Guild Wars 2

Sendra.5709:

I have often experienced people exploiting the pvp league system by teaming up with lower rank players to lower their MMR. Because of this, if you lose to them (which you likely will, it’s more skilled players trying to get up against lower skilled ones) you end up losing up to three pips, usually two. This is due to them having a lower MMR from their amber buddies and so they are calculated less likely to win by the match making algarithum. But when you lose two pips, they gain two, making them want to do this more and more. And this isn’t simply people “playing with lower ranked friends”, these are people teaming up with players with names insinuating that they are there specifically to help exploit for pips. (I won’t name any due to call-out rules)
While I realize this exploit is being fixed in the next season, I feel that those who have abused this in the current season should have this behavior punished.
Has anyone else come across groups like this?

Both ANet and the forums know about this. Why are you even bothering to post in the first place? Contribute something new or post in old threads.

And how on Earth do you propose punishing players? How do you distinguish between legendary players playing with their amber friends and those that wish to exploit the system?

These posts bore me to death

Brokensunday.4098:

MethaneGas.8357:

I tested the same thing the other day with the runes… it makes the well a super quick cast (0.5 secs).
I think you could easily start casting the well, then cancel the cast and get some slow skill out of it (chilled to the bone, for example, or life siphon).
Or you could start casting the well, then before it finished, go into shroud and cast Soul Spiral (with the quickness) or Executioner’s Scythe (with quickness)… or even just auto attack.
I didn’t test it…but the quickness might apply with the trait that casts Well of Blood when you res someone…

I think there’s potential there but it’s a lot of micromanaging (similar to canceling auto-attacks from Mesmer GS to maximize DPS).

Yeah I agree with you guys, and the micromanaging doesnt seem to be much of an issue, I’m a mesmer main so I’m used to skill canceling. It allows you get opening casts out way quicker (think Chilled to the kitteneaper 5 etc)

Brokensunday.4098:

You cant the quickness last for half a sec if you cancel the cast

Nope it’s the full 2s

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBIhkittenGapxaawxG4wxCugNVEOBVh4rYXsMCd1CAtAA-TJBFABAcKAgf/BCeCAVVGAA

I’ll build you what I would run in PvE right now, gimme a sec.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki is a fairly decent database of builds

In PvE there are no optimal builds that incorporate minions afaik (although I don’t actually PvE). In PvP luckily for you, an optimal Reaper build uses Summon Flesh Worm (albeit more for Necrotic Traversal than the minion itself)

So I just noticed recently that the Necro well heal is the only well that procs quickness at the start of the cast, meaning you can get the quickness, cancel the skill and the skill will not go on cd. This has obvious applications in PvE (Power necros) but can anyone think of a way it could work in PvP?

I was thinking a bunker/healing build based around blood magic but im not a necro.

Ross Biddle.2367:

The only problem that exists for phantasm builds are the same ones that’ve existed before.

1) AoE spam hitting everything and their dog on point

2) Shattering of clones/phants a necessary function for the mes/chrono to get by with life.

Maybe as a home point holder in 1v1 scenarios it’d do its thing. Add the team fight aspect in and things start going eschew.

In response to your second point, I guess calling it the ‘Phantasm Chronomancer’ is misguiding. This build utilises shatters just as much as a shatter build, however instead of shattering clones for damage you shatter phantasms to respawn phantasms and reset their attack timers — phantasms aren’t actually expected to last that long. Micromanaging phantasms’ health and shattering as they get low allows you to keep them up and maintain dps. It’s actually why I chose to take might on shatter instead of reducing phantasms’ attack speed (the illusions master trait), to discourage myself from trying to preserve phantasms as long as possible. By the time you have shattered both iBerserkers away, it will be ready to be recasted because every time you shatter a phantasm it reduces your phantasm cds by 2s. It’s why mental defense (every time you proc it another will respawn when it shatters) and the shield 4 (chronophantasma doubles, so 4 phantasms) work so well in the build.

