Guild Wars 2

Eurantien.4632:

In either format I would still expect the top 4 teams to make it through so I don’t think its that much of a difference.

If e.g. the two best of those eight are fighting in the quarter finals, the second best team would NOT make it through, because it gets eliminated.

Another example: Abjured would not have won the last WTS without double elimination, because they got eliminated in the first round.

Brix.8461:

It was always the plan

Yes, it was completely clear from the beginning, that four teams are getting determined through single elimination, but this fact does NOT justify why single elimination got chosen in the first place and why this problem does not get solved.

If you really want to find the best 4 teams, you really need to have double elimination.

I have uploaded new screen shots for you guys (and girls):

Left side: I jumped into a group fight pre-casting True Shot and teleporting through a wall using Judge’s Intervention, than starting to place traps and setting up Spear of Justice to pull the opponents back through the traps… well, that was not necessary. He died in less than 2 seconds.
The red-player ate ~22k dmg + CC Chain (knock back from the trait, followed by trap-daze+pull from elite).

What could the opponent have done? Directly after eating the 6k (from True Shot and Judge’s Intervention) he could have used a stun breaker (he is still knocked back) and double dodged to avoid the Test of Faith and Dragon’s Maw activation damage.
Then I would have followed up with Spear of Justice (unblockable) to pull him through the Test of Faith wall (so, he would also need stability to avoid that).

On the right that, you have some higher True Shot damage numbers (still with the same setup the dragon hunters are using in the go4, NOT realizing max damage) but with buffs and debuffs from teammates. (Remember, I can combine True Shot with Judge’s Intervention to let those sweet 10k (9.2k+0.8k Judge’s Intervention) hit you basically instantly through the wall).

Ragnarox.9601:

Adjusting in which way?

I posted a suggestion above. We are talking about shaving, not completely removing DH. I would start with ‘Unscathed Contender’ to get rid of the high number outliners.

They are superior in which way?

More dmg + more survivalability than other compareable specs = superior.

and punishes those with no skill whatsoever.

That’s the problem, they punish everybody, not just players with no skill. Please tell me how to avoid 9.3k Trap damage (Dragon’s Maw 5.3k+4k Test of Faith) + 8.6k true shot damage + on crit sigils + direct damage & burning from Judge’s Intervention when you just walked onto a currently uncontested point and suddenly the dragon hunter ports onto you through a wall. (I have seen those numbers dealt to me and through me).
That’s 20k damage in 0.5 seconds and the fight hasn’t even started yet
Sure, I should have dodge the whole way onto the point for the possibility that I will get ganked from somewhere…

Also: the numbers are only for better illustration of the burst potential. The DH is not a one-prick pony that relies on such a combination, it is far more effective to time your abilities and e.g. throw them not all into an immunity skill.

Plus 90% of our core stuff are broken or bad.

We can talk about buffing the not-used stuff from any profession, but that’s just not an counter argument to shave the DH.

Saddly you can’t teach anyone anything with that attitude.

Then find someone else who will teach you how to play DH. Until then you will not be able to realize how strong the DH actually is.

Ragnarox.9601:

You maybe playing DH but you don’t main Guardians srry. When you have more than 2k hours in guardian and you try all possible stuff with him than I might consider talking with you about some balance, until then Thief begone

I’m still not a thief-main

Shouldn’t you, as a proud guardian player, be completely in favor of adjusting the Dragon hunter, that no one with far less than 2k hours (I have Champion Paragon and about 165hr tho) can pull off a DH superior to all the other profession?

If you personally can’t pull that off, feel free to contact me ingame, then I can teach you how to play DH and why it is actually OP.

Feel free to provide some meaningful arguments why Dragon Hunter is fine. (e.g. a description of the fight, video or screenshot where you did your best but still got outplayed.)

Ragnarox.9601:

Guess you need to practice with your thief more.

Who said I play thief? I play Dragon Hunter too and I can see its full potential, maybe you just can’t.
I guess you need to practice more with your Dragon Hunter to really see what a good player can do with it.

I have met enough Dragon Hunter who just spam their abilities into your dodges and then just die. I think that is where all the counter arguments are coming from.
DragonHunterNoob: “What are you talking about, I’m not OP, I die too”. Yeah, l2p, then you don’t -.-

We all have cd’s on dodge, thieves have perma vigor + DD has 3x dodge.

