Guild Wars 2

I made a thread on reddit, but I thought I’d make a thread here at the official forums as well.

Basically, I’m wondering if the cost in crafting ascended gear, getting the optimal runes, sigils and consumables is even amongst the various professions, and the various roles. As a chrono main, I’m looking at crafting a full set of ascended zerkers light armour + commander pants (more than one chrono), an additional set of Minstrels for tanking, two sets of Leadership runes, and the Superior Sigil of Concentration.

My elementalist inherited an ascended zerker staff and trinkets. I spent 5 minutes and 10’ish gold to buy her a full set of exotic zerker armour, and then crafter some scholar runes. She’s done. That’s it.

I am also aware that I don’t have the full picture here, which makes me curious as to how much time and effort the various professions and various roles put into gearing their toons. Perhaps the chronomancer is an extreme outlier in the amount of effort it requires, or perhaps it balances itself out amongst the classes? For all I know, this elementalist will require super expensive food which will make it more expensive in the long run.

I’d like to learn more.

Here’s the reddit thread, if you’re interested:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/64xalq/so_uh_lets_talk_about_the_superior_sigil_of/

I’m fairly certain it’d be epidemic. My first thought when I saw the title, though, is the rifle gun thing that’s going around.

Not to mention shouts and banshee wails…

Because the Wizard’kitten, Staff and Greatsword on an Asura is an amazing combination, and I’ve already got a Mesmer and a Reaper.

I can’t decide upon whether I want a male or a female, though. I’m going for a wandering mage kind of look, so it’s important to me that the armour and animations flow more towards a caster than a heavily armed juggernaught. The voice is also important! The snarkier the better.

It’s hard to find videos comparing these animations, and so I turn to you in the guardian community.

Do you prefer male or female Asura guardians? What makes you lean towards the one over the other?

The Mordremoth clones we encountered were created in an timeframe where Mordremoth had absorbed Zhaitan’s magic and abilities, though. Perhaps that changed the way the clones function, perhaps not.

It’s also possible that Malyck was indoctrinated through a dream-like function, but not aware of it.

I do agree that it’s a section of the mystery that I’d love to see more of.

I always assumed that the Chronomancer just delved deeper into denial magic and focused on illusions that give the perception of rending time.

What I mean to say is that I’m not sure Chronomancers are actually meddling with time, but are rather meddling with people’s perception of time. It’s likely knowledge that already existed within the Mesmer Collective.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Malice.8439:

I don’t think it’s farfetched to think that things such as language and understanding of the surrounding world could have been drawn from Rhonan and the humans and centaurs who co-existed, lived and died near the tree.

That was the common consensus before launch, but then we met Malyck. The challenge now is to explain how a sylvari born of a different tree, one with no indication of having a helpful community to draw from, also created a human-shaped creature and instilled it with language and basic skills.

While playable Sylvari are born as adults, that doesn’t mean that other blightning trees operate in the same manner.

I mean, based on how we’ve seen them operate under Mordremoth, a Blightning tree could be using a (humanoid) body and cloning it indefinately. For all we know, there could be several Malycks out there, all being cloned from some poor sucker who stumbled over a root and got eaten by a Blightning Tree.

Fern Hounds are also born from the Pale Tree, so there’s a precedens set for different outcomes from blightning trees.

I feel like people may be overcomplicating things here. We know that the Pale Tree is essentially a Blightning Tree, and that Blightning Trees have the ability to absorb biomass and reproduce it somehow. We know that the Pale Tree was grown on graves, and that an entire community existed around it.

I don’t think it’s farfetched to think that things such as language and understanding of the surrounding world could have been drawn from Rhonan and the humans and centaurs who co-existed, lived and died near the tree.

Daulnay.4971:

RuPaw.

What she did there. I see it, and I approve.

As a lifelong Mesmer, I can tell you that it’s definately the most challenging and rewarding thing to play (if not incredibly frustrating to level).

The class is all about illusions, deception and denial of reality. It lends itself to some pretty interesting mechanics that feel great when you can pull them off, and rather punishing if you should make a mistake.