Whilst I call it a Phantasm Build the focus is actually on shattering for dps and utility. Shattering resets your phantasms attack timers, heals you, removes condis, grants alacrity and does relatively high damage due to marauders; enough to be considered useful burst.

Also, boon removal on shatter is an over-rated trait imo. Boons are gained so easily that 1 boon remove on shatter is probably not even enough. This makes opportunity costs more valuable.

Coxy.5269:

The main issue I see with this build is the lack of condi clear. You can get away with no condi clear if you’re running a bursty +1 build, but this build looks like youre going to be in longer, even fights instead. The issue is that you can’t have a long fight with no condi clear.

I’m also not entirely convinced by the choice of illusions over domination. You’re taking reduced cooldowns, some might and some relatively unimportant on-shatter effects over on demand stun (or +15% illusion dmg which might be good for a phantasm build), boonstrip (which is vital in this perma protection meta) and power block (synergising with shield/GS 5)

Whilst it doesn’t have a ~lot~ of condi clear, Power Cleanse on heal and condi remove on shatter is imo enough to sustain in this meta (+ the Generosity but ofc this is less reliable)

The reason is that whilst you lose the burst potential of the domi line, the illusions line dramatically reduces phantasm cooldowns, increasing overall sustain damage. I agree that the GM traits are definitely awkward but the crip on cry of frustration and the reflect on distort are useful additional utility. It also reduces your shatter cds which works excellently with alacrity + the insp line, increasing overall heals and condi removal from shatters. Each trait alone doesn’t seem like much, but the synergies are massive.

Can someone pick this build apart for me?
The basic premise is Chronophantasma, Persistance of Memory, Mental Defense and Shield Phantasm all synergise really well, allowing for huge phantasm generation.
I’d like for anyone to identify any problems with the build if there are any.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8enknB1qhNqBmpBEgilnjqeQT0FFdxasH7sACgDD-TpBFABAcBAYf/hFOCAE8AAEvMQbHEAA

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8enknB1qhNqBmpBEgilnjqeQT0FFdxasH7sACgDD-TpBFABAcBAYf/hFOCAE8AAEvMQbHEAA

Can someone pick this build apart for me?

The basic premise is Chronophantasma, Persistance of Memory, Mental Defense and Shield Phantasm all synergise really well, allowing for huge phantasm generation.

I’d like for anyone to identify any problems with the build if there are any.

Fay.2357:

Matty.1953:

Fay.2357:

Matty.1953:

Fay.2357:

Ok, let’s be clear here:

“I don’t enjoy shattering. Therefor, I will use a potentially worse build/playstyle instead.”

Not scrub. Yes, you’re handicapping yourself, but the reason is simple enjoyment of the game.

“Shattering is too easy and strong. I’m not going to shatter because shattering is cheap, and people the abuse shattering to win are also cheap.”

This is scrub thinking.

“I feel that important attacks should have telegraphed animations.”

Not scrub. This is simply a personal opinion on game balance. Nowhere in this statement are implications about the unfairness of various mechanics.

“Using a build without telegraphed animations is cheap and poor play. Good players don’t need to abuse non-telegraphed mechanics.”

This is scrub thinking. You’ve now linked the balance consideration to a sense of fairness, and have drawn a false implication of what ‘good players’ do or don’t do.

I hope this is clear. Matty was making a totally inappropriate scrub accusation. Being unhappy with the balance in a game is not the same as being a scrub. Where the scrub rears it’s ugly head is when mechanics are called ‘cheap’ or ‘unfair’ or ‘unbeatable’, and when people playing with those mechanics are being considered tarnished by association with them.

`

Also, saying that damage is supposed to telegraphed falls under ‘scrub’ territory.

Where kitten did this come from? This has nothing to do with balance, I have no idea why someone suddenly got defensive around the wrong thing and accused me of saying stuff… I didn’t? Read the posts first, Jesus Christ

I’m a little confused here. Are you trying to say that you didn’t make the quoted statement about telegraphed skills falling into scrub territory? I’m not saying that you said anything other than what is quoted. I’m saying that what is quoted is an absurd misuse of the word scrub.

