Guild Wars 2

Galen Grey.4709:

Guhracie.3419:

Galen Grey.4709:

Anet have the largest MMO development team I am aware of (short of WoW ofcourse). They also chucked out most free content in between expansion of any MMO I am aware off (including WoW) while developing their expansion. They also have a relatively long expansion development cycle. Will some players feel ripped off? sure! does that automatically mean they’re justified? No. You dont price things just to make people happy you also need to factor in your expenses and what return your investors are expecting. Keeping most of your players but loosing investor backing can be just as disastrous after all.

You need to find a balance because ultimately you cannot make everyone happy. If a player is willing to drop your game over $3.33 per year ($10 over 3 years) probably that player has much bigger issues with your game then price anyway. After all using wow as an example once again there are over 5m people who consistently don’t feel ripped off paying $15×24 + $40 = $400 per expansion cycle and that cylce is 33% shorter which makes it even worst. Does any of this mean that everyone should be happy with what Anet charges? No of course not, ultimately you’re right, it will be players who decide if the price is justified or not. That being said it is my opinion that this whole thing is being blown up way out of proportion.

Lol no. I know all the cool kids love to hate on WoW, but don’t straight-up lie. I don’t keep up with patch news anymore, but the seven years I played had tons of content patches in between the expansions. Just don’t. It’s an embarrassing claim to make.

It’s also disproportionate, given the amount of resources and the level of organization they had at that time, compared to what ANET has.

As much as I rail against the things I don’t like about ANET, I do appreciate that ANET has heart. I’m just not sure heart is enough to keep me playing, at this point. Either way, the price has been set.

First of All I am not hating on any MMO just to make that part clear. Secondly I didnt say only Anet release free content in between expansions, I said they released the most free content in between expansions. Even WoW with a budget order of magnitude larger then what Anet have doesnt even come close. Like between the previous and last Expansion according to WoW’s website (dont play it myself) they had 12 updates. Gw2 had 42 updates. Then there is the frequency of the updates themselves which until this year were at least 1 a month and for the most part 1 every 2 weeks. WoW is also not the only MMO around, many others dont even release any content at all in between their expansions or only a handful of releases.

Really? Read through the fewer updates for other AAA MMO’s and realize that these updates offer more content than all the 42 updates of GW2 together.

Higher frequency of updates doesn’t equal more content. Most of the Living Story Season 1 updates do not even qualify as a content update for most other MMOs.

Seriously, read through what WoW has added in the first three years of its existance and tell me that GW2 would not have to hide in shame compared to what was added back then. Look at LotRO and the updates between expansions.

Living Story updates are thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread. They were an excuse to promote gem store items.

It got a bit better with Season 2, but hey, we didn’t get many of these and the season is over since forever.

42 “content” updates, and adding so little, that is actually quite impressive.

C’mon Galen, if we get something similar to the 100 hours of Witcher 3 story and gameplay quality, I will be more than willing to pay $50 twice. How can you even compare these titels.

But in the end, it will not be me who will quantify how much content is worthy the $50, it will be the community. You are right, I am not yet sure if I will buy the two copies of HoT (for me and my wife) as we both are less than convinced of what this expansion actually got to offer.
We are also not in a hurry to buy it, and maybe we will skip it. But here is the thing, I don’t think we will come back, even if the next next expansion looks like a good deal. Because we have moved on at that point.
Like nowadays you only need the last expansion of WoW to play all the content, did I start playing again (stopped end of 2008) for all those free expansions I can enjoy now? No. And it will be the same with GW2.

ANet is at a high risk with their expansion plans. They might lose more veteran players every single expansion because they feel ripped off, while the newer players will become veterans and will be facing the “worse deal” scenario the next time, an endless circle of disappointment incoming…

Sure, only time will tell, but I am willing to wait and see.

Galen Grey.4709:

So why exactly do you think what Anet doing is the cash grab, which alternative model would you like them to use thats more fair?

Sell the kitten expansion as an expansion. And sell a bundle for people that do not own the base game.

Look, Elite Dangerous wants to do the same, sell the expansion for $49.99 including the base game. But there won’t be a way to buy just the expansion, so this is a 100% similar case.

If the GW2 expansion does not come close to the amount you would expect from a full game release, my educated guess is that the forums will burn.

Because people literally pay the price of a full game. They expect the amount of a stand-alone product. And if ANet’s logic is right, just the expansion is worth $50 in their minds.

The alarming thing is that everyone at ANet started talking how this expansion will be the foundation for all other stuff, which implies it will be smaller, because they spent so much time doing the ground work.

But they did say the same thing about fractals, guild missions, and even dungeons, every single time they introduced some stuff: they did the groundwork for the future. Sure, that worked out well.

After three years, what this game needs is not more ground work, it needs content. Ground work should be happening all the time and not sold as an excuse for less content for a big price tag.

I don’t want to pay for the ground work. This is the game designers job, and if they still have to work so desperately on the basics on a game that has been released three years ago, maybe it is time to hire some more and more skilled people.

And if ANet always has to start from zero, they could just work on a successor like GW3 and sell it for a full retail prize.

