Guild Wars 2

So, the community has spoken. We’d love to have a pistol as a mainhand weapon. I’ve heard great comments on this all the way from Matrix-style animations to dazzling firework-style bullets. Mesmers are increasingly creative (I’ve also seen tons of clever character names), so what would you hope for visually from a pistol MH?

Personally, I run with the focus skin Courage, and it looks a lot like alcohol. If I could run with a Glock in one hand and a bottle of booze in the other, I’d be almost as cool as this cowboy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziNvB-JVi9k (One of the skills definitely needs that barrel roll!)

Note: We’ve already hashed over the mechanics of this possibility, so just trying to have a little fun with aesthetics here.

zaxon.6819:

maybe if you pick a char you wont get picked on.

That’s actually not a bad choice. I’ve seen a trend of mesmers picking up Charr and then dressing like the Warband Support. That’s up to 6 similarly looking Charrs running together. Confuses people in WvW a bit (though the ranged guy uses a rifle), and not a bad elite choice. I find Timewarp is most effective in portal bombing, so if you’re not doing that, then the warband is a good pick. I usually run with Mass Invis since I don’t have other stealth skills equipped.

Also, I’ve never been picked on, and I wear feathered gear in bright colors. My sig reads Giant and Fabulous for good reason. Haha.

I absolutely agree.

I can see where a commander would have a few issues sorting this out if they are the only tag on the map though. If the commander leaves, then so does everyone else. The opposing team then rebuilds and moves on, which sounds like it would’ve been better for everyone. Calling for tactical teams to start harassing other areas of the map (flipping camps to cut off supply to that wall-less tower even) almost never works unless they’re using VoIP, which is often a guild team.

A second command tag on the map would help. A lot of times if I PUG into WvW, I don’t fly my tag since someone else is already “primary” commander. If something needs to be done, I’ll announce it in chat, pop the tag, take care of it, and then reunite with the first commander. Hell, sometimes I pop the tag just for supply runs since I can portal people which makes getting back faster.

Is OP a warrior? I’ve heard pressing any key other than ‘1’ is difficult for them. (Just teasing. ) Too bad we can’t assign keybinds so that we loot while swinging, though. That’d be awesome.

It’s difficult out there when you first start!

You didn’t give us a lot of character information, so first thing to note is that being lvl 80 in exotics makes a huge difference. If you’re losing a lot in 1v1, it could just be that they outgear you.

Caliburn is right about the WvW Guild. When I learned WvW, my guild leader actually ran training drills with us using VoIP. We practiced portal bombing by flipping supply camps, built a few catas and ballistae to demonstrate maximum range, ran the breakout events. He even took time to explain combo fields, as some players were unfamiliar with them. The drill ended in a naked zerg rush. We stripped down (to save on repairs) and charged. Tons of fun, super informative.

I’ve moved servers since then, but if anyone’s on ET, check out the Kingswood Brotherhood (KWBH) lead by Smiley Knight. He’ll make sure you get the training you need.

For your offhand, I recommend picking up a focus. In WvW, mobility is a godsend, and we don’t have a lot of it. So, the temporal curtain is very useful. From a combat point of view, the sowrd + focus have pretty good synergy. Given the state of iLeap, the charging clone often needs a little help. Using Into the Void to pull enemies is great before popping iLeap (followed by Swap and Blurred Frenzy).

For utilities, you can use instant casts while in Blurred Frenzy. So, as you have someone immobilized, you can be slashing at them, pop Mirror Images for a total of 3 clones (if iLeap procced) and then shatter. I also keep Blink on my bar, because this rotation may have stirred up a hornets nest and you’ll have to get away. The 3rd utility varies depending on the group I’m with. If you aren’t specced for condition removal, you’ll probably want some of that. Sometimes I use Veil for the stealth, and Portal is very useful if you’re also chatting in VoIP.

I’m a fan of Rabid stats.

