This is very similar to what I came up with last night. Same trait allocation, only I took Speedy Gadgets instead of Leg Mods in Tools and Backpack Regenerator instead of Invigorating Speed, although that was a tough decision.
I took Speedy Gadgets because this new patch made gadgets so enticing to play around with so instead of Elixir B I’m experimenting with Rocket Boots: low CD burn on toolbelt and nice gap closer for my FT (or escape) and another blast finisher. I figure with Rocket Boots I won’t need Invigorating Speed.
How did you fail to not include engineers in this patch? You have now made them even less desirable. No one considered putting Torment on the flamethrower?
I really don’t understand why necro is one of the most overplayed classes need a buff?
Or thieves for that matter?
Patch notes are unconfirmed leaks. Wait for official on Tues.
Engineers were included. Did you see the list of changes? Torment was not the only thing patched.
Necro is not an overplayed class. In fact, it’s probably one of the bottom 3.
It doesn’t bother me that Torment was only given to a few professions. What bothers me is how OP Necro’s seems compared to Thief & Mesmer. I don’t play thief, but if Torment is only available for a mesmer on 1 block skill on 1 weapon then it’s severely weak. Especially compared to what seems to be a Necro’s ability to do some channelled aoe Tormenting with an immob. Which means either take the damage moving or get rooted. Sounds strong.
Torment is a new condition, so it will probably be intentionally scaled so that power/prec builds won’t benefit much from it. Hopefully, only condition users will be able to deal fair damage with Torment. I don’t see a lot of condition warriors so giving it to them would be a little worthless. Also, mesmers don’t have many speed burst options, so dishing out Torment might be a good way for them to deal with lack of movement options. Thieves…well, as I said: hopefully it’ll only hurt when specced condition.
Looking forward to all kinds of updates!!! Maybe I’ll dust the cobwebs off my Ranger. And now I’m even more eager to keep leveling my Mesmer. And new build possibilities for my Engi!? Yes plz! Weakness buff means my EG is even more useful!
trait 409 on elixirs (use elixir h with this trait)
medkit # 4
EG #5 light field with finisher
healing turret overcharge
elixir R
EG #3 removes conditions on allies (not self)
I never find conditions to be much of an issue, unless I get completely soaked with them. If that happens to you, bring elixir R for full removal.
PvE/Dungeons: Go Berserkers. Staying alive is all about damage avoidance.
WvW: you’re gonna need some survivability. Staying alive is about damage mitigation.
The GW Mesmer was a master of shutdown. Could interrupt like crazy, make casting spells suicidal, decrease the effectiveness of almost anything, and generally frustrate the crap out of an enemy.
Some of that holds true in GW2. Mesmers can be quite frustrating with all th illusions and teleporting. And there’s the confusion and reflects that can make attacking a mesmer suicide.
But the pure shutdown has disappeared, thanks to what I’m guessing were supposed to be a plethora of interrupt abilities being removed. Our traits clearly indicate that we were initially going to be able to build around interrupts, but that didn’t make launch.
On the other hand, what Mesmer didn’t have in GW was pure damage dealing or heartiness. A nice change in GW2 has been to give Mesmer the capability to deal outight damage and stay alive.
Remember IW-mesmers in GW? Now we get swords without having to be gimmicky.
I’m hoping it scales properly. WIth a lot of +condition damage it should be something that causes an enemy (like with retaliation) to think about whether moving or eating the next attack is better. But, it can’t be too strong without +condition damage because then it would be a free move-restrictor; especially deadly in the hands of a glass-cannon thief.
The massive spawn is probably a result of EVERYONE going to Blasted Haven.
When I tracked down the Skritt in Gendarren there were like 20 identical pirates all grouped in one place. I’m guessing they spawned out of control due to the abnormally high player population in the immediate area.
How is Magistar Tassi’s name pronounced? Is it Toss-ee or Tash-ee? Cuz the signature “____E” could be an allusion to “Dash E” or Tassi (Tash-ee). His machine is being used by the investigator, who said she got it from E.
Is there an easy way to get some healing power without having to sacrifice much power/prec/crit? For instance, I use Altruism runes on my Engi (for the 4 & 6 slot procs) but the runes give me about 200 healing power (can’t remember exactly, wiki is down).
