Guild Wars 2

We really need more Information to test things ourselves..

Here is a semi – standard List to fill out for you to help us help you when it comes to bug reports.

I am a : EU/NA (pick one) Player
I was in : Map name (WvW BL, EB, etc.. etc..)
I experianced this Bug : Enter bug here.

I was using This Sigil :
On these Weapons :
With these Sigils :
On my Other Weapons :

My build was :
Using the Traits :

I made sure to not : Note things you did not do that may not seem related
I was doing : Note anything else you did while in the area during the event, events completed, enemies killed, traits swapped, etc.. etc..

The smell of desperation, disappointment, anger and urine..

I feel like the forums are only just catching up to where my thoughts were shortly after the fuller set of info came out of the announcement at PAX..

Slow on the uptake but congrats guys.

Quick list

What becomes more viable and or manageable:

CI+CS interrupt

Condi Clear Shatters support

CI Back Line Support

Condi PU

CI+IP

CS+IP

PU Support

etc… etc..

When you can throw down 30 and 30 on builds and retain the ability to fully use your classes mechanics a LOT of options open up… sure there’s still a handful of “most min/max” that will be the meta but go Look up ele builds…

I think if we must move this trait it should be placed as a chaos Minor.

As it stands currently it’s not worth a master or Grand master status and it wouldn’t compete with any of the current choices in any of those areas in any of the trait lines.

Minor is a good home for this GM and makes it a bit more appealing for Interrupt builds or other things when there is very little investment to pick up the AoE and it doesnt effect the greater aspects of a build that need to be taken.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Swish.2463:

Safe to assume there will be no extra utilities to compensate, that would be entirely unfair for classes that get less of these

I expect nothing on the grand scales of offering several classes (possibly) huge bonuses in customization just due to a bad design choice. It’ll have to be still on par with all other classes while compensating for less diversity and still be easy to balance (aka nerf) if it gets abused

Ya’ll keep chucking dynamite at my hypetain. =P Anyways, I think the extra utilities are actually the most likely. What’s “unfair” here is other classes getting a full 5 new skills while we get shafted with only two. The closest thing to ‘just as good’ would be compensating us for the skills we lost.

However, I don’t think that even the devs would be like “hey guys! We gave you some actually GOOD traits, because that wasn’t our original intent! =D Wahoo! Bye frands!”

I’ve come to terms that things just aren’t going to be “Fair” when it comes to being a Mesmer.

And I don’t think Anet would phrase it like that, they’d use much more flowery language to make you think they had done you a major favor by compensating for their bad choices and a lot of people wouldn’t see past it and would indeed feel happy and thankful for it.

Hype train hasnt derailed entirely for everyone i see…

This is speculation on a vague statement that had its own speculation…

If we’re going to play this game i think its entirely safe to discount cross profession mechanic cross overs aka Offhands altering mainhand skills or Mainhands altering Offhands

Safe to assume there will be no extra utilities to compensate, that would be entirely unfair for classes that get less of these

Safe to assume that we will not be getting the ability to swap weapon skills, this is a feature everyone wants and would cause a giant kitten storm if only a few classes got it and only for one weapon.

So whats left?

Compensation in the form of “good” or “powerful” utilities that are supposed to make up for less weapon skills that are new.

Slightly more altered Mechanics such as might or prot or regen from shatters by defualt?

Or lastly Traits – Traits that are built to synergize with the old main hand weapons more effectively than the poo droplets we currently have and will offer more than those getting 2h weapons will receive.

thats really the only fair and “easy” things i can think of that Anet might try.

I expect nothing on the grand scales of offering several classes (possibly) huge bonuses in customization just due to a bad design choice. It’ll have to be still on par with all other classes while compensating for less diversity and still be easy to balance (aka nerf) if it gets abused

The stability changes wont really effect any builds that already take boon removals..

The only larger change will be for builds like CI or CS (which will likely get a very swift nerf and or bug fix and become broken or useless btw)

But likely you’ll just want to wait for the now very short durations of Stability to wear off as it seems we wont be seeing anymore 8 to 15 second durations of the boon.

