Guild Wars 2

Crazy Chris.9241:

I think most people would agree that minstrel and meteorlogicus are just ridiculous.

From what I’ve heard and from what I’ve read in the multitude of threads on these forums about it, the only complaints I’ve heard about Minstrel and Metearlogicus is that neither of them have particle effects or footsteps. Their designs are actually quite nice, they’re just lacking that “Look at me, I’ve got a legendary” aspect that is achieved in the most part from particle effects (90% of the time I’m in a crowded area, I only notice legendaries due to the occasional particle effect I see)

Crazy Chris.9241:

I’m not even considering underwater legendary for the sheer fact that they are uw weapons which you use maybe 15% of game time.

So you want a legendary to fill out the Account Medal, don’t want a weapon with “Crazy particle effects” and won’t consider a large portion of the legendary weapons that fit this due to not being able to see it a lot of the time, even if you could just craft an underwater weapon, get the medal and then proceed to craft something you want like Infinite Light (I’m sure if you wanted you could actually buy a legendary, since only the ones with flashy effects cost the really high amounts of gold on the trading post (Twilight + Sunrise I see for about 2.5k gold, the next highest is Bolt for 800 gold)

As for your concern about being attacked by people wielding something like Twilight, the particle effects don’t actually cover anything really, the only additional effects that come from the weapon (That might actually cause an issue with reading abilities) is the trail from Twilight/Sunrise/Eternity when the blade is moved, this effect is very minor and won’t interfere with spotting people’s animations…

As it is, legendaries seem to be all about the particle effects yet have been done in a way that it won’t hinder combat and also doesn’t interfere with character designs too much (Aside from Juggernaut the only character effects are slight auras and frosty/fiery arms holding the weapons)

Okay… List of Legendaries that have large amounts of particle effects and/or look cartoonish:

Sunrise
Twilight
Bolt
The new Predator (It now has an aura and footprints)
Incinerator
Dreamer (Seriously… Unicorns?)
Quip

Legendaries that don’t have large amounts of particle effects and are not as cartoonish:

Eternity
Bifrost
Rodgort
Flameseeker Prophesies
Frenzy
Frostfang (Has footsteps, but no OTT particle effects)
Howler
Juggernaut
Kudzu (Has footsteps, but no OTT particle effects)
Kraitkin
Kamohoali’i Kotaki
Meteorlogicus
Minstrel
Moot (Now has footsteps, though no OTT particle effects)

So saying almost every legendary is covered with huge amounts of particle effects is wrong.

The most popular are the ones with the most particle effects… I wonder why that is?

My Norn Warrior…

Only level 51, so no fancy weapons… But I think I’ve captured the look I was going for, a sort of elegant barbarian, combination of brute force and functionality that comes with the Norn culture.

I’m not too sure on the Boots and Gloves though… I may look around for something to replace them.

Don’t forget, you can buy a full set of crafted armour and Transmute it to look like any dungeon armour you have gathered (So you can look like any of the dungeon armour, not just the ones with the stats on you’re after) via using Fine Transmutation Stones (Can be found in Black Lion Chests, rewarded from map completions or bought from the gem store)

Kam.1780:

Defora.3694:

My third level 80. She got full exotic gear at the day she dinged.

What armor is that your char is wearing please? Looks pretty lovely.

Tier 2 Human Cultural

Healing Surge with full adrenaline is one of, if not the highest single heal from a heal skill in the game (Others may get higher due to providing Regen)

Mending does pretty high healing along with its condition removal (It heals for more than any of Thieves heals)

Healing Signet has a rather short cooldown, heals for an okay amount and provides decent regen when its ready to use (So ~200 Health per second until you get low enough to need the burst heal)

Compare these to other classes whom have skills that don’t heal as much (Thieves, Mesmers, Engineers and Elementalists don’t get a heal skill that comes close to the healing power of Healing Surge) or have longer cooldowns or even aren’t so easy to use (Troll Unguent for rangers doing the healing over 10 seconds)

If you’re finding these skills too weak, then it may be due to your build needing more toughness.

I’ve been noticing it aswell…

Seems to be caused by the Reckless Dodge trait, not letting actions be used until the attack from the trait occurs.

xiv.7136:

Engineer says hi

Engineers toolbelts are dependant on their heal skill and utilities – I.E. Using gadgets.

