Guild Wars 2

i haven’t made a build with this in mind, but maybe look at a shatter centric build with blind glamours and heal on shatters? i’ll buildstorm later

i have the exact same bug, extremely frustrating

well it kind of depends on your play style, if you wanna be phantasm focused or shatter, it’s different builds.

some pretty crucial trait choices in my opinion are illusions 5, for 20% faster illusions, menders purity in inspiration for a condition removal on heal, cos i found leveling tedious without cond removal and i didn’t like using null in pve.
also if you want to focus on phantasm dmg the domination 10 trait that increases illusions dmg by 15% is nice too. if you want to focus on shatters, there’s a couple important ones, the 10% mind wrack crit chance and 20% mind wrack damage are good traits to look at, also the 20point dueling trait that creates a clone on dodge rolls is a good one to spit out clones for shattering. the 15point trait in chaos is a nice one and has good synergy with the staff if you use that one a lot, as it gives protection for 2sec every time you get regen, and chaos armour gives regen.

i’m pretty sure power doesn’t affect condition damage, cond dmg increases the amount that bleed burn poison all tick for, so their dot is increased.

well that escalated quickly,

Aliette, all good points, and i think that adding a passive effect to gadgets could be a cool compromise/adaption.

elixir u, i dunno, i like how it is, and i like the randomness of it, it’s like the elixir is unstable or something :P

on the speedy kits, what i meant was that it’s a trade off not a nuisance (in combat that is). rather than simply using a nade kit or ft or w/e and having perma swiftness, if you want that swiftness while in combat you have to spend that second rekitting. it is annoying comparatively to not having to do anything for the swiftness like it used to be sure, but i think now it’s more balanced.

med kit, i guess it’s just the mechanic they chose for it. though i know what you mean when grabbing those extra packs it’s annoying when you wikitten would just heal you instead.

simple suggestion for the forums, as I’m seeing a fair amount of people @insertnamehere-ing to people in threads, and i think it might be a simple and nice idea to add a link to someone’s post that puts an @insertnamehere in the quick reply and scrolls the page down. for instance if you are reading through a thread and you see something that you want to comment but don’t want to quote the entire thing but simply reply it might be a streamlined idea.
just a though

interesting thoughts, here’s what i think. (also i’m by no stretch an xp engi, but loving it)

Every other class has signets. Engineers have zero.

at first i thought the same, was a tad annoyed that there were no sigs, but engi’s really have a different set of mechanics. we also have access to a lot of different choices.
on a lore standpoint, i think one could argue that engineers are completely non magic users and signets are traditionally based from signet rings from which the user can gain magical powers.

AlietteFaye.7316:

I recall in the beta that the Speedy Kits trait was pretty neat.

i would expect this to come down to a simple balance issue, it’s an inconvenience to continually cycle kits just to get the swiftness every 5 sec, and no-one is going to do that in the heat of a pvp battle, not when they could be using critical skills to down a foe.

AlietteFaye.7316:

Adrenal Implants is a 30-point Major Trait that gives 50% Endurance Regeneration. And yet Rangers have a 5-point Minor Trait that gives the exact same thing.

i agree with this, i was a bit confused as to this also.

AlietteFaye.7316:

Reserve Mines, the 15-point Minor Trait in the Explosives line, is absolutely terrible.

yeah, i’m not a huge fan of it, and i certainly don’t rely on it. it can be nice in pvp, but i don’t see it being a game changer, but it is only a minor trait and only 15 points in, maybe it should be more of a 5point trait i don’t know. if they exploded on down it would be nice

AlietteFaye.7316:

The Major Trait Fast-Acting Elixirs isn’t bad. But I don’t see why it doesn’t affect Elixir X to make it more appealing.

i agree here, it’s not so powerful of an elite skill that being 20% faster cd would make it broken.

