Guild Wars 2

If they don’t have piercing shots, our pets would block a large number of projectiles.

At the same time, they can wall all day long … so we aren’t going to shoot through that … it’d come to melee … or our pets dying and then us being shot.

Doesn’t solve the problem but it’s something … I’m not happy with that.

If there is a problem, you should fix the problem.

Would you be happy if Phantasm stopped attacking due to some bug and instead of fixing it we got an extra regen from Phantasms? I doubt it :-p … but it’s something ;-)

I’m not sure if the Mesmer issues over time have been a result of a lack of mind for balancing from our dev or a lack of mind for balancing from devs for other classes that are above the current power curve :-p

I tend to think it’s the latter given that our harder to use skills are generally our more powerful skills … then I look at the more powerful skills that are easier to use <_<

We’ll have to wait and see … but if that barrage-looking skill does equivalent damage AND immobilizes or traps the target in the AOE … I’m going to be rather perturbed.

@Tragic Positive:
OH Axe’s Whirling Defense is trash if you’re using it for straight DPS unless your MH is an AXE as well because all other Ranger weapons do more DPS with their auto-attacks than Whirling Defense does.

Now, if you’re using Whirling Defense to reflect projectiles and/or as a Whirl Finisher, then it can be useful.

You guys need to stop with your useless anecdotes of “it works for me” and baseless statements of “you don’t think for yourself”. If you can’t prove something, shut up about it.

I did the math for our weapon skills and posted it. Why? Because that is potentially useful information. Anecdotes and that other garbage are not useful.

As far as the Signet of Stone example … I’d rather auto-attack them with my Sword while my Signet of Stone is active and then Whirling Defense if I’m being shot at … two separate largely defensive cooldowns at separate times instead of blowing both at the same time. The auto-attack will also do more dps (as previously stated).

One doesn’t help you nor hurt you.
The other can either save you or get you killed.

Very simple.

Nice. Thanks for elaborating on why, Me Games Ma.

One thing I’m curious about is being able to combo finishers with the Tides of Time since it is an Ethereal field as well.

I’m also curious if they are going to change Temporal Curtain back from a Light field to an Ethereal field since Mesmer having retaliation doesn’t make sense to them (note: I’m aware of the other uses of the light field).

I concur with Fluffball :-p

Good points Prysin.

I’m confused on the quoting me though … was talking about the Burst thieves there … and my other post was mentioning how I seem to run into Dire Thives whenever I’m on my Mesmer and have briefly dropped my cleanse off my bar to provide some Mesmer Utility to others via a separate utility skill (ex: Portal); a different “issue”.

That’s crazy talk, jcbroe! It’s not like the game was releated before Rangers had all their utilities … oh wait :-p

Durzlla.6295:

Not making my ranger a born was my greatest mistake =(

Yep … one I’m always happy to throw in your face … which is about level with my norn’s butt :-p

We’ll have to see how long the Chill/Alacrity applied by the Phantasm is … as well as the damage the Phantasm applies.

If I can upkeep 100% chill up-time on a target with 2 of these phantasms, that’s going to be pretty darn nice … especially since that means 1 is 50+%. Chill is a rather powerful condition … less so against Thieves though … because they’re Thieves (see initiative).

Whether or not you play how you want … that’s great … but not a pertinent point.

The point is that those that want to play truly competitively can’t due to the imbalance, or they have to work drastically harder just to keep up with their peers … which doesn’t leave you with a good feeling afterwards.

If you couldn’t play the way you wanted due to something, you’d speak up as well … let’s look at your post history.

I couldn’t care less about ..

• How long you’ve played MMOs … means nothing and plenty of us have for almost 2 decades now.
• You play how you want … don’t most people if not everyone?
• Your opinion on “elitists” … crunching numbers to compare things is not elitist … it’s math. Math isn’t elitist.

These are also just rehashes of the arguments of a child …

• I know what I’m doing/talking about!
• I do what I want!
• You’re just mean! (or elitist, lol).

Thanks to Miku for the BINGO card that makes the posts containing these things not completely inane … got some humor out of them this time at least.

Some people measure their “success” by whether or not they actually finished the dungeon … because that’s challenging enough for them.