I don’t get your point. Have you ever played DD? Starting with 3 dodges does not mean they are recharging as quick as two do. With perma vigor, a dodge would recharge in 6.6 seconds (still longer than true shot alone), but well, DD does not have perma vigor. DD-trait line does not include a single vigor trait. But DD are using Bountiful Theft for their only source of Vigor (10 seconds of vigor per 20 seconds for 50% uptime).
Not to mention, that the dodge-alot is only achieved due to fully stack defensive utilities like Signet of Agility. Maybe you also have problems with the S/D Flanking Strike dodge, but then again, you should be able to counter that, since it does not grant a full dodge-timeframe during the attack.

You have stealth on demand with almost no cd.

In 72 seconds a dragon hunter can place 9 traps.(With the build they dragon hunter ran on the last go4monthly) I would call that stealth on demand too

Plus backstab with 10k dmg

6k Backstab, and then again, no dodge on the weapon set. Come on… just play a thief a view times, then we might be able to talk with meaningful arguments.

So how does it help me when you stealth and I need to dodge? I guess we are in stalemate, who will dodge better?

Have you (as a dragon hunter) ever had a problem with a thief even if he lands the first opener from the stealth? You don’t even have to dodge a thiefs backstab, because you will just heal it back up, that’s part of the problem too.

Warrior and Guardians are different professions with own strenghts and weaknesses, traits and dmg modifiers are not the same, thus your testing is false.

Yeah, they have their own strength and weaknesses, but guard is in general op and warrior up.
The test is only partially accurate, because a rifle warrior does not have damage from any other source than kill shot, while dragon hunter really do. But then again, Kill-shot-warrior is not viable, and we don’t want to get DH on that level.

Feel free to compare the damage & survival-ability to ANY other (at least viable) profession out there.

Edit: Constructive Suggestion: Change the trait “Unscathed Contender” that it is no longer a damage modifier

Solori.6025:

1. When did dodge get a CD? Explain plz

The time it takes a dodge-bar to recover is basically a CD.

Solori.6025:

2. Thief has to have stealth?..Don’t most thief builds use stealth? Why is this even a point?

To be able to perform Backstab, you need to fulfill an additional requirement: You have to be in stealth & next to the target. To be able to use True Shot, you just have to be in line of sight.

Ragnarox.9601:

8k ? screenshot or didn’t happen.

I have posted a screenshot.

Ragnarox.9601:

DD have infinite dodge.

Are you really just arguing, that the True Shot damage is fine, because a single profession-weapon-trait combination can dodge an infinite number of times?

Ragnarox.9601:

DH have access to stealth but TS binds you to place

How exactly does that help me to know, when I have to dodge while he is stealthed? BTW: You can start TS behind a wall and then port right onto your target with Judge’s Intervention to land your TS. How can you dodge that?

Ragnarox.9601:

Killshot has 2 or 3 times dmg of TS.

Really accurate argumentation. So, does killshot do 16 or 24k dmg? xD
I just jumped into the Heart to give you the numbers with the same runes and sigils and about the same damage modifiers from traits: Trueshot 8.6k; Killshot 10.9k so about 26.7% more damage for 66% longer cast time, double the cooldown and the additional requirement of Level 3 adrenalin.

Ragnarox.9601:

Teutos.8620:

True Shot 8.7k dmg. (Coalescence of Ruin can do the same damage).

Can someone please explain, why low cooldown range attacks are superior to backstab dmg?

Because backstab is attack from stealth (you cant see that coming).
You can dodge true shot because you know it’s animation.

There are a lot of logic flows in your argumentation.
1.) 4 seconds CD per attack vs 10 seconds CD per dodge.
2.) A thief HAS to also have stealth, to deal that damage, the DH does not have that additional requirement.
3.) With the trapper rune the DH has enough access to stealth to also attack from there.
4.) How can I dodge that in a teamfight? Kill Shot is something you can dodge in a teamfight due to the strong animation, long cast time and longer CD.

True Shot 8.7k dmg. (Coalescence of Ruin can do the same damage).

Can someone please explain, why low cooldown range attacks are superior to backstab dmg?

Three times in the same game.

The stomp finished, I didn’t even move in the case the source was desync related, but no. The stomp finished, but the opponent was not stomped.

Great game changing bug.

Fay.2357:

Celestial is a poor choice. The build has little to no condie pressure that would even be noticed in a fight against normal comps, and celestial only works for condie pressure if you have might anyway, which this build doesn’t generate. Imo, helseth just ran a poorly optimized version of my build.