Surely by your own logic, what I said was correct? That turning one’s nose at untelegraphed damage (if you qualify it as a ‘mechanic’) is scrub thinking? I still, cannot understand why this is being linked to game balance.

No, saying that damage should have some sort of telegraph is not even remotely scrub thinking. That’s expressing an opinion on game balance, not maligning others for using strong mechanics, nor is it even a refusal to use untelegraphed damage. Nothing about that statement is even remotely scrub-like.

This might be a issue with the semantics of telegraph. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but I’ll call damage telegraphed if I can see really obvious, maybe slow animations. I essentially define untelegraphed as not so obvious: neither of these statements are technically true. All damage is telegraphed, one way or another. Stealthed damage is telegraphed: the act of stealthing itself primes the opponent into anticipating an attack. In the case of stealth gibbing someone before a fight has begun, to define it as untelegraphed damage and then not play it for that reason (which we’ve now established isn’t true, but without such foresight) would be scrub thinking because stealth is a mechanic). I don’t really think scrub thinking is about denouncing those that maximise use of mechanics, rather about rejecting the mechanics themselves.

I understand the contradictory logic employed here. Consider them two, mutually exclusive counter arguments.

Fay.2357:

Matty.1953:

Fay.2357:

Ok, let’s be clear here:

“I don’t enjoy shattering. Therefor, I will use a potentially worse build/playstyle instead.”

Not scrub. Yes, you’re handicapping yourself, but the reason is simple enjoyment of the game.

“Shattering is too easy and strong. I’m not going to shatter because shattering is cheap, and people the abuse shattering to win are also cheap.”

This is scrub thinking.

“I feel that important attacks should have telegraphed animations.”

Not scrub. This is simply a personal opinion on game balance. Nowhere in this statement are implications about the unfairness of various mechanics.

“Using a build without telegraphed animations is cheap and poor play. Good players don’t need to abuse non-telegraphed mechanics.”

This is scrub thinking. You’ve now linked the balance consideration to a sense of fairness, and have drawn a false implication of what ‘good players’ do or don’t do.

I hope this is clear. Matty was making a totally inappropriate scrub accusation. Being unhappy with the balance in a game is not the same as being a scrub. Where the scrub rears it’s ugly head is when mechanics are called ‘cheap’ or ‘unfair’ or ‘unbeatable’, and when people playing with those mechanics are being considered tarnished by association with them.

`

Also, saying that damage is supposed to telegraphed falls under ‘scrub’ territory.

Where kitten did this come from? This has nothing to do with balance, I have no idea why someone suddenly got defensive around the wrong thing and accused me of saying stuff… I didn’t? Read the posts first, Jesus Christ

I’m a little confused here. Are you trying to say that you didn’t make the quoted statement about telegraphed skills falling into scrub territory? I’m not saying that you said anything other than what is quoted. I’m saying that what is quoted is an absurd misuse of the word scrub.

Surely by your own logic, what I said was correct? That turning one’s nose at untelegraphed damage (if you qualify it as a ‘mechanic’) is scrub thinking? I still, cannot understand why this is being linked to game balance.

MailMail.6534:

Nice post OP. I was wondering if the scepter trait was really worth it or not…

In terms of the “debate” here, it’s very silly to say that using Shatter has always been the best method in terms of builds for Mesmers. PvE Mesmer says hello. From a PvP perspective, let us please not forget that not too long ago clone death builds were a thing which rarely used shatters either (those builds were only decent in low-mid tier though). Bottom line is until recently, using our class mechanic has been counter-intuitive in a lot of situations, hence why we are the only profession where there are builds designed not to use it.

It goes without saying that as of right now, using our class mechanic is the most optimal way to play highly depending on your MMR and opponents.

