Guild Wars 2

Godmoney.2048:

One of the things I’d like to see is a buff to offhand sword. The problem being from my perspective is that offhand sword only offers one block and a phantasm that doesnt really have a lot of pressure damage compared to offhand pistol.

I think if they made the block channeled 2 second block that would make offhand sword a ton better for melee orientated builds.

As it stands now you get actual pressure damage from pistol and utility from focus. Offhand sword is not horrible, but it’s not good either.

Did you try it a least? for more than 10 minutes? you would not answer the way you did.
If you want damage, sword off hand is way better than pistol, counter blade is the only thing that needs to be tweaked. Land 2 swordsmand and tell me that the pressure is bad.

The only thing i dislike is that a clone is more useful than warlock with a condition build.
The autoattack is not only about damage, your clones also use it. This is why staff autoattack is great and this is way scepter autoattack would suck even with more damage.

GS is a strong power weapon and can be a good condition weapon.
Staff is a strong condition weapon and can be a good power weapon.
I would say the same about sword and scepter.

If you want to run GS with a condi build you do it for some reasons: more (im not even sure if it is, but still) bleeding stacks, more direct damage and chasing abilities.
Remember that you can have those things in a power build and do a LOT more damage, you are trading an amazing direct damage burst for some better ticks of bleeding. I dont think its worth it especially because bleeding and vulnerability are the only conditions on the skill set.
You may have debilitating dissipation and sigils but you can also have those things with staff.
Staff gives you way more condition variety and this is really useful when the opponent use cleanses. It also gives you more mobility and defensive tools at the cost of direct damage but since you run rabid this is not something you should worry about.
With my build i combine scepter/torch conditions with staff clones and a chaos storm. I cant ask more.

With a condition build I would not trade a 3 staff clones and my wind of chaos situation for a 3 gs clones and spatial surge situation. More conditions, more boons.
When your clones do most of the damage (i swap set if i need torment/confusion/more burning) you really dont care a lot if your autoattack does poor physical damage. Id add thakittens easy to kill people with 20% hp only by spamming wind of chaos (clones are not so reliable while people run).

Once you have three staff clones out and you can apply torment and confusion, most of the time the game its over.

Power build: Warlock damage scales well and crits for more than 10k with enough conditions. But you use it mostly for defensive/mobility tools and to keep high the pressure. Autoattack damage and chaos storm damage are not that bad.

Condition build: you want to have three clones out or you can forgive the damage. Then the damage is amazing between their autoattack and debilitating dissipation.
Theres a difference between a stack of bleeding (gs) and bleeding/burning/vulnerability (staff) when it comes to cleanse.
Weird but true warlock is less useful here.

Phase retreat is a nice gap opener/closer and using when your target is behind you mess up people.

Define low crit chance, you have rabid gear and 20 points in dueling.
Staff and scepter/torch works just fine with 20/20/30, staff clones provide huge damage and condition variety. I would not use gs clones since they only apply bleeding.
About iRiposte, its common knowledge that you can be damaged when you are cloaked. People usually cleave or spam skills and this is a good way to land torment and also confusion. Also some players use skills while running away (engies comes to mind) and while its true that you cant use it to take down someone that is running it kills people that try to do it if you apply it before.
I also like sword/torch but more for a power shatter build.
iMage is mostly a condition cleanse, then it applies confusion and retaliatation (you should try it retaliatory shield). I also use DE because it works well with on death traits and adds more staff clones.
Arcane thievery is buggy but its the best bet since you can run master of manipulation and have both arcane thievery and blink on shorter cd.
iMage, the prestige, arcane thievery and melandru runes are enough to counter conditions while you have enough damage to kill everything.
20 points in inspiration are good only if you run varconi’s build, that is really good.

Not good to create a build around anymore but still useful for control and damage. Some good confusion stacks and retaliatation (i use retaliatory shield with staff-scepter/torch and PU) makes the life easier.
Confusion traits should need a rework.

The problem is not to land it but to burst down the moa, iirc it counters lich and plague form while i read somewhere it does not work on DS, but I didnt test it.

You quoted when i was refining the post. Argh one day ill learn this language or just use the preview feature.

