Guild Wars 2

Nassau.6713:

And now, I sense a l2p answer incoming.

kitten right son! GS2 is used to burst from stealth. So, yeah, you don’t see the mesmer being in melee range, but you know he will be, just like you know that the thief will try to get close to you for a BS. Except that in this case, the mesmer only has one teleport. So you can:
- Move away from where he entered stealth: most mesmers are slow (low swiftness access), and you’ll mitigate a lot of damage that way.
- AoE around you. I don’t know what you play, but on engineer for example, just throwing grenades at your feet, in particular the blind grenade, will allow you to mitigate the burst
- Count the stealth. Maybe a bit too advanced for you, but torch #4 and Decoy are 3s long on most mesmers, 6s on PU. They’ll burst in the end. So count 1,2,dodge.

iZerker is the spinning phantasm. He spawns close to you and has a very obvious animation. So yeah, dodge.

I doubt you have 500 games played on your mesmer. I have around 400, and this is basic stuff. OR maybe you never played Greatsword? In any case, get more training.

Blinds are strong. Sooo:

1) Mesmer: you’re OP, and can counter blind
2) Elementalist: same
3) Guardian: symbols, zones, etc.
4) Engineer: Box of Nails, Acid Bomb, Napalm, etc.
5) Necromancer: Locust Swarm, condi transfer
6) Warrior: Zerker stance, resistance
7) Thief: mesmer was given blinds to counter you. Ripost with more blinds
8) Ranger: RIP I think, or fire zone.

Phantaram and Chaithh are posting here rather often. Blackjack was also very active (like, one-QQ-thread-a-day active), when the LB were changed. But mostly, top players are above forum drama.

LucasCorso.3651:

We are more then not meta now, we are suck. Before the patch I usually was in top 3 in PvP no matter – turret, celectial or condition build I played and I used to feel myself good in WWW no matter who fighted against me – I just knew that I had a chance vs another classes. Now if I see ele or mesm I prefer not to fight, because Arena forget about balance.
Sorry for my English and emotions ^)

How do you know you’re not in the top 3? By the way, I don’t think I’ve EVER seen you in the top of the Leaderboards, but it could be on another account or my memory might be bad?

Anyway, we’re not meta anymore, so what? Some of our builds are still decently effective, and playing engineer feels less like shikittenmi: prior to the patch, I could 1v2 thieves or guardian, but the most noobish necro could kill me. The added condi clear on the Alchemy traitline really helps our survivability. The new HGH is glorious. Experiment with new stuff. There’s no point crying over the lost of our celestial engineer. Personally, I’m glad I get to play something a bit different.

ArrDee.2573:

Bombs died long ago because of power creep! Even if they fixed the bug and with Short Fuse, bombs will still be lackluster because you’ll just instantly die if you even try to get close to plant a bomb in a team fight! Also there’s no trait to take in tier 1 explosives if you decide to run a bomb build without Grenade Kit! And if you do decide to run Grenade Kit, your survivability will tank without the Tool Kit + Elixir S combo which is basically mandatory now if you want to survive for more than 3 seconds because, again, power creep!

Wahoo! Bye frands!

How would you know? Didn’t you stop playing something like one year ago?

Synosius.9876:

It should I certainly aggree but alchemical tinctures says… throw or consume elixirs which is why 2/3 of the EG abilities dont synergize. HGH gives the might and reduces cd which makes super elixir the 2nd quickest condi clear; turret being the first ofc.

We can still hope for something amazing on tuesday right???

I hope it’s not intended: now that they are elixir skills, they should benefit from every elixir traits!

Oh, and by the way, Super Elixir doesn’t benefit from the trait: it always removed a condition, it was just not mentioned in the tooltip I think. Technically, if it worked with the minor GM in Alchemy, it would remove 2 conditions, 3 if you throw your wrench through it, all that on a 16s CD. How awesome would that be?

This OP mesmer phase has actually one advantage: all the bad players in this game are finally learning to play!