@Chaos: thanks for the input. I considered Medic’s Feedback but don’t want to sacrifice too much of my offensive capability for pure reflect. With traited focus & feedback I figured I’d have enough. But I can def see the merits of that trait.
@Pyro: I’ll take a look now. Thanks.
What gear do you suggest? Zerker with survivability thrown in as needed? What’s better, toughness or vitality for mesmers in dungeons?
Never. I play what’s most fun with respect to playstyle. Often in MMOs, I find that I’m playing the least played profession. I main an Engi here for example. Mained an enhancement shaman in WoW from the start (TBC).
Um, berserker Engi deal fantastic damage. Either with grenades or SD build. Even FT and ToolKit benefit most from full zerker gear. Grenades and Bombs are unique in that they have access to many conditions and apply them well, but also hit hard. They can be built as either zerker or condition.
This is a phantasm build I plan on running dungeons with when I hit 80. I want to mazimize my reflects & group support, while dealing damage with phantasms.
Possible changes I’ve considered:
Duel II for phantasm fury instead of reduced sword CD.
Insp IX -> V for more phantasm hp
Would straight Zerk gear be the best bet for this, assuming I can stay alive? Perhaps some Soldier sprinkled in while I work on getting used to the build.
While I agree that sometimes it can be annoying when that one awesome piece comes along that you want on all your characters, the fact that they’re pretty easy to acquire and new ones pop up every event, I’m ok with the 1 per account limit.
I have a fervid censor on my main, a halloween book on my necro, the creepy tentacles in my bank, an SAB backpack in my bank, wings will go to my mesmer….each event brings a new backpack. They’re gonna start piling up with the way events are rewarding em. I kinda like it. Makes each one unique.
Are we droppin’ it like it was hot, only literally?
This made me lol.
I agree with your point too. Even before the effigies, half of the achievements were “run here, press F.” Which can be made fun but loses its fun when it’s overdone. After all the holo, pinata, fireworks, & taffy hunting seeking out one more thing was kinda lame. I think it should have been visit 1 effigy in each zone or visit 15 effigies total or something other than visit 20 more than the number that exist in the world.
Dont think it can be that simple. If all achievements were something you can do in 30 minutes (I am assuming 2 mins per teleport will be enough for the client to load the zone and walk the extra distance) Then the leaderboard for achievement would become a joke as everyone would have the maximum points and sit in the top spot. Achievements by their nature need to involve a little effort.
Generally, I agree. But with limited time events I think they need to be more accessible to casuals. And for the most part, they have been. I’m not trying to insinuate that achievements should be easy. But I think if we’re going to have snazzy event content then it needs to actually be snazzy. For the most part, this event is a lot of fun; I’ve been enjoying it a lot. But we only need so many “run here, hit F” tasks for achievements. We had that for pinatas, taffies, fireworks, and now effigies. I think they could have done something a little more imaginative than ask us to WP around and dance (?) in front of an effigy (or 50). I’m doing it cuz I want the achievement, not because hitting F 50 times is fun. At least with the holos I get to fight stuff. That’s fun.
Run out LA, get the 2 nearby then run west/southwest and thru Gendarren & Kessex. You’ll get 5 in like 5 mins without any porting. Do only this for a week and you’ve got 35.
Take the free gate from LA to DR and to the east of the city are 2 bunched together. That’s another 14 in a week.
All free, all taking <10 mins total. 35+14=49 – grab one other anywhere in the world and you’ve got your 50.
OR do it again on multiple toons and you’ll have it in a couple days.
No grind. No WP costs necessary.
I’m sure there are 100 other strategies that players have, this is just mine. Easy, fast, & not grindy.
Are we droppin’ it like it was hot, only literally?
This made me lol.
I agree with your point too. Even before the effigies, half of the achievements were “run here, press F.” Which can be made fun but loses its fun when it’s overdone. After all the holo, pinata, fireworks, & taffy hunting seeking out one more thing was kinda lame. I think it should have been visit 1 effigy in each zone or visit 15 effigies total or something other than visit 20 more than the number that exist in the world.
….My thought on doing so, however, is that if you use a couple of kits, you have more than enough skills that there is no need to get access to any one pistol skill faster.
^This. We are generally using our kits for real damage dealing. I never swap from grenades so I can run in close and hit pistol#4. Instead I’ll swap to P/S if I need the utility (block, blast, daze, etc).