The suggested changes would make Warriors dependant on their weapons (Like they currently are) and have more than just the one set burst skill per primary weapon (Oftentimes these skills are ignored in favour of traits that benefit actively ignoring the class mechanic)

On Topic:

While it would be nice to have Off-hand bursts or Bursts for different situations, at the moment I’d rather have focus turned onto making the current bursts useful…

Things like – Making bursts on all weapons desirable over hoarding adrenaline and possibly making non-maxxed adrenaline bursts something to think about (Short term buffs after using bursts granted from traits, reduced cooldowns on them making adrenaline generation more of the inhibitor)

If they could do both though, improve current bursts and bring in new ones to help various build types then that would be pretty cool.

Circ.1430:

These are the lies Thief mains tell themselves and everyone else so they hopefully can continue to enjoy running around EB with impunity. Blame the bads instead of the broken profession balance.

The close-to-perma-stealth the profession enjoys is flaty and completely broken and is kept that way because the class blows in PVE (ie, Anet must keep the init pool deep for pve which is, in turn, too deep for wvw).

My main is a not-GC ranger, you may begin your flaming in 3…. 2… 1…

I’m sure your totally non-emotionally influenced response would mean something if I actually mained a Thief.

Instead I focus more on my Mesmer and GC Warrior (Full Zerker gear, no traits for defence) both of which do more damage than my full GC Thief (Initial burst may not be as high, but over periods of time my other characters put out way more) and also have much more survivability and access to mobility that doesn’t cripple damage output.

Does this mean that the amount of damage Mug does is fine? No, I don’t think that it should do that much damage.

Does it mean I get stomped over by OP thieves on my other characters? No because 90% of thieves are predictable after getting used to their playstyle.

They’re less affected by chill in terms of their abilities (As the -cooldown only affects their heal, utilities and steal)

But they’re more affected by the movement decrease (A key point about Thief defence is using stealth so enemies don’t know where you are. Chill means that it’s very easy to know where the thief is due to the lack of movement)

Chill effects also have negative impacts on Heartseeker and Death Blossom as it shortens the distance travelled using them (Other classes don’t use their similar abilities as often in the middle of combat)

1) I believe the condition removal is applied first (I haven’t tested Mending, but I’ve used Hide in Shadows on my Thief which does a similar effect and have not noticed Poison reducing my healing output when it is removed)

2) I’m not entirely sure but I’d assume that Mending would happen after the Restorative Strength (Though I’d need to test it to be sure, it’s quite possible that Mending happens first)

Kain Francois.4328:

Wondering what’s with all the Thief hate? I thought we’re one of the most OP classes in the game next to Warriors and Guardians?

Thieves are apparently only OP in WvW, a place where bad players can and will often get bursted down by a glass cannon thief (Usually the player being bursted down is also GC and is used to facerolling into other classes and killing them)

PvP they lack team-play in a lot of situations… Their main source of survivability comes from stealth which tends to be counter productive to capture points.

As far as PvE goes, thieves could use a few tweaks (Though I don’t see major reasons to exclude them from groups… I mean their sustained damage isn’t the best but isn’t complete garbage and the support they can provide via spamming blast finishers into fields is pretty nice.)

In short – There are some strong aspects to thieves (That cause QQ from various people) but they also aren’t the godmode class that the QQ makes them seem to be.

My PvE Condition Build:
0
20 VI, IX
0
30 II, IX, III
20 V, III
Utilities: Call Owl, Caltrops, Shadow Refuge (Yes I use a racial skill, it’s quite handy for some extra bleeds)
Rabid/Rampager gear mix (Crit to proc Opportunist)

My Roaming WvW/Solo PvE build
0
30 I, X, XI
0
30 II, X, VIII
10 V
Utilities: Signet of Infiltration, Haste, Shadow Refuge
Full Zerker gear

Both specs use:
2x Monk
2x Water
2x Hoelbrak
D/D + SB – Strength/Accuracy + Energy
Bowl of Orrian Truffle and Meat Stew + Tuning Crystals

Playstyles are:
Condi – Roll around in between Death Blossoms (High Evasion uptime through skills and dodging)
Direct – Roll back and Heartseeker back into melee until 50% health then I can spam HS (Popping Steal for more Initiative and Fury) Haste beforehand is optional.

I didn’t want to rely on stealth (I found it… Boring) and so made 2 builds around being agile and dodging a lot…

Thieves can do okay damage in PvE, nothing to write home about mind and with minimal ranged support (Ranged on trash revolves around using Cluster Bomb from Shortbow, which is higher DPS the closer you are to the targets…)

Melee in PvE, if I recall correctly, revolves around S/P since Sword does nice cleaving Auto-attack damage and with /P you have access to Pistol Whip which allows for moments of invulnerability combined with Black Powder can allow for decent survivability in melee.

