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Thank you for your reply Marxo but you are also forgetting something, not only rampager looses in power but also critical damage, the extra critical % chance is not even close to make up for the loss on both power and critical damage so in the end its still going to suck vs foes
…..
EDIT: Marxo, you have 5% force sigil which increases dps by 5%, i know it doesnt sound that great, maybe i will replace it with a ruby orb.
I certainly did include crit damage, power and crit rate in my Big Long Math Post™. That was the point actually. Also I use Sigil of Strength and take advantage of the increased proc rate with Ramp, not Sigil of Force
REgardless of anything else.. 22% is quite a large number regardless. And also vs objects, rampager’s falls off hard as conditions can’t be applied. This I think is the biggest downfall.
Ok, I’ll keep this mostly anecdotal as to not cause anymore maths-brain-tumors. I didn’t even touch condition math in the last post.
A good Rampager Mes will run at least 65% crit with max dueling (can get closer to 70% if not using any surv gear) UNBUFFED. Using Signet of Domination that increases the already high condition damage stat by 10% (there is no power damage signet equivalent for zerk) and increased might stacks from better sigil procing… now 100 damage per tick is the average for SI (very common – ask any cond mes)… that’s ~500 per stack of bleed. Now you have 3 clones out- very easy uptime with dodge on clone.
Now it’ starting to take shape… 2/3 average crits per GS volley = 1000 damage per clone per volley = 3000 extra damage (3 clones) for every volley.
So is that worth the extra ~22% direct damage? (of course we can’t use exact same numbers since we aren’t talking about the same build anymore) Many think so.
I’ll give you that Zerks is better for beating lifeless objects…
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@ EasymodeX maths:
There’s a fundamental mistake you made in your model as well as some misquoted set stats which skew your results considerably:
Fundamental mistake #1: You did not include base stats in your maths. Each character has 916 base power at 80. You may ask, why? aren’t we just comparing gear? Don’t base stats cancel each other out on both sides of the equation? NO it doesn’t.
This is because stats like crit rate have a much bigger impact when we are talking about a bigger base power pool, because it is multiplying a bigger number. Proofs by maths at end if you don’t believe me.
So with this in mind let’s revise your maths and also fix misquoted set stats while we are at it. Using PvE Zerk with the bigger crit kittenoo:
You misquoted the crit damage from Zerk as being 80% with just set and 20 in duelling – the set provides ~48% crit bonus + 20% from duelling so 68% bonus. If you want to include 12% from divinity runes you have to do the same for the Rampager side of the equation which you didn’t…
So in reality, full exo sets of each set with our sample build and Divinity runes provide the following power: (I used green backs as Rampager’s doesn’t have a Guild Backpack)
Rampager power: 916 base + 618 gear + 60 runes + 200 traits = 1794
Berserker power: 916 base + 876 gear + 60 runes + 200 traits = 2052
*note builds can have slightly more or less if you are using a different build than our sample
Hence a character using Zerk’s has 14% more power than a Ramp’s character… far cry from 40% isn’t it?
If you do the same for precision when you include runes and traits they increase equally – I again use PvE gear so we are talking 7% to both Ramp and Zerk.
Thus expected direct damage is:
Rampager: 1 * (1+.57*.82) = 1.47
Zerk: 1.14 * (1+.45*1.3) = 1.81
Zerker’s does 23% more direct damage – not 44%… yes those crits are bigger but also less frequent.
Now if you understand that Rampager’s takes better advantage of both condition damage and crit damage stats due to the increased crit rate – if you were to compare a max dueling, max illusions line (with 300 condition damage in addition to set) you would to see a build that slants even more away from Berserker’s favor…
A few more points that were neglected about Rampager’s:
- additional condition damage that is not from SI, namely buring and confusion
- increased weapon sigil procing rate due to crits
- Zerk damage dropping sharply during dodges, LOS, casting, fears/stuns/ccs due to more reliance on player direct damage
Anyway. You get the picture. It’s not as one sided as many would have you believe.
Math proofs of why base damage needs to be included, skip this if you are the TLDR type:
This is an exaggerated and simplified example to make a point, the ratios are not the same as Berserker and Rampager gear.
