Guild Wars 2

apparently HOT is so successful they are planning to works towards next expansion in 2016:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/402r80/jan_8_guild_chat_livestream_notes/
General Notes
- Developer Matt Pennebaker have been working on lots of legendary precursor crafting bug fixes, some of which will go live next Tuesday.
- Colin: “I have seen some of the new legendaries, they are amazing”
- Blog post on skill balance next week, with Karl coming in the next Guild Chat on Friday to discuss them.
- Blog post on Jan 12 on 2016 Roadmap.
Development Balance
- In the previous years we did lots of biweeky/monthly updates. In 2015 our focus was on HoT with some updates. in 2016 we are trying to find a balance between frequent – game updates and working on the next expansion.
- We want to focus on all the game modes. We are working on polishing existing game modes instead of experimenting with new stuff.
- WvW overhaul has been in development for over a year now. There are lots of core things we still need to do including population balance etc. (LOL, call this bs)

apparently HOT is so successful they are planning to works towards next expansion in 2016:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/402r80/jan_8_guild_chat_livestream_notes/

General Notes
- Developer Matt Pennebaker have been working on lots of legendary precursor crafting bug fixes, some of which will go live next Tuesday.
- Colin: “I have seen some of the new legendaries, they are amazing”
- Blog post on skill balance next week, with Karl coming in the next Guild Chat on Friday to discuss them.
- Blog post on Jan 12 on 2016 Roadmap.

Development Balance
- In the previous years we did lots of biweeky/monthly updates. In 2015 our focus was on HoT with some updates. in 2016 we are trying to find a balance between frequent – game updates and working on the next expansion.
- We want to focus on all the game modes. We are working on polishing existing game modes instead of experimenting with new stuff.
- WvW overhaul has been in development for over a year now. There are lots of core things we still need to do including population balance etc. (LOL, call this bs)

Why does every game mode besides WvW gets preferential treatment from Anet:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Upcoming-Changes-for-PvP-League-Season-2

Esonver.8470:

Remember when people said BnS will destroy Guild Wars 2?
You mean the game that focused too much on female character to beg for dudes to play so that they get hard on their female characters?

As if GW2 is not a game of kittenty dressed female toons in itself? Please, dont even try…

Point is BnS doesnt need to “kill” GW2, it just have gather enough interest to pull enough players away from GW2 for Anet to feel the pain. The lack of communication and terrible balance are not acceptable, and this kitten HOT expansion that’s more like a 1.5 Living Story content than anything else.

Joey.2769:

So when is this happening? Can we get Alpine maps back? Can you please remove banners? Kthxgbye

apparently mini arrowhead and other sPvP changes are more important, lol.

Anet really wants the WvW community to die, they are such an epic fail.

ISanetyI.4652:

Hi guys ,

I’m a Guy and i don’t think those legendary bows are created for Guy players.
Let me know if you guys like those legendary bows or not.
Hopefully we get a new legendary bow

I hope so too, not everyone is a fan of the flower foot prints of Kudzu.

Dahkeus.8243:

The ones they’re talking about are the infusions with stats that cost a ton to craft. Don’t worry about those until you’re sitting on mountains of gold and are looking for a way to go broke for a marginal stat increase. Here’s the infusions you want:

+5 versatile simple infusion
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Versatile_Simple_Infusion

+7 versatile simple infusion
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Versatile_Simple_Infusion_

For infused/attuned slots (the ones you add to rings and back pieces), you can use these. Just be aware that these won’t work in the other, normal infusion slots:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Agony_Infusion

thank you again, I also found another reddit post with useful steps on getting to 150A without the + stat infusions in 3 easy steps:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3zkqvl/does_fractal_level_and_agony_resist_make_any/

Eolirin.1830:

Einlanzer.1627:

Gaile Gray.6029:

Azure — I admire your way of thinking and I think that level of thoughtfulness will give us highly valuable feedback. Thanks.

I don’t know. I think that attitude is common but, IMO, it’s actually not the best way to address balance. It seems to be an issue of mismanagement on Anet’s part and I think it’s one of the reasons the forums tend toward negativity.

