Guild Wars 2

Staff alone is great defense
Staff #2, Blink, and perma-vigor from minor Dueling trait
Decoy is my fav

Xyonon.3987:

How would you make them steerable?

Once upon a time I suggested a strange aa, combined with skill 2 and 3:

• Skill one is just a “boring” auto attack wich deals single target damage but also adds a butterfly next to the enemy, stacking up to 3 times.
• Skill two is a fast flying fat bullet wich hits everything it travels through. If it hits a target affected with butterflies, they explode and cause aoe damage and share one butterfly to everyone that gets hit. (low cd ~3-6sec) (5 tagets)
• Skill three is a spiral that bounces to every enemy that is affected by a butterfly, infinite bounces (just limited by the butterflies from 1 and 2). The skill will deal damage and cause blindness, confusion OR daze for 3, 6 and 1 sec per butterfly.

Would make some sexy gameplay, don’t you think :o Butterflies last 20 sec~

I like the idea of marking targets. Your description is pretty balance I think because it would make a 1>2>3 chain ridiculous for aoe burst, but single target burst non-existant. What Mesmer needs is more aoe so that’s fine by me. I like it but I think it needs some illusion play for Anet to embrace it.

I love these straight-forward guides. I hope Kaiyanwan has the time to update them after April 15. Congrats on the addition to your family.

Or to make it remain in line with power builds, it could stack 5x vulnerability per use. Maybe weakness too. I agree it needs something but I’d like to see it remain power oriented.

Xyonon.3987:

I would like to see the mainhand pistol auto attack splitting up instead of bouncing. Something new

Like warrior’s longbow. But instead of both bullets having the same condition, each bullet has a different random condition. That could be fun.

A bouncing autoattack would synergize well with Illusionary Elasticity, so if the auto is a split-shot then I’d like to see the #2 or #3 skill be bouncing for more trait synergy.

Use “/beckon @” – basically call them back lol

Yes, we’re rare. Use a Mystic Salvage kit if level 68 or higher.

I dislike Greatsword in open world because you can never keep max distance for higher autoattack damage.

I love staff however, because it’s got great defense with the teleport-retreat, chaos armor, and chaos storm. Can give that a shot.

Flytrap.8075:

Seras.5702:

With this release, we are adding new runes, sigils, amulets, and traits outside of the core set. The core set is always open and available to all PvP players. New runes, sigils and amulets can be unlocked for your account with gold; new traits can be unlocked for your character for gold and skill points. These items are purchased directly from the UI. If it’s locked, simply click on it to unlock it!

That sounds like to have an actual level playing field you’ve got to pony up some gold. Isn’t that contrary to PvP design where skill rules all?

Their official stance is that unlocking traits counts as horizontal progression because they’re only increasing the variety of traits available to players, not the number of trait points.

However, I myself do not agree with this line of thinking; if you have more options available to you, obviously you’re going to have an advantage over a player that has more restrictions placed on their account.

This isn’t about traits. It’s about access to PvP gear/rune/sigil stats.

+1 love it

I love the Dynamic Events in GW2 and think they’re highly under-utilized, both by players and devs alike. Game expansion should come in the form of more and new DEs to make the world feel like it’s evolving due to our actions. As such, our actions should also be rewarding, so I like the idea that investing time & effort into a particular zone being just that.

With this release, we are adding new runes, sigils, amulets, and traits outside of the core set. The core set is always open and available to all PvP players. New runes, sigils and amulets can be unlocked for your account with gold; new traits can be unlocked for your character for gold and skill points. These items are purchased directly from the UI. If it’s locked, simply click on it to unlock it!

That sounds like to have an actual level playing field you’ve got to pony up some gold. Isn’t that contrary to PvP design where skill rules all?

With this release, we are adding new runes, sigils, amulets, and traits outside of the core set. The core set is always open and available to all PvP players. New runes, sigils and amulets can be unlocked for your account with gold; new traits can be unlocked for your character for gold and skill points. These items are purchased directly from the UI. If it’s locked, simply click on it to unlock it!

I thought the whole point of PvP is that everyone is on an even playing field and skill & brains rule.

The way I read this, if you want access to an actual level playing field, you’ve got to pony up some gold. That doesn’t sound….good.

Imo, the loot nerf is for 2 reasons:
- to balance the removal of trait reset fees and repair fees
- to dissuade people from running champ trains.