My predictions

Utility Skills – Will replace Glamour skills, and fufill the same roles with slight twists.
Skill 1 – AoE damage + cripple + maybe slow, tiny durations per pulse.
Skill 2 – AoE Condition Removals / Transfers
Skill 3 – AoE Boon Related thing, might cause damage
Skill 4 – AoE Slow or group buff

Heal – Probably worse than Ether Feast but might apply Resistance for short duration.

Elite – Single target Heavy Slow or Group Buff via Boons

Mechanic Change – Illusions now cause slightly different conditions and effects when shattered and probably deal less damage.

Shield Skills – One will transfer conditions and or Damage to your illusions on a stupidly long CD. The other will Summon a Phantasm.

Traits – No Specifics but I will safely assume that a lot of them will be needed to make any new utilities and weapons useable and effective just like all of our other weapons and utilities… Also they will be poorly placed and make it impossible to add much variety or hybridization to the Mesmer builds

Looking at it, the Revenants Largest issues are likely to be Warriors with all of the passive Cheese and gap closers, Guardians and likely Rangers And Engineers.

Ele’s could also present similar problems that they do to every class in the game.

While Rev looks a bit scarey, this class is really only frightening if you’re outside of the WEEG Meta of sPvP or the GWEN of WvW.

A Class that Promises a Lot of AoE and Ranged – Scarey to mesmers and thieves
A Class with a lot of Boon stripping – kinda scarey to classes that cant boon Spam
A Class with a lot of Gap Closers and CC – Scarey to classes that need to Kite a Lot, Remember Rev also has Passive CC traits (less damage from far away targets)
A Class with the ability to negate conditions – Scarey to anyone that might need to rely on Condi Builds to get by..
Class with yet another Instant Recharge/0 Punishment for Interrupts set of skills including the Elite….

This sounds vastly threatening to Thieves, Mesmers, Necros, and offhandedly to Engineers and maybe Rangers.

It’s a bit intimidating if you run a Guardian, Warrior, or Ele but these classes are diverse enough as is to be able to mold and adapt to Revenants. Let’s not forget they’re also getting Some Specializations that might further that.

It’s a hard arguement to make without seeing the entire picture in either direction but from the small window on the revenant VS the Current Mesmer..

Revenant is a Strong Counter to Every and yes i mean Every Mesmer Spec we run.

The problem with Click Bait Titles is that people quickly start to hate you for them.

This is you’re 3rd or 4th clickbait thread and i was tired of them after the first one…

and Just to point out the problem with your Assumption.

The Wyvren dishes out Huge Swaths of AoE like its an AA, Phantasms and Clones won’t be standing to Shatter, and those that are will perish in the long standing Flame AoE.

This is not a Mesmer or Pet class friendly Foe, we will be at a huge disadvantage as is par for the course when it comes to the new content.

Sorry to say it but Mesmer is no hard counter to this class.

Boon ripping resistance? When trained they only gain the boon for 2 seconds on each Mallyx skill used.. keep in mind these are all 0 recharge rate and can virtually be spammed.

Also the revenant will be able to reduce damage from ranges over 600. And be able to rip boons just with critical hits..

Combine that with a far reach of in combat mobility. Heavy close and ranged pressure you basically just have a heavy the if to eat Mesmers… Just no stealth this time

My questions would be.

Why does a net feel the need to constantly reinvent the wheel with systems and rewards rather than pushing forward on expanding them.

And why wait till a paid expansion to introduce what feels like ls additions.

Also are there solid plans to further expand on these new systems or will they be dropped and forgotten like so many others already in place in.gw2

I’ll throw out a suggestion i’ve done before but just Adding more confusion and longer durations doesn’t really solve the problem with the condition.

Yes we have kitten traits but all we really need is a handful that don’t just augment how we apply and maintain it.

We also can’t fundamentally change how the condition works at it’s base, remember that every single class in the game can no apply confusion by some means, even if its just Runes.

What i’d propose is changing worthless Traits to Augment how Confusions Damage is applied.

Example – Wastrels Punishment : Applied confusion Ticks (Per Second or Two Seconds whatever is balanced) For Full damage on Foes Not using a Skill. Foe’s Using a Skill receive Reduced damage (Let’s say 75%).

What that does – Forces a Foe to continually use some kind of Skill and eat some damage, Cleanse Quickly, or Eat a Lot of damage (a Stun Locked foe for instance)

It leaves Counter Play and Alters how Mesmers use the condition that is More “mesmer like” while maintaining a Balance-able approach for devs.

