The staff is good for tagging also, especially if you equip elasticity for the extra bounce. IMO
I got over my lack of movement speed a long time ago. Sometimes it costs me a kill or a death, but C’est la vie.
I never have to worry about conditions, especially when I run my torch build, because I use runes of melandru and consume a bowl of poultry and leek soup.
LOL, this made me think “These aren’t the clones you’re looking for.”
We are a casual PvX guild looking for active, helpful, and friendly members. We do several guild missions a week, have at least 2 boons going at all times, have monthly raffles, and a group of officers that love to help.
Goonies has been a guild since the first Guild Wars. We have mumble and a guild website with lots of good info.
Basically, we are out to have fun. Let me know if you are interested.
Constant invisible was probably the wrong words to choose. Constant reapplication. Mesmers can be confusing to dodge/fight because they have up to 4 sources that you need to look out for. Phantasms will tend to run up to someone a bit before attacking or start whirlwinding around. Combos have specific tells to look out for. Having all those tells disappear every 6 seconds, even if it’s for only 1 second, will bring the QQ to a whole new level.
Fair enough. =)
@Armageddon, I agree it doesn’t need a full scale change. I like your suggestions, they would make it a decent phantasm.
It just seems interesting to me that the torch phantasm doesn’t burn its foes. And the stealthing of allies would just be an interesting change (definitely fun to watch) while sticking to the theme of the Prestige.
What about instead of increasing the confusion time or stacks, give it a 20 or 30% chance to cause a flame blast on critical a la Sigil of Fire?
Great topic Pyro!
Since it is the torch phantasm, it seems like it should burn foes. Since it can stealth the player, perhaps when it bounces to an ally it should stealth them for 1 second…just long enough to break target. Thoughts?
Something tells me, as much as it would rock it would just be to powerful
I was wondering about that. But it does only attack every 6 seconds.
But it would also bounce to any of your other phantasms or allies. If it hits a thief ally mid backstab combo, that would really screw things up for him. If it hit’s a phantasm, suddenly you got constant invisible zerkers that you cant see coming. That’s too OP.
I can see how it would make a thief mad, that’s a good point. That pretty much breaks the idea right there. It would be fun to see it though. =)
But I don’t think that the 1 sec stealth would make anything a “constant invisible” anything. They would at most be stealthed for 1 second out of every 6. Even that might be OP, I don’t know. Thanks for your thoughts! It is fun to think about how to change things.
Great topic Pyro!
Since it is the torch phantasm, it seems like it should burn foes. Since it can stealth the player, perhaps when it bounces to an ally it should stealth them for 1 second…just long enough to break target. Thoughts?
Something tells me, as much as it would rock it would just be to powerful
I was wondering about that. But it does only attack every 6 seconds.
Great topic Pyro!
Since it is the torch phantasm, it seems like it should burn foes. Since it can stealth the player, perhaps when it bounces to an ally it should stealth them for 1 second…just long enough to break target. Thoughts?
An easy way to break target would be awesome but this seems like it would troll your allies/you with random reveals.
Yeah, I thought about that. But with the stealth only being 1 second it would be to simply break target. It wouldn’t really matter if they were revealed, would it?
Sanity’s Bane
Certainty of Lunacy
Phobia’s Madness
Disordered Reason
Disordered Intellect
Unsound Mind
Delusional Hysteria
Deceptive Delusion
IDK, I just play around with synonyms of insanity and illusion. =)
Great topic Pyro!
Since it is the torch phantasm, it seems like it should burn foes. Since it can stealth the player, perhaps when it bounces to an ally it should stealth them for 1 second…just long enough to break target. Thoughts?
I don’t understand the problem with stealth. It seems perfectly fine to me. Each class has their unique characteristics that give them an advantage in certain situations. It would be silly if all classes were equal in all situations.
Thieves are supposed to excel in solo or small group roaming. Other classes are supposed to excel at larger group fights. This is not a problem, this is good design.
I don’t play thief, but it seems like if you take away their stealth, they become very easy to kill.
To me, true balance isn’t that all classes can beat all other classes in a 1v1. True balance is that all classes can be beaten by at least one other class. Some other games I play will say something like “class a” is strong vs “class b”, but weak vs “class c”. A real life example from Medieval times would be the knight. Knights would tear regular infantry to bits, but a pikeman could usually beat a knight. Balance.