As for the first reason, yea I can see the need but I have a feeling the nerf is going to over-compensate for the lack of trait/repair gold sinks.

As for the second, I see it as a lazy solution. A better fix would be to adjust the timers on the champ respawns or create pre-events. That would keep general loot intact but nerf the trains.

Anet says they’re making some of these changes to make it easier for low level and new players. But nerfing general loot for completing events is a very poor idea. That’s such a dynamic and integral part of the open world, reducing rewards from them will only cause players in the know to simply run past them.

Also, it hurts dungeon loot.

More interplay with the clones would be nice. As they are now, they’re summoned, stand still, attack.

- A teleport swap would be ideal. To targeted clone or random if untargeted.
- Some way to absorb a clone, making it run to you, for boon gains.
- A way to smoothly redirect a phantasm’s target. Maybe a utility that focuses all active phantasms to attack current target. Useful when a phantasm’s target is about to die or to spike.

The only time I felt my repair costs getting out of hand was when I brought my upleveled 40 to a LS event zerg and was constantly getting downed. Even my level 40 gear was costing me a fair bit of silvers to repair time and again. However, I accepted this fee as the cost of using an underleveled character to follow a mindless train to gain fast XP.

I’ve never had a problem with repair costs. Even as a level 3 I never felt the repair costs were holding me back. The costs scale quite well. I learned my class and the mechanics of combat and only repaired broken armor. Plus, since leveling is fast in GW2 I’m generally replacing my armor with better stuff before it ever breaks.

I think Anet is hand-holding low level players too much. Between this and the change to traits starting at 30 (just ridiculous!), they’re dumbing it down too much. Not to mention that removing the measly repair costs in no way offsets nerfing loot gold.

I think the only change should be that deaths in WvW don’t damage armor. That would be justifiable imo.

Aidenwolf.5964:

Taku.6352:

4.2k hours played since headstart, +1k gold down the forge, 0 precursor drops yet 4 legendaries and 1 precursor waiting to be crafted all thanks to the wonders of the TP.

If you want a legendary then just buy the kitten thing from the TP.

Nothing legendary about that.

Nothing Legendary about an RNG drop either. It’s either purchased or randomly rewarded for doing nothing special. We need a precursor challenge/hunt to justify the name “Legendary.”

The money & time investment to acquire ascended gear is substantial enough to disallow automatically getting dups. You’re asking for free gear. Skins sure, that’s just cosmetic. But you want free ascended gear for alts. That’s a pretty heavy request.

Yes and no.

Yes, your duplicate expensive dyes will become unidentified dyes, so more than likely money lost. But you’re forgetting that the money you spent for them allowed you to rock those great colors on multiple characters until April. I didn’t buy multiples so I’ve spent the last year regretting buying expensive dye for a character I don’t play anymore. Pros & cons.

As for your Legendaries: you are gaining just as much as you’re losing. You’ve got 6 Legendaries now, but after April 15 you can have dozens. That’s cool right? And in fact it’s only the skins, not the stats. So your legit Legendaries have ascended stats that you can change at any time. That’s a pretty sweet convenience. So your efforts remain. What you gain is rolling a brand new level 2 necro and giving him/her Incinerator skinned daggers. Awesome!

Stonish.7532:

I dont like dungeons farming, I think it would be just the same as TP farming after a while, I’d hate it so much and would be doing it only for profit.

Thanks for any advices.

Define “dungeon farming.” I define it as repeatedly running the same short dungeon paths at high speed for max profits. That gets boring.

But there are a lot of dungeon paths that make variety pretty decent. If you want to simply add profitable variety to your gameplay, just run a few of those each day. Change it up. Run all 3 paths of 2 different dungeons. The next day, same thing with different dungeons.

Join a guild that does World Boss circuits. Then pop in and out of them as you want to down some world bosses for big chests.

Bringing up-leveled alts into LS event zergs, I’ve broken probably 4-5 pieces at a time, including my back item.

And why is that exactly? Just because you’re wielding a hammer doesn’t make you a warrior. Hammer needs some non-heavy classes.