Bottom line:

If ANet just sells the expansion for a lower prize tag, people will accept less content.
If ANet sells the expansion for the prize of a full game, people will expect a full game worth of content.

I really hope ANet can deliver, otherwise this forum will no longer be a place for civilized discussions.

It is the new strategy of game companies to sell little content at a full price:

Elite Dangerous: Horizons Expansion only comes as bundle with the original game
Destiny: The Taking King Expansion was planned to only be sold as a bundle (massive uproar changed that)
Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns Expansion only comes as a bundle with the original game.

The lesson that should be learnt from Destiny is, that making enough noice can make a difference.

Unfortunately, the GW2 community is one of the best and nicest around, which the DEV’s seem to see as an excuse to throw this kitten at their players without any worries. And true, more players are justifying this madness and defending the cash grab than people actually questioning it.

Impressive, ANet.

Vayne.8563:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Heart of Thorns is not an expansion, it is a stand alone by its very nature as will be all upcoming “expansions” to Guild Wars 2.

Whatever version you buy, you will never be required the base game, not for now or in the future.

With this cleared up, expectations should be compared to the price we pay. We are asked to pay the price of a full game for HoT (and probably every boxed addition to GW2), so the game can be compared to what we got in GW2.

Even though I think that we actually got too much with the initial release of GW2, getting significantly less than that will be very unsatisfying.

Only time will tell.

Heart of Throrns is an expansion that happens to come with the base game free. That is to say the content in Heart of Thorns is level 80 content. You can’t load Heart of Thorns and create a Heart of Thorns character. Those characters will start in one of the five already existing starting areas, at level 1.

The bulk of the content of Heart of Thorns is level 80 content. That couldn’t be said for Nightfall or Factions, but it could absolutely be side for Eye of the North.

HoT requires Guild Wars 2 base game to play, even if it’s included. Buying Factions and Nightfall in no way required Propehecies.

Eye of the North was labeled an “expansion” as it was no stand alone, you needed at least one of the three versions of Guild Wars to play it.

On the other hand, Heart of Thorns does not require you to already have Guild Wars 2, so there is the difference, it is a stand alone.

Buy Prophecies, you are ready to go!
Buy Factions, you are ready to go!
Buy Nightfall, you are ready to go!
Buy Eye of the North, you are going nowhere unless you own a stand alone!

Buy Guild Wars 2, you are ready to go!
Buy Heart of Thorns, you are ready to go!

If I get the base game for free when purchasing HoT, I really want to get it for free, because I already own a paid copy of GW2, and there is always use for a second account.

But there is no free GW2 account coming with HoT, it only comes as a bundle, so people should stop refering to it as a “free” base game, if most people buying the expansion don’t even get it.

Semantics. Nothing more.

Wwefan.4982:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

HotHit.6783:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Heart of Thorns is not an expansion, it is a stand alone by its very nature as will be all upcoming “expansions” to Guild Wars 2.

Whatever version you buy, you will never be required the base game, not for now or in the future.

Incorrect. Heart of Thorns does not function without the base game and is not balanced to suit a player without the base game. It doesn’t require you to buy the base game because it is being given for free with it. It is no different than Eye of the North.

With this cleared up, expectations should be compared to the price we pay. We are asked to pay the price of a full game for HoT (and probably every boxed addition to GW2), so the game can be compared to what we got in GW2.

Even though I think that we actually got too much with the initial release of GW2, getting significantly less than that will be very unsatisfying.

Only time will tell.

I highly doubt we’ll get the same volume of maps, even if this was to be considered a full game, “Pact Tyria” has many maps that sorely lack character. Dry top and Silverwastes are small maps, but their designs are rich and I predict we’ll get 4 or 5 full size maps with the same density of love.

You don’t get the base game for free, it is calculated into the price of the package. I can’t buy the expansion, because there is no expansion. I can upgrade my account with what new content HoT has to offer, but in the end, I will just give up on a lot of content I bought with the package.

There is nothing for free when buying HoT, which is a full game and not an expansion.

Dry Top is sort of OK, even though the event density is less than satisfying and variety is meager.
Silverwastes is just the same base copied over the map several times with some flavour events at the end. It is hardly “dense” or innovative. It is entertaining, for some time. Enough action to overlook that there is harldy anything really happening there.

Looks like we are getting more of the “more action less meaning” part in the expansion. They should have gone with the old Orr design where you felt like fighting through a battlefield IMO, not this mindless event grinding we see everywhere nowadays.

Actually the base game is free the expansion its self is £35 or $50 as Anet have stated many times including the base game for FREE allows new players to join GW2 and not have to pay more money to get the expansion.

So where can I get the base game for free?

Or where can I get the expansion without the base game?

It is just semantics by ANet.

HotHit.6783:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Heart of Thorns is not an expansion, it is a stand alone by its very nature as will be all upcoming “expansions” to Guild Wars 2.

Whatever version you buy, you will never be required the base game, not for now or in the future.

Incorrect. Heart of Thorns does not function without the base game and is not balanced to suit a player without the base game. It doesn’t require you to buy the base game because it is being given for free with it. It is no different than Eye of the North.

