Guild Wars 2

You could use a giant wooden spoon as a staff.

I think we’re onto something … it should obviously be a ranged wood spoon though because the letters r-a-n-g-e are in the word “ranger” … so obviously everything should be ranged :-p

While we’re at it … the letters a-n-i-m are in “animal” … so our ranger pets should either resemble animatronics or anime … duh.

Also … bow (the weapon) and bow (the action; bend at the waist) are spelled the same … so our bow weapons should make people bow.

Sword has w-o-r-d in it … so I should see words, not numbers, when I swing my sword. Additioanlly, I should just see the word “great” every time I swing my “greatsword”. Make it so.

Axe has an “x” in it like in x-ray … so it should let me see through people’s armor to their underwear … because obviously it should give me x-ray vision … and that’s obviously how that vision works.

Horn is just missing a y … it should make everyone want to love on my big sexy norn ranger.

Dagger has “gg” … just by equipping this weapon, every fight should be over and end in my favor.

I’ve got nothing for Torch … Fire burns.

Crapgame.6519 about Guardians in the meta:

No doubt about the ELementalist … friggin golden child.

• sPvP … we only have 5 in a group … 2 should be Elementalist … on most tourney-level teams … there’s a red flag
• PvE meta … we have only 5 in a group … 2 should be Elementalist … most, if not all, the current record holders have 2+ Elementalists … there’s a red flag.
• WvW meta … Can provide boons, CC, counter CC, condi cleanse, direct and condition damage at the same time, large amounts of AOE, and still be mobile … useful both for zerging and roaming … one of the 4 classes of GWEN

As far as Guardian

• Not as used as Elementalist, but still quite useful in sPvP and taken more often than Ranger and others.
• Always loved in PvE. Solid dps, reflects, boons, etc.
• WvW … an essential part of GWEN … in fact, most are happy with just GWE … <sarcasm> bench those necros … why should they be relevant </sarcasm>

@Crapgame.6519 again about the Guardian forum:

They seem to not have grasped that:

• Name doesn’t mean a thing … grow up and get over the name … our Druid could have been designed to run around with a Rifle … I would laugh and just go with it.
• You don’t have to use the Longbow with the new Elite Specialization … and why would you when you can easily get over +50% damage with a Greatsword that is going to return that damage as health … and this was with us ignoring a 3rd specialization that would have provided even more +% damage or a huge amount of +% crit chance.
• Mobility is useful … most of them know about swiftness, meditations, and stacking as much block/aegis/etc. as possible … because some actual good Guardian showed it to them as the way for even a monkey to do well while they facetank stuff in a game where facetanking wrecks just about everyone else … because it’s action-combat … unless you can facetank … so the usefulness of a leap that provides more mobility and a heal and can be traited to do damage and immobilize … so all 4 things … is beyond most of them … we suffer from some of the same here though … seen some pretty dumb posts.
• They don’t understand why you would bother with cripple, blind, etc. … because stack blocks, heals, etc. and press every damaging ability when its off cooldown nets many of them kills as several players still haven’t figured out how to kill that.

That’s an interesting idea … it would definitely get my big Norn illusions targeted more often … they are already aggro magnets in PvP … people see a big clothie and can’t help but target him … exactly what I want :-p

It’s not so much that Ranger “is a 2nd class citizen” so much that Ele/Guard/War have had solid positions in the meta of every game mode. With the large changes coming from the Specialization System, we’ll have to see where the dust settles.

Why not a wood spoon … just saying … makes as much sense as the rest of this nonsense.

Toxic or Hoelbrek … here I come.

Yes, options hurt so good :-p

It’s like we’re being Mind Wracked

Guardian has always been in a solid position in the meta for all game modes (PvE,, sPvP, WvW).

Mesmer has occassionally inched their way into these games modes via utility … Veilbot, Portal, Boon Stripping … with the few things that were truly meta-changing getting nerfed (ex: Glamour builds)

Regardless of which is more/less/equal power … I hope it changes up the meta so everyone is much closer on the power curve so that we can stop having so many classes excluded from the meta while the same 3 continue to be dominant in it (Guard/Ele/War).

I like the ideas for #3. They remind me of Elementalist’s Dagger #3 in Earth Attunement:

• Magnetic Grasp - Immobilize your foe, making them vulnerabile to a Magnetic Leap attack.
• Magnetic Leap - Pull yourself to your magnetically grasped foe and deliver a strike.

So I could see the initial Illusion applying the immobilize and then us being able to swap-with/teleport-to it.