I’ve had some success in doing this, though it varies with how alert I am. (Mesmer requires lots of button presses and camera swivels and all that jazz to be fully effective.)

Confusion is a tough build to accomplish this with. Confusion against players is great, because they’ll execute several skills in rapid succession. Mobs don’t work that way, so our confusion damage comes down. (If you’re a confusion build though, you should have decent condition damage, so bring a staff.)

That said, luring out some vets without the supervisor helps quite a bit. Take them out and hope you can kill the supervisor before they respawn.

I find I’m most effective at medium to close range. So, round up whatever you’re attacking and AoE the kitten out of ’em. Shatters are AoE, staff is AoE/bounce, Blurred Frenzy (PBAoE) on the sword is a godsend when engaging multiple opponents.

Biggest boon here is teleporting all over the place. I usually run Staff + Sword/Focus. Phase Retreat and Blink both keep melee vets chasing after me, where Blurred Frenzy and Distortion keep them from doing serious damage. If there are ranged involved, throw an iWarden at one and Feedback on the other before trying to get everyone in AoE range. Vets are dumb, so they’ll stay in the Chaos Storm. If they are trying to get out of it, pull them back with Temporal Curtain. (Pull the ranged vets together using the curtain first, though.)

Above all, stay out of melee range of the supervisor. That hammer hurts, and knockdown with multiple vets targeting you hurts even more.

CHIPS.6018:

Nikked.7365:

I can’t see how this is a smart idea at all.

From a business standpoint, GW2 banks on gem sales. Giving out free gems would kill the economy behind that. Gems would flood the market, they’d drop in the price of gold. So not only are they giving away their assets, but they’d also be putting themselves in a position where they can’t sell them either. It’d be easier to farm a little gold instead of busting out a credit card.

From a WvW standpoint, this would ruin top tiered servers. Who doesn’t want free gems? Large numbers of players would move from the higher ranked servers to the lower ones just for the gems. We’d start seeing servers empty out.

Finally, it imbalances individual play. Only players who reside in the top tiers would be eligible for the free gems and could use them for character advancement. Those who are in lower tiers would gain nothing.

The only correct action here is to close this thread.

Actually anyone transferring into a low tier server would get the same amount of gem. This system doesn’t take into account which server you came from. And no it shouldn’t. It is like a flesh start for anyone that wants to move, and an encouragement for them to move to a lower tier server.

Those hard core wvwers at the very top will not move. They love the team that they are working with. However those small guilds and PUGs in their server would move. That’s the whole point of this idea; A general balancing out of all the servers in wvw population size.

This will hopefully undo all the damage from past server transfers. I only want the best for this game and the gaming community.

Ah, I did misunderstand one of the core points of this post: I assumed the gem transfer was a result from which server you are transferring from. Fair enough. That only ruins my last point.

The hardcores that love their teams are still able to move the entire team/guild. We saw that happen during free transfers (my guild took advantage of it, and I’ve seen a handful of posts about servers that benefited/lost because of this), and one of the points of paid transfers was for stability in servers. To be perfectly fair, we can’t measure the impact this would have on top tiered servers, and ANet wouldn’t be able to measure it either (human behavior is volatile). You think only small groups would move, I think large groups would move. Either is plausible, and we could only know by implementing the system.

ANet has said more than once that they favor small changes over time instead of large changes that shake up the game. Not being able to quantify the outcome greatly reduces the odds that they’ll offer this incentive structure, gem economy not withstanding.

Ah, I came from WvW to sPvP, though I think it was under different premises than the verbally vile. I knew I sucked at 1v1/small group fights, so I headed to HotM to get better at it.

That said, I’ve had the same experience you’ve had. I’ve been flamed by my own teammates plenty of times even. And for kitten’s sake, I’m in hotjoin because I know I suck, not because I want someone else to tell me that :P

I can’t see how this is a smart idea at all.