As for Mesmer burst, yes they can get higher (I remember someone talking about getting 6k shatters or something) but they have larger build up (They need to get 3 illusions out) than for example CnD > Backstab (If someone else can facetank then it’s pretty easy to do)

I believe that Mesmers also have higher sustained damage than thieves (Since Thieves are designed around burst damage due to Initiative and lack of cooldowns) a Condition Thief might do more, but their damage is reduced by anyone else having bleeds (Reducing how much the thief can contribute to the max bleed stacks, my Condition Thief could regularly hit 25 stacks solo)

But at the end of it, Thieves in PvE are… Not that great (They lack survivability and decent sustained damage and provide little in terms of support) which is why a lot of thieves are making a note that they need looking at in PvE in the large feedback thread. (Also why it’s common to find groups that don’t want to invite or include thieves in their PvE groups)

90% of elites are pretty terrible…

It’d be much easier to list Elites that are actually worth having over an empty slot:

Signet of Rage – High uptime Fury + Swiftness and some might on a relatively short cooldown (60 seconds)

Dagger Storm – Decent AoE damage + Bleeds and also projectile reflect which is some needed defence on a class that has little outside of stealth (Which does nothing against cleaves and AoE)

Time Warp – Large amount of one of the most powerful effects in the game (Quickness)

Mass Invisibility – Has it’s uses, not great but not terrible either

Everything else either has such a long cooldown that their effects are just not worth it (A lot of “Save it until you really need it” and also just forgetting about it while waiting for the cooldown goes on) or the effects are just bad (Elixir X might be useful, if the effect wasn’t completely random…)

Dual.8953:

The rest comes down to instinct and common sense.

Of course applying Cripple, Chill or Immobilise during the 3 seconds they’re normally visible helps.

Also, playing a thief for a bit works wonders, as you get a bit of knowledge about the average movement patterns of a Stealthed Thief vs someone auto-attacking at them.

Scylas.7692:

Can anyone tell me what armour this Mesmer is using? I’m specifically interested in the chest piece, shoulder piece and boots.

Thanks a lot!

Chest is Tier 2 Human cultural
Boots are Tier 2 Human cultural
Shoulders are Vigil
Legs are Cabalist

Lemos.6593:

Renny.6571:

fifteeeeeenchar

Renny.6571, what shoulder armor is that?? Can’t find those wings anywhere..

Those are Arah shoulders.

I’m currently leveling into this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAnXUjkOpwJP6OMxBEjiiIIOKSiAU9oNcj4A;T0A5TSnUPpciqGTNias14qRWzyihFTIA

20, V, X
20 III, VII
0
0
30 V, IX, XI

Axe/Axe + Rifle

Healing Signet – Berserker Stance/For Great Justice/Signet of Might – Signet of Rage

Power – Power/Precision – Power/Precision/Crit damage gear as level appropriate (You don’t mention what level you are)

Started off with the Strength tree then into the Discipline tree when leveling up the first 30 levels to get the traits that give bonus based off adrenaline levels.

Playstyle:

Keep For Great Justice up at all times (Duration of Might = it’s cooldown)
Build adrenaline with Berserker Stance or Whirling Axe.
Use Dual Strike to leverage Fury uptime.
Either #1 for low health stuff/multiples (It has a large cleave area) or use both Sigils to get Might stacks + Fury and hit with Eviscerate on a single mob (Will deal a lot of damage)

For melee Champions and high damage melee veterans use rifle and kite them around while using Aimed Shot on cooldown to keep them crippled. If over 15 points into Discipline tree, then can swap weapon sets to hit with Eviscerate/Throw Axe for more damage/cripple.

So far this build is working well, I’ve been taking things 4-6 levels above me since level 21. Below level 21 I took on things about 3 levels above me. Even though my only survivability comes from: Healing Signet (It’s ridiculously powerful at low levels) and killing things quickly – I don’t dodge, I don’t crowd control and I certainly don’t gear towards tank stats. I just cleave through everything in my path and hope the regen I get keeps me up.

I’ve been leveling up a new warrior recently and I’ve found:

Axe in the main hand is a powerhouse, it’s #1 does more damage than GS and it’s burst is very damaging (Crits will take off about 50-100% of a normal mobs health)

A rifle is useful to carry around, for those champs that are dangerous to enter melee range of (Also using it’s burst can again one-shot enemies, provided it crits and you have full adrenaline)

Healing Signet is overpowered at lower levels at least (The passive healing easily allows me to take on 3-4 enemies 3-5 levels higher than me, provided none of them have nasty effects such as poison/daze)

I’ve been leveling with full Power and eventually Power/Precision gear (Haven’t quite got to the 3 stat gear, but will use Power/Precision/Crit damage gear when I get there)

As far as traits go, it depends really on what weapons you want to use and such:

The power from the Strength line can be helpful at really low levels – At 10 points the trait for 3/7/12% extra damage based off adrenaline is very nice.