AlietteFaye.7316:

The Utility Skill Elixir U is great. But what’s with the Toolbelt skill?

hmm, i think it just takes time getting used to it, i use it mainly as a projectile defense, as 2 of the possible walls are proj defense. personally using a p/s, having mag shield’s blast it’s very utilitarian being able to stealth everyone, or area retal, or area chaos armour. might be nice to have the list of possible skills i agree

AlietteFaye.7316:

Everybody already talks about and knows that equipping kits destroys any weapon stats and/or sigils that you may have wanted, and I hope ArenaNet is already aware of and working on this.

from what i’ve read they are aware and are looking into it.

AlietteFaye.7316:

Med Kit is a fine healing ability. I really enjoy it.. but I really hate that the default target isn’t myself.

there’s the thrown med trait i think which is for aiding allies, but i’ve not found other people stealing my medpacs, especially when running in a straight line forwards. so i can’t really comment

Something i’ve found since leveling other professions is that mesmer has a hugely underwhelming amount of combo finishers. we seem to have a fair amount of initiators being mostly ethereal or light, but we’re extremely lacking in finishers.

do you guys think there should be more? or do you think it’s irrelevant?

looking at it, we really only have 1 blast (prestige) 2 projectiles (mirror blade/magic bullet) 2 leaps (phase retreat, ileap), and our phantasms have 2 whirls (warden/berserker) 1 leap (Swordsman) 1 projectile (duelist)

along with guardian we’re the only professions without a 1skill that has a 20% chance for combo. looking at guardian they’re in a similar situation as we are with a rather low amount of finishers.

i would choose cond dmg, but i haven’t tested so i can’t say, but i was thinking about a toughness/prec/cond build, but again, yet to test

The crafting discovery tab is now showing a random assortment of crafting items from the bank and collection, dunno if it was an intended change or a bug

MLieBennett.9031:

An Elite Skill Suggestion.

Elite Skill: Mantra of Recall.
Meditate, charging a spell that will recharge all your skills and fully charge any other Mantras you have equipped.
(210 second cool down)

interesting idea, but i think with the way that anet removed energy and is using cooldown as the main attrition mechanic for skills, any skill that lowers cooldown breaks that last resource. in some way i guess chilled is the new energy denial.

MLieBennett.9031:

For Fun suggestion, though likely a pain to code …
Elite Skill: Illusionary Weaponry.
You conjure 9x Random Illusionary Weapons on the ground around you, that you or your allies can pick up and use. Further, any Clones you have out or make will also pick up and use these weapons dealing full damage with the first skill while they or the charges last.

As for the weapons themselves, reskin various Environmental Weapons to Illusionary “X”. Say the Elementalist weapons, getting rid of their elemental type and replacing the conditions they do with Random Conditions/Buffs. Then throw in 1-hand swords, Rifles, Staves, etc.
(Cmon, I really want my Unlimited Blade Works! =P)

hahaha i love this idea, but doubt it would work, or be effective XD

Effusion.4831:

ConterK.3972:

Has nobody ever considered using both veil and mass invisibility to keep a RAID of people invisible for almost 10s…………………???

This is like the 5th thread i’v seen saying that MAss invis suck, etc etc.. wtf..

Seriously.. thats why 90% of the mesmers suck in this game.. people have such a short mind for creative use of skills.. and just say 1 skill is bad because you already got another that do something alike..

Nobody has said it’s bad or that it sucks, we’ve said it’s on par with a utility ability and doesn’t belong in the elite slot.

that’s exactly right. i’m not saying it’s a terrible skill, it clearly has it’s niche but it completely lacks the punch that most other elite skills have.

and keeping the entire raid stealthed it a bit of a stretch. mi only hits 5 targets, i’m not sure about veil i think like curtain it is usable by anyone who crosses so in that situation (wvw) veil clearly is much more powerful

mimic has a different functionality though, not really sure if i like mimic either :/

I’m really satisfied with the mesmer elite skills (especially when compared to some other profs like engi), but i feel like mass invisibility is sort of out of place. we have veil which is so much quicker to cast, same recharge and only 1second less duration. granted it’s a wall not a aoe pulse (which does look pretty cool).

