Guild Wars 2

I agree to tune down condi damage, but you also have to tune down direct damage. If you don’t have in your build a sufficient condi remove, it is not my problem. How many meta builds see in spvp based on condition ? mesmer ,ranger and what ? on 9 classes how many has a meta condi based ?
Real problem imho for condi damage is food : in spvp if i want to have condi duration i have to take wanderer or viper, which are far less tank that rabid/dire. In SPVP i can take a mix of rabid/dire and gain condi duration for food. This is a problem, ok , becouse there is not trade off but it is a common problem in wvw. In wvw you can build with great toughness, great damage and sustain mixing stats and food. This is a design problem imho much bigger than single condi damage. The only thing to balance should be to review the stats/food in wvw … but it would be a great rework and many people would not be happy

for wvw i am using viper armour with a mix of dire and rabid setup. I arrive at 2600 toughness . with full rabid i arrived at 3k but i have no condi duration so at the end i prefer viper ( only for armour, not for jewelery )

I have an old celestial armor on my engi . I use it sometime in fractal , other time in wvw as scrapper . ( i usually go condi viper pp but i like to change ) . Is it better to transmute it to marauder ? What do you think ? why better if i use ,for example rifle or hammer and bombs and nades ?

make grenadeers and short fuse base line so that we can use nades and bombs only with firearms … like the old days … ( before IP was moved from explosive to firearms)

People should play what they like . I hate melee classes , so i don’t play it . You don’t want me in your zerg… i go to roam … or i follow in any case. It is not important what a commander says or thinks . People should understand that with a such elitist approch their server will lose lot of players … I don’t win money on this game and it is not a job. If i play, i want to play what let have me fun . If you don’t like …. sorry …

In any case for a common player scepter is more effective than sword.
Not everyone is lord Helseth and , as a common player ( i main an engi but scrapper is too boring and core engi is hard against condi spammers ) .
I see that i win much more match with scepter than with sword . I find many 1 vs 1 easier with scepter. I have seen pro mesmer using sword , it can be really effective, i am not understimated it , but , in my hand, it is not the same. I have not the same timing ,reflex and positioning. Scepter is much more forgivening.

I find hammer boring as hell. I find playing condi with pistols, bombs, nades and ft much more fun. The overall damage is really good i use ( explosive, firearms tools) and with viper you have also good damage (bombs and nades hit hard)

Abelisk.4527:

If played right with a sword and shield, Mesmer condi can destroy ANY CLASS. I witnessed this one guy who went by the name of Shadowplane, and he could not be defeated after 30+ DIFFERENT PLAYERS.

Yes but imho an averege player has more rewards with scepter/shield /staff.
The build is the same except for a trait . Sword perhaps is better for a really strong player but with scepter i find it easier against many classes ( scrappers, thieves , dh , druids,revenants ) .
The only class which i don’t ever understand if i prefer sword or scepter is warrior. scepter has an easier clone uptime , a strong block and a good damage, even if you lose from sword 3 thing :
sword 2 .. evasion a lot
sword 3 mobility switching throug your clone
sword 1 boon removal ( quite strong imho )

But as overall i find scepter simpler to use for common players

Vornollo.5182:

In zerg? Not much use no.
In organised guild setting? Plenty!

I usually don’t like following a zerg and 1111 all the time. The only thing i like of wvw is small scale roaming and for that i think that scrapper misses mobility. Stealth gyro is not that great becouse good players know were to hit and so you can not disengage. It is a strong limit. I see the difference with my mesmer in which many time, when the things go wrong, i can disengage and run away .
The gyro is visible … so it is not that hard to understand where you are.

build a couple of ac nearby and put yourself under their fire …

Caius.8094:

Other than players that use the ANET design, am I the only player that thinks attacking while stealth’d and staying stealth’d is stupid? GW2 is the only MMO where someone can attack from stealth, go back to stealth or stay in it due to kitten poor programing and exploits… do the dev’s even know this.. do they even play anymore?

what is the sense of this post ? are u tired of being ganged by thieves in other words ? i don’t play thief but i don’t see them as a great problem .

Ray Patrick.7843:

I’ve unstuck everyone. Y’all should be good to go.