What’s bad about it – It would require some new strings of code that allow a slowly opening door to other professions for similar traits or effects. aka Work and Testing that should, fairly, be spread to every class in some way.

Necro’s should probably get a Poison or Torment thing, Warriors – bleed, rangers cripple or whatever.. etc etc..

Other Examples I can think of

Confusion applies a new condition (not confusion) on each attack.
Confusion Prevents Boon Application
Confusion Causes Skills to Fail (25% chance to cause interrupts or something)
Confusion Causes damage to other nearby Foes when it Ticks.

Just joining the party i see..

Bran.7425:

How many profession are thinking the revenant it their profession mark II now?

Mesmers mostly.

Necros feel ripped off and guards just want the wall

Thieves are terrified of a new heavy class that can Cc the kitten out of them and stack conditions while being as mobile as them and Mesmers in combat.

No one else seems concerned atm

Inb4 CS bug fixes to nerf Mesmer op.. the bug where it applies a daze and then stun and can remove two stacks of that pve thing..

Tbh this sounds like a win for guardians and warriors and thieves more than it does Mesmers to me

as Overjoyed as I would be to have a DPS or CC option that completely removed Janky AI and programming from the equation of my worth in an encounter..

I doubt it’ll ever happen :\

I’ve been suggesting it for years now too..

I don’t think the Mesmer’s theme is Clones and Phantasms, or rather that it shouldnt be.. IT should be about domination and deception through any means given or available. Yes yes Gw1 isnt Gw2 but go look at the old Gw1 mesmer builds for PvP.

Caster Lock outs
Melee Lock outs
Hex Spam lock outs
Hex Degen
Condition/Hex overwhelming
Interrupt for Spells or Actions
Anti “zerg” Builds
Anti “Non-zerg”builds..

The options were all there and no one needed a clone that stood still using an AA to do it, just a sharp mind, quick reflexes and practice.

Was it possible to bring the completely wrong build? yes, it was and it sucked when it happened but in PvP you were still an unknown threat that could still cow a team into losing if you played right. Thats where the Mind games need to come from, not from Particles and Stealth + Punching bags that look like you.

Muchacho.2390:

Swish.2463:

Dunno if anyone cares but the Gw2 Necro skill “Epidemic” is a Gw1 Mesmer Skill..

So technically you guys ripped off some of our CC >.>

True but in gw1 i always found it strange that mesmer had epidemic and not necromancer. It always felt more like a necro skill then a mesmer skill.

Also interesting is that confusion is alot like spiteful spirit, a gw1 necromancer elite skill, and yet necromancer have hardly any abilities that causes confusion (apart from the combos with spectral wall ofc).

In gw1 both necromancer and mesmer could go builds that punish enemies for doing actions. In gw2 the necromancer lost that kind of builds.

Confusion is the Empathy Hex that mesmers had, SS was more complicated and did more damage and was more useful outside of some PvP builds

Dunno if anyone cares but the Gw2 Necro skill “Epidemic” is a Gw1 Mesmer Skill..

So technically you guys ripped off some of our CC >.>

Not balanced stance, the conditions cannot be applied one, bezerkers

On the topic of resistance,

Cant remember off the top of my head but does the current version of the Warrior’s rather Unbalanced Stance allow for Daze’s and stuns etc.. to take effect? or Are you met with the Unsatisfying “Immune”?

I only ask because that seems to be what Anet is basing this off of and will likely just be Copy/Pasting in Boon Form.

Not sure if current base professions will be considered Specializations.

If they are not then we will likely never see any of these new boons or conditions on any of them, they will be as stated, for the new specializations only.

Name : Redacted
Played : Since Beta’s
Favored Alt : Guardian
Disfavored Alt : Warrior
Favored Fight : Mesmers : Why? : Because it’s fair and interesting.
Disfavored Fight : Warriors : Why? : Stupidly Passive, Uncounterable and Predictable to the Extreme
Favored Spec : Shatters : Role : Rage Quit Initiator
Favored Partner : Thief
Dream Buff : Remove Clones and Phantasms from the class, Buff skills, CD’s, and Damage to compensate. TL;DR – Remove AI, buff damage to match the other classes.