You don’t want to excessively knee-jerk, but endless deliberation is every bit as counter-productive. Balance will never be perfect – it’s better to accept that and to iterate at a much faster pace than once every 3 months. It makes it less likely things will be overlooked for months to years on end (which has always been a problem in GW2) and would probably help mitigate player frustration while also keeping them engaged by shaking up the meta frequently.

Balance patches should happen monthly. And they should be more comprehensive than they tend to be.

That’s a recipe for absolute disaster. You cannot do comprehensive balance patches monthly. It’s completely unreasonable from a development point of view. You can, and they are, do small tweaks to the bigger updates that’ll happen every quarter when something is completely out of line, but note, even those take time; you’re looking at weeks of examination, design, implementation and QA testing to roll out anything, even really simple stuff. If they’re doing monthly patches they never get the chance to see the outcome of their changes before they have to already be making more changes to be able to keep to that cadence, especially if they’re doing comprehensive changes. 3 months is already a very fast iteration cycle, if they’re doing bigger changes.

did you just receive a check in the mail from ANet?

What you have said is not unreasonable to understand, however the problem here is Anet refuse to communicate to certain community while over-communicate another community. WvW community were left in the dark since HOT released, this is after false promises and teases by Anet that major WvW was in the work. Then the news that the ex-WvW lead havent worked on WvW since March 2015, and then admitted WvW update were left out purposely for HOT release. For months the PvE and sPvP communities received updates, while WvW got NOTHING when pages after pages of inquiries were posted. Sorry if we dont want to be considerate of Anet, but how they treated the WvW community is flat out wrong, there’s zero excuses for what they’ve done.

hi guys,

thanks for all the helpful info.

I came across this on reddit regarding agony infusion with 5/7 stat on them, and they look super expensive. What are you guys think of them, worth the price to invest potentially for future raid content?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3zfjnh/why_we_need_5_stat_7_ar_infusions/

randomguy.1283:

All three of those classes are just fine for FotM.

They drop things that will be needed to make legendary armor in the future.

thank you sir

hi all,

I am a returning gamer, used to do lots of dungeons and some fractals, so I would like to ask some questions on the new PvE contents such as raid and fractal changes.

FOTM:
- I’m working on crafting ascended gears, and what’s the best plan to upgrade agony resist? Personal level is at 34, I do plan to do go higher. I googled few guides but they are all from 2014.
- What’s better for FOTM: Chronomancer, Revenant or Engineer?

Raid:
- Besides being challenging, how are the rewards from boss kills? I am probably not going to try this any time soon, but I’ve seen some people selling raid boss kills in LFG channel. Is there some awesome rewards drop by specific bosses that people are paying gold for?

DHawk.2687:

The biggest problem for me is, the blind on shatter trait, combined with the fact, that illusionary persona is standard now (which is somewhat pathetic) it makes backstabing or CnD almost impossible. i don’t want mesmer to be nerfed to hell, just slightly adjusted

It’s ironic that you would have respect for mesmers that beat thieves before the June 23rd patch, yet you cant look at yourself in the mirror. There were so many things that favors thieves when it comes to 1 vs 1 against Mesmers (a GM trait as Power Block had no effect on thieves). Now post patch, Mesmers are stronger and possibly on equal footing with Thieves, and you want to ANet to “slightly” adjust so you can still have an edge. Maybe try to be like the old Mesmers facing thieves, get better so current Mesmers can “respect” you more.

strange community indeed, when good buffs are given, you guys want nerfs? Seriously, is there a medical condition that describe this strange behavior?

phokus.8934:

Let’s start with more pressing issues like BD and CS.

The damage output is fine but you can’t negate it if you’re stunned every 3 3/4 seconds.

But for some reason I don’t think they’re going to mess around too much with the traits so we’ll see what happens.

how do you stun EVERY 3 3/4 sec as a Mesmer?

very interesting, what classes/build would be the tough counter for this build?

1. Fix Mesmer
2. Fix Necro
3. “balance” thief

StickerHappy.8052:

I would like to hear from some so called pro and pro thieves, hoping to engage in a constructive discussion.

Bump.

