Guild Wars 2

Seems the general concensus is ele, thief, & engi.

Personally, I love my engi (main) and think it requires the most active play of any profession I’ve put time into.

Never could get into Ele, despite trying a couple times. Seems to also have a higher skillcap like Engi.

Yendorion.2381:

When you had mained a Necro, alting a Mesmer makes it your new main, no contest.

I main an Engi.

I bounce back n’ forth between grenades and FT, both always complemented by EG. I find EG too useful to not include in any PvE build. Especially when rocking FT, due to trait crossover. I have 6/6 Runes of Altruism for further group support.

I’m planning on getting a full healing/support gear set together and trying a heal bomb/EG/HT blast finishing build a la https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/PVE-BUILD-TANKY-HEALY-CONDI-ENGI/first#post2086359

I’m pretty sure every skill does this when you try to activate out of range.

Wow…it’s like he’s not even paying attention. Apparently, every weapon must be able to kill stuff, regardless of whether or not it’s designed to or not. “yes, it’s a control weapon and it’s great at what it’s designed for. but it can’t kill stuff so it sucks.” but it’s not supposed to be used to kill. “i agree. but what’s different about it is that you can’t kill with it” i mean…..<sigh>

Quick Mouse.7635:

10/10 would buy. Any price

I have 2 bank tabs filled with t5 mats and orichalcum lol

why? what purpose does hoarding it serve? sell it and if you need that many of something at a later date you can always buy it back.

How is leveling with mantras? Doable or need lotsa traits to make it work?

Chaos Archangel.5071:

@Seras: A warning, a lot of people complain that Mesmers are difficult to level until 40. I personally never had this problem, but I come from a different gaming background than most MMO players (Learned about action combat from Champions Online, and before that console action-adventure platform games are my shiz)

I’ve heard that too. I’m 12 right now and still unlocking skills so I’m alright for now. I’ve had to really pay attention to movement. And playstyle is very different than I’m used to with my Engi. So squishy! I plan on crafting a few levels between 20-40 just to expedite it, but don’t want to miss out on learning how to play mesmer in the process.

This is a thread for another player’s healing build. It might give you some ideas too.

Grounder.7381:

if you want to relax(not so active gameplay) on pve.. i think guardian would be perfect..
thief is kinda fun.. if you like fast pace gameplay..
but the fact that you post it here means that you’re already set on a mesmer alt anyway..

I should clarify what I mean by “relax”: Not feel as pressured running dungeons and gearing perfectly as I would with an 80. With an 80 I feel that you need to put effort into gearing/traiting/building properly to be a boon to a group. At level 40 that pressure isn’t there.

And I also posted this thread on thief forum but that was sealed pretty quickly. Thieves do not fulfill the criteria. I was told as much there.

Have a guardian (45) but he’s too laid back, boring. Need something more dynamic.

Winds.3087:

Versatility is good and nice, but efficiency must be above all.

Efficiency is more than just dps.

Straight healing or heal+support?

Gotcha. Thanks.

@Evilek – ok, sums that up for me. I kinda had a feeling.

@bobross – yea, I actually posted this same thread in mesmer forum too. looks like the general concensus is “go mesmer”.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

… for some inspiration.

I see what you did there

@Kimbald
You don’t want to be using your guns to kill anything. Really. Rifle #1 hits harder than pistol sure, but why would you sit there and autoattack someone to death when you can use a kit? Rifle is a control weapon, despite its single hardish hitting attack and its leap. Pistols are primarily condition weps and shield is utility. Either way, you should never sit in your gun set for very long unless you are 100% specced for rifle/SD build. Having said that, I think a SD build works better in ToolKit anyway. I find that your guns are best used by swapping into them, using the skill(s) you need, and then swapping back into your damage kit. None of our rifle/pistol/shield are better than…well, any of our kits for killing stuff.

So, all that said, shield is amazing. Since our rifle/pistol/shield aren’t used to kill but to supplement, shield is our best supplement.

I main an Engineer. Love it. Absolutely love it. But at times, I just want something different, a low level relaxed toon. So, I’m looking for an alt but can’t decide on a profession. I’ve tried many at lower levels but nothing is grabbing me. I need something that’s got build variety, that can deal damage but have utility too. Something fun and dynamic. Something with pizazz. Also, I’m 99% PvE

Good stuff. Glad to know mesmer offers lots of build and play styles. Are mantra builds viable? I’m still trying to figure out which direction to head as I level (just hit 12).

