Guild Wars 2

You also can try a more defensive non-shatter-build like e.g. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW8clsnhC1YHawANwtGLCHkZBaQAQbROOx5H+8oB

The purpose of this build is survival by duration and mobility, not by power. With this build you can swap targets and assign each of them one illusion only to keep them away from you. If you directly face a mob and do not move after staff 2, a ranged attack will hit the clone instead of you. Sword-Clones are more likely to grab attention than Staff-Clones. Phantasms will give you Regen and Protection every 3 seconds, so basically you’ll have it the entire time they’re up and you get it with Staff 4 too. The goal is to keep the illusions alive as long as possible/necessary and to not shatter them at all (or just at the end of a fight). Additionally you can eat some buff-food that increases your defensive stats. If you need more illusions available in short time, swap one Signet for Mirror Images. With Master of Manipulation (T1 Chaos) Mirror is your fastest healing skill and Mass Invisibility your fastest elite skill.

What about connecting AFK mode to level 1 and downscaling AFK’ers no matter which zone they’re in? It could force people who have to go afk to get to a safe place first or teleport away. Toggle off AFK mode and get scaled back to normal/adjusted to zone.

I log in to Gendarran Fields.
I mapchat: spider champ @ [insert Waypoint]
5 Minutes later (because that’s about the time the champ respawns)
I mapchat : spider champ @ [insert Waypoint]
5 Min later
I want to post it again but it gets blocked, so
I have to mapchat: spider champ
(players who don’t know where it spawns are excluded automatically)
I do not want to wait for respawn but go elsewhere, then return
8 Min later
I want to post “spider champ” again, but it gets blocked, so
I have to mapchat: spider
6 Min later
I want to post “spider” again, but it gets blocked, so
I have to mapchat: spdr

I didn’t get so far to post “s” only – but “spider champ”, “spider” and “spdr” already weren’t that attractive to make people teleporting there (if only they knew where to teleport).

I was almost the only one who postet in the map chat.

I can accept, that there is the filtre, but it’s pretty too restrictive, epecially when I just want to inform players where to have some open world group fun and get some champ loot.

I know that this probably must have been asked for since GW2 went live, but couldn’t you implement something less restrictive? Like: only block when it gets posted in different zones in the exact same way or something like that?

I recommend sword instead of focus, because the mobs tend to move around much, especially as a mesmer who’s there in four. The Wardens attack is stationary and often doesn’t hit mobs that move away, but the Swordsman in 99% of all his leap attacks doesn’t miss a moving target. This leap also counts as finisher, so you can combine it with chaos storm from staff to make the Swordsman get chaos armor.

Until you reach lvl 60 your illusions will be pretty weak, regardless of the signet a/o trait, and you will have to resummon them more often during a fight. But as soon as you hit lvl 60 put at least 3 points into the Inspiration tree, because the second minor trait is one of the most useful ones and will noticably change combat experience: As long as you are close to a phantasm a/o the phant close to another one they will be constantly healed over time which will make them (and you) stay alive much longer. So two (or three) iSwordsman close together in most cases are not necessary to be resummoned, while you can either fight in melee too or stay in range and use the staff.

For the build it depends on the playstyle you prefer. Be it power or condition, shatter, mantra or a hybrid one, there are different builds. For leveling purpose I had the most fun with a non-shatter hybrid build: 0/2/5/3/4, because it doesn’t force to rely on phant damage only, but also allows to count in the staff clones to get good results, especially against champs and groups. When I want to use more phants, I simply take the fifth point out of Chaos and put it into Dueling for Sharper Images.

Mind that if you like a condition build, the third minor Chaos trait grants more condi dmg than additional two points in the “condi dmg” tree (Illusions) – so if not for the major trait slot but for condition damage only Chaos 5+Illusions 4 is better than Chaos 4+Illusions 6. Six points in both trees would be best for condi dmg boost, but then there are only two points left that don’t last for all the other (more) useful traits.

For condition removing either use Inspiration IV and Ether Feast or the Phantasmal Disenchanter, who also does a bit of damage and heals nearby allies (and grabs the aggro astonishingly often, despite of other dmg phants summoned). Only use the Mantra if you choose your traits for a mantra build. Two or even three PDs with Phantasmal Haste (Illusions X) against one or more mobs that apply many conditions, can support a party far superior than any other profession with condi removing capability I dare to say.