Let’s say red gear has 20 power and 50% crit
and green gear has 50 power and 10% crit
you get red gear expected damage = 20 * (1.5 + 0.5) = 40
green gear expected damage = 50 * (1.5 + 0.1) = 80
(yes you can divide 20 and 50 to get a % difference instead but the % margin of the result will be the same)
Holy crap! Green gear with more power does twice as much damage as red crit gear… right? No…
Now you say well, my character had 1000 base power at level 80 before the gear… then the damage is:
red gear damage = (1000 + 20) * (1.5 + 0.5) = 2040
green gear damage = (1000 +50) * (1.5 + 0.1) = 1680
Whoops, now red gear with increased crit is better. The stat weights have changed considerably… looks like base stats are important after all…
Better luck in summer school!
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You think Sylvari sit around and ponder if humans are offended by Thanksgiving? They’re both meat….
People who look at a company who put out a game of this size and quality for no monthly fee and call them greedy have lost all sense of perspective.
It’s awfully close in spirit to what Chaos Storm is all about (if not in duration, ahem) don’t you think?
If you were interested in improving PvP you should consider writing out well thought out opinions on various facets of the game and critiques of mechanics you are/are not in favor of.
Instead you went on and on about how its all just plain fail how you wanted to like it that other games are just not as bad, your ambivalence to Anet and a bunch of other utterly unhelpful stuff… and then a token link to some other poster’s well articulated critical post.
Maybe you should just save everyone the time and bump that other guy’s post directly instead?
Well between Rytlock being the CE and DD special pet and the Charr plushy, I’d nominate him as the GW2 mascot, even though he’s not exactly small, cute and fluffy in-game.
A Quaggan would be a better choice. When a company decides to push a playable race as a mascot, it tends to lead to bitterness and favouritism. A prime example of that would be the Orcs and Humans of WoW who are often thrust into the spotlight at the expense of other playable races getting recognition and screen-time.
A bit late for that, isn’t it? While I like quaggans too they just don’t have the same in-game presence nor the popularity to symbolize the game.
As for racial popularity, everyone does it anyway from WoW’s night elf chick to SWTOR’s Darth Malgus.
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Well between Rytlock being the CE and DD special pet and the Charr plushy, I’d nominate him as the GW2 mascot, even though he’s not exactly small, cute and fluffy in-game.
While adding additional effects sliders may not be a bad idea, it seems a lot of people are redirecting their anger at the fact that their computer doesn’t handle GW2 well – in which case additional sliders may not even do the trick for you…
The only time I personally find effect getting in the way of mechanics is during huge zergs (much like the OP’s picture shows) in in these circumstances individual mechanics start to become irrelevant anyways. Worst case, watching your health bar is a better idea. You may be getting hit with a ballista or the like in which case less effects would not make a difference.
It’s just a nice and (very) long-term goal to work towards instead of sitting around and saying you have nothing to spend your money on. It’s also good for the economy.
In addition to CC, invulnerability/duration blocking, invisibility as counters, there is also confusion, reflection and retaliation (granted retaliation is a weak counter) which can seriously harm the player using quickness.
Confusion and retaliation both don’t counter but rather mitigate Quickness. Reflection, if duration based and Quickness being used for projectile attacks does counter Quickness.
Confusion, to my knowledge, has to be frontloaded, so it can’t be used reactionary to counter Quickness.
Stealth does somewhat counter Quickness if you’re mobile. You can attack thin air with almost all attacks, if you happen to be stealthed within that thin air…
Well no the idea isn’t that you pop confusion/retaliation/reflection and do nothing else to counter quickness, you are still free to use your other abilities which evens the playfield somewhat. As stated I would like to see these counters improved as well.
As for frontloading confusion, you’re right about that for a 100b warrior who will take no additional damage after activating 100b since the skill is already used, but for thieves and most other classes that use quickness, a decent sized stack and some +condition damage will mean confusion damage to themselves will often be more than the damage they are inflicting (and they are still free to use other attack skills) – obviously this statement will vary in truth depending on the skill used.
Imo making counters like retaliation and confusion stronger are a better solution. Buffs make people smile, taking something away that people are used to makes them cry and rage.
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In addition to CC, invulnerability/duration blocking, invisibility as counters, there is also confusion, reflection and retaliation (granted retaliation is a weak counter) which can seriously harm the player using quickness.
So it’s not like it’s uncounterable. Yet, I would suggest making quickness counters more powerful – ie. retaliation and perhaps confusion too both of which many classes have access too.
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Order of Whispers storyline, you have to infiltrate a pirate gang and impress the leader by winning a drinking game. Your first (easy) opponent is announced:
Pirate Leader: “And in the other corner, it’s everyone’s favorite cheap date, One-Drink-Jake!”
One-Drink-Jake: “I hate you guys.”
