Guild Wars 2

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/OMFG-Build-of-the-Month-Contest-December/first#post3346934

PROBLEM:
I. With the Proc:
There are three major threats. At the moment you can be
1) stunned/dazed
2) interrupted
3) waited 5s.
If any one of these 3 happens, you are inevitably dead. There’s little you can do about any of them; it rests solely in the hands of your opponent. If you move close, you are at incredible risk of the first and second. If you kite, you will not proc the large heal.
II. Without the Proc:
It’s a minor heal.
III. In exchange for these
1) a massive cooldown (40s)
2) no condition removal
It just isn’t worth it. Risk/reward gameplay is excellent, but currently it’s more a gamble than a skillful choice.

SOLUTION:
Option 1:
Instant cast.
Option 2:
If stunned, the skill is replaced with a stun-break and a stun (AED2). I can choose to either wait out the stun, or activate AED2 and sacrifice the heal. Using AED2 puts AED on cooldown (40s?).
Option 3:
Marriage of the two. Cast for AED1, AED2 stunbreak/stun with the minor heal.

EXPLANATION:
Option 1:
Instant cast solves the problems with stuns/interrupts. It keeps play/counterplay revolving around the timing of the death; who can time it better, the opponent or the player?
Option 2:
Here, play includes both casting play and stun play. Choices include timing the death (for the cast), timing the stun, and timing the stunbreak. Factors that affect these choices include health level, weapon cooldowns, and build type.
Option 3:
Similar to option two, except with more emphasis on timing the AED, and less on AED2.

GOAL:
Right now, it’s largely a toss of the dice. The purpose of all these changes is to continually provide play/counterplay for both sides. There should always be options for the players to choose from. Whoever wins chose well, whoever loses chose wrong.

Thoughts, recommendations, comments, questions?

Not a class counter; a build counter. If solo, you can’t go full condition damage. That is a new limitation, but a reasonable one – an end to the condi spam builds, as these forums have called them. If in a group, it changes little- that ele is going to lose that 10% when he’s targeted. It’s not the most elegant of solutions, but we’ve yet to see how the meta shifts.

If you had any power, you would have been fine. You didn’t. If you’d been in a teamfight, he would have lost that 10% immediately. You’re running headfirst into a brick wall – that is one foot wide. Step 6 inches either direction and you’ll be fine. You can try to argue “oh I shouldn’t have to” and keep running into that wall, but please don’t complain about the immobility of the wall when you’re choosing to run into it.

Hmm. If hybrid is viable anywhere, it’ll be on engi. Have you considered an HGH might stacking build? They typically manage to reach 20+ stacks of might, if given enough time. This should compensate for the low DPS inherent with celestial.

Imagine a zerg of the things.

There’s also a “Tengu” quest somewhere. IIRC, you are transformed into a bird-like figure to frighten local grawl, or something like that. 5 unique skills, and actually quite fun.

2 characters, 2 builds each. That will keep me busy until 2015.

chemiclord.3978:

Well, the problem is that MMOs really aren’t traditionally that frantic, high paced, high energy sort of game that draws interest.

GW2 is more “action” that most of its genre, but it still plays pretty slow and sluggish compared to the likes of League of Legends or Starcraft.

Interesting. I would actually argue the opposite. In LoL& Starcraft, you slowly build up advantages through various strategies. To be sure, there are quick mechanics in the fights themselves- yet the fights themselves typically take up ~10% of actual gameplay, if that. The strength of LoL is the combination of these two. In GW2, we only have (or 90% have) the mechanics, where numerous decisions are being made by 10 players, making it impossible to follow every single one. In LoL, on the other hand, you typically can follow every relevant action.

Mesmer: Incredible build diversity. Favourite: shatter; burst, active, risk/reward.
Engineer: Team utility.
~Thief: Roaming DPS.

A very nice list.

SnubFighter.7613:

Carighan.6758:

And now keep in mind that due to WvW stomp-avoidance, most would consider our downed state one of the strongest ones (reliable anti-stomp on #2).

It’s not that reliable, I was stomped from around a wall after using #2 and still in stealth just the other night. We’d be better off with an interrupt.

Cannot be stomped in stealth.

Seras.5702:

It will make for a nice escape in WvW. Pop AED, jump off cliff. Massive heal and nobody is gonna follow you without dying or losing a huge chunk of their life.