Note that i agree about MI > moa but i dont when you describe the skill. In my opinion it can also be used to kill a good/better opponent but of course you need to have an average knowledge about it.
With this in mind, moa could be useful if the op wanted to duel a necro but in a spvp scenario MI wins.

Its the second time i cant understand your logic.
If EVERYONE can read the animation, how can a noob use it as an easy kill button?

There are many ways to counter it, there are many ways to land it. Im not saying its our best skill but if you fail to use it you deserve a 360 seconds cd and the effect on you.

Ryuujin.8236:

Mesmer DPS is pretty close to the bottom of the pile, if not THE bottom – our strength is our flexibility, utility and support. Which is why you’ll still find mesmers at all the highest levels of the game.

However it does mean when DPS matters and utility is irrelevant, we’re at a dis-advantage

Do you mean against a glitched boss?

@ArmageddonAsh: how can a skill be useful for noob killing? Also, the thread IS about 1vs1.

For moa you want enough burst and enough ways to lock the opponent. Then it can be a good choice if placed at the right time.
The problem is that it has a long CD and you dont want to win against a necro and die after 40 seconds because you dont have mass invisibility. Its not the solution.

Take arcane thievery and change cleansing inscription for master of manipulation.
MoC is also good. Now you have melandru runes, torch skills (use iMage wisely) and arcane thievery/MoC.
If its not enough its time to create a necro and study it.

I like both weapons. I want scepter clones to do something, one second chill would be nice.

Scepter is great for condition builds and it allows you to take another strong phantasm for phantasm builds. It has its uses.

Romo.3709:

Dark Adonis.5096:

so yeah i just dumped 700g into the MF hoping to get at least 1 … i know this was stupid as i could have just bought one but i was curious to see how bad my luck really was.. and totally found out cause i got NOTHING… lots of exotics but n the end.. got jack kitten.. this crap makes me want to just quit the game and try something else

Those are the kind of posts that make no sense AT ALL. You have 700G and want a precursor. “Let me buy a bunch of exotics and throw them in the forge…” I call BS on that. You could’ve bought a precursor and still have gold leftover. And now THAT makes you want to quit the game… Seriously people. Use some realistic number for once.

Another:

I just dumped 2k+ rares and 500+ exotics into the Mystic Forge TODAY, and got…. nothing.

2k rares… Lets assume they’re 20 silvers each. That’s 400 Gold.
500 Exotics… Even though they’re higher, lets assume they’re 2g each. That’s 1000 Gold.
Total of 1400 Gold… You know what you can buy with 1400 Gold? A LEGENDARY.

You know what? I just threw in 500 rares last night and got nothing too (I threw in 40, but 500 makes me look more credible). I’m so enraged I’m gonna quit this game…

You missed the 10.000 rares part. Do your math and laugh at him.

Rabid is the best bet for my tastes.
20/20/30 – crippling dissipation and cleansing conflagration / retaliatory shield (so many useful traits here, your choice but i love it with all the block/aegis) and DE / illusionary defense (or master of manipulation, or debilitating dissipation if you want traited staff), debilitating dissipation and PU.
Staff and scepter/torch.
Decoy/arcane thievery, MoC, veil or whatever/blink and MI.

I agree its really flexible, after all there is a reason if you can change traits ooc.
Im not sure if this is what anet called build diversity but still nice.

@ArmageddonAsh: If you have 30 in chaos you cant have 20% boon duration (wrong button?). If you build for condition damage (as i think i read in other threads) yes its really efficient.

20/20/30 can be a strong power or condition build, not only support.
If you trait for that boons duration you cant expect outstanding damage.

How can we have the answer? A lot of traits are in a weird place. The prestige damage scales well with power and there are a lot of power builds that use torch and PU.
Domination also give condition duration if it matters.

We have some really nice group utilities. If you dont like GS, staff and torch skillsets, what weapons do you carry to say that reflect is not in the ones you use?

I agree. Its situational and in those situations where illusions dont die against aoe you can really enjoy your dps.
You feel distortion faster because you run 25 in illusion, builds like the OP ones dont have that advantage.