XD
He’s a perfect voice for a Sylvari. Reserved and sensible. If people don’t like that role that’s one thing, but for what he was supposed to perform he nailed it right on.
I am very happy to hear that the explorer’s star will be fixed at some point.
I can sympathize with wanting offhands to show on clones too. I’d like to partake in skin hunting / legendary hunting for offhands someday but it seems that part if the game is not wise for mesmers to pursue.
As a result I pretty much just go for the least shiny offhands as possible as to not to be a detrement to my PvP survival.
The rest of the OP’s suggestions are asking a little too much though, clones are supposed to make people look twice, not be impossible to tell apart.
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So I was looking around for some new skins at end game and decided to check out what my order (of whispers) had to offer.
I couldn’t help but notice how interaction with your personal order seems to have no real endgame presence. Sure the Trinity are seen all over the place in Orr, but the player’s personal connection to his/her order becomes non-existent the moment your story quests are complete.
Upon revisiting my order’s area, there is even an instance with chambers only for players who are members of the order. I’ve been 80 for quite a while and this was unknown to me primarily because it’s quite irrelevant.
What I would like to see is some repeatable/variable quests that can be obtained at an order’s headquarters for members. Perhaps they would just give standard quest rewards, perhaps like dungeons, you could earn tokens towards gear of your order.
Maybe even a teleportation stone much like the one used to get to the HoM could be used to make the Order’s base feel more relevant to the player. I don’t think this would significantly decrease traffic to LA as a gathering point so long as not too many amenities are place in the Order’s HQ.
This perhaps could have been put in the suggestions box but I wouldn’t mind player feedback.
Imo most DE’s are too easy right now. Balthazar granted is tough. I mean you’re fighting the undead avatar of a god, there should be some failure involved.
If you do manage do get a good sized group going, be sure to kill adds/ the champion abomination when they appear. The abom alone will wipe your attempt even with a massive amount of people. If he’s left up too long his attack speed will just shred through piles of players with little hope of reviving them.
As for the AoE attacks, all I can say is to keep your eyes on your feet and dodge asap. Good luck!
Same issue as OP on Ehmry Bay.
I’m a fan of any hammer build. I also like the idea of “Fear Me” on utility as I did not realize that triggered the hammer damage bonus.
My only qualm is this trait build seems to have a whole lot of tank and not as much spank. Is really necessary to max out both defense and tactics trees when your opponents are so heavily CC’d already?
Only time bleeds are being wasted are on world bosses in which case you don’t need to worry about getting gold anyway.
If you are using a fast attack weapon such as GS or one handed sword, precision (Ie. rampager’s set) is the better choice.
People seem to miss the vital point that at any given time, we are more likely to have a clone out or two than a full set of phantasms. When you are using rampager set, 1 bleed stack does around 450 damage (before might stacks come into play, more after), and roughly 65% crit chance (you can get higher), you are averaging 1000 damage for a clone per GS volley. This becomes powerful when you have the clone on dodge trait or use mirror images.
Thus a focus for this build is to be sure you have all 3 illusions out at any given time, phantasms of course are still a priority.
So, when you se how this starts to multiply up:
450 damage x 2 (probability of bleeds) x 3 illusions = about 3000 additional damage per volley… berserker gear/power based do minimal bleed damage at best.
And I’m only talking about the bleeds here.
Rampager’s also has a healthy dose of power, so considering the increased chance to crit — direct and phantasmal damage is also quite good. Divinity runes are great to use.
The fun part about this build is also that you can be effective with any weapon since you have solid condition damage boosts. The reason for this is that mesmer weapons are all either fast multi-hit or condition based weapons.
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Stay out of the raspberry jam jar?
Huh? You’re a Mesmer, learn not to get downed in WvW!
Mhm mesmers are good at getting away in WvW but it’s ridiculous to say downed doesn’t happen.
Stopping off to kill 13 mobs for every battle, while maybe not terrible, would still get tedious.
I like the ghost pepper popper idea though
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I suspect, botting aside, the loot cap is in place to get people to take part in various DE’s around the world.
In order to keep the world feeling alive and for DEs to function there needs to be a constant flow of people moving around. It’s not that bad actually, you might even consider it fun if you let go of the traditional way of MMO grinding.
Ideally, loot drops and event contribution should count the following:
-damage
-boons distributed
-conditions distributed (even if mob is capped)
-attacks blocked+evaded
-attacks interrupted
-healing done
That’s what I can think of off the top of my head, there may be more. I think that would make it so people could enjoy playing something other than just dps in group settings.