One thing that bugs me is that the Elementalist ability is 900 range. Our Sword #3 used to be 900 range … then it got nerfed to 600 for whatever reason(s) … or lack thereof.

I’m curious about the viability of Inspiration/Chronomancer/X for a support+sustain shatter build.

For example:

• http://dulfy.net/2015/05/02/gw2-specialization-calculator-that_shaman/#profession=mesmer&traits=%22Chronomancer%22,1,4,9-%22Dueling%22,3,5,9-%22Inspiration%22,3,4,8

• Deceptive Evasion and Illusionary Reversion to help with Clone Churn
• Quickness and Vigor on shatter … Heals too if you decide to not take Focus
• Share boons every time you summon a phantasm … so share that Quickness!

If Illusionary Reversion ends up being “enough” to support your illusion churn for shatters, then you could possibly swap out Dueling for Chaos and take Bountiful Disillusionment for more boons on-shatter that you can then immediately share when you summon your next phantasm.

… or replace Dueling with Illusions and share that Might, etc. from shattering … on top of the Quickness, of course … it’s all about sharing that Quickness … everything else is icing on that Quickness Cake …

Side-note:
It is sad/pathetic/ridiculous that Jon and the rest of the people at ArenaNet have to keep reminding people on the forums and in each POI that the mechanics are the current focus as the numbers are still being tweaked for balance …

… I blame the same people that complain about when they find a bug in a beta test … #get_educated and #use_your_brain.

From personal experience … full-melee has trouble against a trapper build … trapper can reposition very easily with stealth and super speed. The traps and proper use of ranged weapons for kiting also favor the ranged trapper over the full-melee Ranger.

Additionally, the lack of condition clears makes it even more difficult.

That being said … if you can manage to use your pet to set off the traps, you can screw over the trap ranger and swing it in your favor. A bird constantly in their face can do this… though a smart trapper will throw the traps a little off their self so that you then want to recall the pet quickly to get the right angle to drag it through the trap.

@Xaylin:
Ooooh, I like that one. It would provide more boon stripping for Mesmer and it is in-line with the crit-theme of Dueling. That might actually make me rethink taking Reflection on-evade …

… but I hate the passive gameplay that boon-stacking provides … so any good boon-stealing/-stripping always makes me smile

If you look at the few traits we know for Rev, they have a boon strip on-crit already … though it’s not restricted to a weapon and is a minor trait … so I’d hope we’d get something on top of the boon strip.

That’s how it always goes, bud. I don’t think many of us have not said at least once, “dang, I wish I had been recording that”.

One thing I’ve found in WvW throughout the years is this … several people run around with zero sustain … so if you have skill and some sustain, you can wear them all down and 1vMany.

It’s why I like these various Cleric/Apothecary/etc. builds that have solid sustain … until some Nike Warrior gets away … I hate when my prey escapes, lol :-p

ThanatosAngel, that is a good idea where Healing Spring is a Consecration, but I don’t think that is going to happen if you look at how they are doing each Elite Specialization

• You can only use the new skill type if you take the elite specialization
• Healing Spring is a base heal not tied to an elite specialization

So, unless they are going to give us a new heal to replace healing spring with as one of our base heals, I doubt healing spring will have the same skill type as whatever our new skills are going to be.

Curunen.8729:

Ragnarox.9601:

Sebrent.3625:

Ragnarox.9601:

As usual guardians get slap in the face….only class without passive speed trait. GG Anet.

Yeah, as usual, the class that has been in the meta for every aspect of the game is getting slapped in the face again … it must be so hard being part of every meta … obviously always part of the meta due to all of those slaps to the face … /eyeroll.

Dont forget you are too in the meta. Thats not the reason for it. I guess they want to destroy guardians from that every aspect of the game….

There’s a difference between being the rock solid backbone of every meta across all three game modes and being reluctantly allowed in to make use of one or two tricks we have access to.

Precisely what he said.

Heck, to quickly disprove your little “Mesmers are part of the meta too” … what does GWEN stand for in WvW? Sure as heck doesn’t include an M in there for Mesmer.

More thinking … less uneducated opinion … thank you.

Heck, at least our developer thinks about giving some counterplay to our good stuff.

Have a Guardian pop his shield. Now I can hit it and be blocked and gain burning … or let it blow up in my face … or simply get the heck away. Either way, the Guardian is going to benefit … unless he’s dumb enough to wait till low and I have greatsword out (Mirror Blade is unblockable … thank God).