I dont know what to tell you honestly, you seem to hate projectiles and we are one of the best classes to deal with them.
Also, this thread is about what we dont like about mesmers and if you suggest that we need more reflection you are saying you dont like how it works now.
In few words you are complaining about the last of mesmer’s problems.

@GalloGSM the problem is that no one is going to agree with you about reflection. We already have a lot of it, asking for more is a nonsense.

Add to the list: Confusing images as someone mentioned and also the spatial surge scaling with range.

If you see your illusions are going to die (you know their hp pool, you know their position, you know boss attacks) you can shatter and then summon new illusions. more damage, more might stacks.
If i only have one illusion and it has a red aoe under its feet i shatter and then summon another one. If i understood you let it die and summon a new one.
Distortion has a massive cd if you dont have points in illusion (we do, others dont) so its not something you use on every harpy. With “you dont need anything else” you mean you do that phase without main hand? I you read again you would see that i still use focus, the only difference is that i use scepter when i want/need to.

Fortus.6175:

What is currently for Mesmers in WvW when it comes to damage? Im talking about both small and big fights (including sieges, defending, choke points, retreats). I want to focus on damage mostly, but unfortunately Im not very knowledgeable about the class. Thanks in advanced!

id try reflection, and a greatsword.

I wrote a lot of stuff but this forum hates me.
I have IC because i run 30 in illusion (call it hybrid?) and of course its nice to have for weapon skills since i usually run glamours as utility. When i slot disenchanter its also nice to have. This and phantasmal haste help to boost your reflection thanks to warden.
Im not sure if its a must have for every Phantasm build but its without doubts one of the best traits.

I also dislike Gs and blade training in the same moment. Arcane thievery is useful to steal boons from dredges before landing null field and burst them. If you are on uncategorized fractal with bad pugs you may want to try scepter (i cant understand why you run two swords mh), block/blin and melee range clones are really nice together with focus of hand.
Also, when you say bosses have many moves that one shot your phantasms, what do you do in those situations? watch them die or pop mind wrack? if it happens to shatter you can understand the benefits of might stacks, additional damage and confusion stacks for what it counts.
There was more but im tired to wrote everything again.

• Buggy traits, skills and so on.
• iMage.
• Mind Stab.
• Scepter autoattack chain.
• Legendary GS should have more altered animations.
• Clones differences from mesmer.
• Out of combat speed.
• Id like more reliable gap closers.
• Confusing cry is probably stronger than cry of frustration.
• Counterspell and Counter blade should be automatic if you dont block an attack (my opinion, im sure some mesmers like them the way they are).
• There is more but this is what comes out of my mind.

It would not be a problem if the trait itself would be perfect (hi swordsman).

About the nickname, I only read it in various threads on this forum.
I GUESS its because you can recognize newbie mesmers from the way they use the GS, more easily than other weapons. Other than that i dont see a reason to call it in this way, its lovely.
If you craft sunrise/twilight on a mesmer you do it because you really like the skin, the animations are poor and its a shame considered that we dont swing it.
No swing should mean more altered animation and we only have mirror blade, they could do something with mind stab, iWave or even spatial surge.
I bet they needed to save time for the focus.

^Yes you understood. If you say that GS outdps sword MH you compare the two weapons and this is meaningless, you never use sword without an off hand.
This is not a negative aspect but i see it more as an advantage.
It allows you to change something if you feel bored and well you will be after some cof farm. When im tired of those iWardens i take a break from focus and enjoy swordsman, duelist or whatever. If you can do it while still having the legendary you crafted i think its a good thing.

Weird, I still have to meet a mesmer without off hand.
Or someone that cant afford a white focus/torch/pistol/sword.

@keenlam: Your logic is that you cant compare 2 weapons with 1 weapon. However, You can compare 5 skills with 3 weapon skills. The first thing invalidates the comparison, the second one does not. Im impressed.

Posts like “you said sword/focus now but before you said sword well its different because…” are also BS. As well as “on paper this is better but against this one its weak and then…”. Everything is situational, I can pop feedback on a stupid ranger and dont touch him with a weapon, i can melt him with a single mind wrack or i can die. This discussions are pointless.
Sword is probably the best bet and my next legendary (after a GS) but at the end of the day choose the skin you like.