+1

Mak.2657:

I think PB just should additionally “eat” 2-3 ini (or some ini percentage) on interrupt (except autos). For example: thief with 3 ini left is doing heartseeker and got intterupted = 3 ini left -3 ini spent on HS -2 because of PB trait = -2. I.e. freezed at 0 ini for 2 sec (time to regen ini from -2 to 0). But even this does not make PB GM trait worthwhile. Mb move to adept trait. Or give to it some additional feats: like make dazes (diversion, MoD) unblockable or smth else.

Someone brought this up from Mesmer’s sub forum:

Random thought: What about Power Block vs. Revenant? Their utility & elite skills won’t have CD. Given how poorly anet handled this trait vs. thiefs, can we really except anything different?
That would make two classes basically immune to the trait.

MailMail.6534:

Rome.7124:

never try a condi memser build before, so I am looking forward to try this out tonight

But regardless which build, it seems thief will always be a counter. It seems this build has an advantage over shatter build in going against the meta builds of the other popular classes, which I guess that’s the main selling point, right?

Exactly. These builds allow you to take a lot of boon rip, which is the bane to a lot of the popular meta builds. And the constant sustained condition pressure overrides their defense against burst dmg mitigation.

Maim does well against most builds except for cele warrior, but the cele war won’t be able to kill you either so that’s why you have a team to help you with him. Thief is always difficult, but if you can get one good Cry of Frustration burst off without them clearing it (always save this for your last shatter against thieves), that usually scares them into defense immediately.

alright, after trying this build for 2 nights doing some solo-qs and group with few casual sPvP guild buddies, this build definitely should be considered a great and viable build next to the meta shatter build for Mesmers.

I definitely die less with it, and felt like I had equal chance in beating most of the meta builds that I usually have trouble with. I did die to a very well played Cele Ele and a guardian, but I think it’s more being inexperienced with the build and some habit carried over from the double range shatter build.

Overall I think this is highly recommended alternative for people that want to explore other options for their Mesmer main in sPvP.

What still gets me all worked up is still the fights against thieves, but until ANet do something about it, I just have to accept the situation as is.

Shomaruki.7395:

I’m not even worried about it anymore, Mesmers may not have a TRUE place in Pvp anymore but people have to remember we are what make PvE go around.

When people don’t want to do a jump puzzle who do they ask for help? The Mesmsers ^^
I’m just happy I proved something last night, I fought two different thieves in pvp last night and the conditions were I wouldn’t use any clones if they didn’t use any stealth. (I didn’t use any stealth as well)

…2 out of 2 wins >.>

that’s great, but it’s also a sad truth that thief get to keep the class defining stealth mechanic that makes a difference in playing the class, while Mesmers clones and confusion skills (arent we supposed to be the class that “confuse” other professions) not getting the same love from Anet. Not to mention the initiative mechanic allows thieves players and devs use as the reason that’s WHY a GM trait like power block doesnt work on thieves, but on every other classes.

Scoobaniec.9561:

Neva Eilhart.5347:

I’m not playing thief, but I don’t think we can compare this class to any other.

Stealth is an important mechanism for thief damage, and it might be broken in some fights, but let’s not forget it’s also a defensive mechanism. If a thief gets revealed because of blind or aegis, he’ll get punished in the next few seconds.

Can you say that about a zerk warrior missing a F1 shot ?

Thieves don’t have the boons the engis got, don’t have the overall ranged weapons and survival skills the rangers got. If you strip them off the stealth mechanism, they’re pretty much naked.

So I understand it’s not an easy decision to make for Anet. It’s not all about damage.

If you use stealth in a defensive manner you run away/reposition not attack right? At this point how you would be releaved on blind/block? Why thieves are supposed to not give a flying kitten about blind on them/block on targer while everyone else have to pay attention? If other classes make mistake they are punished for it. Thieves naturally dont care as it wont reveal them so they can try over and over for the duration of stealth.

If i pick up a warrior and do killshot under blind effect/block on target should i have a second chance to sue this move right away? Should i have that chance as a ranger to use point blank shot again cus i didnt payed attention to blind/block/evade/stab? Everyone should be punished for bad gameplay, no exceptions. As i said carry me like a princess mechanic.

agree 100%.

The punishment of thieves in bad gameplay is minimal compare to other classes. At a minimum, if they are not revealed, cost of initiative should be affected.