Thx

stacked —-- help us please

hey , am i alone stacked in a match with timing stopped and even if i go out and reenter game , i alwasy go in the same map ?

Problem of core engi is the fact that they moved away Incendiary Powder from explosive. Now bombs and nades are not that great with explosive alone …

For fun, do you prefer red or blue and why : for me it depends on map :
temple blue for capping close at start, it seems to me faster especially with mesmer
battle red for going upper the mid point
forest red (here i really hate blue close )
legary ( the same )
new capricorn ? ( no idea )
stronghold no idea
spirit red ( no idea why )
sky hammer ? ( blue but i don’t know why i prefer blue )
coutryhard … i don’t play it often but i would see that i don’t mind the color on this

i find that engi has some problems in wvw . For roaming it has no evasion like other classes ( ranger, thief, mesmer for example ) so if you are outnumbered and your group lose the fight it is really hard to escape . Usually if i roam with mesmer, with some engineer friend , i am able to disenage while people kill him . In zerg it has not great ranged weapon . mortar is really good as support but not for damage ( i really love mortar 2 for example but in a condi setup ) . I played engi since 2012 and for wvw at least, i prefer core engi with firearms, toolkit and alchemy rather than scrapper. Scrapper is strong but it does not fit wvw for me . For roaming i can not chase people with scrapper ( it has bad mobility ) and for zerging it miss a good ranged weapon so i should build soldier and play like a warrior or guardian … you can do this but it is a gamestyle that i don’t like

The most popular classes are usually a mix of most effective and with lower skill floor . I don’t see many elementalist in this meta …

Carry perhaps is the wrong word, the real concept is with which class you can be more effective and you can make more for changing your game . Obviously in a 5 men game you can not “carry” alone . You win if also other people do their job. You can make the difference but you can not play for other 4. With some players i see that it is near impossible to win but the right question was with which class is it easier to make the difference ? For me , for what i tried, it seemd to me that chronomancer is one of the best option becouse it is quite consistent in fighting and it has a good mobility . It seems to me that mobility is something really really important going in solo .

Artaz.3819:

s.

TL;DR Flamethrower is like playing Fire Dagger in Ele but without the mobility.

And also without the damage of fire dagger 2/5

In spvp engi is really good. Scrapper is really strong and also core engi is quite viable nowdays for casual players

iebi.8507:

I am running condi mesmer but i couldnt fit chronomancer spec in it since chrono is for focused on support and Direct Dmg, as I conclude out of hours of research and builds comparisons.

Here’s my build: Inspiration (1/2/3 or 1/2/1), illusion (1/3/1) and dueling (2/1/3) with trailblazer (or dire at first) + perplexity (or scavenging)

staff / scepter+torch

plus, i use signet heal, blink and decoy for mobility and extra stealth, still not sure on which elite and other utility is the best tho.

Doom+Geomancy sigils, energy is also interesting.

i’m not any expert on mesmer, i did alot of research and comparisons.

Chronomancer for me is a must for 25% speed ,,

so none uses inspiration , illusion , chronomancer as in spvp ?

Sifu.9745:

PierPiero.9142:

I ’d avoid thief. Thief is an high tactical class and for going solo with thief and being usefull you have to have a good map knowledge and strategy. it is not a class for beginners .

Depends what kind of weapon set you’ve been using: P/P Thief is probably the easiest spec in the game and very effective. Every noob can kill with double pistols in a matter of seconds (yes, you can kill DHs with p/p), while other weapon sets requires much more skill. p/p burst dmg is super high (power, not condi) and survivability is not that bad, just be sure to take d/p offset vs profession with high reflection or SB if you need more mobility.

Ok you kill but it is not enough. Thief for being usefull has to be smart , to decap point fast or to act as +1. It is something not easy for a beginner. It is more effective, in my opinion , to run a dw, a scrapper, a druid or a condi warrior and sit on a point . Thief is not a point holder so it has to do “something” more than fight to be usefull , while other classes simply sit down and keep a point capped ( my 2 cents )

dire condi chronomancer, with scepter /shield , staff and perplexity rune … you become a pain in the kitten quite for everyone …

Wvw has a great number of distinct stats and food so i think it is really impossible to balance them . I also belive that balancing a “blob” fight is really quite impossible becouse the composition of the blob is random . The only thing you can do is to tune down some single skill of a single class but this has an impact only on roamers . And in roaming there are many broken builds … not only thieves or perplexity chronomancers

Chaith.8256:

Khenzy.9348:

The sPvP player-base is diminishing enough already, let’s discuss this with at least some impartial and constructive perspective.