For you precision mesmers, you should try out superior rune of strength in your GS. The triple hit and high crit chance means you’ll be stacking might pretty nicely. And remember, might increases condition damage instantly as well. Use sigil of inspiration and share the might love around when in group setting.
It’s the most expensive sigil right now however, but the performance justifies the price.
Stacking sigils are great for world PvE, but pretty lousy in explore dungeons and WvW where it will get reset frequently.
I just want to see ootles of professions (classes) like GW1. If they make new profs anywhere as fun as the current, that is the best content for me.
I hope they don’t get cold feet because of how much work class balancing is.
They didn’t in the first game. I’m guessing we’ll see new classes with each expansion just like in GW1.
I’m aware of this. This thread is about what we’d like to see in expansions, is it not?
I just want to see ootles of professions (classes) like GW1. If they make new profs anywhere as fun as the current, that is the best content for me.
I hope they don’t get cold feet because of how much work class balancing is.
You need to be aware how many different dialects, accents, and colloquialisms there are of any single language.
Just because it doesn’t sound like they say it from wherever your home town is, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
Anyway we could quiet this guy up? He attacks very fast and every attack is voiced with a scream, thus the racket is pretty continuous and at such a rate that the screams overlap – generally sounding very unauthentic to boot.
And then we summon 2 or 3 at the same time -_- … the Warden is currently a favorite summon (performance wise) for many mesmer builds, thus this audio effect can really downgrade the audio experience for a number of players.
Aside from this I really have to give kudos to the sound designer for this class – they are done very well for the most part and are very signature of the class.
I still can’t believe I snagged “Great Justice” for my warrior… I would have thought someone from GW1 had reserved it. I have people audibly dedicating their battles to me every time I play, lol.
I can appreciate that Cantatus, but when you combine -robes- with flourishy design it come comes across to the modern human eye as an evening gown. If they were do do the same sort of styling with say, a pants (not tights!) or a formal jacket, it might work better. The cloth HoM gear is somewhat like this and so are GW1 mesmer, albeit simpler and plainer designs. Or just go the route of high spellcaster – for some reason Jafar from Aladdin comes to mind though that’s probably going too far.
Mind Wrack, one, two or three clones? Crits? (... and other shatters?)
in Mesmer
Posted by: Marxo.3829
Also note that multiple clone dazes are great for stripping stacks of resolute (stability buff – may have wrong name) off of bosses. It’s usually a 5 stack that regenerates over time and each clone strips off 1 stack.
Get enough off and you can throw bosses around like rag dolls with the greatsword knockback or whatever your teammates might be packing.
I am curious as to anyone has spawned clones while under the effect of a Norn’s shapeshifting elite by use of a utility slot or dodge cone. Does the clone retain the shape of your shapeshift or your standard form?
I ask only because Norn seems to really be the only race who’s abilies directly botch a key mesmer mechanic – confusing your opponent with clone usage. Well unless you count the human shifts as well but those are moderatelty less obtrustive.
Re: SuburbanLion’s comment – grasping roots hits if your opponent isn’t moving but misses otherwise (thus not exactly reliable, bug I suspect). But due to the greatsword’s knockdown effect grasping roots can be used to full effect if chained afterwards even on a target who is intent on bullrushing the mesmer.
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I hear you on the theme of a mesmer – but playing a male mesmer I find the typical cloth sets tend to “nancy” my character quite a bit.
The dungeon cloth sets venture more towards the feel of powerful adventurer rather than dancing queen, so that’s where I’ve been grinding up skins I’d like to show.
Some of the costume designers should understand that male casters often want to retain looking manly while retaining the themes of magic and mystery that that they are incorporating – ballroom gowns won’t cut it for a lot of us fellas.
Also sorry I haven’t come across your butterfly mask yet.
They dont suck for pvp. If you want to actually survive they are the best stats. If you want to be a glass cannon and die in 2 hits, have fun! Anyways you can build a set with pvp armor and still get about 70 crit dmg, sounds good to me.
It should be obvious that every build has a different stat weight that suits them and that pow/tough/vit is actually not good at all for PvP for a huge number of builds.
I’m not sure why Anet allows certain builds to gear up in WvW and not others for whom WvW may be their preferred play area.
I would like to see the vendors for different keeps/starter zones to sell different ones depending on where you are… as for now all I’ll be using my badges only for siege weapons.
I figured it’s due to bugged skill points being fixed on several high end zones meaning many people suddenly got zone completions and free 40 stack of ori or ancient wood.