Doon, apart from the blind, nothing you listed is new. Mesmers were balanced (UP even), while doing exactly that. The new PU trait is a bit too strong (not that much considering you run no condi removal at all in that build though). And no, mesmers can not burst from range. GS2 deals no damage at long range, so they are either forced to melee you, or Blink, which is a rather long CD and their only stun breaker (in the mantra build). Compare that to the thief’s Steal (21s CD) or Shadow Shot (0s CD). So if you are to get bursted, it’s gonna be in melee range. Beware!

Their only damaging abilities at long range is the very obvious iZerker. Dodge!

Reading these threads, I understand why Anet takes so long to patch: some players are still adapting, not even knowing what the builds do! Pro tip: just like pre-patch, everyone was forced to learn thief, ele or warrior to counter them, you need to play a mesmer and finally understand why you die.

Nieguen.6235:

displacedTitan.6897:

There is literally no build choice anymore. ANet has killed what was the most diverse class I think.

EVERYONE in spvp is taking TK + Elixer S and nearly everyone takes Alch.

The non-Alch traitlines are also poorly designed which leads to everyone picking the exact same set up in those lines.

Engineer is in a terrible spot right now. Both due to external meta pressure of broken Ele/Mes and internal lack of synergy and choice with Traits/Skills.

This.

Wat?

I mean, what you’re saying is true (except that some engi replace Elixir S with EG, and on rabid FT build, you don’t need TK), but engi was ALWAYS forced to take TK, and ALWAYS forced to spec into Alchemy. Our super strong celestial meta build is dead, but who cares? We’re not meta anymore, but we have plenty of builds that are kinda viable. That’s better than one strong build if you ask me.

You don’t get it Cynz. Helseth, being the best player in the game, got in the WTS with his very recent team, crushing oRNG during the qualifiers. Anet got scared, and knowing that Helseth would still win if he was playing with only the Moa transform skills and the Portal, decided to overbuff mesmer to rob Helsteth from the sweet victory he’s been wanting for years, since people would just complain his build was OP. Gg Anet.

Helseth has been playing a subpar profession for years. How the tables have turned…

Sagat.3285:

Moonlit.6421:

Wonder if this guys actually leaving or if we’ll see another one of these in a month or two….

Meh bai either way!

Lol just because you stopped playing doesn’t mean you’re not going to check forums.

True. ArrDee said he stopped playing one year and a half ago, but you see new posts from him several times a week.

Embrace the FT my friend! You can run a Juggernaut build in dungeons if you go with unorganized PUGs. Just don’t spam the AA on the FT: the rifle deals more damage. Try to keep a decent DPS rotation and noone will complain.

Zenopo.3128:

So whats the standard build for an Engi?
Btw, thanks all for the comments.

One of the good thing with engineer is that a lot of our utilities actually DO work one way of another. So unlock everything, try to play with every kit, and pick one, two or three utility kits you like to play with. The good thing is: they are all amazing (except the healing kit)! Once you have chosen the kits you like, you can spice things up with elixirs (some are rather good), or even gadgets (Rocket Boots is a must in open world PvE, if you don’t take Elixir Gun). Don’t play any turret but the Healing Turret.

In PvP or WvW, you have to have at least some synergy. But if you work with a base of kits and elixirs, you’ll find that a lot of builds are viable at your level of play. Just make sure to select the Alchemy line. Share a build on this forum if you need help. Welcome to the community!

Chasind.3128:

it is viable, it’s for condi/burn build.

firearms/alchemy/tools
balth rune, rabid amulet

utilities – flamethrower, toolkit, elixir s, mortar

i sometimes switch flamethrower for bombs

Solid build right there. I take EG over Elixir S in general, for MOAR might stacking and, suprisingly, more survivability in rabid amulet (stun-breaker more frequent and Acid Bomb getting you out of trouble). Try it for yourself.

Please Anet, hear our plea! Bombs would be so good with the new Short Fuse trait, if it wasn’t for their radius.

Ok, I see, you want to use pistol shied. In that case, wouldn’t you be served better by a rabid amulet? Think about it: you could spec into Firearms instead of Explosives (you don’t use grenades, nor bombs, nor turrets), and take IP, which would combo well with the added precision from your rune. EG is also great with a rabid amulet.