Fay.2357:

Granted, the actual comp he was fighting was a bunch of tanky builds, it doesn’t take the tankiest build in the world to stay alive against that.
Also granted, swapping to a semi-bunker that does semi-bad damage against a team of tanky builds isn’t exactly the brightest decision I’ve ever seen made.

You know, you are always criticizing, but can’t remember the last time, I actually saw something constructive from you.

How about adding sharing your “wisdom” and suggesting some option including the benefit it provides?

Warlord of Chaos.7845:

If you are going to run 5 wells, I think running chrono runes and swapping sieze the moment with chronophant would be better. The shield and staff phants are really good so why not have more of them? Otherwise the build looks good.

I guess it is pretty much a work in progress and will most likely look quite different next time.
Personally I would also pick the chrono runes & chrono phant tho.

nearlight.3064:

Maybe scepter over staff would work better too?

You will loose access to a lot of boons from Chaos Armor (especially due to the protection from the chaos-trait).

FYI: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW8encfC1fi9fCmfCEgilej6cDKhWzMAugMqeUb1ZF-TJRHABB8EAGf/BAuIAHVGAA

Edit: Wrong rune

Just tested it with Signet of Ether, worked too.

Worked in PvE last week for me and in PvP today. Can’t confirm function in PvE as of today (going to check it, be right back).

Edit: Just checked PvE, still working in combination with Ether Feast. If you using a different heal, I can go and check that out too.

Try out Ether Feast, it is far superior to Mirror.

If you use Mantra of Distraction, I would also choose ‘Power Block’ over ‘Mental Anguish’ (Power Block in combination with Gravity Well is amazing too).

The blind on Ineptitude is more useful than Master of Fragmentation.

Sigil of Air will provide you more damage than Sigil of Impact in a fight that contains more than just your shatter-spike.

First off: The meta is still settling. While I can see, that healing mantra might be useable as a chronomancer (e.g. improved access to quickess for the channeling), I still don’t think it will prevail.

AlphatheWhite.9351:

Pain because of ranged aoe damage, and having competitive dps with sword. Pain still doesn’t make a lot of sense on a pvp build, but you do see it in WvW where mesmers struggle with tagging.

In fact…are you sure this is sPvP, not WvW? In WvW you could be adding some aoe to your heals with all mantras via Inspiration, tagging with Mantra of Pain, and daze/interrupts with Mantra of Distraction.

In SPvP Mantra of Pain has absolutely no place in the top tiers (if you don’t care about top tier, play with whatevery build you have most fun with).

In Zergsfights (WvW and PvE) this might be different.

How many players do you actually need to claim a guild hall? Tried it with three players (full berserker), but the damage was not enough.

Not the perfect screen I have hoped for (maybe I’ll update it in the future).

Thanks for the info!

Quick question: When do we have to active the guild mission?
Before we start queueing, before we accept the match or right before the match starts=

Guesting on Baruch Bay (EU) worked for me, Riverside was bugged.

blubberblasen.3901:

- no real " red line " -> i feel i lost in the map

Do you really need someone to take your hand? (If you do, I’m sure you can find someone ingame who will do so).

The thing is, you can do whatever you want and you will still progress. Complete a nearby event? Follow a random path? Kill some mobs on the way or just ignore them? Only complete the personal story? It is completely up to you!

Don’t feel overwhelmed with the possibilities and the amount of time to get every single bit of it… it is still an expansion and is supposed to give you hundreds of hours of gameplay.

After unlocking the glider, I just ran around the first three maps. I didn’t bother with the map wide events, I just did what ever I wanted to. Help defend the camp? Why not!
After unlocking the bouncy mushrooms I started at the first map again and took a totally different rout, explore a different area of the map… and now I have even unlocked the updrafts.

If you earn not enough exp consider using bufffood, sharpening stone and the +xp utility infusion for you ascended amulet.

SweetPotato.7456:

It doesn’t work is what is am saying. tested it for several months its not doing what it should. maybe i need more practice. … but so far its not working.

1.) Target the visible thief.
2.) Press “Sick ’Em!” to put the ‘Revealed debuff’ for 6seconds on the thief. → Thief can’t enter stealth for 6 seconds.

(At the same time your pet gets the buff ‘Sick ’Em!’ for 10 seconds, which increases its damage and movement by 40%. The buff is on your current pet, so don’t swap it.)

The V.8759:

WHY??