1) Agreed
2) No, opens up a huge avenue for griefing
3) Partially agreed. My idea would be that for every player that is actively escorting a yak its speed is increased by 1% (maximum of 10%) and its hit points are increased by 1,000 (maximum 10,000).
4) Agreed. This is a great idea.
5) Agreed. Again, great idea.
6) " If you start to stomp someone as SOON as they go down, they should not be able to rez them before the stomp" THIS, THIS, THIS!!!!!!
7) Would be interesting to see how it worked out. It does seem a little easy to take towers.
8) Can’t agree with that one.
9) If they could work something like that into Asuran Technology Lore, maybe. It’s tough to come up with good scouting reward ideas that wouldn’t make them too easy to farm while not really contributing anything to the team.
Some very good ideas here. Thank you for sharing and ANet please implement some of them.
If you prefer melee, you should roll a thief. Mesmer is my favorite class in the game, by far, but you will do far more kiting as a mesmer than as a thief. I have a level 80 thief and have no problem in PvE, not even dungeons really. Mesmers are way better for dungeons though.
Just realize that thieves are not an in your face bunker type class. You have to use your mobility, evasion, stealth, and dodge to run around mobs while you are killing them. Personally in PvE I use a condition build that basically bleeds mobs to death. The trick is to run away sometimes to let the bleeds do their work.
IMO, for female sylvari mesmers the best looking armor is the tier 1 racial. I hide the helmet, shoulders, and gloves. It looks more like an extension of your skin than armor.
5) Empowered Illusions
4) Master of Manipulation
3) Deceptive Evasion
2) Chaotic Dampening
1) Duelist’s Discipline
CD reductions are invaluable to me, at least in WvW. Unfortunately I can’t afford to put 25 points in Illusions for Illusionist’s Celerity.
I would love to join your havoc squad. Unfortunately I am an officer in my guild and can’t rep yours while I wvw. I also doubt that I am on at the same time as you. So if it weren’t for those 2 things I would be down. I really like the idea of being on a team that not only plays together often, but practices together too. Would be a lot of fun.
It is a common misconception that rangers are named so because they used “ranged” attacks. In reality, the term “ranger” comes from the definition of the word which means to cover a lot of ground. In other words, they “range” all over the place. It is also this definition that gives rise to the rangers of the US Army and the law enforcement group known as the Texas Rangers. So the answer to your question is, no, not necessarily.
The biggest problem with it that I have personally encountered is in a small group fight. Several times I have downed someone and because I was in melee range I pretty much immediately pressed “F” to stomp. In the time it took for my char to do the stomp animation one of the downed player’s teammates ran up and rezzed him. Either the stomp animation needs to take less time, or it needs to take more time to rez a downed player. imo
Thanks everyone! Really appreciate the feedback.
Thanks for the input Samiell! I really appreciate it. And yes, beating people and knowing that they have no idea what just happened is priceless. That’s why I like it when I can take on 2 or 3 people for awhile, because the longer it takes for them to beat you, the madder they get. =)
Yep, I have thought this would be a good idea also. It would let people use the weapons they like in even more builds and would diversify builds a lot.
@Samiell, thanks for the response. Your build does look like a lot of fun! Thank you for sharing. Does the lack of CD reduction ever bother you? And how do you like the scepter?
@MacLeod: Removing 10 points from domination into dueling makes you lose 100 power, gain 4% crit chance, 10% crit damage, and an additional 20% crit chance for your phantasms (that last one is the biggie). To put that in % terms, you are losing ~4% power and gaining ~10% more crit chance, ~16% crit power, and an additional 54% crit chance for your phantasms.
Awesome breakdown, thank you! That is the part of theory crafting that I am just terrible at.
As far as the torch CD here is how a fight usually goes for me (and please feel free to make suggestions), start off with GS get my zerker out as fast as I can, then use mirror blade and tag them a few times with the laser (if they are ranged) or tag them until they get too close (if they are melee). Then I decoy, switch to sword/torch, ileap, blurred frenzy, prestige, blink behind them, switch to GS and start over. Obviously I deviate from that when I need to, but that is what I basically try to do. By the time I get back to my sword the 2nd time the prestige is off of CD when traited (or very close). I’m scared of the extra time it will take to get off CD if I don’t trait for it. Anyway, that is why I’m reluctant to get rid of that. I will definitely give it a try and see how it goes though.