Doesn’t work that way. Falling damage bypasses the heal proc. Would be suicide.

Asura. We are the master race.

Sickle.6502:

No way a warrior can do that much damage with a sword and board set up…. 16k damage?
Cheating here or what?

That was in sPvP. In WvW, expect 20k+.

The pull will not. The cripple will.

Mesmer:
Escape:
-portal
-blink
Distract:
-multiple illusions
-phantasms; kite
-GS+Staff ranged
-stealth
Engage:
-Sword; evades, teleport, stunbreak
-Focus; iWarden(reflect, protect, attack). Curtain (pull, swiftness, cripple)

edit:
condition removal: phantasmal disenchanter; nullfield, arcane thievery, mender’s purity.

And then, in dreaming, the clouds methought would open, and show riches ready to drop upon me, that when I waked- I cried to dream again.

Play it. If you stop enjoying it, stop.

eekzie.5640:

Requiem.8769:

(..)

You’ve made your spam clear. You can’t understand what I’m saying and I’m fine with that, but don’t take it personal and keep spamming.

The whole problem is that people find this offensive.
That is not subjective.
Then, my opinion is that people who are offended have a solid point to base their opinion on. It is indeed a tacky armor, and people can get offended by it.
Now comes in why this is posted in the discussion… Is it people overreacted or not.
I believe it is not. Whether you (or I) agree with them is irrelevant.
It is relevant whether or not it is an overreaction to this armor.
I’ve already explained why I don’t think this is the case.

As the Forums are my witness, I’ve been more than willing to listen to your arguments. I’ve left open questions in every post, waiting for your answers. You just haven’t given any.
You can try to discredit that, but fortunately our correspondence is open, and you won’t convince anyone.
Regardless, I’m still open; if you have reasoning behind your claims, share them. I’d be fascinated to hear them.

eekzie.5640:

Requiem.8769:

You never wrote why. You described it as immature; something fit for women on street-corners. But you didn’t write why- and why is that?

Like I said, because it doesn’t fit in the game.
Quality wise. Etiquette wise. Design wise.

No, now you’re going in circles. You’re saying that it’s low-quality and that it lacks etiquette, because it’s low-quality and lacks etiquette. You’ve yet to say why.
Let’s review, shall we?

inappropriate

eekzie.5640:

a joke

eekzie.5640:

too trashy

eekzie.5640:

overexposure

eekzie.5640:

does not belong

eekzie.5640:

impure

eekzie.5640:

immaturity

It isn’t any of these things. Not to me. Women could wear 20 feet of sheets. That doesn’t make them any more mature, pure, or appropriate in my opinion. Fashion does not dictate morality.

This is not about me liking the armor. This is not what the topic is about.

Yes. Yes it is. All your arguments have been nothing more than personal and subjective statements about what is socially moral.

eekzie.5640:

Requiem.8769:

So what is this topic about?
Again you speak of “this design” and “that standard of quality.”
I personally find it beautiful. Perhaps you should explain how you find it, first, and your reasoning for doing so.

You might want to read what I’ve said then.
What I think of the armor itself is irrelevant to this topic.

You never wrote why. You described it as immature; something fit for women on street-corners. But you didn’t write why- and why is that?

eekzie.5640:

It is not that I am unhappy about the armor.
I’m unhappy that they would allow this design to take part of the game.
It lowers the standard of quality that armor pieces have in game.

This is up again because the previous topic was closed as people couldn’t behave themselves. It’s already getting quite toxic in here because all of you seem to get the wrong impression of what I am expressing.

Please keep this on topic and clean.

This is not about me not liking the armor.
This is not what this topic is about.
So please, if you’ve got any comments regarding that keep it to yourself.

So what is this topic about?
Again you speak of “this design” and “that standard of quality.”
I personally find it beautiful. Perhaps you should explain how you find it, first, and your reasoning for doing so.

2g per hour is 2g more than we got before. Not to mention the numerous uses we now have for glory. You were given a present; it just isn’t as big as you were hoping for. That doesn’t give you a right to complain.