What I Feel About~
Ele : I wish Anet knew how to balance your class. You keep going from Free Kill to Tank and Back again.
Engi : Cheese, Very effective but Your class has access to a lot of what keeps deep tatics at arms length from Gw2 and keeps combat Spammy.
Guardian : Hate the Invulns but I think the class more well balanced than most, needs a better Ranged weapon badly tho.
Mesmer : I like to fight them, I hate to see them played badly. Needs Buffs and Work from Anet.
Ranger : Tired of hearing about how your class is the only class crippled by reliance on bad AI NPCS…
Thief : I wish anet had never put Stealth in this game, or at least of all, given 99% of it to your class and then forget how to balance it.
Necro : Feel bad for you guys, but Don’t gloat in PvP, you never ever block or dodge my Moa..
Warrior : Why aren’t you still Playing a Power Ranger?

First Thought ~ (02/20/15)
Ele : Free Kill or Great, this is gonna take a while..
Engi : Oh gross.. is it Turret Spam or Kit Spam?
Guard : Hit It till it dies, You have to hit it a lot tho..
Mesmer : What’s it running
Ranger : Easy Kill, unless its a Spirit Snoozer… Which it never is anymore.
Thief : I hope someone else notices that thing and hits it for me..
Necro : Is Moa off CD?
Warrior : And here we go it’s off to the raceswith alongbownumber1 andthenanattemptedpindownfollowedbyafirefield~ (read in Old Timey Horse Track Announcer Voice)

Odds of Winning~
Ele : Depends, Probably 70%
Engineer : If not on a point – 100% | If on a Point – 60%
Guardian : 80%
Mesmer : Depends, Let’s say 50%
Ranger : 90%
Thief : 35%-40% (good thief only)
Necro : 65%
Warrior : 99%

Stratagey ~
Ele : Hit it after it uses up Water, repeat till dead.
Engi : Hit it Till it dies, let teammates help tho.
Guard : Hit this one first, Too much support and Might/Heals
Mesmer : Hit this one if it’s a threat, if its not, ignore it and let others kill it.
Ranger : Wait for Uncounterable Invuln cheese to wear off, Hit it once and it dies.
Thief : Point it out and let your team keep it busy, look for good openings to Hit it.
Necro : Use Moa so it dies quickly or Hit it over and over till it’s “died” at least 3 times before it goes down once..
Warrior : Avoid Typical Rotations, Hit till all Uncounterable, Super Passive, Unfun and Thoughtless Death avoidance’s have been used up, then Burst.

One post baby.

quick update thanks to Dulfy

Four more Revenant skills were revealed in an interview with with Arenanet by MMORPG.

Mace: Searing Fissure – Slam down to create a pulsating area of burning fire that burns enemies in front of you and leave a burning condition.

Mace: Echoing Eruption – You will jump in the air and slam the ground to create a shockwave that moves out with each wave doing damage.

Hammer: Drop the Hammer – Ground targeted AoE knockdown where you target a large area and a giant mist hammer comes down to knock everyone in that area down. 15s cooldown but higher Energy cost.

Axe: Frigid Blitz – You throw an axe in the air, chilling anyone in the axe path. When the axe arrive at your target, you will teleport to it and do a spinning attack that places you behind the enemy. You can chain Temporal Rift (axe pull in) with this skill to gather a large group of enemy and then teleport behind them to do a melee spin.

witcher.3197:

I don’t think it’s similar to mesmer at all. For example the Mallyx-theme was heavily inspired by the Contagion builds of GW1 (gaining conditions on purpose and sharing them with nearby enemies).

i had forgot that old thing.. i was thinking more on old Epidemic and General Hex spam builds.

Ithilwen.1529:

what do you mean it doesn’t sound Mesmerish? it sounds totally Mesmer.

Taunt is a classic mechanic from all the way back in D&D

Mostly relegated and used by the Tanks or Brawling classes and players that needed/wanted to keep an opponent nearby and from attacking and charging at squishier allies.

As a squish-ish mesmer that has to use a lot of active defense idk if i’d want the enemy thief running at me even if it were taunted.. auto attacks still hurt from a lot of the classes i meet in PvP

oh the typos, the shame..

the shame..