And some general tips:

• The order mobs in most cases will attack is: Phantasm > Mesmer > Clone
• If you have three illusions summoned and summon a fourth, either a clone will be replaced or, in case there is no clone, the phantasm you summoned first.
• Staff clones summoned by Phase Retreat do not need an obstacle-free line of sight to the target (eg. at the bottom of stairs, behind a wall, aso), while every other clone/illusion skill in such a case will go on cooldown but with no illusion summoned.
• Your illusions profit from all your stats except vitality (if you want to boost their vitality you’d have to choose the related traits a/o the signet): power, precision, condition damage, condition and boon duration, armor, critical damage and healing power. Whether they profit from toughness or not, I don’t know.
• Runes that affect these stats also have an impact on illusions. Sigils have no effect.
• Mesmers have no trait that permanently increases walking speed. There are just the Focus skill #4 and the Signet of Inspiration as source for the swiftness boon, so either on long cd or uncontrollable (but it occurs quite frequently). And the Superior Rune of the Traveller ofc.
• Mobs that you turn into a moa/tuna will attack with moa/tuna skills, which occasionally is far more dangerous than attacks in their normal form. Most players on the other side will just run away.
• All of your illusions’ and your own direct attacks will bypass any other (own) illusion standing inbetween, but mobs or other players (except Rangers with the trait) cannot shoot through your illusions to hit you, except for AoE attacks ofc. So you can also use them as a shield to absorp a few direct attacks like arrows, bullets, magic bolts or melee hits.

I know of at least one event in Plains of Ashford that nearly always has some crazy scaling due to lots of players nearby waiting to enter AC. It’s called “Break the morale of the harpies stealing the Durmand Priory’s supplies” and the waves of attacking harpies have raid strength due to as much players as a raid would have standing nearby. If one gets there with Level 10 (and it is a Level 10 event) there is no chance to survive even the first wave. Also as downscaled player this event is nearly not doable, a group is absolutely needed to complete it successfully. The scaling radius seems to be far too big and counts players that actually aren’t there to do the event.

Most of the time I play Mesmer, Guardian and Engineer. Imo: Engineer is the #1 profession for events with multiple attacking waves, similar to the Elementalist, but able to do it alone over a long time. Mesmer is the #1 profession for champ farming, especially while leveling a/o doing it alone. Guardian is to compensate Mesmer and Engineer gameplay experience, has quite good utilities for both soloing and party play but his base HP is as low as on Ele and Thief, which can result in death easily against groups or champs when I’m not attentive.

Angel McCoy.1832:

Instead, we try to bring you moments where you are singled out with customized text in conversations (which you may not even always notice because you don’t see the other options).

Just recently I recognized the different racial dialogue options in the conversations with the Skritt test subjects in Metrica at the heart quest area. First I thought they just are random, but when I was there with my Norn and read the special tankard of beer related question it was clear to me, that such different dialogue options in the open world exist. Kudos for that, it makes the whole leveling thing with a different race much more entertaining :-)

I’d say try it with the gear you already have and if you face heavy troubles mix in some more defensive ones.

Try a build like this

When I leveled the Guardian I had the impression that he profits the most of utility skills and field+finisher combos. So this build is most about cd reduction traits and a bunch of condition removing possibilities. Virtues VI lets Purging Flames last 6 seconds – enough time to use Focus #5 to get might, swap to GS, #3 to get Fire Shield and #2 to do additional burning damage. Wait until #3 and #2 is available again and then GS #4 + retaliation combos. Then swap back to S+F, wait for the cds and repeat. In case of low HP use the Elite Tome and skill #5 to fully heal you up. Don’t wait the full 20 sec but after the heal swap to the normal weapons.

Create a toon, explore all cities. 1 transmutation charge as reward per city. Delete & repeat.

I mainly thought of the past life feat concept, which could be adapted by additional traits or something like that. Eg. I play a Guardian to level 80, then reincarnate to an Elementalist and get a special trait from my Guardian past life, and so on. It could be implemented by a 6th trait tree and every past life grants 1 pl point in this tree only. Maybe without minor traits but major, selectable ones only.

This could encourage people to relevel the toon and also different classes as every profession should give different past life traits. In DDO there is a limit of releveling a class three times, then the benefits from these past lives cap. This could be similar in GW2 and it could also allow more build diversity (only if the traits are worth it ofc).

This is a concept from DDO, which I like very much: Let players at level 80 reincarnate to lvl 1 toons. Attributes should have an increased value and so should do weapon skill numbers. Not op numbers but remarkable ones.