The 2/5/9% crit chance trait at 10 points in Discipline is very nice, as is the Fast Hands 15 point trait allowing weapon swaps every 5 seconds in combat rather than 10 – Useful if you want to leverage skills from 2 weapon sets which helps with both damage and control (Most weapons have a cripple on which allows for soloing of melee Champions)

Weapon dependant traits:

Strength 20 – 10% damage for Greatsword/10% critical damage for Main Hand Axe.

Arms 20 – 20% shorter cooldown on Greatsword abilities + Might on criticals/20% shorter cooldown on Rifle abilities + Rifle shots pierce/10% critical chance with Sword

Defence 20 – 20% shorter cooldown on Hammer abilities + Hammer does 25% more damage to disabled targets/20% shorter cooldown on Mace abilities + Mace does 10% more damage to weakened targets

Tactics 10 – Longbow skills have 1200 range

Tactics 20 – Longbow does 10% more damage to burning targets

Bearing in mind that unlocked major trait slots can have their traits swapped out at will when out of combat, this allows you to swap between different weapon sets based off what you need to do at the time.

Just my thoughts based off my experience as a leveling warrior (Who originally started out as GS + S/WH and is now A/A + Rifle)

It’s already a great addition to some bleed focused builds…

For example, when I was using a condition build on my thief, using Call Owl would allow me to reach the 25 bleed cap on my own (For 8 seconds)

Now imagine if your buff was applied to the skill – I’d be able to maintain 25 stacks of bleed for much longer without having to use other cooldowns and would be able to save up my initiative to fill up another load of stacks after…

Also think how it’d interact with short term bleeds from other classes minor traits (Warrior, Engineer, Necro) and Sigil of Earth which are balanced around their low durations meaning they can’t stack up very high on their own.

It would make it a very powerful skill, which would also make any bleed focused build almost forced to go Norn (Though there are other reasons to roll Norn, such as them being awesome…)

Doomguard.5094:

There are veteran mobs EVERYWHERE, and reviving also counts on players, so just PLAY the game and stop actively hunting the daily and you will eventually get all of the objectives.

Well you say that…

But in my normal, day to day playing of the game:

I don’t dodge abilities that often (Unless I’m on my dodge specced thief, which doesn’t help if I want to get dailies experience on another character) meaning I have to out of my way to get the 15 dodges in a day (Sometimes I go to mobs that put down ground targeted AoE’s just to have some reliable attacks to dodge)

I don’t fight many veterans. Sure they may be everywhere (By that I guess you mean some parts of some zones have veterans walking around as if they where normal mobs) but the incentive to kill them outside of the daily is non-existent. Why bother when they don’t give much loot and don’t contribute to renown hearts any more than normal things that are much quicker to kill?

I don’t find people to revive. I don’t come across a lot of people who are stupid enough to get themselves overrun or killed by a champ, those I do find tend to be in dangerous places and so can’t be revived. NPC’s I don’t normally find since I kill things to keep them alive (Gives a bit of breathing room and prevents hubs being overrun by too many things to fight solo) thus meaning I have to go to places I know that reviving stuff is part of a renown heart so there will be enough things to revive guaranteed.

Visiting a Laurel vendor… Seriously? This is a daily requirement? How often should I be going there? Shouldn’t I only be going there when I want to buy something?

I preferred the old dailies, since 90% of it would be doable through normal play (Kills, Gathering, Events) and the Kill Variety caused me to go out of my way to make sure that I got it (Especially if I’m doing something in Orr that day… Hundreds of kills 1 kill variety)

That said, the diversity does help (The fact I don’t have to run around looking for 15 different mobs to kill each day helps)

It’s fairly normal for a Mesmer to be able to solo some champs, especially due to the fact that clones seem to be targeted a lot (Meaning if you can keep a steady flow of them, you won’t be attacked very often)

That said I’ve soloed champs on my Theif, Guardian and Engineer as well as my Mesmer (Whilst leveling up) so it’s not relegated purely to Mesmers being OP.

Staff tends to be better at closer range as the projectiles will bounce providing extra boons to you and extra conditions to enemies.

The effects are more pronounced with the Illusionary Elasticity trait providing extra bounces per #1 useage.

Would this count http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ceremonial_Sabre it’s pretty close to a Katana

I don’t use it.

But I use a 30 Acro dodge spamming build so have decent uptime of swiftness.