In my culture it is considered exceedingly immoral to wear clothes that do not show any underboob. In fact, it is generally understood that it is most moral for women to wear no upper clothes at all, as to do otherwise would demonstrate disrespect and dishonesty for the female form.
I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that unless we make all armor-sets conform to my notions of what is acceptable and what isn’t, then I can no longer support Anet.
Please make sure your responses agree with me, or I will call them uncivil and off-topic.
The following picture shows my ideas for a moral, happy, and topless Tyria.
Thanks.

edit: I have removed the picture for reasons.

I think there could be a compromise. Keep all skills available at their current skillpoint prices, yet also have “discounts” for completion of certain quests, in association for certain skills (talk to the Heart NPC after, to trade for the skill).

Incurafy.6329:

There’s no such thing as cheese in a competitive video game.

I wouldn’t be that harsh. GW2 is competitive, in its own ways.

Requiem.8365:

This is the standard hambow i guess: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-ss-o;1NKVP0f4;160;9;59T-T;13;189;127A;6KJG4KJG45BW
3rd Utility: Dolyak Signet, Signet of Stamina or Defy Pain depending on enemy teamcomp and personal preferences
Defense: 2 or 3
Sigils: 2x Fire or maybe energy+force or sth else
I heard some people run Soldiers or Valyries amulet for more defense but i never tried that.

Hi.

Every zone you populate is another depopulated. This is the key issue you’d need to resolve before adding more. My personal recommendation would be simultaneously opening and closing zones, to keep the population density constant while still bringing new content. This could most easily be accomplished by tying these old and new places with the living story.

Coulter.2315:

Krayiss.4926:

Pretty sure they are covering their ears and not letting in any light

Aaaargh my ears can’t see!

Oh no! Mine can’t either! What should I do?

Ravenmoon.5318:

Yes it’s easy class to begin with BUT it does have some advanced tactics which makes it hillariously powerful at times (like the stunlock warriors out there!) and it also has its weaknesses.

TIL: stunlock =advanced tactics.

5 stacks of confusion for 10s (30% boon; 13s); 8s internal cooldown. Effectively a permanent 5 stacks in your build.

An interruption build without runes of perplexity?

lordkrall.7241:

Because both Necro and Warrior have much worse defensive/restorative capabilities than Ele and Guardian.

Ha. Hahaha. Hah. Hmm.

I like this. It’s a move away from the heal-spam-when-off-cooldown pervasive to many classes, and will instead require precise timing and judgment. High-risk, high-reward.

Good God, I hope not. No more vertical progression, please.

It’s a high-risk high-reward heal, rewarding for skillful play and punishing otherwise. Seems like a burst spec heal to me. It’s exactly what warriors need.

Depends on whether the new skills are universally more powerful than their alternatives. For that, I’ll have to reserve judgment for when I see them.

Marsares.2053:

My previous post in the previous thread got deleted, so no doubt it’ll happen again here.

However, I for one, am far from thrilled about this. What we need is more intelligent gameplay, what we do not need is more AI, more passive game-play and more cheesy bunker builds.

This heal mostly caters to passive builds like Phantasm or PU Condition which have a relatively low skill-floor and largely ignore our unique class mechanism of shatters. Nor does it address one of the inherent problems we face (i.e. our role in large-scale fights) as our clones get wiped instantly.

It feels that yet again Mesmers are being pushed into the 1v1 / small-scale role (which suits me fine as a solo roamer), but even more worryingly towards passive game-play. PU builds are already strong… with +5% TGH -> Condi from 10 December onwards and potentially this heal, it just may be pushed over the edge of acceptability.

I really wish the Devs would push us towards more power and shatter based builds that require a modicum of skill, timing and understanding of your opponents, rather than just spamming clones, running in circles and constantly stealthing.

Do not get me wrong, shatter and lock-down builds are viable, but the vast majority of Mesmers will gravitate even more towards Phantasm/PU builds with this new heal.

I would not be so hasty to condemn the skill as more AI spam. Rather, they are giving you more control over your phantasms, which could be seen as the very opposite. Alone, this skill would undoubtedly make phantasm builds more powerful- but I wouldn’t be surprised if, to compensate, phantasms were rebalanced.

I love centaur runes, particularly in combination with the MoRec heal. You will lose stats, unquestionably- but you will have perma-swiftness which I personally find vastly more important in WvW. 2,620×2 healing on a 10s cooldown isn’t bad, either, especially in PU builds where the main weakness of mantras (casting) is protected by high stealth uptime.
edit: do also consider switching staff for Sword/Pistol. The cripple, immobilize, and stun allow for decent chasing abilities. Staff, while incredible, is a more defensive weapon.