If you’re on your elementalist, and a champion hits you, you’re going to die – no matter if you have 10 or 20 K HP.

Stick to zerker, and practice dodging. It’s frustrating, I know. Especially those freaking frogs.

While I’m sure your build excels at survival, as the OP of the linked thread I still feel the need to speak out and say that I’m not currently experiencing any problems with survival in the open world as Dom/Insp/Chrono in full zerker gear.

I’ve learned to distance myself from the importance of passive defenses that’s prevalent in other MMO’s (vitality, toughness) and also accept that Heart of Thorns is a good deal tougher than the core game. Survival in this game is based on avoiding damage through active skill usage and/or dodging, and this was ramped up in HoT to the point where you dodge the boss, or you instantly die.

Still, it’s nice that you took the time to develope this. I’m sure there are players who come from guardians/necros and are flabbergasted at our squishyness.

Randulf.7614:

So no, I can’t see it happening and is probably why they gave us that combat usable Kodan tonic as well.

As someone who’d love playable Koda, I found this to be the great compromise.

I think the best we can hope for is an endless Tengu tonic.

Mochizuki.7385:

How exactly does full comm gear lock you into tank role? You don’t really do damage anyway…

I’d say it’s because your toughness goes too high.

Honestly, as far as flavour goes, I think clones and phantasms being limited to targets works incredibly well with the Mesmer’s focus of denying reality and obfuscating perception. The phantasms and clones dying with the target suggests that they are merely manifestation’s of that victims psyche; visible only to the victim and the Mesmer. Other’s watching the duel would not see the illusions.

I think of illusions and phantasms more as dots than pets or guardians. I find that helps with realising their flavourful purpose.

Excellent! I now have a direction.

Is there any reason to keep my exotic zerker gear around? I wouldn’t mind freeing up the bagspace, and I could use the dark matters for ascended crafting, but perhaps there are areas in the game where power necros excel over condi ones?

I’m currently aiming for something like this:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAs+dnsIClfiFoB+fCEgiFVjiMAGhi7MIGiprOZn2qF-TRSBQBA4kAcP9CXRp3EfAA8b/BKp+yBVh4iKDIpSQSBE4YA-e

I notice you use a Greatsword in your build. I find that intriguing, would you mind telling me more about it?

Thanks for all your advice, guys and girls.

Am I to understand that the raiding reaper translates directly into fractals, then?

I’m already doing Sw/Focus + -/Shield, for that very reason.

I hadn’t considered that too much Commanders gear would lock me into a tanking role. That’s a very good point.

It would appear that I can’t escape having to farm Silverwastes for a few days to afford that Superior Sigil, then.

…Because I can only stand Dragon’s Stand (ha!) so many times, and I’m terrible at PvP and nobody deserves the burden of having me on their WvW team.

Also, while I can craft a full set of zerker/commander ascended armour and weapons, I can’t grind those six runes. Especially since I then have to buy that ridiculously priced sigil. <_<

I’m wondering, are the Leadership Runes so ridiculously good that they can’t be replaced with something else? I was thinking 4 x Traveler runes + Surging Runes, and perhaps dash on a Commander’s Amulet to compensate for the lost Boon Duration?

While at it, the Sup. Sigil of Concentration seems like a game changer. I’ve a difficult time believing you can use any other Sigil as a replacement (except perhaps the Major/Minor version, if you’re an expert with minute awareness of your cooldowns). Do our PvE performance make or break, dependant on this Sigil, or are there acceptable replacements while I grind the gold/pearls needed to afford this baby?

This is mainly for fractals, mind, though I may be playing a few (non-tank) support-chrono raids further down the road. I mean to function optimally without having to depend on the presence of a Herald.

What are you trying to do with your mesmer? I’m fairly certain we’re “meant” to be played as support in all forms of PvE, aside from open world.

In open world, I find that going Greatsword/ Sword + Sw/Sh/Fo with Strength Runes works wonders. All that might.