I really like using focus, but the phantasm on that one can stink sometimes because it doesn’t move….
Also, blustein, what do you mean by dont buy blues.?
Utilize your sword#3 cripple/immob to keep your foes on your phantasm. Or you can draw mobs in with temporal curtain.
Also, chaos storm and temporal curtain are combo fields. Use your leaps (staff#2, sword#3) and your whirl finishers (focus#5) for added functionality like chaos armor and condition removal.
Think of staff as your defensive/support weapon. You’ve got chaos armor, boon generation, an escape and clone generator.
Is there DR on coffers from holos? Last night I was bouncing between a couple. When I started I was getting 3-4 coffers per holo group. By the end it was about 0-1 coffer per holo group. Dunno if that was just RNG or if there is actual DR for farming the same holos and if DR affects coffers.
@OP: that pretty much describes me. I like to understand my profession, roam the forums, ask questions, answer questions, acquire gear, try new builds, play all over, play at my pace…
But I don’t need a Legendary. I don’t need 1000g. I don’t want to be in a guild that requires weekly runs of X. I don’t need to be fractal 50 or even 38. I collect dyes, not minis or expensive exotics. I like the occassional JP but don’t fret when I can’t do it. I like PvP but will never tPvP.
I can never find em. Granted, I’m not actively looking. But nothing ever sticks out to me that it’s the beginning to a JP. Only ones I’ve ever stumbled upon were Morgan’s Leap, Vizier’s Tower (cuz there’s a vista up there), and Urmaug’s Secret (cuz it’s next to a vista).
You’ve chosen to make dailies the center of this game, not Anet. If you have no interest in Ascended gear (which I assume given your 5% comment) then why bother doing dailies or fractals at all?
Run some dungeons, get 100% world complete, do some jumping puzzles, acquire the skins you really want, do some world bosses, help out guildies, chat in LA. There’s a lot to do. You’re just ignoring all of it.
And if you’ve already done it all, then find another game and come back in a month for new content.
I never used a shield while leveling either. P/P all the way, and I still do in open world. But in dungeons and PvP the shield is just too useful to leave at home. A block or projectile reflect at a key moment can be the difference between alive & dead, especially if your endurance is low (think reflect warrior killshot). A daze/stun can halt an enemy’s big opener, especially if followed by a knockback (sorry thief). And an on demand blast finisher in one of your fire fields or healing turret field = aoe might or aoe healing. Good times.
To trade that for what…a hard to use, short duration immob and 1 hard-hitting burn shot that requires me to be at close range? Nope. I’ll keep my shield.
…
Both Sword Main Hand and Sword Off-hand are strong melee weapons.
Perhaps you are referring to the Two-Handed GREATsword? Indeed, that is a Ranged weapon when used on a Mesmer! Other classes use it as a melee weapons.
Also, if melee is your main desire, maybe Mesmer isn’t right for you. While it’s an amazing profession, its only melee weapon is the 1h sword. Other professions offer much more melee-oriented fighting. Mesmer is primarily a caster, so your melee is going to be very in-and-out, hit-n-retreat. Strong melee professions would be Warrior, Guardian, Ranger, Thief.
I use sw/f + staff and find both to complement each other. As Linguistically Inept (lol) mentioned, staff has some great group weapons and you don’t have to sacrifice your focus to have it.
Also, if you’re running thru an area to skip fights just equip a focus for the run and then back to a combat weapon set if necessary. Annoying, but an option.
Pros:
Holograms are fun to hunt and kill
Pinatas and Zaitaffys are easy to acquire while playing and socializing
Jade Skins are awesome!
Fireworks had some nice effects
LA looks amazing
Minis are fun (thanks for the gift) and easy to acquire
Cons:
Holograms are annoying to compete for
Wish there were more things to buy with Zaitaffy
Jade Skins are sooo hard to get
Fireworks should have been bigger, broader
Moa Racing
My main concern with this achievement is the lack of continuity between the realm and overflow clocks. When I first logged in I was brought to LA Overflow, which is fine. It was night time and I was told to wait about an hour for the fireworks. Then my queue comes up for me to move to non-overflow LA, so of course I do. Lo and behold it is now 3 mins after the fireworks, I just missed em, and I can’t get back to overflow. So now I’m stuck waiting in LA for 2 hours because if I leave to actually play the game and try to return in time for the event, I’ll probably get tossed into overflow, which is on a different clock, and miss the event all over again.