Everyone wants a mh pistol so I’ll leave that alone

Hammer (yea that’s right…hammer)

1 Melee chain attack: deals 1x damage for first 2 hits, causes blind on 2nd hit, 2x damage on 3rd slower swing. Blind helps to avoid getting 3rd swing interrupted.
2 Evade around target (similar to ranger sword #3) and smack target and deal 4x confusion.
3 Throw hammer and knockdown target.
4 Burst apart and generate 2 clones that each strike target twice, causing a random condition with each strike. After 3s they shatter and you gain 1s retaliation from each. If they’re destroyed before they shatter you gain no boon.
5 Summon phantasm that stands at range and throws an illusionary hammer. Secondary action: press again to teleport and swap positions with phantasm.

Phadde.7362:

“… you will continue to benefit from any bonuses your equipped weapons provide.”

This refers to stats and sigils, not weapon power. When swapping to Grenade Kit you do not lose the stats from your weapons or the sigil(s). But you do lose the base weapon damage from your gun and instead use the static kit weapon power, which is around 970 iirc.

What are you wearing “Jake”?

…she sounds hideous

(sorry, couldn’t help myself)

A new mainhand weapon would be nice, mace probably.

New kits though, are what I want to see because they offer the most fun and quirky playability. Things like a portal gun or a clockwork golem kit could be unique and wacky and so much non-hack-n-slash fun.

Experiment with the kits. They don’t have swap cooldowns, so you’ll want to frequently swap between them and your weapon(s) to use your skills at a high volume. Bomb Kit & Grenade Kit are our 2 highest damage kits. Flamethrower is fun and works well in open world and for its utility.

Pistols are good for conditions, rifle for power and control. (generally speaking)

Turrets are subpar. I think the help you’re asking for is due to you using them so much. Grab an offensive kit and Elixir Gun and give those a try.

If there’s a kit you know you already love, then go for it. Unless you’re shooting for absolutely highest-dps or strong WvW roaming builds, all of our kits are viable imo.

If not, set your traits to 30/30/x/x/x with the last 10 wherever you want. This will let you build for both grenades and bombs, shifting traits as you experiment without requiring paid trait reset.

April 15’s patch will give us free trait resets anywhere so long as you’re out of combat, so that will really improve your ability to experiment.

Zerker gear is the accepted choice for PvE content, peppering in defensive stats as necessary for your skill, familiarity with the content, and build.

I love Celestial gear; it offers the best versatility for experimenting. I have a set with 6x Traveler Runes too, and those are great, though expensive.

Keep those in mind but experiment with builds way before you invest in gear. Rare gear though, is always something to keep in mind. You can pick up a full 6pc set for only 2-4g.

Thanks, I didn’t even notice the 2nd stickied build thread started by Faye. That is a great thread.

Mesmers can be very confusing for new players and those unfamiliar with the nature of clones. Against vets though, they’re momentary distractions that buy the Mesmer time while the enemy tabs thru the clones until they find the obvious real player.

Buying time is valuable but it’d be nice if the clones acted just a little more naturally. I’d like it if clones did occasional non-functional dodge rolls or moved laterally just to give off the illusion of a real player. And of course, the boons, even if cosmetic only, should copy to clones. They don’t necessarily need aegis or regen, but at least the icons that says they do.

I too use sword #3 immob with iWarden, really helps.

I just wish it always spawned between the target and myself when traited so I could instantly benefit from the projectile reflect.

Alissah.9281:

Seras.5702:

Alissah.9281:

Except transmutation crystals and stones will be converted to charges :P

I was hoping the wardrobe would be something fun and easy to use, but its just a massive gold sink that you can only use a few times :’(

It’s actually no different than it is now. Still need transmutation stones/crystals/charges. And I’m not sure where you’re getting that you can only use it a few times.

The transmute change is simply to streamline its synergy with the wardrobe system.

The wardrobe is not a gold sink, but rather an opportunity to get that look you want for less gold than before. If you bought a sweet piece of armor and want it for another character, you don’t have to buy a duplicate and xmute it like you do now. You’ll have it unlocked and just need the xmute charge, no additional gear purchase required.

As for race…go Sylvari. They look the coolest with all the purple glowiness.

I have about 3 gold, and I refuse to do grinding-trains for hours just to get some money. In The little free time I spend on gw2 nowadays, I’d rathrr have fun and de-stress after a busy day, instead of grinding money till I get bored to tears. I can buy… 0 transmutations with 3 gold.