With this cleared up, expectations should be compared to the price we pay. We are asked to pay the price of a full game for HoT (and probably every boxed addition to GW2), so the game can be compared to what we got in GW2.

Even though I think that we actually got too much with the initial release of GW2, getting significantly less than that will be very unsatisfying.

Only time will tell.

I highly doubt we’ll get the same volume of maps, even if this was to be considered a full game, “Pact Tyria” has many maps that sorely lack character. Dry top and Silverwastes are small maps, but their designs are rich and I predict we’ll get 4 or 5 full size maps with the same density of love.

You don’t get the base game for free, it is calculated into the price of the package. I can’t buy the expansion, because there is no expansion. I can upgrade my account with what new content HoT has to offer, but in the end, I will just give up on a lot of content I bought with the package.

There is nothing for free when buying HoT, which is a full game and not an expansion.

Dry Top is sort of OK, even though the event density is less than satisfying and variety is meager.
Silverwastes is just the same base copied over the map several times with some flavour events at the end. It is hardly “dense” or innovative. It is entertaining, for some time. Enough action to overlook that there is harldy anything really happening there.

Looks like we are getting more of the “more action less meaning” part in the expansion. They should have gone with the old Orr design where you felt like fighting through a battlefield IMO, not this mindless event grinding we see everywhere nowadays.

This is not a beta, this is a demo for a) tricking people to pre-purchase the game and b) actually rewarding people who got lured into the trap.

The area to play in is so tiny that there should be no surprises for the QA team, the duration is too short to get any valuable data from the “test”.

Real beta testing is a thing of the past or – in rare cases – some more serious companies than ANet, this is just a teaser for the hype.

Feel free to send feedback, but don’t expect anything to change.

Beta test weekend my kitten…

Heart of Thorns is not an expansion, it is a stand alone by its very nature as will be all upcoming “expansions” to Guild Wars 2.

Whatever version you buy, you will never be required the base game, not for now or in the future.

With this cleared up, expectations should be compared to the price we pay. We are asked to pay the price of a full game for HoT (and probably every boxed addition to GW2), so the game can be compared to what we got in GW2.

Even though I think that we actually got too much with the initial release of GW2, getting significantly less than that will be very unsatisfying.

Only time will tell.

If Continuum Shift doesn’t reset your shatters, I will be very sad. It was one of my fears but I tried to live in denial…

Depends on the way you want to level your mesmer.

If you want to spend some time in PvE for leveling, you may want to read my guide in the signature. It will include a basic rotation with dodge clones.

For PvP though, you might want to ask some more experienced players in this content.

Hey I am new to the game, I think I will try playing a Mesmer. NOT. I have been around forever.

Sometimes in life, you have to ask yourself why some things didn’t happen – how am I not a member of this guild…

IGN: Kaiyanwan
Play: PvE, WvW for leveling
Server: Drakkar See (DE)
Role: Instructor/Tester
Time: EU

I think I was once called a honorable member in another thread, but that was literaly years ago…

Edit – Found the quote from October 4, 2013:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Pfft. Kai as long as you’ve been on the forums helping people, you’re part of the guild (which is pretty much just an extension of the forum) whether you like it or not.

Exciton.8942:

Just want to remind some of you theory crafting that signet of illusion will probably NOT reset continuum split.

The tool tip of signet of illusion says recharge Mind Wrack, Cry of Frustration, Diversion, and Distortion. That means probably just original 4 shatter skills will be recharged. And it makes whole a lot of sense since this skill is only 60s cool down.

With my build:

Clone from GS2 + iZerker + iChanter -> F5 and instantly followed by F1
Should give you approx kitten to 6s for: SotE + iZerker + iChanter -> F2 and SoI -> F1
Continuum Shift (illusions will probably not respawn): SotE+ iZerker + iChanter -> F1 + SoI -> F1 (or simply F2 if you want to safe SoI)

You can probably even switch Imagined Burden with Mental Anguish dealing even more damage with this combo and still having good cooldowns with alacrity, this is up to testing.

But I think the burst is obviously insane.

Sorry, Chronomancer is going to be nerfed badly. I would really love to go and test my builds personally but as I can’t here we go.

Lazy Chrono Kai:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8dnsIClphFqBeoBUrBlUDC9LZf7kDoEBA-T1QBgA3q/s8AAAuAAAA-w
+
Chronomancer traitline: Time Catches Up (adept), Illusionary Reversion (master), Chronophantasma (grandmaster)

Maybe switch Disenchanter for Defender, depending on how condition heavy open world is.

This is just insane, with Signet of the Ether, Signet of Illusions and Continuum Split the shatter pressure even from range is insane. Every full shatter will result in a second full shatter, as both phantasms will respawn and you will generate a clone with the shatter.
Signet of the Ether and Signet of Illusions will work as a complete reset and so will Continuum split.

Can someone test this in open world?

Edit: Wrong link
Edit2: Wrong Domination master trait (shouldn’t do stuff like this while I am in a hurry…

Ah, noone can talk to you if you don’t have a proper name.

From now on you shall be known as “C3PO”!