Other people measure their “success” by how quickly they can finish the dungeon … because that’s what is challenging enough for them … and it’s even been made part of the game by ArenaNet.

lol, jcbroe, you’re the opposite of me.

I’m picking greys, browns, and greens for my Ranger.

Yeah, this bugs me all the time when fighting a Thief or Elementalist as both are quite mobile.

Makes sense. I’d probably go full Rabid though instead of dealing with Dire … just to get more crits for more bleed+confusion.

It probably still exists because they are still working on the Specializations ;-)

I have no issue with them packing a punch, Aesa. I have an issue with them packing a punch on top of that whole list of things that follows “damage” … you know … the boons, conditions, cleanses, CC, anti-projectile, healing, etc..

Aye, I had that thought as well, Curunen … specifically another ranged MH (imo)

I went back to the video and right here is when he mentioned is:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vvpSVqvJLlo#t=848

He does say:

• When you block an attack with this it will summon a phantasm on the enemy you blocked.
• It will summon a phantasm on any enemy you have targeted when it ends.

So, back to the OP … you were right and I agree. In my opinion, the logic for the phantasm target should be:

• If the mesmer has a target, the phantasm is summoned on the Mesmer’s target
• If the mesmer does not have a target, the phantasm is summoned on whomever the Mesmer blocked.
• If the mesmer does not have a target and did not block anyone … no phantasm summoned

@Wondrouswall:
What’s wrong with being the target. That’s just more love for you. It puts hair on your chest

It also helps your less-skilled partners who play Asura try to benefit from their tiny size while you dwarf them.

Imagine trying to track my Asura teammates when fighting against my Norn Mesmer :-)

Well, Wondrous, I’ll tell you the same thing I tell all the darn tiny Mesmers as well … that (not being Norn) was your first mistake ;-)

I do agree that it is more niche than other elites. Though I could argue that Rage As One and Entangle were as well … especially given that some classes very easily counter Entangle with a utility or even a weapon skill in some cases.

Not nearly as much given you can’t just portal out when done :-p

I still fail to see the issue. It isn’t really random. When you’re hit below the threshold, it activates. No one is going to predict every time you get hit.

Additionally, so what if it activates when you’re “really low” … that better than it not being there and you just dying … which is why you decide to take the trait … to avoid that death and possibly buy yourself enough time to “not die”.

I agree with the choice of Gnarled Walking Staff.
It looks like a good piece of wood, has an interesting stone/gem at the top, and it has cool magical flowing text.

Oh Wonderous … when solo roaming … Leopard is invaluable for when that speedy zerg is chasing you … or when you want to kill that darn Elementalist/Thief/Nike-Warrior that you just finished working so hard to kill when they decided to try to reset the fight.

Warrior doesn’t bother me as much as Ele does due to only really having access to damage and boons. That’s a little more “fine” in my head than Ele.

Elementalist is providing damage, boons (master of Fury), conditions (including vuln stacking), cleanses, CC, anti-projectile, healing … oh and summoned weapons (for now) so that us poor peasant classes can do more solid damage.

I look at that and always think that it’s no bloody wonder that in both sets of 5-man content (PvE and sPvP) that Elementalists are commonly doubled up on … and part of WvW GWEN … because, heck, can’t be “average” in any part of the game.

Heck, if you got all that from one good player … why wouldn’t you want 40% of your group to be that …

I just finished making a post about what people think they would run if they wanted to run both Focus and Shield in WvW … as soon as I finish posting the topic I see you both are here saying that you’d use this build with those weaponsets. Lol!

Way to bring it full circle for me today :-)

What are your thoughts on running this with Celestial?
Other stats?
Runes?
Sigils?

Currently, I’m thinking of just sticking with my Traveler runes for the 25% movespeed. Sure, I get some swiftness from the Focus, but it’s not 100% like other classes get with their traited swiftness applicators (<_<) and it’s nice to not be at +0% movespeed if/when someone removes your swiftness.

For sigils, I’m thinking that even with all that vigor that Energy would still be wonderful. Bonus endurance is always welcome on a Mesmer imo. Other than that, possibly doom in order to gain access to some poison for hindering other tanking builds’ sustain.