Sun Lian.4075:

Malice.8439:

Thank you all very much for your answers

@Sun Lian: What combination of Viper and Sinister would you personally aim for? Or rather, which pieces of equipment would you prefer to have as Sinister over Viper? I’m assuming weapons, back piece and maybe one accessory?

I use 2 Sinister earrings, 1 ring and backpack, everything else Viper. My set is full ascended and the build I use will give you 100% bleed and 95% poison duration.

This sounds great. Would you mind sharing your build?

Thank you all very much for your answers

@Sun Lian: What combination of Viper and Sinister would you personally aim for? Or rather, which pieces of equipment would you prefer to have as Sinister over Viper? I’m assuming weapons, back piece and maybe one accessory?

When you say PvE, what do you mean specifically? Fractals? Raids? Open world? Dragon events? I think the answer depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

I’ve only done open world PvE so far, and I’ve yet to have any reason to switch from my greatsword. Great cleave, excellent sustain against both single target and groups of mobs. If something is out of range, auto-attacking it will send your minions their way – and Grasping Darkness also helps out.

I do keep a staff in the second slot, if the zerg is too strong and I want to tag as many things as possible.

Howdy!

I created a Necro at launch, and she’s been my mule until about a month ago, when I finally got my thumb out of my butt and started focusing more on this game.

I’ve played a Mesmer since launch, and running through the open world as a Minionmancer reaper with full Zerker gear has been absolutely phenomenal. I love this class, and the Reaper has been upgraded from bank mule to co-main.

I’ve recently thrown myself into the gear grind, and I’ve learned the hard way that though they’re both light armour classes with a few overlapping weapons, I’m going to need to craft vastly different ascended gear sets for my Reaper and my Chronomancer.

I’m focusing on my Chronomancer for light armour right now, and I estimate that it’ll take a month or two before I can start decking out my Reaper in Viper’s armour. I’ve noted that HoT stat exotics seem ridiculously expensive, compared to their core-game counterparts. I’m not willing to shell out the time and effort for an exotic Viper’s set that I’m going to replace in the near future anyways.

So I guess my questions are as follows:

1) If I have a long-term goal to gear up my Reaper in Vipers ascended, is there a cheaper, exotic alternative I can use during the transition? Would Rampagers work, for instance?

2) Can I be a Zerker reaper in fractals until further notice? How far would I be able to go as a Minionmancer? (I have ascended zerker trinkets with AR, so that won’t be an issue).

3) Is there any room for the Greatsword in a fractal vipers build?

4) Am I right to assume that the crafting priority ought to go somewhere along the lines of Dagger, Scepter, Warhorn, trinkets, legs, chest > the rest?

5) I’m a rather casual player. I don’t intend to do much raiding, and I’d rather have gear cover as much condition duration as possible, and not have expensive food with me at all times. With this in mind, is it better to go full Viper or should I be looking at crafting some Sinister things as well?

I’d be grateful for any input you may have!

- Morgan Fay, Saladmancer.

I would have to say RuPaul.

I mean, granted I am also in the Order of Whispers – so I’m familiar with both Demmi and Tybalt, but I’d think it’d also become obvious when she snarks about the Vigil or the Priory way of handling the various mobs.

I just ran through sneakily and was awarded a whispers achievement for it. Perhaps I’ve just got the OfW in my blood. :P

Healix.5819:

Malice.8439:

I don’t like the way Counter-Magic is used. I suppose it’s meant to be keybound, but I keep wanting to hover my mouse over it, expecting some sort of tooltip about what I’m supposed to be doing.

The counter magic tutorial was in the first episode, which explained that it reverses the effects of whatever you are countering. It’s a generic skill, so the tooltip isn’t going to help. In this case, it interrupts his shadowstep combo.

Thanks. Yeah, I was able to read up on it after I wrote that post. I’m still iffy towards it simply being a “react to this” kind of deal. We’re not told what the boss is trying to do, there’s no levity there to decide whether or not to counter. In the case of Caudacus, you interupt his Shadowstep – but that has the effect of him popping on top of you and instantly cleaving. At the time of the fight, I never felt rewarded for interupting his shadowstep, since the result of me hitting that key just led up to me being damaged in melee, having otherwise spent that fight running around at range with Scepter/Pistol and iDuelists.