I think each zone is on its own time table. At least it feels that way to me. And I know each server is. I’ve logged out of Yak’s Bend at night to find an uncontested dungeon, guested on another server and it’s been day.

Casual experiencer w/ a dash of altoholism:

I don’t feel the need to rush to 80 or grind for a Legendary or be at fractal 50. Instead, I experience the whole of Tyria at my own pace. I don’t need to get 100% completion immediately (although I’ve decided I do want it). I like trying new builds, running dungeons and world bosses with my guild mates, being social, doing DE chains with randoms. I don’t care about min/maxing but I do want to be competative and effective and a valuable part of a team. I do my dailies, but don’t freak out if I only have time to get it 3x in a week. I have exotic armor and about 55g and own nothing that costs more than 5g on the TP. I also like setting my main aside from time to time and messing around with alts. After all, my main started out as merely an alt. 95% PvE. The most important aspect to my gameplay is fun.

Kardiamond.6952:

What you “can lose” (if you don’t have other burn source) in dps you get it back in utility and survivability.

Blast finisher + smoke bomb + super speed = 100% escape in any fight.

This is pretty much why I roll with a shield in dungeons. I deal plenty of damage outside of my pistol set. Yes, pistol #4 hits hard with a nice burn, but the shield’s utility, especially with that extra blast finisher, is just so nice.

drongas.4189:

for pve u have 2 choise. warrior and mesmer, others no needed. warior have 1 build pve. mesmer 3. so be smart ^^

I do not subscribe to the notion of warrior/mesmer-only groups. That’s just stupid. I main an engi so I clearly don’t care about that kind of elite-dungeon-rush-ping-gearscore-1337 crap.

Not to mention that warrior is the opposite of dynamic and interesting gameplay. It’s straight forward hack-n-slash.

All that aside, mesmer have 3 build options for endgame. Are there other non-best-dps-only options too? I want to be able to have the option to swap to different weapons, play-styles, etc.

I’m new to Mesmer (brand new, lvl 12) and I’m looking over the traits and it seems like Furious Interruption [Dueling] and Harmonious Mantras [Domination] need to be swapped. Dueling is the mantra traitline and to put such an amazing mantra-based trait 30 pts into Domination seems….plain wrong. And FI is an interrupt-based trait…shouldn’t that be in the interrupt-based traitline? Is this just me or a known issue that’s often discussed? Or am I wrong?

I was planning on building a mantra mesmer but I didn’t want to go into Domination at all. Guess I kinda need to huh?

I main an Engineer. Love it. Absolutely love it. But at times, I just want something different, a low level relaxed toon. So, I’m looking for an alt but can’t decide on a profession. I’ve tried many at lower levels but nothing is grabbing me. I need something that’s got build variety, that can deal damage but have utility too. Something fun and dynamic. Something with pizazz. Also, I’m 99% PvE

Anyone else chime in? Do mesmer offer build variety and a fun play style?

Honestly, pistol #1 should never be relied upon for killing stuff. #2-3 are great, and should be used often for their conditions, regardless of whether or not you’ve geared for condition damage. #2 is poison, which may not do a whole lotta damage w/o a condition build but it will still reduce healing by 30%, which is huge in any build. Also, it can hit for 4k in full zerker gear. That’s healthy & comparable to any power-based skill in my book. And static shot is an aoe blind & confusion. Both of which work well in a power build. Confusion scales terribly with condition damage so it’s still effective as a deterent w/o a condition build.

I need more cowbell

I’m 80, have exotic gear, don’t want a Legendary. What can I do with my 220k (and growing) karma? Am I reduced to Orrian Boxes or is there another way to use em to make money or get something useful?

I main an Engineer. Love it. Absolutely love it. But at times, I just want something different, a low level relaxed toon. So, I’m looking for an alt but can’t decide on a profession. I’ve tried many at lower levels but nothing is grabbing me. What I have so far:

Ranger (70) – was my 1st, but they’re so boring right now I can’t get back into it. Bows are lackluster and spirits are crap.
Guardian (46) – was fun for a while, but gameplay just seemed too monotonous. Buff, swing, heal, repeat.
Necro (45) – also got boring, though I suppose there’s potential. I went full condition with scepter/dagger+staff but necro had so many bugs and problems I stopped playing it. I think it’s no better now.
Warrior (15) – loving my engi, I wanted to try full range warrior (longbow/rifle) but that’s so boring cuz almost all warrior utilities are just stat buffs.
Mesmer (10) & Ele (10) – Started both because they sounded dynamic and fun. Still at such low level I can’t tell yet. These seem like my best options so far.
Thief – don’t have one. Had a lvl 12 back at launch but don’t know anything about em to judge.