Activating all reflects I got in case of copyright infringement lawsuits incoming…

Yeah, what is this, the username is even missing the id number at the end.

I would LOVE to play the beta. I’d really do! I’d play chronomancer all day.

But, right now, I simply can’t justify spending $50 (and additional $50 for my wife) on GW2.

House nearly done building (which is ridiculously expensive in Germany), need tons of stuff for in the house (like tables, chairs and kitchen, you get the picture), the obligatory family visit to the US in September and a kid growing faster than the speed of light – even a fairly small amount of cash like $50 becomes something you have to think about twice.

So I am beyond curious who is gonna play the beta. I don’t want to watch a live stream of some random guy who actually has no clue what he is doing.

I want to feel as if I was playing the beta myself. Is anyone going to stream chronomancer gameplay?

Should be enough space for the Crazy Kai Build, general open world guidance and some updates for the Chronomancer.

Hope you enjoy it!

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2.2 The Chrono-Allrounder: The Lazy Chrono Kai Build

So we got a shield and a new shatter? Yay!
Now that we were hyped for a bit, how about we simply forget about that. All we need is a greatsword and the first two shatters. Nothing has changed.

Well, some things have changed. The new mobs hit like trucks and there is AoE damage everywhere, so how about we keep our dodges for dodging that whole mess and ignore DE.

Wut you say, how can you play a mesmer without dodge clones you say. With one weapon only?

Fear not, I got for you the laziest chrono build in town.

Trait lines: Domination/Illusions/Chronomancer

Domination:

II Empowered Illusions
V Blurred Inscriptions
VII Imagined Burden

Illusions:

II Persistence of Memory
IV Shattered Strength
VIII Master of Fragmentation

Chronomancer:

III All’s Well that Ends Well
VI Improved Alacrity
IX Chronophantasma

Armor: Berserker for all slots, why getting creative?
Rune: Dunno, something with power and precision. If you can afford it, get some Superior Runes of Strength

Weapon1: Berserker’s greatsword – ha, what a surprise!
Sigil 1: Superior Sigil of Strength.
Sigil 2: Superior Sigil of Bloodlust.

Weapon2: Ain’t nobody got time for that – see rotation.

Skills:

Signet of the Ether
Well of Recall

Everything else is personal preference, I go with Blink, Phantasmal Defender and Gravitiy Well right now.

Rotation:

Yeah, we got a rotation this time, so this build is labeled “advanced lazy”! Before you cast a shatter, be sure that the phantasms had a chance to attack.

Step1: Press 2 and 4. (Wait for phantasm to spawn)
Step2: Cast Signet of the Ether, press 4 again. Shatter F1.
Step3: Press 2. Shatter F2.
Step4: Press 4, then 2. Cast Well of Recall. Press 2. Shatter F1.
Step5: Press 4, then 2. Shatter F2
Step 6: Goto step1 (sort of – you still have 1 phantasm)

That’s it, Signet of the Ether is now off cooldown again. Remember, healing is overrated (famous last words) so don’t waste Signet of the Ether for some imaginary HP. The rotation will heal you anyway (probably not, but sounds good for the guide).

Looks complex, but it is a quite simple and fluid rotation. Don’t waste your signet on simple mobs though.

The Lazy Chrono Kai Build

Variation 1: If you do not want to start your fight with your heal on cooldown, you can use iDefender as utility and place it as second phantasm at the start of the rotation. You will lose some burst (2 iZerker attacks) but gain some defense.

Rotation Variation 1:

2,4,iDef,F1(full shatter)
2,F2(full shatter)
4,2,iDef,F1(full shatter)
2,F2(full shatter)
2,4,Well of Recall,iDef,F1(full shatter)
2,F2(full shatter)
.
.
.

2. Build Section

2.1 The Allrounder: The Lazy Kai Build 2.0 Now with 100% more useless explanations!

For years the Lazy Kai Build has been a very popular build (at least for myself) and as we got all this new trait stuff happening everywhere, it was about time to give the build some love.

If you are new to the Lazy Kai Build, you will probably ask yourself what is this, it looks great(sword)! Or, if you are a PvP fan, probably not. The Lazy Kai Build is in it’s core an optimization for PvE open world play. It is efficient and simple, so that you do not feel like you have had a math exam in quantum physics every time you log out of GW2. If you like that kind of stuff, the Crazy Kai Build might be something for you, to be found here soon.

So here we go, time to sing along together!

Trait lines: Domination/Dueling/Illusions

Domination: Who wants to live for greatsword?

II Empowered Illusions: Could it be that it’s just an illusion?
VI Furious Interruption: Like a virgin, interrupted for the very first time.
VII Imagined Burden: Stop – greatsword time!

Dueling: It’s one on one (on one on one on one) tonight!

I Phantasmal Fury: It’s the hard knock life for us!
IV Blinding Dissipation: Close your eyes, give me your loot, baby!
IX Deceptive Evasion: Papa was a rolling clone…

Illusions: Is this the real Kai? Is this just fantasy?

I Compounding Power: I are family!
IV Shattered Strength: There’s a thousand clones, there’s only one of me!
VIII Master of Fragmentation: Phantasms and clones may break my bones!