My perspective isn’t non-constructive. I also don’t agree with your perspective that the outcry should always be catered to because clearly the game is always at fault if enough people are raging.

And there’s two big reasons why: Scrapper and Druid.

Scrapper and Druid over-perform in low tier PvP with minimal effort, and it’s the perfect answer to DH spam. The tools for equality and balance on all skill levels are all there, it’s not fixable by ArenaNet when players roll Thief, Mesmer, and Necro vs 3 Dragonhunters and throw their bodies back and forth over Tests of Faith. Little can be done about that.

I don’t object to reducing the strength of DH with minimal effort, ie: foolproofing things like Test of Faith as long as it’s not going to throw a wrench in the balance when interacting as intended – players on both sides know their buttons. I’d be interested in critiquing ideas like that.

Even better, I’ll just contribute a freaking amazing idea.

N00b proof Dragonhunter stacking, but not affect mid tier and above as much, change Test of Faith to where: A player can not be affected by Test of Faith’s threshold-crossing-punishment more than once every second.

This would make it so players being pulled, pushed, or idly walking through multiple Tests of Faith from 1-3 Dragonhunters wouldn’t just instantly die.

I don’t see dh that great problem for chronomancer. If you use meta carrion or if you go rabid with shield scepter, staff it is quite doable .
Chrono have blocks , distortion, sword 2 or scepter block every 4.5 secs and a great mobility . I switched from Scapper to mesmer ( becouse i was bored from scrapper ) and i find a good warrior condition much harder to fight than a dragonhunter. Usually with DragonHunter, if i can not win i can disengage quite easily … with condi warrior it is a lot harder and resistance is a pain in the kitten ( the only way is to try to remove it with sword autoattack or wait … ) . Scrapper has more toughess and good defense but on the other hand it has no mobility ( except eg 3) compared to chrono…

Every class can do quite well.
For me chrono is one of the best. I play Scrapper or Chronomancer but for going in solo at the end i have more succes with chrono even if i played it far less than scrapper .
Chrono is strong in 1vs 1 . It has a great mobility and it can fight quite every class . Portal is a great “weapon” even for going solo becouse you can be the +1 in a the fight if used at the right moment or you can control an empty point from another one. it is not only a team tool . The only problem of mesmer is that it is a little bit more diffucult to learn as mechanic (for making damage with shatter clones have to hit the target so usually you have to shatter when target is among clones . Another thing of chronomancer and mesmer is that you have to learn to wait to use your skills and to preserve some of them for when you really need them .
For starting i ’d use scrapper or condi warrior or dragonhunter . Class that are easier to learn than mesmer but in the meantime are effective quite soon .
I ’d avoid thief. Thief is an high tactical class and for going solo with thief and being usefull you have to have a good map knowledge and strategy. it is not a class for beginners .

what line to use ? i thought to use chronomancer, illusion , inspiration as for spvp

for play condi chrono with dire and perplexity … is it better to use staff / sword shield or staff / scepter shield ? scepter seems to me quite good but for taking malicious sourcery i have to give up with master of fragmentation which is really strong . Scepter is strong with his block and with scepter 3 but sword with 2 and 3 is really really strong too. What do you suggest and why you prefer a setup rather than the other ? Is scepter better with dire becouse there is no power ?