So that’s my progress. I need something that’s got build variety, that can deal damage but have utility too. Something fun and dynamic. Something with pizazz. Also, I’m 99% PvE.

+1 bump for great justice

I hate my kit hobosacks clipping with my hard-earned back pieces. I want to see my back items, not my gaudy sack of grenades.

Nope, I’m anti-mounts. I remember playing WoW and thinking how awesome fast mounts were because I could finally get around the world without it taking forever. Because the only alternative was flightpoints, which also took time to travel.

And then I got flying mounts, which made travel even faster! Awesome, no?

NO. Suddenly, nobody did anything anywhere. People would fly around, spot a node on their mini, drop down, mine it, and fly away. No risk of fighting, no quests, no cooperation, no helping others.

Even with ground mounts, people just ran through areas, ignored mobs, ignored events, quests, & other players. It became boring and anti-social. Mounts made fighting your way from place to place trivial. Especially flying mounts.

Now, GW2 has waypoints, so there is instant travel. But they come with a cost, so they’re not typically used in excess. Players will still run to an area that’s within their current zone. I see running players helping me out with killing stuff, stumbling on DEs, etc.

Also, Tyria was not designed for mounts. Players have run speed signets and other various boosts for travel. Anything more than that and Tyria would get smaller fast. It would trivialize the content.

Some players want mounts just for something end-game to collect. I can see that, but let’s make it mini-pets. A little companion that stands next to you and signifies your accomplishment. Oooh, he has a mini-risen-chicken; he must’ve done that awesome chain in Cursed Shore. Oooh, he has a mini-burning-effigy; he must’ve gotten that achievement in CoF. That kinda thing.

GW1 had this for hench from launch. You could set waypoints and send em places via buttons near the mini-map iirc. So helpful.

Ronah.2869:

Seras.5702:

So, why do you need an auto-leveler?

I dont like any crafting or PvP. Why do i need to grind levels just to play my single player storyline?

Because there’s more to GW2 than just your personal storyline. Man, why does everyone feel so entitled that they should have everything handed to them for no work & no strings attached? So all you want to do is play your personal story? You bought a whole game for that…you don’t like any other aspect of the game….you bought the wrong game.

Seems like some people bought a game thinking it was going to be their way right away all times. This isn’t a game tailor made for just you. If it were only a personal story, it’d be a short, linear game and I’d be disappointed. You want only personal story, play Halo. Got a really cool story and you don’t have to craft or gear up or play with others.

I’m tired of people buying MMORPGs and not wanting to MMO or RPG or play the game at all, just have their one favorite aspect handed to them from the start, no questions asked. OP wants to have max gear for WvW without the effort of earning it. I play PvE only; should I be given ascended gear without playing fractals or running dailies/monthlies cuz “I don’t like that stuff?” NO. I’m all for no gear treadmill, making things easier to attain without a pointless grind (and I mean the actual definition of grind, not the way people refer to leveling 1-80 as a grind). But I refuse to accept a gem store item that lets players bypass playing the game at all. In a way it’s already there in the form of crafting your way 1-80. All you gotta do is spend the time maxing those crafts out. But you don’t even want to be bothered with that…..wow……..

Juggernaut rocks. But nobody who runs FT is going to skip that trait, so why not roll either the damage boost or CD reduction into it? And I don’t think Deadly Mixtures and Fireforged Trigger each need to tackle 2 different kits. If I am running a non-FT build I want to have the ability to buff my EG without going into the FT traits. Because they’re split, I don’t feel like I’m getting bonus FT buffs, but rather wasting 1/2 my trait on a kit I’m not using.

This game is designed around the fact that level 20 gameplay is the same as level 80 gameplay. WvW scales you up. PvP scales you up. At 80 you’re still running auto-scaled DEs in level 40 zones for the fun/karma/completion anyway. Autoleveling will never be added. Not to mention, you already have crafting for 1-80 without needing to actually play the game. And you can level in WvW anyway. Just play WvW from level 2-80 and you’ll eventually hit max. From what I’ve heard, if you’re good you’ll level pretty fast too. So, why do you need an auto-leveler?

Yea birthday presents are a must. A shame that my main is only 3 months old while I’ve got alts that I’ve had since launch. But that’s just the way it is.