Ok for the Iron Blooded trait. But don’t you think Lyssa rune AND Elixir C is a bit of an overkill? You could use another elixir instead (Elixir B gives a lot of boons, plus stability), and maybe a Flamethrower? Or a Tool Kit? Right now, I don’t know how you’re supposed to deal damage.

Oh and for the love of the Eternal Alchemy, drop the ram!

Personnally, I find myself playing my engineer a lot more post-patch. So many new traits to play with!

Here are two marauder builds I’ve had a lot of success running with in soloq.

Grenadier burst:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUhSsYJXw+KQ+FLvF14Z0F5o4F1EJx3QFhBAA-TJBFABiXGom9HW4CAAwDAAA

Gimmicky might-stacking FT-HGH build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUhatY1Vw+KQ+FL3F14I2EJBYDWABg4B1D5AA-TJBFABiXGok9HW4CAAwDAAA

In general, HGH is a really strong trait to take. Even for just Elixir X and Elixir S it’s worth it. I also run a FT celestial build that ressembles the one Rozbuska linked (but playing Tools instead of Inventions for a sweet iAmmo-Kinetic Battery combo).

That’s one of the weirdest build I’ve ever seen. Why would you pick pistol with a Marauder amulet? It’s a condi weapon!

Apart from that, I really wanted to play a Lyssa build since the Mortar was reworked. The only problem I have with it is that I don’t really get to choose when the condis are removed: there is no icon to tell you that the rune ICD is over (unlike Kinetic Battery for example), so since you’re always swapping to your mortar, you often waste your rune when you do don’t really need it.

Cynz.9437:

Sorel.4870:

Cynz.9437:

Here is the joke: i did ask top mes how to counter them. Answer was: you can’t.

And if you think that mesmers are epitome of balance atm, then i think it would be just fair that thieves for example would get 2 sec invul on every steal, backstab woud be ranged aoe and had no positional requirements, basi venom had multiple charges not wasted upon 1 hit and would stip stab, shadowshot should be unavoidable.

Sounds totally balanced doesn’t _it? (HELLO MODS WHY NORMAL ENGLISH LIKE “DOESN’T I T” gets censored or are we not allowed to use normal form of english anymore?)

Play Improvisation instead of Executioner.

If you really want to win against mesmers by hitting your head on the keyboard like you used to, run SD. The problem is, you’ll lose against everything that’s not a mesmer.

Frankly, if you were an engineer or a necro, I would have told you to just not attack them. But come on, as a thief? It’s not faceroll easy like prepatch, so adapt.

Improvisation helps to get things like withdraw back EXCEPT YOU WON’T EVEN GET CHANCE TO USE WITHDRAW BECAUSE OF STUN SPAM.

Do you really think, that hitting face on keyboard was enough to win vs good mes pre patch? Really? You must have never faced Frosty, Helseth, Supcutie, George etc.

Thieves weren’t faceroll pre patch, yes they were in decent spot but hardly faceroll. Please name me a commonly used build pre patch that thief had same footing against (besides mes and power ranger). The only reason thieves ever got spot on teams and still have it is their mobility but by no means they were any good vs most common builds in 1v1 nor they were THAT amazing in team fights. This is far from faceroll by definition.

Please prooooove me how thieves were faceroll, please. I would love to hear it. It gets thrown around so much and yet every single idiot i knew that switched to thief crying they are OP and faceroll was crying day later about how absolutely unrewarding and hard to play thief is.
Not to forget all the cries when team ended up with more than 1 thief. OMG 2 thieves, we lost, OMG 3 thieves!!!?? I am afk. <<<This was common thing. Thieves were totally faceroll yo.

And don’t throw your crappy “adapt” at me. I been adapting after every nerf to the class that happend almost every single patch for years.

I didn’t say that thief was faceroll pre-patch (even it was easier than mesmer). I said it was faceroll easy to win against power mesmers. And it was. I main thief just like you, so I should know. Sure, Helseth would have beaten me, and every other good mesmers. But the skill gap between the mesmer and the thief had to be huge.