I know many players who focus on just one or a few toon(s), so why not encourage them to continue to do so? But as rewarding as any other type of gameplay?

What do you think? Reincarnation yes or no?

I’m unexperienced with dual pistols, so I recommend a shield instead. Reason: explosion finisher+knockback without the need to blow up a turret.

Utility skills: Healing Turret, Bombkit, Flame Turret, Rocket Turret and Supply Crate.

For traits I suggest: 2/0/6/6/0. Explosives II, Inventions III, X (swappable), XII, Alchemy III, IX, XIII.

The bombkit is much more effective in melee and all bombs have an AoE radius, so you also can hit mobs in your back without the need to turn around. Except for kiting purpose another weapon setup would be a better choice (normal ones or grenades). Let the turrets grab the initial aggro. Thanks to their increased range they most likely will do this job reliably. With Alchemy IX as long as you have the kit activated, you are constantly healed by a small amount, similar to the Guardian’s virtue. With Alchemy XIII and all three turrets placed you also get might, retaliation and vigor every ten seconds. Swap Inventions X when you want to run faster or for another trait. This should make you passing all open pve and story instance content successfully without any issues.

Limpooka.7918:

If I’m maintaining/resummoning phantasms then I’m just stood there auto-attacking and dying.

If I’m dodging around to stay alive then I’m interrupting my own casting for all the good stuff like mantras and phantasms.

Alternatively I can drop back out of melee to get my illusions up again, but then I’m losing dps by not hitting anything.

Any tips?

Even if you equip the Signet of Illusions and Inspiration V, your phants below Level 80 won’t be much more than cannon fodder. Especially when you are alone, they will die within seconds. So treat them like cannon fodder and use a mix of phants and clones. Eg. when you summon the iSwordsman swap to staff, summon a clone and the warlock and place the Chaos Storm, because the leap attack of the Swordsman is a finisher that will give him Chaos Armor.

Standability of phants and clones will become a bit better when you hit level 60 and put one point into Phantasmal Healing. It then is a matter of positioning and moving of the phants, because two Swordsman will heal each other and you if you’re in their range too. For condition remove either take Inspiration IV or the Mantra or the Phantasmal Disenchanter. I prefer the PD over the Mantra because he also removes boons, does a bit of damage and heals like every other phant. Plus to reduce its cd only a minor trait is necessary in the Illusions tree you probably want to put points in anyway for Phantasmal Haste.

There should be a final event after the next two weeks:

• Players should gather all the aspects laying around, cumulate them at the edge of the map and blow them all up to be able to enter the next part of the map.
• Let the burning ship wreck parts burn to ash and the goggles fall on a rock that is reachable by normal jumping.

Baldrick.8967:

The entrance quest seems designed for zerk warriors/guards, and the tedious mumblings of the NPCs add nothing, especially as you can’t skip through them to some action. Again, nothing drops from the mobs, and the boss mob spawns lots of little adds that are very easy for a zerk warrior to use stability and wipe them but not so much fun on more balanced builds.

Did it with my Condi Mesmer (no zerker, no stability) and it was no issue. Just focus on the big golem and kite/avoid the small ones. Once the big one is down, the small ones disappear too.

And less jumping? – Yes, please!

Yet there is no way to get a slotted rune other than by salvaging the item. So in your case with the karma item, the rune is lost. You have to put another rune of the same type into the new item.

Why do the aspects have charges one cannot use due to the limited amount of time they are active?

The map is designed for the use of aspects, so we won’t get rid of this. But removing the time limit would be a great improvement for players like me who don’t really like the jump’n’run genre at all (that’s why I play a MMO btw).

I can recommend Staff and Sword/Sword for leveling. If you prefer GS, swap S/S for it, but I’d always keep the Staff, because although its main damage is condition damage, it offers great mobility and survivability, especially when facing champions during leveling. I’m not talking about downscaled 80ies but with blue and green gear – as long as you carry a staff with you, you won’t fear most of the champs/elites in the open world. Only those who have fast regeneration like the jungle troll in the swamp or constantly resummon veterans like the krait priestess probably aren’t soloable.

Killing trash most likely will take more time compaired to other professions, eg. I currently level a Guardian and kill speed is much faster compaired to Mesmer – but soloing champs is a pita, because scepter and staff on a Guardian do even less damage than on Mesmer and are more difficult to constantly hit with while kiting. Even meleeing and dodging them is easier with a Mesmer than with the Guardian, at least this is my impression. So all professions have their pros and cons in Open PvE.

