a kittenload of stuff to translate from Japanese till tomorrow and here is already past 9 pm, otherwise I would login and get you some numbers.
I will give you some numbers tomorrow, with gear und setup details, OK?

Well, my numbers after patch are more like iZerker between 3500 and 5500 and GS1 on max range about 1200 to 1500.

If your iZerker is doing 15k dmg, it would be instagib on most PvE solo mobs.

Neko.1860:

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVmz9fGf0pacaMVoc08kir7070m7kGJ70V7ofD70m

I’ve been running this build, sitting full zerkers with 1 piece knight 1 piece valk rune of air and sigil of fire
I sit back spamming gs1 at max range which does about 10k total damage if you add all 3 hits up then I just spam iZerk only and the Izerker is doing about 30k total damage through one attack sequence, i was wondering how this build would go if i had might stacks

Your build is pretty much a phantasm build, so you wouldn’t want to shatter your illusions.
On a side note, the damage numbers add up on the fly, so you do the last number of an attack sequence, as does the iZerker – not the sum of them.

I can get up to 24 stacks of might for a short duration with this build. Realistically you can upkeep 12-15 stacks if you use both weapon sets, F1 and F2 and good timing with your clones on dodge.
12 stacks should be maintainable with just the GS and shatter F1 and F2 in theory, but I need a bit more time to practice (have too much to do right now in RL to spend much time online).

It is a clone generator, and obviously our best one in most shatter builds.
I’m fine with that. Do not touch please.

After the Membrane nerf, I can at least stop gathering all that tanking gear for my UberTankMesmer build. For now at least.

Lazy Kai GS shatter build all the way…

Oranges and apples, thank god they are both the same so we can compare them!

I could throw in some Mesmer signets, thiefs should be happy with what they got…

Wow, the patch was awesome! At least for this build.
All the might, all the damage. You can take down groups of mobs in a heartbeat. I feel nearly as strong as playing on my warrior alt from time to time.

Playstyle stays the same, but you may want to drop Feedback for Signet of Inspiration. While one boon every 10 sec is not overwhelming, working now out of combat, I still think it is worth it.

Animal Forms FTW, how cool is that!

That is exactly what I thought when creating my Norn.

sigh

What I think about this:

Make animal forms toggle skills.
Let us keep our utility skills.
Let us move while attacking (the whole game was promoted like: “cast on the fly”, but I cannot move my legs while I use my claws?)
Nerf the forms health pools so that they are no longer overpowered, but fit to the animal forms (tanky but lower dmg bear vs. stealthy but lower hp snowleopard…)

I think I have never seen another Norn using an animal form, what a waste of 4 racial elite skills…

digiowl.9620:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Tanking 101:

Stack as much toughness as you can, stay in melee range.
Should do the job for most mobs.

End result, get very very familiar with down state.

The closest to melee tanking in this game is a in melee circle strafe. Meaning that you can just as well do it using a ranged weapon to buy yourself some reaction time. Toughness means jack compared to your ability to stay out of the front arc.

This was just about getting and keeping aggro, not about how you survive the mobs attacks. What to do after getting the aggro greatly depends on your class and playstyle.

The 14th is nearly over over here. ^^
Would be nice, if we had some info on patch downtime about a day ahead…

Tanking 101:

Stack as much toughness as you can, stay in melee range.
Should do the job for most mobs.

Would be nice to have some server close to my time zone. I’m on a german server, but as I live in Japan, I’m 8 hours ahead. Finding a group for FotM or any dungeon is a challenge every single time… ^^

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Lazy-Kai-s-guide-to-PvE/first#post850116

Look here, should answer all your questions.

It is not mandatory for leveling. Get time warp as elite, and you will be fine.

I have planned out my indestructable melee tank PvE build which includes S/S.
As soon as I have all the gear together (will take some time) I will post feedback. Personally I really love the idea of a melee caster wielding two swords.

A good idea would have been to play the game with your girlfriend and do what you want, seeing the shiny legendary as a longterm goal on the road of fun.
But hey, congrats to your finished joyless grind… ^^

The funniest joke I have seen on this forums ever!
A good laugh, thanks!

Ualtar.5047:

Mounts don’t really fit the game. The maps are not big enough for the most part to need them. Other games that have mounts create the maps with mounts in mind. This means much larger and more open maps to give you the illusion of size in the game. If you had a mount in most GW2 maps you would ride across it so fast, that many people would complain about how small the game is.

The mount does not have to go by the speed of light. Maybe just give it the constant speed of a runbuff. I think this kind of addition wouldn’t hurt the game, but offer some more content.
Unfortunately I have not seen a single charakter on a mount in GW2 (NPC) so they have probably no animation at hand for this kind of content anyway. I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

I play a very funky but absoluty bulletproof GS/S+F build (20/0/15/30/5) for survival and damage in higher Fractals (with mainly berserker gear+some defensive trinkets). While I made a cookie-cutter build guide here, I never get tiered of trying new strategies and playstyles. The focus can be a incredible useful tool combined with a sword, so don’t give up on it.
While I use the GS for ranged and moving targets, S+F is perfect for tanked or stationary mobs.
If they fix our bugs, things will get a bit easier though (phantasms no longer take a coffee break before their first attack etc.)…

Helequin.2608:

An observant Norn: screw this raven, bear, wolf, leopard nonsense. It’s time for a useful racial skill: Deer Form.

Deer form would be nice, but we would need a new skill slot called “I Win Button”.