Btw, with noob stick he means GS.

I could say the same for both shatter and phantasm build. Remember that with the last one you can also provide aoe support with glamours and some really nice reflection. Its not a “spam one attack while phantasms melt things” like you seem to think.
Both power and condition builds require smart players and id take a good condition mesmer over a bad power mesmer. The problem is, id take a good power mesmer instead of a good condition one.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Condition builds (to me at least) are more engaging, more fun and make it seem like i did MORE rather then just summon a phantom to do all the damage for me while i stand around doing nothing.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

from my experience with my build, i would say it was more 75% damage from Clones, 25% from me.

What kind of logic is that? Seriously, if your damage comes from phantasms is boring but if it comes from clones is funny?
One of the best thing you can do with condition builds is WoC with three staff clones out. Thats more engaging, more fun than doing the same with phantasms. Indeed.

Its a shatter build. The problem is that if you land mind wrack or CoF you want the enemy to be near you for iPersona. The effect on you has a range.
Id try to build for reflection and aoe support with glamours. GS will still deal a good damage.

Yes i see. Before the zaphyrite stuff they were on the first page so i didnt have to check the others, im shameful.

Okhu.7948:

Nuka Cola.8520:

well said and i agree completely. In 10 months not a single full armor was added and that ugly creature on gem shop shouldn’t be considered as an armor

Aetherblade armor would like a word with you.

Aetherblade armor can remain in silence with me.

The OP is absolutely right and im a bit tired of this. Add zephyrite helm.

Go kill mobs? heck no.
For what i read on reddit heavy loot bag is a reliable way to buy your items and you can also sell what you find (t5,t6,cores,lodestones). I bought a back in that way.

For dungeons/fractal you may want to try a phantasm build with traited focus and glamours aoe support. Berserker gear.

The trick with moa is to use it when the opponent is afk. Or downed.

@feliscatus: you are right. time warp and mass also counter moa.

The one that sells food, holographic back and so on is near the laurel vendor.
Since i found a dragon’s jade ticket just before the patch im wondering if theres a way to trade it (its the first time im into those rng boxes so i dont know what happened in the previous cases).

Well im probably the king of the error codes and i also got this. Connection is fine and only this game gives me problem.
Fix your game/servers or whatever is causing this crap.

This problem is almost older than the game.
Italy here, for what it counts.

Jeremiah Lee.2764:

If you are disconnected from the game, please post in the Tech Support forum. Most of the time, these issues will be caused by our servers – they are not Game Bugs. The only exception to this would be if you are able to consistently cause a disconnect by repeating certain actions, i.e. previewing a certain item or using a specific skill, in which case posting in the Game Bugs forum with specific steps on reproducing the issue would be appreciated.

So, months ago it was a “your problem” issue and now its your servers? Dont tell me.
We pay to play the game not to see an error code every 5 minutes. You had an year to fix this shame.

Wolfield.9812:

Nuka Cola.8520:

It has the best auto, iwave is amazing, izerker does the job now and mirror blade is great n spammable. The only garbage skill it has is mind stab and 4/5 good skills on a weapon is pretty good in my book. Its my 2nd fav after staff because staff with chaos storm/phase retreat is hot.

Boon removal on a weapon, will never not use it.

Its not a reliable source of boon removal and there are better skills for almost every content (try to clear CoE golem boons with mind stab). I use it more for the aoe aspect than for the boon removal and you know, its already a quite small aoe.
Its not a BAD skill but when the others are amazing you notice the difference.

While i dont agree completely with ManCaptain’s post im also wondering if the damage scaling of spatial surge is really needed.

Just want to write something in the best thead i read so far.

The leap need some practice and some fixes. #2 is not that short if you think you evade and you burst at the same time. Duelist is an amazing phantasm, lot of bleeding with sharper images and lot of confusion stacks or whatever if traited and used in combo with fields. Magic bullet is a strong CC but in pve i find it lackluster.
Its a good skillset, go on and enjoy it.