It seems Revenant is being made to be the class to own other classes, the only hope Mesmers have now is the HOT class specialization and shield skills. But who really have faith in Anet? I know I dont.

thanks for the replies, it’s disappointing to hear Revenant is being created as a super class. Given Anet’s track record they probably will nerf it later. This leaves Mesmers players hoping to move on to a class in a even worst spot because no such OP class in Revenant will stay this way forever.

I guess we can still hope the Mesmer specialization and shield skills will bring some changes to the class, but I am not optimistic that Anet will do the right thing for Mesmers.

hi,

just curious if anyone that’s active on here got into the beta, just curious to see any info related to Mesmers in HOT…

Mister Fluffkin.7358:

Btw, any zerk build will look good against newbies because they simply dont know how to avoid your bursts. Thats nothing exclusive to the thief class…

duh, everyone knows that. Thieves just have more tools to engage and disengag, with no weapon cooldown and stealth mechanic, and that’s what makes them the go-to choice over other zerk/burst classes like rangers/mesmers/necros.

Trevor Boyer.6524:

• Thieves are monsters in low tier ~ Keep up in mid ~ Begin to struggle in high tier
• Mesmers are honestly decent all around

lol, thanks for the good laugh. If Mesmers are decent all around where are they in higher tiers? Same can be ask for Rangers and Necros. And you are downplay thief, if a last spot is for a zerk burst class, people tend to take thief over mesmer most of the time.

Centurion.7296:

HI, I can’t seem to find anything on how to make an organized team. What do you look for when making a organized team? for example will having a tank guard/war in the middle to fend of the enemies while an ally condi engi just bleed and poison the enemies to death work? So basicly, what do you guys look for when making organized teams even if your just 2 in the party.

It’s pretty easy, just avoid include Mesmers, Necros and Rangers (unless you have no other options). Check out most of the higher tier teams in tournaments, certain classes are just not given the fair treatment by Anet.

Impact.2780:

rainisword.7860:

There definitely isn’t enough counterplay to stealth.

AoE, cleaves, push backs, knock downs, immobilise, stuns, counter stealth, mobility, invulnerability, block. Plenty of counter play. I suppose most people that have the mindset for playing such deceptive, tricky, out-witting games are people who enjoy playing thief more than the other classes. So many players, seeing the enemy player enter stealth, will just stand there and wait to be hit, then complain. I mean, at least bloody move. Movement in itself is a counter – the weakest, granted – but they have to follow you, and that takes the same time it took you to cover that distance! It buys time, maybe even the full duration of the stealth causing it to wear off before they hit you, and it may even force them to use a resource(s) to close the gap. Counting is another underrated counter… Count the seconds, then enter stealth yourself or use an invulnerability skill or a block. Aegis too at least let’s you know the stealthed player is nearby.

rainisword.7860:

There definitely isn’t enough counterplay to stealth. Its also that there isn’t enough counterplay to certain abilities that shadowstep because they happen instantly wihtout any animation so you can’t dodge(besides the pistol shadow step). Like steal.

You mean like…
- Lightning strike (trait)
- Lightning strike (scepter)
- Blinding flash
- Hurl
- Arcane wave
- Arcane blast
- Lightning flash
- Spinal shivers
- Blink
- Phase retreat
- Smite condition
- Judge’s intervention
- Overcharged shot
- Numerous invulnerability skills like endure pain, defy pain, signet of stone (not counting mist form or elixir s because they have a tradeoff), and blocks, which can come out instantly to counter burst.
- And yes shadow step, and infiltrator’s signet. Leave steal alone, it’s a profession skill. Virtues, enter death shroud, attunement swap and alright not exactly the profession skill but practically: equip/unqeuip kit, have no cast time.

Thief has them… So does every other class. Ele and guard have the most.

yea nice list, but the issue here is how frequently thief can access stealth skills compare to other classes disengage/stealth skills. Thief has no cool down, and totally invulnerable to Mesmer’s GM skill power block is just total bullkitten.

Ravenmoon.5318:

So last night I played berserker warrior with dolyak signet and greatsword and longbow.

Kept killing thieves with a single whirl and sigil proc. If they didn’t die from the whirl i just swapped to bow which had hydromancy rune to slowthem long enough for pinpoint shot and back to greatsword for some funtime hundred blades and, you guessed it, another whirl xD

Turret engineers though completely got me rekt. I even trolled around with rangers and whatnot.