Although there “should” be no differences between the races, I once created a Charr Guardian but I didn’t get along with him. I don’t know why, what it was that made me fail so many times with him until I deleted this toon. I also have a Charr Engineer and Mesmer and love to play both, but Guardian was a no go. A few weeks later I created another Guardian, but a Norn – and the feeling was very different. I’m still playing this Guard, but again I cannot tell the difference as there should be none.

If the different server is not the issue, then it’s your current rank in the guild you’re representing. The option “allowed to represent the guild” must be enabled for this rank to get access to the guild vendors.

Everyone has 5 or more toon-slots available, so it’s pretty possible, that there is a Guardian in one of them, but not necessarily and if yes not played necessarily. And even if you see a lot of Guardians running around, it’s very possible that they have different trait-builds. If you like to play a Guardian, do so. If not, try another profession.

I’m leveling a Guardian right now and while the untraited Sword alone is pretty ridiculous, it lasted a bit longer and did quite decent damage after I buffed it with Staff #4.

cesmode.4257:

The game is full of grind and mindless zerging

Agreed. But just in case one wants a specific thing, only then due to the nearly 100% randomness of drops and the huge amount of needed items/currencies it reveals its heavy grindy and time-consuming grimace.

Wanting something specific indeed is a trap and should be avoided as long as possible to keep the game being enjoyable and not frustrating.
At least this is how I play GW2.

Georgieee.4958:

The point of the thread is to urge people to not only admire the general art work…but when doing map completion…take it slow…enjoy it

There are plenty of things to discover. Ever tried to /kneel in front of one of the statues found all over the world? There is at least one I found that triggers an event, which without the /kneel action wouldn’t be doable. I like such hidden things very much and I’m sure although world completion says 96% there is another 30% or more hidden or unobvious things I haven’t discovered yet. I wished ANet would add more things like that, if they didn’t already, because this is what the “living world” should be about. Less world events, more world.

HoneyPunch.3108:

Mesmer is my main i suppose. I do have an ele i play when my boyfriend is on, but that isn’t too often.

When I started with GW2 I had the exact same impression like you. It took about 30 min to unlock all weapon skills. I was a bit disappointed, but also had discovered only about 3% of the world

But the encounters will get harder and the key to survive is the right timing of skills and dodging ofc. I mostly do the exploring part in Open PvE, dynamic events, heart quests. The gameplay experience is quite different to other mmos, because the open world has tons of things to discover and I do not necessarily mean the obvious things like pois and vistas, but npc dialogues, consequences after events, event-chains. One has to take time though and not try to rush through the zones, because in other mmos it’s like this: go to a quest giver, accept the quest, go back to the quest giver, complete and eventually accept the next quest. In GW2 it’s very different: quest givers are all part of the events, they walk to event areas, the event happens with or without players (and fails or succeeds) they walk back to their homes and then eventually walk to another event area. It takes some time, but it makes the world more dynamic than any other quest based mmo I know of. And this is only one part of GW2 (but imho the strongest one, its usp), there’s WvW, PvP, Dungeons and Open World Raids too.

Eg. I have completed the Queensdale map with various toons before but just recently with my latest alt I discovered an event that got no event circle on the map. A boy wanted to talk to me, so I talked to him. After the conversation we both went to a “secret” cave where the children meet and play together. There they started a quiz where I had to answer a few questions related to Guild Wars lore. They laughed at me because of my bad answers but this event was great. There was no reward in terms of loot, but the impression of the living world was just awesome. I wished there was a ton more of things like that.

To get a deeper impression of the possibilities for your toon, an overview about possible utility skill and trait combinations, take a look at http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/

Many traits change the way your weapon and utility skills work, reduce their cds, increase their range, add condition damage, some of them make your toon itself stronger or more durable or getting boons under certain circumstances and so on.

Halberd sounds nice. The Guardian could use it like the Mesmer uses a GS, as ranged or hybrid ranged and melee weapon. So a Bow camouflaged as Halberd^^

Limiting the communication between players in a mmo by chat suppression doesn’t prevent advertisers-worth-to-report from using the chat. It’s the opposite: Thanks to chat suppression the map chats in general where no world event has to be coordinated are nearly empty, outdated messages are viewable over a very long time because either no one posts or cannot post anymore. Goldseller advertisings should be moved away as fast as possible but this cannot happen. The ingame chat doesn’t feel like a chat, it’s more like a forum (and now with chat filter enabled it’s even worse), where an answer to a question from 30 min earlier is possible and there are no other posts (visible) between question and answer. oO

rob banzai.2704:

What I would like to see are builds meant to level from the beginning on up, and not assuming you have access to every buff and boost in the game, especially because Mesmer seems very hard to play well, and is slow at the best of times.