I think it’s safe to assume that taunt will not be something Mesmers get it doesn’t really sound Mesmer ish..

Also we don’t have natural access to fear as mesmers

I know it’s difficult to make the call before launch but after a quick and general skimming of the newest blog post…

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/revenant-the-master-of-the-mists/

What do you guys think? Is this the Heavy Version of the Gw1 Mesmer (mixed with the dervish and what sounds like bonder monk)?

Condition manipulations and sever punishment for over focusing with them

Tons of CC skills on weapons (no weapon swapping tho)

etc.. etc..

Also Relevant to The Current Gw2 Mesmer is the introduction of the new condition Slow. I think we can expect to see some of this in our new Specialization.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Swish.2463:

Just to throw in something short..

If legendary weapons were not tired to map completion.
There would be 4 threads a day asking for Account Wide Map Completion.

Not in my case. Completing maps (hearts, vista’s, poi’s, skillpoints, waypoints) are a great source of experience for my alts.

Not saying it’s a good idea and for obvious reasons it’s not.. kinda like this topic

But people would complain none the less

Just to throw in something short..

If legendary weapons were not tired to map completion.
There would be 4 threads a day asking for Account Wide Map Completion.

You assumed, that was your biggest problem. Welcome to falling off the hype train before it completely explodes…

I’ll break down what HoT effectively is.

Its an Epi Pen.

Its a shot of adrenaline in a game that has become so boxed in it can barely breath or grow in more than 1 direction (PvE / Living Story)

Its a Saving throw to a drowning man in the form of a life saver.

And i’ll be honest, no, i’m not impressed.

HoT is being sold as “the platform to build from for the future” when about two and a half years ago Gw2 was given needlessly given a grace period by kinder players.

Why did we give it a pass for being so .. lacking in content, slow to patch out bugs, slow to grow? Because Gw2 already had a great platform it could expand upon! It had promise and room already…

Anet tried, mind you, and then gave just as quickly. FoTM? The ever expanding and never ending dungeon? It was expanded once a year after its introduction, and it has a very clear end of how far you can go… WvW? Barely touched since launch.

PvP? It’s been a joke for years, injecting a small fortune into tournaments doesn’t make it anymore E sports than it was 8 months after launch when a spectator mode was finally added..

HoT is a great way to suck in a lot of returning and new players, it is not by any means a platform nor is it jesus’s second coming. Gw2 core is already the platform and there needs to be a lot more work done (in spans of time less than 3 years long) to push Gw2 onto its legs that have been waving about in the air for some time now…

I don’t care if i have to pay a bit to get 2 or 3 more specializations and a good chunk of new PvE maps and PvP game modes.. Hell i’ll Pay into a promise that anytime anyone at anet attempts to reinvent or Rehash or redo an old system that ALREADY WORKS (cough traits and dailies) and has no issues, they get hit with ice. Let’s just keep moving forward rather than revisiting last months content and tweaking it

Ross Biddle.2367:

It’s pretty simple.

• If a Mesmer wants to be able to deal damage he has to take decoy and blink to survive.

• If a Mesmer doesnt mind not being able to kill anything he can take whatever utilities he likes because he’s built a survival troll build that can achieve that.

• Survival troll builds may also be known as support builds in spvp, where they’re actually useful

While i dont totally agree..

to go slightly more in depth

Blink – Awesome skill, its our best mobility skill and its hard to get by without it.

Decoy – Not 100% needed. You can survive without it and use other options even on Glassy Shatter builds in sPvP But Stealth is OP. You can take condition cleanses or whatever and add a bit to your builds lacking spaces but its really hard to compete with instant stun breaking “cant target me and cant see me” stealth. Without decoy, getting focused and downed is far more likely to happen the higher up you get in skill levels.

Other choices for this slot i would suggest for a Glassy shatter

Mirror Images
Mantra of Pain
Mantra of Distraction
Sig of Domination

First batch of Forum specialists were announced for the larger (more important) sub forums a few days ago

also announced was the teams intent to start looking for Class sub forum specialists.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/Guild-Wars-2-Forum-Specialists-Program/first#post4600059

Best to apply soon and also apply again if you had already done so.

Provided that you can get a stronghold map out of match making rng..