Ragnarox.9601:

As usual guardians get slap in the face….only class without passive speed trait. GG Anet.

Yeah, as usual, the class that has been in the meta for every aspect of the game is getting slapped in the face again … it must be so hard being part of every meta … obviously always part of the meta due to all of those slaps to the face … /eyeroll.

skullmount.1758:

And mesmer elite now is still more op than the guard one…
Free travelers rune speed (without even having to chose between that and something else trait wise) while guards just get only a 10% damage with a condition of needing to be greater than 600.
How come guards don’t get a speed trait?
Yeah, that seems fair…

Give up being constantly in the meta for all three game modes and we’ll discuss giving you a trait that gives you +25% movespeed.

Heck … they took away our swiftness stacking with Temporal Curtain (had that at release) while at the same time letting Guardians stack swiftness with their Symbol (couldn’t do that at release).

Guardians don’t have much room for complaining about what others get.

@Belzebu:
Natural Healing is the trait
… and precisely what we’re looking at.

Please see my thread somewhere on here about “The Terminator” build … can do a form of it with the current game actually.

@Crapgame:
I’m taking the current classes into account, not just the specs.

Guardian’s DH definitely gave them even more power … especially with their damage coefficients … but Guardian has always been solidly part of every meta in the game.

Mesmer’s Chrono just helped fill some areas we’ve been begging for something in for a while … might be enough to help actually be part of more metas.

Quick, someone gag Juba.

• Give me back 900 range on Sword #3.
• Give my sword clones back their cripple on-hit (I loved that so much!)
• Give it something other than the precision

I assume that the Sword’s weapon trait wasn’t fleshed out yet to fit into the new Specialization System.

Lol, aye.

Though I have to admit that I’m curious about the 25% versus the 33% of others, but I figure

• It’s a minor instead of major
• Perhaps they think that getting up to 98% reduction is ridiculous and are going to drop the other traits from 33% to 25%.

TyPin.9860:

JonPeters.5630:

• Seize The Moment – Gain quickness for each illusion you shatter. (1s of Quickness)

Combined with furious interruption and the GS trait might be very powerful

Holy Snickers, Batman, you’re right. That’s another nice potential.

Aye Toxsa, a larger health pool might mean it takes them more hits just to get you below 90% … especially with the damage reduction.

This has me looking at the traited shouts now since Regen + Oakheart Salve gives 5% reduction (w/ regen), Bark skin gives 50% reduction, and then the Regen can help us maintain/regain … the swiftness will just be a nice bonus.

Well … on the bright side of things … we just got Chronomancer trait information from Jon Peters in the Mesmer subforum and I feel like those traits are >= the DH traits …

… so happy about that (I do play Mesmer too)

… and more hopeful that the Ranger Druid specialization will be >= DH

Since Slow is the opposite of Quickness and Quickness is a Boon … I think we can safely assume that Slow is a Condition.

Moving from that assumption, since Stability does nothing about Conditions, I think we can safely assume that Stability will not prevent Slow.

That being said, there is a new effect that prevents the application of conditions … the name of it currently escapes me though :-/

I thought his beard was his pet.

Toxsa makes a good point … though I’m not sure the Vitality is as necessary … I’d like to have at least one damaging trait :-p

With apothecary stats (Healing w/ Condi & Toughness), you can make use of your evades to buy time for your Healing to get you back above 90%. You might be able to oscillate between >= 90% and <= 90% as you take a hit and then evade the next one while your healing is ticking away.

Hmmm … much theorycrafting to do for this one.

Combine with Hoelbrek Runes and Lemongrass for -85% duration on those pesky conditions that usually led to our deaths … -90% duration w/ Melandru Runes.

Won’t need Traveler’s

Thank you!

Minor

• Time-splitter : We all have theorycrafted the crud out of this F5. Nothing new here.
• Flow of Time: 1s per shatter … per shatter or per illusion per shatter? 1s per each of our shatters doesn’t seem like it’ll have that much of an impact … even less if you’re not a shatter build.
• Time Marches On: Goodbye traveler runes … hello Hoelbrek or Melandru with some Lemongrass … very happy about this one.

Adept

• Time Catches Up – I could see this being very nice … I’m curious about “for how long”. I’d think infinitely for those shattering as they are not going to last indefinitely since they are running to shatter; that should be a sufficient limit to it.
• Delayed Reactions – more ways to punish people when we interrupt them … I like that … slower attack animations makes them easier to interrupt as well … synergy!
• All’s Well That Ends Well – I currently can only see myself using this for PvE, but will have to get my hands on it. 1 Condition isn’t much given the long cooldowns we saw on wells and the fact that we’ll have to be in the well when it ends.