That said i feel like we should have a different elite skill and i was bouncing ideas around and settled on echo. Echo is a signature skill from guild wars 1, and i think that it would make a fantastic elite skill.

for those that don’t know, echo in gw1 was a skill that was replaced by the next skill used for 20 seconds (i think about that). so you could cast echo then cast another skill and then cast that same skill again in the echo skill slot.

i don’t know how cd would be to make sure it’s balanced, but i think this would be a really versatile with the option of casting another phantasm, two duelists would be pretty awesome to cast together, or two heals, or two blurred frenzy.

other thoughts i had were a totally bamf phantasm or a clone that was tough and damage dealing i think that would be awesome.

or a temporary increase to the maximum illusions would be cool, would allow for some nice spike-age.

i guess i shouldn’t really complain, cos when it comes to elites we have 2 really (really) solid elites.

what do you guys think about these concepts?

Embolism.8106:

Remember that the Staff’s power is in the fact that Staff Clones also cast Winds of Chaos with the full conditions and boons, and these boons will always be bounced to you in a duel as Illusions cannot be the target of a bounce. Three Staff Clones plus yourself with Illusionary Elasticity (allowing one cast of Winds of Chaos to hit an enemy twice in a duel) is very powerful, inflicting loads of conditions on the enemy and stacking loads of boons on yourself.

agree that this is a strong playstyle, however this only really works when there are few mobs, if it’s chaotic, or if it’s aoe heavy they are so easily destroyed.

also i think that the damage/support you get from 3 staff clones pales in comparison to having 2 phantasms.

i agree, but for different reasons. it’s designed to be able to support other melee players, but i do think we need a more solid and reliable way of getting crucial boons.

i don’t know if it’s a design flaw, or if it’s a design choice. our damage is supposed to be sources from phantasms (partly at least) and we have ways of boosting their damage. however i don’t think that should be the only source.

Cameirus.8407:

My mesmer, in the T2 cultural armor, appropriately coloured I think for the profession

just got this set for my ele, looks so amazing in my opinion!
love the purple colour scheme too, really well done!

Has anyone noticed that when you attack with a sword (in pve at least) the target gets slightly pushed along the ground? i find this incredibly frustrating if i’m drawing my dps from wardens, and they’re stationary.
is this a sword thing in general, or just a mesmer sword thing (or just me)

ah nice catch malakree, hadn’t thought of that, incredo sneaky. i was finding that it was just 10 sec and no refresh, but i haven’t checked today, so i’ll do that later

i agree, the drowning skills are just copied, and broken in drown2
almost think they need to tele and have a clone swim to the surface to fake out the foes.

and i found the same with the pwhaler, but honestly with the clone on dodge trait trident is stupidly OP since the clones cause conf. however i think that this is a bug, as the sirens call (trident1) used to cause confusion until it was changed to it’s current iteration, i think that maybe the clones weren’t updated?
regardless it’s very strong, but i also think that we should be like that! confusion is supposed to be a mesmer linchpin and we should be able to lay huge stacks on someone to deal damage which we currently cannot do really.

Seinno.4206:

Heres mine

been messing around a lot with the dyes, so fun.

LOVE that headband/blindfold thingy where on earth did you get it?

New forums, lets see how your mes looks!
just add the shot to the attachments while the [img] tags don’t work

cannot be expressed enough. (though sadly i doubt this will be added til a possible expansion/big update)
But it would fit so much.

would it be too hopeful to wish it was a bouncing target skill? (WTB AOE)

ye i was referring to pve, pvp is a different ballpark.
i was dishing out most damage with wardens as they are great aoe dmg (something i find we’re lacking) and with sig of illusions and defender (as the defender 50%s the dmg they take also) they can stand up to quite a chunk of damage. i found also with sword focus, as the wardens are whirl finishers using curtain allows for a cleansing bolt combo which is nice for condi removal (another thing i think we’re lacking)

Elixer U is most likely Utility

this trait has recently been changed, it used to give 2hours of fury to phantasms (perhaps too long), but now it only gives 10 seconds. personally i’ve been using a phant heavy build as i feel like the damage that we put out normally quite low, this is a huge annoyance now, as 20% crit is a really important part to a phantasm centric build.

what do others think about it?