I did used to use it (While leveling and WvW) but I decided that another utility would help me out more (I started leveraging mobility from HS, IA and Dodge)

The only times I use it now are: Long distance running where I can’t be bothered to keep pressing my roll button and some JP’s where it is infinitely easier to have the passive movement speed.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Illusion

Illusions derive their precision, power, condition damage, critical damage, armor, and healing directly from the mesmer’s attributes.

Illusions do not gain any benefit from the mesmer’s vitality, condition duration or boon duration.

They are neither affected by the damage of the mesmer’s equipped weapon nor by any of the various non-stat effects of weapon sigils or armor runes.

FinalPatriot.8034:

Ok, I have to ask. Where do you get the “glowing eyes” tick? That just looks amazing on some of those armor sets.

A Necromancer starting head item.

Can be transmuted onto another low level head item, put into the bank and retrieved and transmuted on a Mesmer (Or Elementalist)

Black Frog.9274:

Fine Transmutation stones let you change the look of 80+ armor. They cost gems though.

You can also get some from Map Completion and Black Lion Chests (Should pick up a few as well as some keys, you get I think 2 keys from Personal Story aswell (The level 10 one gives a guaranteed one))

On Topic:

As far as Leatherworking gear goes, you can either craft it yourself (Though that does take a bit of time and such getting materials and leveling up the crafting skill) or buy it from the Trading Post (If I recall correctly, each piece of exotic armour at level 80 costs around 1-5 gold a piece depending on the stats on it (As far as I can tell, Berserker gear is the most expensive)) which can in cases be much easier to do if you can make some money (Selling a few of the lowest tier crafting materials I picked up got me 2g for example)

Brianmv.9185:

What’s the armor that most of these female human thiefs are sporting? Cultural?
(Vydul and Auesis…. Few others. The “half boob look”)

Human Tier 3 Cultural.

Lofat.2406:

Not bad, where’s the stealth nerf everyone and their mom kept QQ about and saying we were surely going to get?

Since most of the complaints were about WvW I guess this would count:

WvW & PvE: Our culling system has been updated to use affinity culling, which favors allowing players to see important enemies regardless of the local player population density.

Favourite ability:
Mirror Blade – Does decent damage, provides Vulnerability as well as Might and also creates a clone. A very versatile ability that can be utilized in most builds and with it’s short cooldown can be used often.

Least favourite ability:
(Outside of abilities that I don’t use due to them not fitting into builds I’ve been playing)

Spatial Surge – I don’t like how you need to be near max range to get the most out of it (At that range, Mirror Blade won’t be as effective as it won’t bounce back to you, also Mirror Image illusions have a longer distance to travel) I don’t like how it does only single target damage (It will go through other enemies to hit your target but won’t harm them) and I don’t like how the greatsword isn’t swung, instead it is used to fire lasers (Sure, lasers are cool, but it makes me feel disconnected from the weapon itself, especially when Mirror Blade, Mind Stab and Illusionary Wave all use various sword swings/stab)

Conner.8713:

Juasharyer.2973:

Here is my thief with Vigil and Order of Whisper armors

How did you get armor from both orders?

Buy them on another character.
Transmute them onto a low level item.
Put item into bank.
Retrieve it on desired character.
Transmute onto desired piece of armour.

To be perfectly honest, that looks like good old fashioned lag.

Seen it multiple times in many MMO’s, basically having a poor connection makes it nigh impossible for other people to know where exactly you are as it will appear to other people that you’re teleporting about.

I don’t think so…

Since it’s a flat out 1% damage increase per stack, I believe that it only increases damage sources (Direct and Condition) by 1%.

Meaning that the only way it’s effectiveness is increased is via having more stacks (To increase the percentage bonus damage) or to increase your Power (Direct Damage) or Condition Damage to gain a larger bonus from the percentage increase.

Having Condition Damage enhancements whilst only focusing on Direct Damage would not increase the damage gained from Vulnerability.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/irony

i·ro·ny (r-n, r-)
n. pl. i·ro·nies
1.
a. The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
b. An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.
c. A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. See Synonyms at wit1.
2.
a. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: “Hyde noted the irony of Ireland’s copying the nation she most hated” (Richard Kain).
b. An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity. See Usage Note at ironic.

Thief can achieve some of the best support in the game in my opinion. It’s just it comes from the support abilities of other classes… I’m referring of course to the spamable Blast Finisher that is Cluster Bomb.