I think Mesmers will fair better than they do in conquest but we will have serious completion against thieves who will be covering all the same roles.. I’m not sure how portal or the new specializations will come to play yet but I don’t feel safe to assume Mesmers will find a new strong slot in the meta.

Thieves have easier access to interrupts on shorter or no CD.. also boon ripping and with no nodes they can excel at lone target tanking.

Neither profession is ideal for a minion support or Shepard

And we both lack aoe to defend lanes against huge waves

Utilities I never touch anymore no matter what build i run…

Mimic
iDefender
iEnchanter
Signet of Anything but Domination
Mirror
Mantra of Anything (I don’t run mantra builds anymore)
Viel
Mass Invisibility (Moa will always be better in PvP and Timewarp will always be better everywhere else)

Sadly that’s over 70% of all utility skills..

The rest i use on a rotational and situational bases..

We all see the reoccurring Threads “how to make X more appealing” or “Why DE?”. While I greatly appreciate these threads, as they are very effective at drilling down on one issue they often end up running into walls or have information lost on to those who don’t particularly care about one certain trait; lost on those who never enter the thread..

So I thought it might be more Productive to, while keeping the overall scope narrow to begin with, Consider Multiple Traits at a time while bouncing ideas around.

As a Starting Point.

What trait additions, Removals, and or Combinations would push Interrupt / Lock-down Builds to be more reliable and Approachable?

Example answer would be: To help Aid CI, Mesmers could use a Trait that allows a Passive / RNG % chance that, On a Critical Hit, They can interrupt a Foe’s action.

Mesmers Could also potentially use a skill or stance that allows them to ignore Boons for a short period of time to prevent Stability Spam from locking down their ability to run Lock-Down (lol… i’m tired v.v)

BE OPINIONATED! ARGUE! Use your experience and really look hard at the mesmer as a whole and let one idea carry you to another!

but be nice and don’t make me call a moderator >.>

Sounds like fun on paper.

Totally not GvG or a suitable replacement for those hoping for, or wanting a Suspenseful and tension filled Death match of Push and Pull with Multiple “Win” Conditions…
At least not on Paper.

I’ll be honest as someone who is a bit tired and has played Gw2 for years now..

I will still stop to res or help up Downed players in the middle of Vine wrath fights…

IF they havent gone down for a stupid reason.

This is the Silver wastes, Gw2 is two and a half years old.. If you’ve manage to hit level 80 to be on this map you should probably know how to dodge and play yoru class well enough to Not die to simple or obvious mechanics.

Die to Lag or a poorly timed dodge or RNG AoE, whatever.. thats fine
that happens to even the best of us.

Got downed because you stood in the Thrashers Giant Poison AoE spew and tried to slowly walk backwards out of it? GL, I’m not even going to bother with you, no one is…

The truth of the matter is that you’re asking the wrong question. “Why doesn’t anyone Rez me when i’m fully dead in a timed event that determines the fate and success of the map as a whole?” Isn’t the proper way to start this convo.

“Why don’t people Rez me when i get downed?” Is a bit closer.

“Why do i keep getting downed?” Is the correct place to start..

TL;DR
Gw2 players can be perfectly lovely and are very helpful and kind.. We just don’t enjoy or see profit in spending the time to Res a Downed player who is playing badly or stupidly, and Rezing a fully dead player is a 60-90s process when done alone in the middle of combat.. And, if you managed to die in the middle of a large zerg, you probably weren’t having a good day and weren’t playing well and Probably don’t have a lot to offer the mass when you’re standing up either..

Will probably run better and be more interesting whenever Sinister Armor hits sPvP.

Until then it looks interesting , but lets stop trying to name our builds, thats such a 2012 thing to do..

We’ve got Shatter builds, Phantasm builds, and PU builds, Clone death and Condition and Interrupt/Lockdown builds.. And so many builds that are just 1 trait off from one another that trying to Name and claim originality… would just make it confusing

Xyonon.3987:

Every phantasm carries a purple ghost like weapon so it won’t look messed up like when they wear backpieces. The purple ghost like phantasm effect is only a model for the phantasm itself, not for its weapons. And I strongly beleve that the only reason why there are 2 purple pistols is because of the 2 different iDuellists. If you trait your pistol you can see your phantasm gets swapped out in your skill bar. If you summon a iDuellist and change the trait you can summon another one right away. It changes the phantasm that gets created and yea – that’s pretty much it ^^

Lol wut..