Wait till the iZerker is fixed.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Updated the guide, after the last patch made the iZerker more or less as useless as a clone in PvE (low damage and about 1.5 sec till he starts his attack). This feels more and more like a feature and not a bug…
As he is still OK for tagging mobs in events, I placed him earlier in the rotation.

Hope you like it.

Can still combo mirror blade + zerker to get 2 illusions on target at roughly the same time, then immediate shatter for a bit of burst aoe.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Genereal GS playstyle:
Attack 1: get aggro so the mob does not kill clones
Attack 2: clone (and tagging event mobs)
Attack 4: iZerker (and tagging more event mobs
Dodge to target: clone (and closing gap for max shatter dmg)
F1: shatter

I thought this was my plan anyway. Attack 2 on your hotbar = Mirror Blade. Then Attack 4 which is iZerker.
Dodge to the target, so that the iZerker has enough time for one attack sequenz and generating a clone, do a full 4 shatter on the mob.

My combo was more for instantaneous 1200 range burst damage. In Orr events, and other situations, you don’t necessarily have time/want to close that 1200 range, and 2+4+ shatter provides you with a fast burst from 1200 range. It’s obviously not optimal damage, but it is 1200 range.

Ah I see. Sure, I do this too depending on the situation. Obviously I could only give an idea how to play this build by giving a general rotation.
To be honest, I run this build most of the time myself, but in a way more active manner, using all shatter abilities and weapon swapping.
Nontheless, imho, if you starting to play your mesmer like described in the guide, you can be very efficient the easy way.

Easy to learn, not too hard to master. And still adaptable to the way you like to play by choosing your own second weaponset. Fair play.

Defora.3694:

DrewRus.5431:

Hi I am very new to mesmer… and i was just wondering what weapon is this build for?

Greatsword, read the post and you will see.

Kaiyanwan: For lazy build you have loads of reading. I like your build so I made rotation picture & link.

Build link (forum doesn’t allow “;” on link so I can not link build with gear, see OP’s post for runes, etc) : http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQJAxdlwzipXUzqGa9ICqHaH29dkU0apWJF42FC

Lazy mesmer rotation picture:

Wow, thats awesome, thx. If it is ok, I will try to place the picture in my guide as soon as I have a bit more time on my hand. Not entirely sure how much I can still fit in there, as it is already fairly long… ^^

Well, you can still run a glass cannon full berserker build. I have adjusted my guide to the actual crappyness of the iZerker, maybe you want to give it a try.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Lazy-Kai-s-guide-to-PvE

PvE = Platewearer vs Everything

The lesson learnt here is to reroll a heavy armor class, if you want to enjoy playing PvE in GW2.
Or if you play a mesmer, every other class will be an option to reroll for better PvE…

Zogyark.4597:

Good stuff, mesmers deserved a nerf anyway.

Yeah, the mesmer is probably the only class that hopes that there will be no more patches at all. Just wondering what they will nerf on 12/14, maybe our clones will start healing the enemy…

The funny thing, I wrote this about an hour before Mr. Game Designer in an other thread:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Everyone with half a brain and basic knowledge of the class could avoid the delay till now though.
It was like a work around to a bug. But lately I got a feeling that we have no longer bugs, just features.
It’s like the argument that everyone has a problem with “obstructed” so it is totally ok, that mesmers now have the same problem too. Instead of thinking along the line: Let’s fix this bug for all.

Kitten, I know the drill of MMO companies…

JonPeters.5630:

Fyi, the delay on first attack has been present since BWE2. It is there for balance reasons to give enemies a moment to react to the powerful summon.

So it is WAI? As if in PvE any mob would ever avoid an AoE, but no, the oh so mighty phantasm gets killed by mobs in PvE before it can even do one attack. Am I the only one who sees a problem here?

Well, they obviously fail to be good testers now though…
Or non of them plays a mesmer…

To be honest, while I would love another melee option, for now, I just want them to get our existing weapons fixed.
Not-so-Greatsword needs a fix to iZerker and a buff to Mind Blast (or replace it entirely)
Scepter and Torch are too much of niche items. And for now, every set has a broken phantasm.

Everyone with half a brain and basic knowledge of the class could avoid the delay till now though.
It was like a work around to a bug. But lately I got a feeling that we have no longer bugs, just features.
It’s like the argument that everyone has a problem with “obstructed” so it is totally ok, that mesmers now have the same problem too. Instead of thinking along the line: Let’s fix this bug for all.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Updated the guide, after the last patch made the iZerker more or less as useless as a clone in PvE (low damage and about 1.5 sec till he starts his attack). This feels more and more like a feature and not a bug…
As he is still OK for tagging mobs in events, I placed him earlier in the rotation.

Hope you like it.

Can still combo mirror blade + zerker to get 2 illusions on target at roughly the same time, then immediate shatter for a bit of burst aoe.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Genereal GS playstyle:
Attack 1: get aggro so the mob does not kill clones
Attack 2: clone (and tagging event mobs)
Attack 4: iZerker (and tagging more event mobs
Dodge to target: clone (and closing gap for max shatter dmg)
F1: shatter

I thought this was my plan anyway. Attack 2 on your hotbar = Mirror Blade. Then Attack 4 which is iZerker.
Dodge to the target, so that the iZerker has enough time for one attack sequenz and generating a clone, do a full 4 shatter on the mob.

Updated the guide, after the last patch made the iZerker more or less as useless as a clone in PvE (low damage and about 1.5 sec till he starts his attack). This feels more and more like a feature and not a bug…
As he is still OK for tagging mobs in events, I placed him earlier in the rotation.

Hope you like it.