Today on my alternate account on NA a dh came to kill me 3 time on close . It was an emerald match and he was really terrible . the first 2 times i killed him slowly , he decapped me becouse i was afraid of traps and dh burst , i disengaged every time and kite him till death of condi . The 3rd time was sure he was really bad so i fought him on point ( a suicide against a not brainless dh ) . I used moa on him twice in a row and i stomped him ( he was really really terrible ) . After a minute he whispered me insulting for using a cheese build (meta chrono ) saying i was noob …and i was cheating for the colddown of Moa. At the end of the match he had 40 points … so only cap against me … I suggested him to report me for cheating … it is not only a dh problem … it is a bad players problem

for me gvg is worse than dueling … when i see enemy capping all the map and our people gvg in a corner …. i find it terrible

santenal.1054:

PierPiero.9142:

I play scrapper and mesmer in spvp. Are you sure that rolling a condi chrono mesmer is so simple ? playing scrapper is quite trival … it is warrior 2.0 a melee weapon with a block … a range weapon (eg ) and some simple combos … nothing similar to old condition engineer.
Mesmer mechanic is much more difficult to play imho becouse for every thing you do you have to pay attention at your clones : heals come for clones, condi removal comes for clones and damage comes for clones . If you shatter when your clones are not at the right position you lose all your damage , even with condition chronomancer. If you waste your mobility skills you are easy to take down. I played engi since 2012, i really loved P/P engi but now scrapper is much stronger but also boring, so i switched to something different. I can assure you that at begin , kill someone of the same level in 1 vs 1 with mesmer is not easy at all. When you learn it … ok , it is really a strong strong class… but it is not immediate like scrapper or warrior or other classes. try it and tell me if i am wrong

WVW dire (condi dam, vit, though) perplexity condi mesmers are more forgiving/stronger then PVP condi mesmers builds. Bad players perform really well with them.

Ok i have to buy these kittening perplexity runes

at the same level of skill i find a condi warrior much more dangerous than a dh … perhaps cause of resistance , cc and condition damage … i have more problems …

Seteruss.4058:

Tbh that thing with whispering telling you noob low skill bla bla is getting out of control. I m on the point where if i win a match i m expecting a whisper right after.
So much hate n crying all the time for the stacking classes(clearly only stacking class problem always)
And yes. Dh is strong but not op. I found myself kill and be killed end of story.
All depend on player skills.

Problem is class stacking and another problem is that if you go 1 vs 1 against a dh you lose the point . I win quite often against dh as mesmer and as scrapper but quite always , expecially as mesmer, i lose my point. So if i fight for 5 minutes… even if at the end i stop him … i lose a lot of points in the match. Problem is only team coordination and rotation …. dh is slow … overrotate them . the only way to kill them quite fast. ..is if i am able to make them heal a little down and then moa once or twice but it is not so easy .

I play scrapper and mesmer in spvp. Are you sure that rolling a condi chrono mesmer is so simple ? playing scrapper is quite trival … it is warrior 2.0 a melee weapon with a block … a range weapon (eg ) and some simple combos … nothing similar to old condition engineer.
Mesmer mechanic is much more difficult to play imho becouse for every thing you do you have to pay attention at your clones : heals come for clones, condi removal comes for clones and damage comes for clones . If you shatter when your clones are not at the right position you lose all your damage , even with condition chronomancer. If you waste your mobility skills you are easy to take down. I played engi since 2012, i really loved P/P engi but now scrapper is much stronger but also boring, so i switched to something different. I can assure you that at begin , kill someone of the same level in 1 vs 1 with mesmer is not easy at all. When you learn it … ok , it is really a strong strong class… but it is not immediate like scrapper or warrior or other classes. try it and tell me if i am wrong

No, they are really strong but not OP for me. You can kill them … problem is class stacking and the fact that when there are more than 1 dh in your opponent team you have to overrotate them. Dh lacks of mobility or have not a great mobility like thief, mesmer and warrior , druid ( i don’t play dh so i could get wrong ) while they are really really strong in keeping a point so you have to split on other point to make them move but it is a bit hard if team is not coordinated. if team is coordinate DH is a strong specs as many others. I think DH are more a low tier problem than high tier

which should be modified to tune down a little bit the effect of 2 or more guardian on a point ? I think that this is the real problem of dh and , for now , the only way is out rotating them but it is something not always simple to do playing in solo

I play engineer and mesmer. Dh seems to me strong but not invincible . I read many people asking for nerf on dh so i want to ask to you 2 things :
- which classes are hardcounters to dh ? what you find “hard” to fight ? ( for what i see it see it seems to me that a scrapper , a mesmer or a warrior can do the job ) .
- what is the real problem of dh ? I think that the most important problem is class stacking , the really good resurrect mechanic . Taking a point to 2 dh is an hell .