I think most of us agree that our current traited focus and the new shield look great for WvW where they can counter innumerable projectiles as well as provide solid CC via cripple, pull, and the new timelock (stun).

As such, this has the wheels in my head turning about how a build using both of these off-hand weapons would look. First, the big question is what to do about mainhands? We don’t have that many options:

• Scepter + Focus / Sword + Shield
• Scepter + Focus / +Shield
• Sword + Focus / Scepter + Shield
• Sword + Focus / + Shield

What do you think you’d go with?

After that is picking 2 more specializations … we have to take Chronomancer in order to use the shield.

What are you all’s thoughts?

If Sum of all Fears didn’t have that ICD, I could see it “not sucking” as it could synergize well with the various sources of Confusion … especially Dueling giving confusion on both Mesmer and Illusion crits. It’d make an iDuelist apply several stacks of bleed, confusion, and a little bit of torment for each confusion >= 5 it applied.. That combined with Confusing images from Scepter would be pretty mean … like eating a full condi rotation from a Perplex Thief or Condi Engi does now.

I’m with Pyro here. I don’t recall them saying anything like that.

Would you please direct us to where/when in the video they stated something like that?

Let’s not forget their wonderful ability to aid the “stack and dps” by having a mindlessly easy pull … temporal curtain requires skill to use correctly. Again … paying more in skill in order to get the same outcome at best.

You could shatter a considerable amount with something like Chronomancer, Dueling, Inspiration due to:

• Vigor : on-crit and on-shatter
• Healing : on-shatter and regen from phantasms … and +healing from illusions
• Anti-projectile: reflect-on-evade, traited focus, shield
• Cleanse : on-shatter

The vigor will synergize with deceptive evasion to give you more dodges for more clones.

(1) More clones gives you (2) more illusions.

(2) More illusions means you can afford to do (3) more shatters.

(3) More shatters means (4) more alacrity, vigor, heals, and cleanses

(4) More alacrity and vigor brings up back to (2) more illusions.

It’s a nice little cycle

Durzlla.6295:

That is a sacrifice i’d be willing to make for transformations

Me too. I love swapping kits on my Engineer. I hardly ever don’t have 3 kits as my utilities when I’m on my Engineer; so much versatility.

@Tragic:
Aye, the changes are so good it has almost killed my desire to play around with the current traits any more because we get so much more with the new specialization system.

It is just soooo good.

As far as the people complaining … welcome to life. There are always those people. The biggest issue they present is that sheer amount of noise they generate which can drown out legitimate issues.

Not much we can do about it except attempt to filter the noise so we don’t miss the legitimate stuff.

Precisely my issue … though Warrior has a harder time landing that eviscerate since they have to time the animation for that Eviscerate. Friggin Thief just instantly hits you when they push that button … much easier … I’ve been on both ends of that … giving and receiving.

@frifoxy:
Does that mean we’re going to see Guardian dps nerfed? :-p

What about Elementalist?
Phalanx Warrior?

Guess this goes to that debatable part … which I honestly don’t think is that debateable … I assume you’re hinting at the same.

For the low cost of 100g paid to me, you can become a Chronomancer :-p

That is all you have to forfeit. Offer ends soon.

@Madisonlee.9641:
We don’t have trait points any more. So unless your build used more than 3 specializations, you’ll still be able to play it.

In fact, if your specialization used more than 3 specializations but it did so in order grab various traits that are now baseline (Manipulation range, Glamour cooldown, Illusionary Elasticity, Illusionary Persona, etc.) then you’ll still be able to have your build.

In fact, except in those corners cases where you were specced into 4-5 traitlines and not taking those traits that are now baseline, you’ll now be gaining quite a bit due to:

• Getting to pick an Adept, Major, and Grandmaster in all three Specializations
• Multiple current traits being rolled into various single traits in the new Specialization system.

Phantasm builds liked to put 5 points in Inspiration.

Focus builds loved to put at least 4 for the reduced cooldown and reflection … which is just such a good weapon … just underestimated due to the darn iWarden.

They’ve already hinted at having to change the coefficients during the 4-hour Specialization reveal when they kept cracking jokes.