Granted, he might have done something much worse if it had not been interrupted.

I managed to one-shot it on my full-zerker Mesmer, but I’m not going to pretend that it was easy. The whole instance felt rushed, with Anise and Demmi constantly running ahead, while I wanted to stay a moment and take in the scenery.

I don’t like the way Counter-Magic is used. I suppose it’s meant to be keybound, but I keep wanting to hover my mouse over it, expecting some sort of tooltip about what I’m supposed to be doing.

Also, when a boss has a special mechanic or ability, why would you throw us immediately into a high mobility fight with loads of AoE, without us being able to first read the tooltip? It was an absolute mess, having to run around, avoid circles on the ground, exploding Mesmer portals, not to mention the fact that the boss teleported right on top of you when you used counter magic. All throughout, I never actually got a moment to pause and read the kitten tooltip, so I still don’t know what his abilities actually were.

Don’t even get me started on phase 2…

It’s not impossible that Primordus’ main forces are being held up in the depths of Tyria, fighting against the dwarves.

LouWolfskin.3492:

Malice.8439:

I love my Mesmer to death. Quite literally. He dies every time a HoT/LSS3 mob sneezes at him.

I do feel that mobs in HotS are overtuned, and deal dramatically more damage than in core Tyria. I don’t have this problem on my Elementalist or Necromancer, since they have more passive defenses (whereas the Mesmer only has active ones).

I can’t really say whether it’s a skill issue or a design issue. I do feel like I have to monitor every single move as a Mesmer in open world PvE and personal stories, or risk dying – whereas my Necromancer and Elementalist have much more forgiving gameplay.

Don’t know how you manage that, i played through HoT solo on my mesmer without much of a problem, same with the LS Areas.

Yes, yes, by now we’re all aware of the fact that you have no problems with anything at all.

I, too, would like to add my thanks. The only thing that bothered me is that I’d liked to have known beforehand that I’d need max crafting in order to finish this quest.

I was leveling Weaponsmithing anyway, but since reaching 450, you do spend days/weeks refining time-gated mats for experience. It was a bit anti-climatic to suddenly have to stop the quest and wait for crafting dailies in order to make that Vision Crystal, and I think a lot of that could have been avoided if I knew from the start that I’d have to craft my own components.

That being said, I adored seeing Trahearne again, meeting Riannoc and travelling to all these places. Kudos.

Rognik.2579:

T However, Mordremoth only had the Shadow of the Dragon from S2E4 and possibly the Mouth of Mordremoth down in Dragon’s Stand, which is more similar to the Eyes and Mouth of Zhaitan than a proper lieutenant.

What about the Vinewrath? Faolain? The Pale Tree?

I love my Mesmer to death. Quite literally. He dies every time a HoT/LSS3 mob sneezes at him.

I do feel that mobs in HotS are overtuned, and deal dramatically more damage than in core Tyria. I don’t have this problem on my Elementalist or Necromancer, since they have more passive defenses (whereas the Mesmer only has active ones).

I can’t really say whether it’s a skill issue or a design issue. I do feel like I have to monitor every single move as a Mesmer in open world PvE and personal stories, or risk dying – whereas my Necromancer and Elementalist have much more forgiving gameplay.

I want to buy some shared inventory slots, but kitten they’re pricey. I’m hoping for a 30-50% discount, and then I’d buy several of them.

I’d also like to buy some permanent gathering tools, but I’m still holding my breath for a bundle thing at a great discount.

Oh, and any form of permanent contract, really. Whether it’s a makeover one, a BLM one, a Mystic Fountain one…

OriOri.8724:

So the build I gave you is more than enough to be immortal on a mesmer regardless of what your gear is, and like @cptaylor said in his reply, you don’t even need it. You can be immortal as a mesmer by playing something much less forgiving but with higher damage output (which in turn is a valid way to stay alive, by killing stuff faster).