Bearing in mind that the OP himself was talking from a PvP perspective

Fay.2357:

Ok, let’s be clear here:

“I don’t enjoy shattering. Therefor, I will use a potentially worse build/playstyle instead.”

Not scrub. Yes, you’re handicapping yourself, but the reason is simple enjoyment of the game.

“Shattering is too easy and strong. I’m not going to shatter because shattering is cheap, and people the abuse shattering to win are also cheap.”

This is scrub thinking.

“I feel that important attacks should have telegraphed animations.”

Not scrub. This is simply a personal opinion on game balance. Nowhere in this statement are implications about the unfairness of various mechanics.

“Using a build without telegraphed animations is cheap and poor play. Good players don’t need to abuse non-telegraphed mechanics.”

This is scrub thinking. You’ve now linked the balance consideration to a sense of fairness, and have drawn a false implication of what ‘good players’ do or don’t do.

I hope this is clear. Matty was making a totally inappropriate scrub accusation. Being unhappy with the balance in a game is not the same as being a scrub. Where the scrub rears it’s ugly head is when mechanics are called ‘cheap’ or ‘unfair’ or ‘unbeatable’, and when people playing with those mechanics are being considered tarnished by association with them.

`

Also, saying that damage is supposed to telegraphed falls under ‘scrub’ territory.

Where kitten did this come from? This has nothing to do with balance, I have no idea why someone suddenly got defensive around the wrong thing and accused me of saying stuff… I didn’t? Read the posts first, Jesus Christ

Extreme.8350:

the actual strongest one is swordman this is troll post

Nah mate ain’t no phantasm competing with that attack speed

http://plays.tv/video/55cf31bc076e6bd38b

Menzies The Heretic.3415:

Matty.1953:

Okay! Here are two:

http://plays.tv/video/55cecce1f2bcc7d0e3

http://plays.tv/video/55cecbcd55d337816f (pretty much toying with this guy)

This guy is basically spamming his skills. He uses mind stab on a blocking engi, he doesn’t set up spikes. He instantly uses Phase Retreat trough Chaos Storm for Chaos Armor while the engi is just running around,
Facetanking random kitten.

Fair on the mind stab, that’s a mistake. Once again, I don’t spam skills, but it’s not like you care/believe anyway. The chaos storm though, now you’re being unfair, because it was actually for a stupider reason. I meant to throw it on his body, and spazzed my mouse and completely missed him, and then phase retreated for clone generation and chaos armor just to try and make up for it.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Matty.1953:

bhagwad.4281:

Matty.1953:

To willfully neglect all of your profession mechanics means you’re relying on weapon and utility skills alone. Setting aside the implications of this in terms of survivability, this means all your damage comes from weapon skills — your damage is seriously telegraphed. There’s no way you’re killing a skilled player with that, I’m sorry.

Well to be fair, damage is supposed to be telegraphed in some way or the other. And it’s not as if shatters are not telegraphed. In fact, mesmer players are constantly telling other players to “learn2dodge” etc etc right?

Also, saying that damage is supposed to telegraphed falls under ‘scrub’ territory.

I can’t see how that falls under the definition of scrub at all…

Because, according to who is it supposed to be that way? A ‘scrub’ places false constraints on what they can or cannot do (there’s a famous definition of the word on the internet somewhere)

Liam McColgan.7689:

Menzies The Heretic.3415:

Matty.1953:

Okay! Here are two:

http://plays.tv/video/55cecce1f2bcc7d0e3

http://plays.tv/video/55cecbcd55d337816f (pretty much toying with this guy)

This guy is basically spamming his skills. He uses mind stab on a blocking engi, he doesn’t set up spikes. He instantly uses Phase Retreat trough Chaos Storm for Chaos Armor while the engi is just running around,
Facetanking random kitten.

I only watched the second one, but yes he did ‘spam’ alot of skills, and wasted alot of spikes (GS 5 when engi was blocking or no where near) but then again double ranged shatter is more sustained than stealth bursting with s/t. I don’t know. Mes is so op you dont even have to be amazing to win duels now. This is nothing amazing.