From a business standpoint, GW2 banks on gem sales. Giving out free gems would kill the economy behind that. Gems would flood the market, they’d drop in the price of gold. So not only are they giving away their assets, but they’d also be putting themselves in a position where they can’t sell them either. It’d be easier to farm a little gold instead of busting out a credit card.

From a WvW standpoint, this would ruin top tiered servers. Who doesn’t want free gems? Large numbers of players would move from the higher ranked servers to the lower ones just for the gems. We’d start seeing servers empty out.

Finally, it imbalances individual play. Only players who reside in the top tiers would be eligible for the free gems and could use them for character advancement. Those who are in lower tiers would gain nothing.

The only correct action here is to close this thread.

If there’s any advice I can give you, keep going! The payoff at 80 is well worth it. Mesmer is a very trait dependent class, so once you break 40, things pick up quite a bit. To be fair, I crafted through most of my low levels. Taking a craft from 1 to 400 nets 10 character levels.

Mechanics: I was also very frustrated when leveling my Mesmer. I didn’t get how clones were supposed to work (I thought they would take aggro and tank like a pet) or why they didn’t do any damage. Their biggest function is shattering, which I shied away from at first. Mind Blast is now a bread and butter skill for me. If you find your clones are being unruly/unhelpful, try popping out more phantasms (the ghostly ones). They pack a punch and have a bit more health.

Weapons: I ran GS/Staff for most of my lower levels. Phase Retreat on the staff is a life saver, and staff clones apply conditions. I find I’m now most effective at medium to close range, but low levels I got slaughtered carrying a sword. Took me a while to figure out how to use Illusionary Leap, swap with the clone, hit Blurred Frenzy (strong damage + invuln), shatter with either Mind Blast for extra damage or Distortion for extra protection, and then either Blink or swap to staff and Phase Retreat out of the line of fire. You get used to it though (If only they would fix iLeap so it worked more consistently)

Utilities: Mirror Images is a good choice. Pop that right before healing (more illusions = more health, though I found I needed some healing power accessories to beef this up as well). Decoy I don’t use often, though Blink rarely leaves my bar. It’s great for getting out of trouble, speeding up travel, or popping in to rez a downed party member. The third slot is a large variable depending on what I’m doing. Condition removal often goes here, but Feedback and Portal are some of my favorites as well. If I’m running with a Guardian, Signet of Inspiration is a godsend.

Anyway, just a couple tips from my experience. Hope they help!

It is vaguely worded, but the responses seem to have it right. This was in issue in WvW with Mesmers portaling people into keeps through the water “pipes”.

I’m all for this, mostly from an aesthetic point of view (though that comment about Matrix style fighting sounds awesome.) I run with a focus, and I picked up Courage (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Courage) which looks a lot like a bottle of alcohol.

If I could run with a pistol in one hand and booze in the other, I’d be a very happy Mesmer.

Sword/Focus is my go-to setup. Very useful in WvW. Pull everyone in with Temporal Curtain, pop a Feedback Bubble and iLeap (which only works half the time), Swap and Blurred Frenzy. (While in Blurred Frenzy, you can use insta-casts, so pop off a Mirrored Images + shatters and people go crazy.) Blink away from the hornets nest you just stirred up. Everything’s on cooldowns at this point, but it’s great for pushing a line.

The focus makes this so much better. It gets a group of enemies together so all the other skills will splash them (assuming they don’t just dodge away), and it interrupts so they won’t be swinging as you’re charging.

Hi Obal,

I’d love to take a run through Arah with you! lvl 80 Mesmer, full exotic gear. I’m usually logged in by 6pm EST (I get out of work at 5) so making the 7pm run is no sweat. Midnight would be too late for me though.

Thanks!
Jacked Jackal

BlueStoat.9157:

Please don’t take this the wrong way. Why is it important that the guild be LGBT? I’ve rarely seen straight only guilds or guilds strongly focused on the members’ orientation. Just curious if I’m missing something since I’m not in that minority, but I seem to see most of the GW player base to be fairly mature and indifferent to such matters (at least the members of my guilds have seemed to be).