Armor: Berserker for all slots, we are too lazy to search for something else!
Rune: Superior Rune of the Centaur x6. Just because it has always been that way.

Extra lazy advise: Zhed’s Armor is exactly what you want!

Weapon1: Berserker’s Greatsword gets it all done, no need for other fancy stuff!
Sigil 1: Superior Sigil of Air for more damage, and it is cheap too.
Sigil 2: Superior Sigil of Stamina for more dodges -> clones -> explosions!

Weapon2: What ever rocks your boat, you won’t need it anyway.
Personal advise: I like the focus. This is my guide, so you like the focus too.

Skills:

Ether Feast: And when I get that feeling, I want illusionary healing!
Blink: Right here, right now!
Decoy: It wasn’t me!
Signet of Illusions: I got a little something for you!
Time Warp: Let’s do the time warp again!

Most important advise for lazy players:
Go Options/Combat: Activate Fast-Cast Ground Targeting!
Clicking twice for an attack, sounds like a chore!

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

Most mobs are dead or sort of dead by now.
Veterans, just go on: generate more clones/ iZerker and shatter.
Boss with AoE damage, go with rotation, if not, be extra lazy, avoid shatters let iZerkers do the damage.

Additional skills that could be useful if you are not super lazy:

GS 3: More AoE damage if you feel the need for it.
F2: If F1 is on cooldown and you want to shatter.
GS 5: There are some mobs around and it looks like one is using a skill. Free quickness.
F3: There are some mobs around and it looks like one is using a skill. Free quickness. Used preferably if you have no illusions around.

Here we go, ready to kick some kitten without even lifting a foot. Safe that energy for potsing all the loot you got without effort.

Have fun – the lazy way!

The Lazy Kai Build

1.3 Leveling 1-80: TL;DR Version

1.3.1 Leveling 1-20:

Step 1: Level to 10 preferably with greatsword. While it is difficult to maintain a rotation because of cooldowns you can go with greatsword 1, 2, 4 shatter f1.
Step 2: At 10 equip sword/focus as second weapon set. Rotation is greatswords 1,2,4, weapon swap sword 3 shatter F1.
Step 3: At level 11, pick “Signet of the Ether” for healing and “Signet of Inspiration” as utility 1. At level 15, pick “Blink” as utility 2 and at level 19 “Signet of Illusions” as utility 3.

1.3.2 Leveling 21-44

Pick Dueling as your trait line, spend all your points there to get Phantasmal Fury (adept), Fencer’s Finesse (master) and Deceptive Evasion (grandmaster).
Safe 52 hero points for level 45.

1.3.3 Leveling 45-70

Pick Illusions as your second trait line, spend all 52 points there to get Compounding Power (adept), Shattered Strength (master) and Master of Fragmentation (grandmaster).
Safe 52 hero points for level 71.
If you can afford it, get Time Warp.

1.3.4 Leveling 71-80

Pick Domination as your third trait line and:

A) Spend 52 points there to get Empowered Illusion (adept), Blurred Inscriptions (master) and Mental Anguish (grandmaster)

- or -

B) Spend 44 points there for playing the Lazy Kai Build.

1.2.3 Leveling 45-70: Leveling 45-70: Nothing but an illusion, until it blows up in your face.

So you made it this far. Good. Level 45 offers you another choice to make. Which trait line will you unlock next? If you want to make the choice by yourself, go ahead, if you want to make the right choice, read on.

The best choice (with exception of all others) would be investing heavily into Illusions. You will benefit greatly from the minor traits Illusionists Celerity and Master of Misdirection as well as getting a serious amount of extra punch from the major traits.
The traits you want to pick are Compounding Power (adept), Shattered Strength (master) and Master of Fragmentation (grandmaster). With Illusions as second trait line, you will generate illusions faster, have a shorter cool-down on shatters and hit harder than ever before. A win-win-win situation, especially for the play-style we use with this leveling guide.

Not much more to say here, all you need is to safe up 52 hero points for level 71. Depending on your focus (PvE/WvW) you should have enough hero points to spare for getting Time Warp by now. If not, remember that filling up trait lines as soon as they unlock should be your Nr. 1 priority.

1.2.4 Leveling 71-80: All good things come to an end.

If you have been following this guide and reached 71 by blindly accepting my questionable decisions, you will have at least 52 hero points to spare and a choice. Yeah I know, choices have not been a thing I have offered before, but it is time to learn standing on your own feet.

Luckily for you, I will give you some clear advices first. Your third trait line to pick shall be Domination, dump your 52 hero points there. Good.

Now if you liked the way you have been leveling your Mesmer the last few dozen levels, you should get Empowered Illusion (adept), Blurred Inscriptions (master) and Mental Anguish (grandmaster). Your play-style won’t change much, but your shatter damage will significantly improve.

If you want to relax a bit while playing you can also simply use the trait setup found in the Lazy Kai Build below from now on. It is top efficient in open world and quite fun. You can also fool around with different weapon setups with your free secondary set while mainly using a greatsword.

That’s it, thank you for following this leveling guide.