Depending on what fields are put down a Thief can provide large numbers of effects (AoE Frost Armour, AoE Chaos Armour, AoE Healing, AoE Might are some of the key ones) it’s just that the only 3 reliable fields that Thieves get on their own aren’t very good (Poison (AoE Weakness), Smoke (AoE Stealth) and Dark (AoE Blindness… Which is achieved via their Smoke field)

They can also provide high uptime of AoE weakness using the Deadly Arts 15 point trait and Choking Gas. This can also be done with little to no loss of damage (I the only pre-requisites of the aforementioned support is 15 points into the Power trait line and one of the equipped weapon sets being shortbow (Most thieves tend to run with a SB anyway due to the versatility and utility it provides))

Also, as far as Tanky thief builds go, I don’t see them as being hugely effective due to the naturally low hp pool of the thief combined with the fact that a decent portion of thief survivability comes from stealth causes one of the main reasons to have a tanky build (Staying on a point) less achievable…

bibbiri.6028:

i guess going melee puts a lot more effort in terms of skill using since it takes using long cooldown abilities which seems to be more 1-time-life savers than frequently used ones.

It depends really, the F3 and F4 are just things I thought I could mention relating to issues of survivability.

I actually am playing a GS + S/S (Or S/T depending on the situation)

I actively swap between them (Note: I use GS up close for Might stacking rather than as a long range auto-attacking weapon) and my playstyle doesn’t really change between them, I continue to use the #2 skills to my advantage (Might stacking on GS the evade from sword), I use the #4 skills to control the fight (Cripple from GS, Stealth, Blind + AoE Burn from Torch, the Daze/Block + Clone from Sword) and rely mostly on the F1 and F2 shatters (Combined with investment into the Illusions tree shortening the cooldown on Phantasms and Shatter abilities) using #2 from GS, #3 Sword, #4 GS #5 Torch/Sword to create Clones and Phantasms to shatter (With the Mirror Images utility for some on demand shattering)

My survivability is quite high, even against multiples without relying on the long cooldown F3 and F4 shatters. One of the key things as a Mesmer is that ALL abilities are useful and when lower level (When cooldowns are pretty long) swapping to another weapon set can be useful (Heck if you want you can just put a Torch in the off-hand of your second weapon set and keep you main hand sword when weapon swapping between S/S and S/T to keep pumping out skills whilst using melee) Tricks like that also help if trying to do a Phantasm build (Starting out with a weapon set that you don’t use as your main one to get up 2 Phantasms at the beginning of a fight via weapon swapping)

bibbiri.6028:

about sword/ sword: it looks like mesmer is still too vulnerable to go melee, a hit can take away at least 1/5 of total hp and when it comes to multiple mobs it’s impossible to win or it takes too much time.

is there a certain level when it comes viable or is it just the way it is? pvp oriented?

I’ve been pretty survivable with it from level 1 to be honest.

1. skill is very nice (You’re invulnerable whilst using it)
2. can be used as an AoE daze (Only lasts a second though but can interrupt attacks)
   F3 causes daze.
   F4 causes attacks to miss you.
   Getting used to dodging helps a lot.

Other than that it tends to become more viable when you start getting 2/3 stat gear allowing you to get Toughness and or Vitality without having to sacrifice damage (About level 30 for 2 stat gear and about level 60/65 for 3 stat gear)

About it taking time, although it may look cool off-hand sword is more about defence than offence (It’s non-phantom ability is a block/daze rather than a directly damaging ability, though the block does create a clone that can be shattered) the offensive off-hand option would be Torch (AoE Blind and Burn) which can work wonders for AoE:
#4 as you run into a group (Takes 3 seconds before it explodes) then after exploding going into a well placed #2 to be invulnerable and doing some decent damage after which clones can be shattered doing even more damage.

It’s a combination that can be devastating whilst also quite safe (Due to the invulnerability from #2 which has a fairly short cooldown, even more so with a trait from Dueling 10 that reduced Sword cooldown by 20%)

Login.5102:

Thanks for all the responses!!! But there is some conflicting answers =(

1. Some people swear by hs and others by sb. We need a thief race!

Well, when it comes down to it:

SB > HS in terms of speed (No needing to stand still for a second when starting a chain of IA’s)

HS > SB in terms of Init usage (Uses the same amount per movement but HS favours the slower regen of init that comes from passives such as the default regen + Regen trait + regen signet)

HS > SB when under speed enhancing effects (Swiftness, Signet of Shadows) as it increases the distance HS goes while reducing the effect of SB (By the time the arrow has flown there with the additional speed it actually moves you less than the max range)

SB > HS when NPC’s are nearby as HS will put you in combat if you hit one.

SB > HS if you have auto-target on as there’s definitive control over it.

SB > HS for burst movement (Can do all 1800 range possible with 12 init in 2 quick casts rather than needing the 4 HS)

SB > HS for direction changing (HS likes to just go forwards, while SB can be placed)

HS > SB if you’re not good at hitting the max range with ground locations abilities.