I recommend Staff and Sword/Sword (or GS) for leveling in open pve. Why? Because the Staff is an excellent kiting weapon, especially for Champions when you want to solo them. When you combine the iSwordsman with Chaos Storm he also gets Chaos Armor because of his leap attack.

The illusions are weak at the beginning, especially without traits or the signet. Their main purpose is to grab the aggro, keeping the mobs away from you. The phantasms have a high cd and are killed within seconds, so better rely on clones who have a much lower cd. In general mobs will attack: Phantasms > Mesmer > Clones. If you have no clones summoned but phants only, the mobs much likely will attack you instead of the phants, because your attacks are much more frequent than the phant’s ones. To lose the aggro simply stop to do damage.

Mirror Images is great to start with (make sure to have the staff equipped when using Mirror Images, because staff clones do condition damage with bleeding and burning too), later I’d swap it for the Mantra of Resolve when mobs in higher level zones start to do more condition damage. I also recommend Signet of Inspiration to buff yourself every 10 seconds with a random boon.

Build until Level 79 inclusive:

0
2 – IV, complete Lornar’s Pass or buy it for 10 silver and 2 skill points
4 – V, X, complete Fields of Ruin and the battle of Fort Trinity (Personal Story) or buy them for 60 silver and 7 skill points
3 – VI, kill the champ krait witch in Timberline Falls or buy it for 10 silver and 2 skill points
3 – III, complete Retribution (Personal Story on Claw Island) or buy it for 10 silver and 2 skill points

Total cost: 90 silver and 13 skill points

Hm, you might be right, but I never noticed the 60 on the map before.

Another isle on july 1st? Or could it be the closed land of the Tengu?

Edit: Screen

RoguePaladin.2156:

How could Character Personality as a game mechanic be made meaningful?

I’m afraid only in dialogue interactions with npcs. Like in Queensdale when doing the heart quest with the Ettins. Some of them can be convinced to fight against the Centaurs, some of them react aggressive and attack the player, but there is no feedback whether the personality rating of eg. charisma was high enough or too low or whether it was just a random dice fail/success in the background no matter what personality rating the player has.

GinghamLion.3614:

Hello Mesmer forums! I’ve recently started playing my Mesmer again and I’d like to take him into spvp for fun. But, I’m a really bad Mesmer! So what a noob friendly PVP build I could learn the class with?

Just recently I jumped into the GW2 PvP with my Mes, so I’m a newbie too. After the first many deaths I thought that a PU build would increase my chances to win, so I tried one, but I don’t like the stealthy gameplay, so I tried a few other builds and weapon sets and I still haven’t found “my” pvp build. I never use the stealth skills in PvE, so it happened that I also had more success with non-stealth builds in pvp.

In my case it seems to be less about the build, but more about the weapon skills and utilities I have to learn to use in different ways at different times compaired to pve.
So from another beginner’s point of view: the build alone won’t ease things if you do not like to play it, your favourite one will be the most successful and satisfying, but to find out your favourite one you have to try a few different setups.

Seems like there are too many alts on the servers. (New) players shouldn’t buy more additional character slots, but concentrate on one toon only, to get deterred of doing the whole unlocking tasks again with one or more alts and either just buy the traits or delete their toons/leave them untouched.

I have the impression that no one of the Designers of this trait system ever asked her-/himself: “Would I like it? If I’d play one or multiple toons, would this be what I consider fun to play? How would I react as a player, when things are taken away and much harder to achieve, that previously weren’t?” I mean, aren’t these the very basic questions a game designer should ask her-/himself before coding the first single line?

Fortunately I have some toons that were created before april 15th, the others I leave untouched, maybe I’ll delete them to disburden the login server.

I do mostly Open World PvE. 0/2/5/3/4, condition non-shatter, Staff and Sword/Sword, sometimes I swap S/S for GS when I want to.

Just recently I bought the starter exotics at temple of balthazar. I tried different builds but this one suits me the most, because I prefer the higher survivability, especially when soloing champs, which I did quite long time with blue/green items only. Except for a few champs it just takes time, nothing else, no danger for life and limb. The higher item class now certainly improves survivability and dmg, but it’s more about optimizing than making it viable, at least I have this impression.