Everybody in this thread is focused on the wrong questions. The question was not, if it is fair, that ranger can still command his pets, it was why.

The answer is most likely much simpler: it just happened from a technical point of view.

I can imaging, that it comes from the difference between doing an ability yourself and commanding your pet to do so.

Including the Rune of the Trapper is a great choice!

Without the runes, traps are complete useless, with the Runes they might be used. If they end up being too strong, then they Runes should get nerfed (e.g. reducing the stealth duration). For me personally the perplexity solution (being left alone; OP in WvW and not available in PvP) is not acceptable.

Josh Davis.6015:

Hmmm, new amulets. Aside from zealots, anything else you folks think would be interesting?

Except Dire Amulet and Perplexity Runes, I don’t think there is a reason to not add them all to PvP.

Specially, I would love to test out the Sinister Amulet in PvP (Maybe also in a 4 stats version: Primary Stats Condi damage and Power, secondary stats vitality and precision).

Daniel Handler.4816:

and supcutie

haha, good one!

tico.9814:

I can even bet anyone something like a 3v3 deathmatch sandboxed mode could probably bring more viewers on twitch than boring conquest.

You already lost that bet. There are already deathmatch tournaments (I think 2v2 even on a weekly base), but no, they don’t generate a lot of viewers.
They don’t need Guild Halls, they just use Custom Arenas with their own ruleset (ban different traits/amulets and force them to battle on a specific place of a certain map).

tico.9814:

I can see pvp guilds getting around with this like incorporating a set of rule

Yeah, like a rule forcing every players to reduce his/her retaliation damage by 33% xD

The inspiration trait line already got a huge boost with the rework. While some traits might not be as powerful as we would wish, there is actually not a single trait I would not pick (I might only use it in a very specific situation so).

So please let’s not completely throw it out, but only let’s address some specific problems.

The biggest (and maybe only) problem I see in context of the inspiration trait line is the mantra design. After the ‘bug-fix’ they are not fun to use anymore. We saw what was possible, but now, they just feel terrible. The best idea I read so far (not sure from whom it came) was to let the cooldown start once you use the first mantra charge (and if it’s for balance purposes needed, then increase the normal cooldown instead).

E.g.: ‘Mantra of Recovery’: With the change, the cooldown would already start after the first use, so to keep the same hps, increase the base cooldown to 12 seconds.

Wait till the leagues are starting. They should (in theory) be the solution to all the problem you described. Let’s wait and see if they do this in practice too.

Unranked also uses a match making system. If you find yourself loosing the first few games, rest assured, your MMR will take a hit and find more suitable opponents for you next time.

FYI: You can use your pet to body block the ‘Hammer Toss’ projectile from the warrior down state #2.

Harvey.7820:

If you want balance, play a FPS or MOBA.

FPS and MOBAs are not better balanced, just the mentality is different.

FPS: AK the overall better choice than the Aug or the AR15? Then pick it!

MOBA: Your champion/hero/god adc/hunter is worse than the other adc/hunter? Then pick the other one, ban him or one of your team can counterpick it. Some champions need three years before the finally get an update.

MMORPGs: Our profession should be viable regardless of team constellation and regardless of playstyle! If I want to play condition thief, than I should have the option to play it.
A moba player would just relog in a pug match, if they don’t have a d/d ele…

Natsuaga.5980:

Which version of pvp did you like more?

By far gw2. (Well, I’m a gw2 fanboy, so what did you really expect?^^)

Yet I think WoW has more depth to it.

I disagree. WoW basically has one combat concept: To win chain-cc the healer and simultaneously burst an opponent. Too often you were in the situation where your cc-chain didn’t ended up with a kill since the opponent used an immunity skill, forcing you to wait several minutes to get the proper cc combination back.

Some points which made me leave WoW:

• Blizzard does not care about PvP.
• PvP-Balance in WoW will NEVER be good. During a single season it will change (depending on your item level) which profession will be strong and which will not.
• Combat in WoW is not interesting (once a healer is involved).
• Itemlevel has a huge influence. WoW is perfect for you, if you want to farm under-equipped player, just jump into the normal BG.
• Standing still while casting (most of the skills) is a pain.
• Rez/Stomp System added a complete new depth.

atlrising.5134:

Unfortunately, I think Mesmer is back to where the majority of GW2 players likes it, in Meh condition.

Please be more specific. Where do you think we are lacking?
There are a lot of different viable playstyles.