I’ve had it happen a lot.

Often I can run a moderate distance (About the normal tether range of the mob I aggroed that I used stealth to disengage from)

But occasionally either that isn’t feasible (I.E. Stealthed passed a lot of things, stupid insta-respawns, being in a cave etc) or doesn’t work (I once ran halfway across Straits of Devastations without re-entering combat and it hadn’t let me leave)

In those situations quickly killing a mob can reset it (Not feasible if the reason I want to leave combat is that I’m at too low health to consider fighting more things) or failing that re-logging (Gives me a reason to tab out and browse forums for a bit aswell)

But yeah… Only seems to happen when using stealth to disengage an enemy (Even if it’s another enemy aggroing whilst already combat and being disengaged before doing or being dealt damage)
Haven’t had it occur without stealth being involved (Though Grawl and their bloody “Totems of chill you for a year” are still annoying without suitable condition removal)

Kira.2903:

No sure it helped but as I said, hard to help if you dont say what you mainly play.

Oh, I forgot that part…

I mainly do PvE (Solo + Dungeons) and WvW (I tend to do more roaming though since my computer doesn’t like the large scale zerg fests) though I may end up trying some sPvP (I may alter my build for that though)

So essentially, as an overall build (It would appear I do all aspects of the game on reflection):

Extreme Might stacking (3 stacks lasting ~30 seconds potentially every 10 seconds plus 6 lasting 16 seconds every ~7 seconds while using Greatsword)

Versus

Additional power (~140 from runes) and possibly another utility type sigil.

Hmm… Thinking about it, the Might stacking would probably be better as it would be more beneficial to conditions I might get (Burning from Prestige, Confusion from Cry of Frustration, Illusionary Retribution and Blinding Befuddlement (When I use it, probably will swap between it and Illusionary Elasticity depending on the situation) and Bleeding from Sharper Images)

It would also be nice to be able to do some extra support via stacking Might and using Signet of Inspiration to copy high amounts of long lasting Might to allies…

Oh crap… Just noticed the 25 trait from Illusions… I may try and re-jig my build to incorporate that (As I do shatter a fair amount) thanks for the info.

On a side note, does boon duration gains from runes affect any part of an Arcane Thievery > Signet of Inspiration combo? (Does the stealing of the boon cause it to be affected, the copying to allies or none of it?)

When I first started playing mesmer, I would’ve liked this (A phantasm build would also like this)

But after playing a bit longer and getting used to it, no.

It would allow extra burst for the most complained about build (Shatter build) via allowing a setup before engaging to start off with a full 3 illusion shatter.

I’ve also gotten used to generating Phantasms and Clones on specific targets and using this to advantages (Spawning Phantasms on something that is safe from causing AoE to them, having melee Phantasms spawn ontop of a target allowing it to deal damage with less risk of dying on the way there, having multiple targets have clones attacking them to wear them down/spread conditions/AoE explode in various areas etc.)

Not to mention the issues people would have with AI (It’s bad enough with Rangers and Necro’s let alone with things that would literally die in one hit)

Login.5102:

1. Which is the best gap closer for traveling? hs or sb? Hs would get you farther with the int. Cost right?

Infiltrator’s Arrow. It has double the init cost, but goes double the range is instant (Heartseeker causes you to stand still for a short period on the first use) and doesn’t aggro any NPC’s you are travelling past (Thus putting you into combat and slowing movement)

Login.5102:

2. how to use a sb effectively(power/crib)? Vs single target do you spam 1 or do throw in a cb on CD for maximum dmg? When or if should I explode cluster bombs? Is the poison field worth the int? People really use #3 when they are so used to dodge? Any neat tricks/combos/tech you want to share.

Either go for Power + Crit or Condition Damage to maximise SB. For a single target spamming Cluster Bomb is the way to go (Detonating just before it hits the floor to ensure the maximum 3 hits occur) usually it’s best to get into melee/close range so that CB doesn’t require travel time (In melee range you can just spam “2” and do pretty good damage)

As far as I can tell, the occasional Choking Gas can be useful since it provides a high uptime poison (If people stand in it or if you’re in it and are using #1 for Projectile Finisher). Reducing healing done to people (Also able to easily poison people on walls) is very handy.

The #3 skill is situationally useful, it can be used either as a cripple (Helpful if you have allies around or are trying to kite someone) or as an additional dodge (Helpful against high damage attacks) as it evades without using Endurance it means you can stop some pretty nasty things whilst also being secure of having endurance to dodge really important things (Immobilise/Cripple/Chill effects come to mind)

Login.5102:

3. can you cancel dagger storm?