“Hmmm, when you have X stacks of burning. That’d be great in a world where burning stacks. Something would obviously have to change about burning’s damage in such a world though” … believe that happened multiple times during those 4 hours.

No revelation. I’d seen it before. It’s just a thread that popped up and we’re discussing it.

The data is still relevant so I don’t see why we can’t discuss it.

Mesmer currently has to overcome a hurdle that others don’t.

• When they don’t overcome it, their DPS is bad
• When they do overcome it, their DPS only matches (at best) the other classes.

It doesn’t exactly scream “balance”.

@Madisonlee.9641:
We didn’t lose Mender’s Purity. It’s still in the Inspiration specialization as a Major Adept trait. It’s just been made better (cleanses you and nearby allies) and combined with Harmonious Mantras.

“Cast Power Cleanse when you using a healing skill. Heal allies around you when you finish preparing a Mantra.”

Power Cleanse is the active from a charged Mantra of Resolve.

• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Power_Cleanse

@Toxsa:
Aye, I’m well aware of those :-/

I seem to run into one any time I’ve swapped out my condi cleanse for some utility to support a group (portal, veil, etc.) on my Mesmer. Could have swapped it for 5 min … will run into one. It’s like my own special way of summoning them … though I don’t want to.

You doing well somewhere is anecdotal so doesn’t really help much with the discussion.

I think it’s too early to say whether or not Deceptive Evasion is required for shatter builds now. Undoubtedly useful, yes, but required? We’ll have to get our hands on using Chronomancer.

If you have 2 phantasms and 1 clone and the Chronomancer traits for shattering them, then when you shatter those 3 illusions, you’ll still have 2 phantasms and 1 clone. You just technically “generated” 3 illusions.

I always felt like sword was supposed to work like this:

Rawr! Eat my dps!
Oh, you’re going to try to hit me? Lol, Evade.
Eat more dps!
Oh you’re going to try again? Evade. /giggle
Back to dps! I’m on you like white on rice.

sort of like a melee version of the shortbow where you auto-attack someone to death while evading their “big hits”.

Stealth and non-telegraphed, instant burst damage.

At least when my Mesmer comes out of stealth you have that nice instance where you see me summon illusions before I shatter them in your face.

If I didn’t have to “guesstimate” when they’d use abilities and could instead react to the animation like I can with a Warrior … much less of a problem.

I hate running into two thieves … how do you guesstimate two … let alone have the cooldowns for that :-/

I can handle two of anything else … or run from it :-p

Two thieves … they have to be pretty bad because the burst combo alone is enough if you fail your guess … or they came out of their immense amount of stacked stealth.

… I have been tempted to go back to double traps do deal with this though … fine you little buggers … Ignore that I just put down two invisible objects … I’m going to pew pew you and stand on this spot for no particular reason :-p

We’ll have to see if the new Chronomancer trait(s) will help alleviate this with the new Chronophantasm trait … though, as I expressed in a separate thread, I’m concerned with how that trait actually works.

Example:
Yay, I can shatter my phantasms and then they’ll resummon this one time!
Go phantasms, shatter for magical butterfly damage and resurrect like the purple phoenixes you are!
What the heck! My phantasms died to AOE on their way in to shatter! Noooooooo!

Example #2:
Yay! My phantasms shattered and resurrected!
Wait … now all 3 of my phantasms are sitting in melee range of the boss mob …
Son of a … all 3 just got cleaved/AOE’d down by a single attack …

@Miku:
Yep, but have our damage coefficients changed since then? :-p

Go run into 2+ *good*Thieves running together … then come complain to me about anything else :-p

That hurts.

Of course. Spam it and you’re likely going to hit nothing with it as your pet could be out of position. Example: We don’t spam the Drakehound immobilize.

Having an F2 that is close to it allows you to have the greater up-time on its availability.

Having an F2 that is >= 18.75s cooldown will make sure you don’t use the F2 too soon and it not work due to the ICD.

With pet swap, you’ll have to likely make use of the pet swap counter to aid you in knowing how much time is left. If the swap counter is completely gone you’re definitely in the clear with the ICD given that is a 16cd. Anything before then you’ll obviously have to track yourself.