Who said the berserker warrior is dead :O
And oh boy those DPS and bunker guards haven’t seen damage warrior in awhile. They just took my 100b crits and downed and were like whaaaaaaaaaaa xD

Seriously, beating 2 guards alone is freaking insane. I focused the squishy one, then when his friend went to res him i downed him too.

#GetRekt by zerk warrior lulz.

This thread is about Mesmer, start a zerker warrior thread if you need to discuss.

Seeing your other posts, you’re probably just a thief player trying to derail this thread.

glentc.2159:

So I’ll probably reach L.80 with my Mesmer this weekend but I’m not sure which armor type to purchase. A lot of the leveling builds suggested Power but I’m not sure if I still need power at L.80. I plan on continuing map completion and to participate in WvW groups. So far I see a lot of posts from 2013-2014 that would argue one from the other. I’m not sure what the state of Condition vs Power for Mesmer in PvE and WvW.

Also if I go with Traveler runes, should I drop my offhand Focus and go with Torch?

after more play time, you will realize Memser is mostly average or slight above average in most aspects of the game. Instead of focus on gearing the mesmer, I think it’s better to explore the possibility of playing another class (elementalist, guardian or even thief). Dont throw all your eggs in one basket, you will regret it.

Impact.2780:

You have to remember though that balance is aimed more toward higher levels of play than that where players ignore shadow refuge. By higher level, I mean potential-wise, not the devs saying “Hmm, Bob seems competent. Let’s balance around him.”

sure, then Anet needs to look like WHY necros, rangers and mesmers are not represented in the higher tiers. Certainly choosing thieves over the other 3 classes have something to do with it to fill the last spot, no?

Mak.2657:

MithranArkanere.8957:

To fix thieves, the first step is bringing back weapon skill recharges to the table.

Nah. It negates class unique mechanic.
MB make SB 5th only horizontal port? Idk, too big nerf too.

Mesmers class mechanic is to confuse players, Anet nerf its confusion output and make sure in your down state you get a big red arrow above your head to “confuse” the other players to not stomp you. Fair?

How about have Thieves leave a blood trail when you damage them and they go into stealth, that would be nice.

SoulSin.5682:

Doon.2364:

Shinji.2063:

Stealth is very hard to balance in wvw, in pvp it is actually a very balanced ability in that it is kept in check by conquest mode.

Actually a big reason stealth is more balance in spvp is revealed last 4s, which means thieves can’t go back into stealth that quickly unlike how it is in wvw which revealed is only 3 seconds. That extra second allows more opportunity to counter play.

+ they move slower, meaning they can’t reposition thenselves that easily
+ you can’t cap points.
+ playing SA meaning that you will drag the fight as long as you need to win the fight. And dragging a fight for minutes on sPvP means that you are not doing your own role for minutes as well.

Alas, overal opinion of stealth is always the same:
begginer players always conplain about it,
olders players don’t care about it anymore and just kill the thief.

BTW, on Ragnarok you could toggle invisibility at will and get a speed boost while doing it. Assassin was still one of the worst classes in that game.

I’ve played GW2 since launch, and my main is Mesmer and Ranger, I still not agree with the stealth mechanic. While Mesmers can generate clones that supposed to confuse other players, Anet nerfed confusion and make sure your down state there’s a giant red arrow pointing above your head to make sure you get stomped. How about the same assist to target thieves in stealth before and after, let’s make it fair.

never try a condi memser build before, so I am looking forward to try this out tonight

But regardless which build, it seems thief will always be a counter. It seems this build has an advantage over shatter build in going against the meta builds of the other popular classes, which I guess that’s the main selling point, right?

Dawdler.8521:

Sabre.8627:

Dawdler.8521:

Maybe in the top 1% of the PvP and hardcore competitions the Necro is useless, in the other 99% it work decently enough.

You even admit we’re useless in hardcore pvp. Necro is already next to hopeless in the dungeon/PvE ascpects of the game, then we’re supposed to be okay with just “decent” at non-hardcore PvP? While Guardians, thieves, elementalists, engineers, warriors are completely amazing in both.