Do not overlook the fact that The Prestige is also an aoe combo finisher…pretty sweet if used in that fashion.
I wish this blast finisher was a little more accessible. I works well if you are in vent and set up the combo, but if you see a field have to run into it and then wait 3 seconds you’ll miss it more often than not.
Please stop trying to make the mesmer into a summoner necro. It would only serve to make the playstyle more passive and uninteresting. Mesmer is fun right now!
That being said, there are some interesting ideas on shatter alternatives. i wouldn’t rule out the possibility that some of these would make it in as expansion skills, but that’s likely far off.
We suspend greatswords between our hands and fire laser beams down the blade to strike our foes.
Mesmers win the game before leaving the starter zone.
OP is trolling perhaps?
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Another possible reason: clones don’t spawn when you are not in combat. I have much better luck with leap when I precast something else, like a phantasm. People who have the clone on dodge trait will get what I mean clearly. So yeah, as an opener skill it needs work.
The 1 sec snare on the leap clone is not enough to keep someone who wants to kite you from getting away.
Uh, the cripple + immob generally guarantees 3 of the 4 BF hits landing. Fourth strike no, and the third one is a little sketchy if you’re a little laggy / slow.
Like, why not give us a main hand torch that shoots purple fireballs?
Now that sounds cool. Except the purple fireballs should apply Chill.
Nonsense for a few reasons: illusionary leap’s range is far shorter than most ranged weapons, if you need to use leap you will use a good portion of your 1 second. And all of this is assuming illusionary leap is even on cool down in sync with blurred frenzy.
Don’t get me wrong, I carry sword as my regular weapon in conjunction with a ranged switch. It’s a great deterrent and dps against those who think getting in melee range of a mesmer means squishy clothy. But using it against a kiter is rubbish.
As for mainhand pistol, it would certainly have a role of ranged main hander for people who are specced for direct damage rather than condition – something the scepter does not accommodate well. I wouldn’t fear that they would give a mesmer the standard pistol type skills, I’m sure anet would give it the appropriate twist just like the rest of our weapons.
I wish the swordsman meshed better with the dueling line, after all mesmer going that line are more likely to be using swords and yet it’s pretty bad for applying bleeds which is a baseline minor trait in this line.
Sword is a lot of fun however in PvP it’s really only good if someone wants to fight you in melee due to the fact that blurred frenzy won’t let you move while using it. The 1 sec snare on the leap clone is not enough to keep someone who wants to kite you from getting away.
Thus as been said, keep a ranged weapon on switch.
Off hand sword isn’t bad, people underestimate the block and the additional damage it does. Sadly OH sword has one of the worst phantasms, thus people tend to stick with the pistol.
I’d use the OH sword more if it meshed well with the dueling line, ie. maybe a triple hit (with same overall damage) to trigger the dueling line’s bleeds trait.
Yeah there was an enormous amount of of people rallying for a mainhand pistol for mesmer – I think it’s justified. But Anet had said at the time they are not really working on making new weapons for classes just yet.
I thought Trahearne was a great character. He’s pretty handy in a fight after he gets caladbolg too. Hell, you can’t have the NPCs winning your story quests for you. Play harder!
In beta the druid spirit knocked everything down with every attack. They saw fit to nerf druid spirit of course. I can’t say I blame them, sounds like it would make many fights trivial – yet in it’s current state it really lacks any sort of flavor.
It needs to do something …druidish. Perhaps it would cast a spell to revive any downed players? The regen that the tooltip states would at least be a good start.
Woohoo GS just got a very nice buff! It’s finally on par with the staff.
The OPs request is about all aspects of the game. I agree that, on some boss fights that last for a long time and where ranged is pretty much left to their own devices with little AoE worry, going 3 warlock is excellent… however this hardly encompasses the vast majority of the game, does it? No, in fact this situation doesn’t even work on every boss fight.
I’m still scratching my head as to why you think a pack of warlocks dying to AoE, where each and every one takes 12 to 14 seconds to summon is somehow preferable to a shatter mesmer losing illusions, all 3 of which will be up again in 2 seconds (no exaggeration.. and this isn’t even by using mirror images).
Yes there are a few ways to get additional mind wracks and there are also multiple ways to make the other shatters great dps tools including gaining might for each shattered illusion (nice), inflicting vulnerability and confusion. Also, phantasms still always get a volley or 2 out before shattering. Anyhow, at least we see that there is a use for each of our builds but I think when giving advice it’s better to suggest builds that function well in multiple areas of the game.
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