There are Two ghostly Pistols because they share the names of the Goddess’s Lyss and Ilya. These two combined are Lyssa (the twin goddess of chaos and illusion) That is why there are Two pistols…

If your logic were to be followed then there should also be two Purple and ghostly weapons for each phantasm. The effect you described was an Old bug that allowed you to untrait or Trait for a CD or Range increase/decrease and it would instantly recharge the skill. If anet had to Create a New weapon for each traited and untraited Phantasm then there should also be Two Great Swords, Two Shields, Two Swords, Two Tridents, Two Spear Guns, Two Spears, 4 Scepters, 4 Axes etc.. etc..

Two quick things

1. we all miss the Original CC High Skill cap Gw1 Mesmer that gave everyone nightmares and ruined the best of plans for organized teams with only a few spells.. Anet in all their blind joy or whatever it was Thought it better to remove hexes and all the Various enchantments and debuffs and passive Skills and replace them with Trait effects or a new totally active skill (phantasms for hexes sadly). Smart move? Maybe, but really could have been better planned and better executed. Instead of Hexes and debuffs and a Ton of CC we get Clones and Phantasms and a crippled DPS to balance those things out, with a sprinkling of all the things that all the other classes have like support boons and CC and Conditions etc… Thats just How things are going to have to be for us.. Anet not so much won’t, but Cant change how Mesmer work as a class. I seriously don’t think they have the ability to code it and then balance it.

2. “Changes to Class Mechanics” Is an extremely vague declaration.. I mean extreeeeeeemely vague.. This could mean anything from “All Class Mechanic related Skills now do +1 dmg” Which indeed qualifies as a Change, to “Mesmers can now Rewind sever time and are gods of CC and cannot be killed unless they so wish it”.
But for a Years worth of work, and considering that Anet can barely manage to Fix our Phantasms over spans of years, I don’t imagine they can even hope themselves to remove them form our bars and Animate and invent new skills for us to use. They never seem to have any clue what to do with, for, or about mesmers and they seem to cringe at the idea of Buffing our DPS AOE and non-Active Sustain and even our CC.

Greetings forum goers,

This is a short post and topic to inform everyone that I am looking for a quick run of the Stealth Achievement

I will gladly pay whatever amount of gold you would like if you can complete it for me.

Whisper me in game or just send me some mail, whatever.

I’ve tried this kitten thing idk how many times now and I cannot stand to fail it and watch the dialog even one more time.

Greetings forum goers,

This is a short post and topic to inform everyone that I am looking for a quick run of the Stealth Achievement

I will gladly pay whatever amount of gold you would like if you can complete it for me.

Whisper me in game or just send me some mail, whatever.

Updated and i’ll just bump this back to the top

now that i’m home… As a predominantly Shatter player.

First thought these days.. Kind of the same across the board.

Step 1. Target it.

Targeting a fellow Mesmer quickly spells out what possible type of build its running.
Mantras on the bar – Depending on the mantra I’m either facing a CS or CI or potentially a Phantasm or just a new player.

No Mantras on the bar – Either another Shatter or a PU of some kind.

Signets on the bar – Lock down or Condi of some type or a phantasm.
No signets – Shatter or lock down or PU

I’ve already narrowed down potential actions to take at this point and have some idea of whats to come.

Step 2. Weapons – more specifically what weapons is it carrying?

GS – Shatter or Power PU, maybe a Strange Lock down (see step 1 to single out a build)

Staff – Shatter or Lock down or Condi – too many builds use a staff, its not very telling.

Sword – Most likely to be a lock down, could be a Shatter maybe phantasm

Scepter – Its a Condi or PU

Focus – Its a lock down

Pistol – Lock down

Torch – PU or Phantasm or rarely a Power PU.

Step 3 – Self negotiate odds of winning.

Are they facing the wrong way? are they engaged with someone else? How well have they been playing? Do i have a nearby ally that is incoming?

As a mostly Shatter player I rate my odds on when i encounter as well as what build they are playing and how well.