I see with condi mesmer for example , that i can quite often kite dh for very long time and kill them , expecially when there are good moving spot . the real problem i have is that i have to evade quite often and , even at the end i win , i lose my point capped , the fight is usually really long so , even if i win my team lose a lot of points, perhaps with scrapper it is easier .

Which are the classes better for going in solo and try to carry a team ? I played only engineer, my main , chronomancer and elementalist. In this season i find
- chronomancer ( strong in 1 vs 1 … good mobility , good support and great tactics with portal.. if well used you can support 2 points )
- scrapper ( always great even if after all the nerfs it is not so simple to win some 1 vs 1 .. for me condi warriors with all their cc remains hard ( at same level of player)
- elementalis ( in this meta i played only some matches with freshair for fun … not the best build for carry imho )

warriors and dh , from what i see , are really in good spot and if not stacked, i prefer a warrior in my team rather than a dh .

Vicariuz.1605:

Lucred.1802:

Vicariuz.1605:

Supreme.3164:

For the love of God…do not give a free pass to Condi Chronomancer at the next balance patch.

Can you please, please, please, PLEASE..nerf Chronophantasma to keep this trait with no ICD is pure madness.

How does it make any sense to allow mesmer to use shatter after shatter like nothing?

I’m looking at the whole picture not only PvP Conquest where people are forced into a small circle, how can you expect me to avoid all this crap 24/7?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1B1s04gVLA

And this is in PvP..imagine the same crap in wvw…wth man….

Cleanse on shatter, teleports on 6s CD, blocks for days, insta gapcloser…IWIN elites…and worst of all auto-lock clones, add to that chronophantasma and there is no point even trying to dodge the shatter.

Regardless of what you do ( dodge/block or more) the shatter still recharge..what? lol

Nerfing condi chrono will leave mesmer with what viable build? Power is already not viable.

For supposedly not being viable I’m seeing a lot of powershatter mesmers in Ruby/Diamond and know at least 1 player who’s 3rd tier legendary with his powershatter mesmer as main. Yes, they don’t have the sustain of chronophantasma, but good lord they hurt.

There’s 3 viable condi mesmer builds, of which chronophantasma is only 1. Calling for a nerf of Chronophantasma is not a unilateral call for nerfing condi mesmer as a role.

I didn’t see many power shatter at the qualifiers. The other 2 are some what niche, chronophantasma with moa is meta for a reason. Reducing it to niche as well is a bad idea. Making power equally as attractive is a better idea, that way build diversity is increased instead of decreased.

Now in queue, when I switch to, a power shatter, it’s against a specific line up, low condi pressure (I use the term low with a grain of salt) with targets that do not have prolonged defense combos (engi, necro, ranger) or only active immunities (other mesmers, thief, guard, rev) and ONLY if I KNOW I can outplay them (team might just be lacking solid roaming dps).

Chronomancer has been nerfed quite a lot since season 1 ( god mode) . Now it is strong but it is not invincible ( in that video you were seeing one of the strong mesmer in world so it is not the “standard” … the skill of the player makes the difference ) . Chronomancer is also quite difficult to play. I think , with thief it is the hardest profession with which you can have success . If you are good at it you can really “carry” becouse you have good evasion … good mobility , portal and it is strong in 1 vs 1 … but it is not so easy to make it automatic. Try to roll a condi warrior , a DH or a scrapper ( my main ) and you will see how they are simpler than chronomancer. Problem is that ( at least for me ) it is not so natural to shatter at the right time or to wait on autoattack ( i come from engineer so not so used to autoattack ) .

problem of rifle is projectil hates ….

Supreme.3164:

For the love of God…do not give a free pass to Condi Chronomancer at the next balance patch.

Can you please, please, please, PLEASE..nerf Chronophantasma to keep this trait with no ICD is pure madness.

How does it make any sense to allow mesmer to use shatter after shatter like nothing?

I’m looking at the whole picture not only PvP Conquest where people are forced into a small circle, how can you expect me to avoid all this crap 24/7?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1B1s04gVLA

And this is in PvP..imagine the same crap in wvw…wth man….