So yeah. Adapt. I know I have.

Jelzouki.4128:

You know there’s a reason why the only team to come close to beating abjured in a long time in the ESL go4 ran 2 mesmers and 2 eles.

To be fair, FG was running a marauder engineer build. Prepatch, that was one of the easiest match-ups for a mesmer. What would have happened to a team with a mesmer against a team with two thieves pre-patch? You get the idea.

Cynz.9437:

Here is the joke: i did ask top mes how to counter them. Answer was: you can’t.

And if you think that mesmers are epitome of balance atm, then i think it would be just fair that thieves for example would get 2 sec invul on every steal, backstab woud be ranged aoe and had no positional requirements, basi venom had multiple charges not wasted upon 1 hit and would stip stab, shadowshot should be unavoidable.

Sounds totally balanced doesn’t _it? (HELLO MODS WHY NORMAL ENGLISH LIKE “DOESN’T I T” gets censored or are we not allowed to use normal form of english anymore?)

Play Improvisation instead of Executioner.

If you really want to win against mesmers by hitting your head on the keyboard like you used to, run SD. The problem is, you’ll lose against everything that’s not a mesmer.

Frankly, if you were an engineer or a necro, I would have told you to just not attack them. But come on, as a thief? It’s not faceroll easy like prepatch, so adapt.

apharma.3741:

CS is a bit too strong atm but it’s hard to balance it without making it silly.

The trait is fine as it is. However, it’s insanely strong for an Adept. It should be a GM, as it was before. Therefore, you would have to choose between the insane MW damage, Power Block or CS.

Thank you for being reasonable. That’s refreshing.

Lately, I’ve run a lot of different declinations of a Juggernaut FT + HGH build on my engineer. Whether it’s Marauder, Celestial or Rabid, rifle or pistols, it always has the same advantages: high stability uptime, to counter mesmers, and a lot of condi cleanses, to counter elementalists (still a hard 1v1, but engineer has always been a weaker dueling profession). Try it out, engis.

I nearly always run HGH lately. It’s just too strong. If you play marauder, having it just for Elixir X and Elixir S is worth it. If you play celestial or condi, try using EG with HGH. The low CD Acid Bomb, Super Elixir and stun breaker stack a ton of might, and give you an insane mobility and survivability. It’s just a shame that the minor trait that removes condition on elixir use doesn’t work with EG.

Celestial is balanced. Celestial necromancer and celestial engineer are in a good place, but definitely not OP, and you see a lot of other runes being used lately: marauder, rabid, soldier, cleric, carrion, even rampager sometimes. Cele elementalist is OP alright, but it’s not because of the amulet.

You’re right about the rune and sigils. Your nerf suggestion for the sigils is excellent.

MOAR amulets, yeah! I was desperately looking for something with power-tougness-ferocity-precision stats, in vain. Alternatively, give us back the jewels!

Oh, and one tip: don’t 1v1 anything. Go in, kill, leave

In case you want a bit of inspiration for more semi-viable marauder builds in pvp, these are the two more successful I tried post-patch:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUhSsYJXw+KQ+FLvF14Z0F5o4F1EJx3QFhBAA-TJBFABiXGAhLAQN7PAwDAAA

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUhatY1Vw+KQ+FL3F14I2EJBYDWABg4B1D5AA-TJBFABiXGwhLAQJ7PAwDAAA

Well, it’s original, to say the least. There are several Marauder builds that would work better imo. But let’s work with what you have.

First of all, the AMR-AED combination was nerfed. So this healing skill is really not worth it anymore sadly. You’re better off with the turret, especially if you want to take Explosives: that gives you an additional knock back.

I like that by taking Inventions and Tools, you can take both Mecha Legs and Lock-On. However, you might want to try a version of your build with Alchemy, since the survivability it gives is insane: Protection Injection and the low health Elixir S are just to good to overlook. Try to drop either Inventions or Explosives.