Overused metaphors aside (although I do like the substitution of “punch” for “slap”; very nice), you have a valid point.
Specifically, what would you recommend? A different title for every 10 levels? An emote? A skin?

I have begun to notice +1s on posts that I have never visited. As in, I open a thread for the first time, and there are several posts that have the +1 greyed out. There are several explanations here:
1) I’m going insane. Quite possible, please let me know.
2) Amnesia. Selective amnesia.
3) Someone’s hacked my account, and instead of using it to play, they’ve decided their most enjoyable pursuits lie in the occasional forum like. If so, I must also commend him/her for this kind eccentricity and considerable ingenuity, as I’ve changed my password repeatedly.
4) It’s a bug.
So, do any of you have the same issue? Please let me know.
Thanks,
-Requiem.8769

That’s just too bad.

What would you recommend?
-1. Time Gates? People hate time gates.
-2. RNG? People hate RNG. An even bigger complaint than time-gates.
-3. Low Numbers? People mock low numbers. “Catering to casuals! How ridiculous!”
I think we have here the least of 4 evils.

Don’t worry guys, I have figured it out. This post is merely a subtle plan of his.
Phase 1: He plays, and falls in love with, an Engi.
Phase 2: He complains about how OP Engis are.
Phase 2: In response at such an outrageous suggestion, we instead list how they rather aren’t.
Phase 3: The devs, seeing such an overwhelming list, buff Engis.
Phase 4: ???
Phase 5: Profit.
A most cunning and vile plan, to be sure! But fear not, we have caught him before any damage was done.

What do you get when a bear has hemorrhoids?
A Scarlet Briar.

Decoy (4s, 40cd) + Prestige (4s, 30cd) + Veil (6s, 90cd) + M. Invis (6s, 90cd)=20s chained; 10% + 13% + 6.6% + 6.6% = 36.6%. This is with the PU (GM) trait.

Separates the men from the boys, I suppose.
Although at this point, I would recommend hiring a young relation part-time to do all this work for you so you can, ah, enjoy the game.

Every class should have a noob-friendly build. This build should:
1) be slow and forgiving, which 20/20/30 does in the form of high toughness and stealth.
2) be simple strategically. For this, merely summon phantasms and kite.
3) simple mechanically. This build completely ignores shattering, and has relatively few situational skills (e.g. scepter #2 block, pistol #5 interrupt).

However, what it should not be is an exceedingly powerful build with a few niche counters. The last week I met a self-confessed noob in a PvP dueling arena. He’d started the game that day and was looking for help. I gave him this build. Within 30 minutes he was beating all his friends – a warrior, guardian, and a ranger I believe – who had been playing for ~6 months. He then asked for another build. I thought he might enjoy something more skill-based now that he had a little more experience. I gave him clone-death 10/25/10/0/25 – not much more of a difficult build, to be sure. And he absolutely detested it, because he lost several of his first duels. He asked for another; I gave him the 20/20/0/0/30 shatter. That was even worse. He hasn’t asked for another.
The problem with the PU condition is that it is too powerful for too little skill. The noob had no incentive to try other builds, because he could beat everything he wanted with the skill-less build that he had. He didn’t care about Solo-Queue or Team-Queue; he just enjoyed the fights. He will play that build until he becomes very, very bored, and in all likelihood quit the game.
I suppose it is rather obvious by now, but I think the damage should be nerfed. It should still be just as easy to play- the go to “noob build”, but it should not be as powerful. Rather, there should be clear individual incentives in using different builds. I have yet to see the shatter mesmer, and the shatter mesmer build, that can consistently beat a PU condition one. I would rather like to be corrected on this, but I do not think I will be. As it is now, most mesmers prefer winning on a cheese build to dying on a fun one.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

errrr lets keep the discussion civil shall we?

everyone is free to share their opinions, but the final decision lies in them (anet) and not us.

anyway, earlier someone gave me an assignment, to play an elementalist.

well, i tried playing one.
not fun at all.
kept dying.

one round is enough for me.
back to playing warrior.

happy.

I see. How precisely would you compare it to your HS war?