1.2.2 Leveling 21-44: I see myself four times. I must be drunken twice.

You did it! Yeah, you might not have realized it, but you have left your early days behind and are now to become one of us. What made the difference? Traits. If you were as greedy with your hero points as I have hinted earlier (like not spending them on skills to actually experiencing the beauty of GW2), you will have some left to dump into your traits. The obvious question is, where to put them. And if you are reading this, the obvious answer is: You have no idea. Fear not, the answer is at hand.

You will have to pick one trait line, and the one you should choose is Dueling. From now on, EVERY SINGLE HERO POINT you earn is to be spent here. You should have enough hero points to actually get some nice stuff. We are specifically aiming for Phantasmal Fury (adept), Fencer’s Finesse (master) and Deceptive Evasion (grandmaster). Getting these traits is your Nr. 1 priority. Nothing else matters. If you do anything else with your hero points, you will regret it later on, be warned.

Chances are slim that you will get all the way up to Deceptive Evasion right at the start. So as a rough guesstimate you should aim for level 31 to get Deceptive Evasion as a follower of this guide from the start. Things change quite a bit as you produce a clone whenever you dodge in combat from now on. What the happy little trees are in the “joy of painting”, the fragile little clones are in the “joy of mesmerizing”. From now on they are everywhere and you should not be greedy with them. The trick is to use dodge clones as fillers when your other illusion skills are on cooldown. Most of the time you might not even need to swap from greatsword to sword/focus to kill a single enemy.

Level 31 also unlocks your elite skill slot. What you want in that slot is Time Warp. But wait a sec – just forget about that. You might want it, but you won’t get it. Why? Ain’t nobody got hero points for that. But praise the six gods, with the new trait system, racial elite skills are unlocked by now. So unless you are a Norn, you might actually find something useful on your list.
The problem with hero points is, that at level 45, you will unlock you second trait line, and at that time, you want a kitten 52 hero points saved up to get down to business. So unless you grind all hero challenges on your way to level 45, you will probably not going to get close to having enough points for your traits and Time Warp. You will get it later, you will survive without it, you will enjoy it when you finally get it. It is always good to have something you can look forward to.

At level 10 you will finally unlock the ability to swap between two weapon sets – good times ahead. While one of the sets will be the greatsword, your second set should consist of a sword and a focus. You might have expected a sword in the offhand too, as I said everything sword it good, and yes, a second sword would be a good choice, but for leveling, the focus is simply better. Especially the skill “Temporal Curtain” which gives you swiftness is great. Besides making you run faster it also has many other uses.

Now that you can swap weapons, it will be fairly easy to produce enough illusions for a full shatter. General rule is:

Start with greatsword skill 1 (Spatial Surge), skill 2 (Mirror Blade, your clone generator) and skill 4 (Phantasmal Berserker), swap to sword/focus and cast skill 3 (Illusionary Leap, your second clone generator) which gives you a full shatter for F1 (Mind Wrack).

Now you still have your focus phantasm left, which gives you some nice damage for the time when your shatter is on cooldown. The sword is also preferable in melee range as it does more damage, which is why we start the fight with the greatsword and then swap to the sword/focus and not the other way around.

At level 11 two things are happening. Firstly, you get your second shatter skill, “Cry of Frustration”. It is called that way because you are mad that Mind Wrack is on cooldown and you have to use this inferior shatter to cause damage. But until level 21, you can mostly ignore this skill.
Secondly, you can now pick your first utility skill. My personal advice is to spend four points into “Signet Training” to get both, “Signet of the Ether” – your new healing skill, and “Signet of Inspiration” – your first utility skill.

Signet of the Ether will give you some passive healing, a good base heal and a way to reset your phantasm timers. So even if you do no need healing, you can use this skill to greatly buff your damage. Signet of Inspiration is very nice, as it gives you swiftness and together with the focus you can have permanent swiftness uptime.

At level 15 and again at level 19 you will unlock your next shatter skills and a utility slot. The two shatter skills “Diversion” and “Distortion” are only of very limited use for leveling, so I will skip them for now.
Your second utility skill should be “Blink” which is to be found under “Manipulation Training” and your third the “Signet of Illusions” from “Signet Training”.
Blink is just awesome. Getting out of tight spots never was easier and you can also use it to get faster from A to B. Signet of the illusion keeps your illusions alive a bit longer which is not bad, but the main reason we are picking this signet is the active part. Being able to reset shatters will be very useful later on, especially when you start producing even more clones with the upcoming traits.

1.2 Leveling Guide: Part 2 – Leveling

1.2.1 Leveling 1-20: Me, Myself and I – How to blow up the guy in the mirror.

Here we go, after wasting hours on the character creation screen to find a name that is not taken, you have arrived in the world of Guild Wars 2, Tyria.

The good news is that you are wielding a rusty little sword right now, a formidable choice. Swords will be your friend on your way to 80, so get some practice with it. Do not replace it unless you find a better sword or – even better – a greatsword. Well, you can fool around with other weapons and you should, but for leveling itself everything with the word “sword” in it is your first choice.