Most of the time when I’m alone I use Signet of Ether, Mantra of Resolve, Signet of Domination, Signet of Inspiration and the Charr racial Warband Support (because the two summoned charr do the same thing my illusions are supposed to). In party or zerg I swap to Time Warp, Null Field, Feedback and Ether Feast and keep the Mantra.

One of the most useful traits for open pve imho is the second minor inspiration trait (although nowadays new mesmers have to play at least 60 levels without it, which is not so funny), because illusions also count as allies, so two iSwordsman at one target heal each other constantly and three iWarlocks in Y-position around a mob constantly heal me while circling faster in combat (Inspiration VI). I could swap it for V and use Signet of Illusions to make the phants even more durable, but I never felt the necessity for it so far.

Josh Davis.6015:

In your opinion, what should the strengths and weaknesses of each profession be? What’s your profession’s kryptonite?

So the first question asks for how it should and not how it actually is or seems. There are two other systems I know of and the one is the Tank/Healer/DD trinity, the other is a similar one but kryptonite situations compensated by hireling NPCs that follow the player like in GW or DDO.

There is nearly no trinity in GW2 so I won’t tell what the strengths and weaknesses of the professions should be, because it’d end in a trinity-like description.

The second question asks how it is or seems, and in my opinion each professions kryptonite regarding survivability is:

Warrior
heavy dependant on items and traits; no fun to level from 1 – 60 atm

Thief, Engineer, Mesmer
heavy dependant on traits, dependant on utility skills; lvl 36 eases things a little, but only at lvl 60+ the real fun returns

Guardian, Ranger, Necromancer
dependant on traits and utility skills

Elementalist
heavy dependant on utility skills or other players; ever tried to level an Elementalist in Open PvE without the Glyph of Lesser Elementals or Lightning Hammer?

Ferever.7014:

• How would you implement them into the game?

Different usable weapons and additional utility skills and/or weapon skills as utility skills.

Eg. a Thief Blade Dancer gets the Whirling Sword, which works like Whirling Axe the Axe/Axe Warrior already has – but as an utility/elite skill.
The Engineer Repair Master gets the Two-handed Hammer or the Mace instead of Pistol as alternative usable weapon.

Another possibility would be to implement a passive skill system where the already existing minor, major and superior runes and sigils synergize in different ways. To keep us players busy and experimenting it could be like this:

A set with nine empty slots (there could be more sets a player can get access to)

o o o
o o o
o o o

Now the players have to experiment by slotting 3 minor, 2 major and 1 superior runes and sigils to find a hidden combination that has a specific passive effect. The original effects from the slotted runes and sigils are removed, only the synergy effect has an impact.

Eg:

r minor rune of dolyak, R major rune of centaur, S superior sigil of renewal

r r r
o S R
o o R

This could be a hidden combination and grants eg. the random effect of turning an opponent into a skritt (and is part of the Beast Master sub-class, just an example). As long as no hidden combination is slotted the runes and sigils can be taken out. When a valid combination is slotted a pop up asks whether this combination should be locked or not. Once it’s locked, the slots can be cleared but all runes and sigils are lost. Maybe add a chance to get them back when adding a salvage kit or something like this. Whether it should be just the combination of the right runes and sigils or the graphical arrangement too, I don’t know.

The synergy effects must not have any impact on stats, because otherwise it would be like introducing another item tier, but I guess there are enough possibilities of other funny and useful effects.

This just came to my mind when I read the OP, I didn’t think about the system deeply.

IngamerX.7064:

are there any alternative event trains which actually include champions?

Not in 1-15 zones. I don’t know about the 15-25 zones, but there is something like a “rota” or at least trying to establish one in Gendarran Fields, though often there are more than one groups doing the champs and usually no commanders, except for the jp, and (but this is only valid if you’re playing on the EU Megaserver) thanks to the new chat filter it’s much likely that chat announcements are not visible to all players on the map.

There are 5 champs on the map I know of, all of them respawn within a max 15 min time period (risen 15, spider 12, centaur 12, troll 8, warbiest 6).

So level at least to 34/35 and explore GF for the way points if you’re interested in participating the train trials.

lojic.2075:

I’m coming back to try gw2 (and apparently timing it well if I’m going to be here for a new season) and have decided my first character is going to be a warrior.

I generally prefer soloing in games so I thought I’d try getting to endgame completely solo without spending a ton of time playing the auction house or anything.