And if people being curious like me are the issue, I’m sorry.

Not offensive at all! There’s a sense of community that comes with being in a minority group, and we often seek out those communities. It’s the same reason that you see LGBT groups on college campuses, organizations like PFLAG, and let’s not forget the parades we throw each Pride Week. The GW2 community as a whole is very accepting, but sometimes it’s nice to be in a guild that you identify with more than others.

I haven’t actively pursued an LGBT guild on this game, but I have thought about it. It’d be fun, but I’ve picked guilds based on guild activities (like WvW). Seems to make more sense for my style of play.

That all said, I always make sure my armor is looking fierce.

Hmm. I guess I had a far different reaction to this dungeon. I thought it was well done. (I’ve done it twice now with two different characters and was satisfied both times.) The need for heavy arsenal seems to be appropriate. After all, my other option is to have my army of clones kamikaze leap off the ship and pray that Mind Wrack takes him down. Of course, I’m a Norn, so I’m pretty sure my beseeching Dwayna is futile.

Despite my disagreement, cheers to the OP. This was a great read!

From my experience, there is a bug. I held off on leveling fractals until the last patch because finding a group was so difficult. Now, much easier. When I started, I ran it one night and didn’t realize I didn’t progress. (I was lvl 3, fractal lvl was 6.) The next day I went to run it again and thought maybe I had just incorrectly remembered my fractal level. But at the end of the run (Again, I was lvl 3, fractal lvl 7), I clearly noted that my level did not progress, and the same happened to one other party member. Both times we ran the full fractal all the way back to the lab. So, I submitted a bug ticket.

I’ve been running them since then and am now at lvl 12, so it seems to be working for me. Dunno if submitting the bug ticket did anything. They didn’t increase my level but may have fixed whatever was blocking my character from progressing.

Male Norn: Jacked Jackal

I went for the largest sized character I could get. And then I dressed him up in some flamboyant gear. (Armor in the pic is all feathered armor.) It’s surprising useful in WvW. Crews never lose site of my for stacking on portal bombs. The enemy likes to target my clones at first because they are so obvious, and then when they figure it out, a lot of times they stop targeting anything that is giant and fabulous (myself included). It’s my “Hiding in Plain Site” skill

That all said, I am the WORST at hiding in keeps.

Hi Happyjedi,

I’ve seen this come up a few times in the forum and have had the same issue myself. The client keeps running, and when trying to reload the game, it comes up with the error of multiple clients running.

Some have recommended a full system reboot, which just takes too long imo. In Windows, use the Task Manager (press Ctrl + Alt + Del, it’s the last option in that menu) and go to the Processes tab. End Process on the existing GW2 Client that is running. Even if you’ve already tried loading the game and the error isn’t coming up (it takes a minute or two), the new client will pop up immediately upon stopping the old one.

I’ve seen devs comment on this topic, so they are aware. A fix should be underway. In the meantime, this should be a quick workaround for those having the issue. (I’m not sure how to accomplish this on a Mac. Any Apple users know how?)

Happy gaming!
Nikked

Dess answered your questions really well! That’s a good response to trust.

Just to add a little bit on the leveling note, Mesmer has a steep learning curve. Managing your army of clones and knowing when to shatter takes a bit of practice. We get a lot of “Get Out Of Jail Free” skills, but with a misstep or two, we also go down fast.

But keep at it. I find my Mesmer insanely fun. You won’t gimp your dungeon groups, and in PvP/WvW, we have a lot of great utility. Learning how to portal bomb changes entire battles. (I’ve heard a lot of controversy over the future of the portal skill, though, so we might see it changed/added to other classes soon.)

Happy Cloning!

Winds.3087:

Half-naked huge male norn in pink for massive psychological assault.