The third sword skill will generate an illusion – to be more specific – a clone. There are two kinds of illusions, clones and phantasms.
Clones are as pretty or ugly as you are, doing close to no damage and are as durable as ice cream in a melting pot. Sounds promising? Do not despair, clones are mostly seen as a resources for the Mesmer’s profession skills – aka shatters. More about that in a bit.
Phantasms look like you too – sort of – just without textures and more transparent. They actually do good damage and can take a hit, and they also are a resource for shatter skills.
The maximum amount of illusions you can have at a time is three, if you cast a new illusion with three illusions out, one of four things will happen:

1. If you cast a clone, the oldest clone will be replaced by the new one.
2. If there are three phantasms, the clone will replace your oldest one.
3. If you cast a phantasm, the oldest clone will be replaced by it.
4. If there are three phantasms, the oldest phantasm will be replaced by the new one.

So what to do with all those illusions? The same thing you do with all stuff you no longer need in real life – blow them up! Shatter skills (F1-F5) will cause an effect which will get stronger the more illusions you have available. While you can use all shatter skills without a single illusion, which can be very useful in certain situations, it is more often the wiser choice to cast a full shatter (three illusions) to maximize damage.

Your first shatter skill “Mind Wrack” will unlock at level 5. It is our bread and butter and what else you would put on a bread skill. It will be hard to get enough illusions on the screen below level 10 to cast a full shatter, as the mob will be pretty dead until then anyway. Remember, illusions are bound to the enemy they got cast on and will disappear the moment this enemy dies. It is therefore better to cast a Mind Wrack with only one or two illusions, if the enemy is close to dying anyway.

When you reach level 6, you will get the choice between a greatsword or a torch. This is actually not a choice, it is a test. If you pick the greatsword you have been reading the guide carefully up to this point. If you take the torch, god help you. I surely can’t. Only excuse, you found a better greatsword on the way, or on the trading post…
The greatsword is a great weapon. It is ranged, everything hits more than one target and its fourth weapon skill, which gets unlocked conveniently at the very same level as your first phantasm skill, is the “Phantasmal Berserker”.

Now that you got your first phantasm, you also got a decision to make every single fight: To shatter the phantasm or not. Sure, while the phantasm is alive, it will cause great damage, but if it dies, you have missed the opportunity of a stronger shatter. If you ask me, and you should, let the phantasm do its job once and then, with some clones around create butterflies – which means use it for shatter fodder. Later on you will get a better feeling for when it is right to wait, but for now, you should get some practice on how to shatter in the first place.

1.1 Leveling Guide: Part 1 – The Basics

Leveling as a Mesmer is – unfortunately – not as lazy as most other classes. So before you can get lazy, you will have to make your way to the pinnacle of existence, known as level 80.

There are several stages in the ascend of a new Mesmer, and I will try to cover the shifts as simple as possible.

1.1.1 General Advice: Did you know?

Nourishment – Food:

There is a plethora of food in Guild Wars 2. The good point – some of it is dirt cheap. Why would you bother? Well, most food give a 10% experience boost (some 15%) for all kills, which will, over time, sum up. The food is actually so cheap, even a level 2 can get some off the auction house (just search for food and sort by price). So just buy it. You won’t get much food in the open world, unless you become a cook, but that’s another topic…

Nourishment – Utility:

As with food, utility buffs (from slayer potions, maintenance oils, sharpening stones and tuning crystals) also offer a 10% experience boost. The great thing is, one food buff and one utility buff will stack. They are all crafted by thier respective professions, or you can simply buy some off the auction house.

Boosters:

Boosters can further improve your leveling speed. They can be randomly aquired out of Black Lion Chests or directly from the Gem Store or for laurels (from daily login rewards). The new boosters are fairly straight forward to use and include the functionality of several old boosters. They will stack with potions/food.

If you happen to still own old boosters, here is some useful information. Combining an Experience Booster, an Improved Experience Booster and a Laureate Experience Booster will already give you additional 180% kill experience. This can be pushed by a further 100% with a Kill Streak Experience Booster, as long as you keep up with killing things.
If you want to invest real money to level, boosters can be a great help to speed things up, but they are in no way a necessity. My advice is to at least save your Laurels for gear instead of investing them in boosters.

1.1.2 What grinds my gears: Stuff

Armor:

Power is what you want as primary stat. Secondary is Precision. If both is on the armor, perfect. Leveling is all about killing things fast, this will help.
Personal advise: Armor is cheap on the trading post, most of the time, you can get level accurate stuff for about the same coin it will give you back when you sell it to a merchant. Keep your gear up-to-date.

Weapons:

Greatsword + Sword/Focus, same stats/advise as armor.

What to put in slots:

While leveling you will change your equipment – a lot. In early levels probably several times a play session. So buying upgrade components is not the best idea. You will probably find yourself running around with empty slots on your armor most of the time.
You can find some upgrade items from different sources, use them if they offer useful buffs.
Later on it is very helpful to at least choose a sigil for your weapon to help you with an area you feel lacking (probably condition removal or simply more damage).

Gathering and salvaging:

The first things you should buy the moment you earned your first few coppers are some gathering tools and salvage kits.
Gathering will give you experience and resources you need for crafting, that again will also give you experience (you can level a character completely with crafting).
Salvaging will also give you resources and will help you to manage your limited inventory space.