I’m a bit unsure about your utilities in general. It looks like you’re trying to make a Static Discharge build. In that case, Personal Battering Ram is not bad (and a lot of fun), but you might prefer the Rifle Turret, since it’s also a knock back (GM minor in Explosions), and its Toolbelt skill is on a lower CD and instacast. Also, Elixir S as a stun-breaker is a strong choice for a marauder build, since you can do stealth bursts.

If you want to keep your gadgets, try the Gadgeteer trait. I think it’s a bit lackluster, but you have no use of Kinetic Charge because your TB skills are on low CD. Adrenal Implant is always a good choice.

In WvW, try to have a bit of toughness, like zerker armor/knight trinkets or the opposite. It’s not an option in PvP unfortunately.

Good luck!

Dude, the mesmer didn’t even use the daze mantra. Mesmers could kill ranger that fast pre-patch, I did it countless times. The only way to prevent that is to use your “look behind” key.

Plus you died instantly in a 1v2. As you should. Nothing to see here.

I’m pretty sure this doesn’t exist in GW2 because of the multiplayer aspect of the game. GW1 was not really a MMO: most of the content was instanced, with just 5-10 players in a map. Imagine the lag induced by body blocking in WvW or on a World Boss…

In a few years, in a different game, maybe.

Are WvW forum players even having fun playing this game? Come on guys, all these silly golems everywhere, don’t you find it hilarious? Ok, PPT is a nightmare, but I can live a week without PPT, can’t you? In addition, the price of golems will rise, and you won’t see many golems for a while after this. Everybody wins.

You don’t understand guys. That’s an elaborate scheme to make the price of the golems rise insanely high to reduce their use on the battlefield. Capitalism ftw!

I’m really surprised by this thread. Engineer is actually the profession I had the most fun with post-patch along with mesmer, because both professions received a welcomed overhaul of their traits.

Alchemy is still our strongest line. But now, HGH is viable again, and that’s kind of a big deal. Inventions is finally good, and we’re not forced to take Invigorating Speed and Speedy Kits anymore. EG is amazing. FT is amazing. Grenades are still good. Pistol-pistol is back on a burning build. Elixir X is a strong choice for an Elite. Heck, even kittening Mortar is good now (but looks awful)! What build diversity are you complaining about?

The only thing the patch did, was throwing us out of the meta. But we’ve been out of it most of the time since 2012, so we can deal with it.

IP is really strong. On my FT build, I’m constantly switching between this and Juggernaut. The fact that it’s a viable alternative is a good indication that this trait is in a good place. A lot of other GM traits would need more love.

Well, good mesmers were already impossible to beat pre-patch, so now… Go somewhere else, and let your thief take care of him.

Now on to the real advice. If you run Tool Kit, you have better chances. Use Box of Nails (Or Napalm, or probably the damaging zones on the Mortar Kit) to damage the illusions, to cripple (they’ll always try to stay on GS and kite forever), and now to remove the blinds. Counter their burst: keep your finger on your stun breaker when they engage, and immediately dodge/block after you break out of the very predictable Power Block that most mesmers will use during their GS2-MW combo. LoS like your life depends on it. Everything condi is good against them. Everything that hits multiple targets is also a good idea (FT#3 > Rifle#4). Good luck.

Penguin.7906:

I can attest that this is strong, very strong.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUhatYJXwdLQ+FL3FVYNFQZG4CWABg4B9D5AA-TJRHwABeAAAuAAk2f4YZAA

I play a very similar build and I can attest that it’s strong (although not optimal and not likely to ever be meta) and fun to play. However, your condi damage seems a bit low. Have you tried taking Pinpoint Distribution instead of Skilled Marksman? You go above 700 without might, which is the threshold from which you start to deal real damage.

Nix.3152:

Sorel.4870:

You should update your signature to something like: “You need to passively react to the actives” (GW2 PvP 2015). It’s a shame you didn’t change it in the blessed year 2014 to “You need to passively react to the passives”.

i missed 2014 i was in the army :P That was a quote from one of arenanet devs about spirit rangers and how to deal with them

Swiss, Isreali or Eritrean detected. Also, gg Anet.