Major

• Illusionary Reversion – saw this earlier and we loved it. Solid trait.
• Improved Alacrity – so 1.3s instead of 1.0s … initial impression isn’t impressed.
• Danger Time – coupled with our new Dueling traits, I could see this being quite deadly … even more since interrupts slow, pistol slows, pistol trait in Dueling is awesome, and so on … pretty obvious from there.

Grandmaster

• Lost Time – any ICD on this? I assume this is just our hits and now illusions’ as well. I could see this being quite deadly with Greatsword since that gives us non-projectile 1,200 range and a very solid # of hits per second.
• Chronophantasma – another great trait for phantasm builds
• Seize the moment – this could be quite nice since with IP that could be 4s of Quickness per Shatter.

I’m really wanting to get my hands on this now … between these traits and the Shield, I’m going to be hard-pressed to not include Chrono in most builds … though I think I can still think of some still-viable ones that won’t use it.

Woot for Robert!

I remember when my pet could scale walls when I told him to Guard on them … sadly ANet de-clawed him and put a stop to his assassination antics :-p

Team up with another mesmer and use their portal … there’s one option.

Mesmer portal bomb:

• One mesmer drops portal … runs to drop exit.
• Other mesmers summon illusions on some random mob and F5 shatter
• Mesmer drops exit.
• Other mesmers portal in and unleash chaos
• Other mesmers teleport back to safety via F5 shatter.

Giggle.

What’s amusing about it (to me) is that this trap (and other traps) are going to let the Guardian stealth :-p

People will always QQ.

Heck I even QQ sometimes … though I supply math why :-p

If someone wants to QQ that they can’t spam abilities with impunity, they can shove off. Confusion already got nerfed hard over a year ago to appease those people … because not spamming buttons is “hard” … /eyeroll.

Hopefully the duration and destructible are enough limitations on it.

Are they scared we’re going to jump out of a tower/keep … fight people … and then when about to get downed use it to get back into the tower/keep ?

… because Elementalist #2 downed already has that happening plenty without having to worry about doing it before being downed … makes me jealous :-p

I’m failing to see how you calculated that Healing Spring favors Valkyrie. Given that Valkyrie gives you 0 toughness and 0 healing power … it does nothing to improve Healing Spring and the Leap … so it should be +0% … so I fail to see how it has a +21.30% and +2.20% in favor of Valkyrie.

No, I’m with you. I prefer the Barkskin to work when I’m at 25% or less HP than only when I’m at more than 90% hp. There’s a much larger range there where it can be active and it synergizes well with builds that have good sustain (ex: Cleric/Apoth builds).

It’s a hit to Barkskin (imo), but it’s also becoming a minor trait so no longer consuming a Grandmaster trait. So it’s a bit of “out with the old, in with the new”.

We are getting some alternatives that could help our survivability … so we’ll have to wait and see.

You’re asking for a change based on a few assumptions.

Others are arguing against your request based on assumptions.

The only solid info from this is:

• Trap traits are in Skirmishing
• Traps currently aren’t good in the PvE meta
• Conditions are likely to change

None of that information is new.

This thread and the discussion/argument seem quite premature and unfruitful.

If it makes you feel any better, we’re dealing with the other side of that Exodus from your server. People tell me that those guilds all left Dragonbrand to join Henge. We’re currently “enjoying” large blobs all over … “love” my 2v20 fights.

It’s made me simply avoid WvW this week as I can’t get a good fight from Henge. The few times I find 3 or less, they are horrible. The rest of the time I have to run from zergs .. and it’s usually just running from zergs.

I’m looking forward to seeing what state your server is compared to ours … perhaps similar sizes now and I can get some good fights out of you :-p

The Mist Form is there so that you have a poor man’s version of other classes’ invuln when you’d otherwise have been killed … usually useful when being focused … by a large zerg.

In 1v1s it can make you lose an otherwise close fight as it gives your opponent a breather while you’re stuck in mist :-/

Nah, I think Robert is doing great.

I think their balance team might want to put a shorter leash elsewhere though.

Kelthien is right, though … it could just be that those classes are more straightforward than Mesmer … pretty muche very class is … but if you compare Ele/Guard/Thief to Ranger/Necro/Engineer … what is less straightforward there?