Guide got too long, won’t have enough posts left to put in more new stuff… :/

Probably have to start all over again in a new topic…

I have finished the Leveling guide all the way up to 80.

Some heavy editing (I want to put all TL;DR parts in one big block, gotta create links to the wiki) as well as some proof-reading and stuff like that ahead.

Feedback is always welcome.

So you have the choice to sell those items either to a merchant or on the trading post for some profit,

or

create insane amounts of something with no use for now and probably no use in the future too.

Why would you go with the second option again?

I thought infraction points are only a thing on the forums anyway.

My personal experience is that you might get muted for a set time on the forums, longest for me was two weeks and you will get restrictions related to it like limited amount of posts per hour, no signature and stuff.

This is not connected to playing the game itself. Even if you get perma banned on the forums, you should still be able to play GW2 just fine.

Then again, I have never got in any trouble ingame, as I am the nicest guy ever while playing, so I can’t tell you how ingame punishment will be handled.

Fay.2357:

Mm yes, this thread is going to go well. Unsubstantiated complaints, calling mesmer overpowered, claiming faceroll in PvP, making little to no sense in the whole post, it ticks all the boxes!

Edit: Post history shows a grand pattern of nonstop forum trolling too. Yeah, this one is off too a great start!

But he missed the all time famous: “With all the clones it is hard to know who is the real mesmer.”

He must be a pro! Esports top team I say!

Go Lazy Kai, thank me later… ^^

You will find the build if you click the link in my signature.

And yeah, I still got to update the leveling guide…

“This hype train feels thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”

Domination and Dueling have always been the top of the food chain for damage (like back in the days having 6/6/x/x/x). Having at least master level traits in both was sort of a safe choice (and yeah, I know there have been different meta builds for dungeons back in the day, that could get around using Domination traits).

While I personally got both of them active in PvE in pretty much any trait setup, it doesn’t feel like much has changed.

Maybe I have just been playing the mesmer in PvE for too long…

Behellagh.1468:

Wow, going all the way back to November 2012 with all the ascended hate. The gruntled are really bored if they come back to troll the forums about this all over again.

It was an obvious break of trust, probably the most visual one too. And it happened really close after release, like less than three monthes after release. Of course people will look back on impacts like this as long as GW2 is around.

To be honest, it still stings me a bit too. Even now I still think it was the wrong decision. I really hope they will hand out free ascended stuff like candy in the expansion to even out the imbalance they created back in the days.

Then again, this game is B2P, which will pretty much stop ANet from doing so, because monetization and stuff.

The one thing I do not understand after 5 years is, why the kitten is the manifesto still on the main page?

People say that the manifesto was misinterpreted, Dev’s said, that they have made decisions that made them move away from the manifesto. Others say it was false advertising.

What I say is that watching the manifesto simply shows, how little the Dev’s could actually get in the real game from what they originally wanted there to be.

It is a truely sad story, they should delete the video from the media page.

Knighthonor.4061:

I want Conjures on Warrior Elite Spec, or kits!

Kits are going to druid for shapeshifting! One can always dream…

A profession with 10 weapon skills, two heals, six utility skills and two elites at any time.

Sounds like a good idea to me. What’s next? A second action bar for all other professions?

I am on it. Sort of. Half of the guide is done – without proper editing or proof-reading and all such fancy stuff.

Maybe over the next week I will actually find enough time to finish it. Or the next month.

Timing the swiftness on your focus is not rocket science but gives you close to 100% swiftness uptime with Signet of Inspiration.

The problem with with your S/S GS approach is, if you start with S/S and than switch to GS, you will be stuck for 10 seconds on the GS until you can swap back to S/S.

If you start with GS from range and get your berserker out, as well as the clone from mirror blade and a clone from dodging, you will be ready for a full shatter including you the moment you are at the mob.

While facing normal mobs, there will be no need to get two phantasms out. If the mob is not dead after the full shatter, switch to S/F and kill it with Sword 2.

While leveling, you want to be as efficient with your skills as possible. Normally, after my rotation, you still have a phantasm, a clone generator and a clone from dodging left for a full second shatter, you can use that one on a second mob. And you can switch back to GS to start over. The problem with your rotation is the long cooldown on Signet of Ether. Three phantasms on a mob are overkill anyways unless it is an elite or champion.

The most important things while leveling are speed and efficiency. A GS S/F combo will succeed best in this matter.

I know that I still have to finish the rework of my guide, I will work on it when I have time. If you have any questions on leveling feel free to PM me.

We are always in danger. We always get nerfed. We always adapt.

“Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women.”

I like it. Would work in PvE and not feel like a fire and forget condition like it is now. I like things in PvE that actually require timing and skill…

Added another chapter for leveling from 21 to 44.

I am a bit burned out on leveling and not sure if all this is worth the effort though. Will add the rest of the guide soonish, maybe.

met.9653:

So what you will show there? Unfinished revenant and scrap of verdant brink ?

I thought the hype train had no breaks.

Choo-choo no more?