Yes, rolling (Possible other actions as well) will interrupt Dagger Storm

Login.5102:

4. Is there any other useful skillS besides c&d to use before stealth.

I’m unsure what you mean? In a Power/Crit stealth build it comes down to CnD, Backstab and Heartseeker when the target is below 50/25% health (Depends on how sure you are you’ll take them out before they take you out)

Login.5102:

5.when you steal from a war, is it worth the risk to use the axes?

Yes. It does pretty nice damage and also reflects projectiles. It’s arguably one of the best steals possible.

Login.5102:

6. When using d/d what sigil do you put on your other dagger( assuming you have air/fire on the other)?

Bloodlust for stacking Power (Should be able to pick up a few kills)

So… Playing some mesmer at the moment (Again) and have a build set up along with gear etc… Just torn between rune and sigil setups.

20 I, X
20 IV, X
10 IV
0
20 I, IX

Full Soldier gear and gems.

Greatsword and Sword/Torch

Don’t know whether to go:

Battle + Battle/Bloodlust

2x Hoelbrak
2x Strength
2x Fire

For leveraging heavy weapon swapping and might from Mirror Blade (Can get decent stacks if 1v1 and tend to swap weapons a fair amount)

Or something else like:

Bloodlust + Leeching/Bloodlust (To ensure Power stacks no-matter which weapon I use for killing blows)

6x Fire

Or even something I haven’t thought of yet (To be fair, I’m not good at planning a build that doesn’t invest heavily in either Boon stacking or Crits)

Anima Mens.8673:

eversor.4687:

There we go, my thief..

Still looking for some better looking shortbow and daggers, any idea? I’ve changed pearl stinger to this one, not that I love it so much but still better than that pink looking funny bow…

Also I’m gonna go for the whisper’s boots skin.

PS: Those stats are unbuffed and with 25% ms increase passive , NOT the precision one.
One might think I’m squishy.. but with 6-9k crit on warriors I think I can afford that

how du u get 15k life with full berserker?

30 points into Acrobatics + the Critical Strikes 10 trait that gives 5% of precision as Vitality would allow for 15k life with full berserker (Which is what my thief also has)

Azzrael Deathbane.4965:

bumping this thread again.

In answer to your question taril. I dont see transmuting a weapon being a problem as it gives you the option to carry the enchantment over to the new skin

I meant being able to pick an enchantment and also as a separate option being able to pick particle effects.

Allowing you to have the enchantment of choice (For example: Earth) with the particle effect of choice (For example: Fire) provided the weapons being transmuted have the available Sigils between them.

Also, would the Minor/Superior etc Sigils offer different particle densities? With Minor Sigil of Fire having a relatively small effect and Superior Sigil of Fire having a more noticeable fiery look?

For me it was the other way around…

Levels 1-35 where horrible, they were bland, uninteresting and where mostly about grinding (Grinding weapons skills to see whether I liked them, grinding renown hearts for experience and karma equipment a complete lack of utility skills available and no traits)

Levels 35-65 where fun for me, since after that point you start getting gear with 2/3 stats on, combined with the ability to go fairly deep into trait trees allowed for some nice traits to be used (Master traits tend to have the most gameplay altering effects) these 2 things meant that it actually felt like I was making a character, since before that point most gear just had a very small amount of 1 stat on which really didn’t do anything significant.

You’d also have enough skill points to not only get your tier 2 elite but also more than the basic 5 utilities that you need to unlock the next tier (Also more of the tier 3 utilities) allowing more options about swapping between them depending on the situation and also allows you to try out some that you may not have realised the potential of.

Then of course after that when you’re about level 70 you can go into Frostgorge Sound and such and level up really quickly due to all the dynamic events that go on.

Dynamic Events, WvWvW, Crafting and Exploration really help not only boost exp gain but do provide a nice break from the dull “Pick up quests from hub, kill things, hand in quests” regime of other MMO’s. Especially if you do dynamic events in groups so that the spawns increase.

It would be nice to be able to have BOTH auras and rings at the same time, allowing for better distance gauging and also targeting (Since the ring is nigh useless in a large scale fight, be it lots of people smashing a large target or a lot of trash mobs)

With options to enable/disable one or both.

P/P works best if going for a Power/Precision/Crit damage build (Lots of Unload spamming)

P/D works best if going for a condition damage build, using Cloak and Dagger and Sneak Attack to keep bleeds on a target.

That said, the extra survivability from being able to Cloak and Dagger and run away can help in solo PvE leaning me to saying P/D (Then again, I leveled most of the way without using much stealth outside of Shadow Refuge)