Haha, I’m not sure if this is slightly sarcastic or not, but it’s exactly what I picked. I figured for WvW, having tall colorful clones running around would cause people to target them more often than others. And with male norn armor, you really can be half naked, yet somehow still fully clothed.

Also, being this easy to spot is really useful for getting a zerg to stack up for portal bombing (or at least the commander never loses track of me). It does nothing for hiding in a keep, however.

—Jacked Jackal, giant and fabulous.

I’ll second what Fiorello says. Especially because of your interest in Fractals. Engineers have a steep learning curve, but once you master kit swapping, it becomes a lot of fun to play. To be fully effective requires a bit of finesse and never running on auto-pilot. The problem with Fractals is that we don’t offer enough to a group for the higher levels, partially because of our long list of bugs.

That all said, I really enjoy playing my Engineer. She’s effective in dungeons with the right build and armor set (I go full Cleric for survivability). You can trait the Bomb Kit to heal which means constant small amounts of healing. It’s great to jump into the forray alongside a warrior or guardian and supplement their own survival with bombs and the Super Elixir on the Elixir Gun. The damage we dish out isn’t too bad.

In WvW, the Tool Kit helps us out a lot. The magnet (pulls a player toward you) has a long rage (1200 I think) which is useful. Also, despite the quasi-nerf against grenade damage, they are also very handy in either defending or assaulting a tower/keep. With Elixir S (which is a stunbreak that gives 3 secs of invuln), our survivability is really good. There are also a few traits that you can spec into that automatically drinks an Elixir S and recharges healing skills at 25% health (used back to back, that 6 seconds of invuln plus a heal or two). We can also grab perma-swiftness with only 10 trait points spent into one line.

So where does it all fall apart? We’re just not great at anything. When I’m running with a group, it’s awesome. When I’m solo, it’s slow and miserable. For as many conditions as we can inflict, I never have the spare points/armor slots for condition damage. So, my conditions are a bit of a joke. Damage is also very difficult to sustain. There are some bursty builds out there, but they come at great cost with long cooldowns. (I suppose that’s the point of a burst build, though it seems to be magnified with the Engineer.)

If you do go for an Engineer, don’t even look at the turrets. Supply Crate is our best Elite skill, but mostly for the stun and healing packs that drop. Turrets go down fast (and traiting into them isn’t nearly worth giving up other traits). Having 3 turrets out at once, which the Supply Crate does, is useful sometimes, but they get stamped out so fast by AoE. Once they start fixing some of our bugs, things will hopefully turn around.

I like the idea as it fits the Engineer model well. Building in the heat of combat is something an Engineer would have to do, as well as repairing the contraptions. It creates great synergy between a new kit idea and the existing tool kit as well. Upgrading the turrets would probably need a longer “cast” time than most other skills, but it’d be worthwhile since we can then leave it and go take care of other things. (Useful in sPvP and WvW). Aside from filling out a few combos, I don’t feel like many of our kits have synergy.

That all said, I still don’t see myself using it. I’m too much of a micromanager to ever fully trust a turret. Anything the turret can do, I can do more intelligibly with a different kit. This would also greatly diminish our Supply Crate (arguably the only useful Elite skill). Working out the timing of the upgraded turrets shots would be a bit weird too. Net+Burn+DD+AoE shouldn’t go off all at once, which leaves us at the mercy of some cycle the turret would use that players would be able to learn and thwart.

Keep an eye on the news sections. ANet announced that a fix for this is coming later this month.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/fractals-of-the-mists-dungeon-improvements/?utm_source=client

Absolutely not. I’m happy with my engineer, and generally knock the fluff out of kittens with him. We’ve got a steep learning curve, but we’re hardly a broken class. And the traits! They’re my favorite part. Who else has such easy access to perma-swiftness? And at 25% health, we can trait for a 3-sec invuln + all healing skills recharge. That’s a safety switch that has saved me countless times. The Tool Kit in WvW is a god-send, and Bomb Kit in PvE is my bread and butter. I’m having a lot of fun as we are now.