I didnt spam anything. I use shatters for damage or damage mitigation. But I did waste skills, which is smt Im trying to cut down on. When I used skills when the engi was nearby and I missed GS 5, that was cos he used his mobility at the same time. So calm down. People miss stuff

Okay! Here are two:

http://plays.tv/video/55cecce1f2bcc7d0e3

http://plays.tv/video/55cecbcd55d337816f (pretty much toying with this guy)

In fact, I’ve got some dueling footage that really showcases this playstyle! I’ll upload it now [watch this space]

eksn.7264:

You can also sheath cancel the after cast of Mind Stab to recover faster.

Yup, I do that too

Sunflowers.1729:

You can also use it to bait people (on all classes). Everyone dodges the Illusionary Berserker wave-sword-in-a-circle animation but if you cancel before the phantasm goes off it goes on a short CD and they just wasted a dodge. It’s especially good on powerful long-CD abilities since people will always want to dodge them (good skills to use it on are moa, phantasms, cloak and dagger.etc)

Yeah, I’ve been trying to incorporate skill cancels a lot more recently (think I type that in chat in the video lol)

bhagwad.4281:

Matty.1953:

To willfully neglect all of your profession mechanics means you’re relying on weapon and utility skills alone. Setting aside the implications of this in terms of survivability, this means all your damage comes from weapon skills — your damage is seriously telegraphed. There’s no way you’re killing a skilled player with that, I’m sorry.

Well to be fair, damage is supposed to be telegraphed in some way or the other. And it’s not as if shatters are not telegraphed. In fact, mesmer players are constantly telling other players to “learn2dodge” etc etc right?

Just… no. You can hide mesmers’ skill animations through blinking, portals and stealth. Shattering yourself within melee range is also an untelegraphed source of damage.

Also, saying that damage is supposed to telegraphed falls under ‘scrub’ territory.

Terrorsquad.2349:

Burn guards apply more burning than any build can cleanse.. Stop protecting the broken to faceroll you’re way out.

This is verging on L2P territory, sorry. The majority of a guard’s burn application is telegraphed so you can just dodge it or mitigate it through other means. The torch is really, really easy to dodge, as is the ring.

Don’t know if most mesmers do this but it’s just part of my muscle memory now.

If you sheath your weapon just after the third tick of damage on your GS auto attack, and then recast the skill, you can cut off the after cast and dramatically increase your dps output. It’s very good for chasing fleeing opponents

Here’s an example of me using the technique in a ranked game:
http://plays.tv/video/55ceba292acc9b1d2d

Magnito.6187:

You might be that one we’re looking for!

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/community/lookingfor/EU-PvP-Team-looking-for-mesmer/first#post5380936

Msg me ingame! Momc

Hi, I’m a returning gw2 player looking to get a foothold in the PvP scene, I’ve spent a few weeks getting my mechanics back. So far I have been dissatisfied with teams I’ve tried out in, and finding them seems to be an issue anyway, so I thought I’d try my hand at getting a group of five together myself.

I’m a mesmer, and I’m looking for four others to complete a team that will compete in esports tournaments. I won’t bother with a series of self-righteous entry requirements, cos they’re usually subjective af anyway. Obviously, I do expect a minimum standard, but that’s just that you’re an experienced player; things like player mechanics, positioning, map awareness etc, I should be able to glaze if we play a few matches together.

Even if you’re not interested in teaming up with me, message me [Momc] ingame to play some ranked matches: since my friends list is basically dead returning to the game, I need to make some new ones to pvp with.

To willfully neglect all of your profession mechanics means you’re relying on weapon and utility skills alone. Setting aside the implications of this in terms of survivability, this means all your damage comes from weapon skills — your damage is seriously telegraphed. There’s no way you’re killing a skilled player with that, I’m sorry.

plays.tv/u/Momc

Check out my plays page to see what I’m like!