Of course I admit it. Because its simple math. If A, B, C, D and E are 5% better than F, G and H while you only have 5 slots to fill… You’re going to choose from A-E to fill the ranks. Same reason why GWEN has ruled WvW. AoE effects are party priority and limited to 5 so that dictate party composition. Dungeons – same thing. Everything in GW2 is controlled by party size and AoE limit.

Someone has to be okay with it. With the Revenant coming, one of the “good” classes might even be pushed out. Because its going to end up either in the meta or in the trash, isnt it? If its the former, people will come here once again and go “please just remove the elementalist from the game” or wharever class has the fortune to be the chosen one.

At some point you have to accept it. Necro could use a boost in dungeons and I hope the greatsword change that, but for PvP… its still decent.

so your reason is more along the line of “somebody has to be at the bottom” and if you happen to main one of those (or even multiple) from the classes that are below the curve, you just have to accept it? Sorry, I cant accept that.

Anet, please revert this skill to how it was before.

Maybe if Anet actually try to balance certain classes would lead to more players actually participating? WHy bother going against 3 turrent engies or D/D ele, or playing necro/mesmer/ranger against teams with 3 thieves?

Vieux P.1238:

Dear poor old Gw2 thief……shutup!

+1000

DeWolfe.2174:

rchu.8945:

Anet, fix Power Block to affect thief, complete invulnerable to it PLUS stealth is not fair to Mesmers in sPvP.

Yes, because Mesmer’s are in such a poor state?

If you have to ask that question, either you just started playing this game for a short while or you’re in denial.

SMH…

Vieux P.1238:

How to fix the mesmer #balance?
Step:
#1-take a lighter
#2-take a flame thrower
#3-take & Torche the mesmer
& step #4- Creat new balance mesmer

lol, sad but true.

SobeSoul.6910:

The problem with saying d/p can be shrekt by CI or shatter in duels and telling someone to go to a dueling arena is that conquest is 5v5.

Sure, you will see good mesmers beating thieves in duels, but duels never include the thief having a buddy who can tank and distract the mesmer.

I don’t think mesmers need a buff to be viable in sPvP. We see mesmers playing at the highest levels and doing good work in torunaments. Why I think mesmers need a buff and the only type of buff I can fathom for shatter (the most popular build) is greater access to condi clear since I have seen mesmers just keel over and die to burning alone.

nope, surviving against thieves are the REAL problem, stop trying dispute it.

How many Mesmers playing at the highest levels and doing good work in tournaments vs thieves or other classes? Please share your facts here.

woah,

are people implying Thieves are dying breed in sPvP? C’mon, as a Mesmer and Ranger player, that cant be more further from the truth. And suggesting Thieves need some buffs in order to compete with current “meta” is just delusional, the Anet might as well remove Mesmers, Rangers and Necros from sPvP. Those three are the classes that need “adjustment” for sPvP not thieves.

Malhavoc.8976:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjEq0yaDL+rQ1ag+ga9DEAjd7fYFuBW/bJrIK-TpBFwACuAAMOCAIOEA12foaZAAPAAA
Here is a variation I would recommend using if you have hard times to deal with conditions. Shadowpass, Infantry and other good rangers use these traits as well and it works out pretty well for them too.

I’m not in the same league as those guys but fwiw, I run this exact setup (now including HiPS) when I play power. I primarily queue solo or with one friend, so the personal condition removal helps significantly. In a proper team, I’d be more inclined to run 6/6/2/0/0 or 6/5/3/0/0.

HiPS is now quite nice on a power build.

I have never taken HiPS, and I dont understand why it’s good. Let say you get jumped by a thief who hit u with a immobilize skill, u become camouflaged at the location if you were hit, any movement will reveal you(is that correct), what does that do for you to survive the attack? Thief can just keep swinging away at where you are camo’d.

Can some expand on why HiPS is good?

hello,

I am looking for an established and active PvX guild on JQ. I play during EST, mostly 8 to 11PM (or later), longer on weekends. I like all aspects of the game, but definitely play a lot of WvW and sPvP. The search function on the forum is a bit of hit and miss for me, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Selya.5039:

No, shatter mesmers indeed don’t need more survivability in general. They do need trait fixes, bug fixes and more survivability only in the case when there is a thief on the other team (i.e. shatter mesmers need something to not be a complete liability when there is a thief on the other team).
.