Thanks again for discussing this with me.
@shimmerless, thanks for the feedback! Do you think it would be better to sacrifice the vitality that the beryl gives me or to sacrifice some of my toughness that the Knight’s armor gives me?
@Pyro, thanks for continuing the discussion with me. Do you think that i have enough power and could sacrifice some for precision? Also, I use prestige often as part of my fighting style, plus it’s nice to use it often with prismatic understanding. I feel like if I’m not go to be invisible as often as I can I might as well use a pistol instead of a torch. What are your thoughts on that? I’d also like to know your thoughts on sword CD vs. blink distance. Really appreciate the feedback.
@ Yuchen, thank you so much for the feedback! Good stuff. I use melandru over centaur because I don’t really mind the lack of swiftness and like I said earlier, my fingers are kinda slow. By the time i get to my stun breaks the stun has already warn off. =(
@ Pyro, thanks for responding. =) I use it mostly for solo or havoc squad and that is what I enjoy doing the most.
Thanks for the reply Yuchen. It works well for me in that I have good survivability and enough damage to win almost every 1v1 and I can usually keep 2 or 3 enemies busy for long periods of time. I figure if they are busy trying to kill me they aren’t capping camps, helping the zerg, etc. And let’s face it, frustrating 2 or 3 people who just can’t seem to get you down and never know where you are is fun. =)
I do realize that I lack a bit of damage with it, although I have been transitioning to more power and less toughness as you can see from the one piece of berzerker armor and a couple of berzerker trinkets. But it scares me a bit because I am not quick with my fingers on the skill usage.
Should I be shattering more with this build, like once a cycle? I don’t really shatter much with this build because I wasn’t sure it did enough damage to warrant losing the clones I have out.
10% hahah if u got 6k i got 9k almoust i dont feel like 10% maybe cuz 40% of my friend list got the same amount :P ps its not 10%
I have ~3800 achievement points and Guild Wars 2 Achievement Leaderboards says I’m in the 90th percentile. Granted, a lot of people got just a few achievement points and then quit the game, but that other poster was technically correct.
Hey fellow mesmers! I was hoping to get some input on my build. Would really like some help fine tuning it. Thanks in advance!
I use GS and sword/torch and try to be invisible as often as I can.
I have a berzerker GS with sigil of air. My sword and torch are both valkyrie with a sigil of battle on my sword and a sigil of accuracy on my torch.
I have Knight’s armor except for a berzerker coat and 6 runes of melandru for the decreased stun duration.
My traits are:
30 III,IX,X for the torch CD and GS CD
10 IV for the sword CD, wondering if maybe master of manipulation is better
30 III,V,XII for blink CD and prismatic understanding
0
0
My trinkets are mostly valkyrie with a couple berzerker and a cavalier mixed in.
It works pretty well, but I would appreciate any help fine tuning it because I know I am not a very good theory crafter.
(edited by MacLeod.4208)
Two things.
1) As a mesmer I win almost every 1v1 I am in while playing WvW. But there was a ranger from I want to say Crystal Desert that single handedly beat me and 3 other people. He may have been one of the best players I have ever seen, but it does show that rangers can kick some serious butt.
2) The title of your thread insinuates that the ranger class gets its name because it uses “ranged” weapons. That is not true. The ranger class gets its name because of the definition that reads, “to move around or through a region in all directions, as people or animals. To rove, roam, or wander”. Thus a ranger is not one who uses “ranged” weapons, but someone who “ranges” through the countryside.
A rich business man in your town decides to create a challenge open for anyone in town to try to complete. As a reward for completing it there will be a grand feast at his mansion. In addition, everyone who completes the challenge may invite other people to the feast, even if those people did not complete the challenge. Enough of the people who completed the challenge are willing to invite those who did not complete the challenge that pretty much everyone who wanted to come to the feast is able to come to the feast.