This last set of nerfs just proves it.

Mesmer was too strong and the nerfs were justified.

Its a lot easier to crush the mes. community since its only about 9% of player base than listen to the other 91%

That argument is true for every profession, so no real argument at all…

• ‘Brutal Blade’ (Sword 2nd AA Chain): Animation looks really strange and does not feel fluid. More like we are hitting the ground with the sword-hilt than actually trying to strike the opponent (tested with male&female sylvari and male charr).

• ‘Drop the Hammer’ (Hammer#5) cast time is far too slow. I suggest to lower it to 1 second.

Optimus Prime.8015:

Question 1: Will we get a reset of our hero points when HOT launches so we can use the New specs

This is a thread purely for the Guild Hall (and everything concerning it e.g. the Scribe) , please keep it that way.

I can answer you questions non the less: No, hero-points will not reset.

Question 2: Will we finally get an out of combat 33% speed boost or mount Skills in the future?

Nothing is fixed for the future, with HoT you will get the Pact-Mastery, which will grant your party a 33% movement speed for the main cities.

Question 3: Does Power Affect Druid Healing or only Healing power?

Only healing power.

Please include this question into the Guild-Hall thread:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Wrapping-Up-Guild-Week-on-Guild-Chat/

Maybe if we are vocally enough, ArenaNet might include the option to active the pvp-ruleset.

1.) What is the minimum number of players required to claim the guild hall? (You only talk about the scaling from 5 to 200 players, but can I actually unlock the guild hall alone or with a three players guild?).

2.) What is the minimum numbers of players required to complete an easy guild mission? Does the minimum number depend on the actual mission? (Winning a structured pvp match requires three players, are there guild missions I can complete with less than three players?

3.) Is it more effective to boost my new found guild to unlock ‘Deep Cave’ now, or should I wait?

4.) Can please have the option to make the Guild Hall (and especially the Arena) to a PvP Zone? (Where the pvp ruleset applies, e.g. no pve armor just pvp amulet)

My biggest problem with Stronghold is, that most players currently just don’t have a clue what’s going on (e.g. which tactic is viable, when to use the treb, when the channeled buffs are spawning).

Personally, I think the best thing that currently can happen, is that Stronghold is available 24/7. That’s the only way we can get proper experience and provide viable feedback. Currently it just feels every has a different perspective what is good and what is bad at Stronghold (while most are just QQing that it is not the gamemode they have hoped for).

brannigan.9831:

Thats not necessarily true and you know it. Rank may be an indicator of skill or may not be but you act like its never and indicator of skill. There are things you need to do like rotate that take a long time to learn for most people and many many intricacies.

I think we are talking about the same thing, but just to clarify anyway:
Time played does not mean you have more skill.

Can time played (rank) be at least an indicator? The time you invest into pvp grants you more experience overall, therefore an average rank 80 player will most likely have more skill than a rank 30 player but we can’t tell for sure.
(Real life example: Even if I play thousands of hours of chess/soccer/whatever, there might come a real talent that will just beat man no matter what.)

How do we determine skill? With a mmr system like glicko2.

I await the day when you admit A-net did something wrong ever.

I have personally criticized ANet often (even got a forum ban for a nonconstructive criticism).
I’m not posting here to talk about how great or bad the matchmaking is, just to educate people about one of the most annoying misconceptions: rank != skill.

On a side note: there is a constructive way to talk about match making problems. Include all the match details of the match you think should not have happened (time+timezone, map, endscore, reason) I pm’ed Justin about 8 month ago with some informations, which led to uncover some failures in the system.

Atharian.7092:

Am I at the level of a dragon ranked player? No, I’m not.

Seems to me you either underestimate yourself or overestimate the experience that comes with the additional time required to get the dragon rank.

The rank is just a sign about time invested and has nothing to do with skill. An extreme example might be, that he just farmed his rank in a rank farm.

The MMR is to determine your skill and from what you have told us about your win rate, it seems, that it is actually placing you in the right place.

Eagelseye.6312:

Just another question, is the Warrior class not seen much in Ranked PvP as many threads suggests that the class can’t compete for other DPS class builds?

Since ROM plays warrior, Warrior will always be used in ranked pvp; I’m sure he will make it work no matter what. In the end, the so called ‘meta’ represents the point of view of the community what is strong and therefore how a team combination should be played.