The problem is that all of mesmers defenses are active defenses. Using BF as an evade. Using Distortion as an on demand invuln if you need it. Using F3 to interrupt large attacks. Using staff 2 to evade an attack/get out of an AoE field. Until you get those down, which does involve learning the tells from the enemies, you will have trouble surviving as a mesmer. It might sound harsh but its the truth with mesmer. Our defenses are all active.

I am grateful for all the advice I’ve been given here, but I still feel like the HoT areas are in a league of their own. I’ve played Mesmer since launch, and I’ve never had any issues surviving in the open world before the dawn of HoT. Our defenses are, as you say and as I mention in the first post, all active abilities, and I feel like that’s no longer enough for me to survive in the open world (or even storyline instances, for that matter).

I do think you’re hitting the nail on the head regarding enemy tells, though. I don’t feel like I can predict what enemies will do before it’s too late. I feel as if I’m just running through open terrain one second, and the next second I’m in a downed state, because a mushroom popped from behind a bush and exploded, or red AoE circles swarm the ground beneath me and murder me before I can react and blink away to safety. I also don’t know how to deal with swarms that do not die from popped wells + 3 Mantra of Pain.

Perhaps practice will make perfect. But not surviving fights, and having to spend another 10-15 minutes to navigate those awful Tangled Depths tunnels doesn’t make for enticing gameplay. It’s not something I feel like trying over and over again – and so if it doesn’t work, I’ll turn off the game and do something else. I was hoping there’d be a trait/gear/rune setup that’d make that part of the game somewhat more bearable, but I guess I’m out of luck. :x

Edit: While I have been trying the build you’ve suggested (as it seemed to have the most “keep me alive” traits) I haven’t tried Minstrel gear. I’ll give that a go.

flog.3485:

Malice.8439:

Currently running Insp/Chaos/Chrono with Zerker/Assassin gear, Sw/Sh + Staff. Can’t explore the Tangled Depths to get waypoints without getting swarmed by Chak. Can’t outrun them. Can’t aoe them. Can’t take on more than 2-3 at a time (and they spawn in swarms, so).

I just keep dying, and the HotS maps are extremely frustating to navigate without nunoch wallows mastery.

Really, I’m thinking of just running a full soldier/clerics build. I know there used to be “immortal” roaming PvE builds pre-chrono. I’m not interested in contributing or doing high DPS in HoT content at this point, just tagging and staying alive. Everything else is much too frustrating.

Zerker/assassin with staff ? No I would say it is not a great combination. If you run staff, you need to go hybrid. When I want to get myself easy, I personally run Gs/staff in insp/chrono/chaos with a mix of berserker/rampager (is it really the name ? The stats that give precision/condi/power with precision in major) for trinkets and a rampager/aristocracy rune and armor set.

The staff is a more defensive weapon, if anything. It synergizes very well with the Chaos tree, not to mention that Zerker Warlocks are amazing at champions.

I’m open to experimenting, though. Would you say that GS/Staff hybrid provides good survivability? Could you perhaps link your build?

Currently running Insp/Chaos/Chrono with Zerker/Assassin gear, Sw/Sh + Staff. Can’t explore the Tangled Depths to get waypoints without getting swarmed by Chak. Can’t outrun them. Can’t aoe them. Can’t take on more than 2-3 at a time (and they spawn in swarms, so).

I just keep dying, and the HotS maps are extremely frustating to navigate without nunoch wallows mastery.

Really, I’m thinking of just running a full soldier/clerics build. I know there used to be “immortal” roaming PvE builds pre-chrono. I’m not interested in contributing or doing high DPS in HoT content at this point, just tagging and staying alive. Everything else is much too frustrating.

Full zerker Mesmers have always been particularly squishy, seeing as we rely on active abilities and cooldowns for defense. I feel like this has been amped up in HotS, and I find myself dying over and over in personal story instances, as well as open world PvE.

Is there still an immortal Mesmer spec going around? I was thinking maybe adapting the tank Mesmer for open world PvE. That’d mean soloing, but also world bosses.

Has this been done before? I’d appreciate any advice as to where to start looking.