A gold sink is something that removes gold from the economy, such as the gem store. You buy transmutations from the gem store, and therefore, the wardrobe is a gold sink. In my oppinion its a massive gold sink, atleast compared to buying stuff from vendors. At best I’ll be able to transmute 1 gear set if I start saving now with 1 dungeon per day, before I’m completely broke

I hope thry give us 1 transmutation for doing a daily… Atleast it would be something fun that makes it worth it to log in every day :P. Atleast for me, I don’t really care about getting a few achievement points.

A) you can earn 3 transmutation stones for each map completed. That’s not grinding, that’s playing the game. You can clear Rata Sum in a few mins.

B) I think you’re confused about the wardrobe system. If anything, it’s making transmutation cheaper, not more expensive. Currently, you still need transmutation stones/crystals to make these changes, as well as 2 pieces of gear (one for looks, one for stats), one of which will be destroyed. The new system will let you make the same transmutation but without destroying (or needing to procure) a 2nd piece of gear, for the exact same transmutation fee.

My buddy just rolled his first toon, a Warrior, and I’m wandering with him throughout Tyria, leveling my Mesmer as he levels his Warrior. What sort of build(s) are fun and helpful and synergize well with his class? Pure damage is nice and all but I’d like to play support like with mantras or boon sharing or something. Ideas?

PS – I’m level 60, he’s 14

I love the idea. One, because I have boosters taking up 1/2 of my first bank tab. Secondly, because they have to remain in my bank so that all of my characters have access to them. And I’d definitely use them more often if they were readily accessible in a Booster Wallet than as they are now, requiring me to go to the bank to retrieve them.

Alissah.9281:

Except transmutation crystals and stones will be converted to charges :P

I was hoping the wardrobe would be something fun and easy to use, but its just a massive gold sink that you can only use a few times :’(

It’s actually no different than it is now. Still need transmutation stones/crystals/charges. And I’m not sure where you’re getting that you can only use it a few times.

The transmute change is simply to streamline its synergy with the wardrobe system.

The wardrobe is not a gold sink, but rather an opportunity to get that look you want for less gold than before. If you bought a sweet piece of armor and want it for another character, you don’t have to buy a duplicate and xmute it like you do now. You’ll have it unlocked and just need the xmute charge, no additional gear purchase required.

As for race…go Sylvari. They look the coolest with all the purple glowiness.

It’s not an April Fools joke. As Ostra said, it would be a huge F.U. to everyone to entice and promise and cause market changes….and then say j/k.

Their April Fools stuff is generally more overt and goofy. It would be like them to announce a new profession called The Plumber and go thru a serious description of an obviously false and goofy class. The Plumber: can swap outfits like engi’s swap kits for new skills. Outfits include frog, raccoon, fire, and tanooki.

I think I’ve posted this same sentiment 3 times already in various other threads. But I have no problem repeating myself for the sake of being heard.

Over 1/3 through the leveling process before even getting access to traits. Free trait respeccing is awesome, really promotes build experimentation. But restricting traits to lvl 30 and above limits new players and new alts from experimenting with the potential of the class. Also, it makes for boring gameplay. I don’t understand the benefits that could possibly warrant this change. If it’s because of having to earn traits via challenges, then make the first few available from very basic achievements, like exploring 1 map fully or completing 10 hearts or completing 25 events…things players of any level can do.

Also, if traits unlock at 30, does that means we have to spend time unlocking them after that or can we unlock them beforehand so we can actually equip a trait at 30?

No Grandmasters till 80. Just why? Now, not only do you force new characters to wait till 30 to even access traits, but now you have to be max level to access grandmaster traits? Isn’t the purpose of leveling to learn and experiment with a chosen class? In which case, shouldn’t you be able to do that more freely before hitting level cap? At level cap, you should understand the class fairly well and begin gearing up, not earning more traits.

In an hour on the forums I’ve seen 75s per unid dye, to 65s, and now 55s. It seems like it’s steadily dropping in price as more and more people flock to the laurel vendors and binge. With so many people posting 100+ unid dyes at a time to the TP it’s gonna get flooded fast. And hopefully that means the prices of ID’d dyes will drop a bit too.

I really hope they bring back those now-unavailable town clothes items. I never saw the point of wasting gems on items I could only display while standing around the bank. Now however, if I can rock some shades or a beanie or even Mad King Thorn’s outfit while in combat, I’d gladly drop some dough on the gem store.

The transmutation stones/crystals/charges changed to synergize better with the new wardrobe. That’s all. We still need those things to change the look of an item, but now they don’t take up bag space and work within the wardrobe interface. Just convenience really.