Also, the Engineer flamethrower & elixir gun traits need to be consolidated a bit. Juggernaut, Deadly Mixtures, and Fireforged Trigger should be reworked. As it is, FT & EG seem like they have to be taken together.

Huh…I actually think the world is well designed. The zones feel open to me, without having paths everywhere that restrict exploration (like GW1 did). A lot of places have yellow mobs like moas and boars just roaming around, creating some ambiance but not forcing you into fights every step. If the world is too big you start getting bored cuz it takes you too long to get to the good stuff. Without mounts (and I like it that way) we get to truly explore Tyria on foot rather than letting it pass us by as we zoom to the next spot. Too much open space is pretty but boring.

What I would like to see are more “towns” throughout the world. Places like Beetletun and are great spots to relax in and not feel like I’m in the middle of a barren field. But as we progress through the game, the war gets grittier and we only see smaller military outposts & forts rather than towns.

Numot.3965:

Short duration but potent – The turret you plop down doesn’t last long, maybe only 5s, using its skill, but then falling apart afterwards. Rifle turret fires a piercing volley of 5 shots, rocket turret fires 3 rockets (first 2 burn, last knocks down), so on so forth. The point is you use a turret like you use any other skill. This solves a number of issues at the same time. It makes them easier to manage for starters (helping new players), makes them more attractive for splashing into builds, as well as more suitable for mobile combat. Turrets only really feel like they pull their worth if they stick around for awhile (save healing turret), even then seem underwhelming at times.

Hmm…Interesting idea. For this to work I think they would have to be ground targeted deployable as baseline. No point in dropping something that does 1-and-done actions right on top of you. I’d like to have them deployable with no timer, but a charge. That means you can pre-drop turrets for point defense and they’ll stay (5 min max) until they do their action, then die. Then we can trait em for an extra charge: 2 actions (with ICD of x seconds), then crumble. Won’t be any more powerful than they are now, but they’ll have reduced cooldowns that will let us drop them more often, not have to worry about picking them up just so we can use them in a reasonable amount of time, and will make them more “mobile” by design.

I will say though that I don’t see this change being beneficial for Healing Turret. HT’s mechanics would have to remain as-is, but I think that’s doable.

JubeiTM.5763:

If you feel you are too squishy all of a sudden, you can mix the set. Suppose you have your Coat Power Prec Toughness will balance things.

I use my accessories to supplement survivability. Zerk/Rampager armor and most of my accessories. Got a couple with vit, tough, heal just for that little tweak my playstyle requires. By that I mean for those dungeons I don’t know well and get caught in the fire lol.

While I agree that a dedicated 1h power weapon would be nice (mace?) the pistol actually works quite well. You won’t be spending much time dealing damage in pistol if you’re running a grenade/bomb/FT kit. But the #2 poison dart volley actually scales pretty well with power builds, dealing upwards of 4k total damage with berserker gear. Plus, poison is never a bad thing (30% healing reduction). And pistol #3 is a fantastic utility for bouncing aoe blind & confusion. Pop em & then swap back into your kit.

Carighan.6758:

Plus, an AE bleed on the #1, spammable (not part of a chain). Ofc this leads to erm… balance worries. But it’s quite unique.

Actually, that’s a tooltip error. From what I understand it used to act that way in Beta, but now the bleeds only apply to your target and the explosion damage is the aoe component.

Kardiamond.6952:

Since release, I never took shield before, but now I love it. Stealth when roaming is incredible.

I’m missing something….stealth?

Generally speaking, you’re going to want to use a kit to deal the majority of your damage. The pistol/shield/rifle are great weapons, but in my experience, are swapped to, used, and swapped out of for your kit again. Elixir gun is a fantastic kit, however it’s best used in a support role (healing, spreading conditions, blast finishing). Its auto stacks bleeds more effectively than pistols even, so it’s not a bad weapon to fight with at range if necessary.

The primary damage kits are Grenades, Flamethrower, Bomb, ToolKit. Despite what was said about, FT is not a condition weapon, it’s a power/prec wep. It may apply burning, but it shines with stacks of precision and +crit dmg due to its fast fire rate and hard hitting #2. Grenades are a hybrid, benefitting from cond & straight dmg. Bomb & Tool Kits are melee range kits. Never had much luck with bomb kit but that’s my shortcoming, not the kit’s. ToolKit is incredibly useful, especially in PvP. It hits hard (power weapon again), applies confusion, cripple, bleed, has a block, and a long range pull. Useful if you are operating at close range with Bombs or FT.