The irony of some of the posts in this thread is that people often don’t want to run challenging content without a special reward. Arah is hard and AC got a boost. But nobody runs em because the rewards are the same as CoF. So why do it? Nobody cares about fun, only getting stuff and titles. And ya gotta have some motivating factor, but requiring a reward for every dang difficult thing can’t be the way either.
The whole temporary content thing is really strange to me. I can understand that GW2 doesn’t want a gear treadmill. That’s awesome. Problem being, to me, their replacement seemed to be “Play some cheap minigames in this month’s content, get some tokens, and MAYBE we’ll give you a weapon/armor skin.”
I don’t want that. Where’s the actual playing of the game at a high level? I’m talking about fighting enemies that are interesting, bosses that require skill and coordination, and new content (not just re-playing old content)? I know there was a dungeon at the end of Flame and Frost, but my understanding was that you had to go back and do the other sillier F&F stuff to get access to it. Sorry to tell you this, that makes the content seem rather inaccessible to me.
Mixed bag imo. Some of them have been fun (SAB, DragonBash) some have not (Flame & Frost). But that’s all personal opinion. What is a fact is they have largely been, as you said, minigames with a chance of getting a snazzy new skin. And that’s my only complaint.
I don’t mind temporary content. It’s fun & keeps things fresh. But I was hoping for more temporary GW2 content, not minigames (SAB, DragonBall, CrabToss). And while they can be fun for a time, it’s not more GW2 in the sense that it’s not more of what we’re doing when there isn’t an event. The recent event in SSC was pretty fun, because it had players doing DEs. But the dungeon was lame and gimmicky, not a strategic real dungeon like we had in F&F finale. And the DragonBash event is fun, with things like holos to farm in the open world, but we’re also encouraged to bet on Moa racing (spectator sport, dice roll) and play Dragon Ball (mini game). It adds flavor, levity, and some great visuals. But it’s just a shame that even the non-holiday events have this gimmicky aspect to them too.
I find myself getting the achievements and the back items, and then moving on.
I think Minis should have to be manually added to the bank. Having to equip an invisible bag just to keep it in my inventory is annoying. It’s not like minis are dropping all over the place and we’re constantly banking em.
But yes, they shouldn’t de-spawn so often. I’ll often be in a zone for 20 mins before I realize he’s not following me anymore.
Maybe we’ll find out what happened to Menzies in FoW or Dhuum in UW.
YES!! Been hoping for a revisit to UW & FoW since launch. Just a GW1 fanboy wanting to head back into my favorite zones. There’s so much story potential with those 2 areas.
That won’t work since it’s not an instanced world. You can’t view a zone at night and another player standing next to you viewing it as day. This is especially true because changing the view-time-toggle (if implemented) would create an exploit for certain things like Signet of Night.
They should add a dungeon token tab to the bank so we can bank em like crafting mats and minis. Because each path gives 20-60 tokens a run, the stack sizes should be 1000, not the typical 250. Since they’re account bound, I think this makes a lot of sense, as it will make it easier for multiple characters to access tokens.
I like that they’re animated but I agree, they’re a little too animated (yea a little too Raph). Or maybe keep the flapping while standing but reduce it while in combat and running.
Won’t play Charr cuz they look awkward in all their armor and I hate the running animation.
Won’t play Norn cuz the female voice acting sounds too masculine and the male are muscle-bound freaks with tiny heads. And they have a slow run feel cuz of their size.
I just bought T1 sylvari armor for my lvl 35 alt. Looks great and the stats aren’t bad. I’ll xmute these as I level because they look fantastic. Better than T2 or T3 imo. The cost of T1 is pretty cheap, 2.5g for the whole set iirc. And for a status piece, that’s not bad. T3 costing 120g for the set is kinda ridiculous but as a status piece I guess it makes sense. I’d be happier if it were closer to 75g for the set. Still too rich for me but a more realistic price.
There would have to be a drawback to this. I’m thinking that when you drop the kit you are unable to use it while an ally is. Give it a time limit & charges like elemental weapons. So we drop our ToolKit, thief picks it up, we can’t use it while he has it, thief shadowsteps to enemy, prybar, caltrop, drop kit, we can use it again. Treat it like you’re actually dropping the kit. Just don’t make us pick it back up again.
its so cool