Besides, even if we do get an overhaul, who says that the new Engi will be any better? It’d be starting from scratch all over again, which brings about a whole host of balance and bug issues.

(I’m a little longwinded, so I tried to break up this post into easily navigable sections. Feedback is always appreciated!)

Being an Engineer often means constant refinement. We’re the grease between the cogs (don’t let the whiners fool you, grease is critical!) so there are some tweaks to my build depending on which dungeon is being run. Overall, we have to keep our head in the game. The learning curve is steep, but once you can swap between kits seamlessly and know roughly when your cooldowns are up, it’s a lot of fun. (For kit swapping, I mapped by Bomb Kit to the Shift key and my Elixir Gun to the Q key. My heal elixir is the E key.)This is my general rubric, however.

BUILD: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcIQFAUlsp6ZX3ShF1LJRoHF++qFUB7KqQl/oQutF
EQUIPMENT: Crafted Exotic Cleric Set (Healing Power, Power, and Toughness)
RUNES: 5 Traveler, 1 Pirate (Mostly for the +MF, and Traveler ups Vitality as well)

ROLE: Tanky Support. With the focus on toughness and some vitality sprinkled in, I can usually jump into the fray with other melee classes.

SURVIVABILITY: There’s not much here in terms of raw skills that keep me on my feet. The traits have a built in safety though. 25% health is the magic number at which point all heal skills recharge and 3 seconds of invuln kick in (Automated Medical Response and Self-Regulating Defenses traits). It’s enough to keep me in the fight, at which point I can pop off Super Elixir and Healing Mist to cover what Elixir H doesn’t heal.

PARTY SUPPORT: The focus is usually with the Bomb Kit. Elixir-Infused Bombs trait gives small continual healing to those around me (which is why being melee range helps, and it pairs very well with Regen) With the Bomb Kit, we can also produce Area Might (Fire Bomb + Big Ol’ Bomb). When things start going sour, Healing Mist is an easy insta-skill to pop off granting everyone nearby Regen. Also, the Super Elixir is great for party members who are far away as it’ll knock off a condition and grant them regen. The underappreciated skill here is Fumigate as that cures conditions as well (not on yourself, however).
I also do a lot of res duty. For someone who is downed and surrounded, drop Big Ol’ Bomb and start reviving. The blast will knock away all the little minions. Someone who is downed but not surrounded, hit them with Super Elixir to give you both regen and get them back on their feet. Also, Toss Elixir R has a long cooldown, but it’s the Hail Mary of ressing for us.

COMBAT SUPPORT: My build doesn’t have a lot to offer in terms of condition damage, though Vulnerability plays a large role here. For a while I was using Steel-Packed Explosives trait (explosions cause vulnerability), but the December patch had me switch to the Sitting Duck trait (Note: The builder is incorrect. Sitting Duck now adds 5 stacks of vulnerability to immobilized foes, but the Net Turret doesn’t count!) With Glue Bomb and the Rifle’s Net Shot, keeping vulnerability on is pretty easy; it applies even if a boss is immune to certain crowd control spells. For damage, bombs play here again and they do about 1000 damage per bomb before conditions are applied. Very useful when there are swarms of mobs to deal with, and it still contributes to boss damage. Supply Crate, Concussion Bomb, and Smoke Bomb keep combat flowing smoothly.

WHAT THE BUILD LACKS: Swiftness. There isn’t any. So, if I die and have to run back, I usually swap out my Elixir R for Elixir B so I can get back a bit faster. Often times the cooldown prevents me from swapping back to Elixir R, but it’s usually worth it. This build also lacks ranged combat support. Sure I can use the Rifle or Elixir Gun if I’m taking a pounding and need some distance, but I can’t offer much damage from those weapons.