Spatial surge is a nice autoattack, I dont think the damage reduction if you go closer is fair since it already has low defensive capabilities. I mean, staff is a strong defensive weapon and its better the closer you are increasing the offensive aspect.
Mirror blade is one of my favourite skills, combo finisher, very low cd, clone production, might/vulnerability stacks and great damage. I have some screens of 9-10k damage against lvl 80 in wvw (with iElasticity). Its satisfying.
Mind stab is better with the aftercast buff but it could be more useful. Its full of nice suggestions about it but well its still the same.
Phantasm is strong and can really mess up people when it crits for a good amount.
iWave is both funny to use and useful. Id like more damage (against crippled foes?) but maybe im asking too much.
When you cant go melee or you dont want to its arguably our best weapon.

It can crit for 3k+ in a berserker set, two times. If you spec “heavily” into mantras the damage is even more and you can use it three times.
Im not saying i would take it over glamours, blink or decoy but i find its a good damage skill if you combo it.

I think the aura problem is shared between legendaries, iirc my sunrise also lose it.
Even if it would be nice if fixed, your points 2 is more interesting. The chance to give them to different characters would be really amazing.

I also think some legendaries arent really appealing but those are my tastes. I remember a thread of suggestions where a guy wrote about a black kudzu with roses, oh id create a ranger only to equip it.

Andele.1306:

No all you lose is boon strip in terms of traits since the vuln was weak either way.
And Retal on phantasams is still a thing, people (like you 2 guys) who are too stupid to understand that you might actually be supposed to shatter them after they use their skill (duelist being the only exception since he has a low attack recharge).
5 seconds of retal is still a lot, drop a phantasam in a fight, do at least 2.4k damage just by chip aoe damage retaliation.

Remember when i said that you could be a better person to discuss with than the OP? Well, you are even worst.
If by “boon strip and a weak vuln” you mean dazzling and shattered concentration the situation is just bad. Dazzling together with diversion is the base to land huge bursts because its an easy access to 25 vulnerability. Also, Shattered concentration (i talk about this because you quoted it but there are also nice traits) is arguably the best way to deal with boons-based foes when you play shatter (sword chain and clones arent so reliable).
Therefore, you call us stupid because you know, we obviously dont play a mesmer while YOU DO.
Duelist is not “the only exception” in terms of recharge, it is if in your already short career of mesmer you only played pistol OH.
First you say that we should shatter phantasms after their attack, then you claim that retal is nice. Should i shatter after their attack or when they almost have 1 hp left?
That 5 seconds are short enough to disappear before they can even think to die or receive damage in some situations while in others they die quickly. You must live in a beatiful world if you think that mesmer’s illusions always work like “let the phantasm attack, yes now that stupid guy is killing him and deals with retaliatation, well now that the phantasm have 10 hp i can shatter”.

Andele.1306:

“But what? State your point, please. What do you want with mesmer in this thread?”
Necros need the same amount of good design choices as mesmer traitlines (without the op setup of profession mechanic numbers and effects).

Well you are failing. Do yourself a pleasure and stop posting (or avoid insults at least).

Andele.1306:

retal on phantasams (really annoying)

Clearly shows that you have no idea about mesmer’s current state. Ill write it again: first try the class with the current traits/skills and then post. Wiki or 3 months old tries arent enough.

HiSaZuL.2843:

First thing I noticed… reduce scepter cooldown 20% and add 200 condition dmg….. and that goes for every weapon cd reduction skill. Seriously? Could the beloved kittenwit child sign be any larger?

Minor 5 point trait that gives you vigor on crit with 5 sec cooldown. We get grandmaster trait that does 4 second of burn with double of that cooldown. Yeaaaaah. The sign should definitely be larger.

First thing i see is that you are really, really ignorant about the class. I hope you are a better necro but i wouldnt be surprised if you arent.
Before creating a silly, useless thread you may want to effectively try the class and the skills/traits you quoted in order to KNOW what you are talking about.

@Andale: You seem a better player to discuss with, the point is that if jportell claims something that is incorrect about necros, you do the same with mesmers.
If we need bandaind solutions for conditions, swiftness and so on we would have to put runes on weapons, jewels, carry two armor sets in the inventory and wear an heavy armor over the light one.
We have strenghts, we have weaknesses, nothing more.