The warrior has currently two viable builds that get used in ranked pvp:
Shoutbow warrior = bunker/support
marauder gs warrior = dps/roaming

On EU: EU loves the thief & mesmer burst combination and therefore we rarely see a dps warrior, but currently most top pvp team are using the shoutbow warrior for bunker/support.

On NA: marauder gs warrior is played in combination with a bunker/support guard (the cleric altruistic healing build).

Don’t forget (in a bit less than a month) HoT launches and changes the ‘meta’. Currently the combination of the new ‘Berserker’ trait line for the warrior looks great. (More specifically: the increase in survivalability with the combination of the buffed ‘Rousing Resilience’ and ‘Outrage’, the additional crowd control and the damage boost with quickness quickness).

In the end… we have to wait and see

Eagelseye.6312:

Can you please help me understand the League system you just mentioned?

Similar to WoWs BG Rating, we already have a MMR system in unranked and ranked in place to help you facing opponents of about your own strength, but currently, you don’t get rewarded for climbing up the ladder.

The league system is just the rating structured into different tiers, which will reward you the higher you climb. E.g. the gold division will be 1750 to grant you access to the normal armor skins, while 2200 will be the diamond division which will grant you access to the very special looking armor skins and titles. (Very simplified, we actually don’t know yet how many tier there will be and what we get as rewards besides titles.)

Eagelseye.6312:

Thanks Teutos.8620 for the advice. I had been reading the forums and trying to figure out what is the overall scenario of the PvP but I am still confused.

Rangers/Hunters getting staff to heal, Ele/Mages also acting as healers with Guardians/Prot Warrios fighting for Revenant for being top healers to play Bunker/Tank seems very confusing for a returning player as such.

I seek more suggestions and help from veterans here.

Depending on your weapon, stats and trait setup, every profession can perform a different role.

E.g.:
A ranger with trait points in druid, nature magic and survival: a staff; and a cerlics amulet can be a support/bunker.
A ranger with trait points in marksmanship, skirmishing and beastmastery; a longbow and a marauder amulet can be a dps.

Now, you want to throw 5 players together to build a viable pvp team:
Maybe you decide to play with 3 dps profession and 2 bunker, or you will decide to play with 1 dps and 4 hybrids/bruiser. Which profession you pick to fill each role is up to you.

Or you decide to just copy one of the top pvp teams since they will most likely have a good combination:
E.g. 1 cele staff ele, 1 settler shoutbow warrior, 1 marauder thief, 1 marauder mesmer and 1 marauder engineer.
If you want to see top team playing: http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2 (currently live with a gw2 tournament).

Eagelseye.6312:

Lastly, I am wondering what exactly PvP players play the game for as such?

First, I have unlocked every skin available through the reward tracks. Now I am waiting for the league system. Then I will play to improve myself to reach the top division.

Any player can join the game at low level itself with gear and weapons having no role as such, only build choice counts?

Once you join pvp (and you have at least a level 1 chest, legs and boots equipped) just press the helmet at the top of the screen to adjust your trait points (like the skill tree in wow) and select an amulet (the armor stats), runes (compareable to a set boni) and sigils (weapon enchantment)

Are there any PvP titles at least?

Yes, there are, but currently only once you just have to farm. For skill-based titles wait for the league system with HoT.

Well, we have roles here too.

In the end, every profession can trait for every role, but not every profession will end up to be as effective as the others.
On the current ‘meta-tier’ you can find three support/bunker builds:
cele-staff-stoneheart ele; cleric-altruistic-healing guard and shoutbow warrior.
(Take a look at metabattle.com for a rough trait preview).

The thing is, with hot the meta will change and other profession might fill that role (e.g. Ranger with the Druid specialization) so I would not pick a profession for the current meta if it might be obsolete in a month.

I suggest to create every profession, join the mists (with the two crosses swords on top of the screen) and see on the golems in the mists how every profession feels like, we don’t really have dk in gw2 (you could compare the necromancer specialization the reaper to a frost dk but until you actually have unlocked the specialization the necromancer will feel more like a warlock).

SyncTrizon.2453:

If I remember correctly, the extra bounce was added to Mirror Blade, and other bouncing skills on Mesmer, as default after the June 23rd Patch, since the previous trait for additional bounces was removed.

They did at first, but removed the additional bounce soon after.

BTT: Buffing the trait ‘Imagined Burden’ with to add an additional bounce would be a great idea. It is currently underperforming compared to the other two gm traits and adding an extra bounce would be a more creative and fun buff than to simply tune the numbers.