Fix power block to affect thieves (in some ways, rather than just complete invulnerability) would be a great start.

I am with cafard on this one, making an ascended Cele set, using trinkets to mix and match to balance stats. Unless you’re a min/max kind of guy, I think this would work for people lazy like us.

Sagramor.7395:

Also if you can pull off a Stealth before swapping to or while on GS it’ll help prevent the massive Maul telegraph from being dodged.

good tip, thanks.

hi all,

sorry to necro this thread, but I just want to make sure I get the right opinion for crafting a set of ascended armor due to time and cost.

It seems rangers will able to take advantage of most of the stats, and I do a bit of everything in the game (dungeons, living story, WvW, etc). I feel like ascended celestial is good.

My build will always be longbow + X (GS, Sword/xxx etc), but in case I want to explore other options, Celes set will allow me to do so. Do you guys think it’s good idea, since I am not really a min/max kind of player.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Supreme.3164:

Daishi.6027:

In the case of shatter mesmer, the damage is still less than other glass builds, and although they can sustain better any tanky dps or condi spec will do better, especially considering conditions don’t die to basic cleave.

At the same time to do any decent damage with shatter requires a significant amount of set up another luxury other glass builds have since they do not require it.

So while being lack luster at burst with Prob the most obvious animations, along with crappy sustain, long set up to even achieve the goal, less mobility than thief and unable to escape media guards, all while being naturally countered by no risk condi and bruiser builds that have a lower skill cap, all for a trade off of boon strip… And this is all considering it’s the most vaiable spec you can run. I think this deserves a buff.

If not to survivability at least better coefficients on it’s basic attacks.

I believe the weaknesses of the shatter Mesmer are well known and they’re also common to all other zerk specs ( some more, some less ), yet we cannot simply ignore the strengths of the build, we simply can’t.

Can you imagine what would happen to pvp if a zerker staff ele( extreme example) would receive sustain buffs?
-No team would live for more than 5s on a point

So buffs to Mesmer yes, buffs that would benefit shatter Mesmer…no, absolutely no

You make sound like Mesmers dish out more burst damage compare to thieves, even if it’s close, Thieves can choose when to disengage and then engage AT THIER convenience more easily than Mesmers.

Sure, you can say that’s what being a thief is all about, but if we are going to follow the same reason that certain traits and skills fit the specific classes, Mesmers from GW1 (according to the people that played it) is way better than what Mesmers are in GW2. We are not asking for top burst damage and survivability in one complete package, but given how Mesmers in GW1 works, we are supposed to confuse enemies and using interrupt skills. Now in GW2, Our clones and phantasms are jokes, they can be dodged or killed, shattering requires setup, and when we are down we have a big freaking red arrow on top of our head to let ALL players know which one is the real one to focus on. I will take whatever the version of Mesmers in GW1 over the current version.

Fay.2357:

The key about mantras, that all of this discussion has been entirely missing, is what happens when you put multiple mantras together in a build. I always like to refer to mantras as the “spice” of mesmer builds; you don’t want to overwhelm a dish with spices, but appropriate application will enhance the flavor and overall enjoyment.

This is how mantras are normally used. You put MoD in a build for a strong extra interrupt. You put MoR in a build for strong condition removal. You put MoC on when you just need that high output stability. The problem is that you don’t ever put more than maybe 2 mantras into a build (excepting PvE nukers, that doesn’t count) because of how badly they function together.

Most utilities, when heavily traited for, synergize well together. Even signets, as faulty as they are, once traited will gain in power the more you have. Mantras work in the completely opposite way. Even after heavy traiting for mantras, as your build gains mantras it becomes slower and clunkier. You spend more time standing around chanting, more time being vulnerable, more time doing essentially nothing. At the maximum of 4 mantras in a build, when you’ve expended them all in a big fight you then have to stand around for 11 seconds to charge them all back up.

This is why mantras are a singularly awful design. A change or some sort of trait adjustment needs to be made so that adding more mantras into a build doesn’t cripple it. Potentially something like when expending the third cast of a mantra, gain quickness, allowing you to rapidly charge up another one.

great analysis, +1.