I understand where you’re trying to go with this however it doesn’t address one of the issues. In your example, those who completed it being able to bring guests was part of the “event”. It was specifically addressed and there were no doubts on its legitimacy. Unfortunately this is not the case for mesmer portals. It was not stated that mesmer portals could be used by those that completed the puzzle to bring others. It also was not said that players couldn’t either.
This brings us back to where we are now where we don’t know if it’s right or wrong. We each have our own personal opinion but we don’t have the official stance from Anet who can ultimately decide upon that. I also do not believe silence on their part to be a response.
Actually, I gave 3 reasons up above why it is obvious what ANet’s stance is on it. The fact is that the portal is working as intended. Once you finish the jumping puzzle you have the option of “inviting” others to the “feast”.
The fact that arenanet hasn’t responded to this thread yet, on their opinion of this matter, is kinda bothering me… its been at the top of the Suggestions forum for the past 2 days.. I think we deserve an answer so we can stop battling each other back and forth on the topic and just forget about it and go back to enjoying the game.
It seems pretty obvious to me what ANet’s opinion on this topic is. The portal is working as intended.
Either way, how much effort does it take to post on the forums more often? They should have people who have dedicated jobs at watching the forums and taking notes and making responses… I feel that i post more and look at more threads than Anet
Fair enough =)
The fact that arenanet hasn’t responded to this thread yet, on their opinion of this matter, is kinda bothering me… its been at the top of the Suggestions forum for the past 2 days.. I think we deserve an answer so we can stop battling each other back and forth on the topic and just forget about it and go back to enjoying the game.
It seems pretty obvious to me what ANet’s opinion on this topic is. The portal is working as intended.
Have you tried approaching it from straight south, south east, or east? If I remember correctly there are some funky currents to the west and north. If you come straight from that island you should be able to make it.
Yes, it is normal. The new gear takes the name and color code of whichever skin you pick. At least that is my experience.
I can’t understand why people are still trying to convince others that using a portal to help others skip content is somehow wrong. ANet gets to decide what is right and what is wrong. End of story. The people using portal to help others are playing the game how it was designed to be played. ANet designed this game to encourage “Players Helping Players”, it’s even the title to a forum subgroup.
If you don’t like how portal is used, that’s fine, no one can make you like it. But trying to make others feel like they are doing something wrong is silly. You don’t get to decide that.
And for those of you who like analogies, here is a more accurate one for this situation:
A rich business man in your town decides to create a challenge open for anyone in town to try to complete. As a reward for completing it there will be a grand feast at his mansion. In addition, everyone who completes the challenge may invite other people to the feast, even if those people did not complete the challenge. Enough of the people who completed the challenge are willing to invite those who did not complete the challenge that pretty much everyone who wanted to come to the feast is able to come to the feast.
(edited by MacLeod.4208)
It seems obvious that ANet wants the portals to be used this way…and since they are the creators of this universe they get to decide what is right and what is wrong.
If you don’t like portals that’s fine, but don’t try and convince people that they are somehow doing something wrong by helping other people skip some content to get the reward. They are, in fact, playing the game how it was designed to be played. ANet says it’s okay, so it’s okay. End of story.
I’ll stress my point again. Just because something doesn’t affect someone else, doesn’t mean that it is right. Once again, just because something doesn’t affect someone else, doesn’t mean that it is right…
Here is the thing…the only people who get to decide what is right and what is wrong in this game are the developers. They obviously think it is okay to portal through a JP. That means “it is right”.
Just to be clear, the only person, or people, who get to decide right and wrong in a particular universe is the creator(s) of that universe. In this case it is ANet’s development team that created the universe, so they are the only ones who have a right to say something in their universe is right or wrong. They say it is right, so it is right.
Either in that same post you partially quoted or another I did say that it was ultimately up to the devs.
Sorry, didn’t see it. =)
I want to hear A-net’s general opinion of this.
They could make it so that the portals didn’t work in the JP area, but they choose to allow it. That pretty much says it all.
But there are also reports of ANet employees laying down portals to the end of JPs.
ANet also has a long history from GW1 of allowing players to help other players skip content.
I’ll stress my point again. Just because something doesn’t affect someone else, doesn’t mean that it is right. Once again, just because something doesn’t affect someone else, doesn’t mean that it is right…
Here is the thing…the only people who get to decide what is right and what is wrong in this game are the developers. They obviously think it is okay to portal through a JP. That means “it is right”.