I’d recommend to play the Warrior as second toon and start with another profession, because the Warrior’s effectivity and survivability is high dependant on at-level items, food and traits, especially in these days after the april patch and when you plan to solo a lot.

You’ll either need enough gold to buy items in the auction house or have high enough crafting skills in Jewelry, Chef, Armor and Weapon Smithing, that need enough crafting ressources to level up, you’ll again either have to buy in the ah or farm on your own.

For soloing purpose, farming ressources, karma and filling your bank slots better start with Mesmer, Engineer, Ranger or Necromancer.

Evoked.2670:

Are Engineers really that bad?

No. Do not google them, play one. Mind that high dps in GW2 nowadays usually refers to might stacking and full Berserker gear (Power, Precision, Ferocity) and playing in a party.

If you solo a lot you will probably notice that professions like Engineer, Mesmer, Ranger or Necromancer are far more forgiving and durable compaired to professions that are mostly alone or only have high cd minions like Guardian or Elementalist. Especially during the leveling process in Open PvE survivability > dps, because eg. respawn is a much more important issue to deal with, facing veterans and champions or groups of mobs alone will be an issue. Dps when you’re soloing in general always is lower because of the lack of combo synergies a party offers, so survivability, mobility, to be able to spread aggro, keeping the mobs busy/in a distance and self healing capacity will make the difference between defeat or triumph in far more situations, than dps ever would.

Actually I got used to stationary turrets. The advantages are: I can place them on hard to reach objects and they’ll keep attacking as long as they are in range. And I can place them at different positions like another entrance or expected mob approaching direction, while I’m somewhere else. Mobile turrets would follow and make these advantages impossible.

Instead of a mobile turret trait I’d suggest a utility skill that grabs all turrets in range and pulls them to the Engineers current position. Magnetic Turret Attractor or something like this.

Fay.2357:

Lanhelin.3480:

Fay.2357:

Lanhelin.3480:

• get Signet of Inspiration asap to profit from the boons in fight and especially swiftness out of combat.

Don’t do this. Signet of inspiration is completely worthless in all forms unless you intend on actually using the active to share boons.

Depending. A clone/phant dying from two hits instead of one is great, but a Mesmer completely avoiding a hit by aegis or getting additional healing or getting endurance filled up by vigor or being able to kite/run away with swiftness is greater. Especially for unexperienced players completely new to the world, its mechanics and encounters. Even in higher levels this signet often saved my life or gave me a few more seconds to compensate a failure. It’s absolutely worth it, imho.

It’s simply too random. It gives 1 of 7 or 8 boons randomly every 10 seconds. So sure, once every 15 minutes you might get aegis when you need it, and you’ll on average get swiftness for 20s once every minute or so. Worth taking up a utility slot for? No. Not even close.

Ultimately, if that random aegis proc is saving your life, you’ve made mistakes that let you get to that point in the first place, and you could have avoided that with better utility choices.

I play a lot with this signet and aegis procs about once a minute. If you prefer longer lasting illusions it’s up to you, I prefer the boons, because for me it always was and is better to make the Mesmer more survivable who can recast illusions, than having more durable illusions but a less durable Mesmer and that’s why I recommended the signet. Is it worth a utility slot? Yes, it is. But if you prefer another one over it, feel free to swap it. It’s not a must, it just eases things.

Recently I leveled a new toon from 1 to 30 in Open PvE. When I hit 30 and saw, that for some adept traits I’d either have to go into Level 50 zones or into WvW or completing a dungeon, I immediately lost my interest in this toon and logged to another one.

Every player would recommend to reach Level 80 first and then go into dungeons. Same with WvW except Eotm. I prefer Open PvE over every other gameplay aspects GW2 offers. But now I’d have to do things that I don’t like or wait until max level or find a group who accepts a fifth wheel. gj -.-

ANet, if you want to encourage players to explore more aspects of the game, do not frustrate them with requirements for toon core aspects like traits, but by other incentives.

Alaric.3980:

Solo in the way that I was having trouble doing quests without dying every few enemies. I was an Asura Elementalist and it wasn’t going well at all.

Using the utility skill Glyph of Lesser Elementals and trying to keep the earth elemental up all the time in early levels as Elementalist nearly is a must I’d say. It will make a huge difference, turn impossible fights to easy ones, as the elemental reliably grabs the aggro, while you can do damage a/o give it some healing. Later when the traits are available and your vitality/toughness stats increase, another elemental like the fire one might be a better choice.