I feel like all light armour in the game is made for Human, Sylvari and Norn females. All other race/gender combinations look notoriously awful in light armour, comparitavely.

I’ve been maining male human Mesmer since launch, so this is a problem I’ve been dealing with for some time. :P

Mitern.1563:

The Focus and Shield were pretty good and I will try them again (I am keeping alt weapons in my inventory). I haven’t tried Mantras because of the mixed reviews but will try them tomorrow. Thanks again!

The idea with Mantra of Pain is that it’s instant AoE tagging. Mesmers are notoriously bad at quick AoE tagging when there’s a lot of players running around, since there’s either a delay with our wells, or projectise speed with our ranged skills. The scepter is a single target ranged weapon, the sword is melee range and the shield 5 has a projectile delay. MoP can be clicked once or twice to tag mobs as you run up to them with your sword/shield, so you don’t miss kills.

It’s also really handy for taking out swarms of small things, like raptors.

Thank you! Now to decide whether I’ll wait for april or just give in to the promise of instant gratification… :x

I’m switching between doing Scepter/Shield and Sword/Shield, depending on whether I’m at range or in melee while soloing around in Berserker/Assassin gear. I’ve found that MoP with Harmonious Mantras gives me the tagging I need.

I was thinking of spending some gems on bank space and shared inventory slots. I’ve had the fortune to always have discounts available when I’ve wanted to buy QoL things before, and I wonder if there’s a pattern of when certain things usually go on discount. I know that the HoT expansion usually goes on sale near living season releases, for an example.

When was the last time the Shared Inventory Slots were discounted? Is there a known pattern as to when it may be discounted again?

Honestly, I’d just equip Scepter/Shield + Greatsword and jump into doing the group events. You can unlock the full Chronomancer trait line in an evening by following the Hero Point trains. Just make sure you’re playing at a reasonable time of the day, and announce in map chat that you’re about to start/need help with a certain HP challenge.

The Verdant Brink and onwards hero point challenges award 10 points instead of the usual 1.

As someone who just returned to the game after a long absence, and just about to gear up… This is awful news. xD

At least I got two full sets of Ascended trinkets from laurels. I hated having to run around the world gathering mats just to level Weaponsmithing to 400. I honestly can’t see myself doing the same with tailoring and artifice.

There must always be… A Lich King…

bearshaman.3421:

Malice.8439:

As of the recent announcement regarding changes to Ascended gearing (and not having done much of crafting) I do feel rather stressed about getting the vendor ascended things in a timely manner.

What was this recent announcement?

It’s part of the 22/2 patch.

http://dulfy.net/2017/02/17/gw2-ascended-vending-and-skill-balance-changes-next-patch/

Additionally, it appears that DeLaina’s Coin Purse and Zhaitan’s Claws are the only Assassin rings available at the moment. I read that one who doesn’t have access to Assassins rings should aim for Berserker Rings, but then aim for Assassins Weapons. Is this still true today?

Fay.2357:

Malice.8439:

As of the recent announcement regarding changes to Ascended gearing (and not having done much of crafting) I do feel rather stressed about getting the vendor ascended things in a timely manner.

I have a Call of the Wild since before, and about 1510ish Laurels to my name at the moment (I’ve been on a long break <_<). What would be the most prudent things to spend them on?

I’m assuming Ascended trinkets. I’ll have to read up on how to acquire weapons.

I’m assuming step 1 is to blow 70 of those Laurels of “Crystalline Band” + “Ring of Red Death”, yes?

Laurels are good for rings/amulet. You can also buy trinkets, but they’re costly even with laurels. The problems crop up if you want commander’s stats on your trinkets, because then you can’t get those with laurels. Generally the best place to get ascended trinkets with HoT stats are from the new zones introduced with LS3.

Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t see your post while refreshing.

I was thinking of doing the following:

Spend 150 Laurels and 100 Globs of Ectoplasm for 2 x Ascended Rings and 2 x Ascended Trinkets. Aim for Berserkers and then reforge to Commanders/whatever I’d want at a later date.

Are there other things that laurels would be better spent at, that would warrant not spending them, in your opinion?