Cleanse on shatter, teleports on 6s CD, blocks for days, insta gapcloser…IWIN elites…and worst of all auto-lock clones, add to that chronophantasma and there is no point even trying to dodge the shatter.

Regardless of what you do ( dodge/block or more) the shatter still recharge..what? lol

My main is an engineer but since i find scrapper terribly boring i switched to chrono. Have you tried to play a chronomancer ? You see this video and it all seems so easy to do …. try it by yourself. It is really hard to time skills and dodge like him (warrior is a fas class to move ) .
Try yourself to kite like that. I am not able to play like him and i think it is really not simple . You saw him winning becouse he has never got a wrong dodge, a wrong sword 3 skill or distortion . He used sword 3 really well for moving around the map switching with its clone and he showed a great map knoledge . it seems something simple and automatic, but try it if you don’t belive me and you will see that it is not simple at all . Chronomancer is strong , ok , but it is not that easy to play like that .
I agree that Chrono is strong but taking a top player as meter for asking a nerf is not so right. I don’t see you find so many mesmers like him .

In hotjoin … in ranked it is a little bit different… PP is strong , ok but it has its weakness

J envy.5270:

yep thats basically what i was trying to say as well that tools is important, and thats how it syncs with most builds really well.

It is quite a must if you use toolkit. If you don’t take it it is not so important imho

insanemaniac.2456:

J envy.5270:

forced to use traveler runes because you sacrificed tools for scrapper is not worth it.

i think it is worth it. i suggest you try it. tools gets you very little in a condi build. and trailblazer/viper make up for not having balthazar runes.

I dont’ agree. If you use pistol pistol you have not a block. If you use toolkit with powerwrench you have a great boost. Tool also give you 33% speed and the reduction of toolbet skills . it is something important becouse you have more frequent access to ft toolbet who is really really strong. I play with tools, ft and elixir S and the reduction on stealth is really good ( 6 secs every 32 )

it is not something new, i really would like it but i don’t know if after that someone would use an elite skill ,perhaps only thieves . The reason is that the cd of utility skills are quite huge

Fay.2357:

PierPiero.9142:

Fay.2357:

I’m using scepter when I play condie because I enjoy the weapon. However…sword is absolutely better defensively due to blurred frenzy over the block. DH have a lot of unblockable attacks, and the evade on blurred frenzy is far better for keeping yourself alive in a fight vs a DH.

Sword 2 has 16 secs cd …. i can use once … then i have no way to make damage to a dh becouse i can no more stay melee to him and i have to wait to have staff ready. The advantage of scepter, for me, is that i can block , put myself out of point and make damage again . Do you go with sword againsat a dh with autoattack after u use your sword 2 ? My problem with sword is … ok i use sword 2 .. and then if i have not staff ready i am really in trouble ( ok i can shatter or use shield but i have not autoattack to rely on … if i stay melee to a warrior or a guardian …. goodbye … )

First of all, blurred frenzy has a 12 second cooldown…but that’s besides the point. DH runs with longbow. Do you think they’ll just throw their hands up in despair and go ‘well, guess I can’t attack this mesmer now that they’re out of melee range’ if you try to attack from range? No, of course not. They’ll just attack you anyway.

,
Probably the problem is mine that i am noob but i find more easily to win against warrior and guardian with rabid scepter /torch, staff rather than sword/sh,staff meta . I repeat, probably it is a problem of mine. ( i use phantasmal disenchanter which helps a lot against warrior )

The problem is that without invention you have to take elixir B for speed ( no 25% more ) and you lose in survivability. Sure you have better dps and damage but you lose quite a lot in survivability and i think that the “great thing” of scrapper is that he can last really long and in meantime he can make good damage. Your build is fun ( i played something like that) and can works but it can not replace the meta for the same role

You will insult me but now i see meta carrion mesmer with staff, sword shield , portal and so on great for a team play. Great mobility , you can move between points and so on , great build for that role .
For soloing i have more success with condition rabid scepter staff mesmer . It is stupid but portal without a team that uses it is quite unsuefull and for many 1 vs 1 i prefer scepter/staff to stay melee and condi spam . I also find phantasmal disenchanter better than portal for soloing … but you will insult me