You’ll always find players who are better than you, and players who are worse. As long as you consciously try to improve, you’ll get better. You should try to:

1) Duel (Random said it already)
2) Play in a team from time to time, even just a group of noob friends
3) Play different builds, and in particular to play popular builds on other professions, to know what combos you must look for but especially to be familiar with the CDs.

You should update your signature to something like: “You need to passively react to the actives” (GW2 PvP 2015). It’s a shame you didn’t change it in the blessed year 2014 to “You need to passively react to the passives”.

punahou.3986:

Every class is a farming machine

What we need is

1. Pve and pvp group viability

2. The complete dev focus on necro and reapers to stop the class mechanic nerfs

Thanks for the thread derail bro.

Could be bad luck, could be the patch bringing back old players and possibly new players. I’d lean in favor of the former.

Strach.1572:

Emtiarbi.3281:

Stephane Lo Presti.7258:

A bientôt !

omg i want to learn french

i wanted too but then i read alot how french are touchy on their lang and the proper accents and other shiets

Not really. Some won’t ever speak english to you, but they have no problem with people making mistakes.

Although your assumption about the skill of the average elementalist is at best slightly biased, I agree about your general sentiment. Some necros complain so much on the forums that I wonder if the general darkness of their profession didn’t turn them into emo teens.

Provost.6210:

Courtyard can get thrown in the trash and kittened on. Worst map in the pool. You can’t even get your daily on it if there’s anything to do with capturing/defending points.

Thanks for your opinion. Do you think you contributed to the debate?

I agree with you OP. I don’t like TDM that much and I know I’m not the only one, but I wouldn’t be against it having its own queue. It might get huge queuing time however, maybe that’s why Anet is not doing it.

A Volcano.2510:

I think dodging should be more like Wildstar. You move quickly out of the way, but there is no invulnerability. That actually rewards skill.

It’s a fun system, but that’s an entire game differently. How could it work with projectile skills for example, like Rapid Fire?

Dinks.2478:

Because bad players hate dodging and blame the fact that good players know how to read animations and dodge when needed on the DPS zerker meta which some players hate for some reason.

I love how every time there is a change, there is a self-proclaimed good player arguing that the change was “noob-friendly” or “casual-friendly”, sometimes with a ridiculous bad faith.

Less energy restauration means less dodges. It means that on the contrary, it rewards players who actually can dodge the meaningful attacks instead of randomly dodging because they can. And by “meaningful attacks”, I don’t mean those of your ridiculously easy dungeon bosses, but those of REAL players: this game is balanced against pvp, remember? Prior to the patch, two of the best builds, d/d ele and shout bow, were just randomly dodging to proc their traits. Some of those players never bothered to learn the animation of Mirror Blade: chances are, they would be able to avoid it by a lucky dodge, and it dealt no damage anyway. Now they are forced to.

Good players are rewarded by this change. Stop wasting your dodges.

I was bored once. I spent around 1g for a pair of boots, two rings and a mystic stone. Got Howl. That’s the only time I ever gambled at the MF.

Cameirus, we are among the, like, twenty engineers in the game who actually loved the hobo sacks and designed our outfits and even characters around them. Sure, it sucks for us now that they’re gone (especially since the FT is finally good in pvp, and I can’t rock this sweet tank), but it’s safe to say that the majority wanted them gone. So I’ll oblige.

However, I would like to see them come back in the game as backpack skins. Especially the Flamethrower and the EG, who probably took a lot of time to design, and would be a real waste if they were never to return.

Everybody calm down. Anet is doing the smart thing by (slowly) correcting bugs. Some traits and modifiers may be a bit strong, but we still don’t have a defined meta, and new builds are created everyday (look at the new FT engi that appeared last week and is everywhere). People seem to die less against mesmers and to bring more condi cleanse. Remember when everyone was crying that ranger had been over-buffed? Turns out it wasn’t: we just had to adapt. Let’s adapt first, and if some things are still out of line, balance then.

tldr: Play like every single change was there to stay, and you’ll see that most of these things you call OP won’t be anymore.

Those mad editing skillz…

New LA is more about looks and less about optimizing the distances between the different services. Try Ebonhawk or the Royal Terrace.