Other Shatter – 75% / 45% odds of winning
PU – 80% / 50% odds at winning
Phantasm – 90% / 30% odds at winning
Lock Down – 60% / 25% odds at winning

Odds are based high to low depending on their current situation and if i get a drop vs if they get a drop on me mid fight.

Stratagies

Depends but themost generic ones i have are Using Shatters to eliminate poorly bunched phantasms and or clones, Baiting dodges and Stealth usages, Shattering Slightly before stealth ends (this is a great way to blow up Phants as well as the mesmer and even thieves, clones will idle for a moment before deciding to shatter, if a foe appears in that time they will auto lock and run to it) , Shattering over an expanded area with full clone coverage, Blinking behind and out of LoS, using Decoy while out of LoS and using a Dodge and then Phase retreat to pop back into their blind spot while they turn around..

uhmm.. using F2 to cause false panic

What to bring

A staff will get me out of the majority of things if i use it properly, as will blink and portal.

Mesmer in general…

My feelings are fairly well noted on the forums in various places, as a Mesmer main here is the Gist of it..

While a fairly interesting class that carries a very unique style, it’s not nearly as robust as it should be. The intimidation factor is quickly lost as Players learn to identify the real Mesmer or discover that clones and Phantasms can be destroyed in only a few hits. It suffers in High AoE combat and the snails pace of its casting and skill usages can leave it extremely open to more highly skilled players to abuse. Bugs hinder as well as aid the class and need a lot of looking into. Traits and Utilities as well as AI of clones and Phants fall into a similar boat as the Bugs.. they need work.

While the Mesmer carries an Ohkitten Factor for Newer players it has lost much of its Fear inducing Mystery from the Gw1 CC master, and can rightfully be viewed as a liability by PvP and PvE Dungeon Veterans..

More main hands would be lovely but i wouldnt say no to new Twohanded either.

In order..

Axe’s
Rifle
Pistol
Hammer
Dagger’s
Mace’s

Implement all of those and then we can talk about more offhands…

Aegis applies as a Block when struck, so yes i would assume it would but anet may have anticipated that and avoided having the rune set proc the 6th bonus when you’re already at full health..

not likely but its possible.

Teutos.8620:

Some few tipps, that might help for leveling:
1.) Unlock the heal “Ether Feast”.
2.) I would level with Greatsword + Staff again.
Greatsword provides big ranged damage and burst, and with Staff you gain the survival-ability you need.
3.) Use F1 ‘Mind Wrack’ either if the opponent has low health, or your clones are about to die due to area of effect damage.

4.) If you are playing as a sylvari pick up the elite skill ‘Take Roots’ asap. For Charrs ‘Warband Support’; Asura ‘Summon 7-Series Golem’; or use the Mistfire Wolve if you have the deluxe edition.

5.) Leveling Gear: maximize the stat power.
Power > Precision > Toughness > Vitality. Don’t take Condition damage or healing power.
6.) Use bufffood when you get it.

7.) Remember, that you are getting level appropriate loot. It is useful and might be necessary to visit multiple 1-10 zones. You get level down there, but you are still a bit stronger, and you still get appropriate rewards for your actual level (loot, exp and so on).
8.) If your weapon is really outdated, don’t but a new one at the next npc; you might find better and cheaper weapons at the trading post.

Pro Tip, Ether Feast is the Default Healing skill for Mesmers, its already unlocked.

Basic leveling in PvE – Bring a Sword main hand, maybe a GS or a staff as a secondary. Dont ever pick up a scepter until you hit 80 and can build to effectively just do condition damage in a PvP setting.

Locate a Phantasm Build on the Forum and focus on only unlocking the traits for that (provided your stuck in the NPE trait hunt garbage) Ignore the others until you reach 80.

Grab Blink, put it on your bar, never take it off <3

Don’t worry about dieing, worry more about learning basic combos and Timings on things. Things like using Gs2 while close to a foe to stack might before shattering, using Sword 3 to set up Sword 2, using Sword 2 to avoid getting hit, When and how often Phantasms attack.. etc..

idk about you, but i’m feelin 22..

but seriously if anything i think i’m dealing about 500 to 600 ish less damage overall playing shatter. (that’s in an entire encounter, not just a burst)

Might nerf such terrible, much balanced very skill wow