In general, you’re going to want to gear for damage, not survivability with respect to PvE dungeons. Some toughness and vitality is helpful, but in general your best defense is not getting hit. Use shield blocks and most of all dodge! Some dungeon attacks, no matter your armor and hp, will squish you dead. You have to avoid the damage. If you stack too much touhgness & vitality, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed with your damage output. People say that high damage potential of a dead player is useless so stay alive. While this is true, gearing simply to stay alive makes you equally useless since your damage & support abilities will be diminished. PvP requires more tough/vit than PvE, since you will be getting hit. Just my 2 cents.

Rezzet.3614:

FT is just a conditional weapon

Ah, there’s where you went wrong. FT is not a condition weapon. It rolls burns but mostly for the 10% damage bonus and the napalm field is best used to stack might. Also, FT#2 is a power/prec skill.

Whatever is fun is best. Having said that…

No hearts or POIs or vistas and few gathering nodes make Southsun completely dependent on DEs and kills. Also, the monsters are harder and slower to kill than in other zones. So it will be slower but if it’s fun and you’re getting good drops due to the event buffs, have at it. If you can keep the DE train rolling though, you’ll get fantastic XP for those. Karma too.

Engi is a lot of fun but a lot of work too. Engi forums read just like every other profession: full of whiners and fanbois alike. Engi are viable in every aspect of the game (pvp, pve, wvw). Thief is easier to play.

Depends on the armor type. What looks like white on heavy metal armor won’t look the same on leather or cloth. What type are you dying?

Frosting & Icing look pretty good on leather. Preview them on the TP.

Phineas Poe.3018:

You should almost never be auto attacking with either the Rifle or the Pistol. If you need to fight from range, use the Elixir Gun and spam Tranquilizer Dart. It does more damage than both Hip Shot and Explosive Shot, and additionally applies Weakness to every target you hit with it.

I think people discount the value of EG’s autoattack way too often. It is more effective at stacking bleeds than pistol auto, applies weakness as you said, and hits fairly hard considering it’s in a kit designed for support. I love the EG.

JubeiTM.5763:

Gaiawolf.8261:

JubeiTM.5763:

2) The poison dart is 4000 damage every 13 seconds (sctual shot+recharge) with only 2 seconds of Poison (Here you go. ). The rifle is 2000 damage every 0.75 Seconds. The Rifle shots pierce. This being said, with a Berserker build a rifle does three times the damage.

You do realize its 2s per dart right? At 5 darts that’s 10s of reduced healing, not 2. ~75% uptime is pretty kitten good for both bosses and pvp.

No I did not know that, I had it wrong.
If this is the case, hitting all 5 darts you constantly keep the enemy on poison. An yes, this makes it viable indeed! Thanks for clearing that out.

Not to mention that staying in rifle for auto-attack isn’t an option in this build. FT is the kit you want to stay in for toughness & might, so Poison Dart can be swapped to & back out quickly without losing the Juggernaut benefit for long.

_Here is my burst party healing rotation to achieve the above screenshot:

Big Ol’ Bomb – Healing Turret – Cleansing Burst – Magnetic Shield – Magnetic Inversion – Detonate Healing Turret – Acid Bomb

This rotation heals the party for 10355 over 3 seconds and can be performed every 24 seconds._

With burst like that, are healing bombs even necessary? Would it be better to place pts in Tools to reduce BoB cooldown instead?

Is it hard to pull off this burst, thus requiring constant bomb healing? This burst + EG#5 aren’t enough? Just trying to figure out where I can move traits if need-be. Most of the traits taken are ones I have no experience with. Why energized armor if you’re not running a power-dependent build? Seems like Protective Shield would be better served at keeping you alive. Or at this point is staying alive a foregone conclusion so you may as well buff your dmg where you can?

Analyze should toss out a lot of non-damaging conditions: weakness, vulnerability, cripple, and confusion. Goggles should imbue fury and ret. This would make Goggles worthwhile taking it over an elixir.

Boots toolbelt is great. But their core functionality has a self-cc. Just why?

Agreed, Slick Shoes should remove soft cc and last 1s longer.

Mines should drop in a spread around the player, not so randomly. Also, their radius needs to be bigger.

PBR needs a redesign. It’s so lackluster. Not a blast finisher? Does anyone ever take this?

Generally gadgets needs shorter cooldowns all around. If they get buffed in some way then I can see the longer CDs but as it is, why would you take a gadget over an elixir or kit?