Just to be clear, the only person, or people, who get to decide right and wrong in a particular universe is the creator(s) of that universe. In this case it is ANet’s development team that created the universe, so they are the only ones who have a right to say something in their universe is right or wrong. They say it is right, so it is right.
…And fact remains that it’s a puzzle design issue if they don’t want it to be portal accessible they’d design it like other puzzles where you can’t…
\
^^^And This.
Someone else wrote that they saw an ANet member porting people to the end of a JP. It seems obvious that the creators of the game, and therefore the ones who set the rules, are okay with the way people are using of portals. If the people who make the rules say it is not cheating it is not cheating, end of story.
The phantasm retal was just nerfed, don’t bother building for that anymore.
I recommend decoy, signet of illusions, and feedback. You won’t always need feedback, but it’s nice to have when you do.
^^^This. Feedback and decoy, in my opinion, are the two most useful utility skills for PvE.
Feedback is ridiculous against ranged attacks but is not limited to just that situation. It also creates an ethereal field so friendly projectiles that go through your feedback bubble cause confusion. So it isn’t as situational as you might think. I throw it up as often as I can in PvE.
Decoy is a great defensive utility and can get you out of a tight spot if you find yourself in above your head or just need some time to heal.
I usually take Null Field for my third utility skill, but I have also been known to use Sig. Of Domination and Sig. Of Illusions. Less often I use Sig. of Inspiration or Blink.
(edited by MacLeod.4208)
… This game encourages people to help other people. It doesn’t get any simpler then that.
^^^And This.
There is no justification for portal QQing when you consider that there was an entire gameplay experience (and economy) in GW1 in which players were helping others to avoid or rush through content or avoid combat, Lornars Pass runs, Imperial Sanctum and Jennur’s Horde missions spring to mind, but there were a host of others.
The huge difference between GW1 and GW2 is that as far as i can tell the players who are using portals to help others very rarely take gold for their time and efforts and i for one salute them.
^^^This.
I am also on the Fort Aspenwood server and while some areas are not highly used, I never go more than a few minutes without seeing another person. In fact, I have recently been playing in Caledon Forest a lot as I just started a Sylvari ranger and only have him to level 17 myself. I saw quite a few people while I was there.
My question to you would be what time of day are you online and playing? That can have a big effect. People do tend to stay in the higher level zones as they are more challenging and thus more rewarding as far as mats and money.
That said, whisper me in game and I’ll come explore with you.
Charr Guardian isn’t uncommon but it seem kind of weird. I know the faith thing doesn’t have to be based on gods, they could have faith in in their warband or something but the description of the skills and the stuff they say just seems weird for a Charr. Asura Warriors and Guardian too tho they are funny to watch.
These combos would seem weird to me:
Asura- Warrior, Guardian
Norn- Thief, Mesmer, Necro, Engineer, Male Elementalist
Charr- Mesmer, Thief, Necro
Human- None
Sylvari- EngineerWhy is Charr thief odd? they have the ash legion which presumably is mostly made up of thieves or similar…or do you just mean what they look like?
I mean they look odd. A big bulky cat doing a bunch of acrobatics. A couple other posters have pointed out the Death Blossom animation. And then I have a lot of trouble picturing a charr with a mask or hood. That’s all.
These combos would seem weird to me:
Asura- Warrior, Guardian
Norn- Thief, Mesmer, Necro, Engineer, Male Elementalist
Charr- Mesmer, Thief, Necro
Human- None
Sylvari- EngineerMale Elementalist – go up north and fight the sons of something or other. they are norn, male elementalists
I was simply stating my opinion that they seem weird. Norn water elementalists fit well enough with the lore…it’s just that huge, broad shouldered Norn look funny as a caster class. I bet they get made fun of a lot as children. =)
So it sounds like you can infuse one of them and then wear both at the same time.
These combos would seem weird to me:
Asura- Warrior, Guardian
Norn- Thief, Mesmer, Necro, Engineer, Male Elementalist
Charr- Mesmer, Thief, Necro
Human- None
Sylvari- Engineer
(edited by MacLeod.4208)
@Narcemus,
In reality, of course, you are correct. But wouldn’t the humans still hold that there is a throne of Ascalon?