Fay.2357:

Lanhelin.3480:

• get Signet of Inspiration asap to profit from the boons in fight and especially swiftness out of combat.

Don’t do this. Signet of inspiration is completely worthless in all forms unless you intend on actually using the active to share boons.

Depending. A clone/phant dying from two hits instead of one is great, but a Mesmer completely avoiding a hit by aegis or getting additional healing or getting endurance filled up by vigor or being able to kite/run away with swiftness is greater. Especially for unexperienced players completely new to the world, its mechanics and encounters. Even in higher levels this signet often saved my life or gave me a few more seconds to compensate a failure. It’s absolutely worth it, imho.

Relativity.3695:

I’m Dual-weilding Axe/Mace right now with a straight power/precision priority, should I level toughness/vit as a priority?

For the second weapon set use a ranged one like Longbow or Rifle. I made some good experiences with rifle, 2 for cripple, 4 for vulnerability, then the others for damage and when the mob is in melee range swap to melee weapon set and there shouldn’t be much HP left. Take Longbow when you expect group play, but as long as you are alone the 5s cripple with 10 sec cd is better than the 3s immobilize with 25 sec cd.
Also buy/craft food that increases vitality.

My few basic advises for leveling a Mesmer:

• buy and consume some food that increases vitality. At least until lvl 30 where the first minor trait is available. Toughness is also important, but especially against groups of mobs that also do condition damage more vitality will help more than toughness.

• keep moving/circling/kiting/dodging. Even if it is just a normal mob. It will get better later on, but in early levels not getting hits and keeping the mob(s) out of range and busy with chasing will contribute the most to survivability.

• in general the aggro priority of mobs is like this: Phantasm > Mesmer > Clone. In early levels and without the traits the phantasms will have very long cooldowns and be destroyed within a second. Better rely on the more durable (compaired to phants) clones and kiting. Staff clones all will apply the staff auto-attack conditions additionally. Also mind that Phase Retreat clones (Staff skill #2) will run around corners as long as the mob is targeted, with no need to be in line of sight. This can be used to “clone-pull” and seperate mobs from others.

• get Signet of Inspiration asap to profit from the boons in fight and especially swiftness out of combat. To ease fights and to get familiar with illusions mechanics also get Mirror Images to immediately have two clones available. Later or if you do not take Inspiration IV take at least Mantra of Resolve to have a condition cleansing available.

• use Phase Retreat to create a clone-shield when a mob attacks you. If you do not move but stay directly behind the clone, the hostile attack will hit and most likely destroy the clone, but you save endurance for the next dodge. Note that you can fire through illusions, but mobs cannot fire through them (as long it’s not an AoE attack).

eyballkid.2513:

I would like to be able to level up my prof, do the personal story, and solo veterans/champions, skill challenges etc. I am aware that all profs can likely do this in the right hands but as I said I am a casual player and don’t have time for min/maxing and research.

Imo the two easiest professions for these purposes (because they are pretty not so dependant on appropriate items, food and traits), with very few exceptions where you’ll still need help in Open PvE, are:

Mesmer, 0/2/5/3/4, Staff and Sword/x
use 0/2/4/3/3 until lvl 79 inclusively

- because of high mobility thanks to phantasms and clones; if you manage to summon three iWarlocks in Y-position around a mob, you can get Regeneration+Protection nearly all the time while circling. If you summon melee phantasms like iSwordsman or iWarden they will heal you and other phants/clones/players in melee range too. You will have a lot of useful traits to swap when needed, to either strengthen your illusions or yourself.

and

Engineer: 2/0/6/6/0, Pistol/Shield
use 4/0/4/4/0 with Explosives IX until lvl 79 inclusively

- use a kit and the Alchemy IX trait to get a perma HoT. In the build above I use the bomb kit, but it’s up to you which kit you like the most. The effects of equipped sigills in your main weapons will also be applied when using a kit. Turrets are not mobile like illusions, but they are durable if traited and do decent damage. In case of facing a champ either swap the kit for a ranged one or a third turret. Turrets can be placed on hard to reach objects like roofs or rocks – as long as you are reachable, the mob won’t reset.

Do you mean that all text fonts ingame should be replaced with the title font? Or do you mean something else I couldn’t figure out?

The most forgiving professions probably are Ranger and Turret Engineer (maybe Minion Master Necromancer too), if latency is the issue, because in case of a latency spike a pet/minion or a dropped turret will still continue to attack while you are blocked. This will make it more likely for you to be still alive when latency goes back to normal.