Wait, are dye prices going back down already? I thought they were skyrocketing….

NOW I wish I’d bought some of those great looking town clothes back in the day. Never cared before because standing around town doing nothing in a snazzy outfit is boring. But being able to rock a Mad King Thorn outfit in combat is hella awesome.

Please bring back some of the old town clothes to the gem store so we can buy them (more revenue!!) for in-combat use! You’ll have plenty of people buying the King Thorn and Wintersday outfits. Guaranteed!

Woa….I need to leave work early today…..

Yea I’m with you here OP. As I level I like to change my looks as I discover new gear. Ooh, cool new chest piece from karma vendor…now I need to get new shoulders and legs to match. That’s 2 stones. No biggie. But with the new system it’ll cost us 6 stones (2 charges). And the new wardrobe system only encourages us to make changes more often.

I think the conversion should be 1:1 stones and 1:3 crystals, with us getting a single charge per stone and 3 charges per crystal. This way sub-80’s aren’t penalized and all those stones we’ve accrued via map exploration won’t lose 2/3 their value. Not to mention that this update is going to have people doing all kinds of armor xmuting.

They said the stones will convert to charges 3:1 and the crystals will convert to charges 1:1.

I’m guessing we’ll get 1 charge per map cleared, since we currently get 3 stones.

Clarification would be nice though.

So do you think it’s a good idea to buy some of the more expensive dyes now so I’ll have em for all my toons or wait till after the patch? I’m thinking there will be a rush for dyes after the patch so prices will jump, and then an even bigger rise in prices since they will become less common. Thoughts? Buy now?

fluidmonolith.3584:

One of the unfortunate things about this is that, while the FT autoattack seems to work best with no target selected, the #2 attack only works with a target. If autoattack can’t be improved to function better with a target, then another option could be making #2 ground-targeted. That way FT users don’t ever need to target an enemy to attack.

I would love if FT #2 were ground targeted. As it is, it doesn’t track a target as they move, so ground targeting wouldn’t be a step backward at all. Plus, it’d make that sweet spot where it explodes easier to hit. No more 2-part skill, just make it fly in a straight line to the point of targeting and auto-explode. Fewer button presses (always good for engis) and more accurate in a melee, plus no target needed.

lakdav.3694:

Flamethrower AA is ideal for crit-proc effects, spread all around in different traitlines.. Also since weapon sigils work with kits, it could trigger some additional nastyness on crit. With the many hits the AA yields, depending on your crit chance and some luck, and the recharge of the crit-proc effects, it should trigger much more often than say, a bomb kit #1

This got me thinking…

Anet is reworking all of our sigils. Maybe, because FT is so boss at proccing crits, the new sigil mechanics will indirectly buff the FT autoattack. Higher chances to proc things like sigil of fire or air or even life steal might make FT stronger without actually buffing FT’s numbers. Maybe…

I’m not too excited about the new Grandmaster traits right now. If they do make some really good changes to turrets in general (as they said they have) then it’s possible these are better than we think. Only testing will tell. I know a lot of people first rolled engi in hopes of having a full turret build. Maybe these traits and the “fixes” are solid steps towards that end.

Penguin.5197:

Ye I had posted that before i found out it had a 20 icd *sighs *

Yea same. kitten , I got really excited about FT becoming a solid dps PvE kit. High quickness uptime would make its autoattack solid, but as Yamsandjams said, suicide in WvW.

Penguin.5197:

Edit: If you take fireforged trigger then you can keep up quickness 25% of the time with just airblast.

30/20/0/20/0

30 – Accelerant Packed Turrets (extra knockbacks), Enhance Performance, Synaptic Overload
20 – Fireforged Trigger, Juggernaut
0
20 – Protection Injection, Deadly Mixture
0

HT, FT, RT, Throw Mine, Supply Crate

FT now a viable dps kit ?

I’m looking forward to the change. Crit damage nerf means less overall dps, making encounters last longer, and bringing support more important. If you down a boss before he deals lethal damage it trivializes the encounter. But if it’s going to take some time now, teamwork and support skills/stats will become more important. I think this broadens the overall team variety.

As for the change to Ferocity, Anet has already said that it makes it possible to have gear in the future with Ferocity as a major stat. Which means you can have the Precision-based builds again. Mixing Assassins gear with dps-oriented Ferocity-based gear would be pretty cool.