Ive messed around with all the trait lines and settled on inspiration because the heal and condi remove on shatter is way more useful than I thought. No judgement for using Lyssa runes, I can see their merit, but I would suggest you take cd reduction on manipulation skills if you are going to use the chaos line, as mass invis will benefit from this as well as blink and it means you can proc Lyssa more often. I dont really like harmonious mantras personally, and tbh disagree that its necessary when running MoD. I use distraction because it works well with mental anguish, and instant cast stuns are just too good to pass up.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-RZ-g;1VPV11I7JV-71;9;4STV;0037038246;4Usl3L;1jzyvjzyva0L

This is what I run at the moment

Oh I’ve been working on my mesmer specific mechanics a lot recently, can’t wait to record some super flashy kitten

To offer my 2 cents: I kind of think the sword’s alright to be honest. The autoattack’s fine, blurred frenzy is fine (making it distortion creates problems—take Inspiring Distortion, for example), and iLeap, contrary to popular opinion but in my own, is fine. I think the way the clone leaps now makes more sense.

Hey, on my new pc I’ve got Raptr installed which automatically records my gameplay footage, so I thought I might start uploading them to a plays.tv page. There are 4 videos currently, and since it’s all automatic I’ll be keeping it regularly updated. Take a look! I’ve been really trying to work on my skills recently and feel like I’ve been making strides; hopefully some of this stuff might be quite interesting/informative for others.

http://plays.tv/u/Momc

Cheers!

Theean.2935:

Nice video, and very interesting keybinds lol. Do you have to stretch your hands a lot? Just wondering, why don’t you switch your movement keys to 8, 4, 5, 6 on the numpad instead? That way your fingers are closer to the other keys while moving and you can use your thumb on the arrow keys.

Don’t have to stretch too much, my hand spans across the entire area of the keyboard I’m using (I can splay my fingers out a lot). I could never consider rebinding my keys because of how deeply entrenched into muscle memory my key binds are, but anyway, I would argue that using the thumb for movement is a more optimal solution: you never need to go in two directions at the same time, but you (very often) need to press more than one skill at the same time.

Hi, I’m a returning GW2 player looking to make some contacts to break into the PvP scene. Here’s a video of a recent ranked game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncKW7k7orMU&feature=youtu.be

SlayerSixx.5763:

I don’t really care for watching twitch streams, but I’m honestly impressed. I’m pretty sure your average twitch goer wouldn’t mind watching your stuff, assuming you make friends with the right people for a bit of a jump start.

Cheers

Yep, the making friends thing is what I’m trying to do now. Coming back to GW2 my friends list is dead so I’ve gotta fill it again! (I’m EU guys, flock to me pls)

So guys, I haven’t played a lot of engineer and was trying to theorycraft some builds. This is what I’ve come up with and it seems to balance damage with team support. All comments welcomed and encouraged.
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-ZRR;2cPku0o5NQFx0;9;4jkl;0138148036;9;90n

Hoelbrack runes, wep runes +20%burning and Rune of Earth

I think the meta needs more time to adjust before buffs/nerfs are doled out.

I kill blood fiends and wyrms whenever I see them. If you can deal damage at range, you should be able to kill MMs without problems and kite away if needs be. I don’t play melee often, and don’t really want to imagine how that would pan out…

Cheers guys! Was thinking of streaming this summer at some point when I get my skillz up, would this be something you would tune into (?) I’m British if that helps lol

Pepsi.8907:

oh woah, first time I ever see someone using the arrows
but hey, if it works :o why not

Haha I’m a lefty, so I had to find something that works I have a Razer Deathadder Left-Handed Edition so only I can use my PC!

Enjoy: http://puu.sh/j6UiP/be83a535d7.jpg

I also have mouse 4 bound to weapon swap and mouse 5 bound to about face.

My keybinds are wackier than anything you’ll have seen, I’m sure. In fact, I’ll draw you a picture (brb).