@Kelthien:
I have no reason to question whether or not Robert is capable of delivering a Mesmer that is reasonable and balanced.

I’m more pointing out why I have a reason to question Karl’s ability to deliver classes that are reasonable and balanced since his 3 classes have been dominant in the metas since release.

I’m just going to lay this one out there.

• Elementalist : Developer = Karl Mclain
• Thief : Developer = Karl Mclain
• Guardian : Developer = Karl Mclain

What do these classes have in common?

• They are desired in every meta … except Thief in GWEN for WvW … but in WvW Thief is often touted as the king of zerker meta … and Thieves are sick as roamers / scouts / havoc
• They are so good in the metas that they are stacked (usually 2 eles … but sometimes 2 Thieves) … they seem to be above the other classes on the power curve
• They all seem to have the same developer.

It’s just something I noticed … hoping a coincidence …

Vizardlorde.8243:

did you check Fire / Air eles they have 60% in those 2 lines alone if you lump in water they can reach ~86%

Any which classes are already strong established as “the meta” in all game modes? … yeah, these are two of them.

Vizardlorde.8243:

1-If you trait for marksmanship you can have a ranged cripple with any weapon
2- Maul is AoE while Trueshot just pierces
3- The cooldown makes it undesireable despite how great a skill it is.

Yep, a cripple on any weapon … with a 30s ICD and only when the target is below a health threshold … as opposed to a 2s cripple on an 0.75s auto-attack as long as long as there is something behind the first target you hit. Not even close.

Yep, Maul is an AOE that melee range. Trushot pierces and has 1,200 range … and a lower cooldown.

Yes, the cooldown on their barrage is quite long. I have the least issue with their barrage.

PvE-wise, I against bring to you their +50% damage:

• Big Game Hunter + Fiery Wrath + Zealous Blade + Symbolic Avenger = 15% + 10% + 5% + 20% = +50% damage … from two specializations

And if you look in their forums right now, Jon Peters is thinking about giving them Quickness …. so that could help them edge Mesmer out of that meta … and further cement Guardian’s position in the PvE Meta … because they needed that … ?

Watched the video …
Especially since I play Mesmer and Ranger most of the time … that 0.75s auto-attack with a 2s cripple if there is anything around me for it to bounce on …. is ridiculous.

Now, not only is the Guardian able to easily mix it up in melee … but they can start a zerg fight by pinging people from 1,200 range and stacking ridiculous amounts of cripple on 2 per shot.

TrueShot is not cool either … it is a ranged maul … with a base 4s cooldown … that can be traited to give 3s of stability … what … the …

This bugs me the most on my Ranger.
On my Mesmer I’m just happy I’ve got a nice kitten nal of reflects coming down the pipeline.

Will have to wait and see what Ranger gets … has me somewhat hopeful for our traps and their rework.

I’m a creature of habit and like to run fractals each day for the chests and a chance at the fractal skins and ascended chests.

I know the mechanics and have run up through 49 successfully several times (even some 30 min runs at 49 difficulty).

I’m just trying to flesh out my friends list of people that run fractals well so I’m reaching out to see if anyone else is looking to add more fractal runners to their friends list.

My usual schedule is:
(1) Teq at NA server reset
(2) Triple Trouble ~1 hour after Teq (w/ NA TTS)
(3) Ready for multiple fractals (49, 38, etc.)

If interested and you’re capable of actually doing the fractals, please hit me up sometime in-game. By capable I mean that you know and can handle the mechanics … for example: you actually dodge the Grawl Shaman’s arrows instead of constantly taking them to the face.

It’s made worse by the immense amount of +dmg those Guardians are going to enjoy during it.

Honestly, I’m most interested in having both these traits:

• Gain 1 clone on-shatter
• Phantasms get an “extra life” for shattering

As that means each “setup” nets me two 3-illusion shatters … on top of the extra phantasm volley … which is nice … and it doesn’t require DE to do because each Mesmer weapon set has at least 1 clone generator and 1 phantasm generator so you could do this via:

• Weapon Set 1: Phantasm
• Weapon Set 1: Clone
• Weapon Set 2: Phantasm
• 3 Illusion Shatter
• 3 Illusion Shatter

At the end of that, you’ll have 1 clone from the shatter and Weapon Set 2’s clone generator hasn’t been used yet.

So that will be two 3 illusion shatters followed immediately by having 2 clones out and ready. Could be very nice.

Now … someone could just come and “oops” all over our illusions though without a care in the world as they kill them as an accidental side-effect of whatever they are doing <_<