Guild Wars 2

@OP:
It would interest me, with what class you usually roam and encounter thieves?

funassistant.6589:

CrimsonNeonite.1048:

It really isn’t that simple once you stop using Shadow arts, you can’t really one shot either way, as a thief.

Maybe you worded it wrong or I didn’t understand correctly. Shadow Arts doesn’t increase your power by any way? So when you stop using it, you’ll be able to spec into more offensive lines.

SA thieves are brainless players that can play like idiots and still not be punished for their mistakes. Makes for flat gameplay.

It is counterproductive to call anyone a brainless player. It is annoying to fight SA thieves, agreed, but that doesn’t mean the player behind that is brain dead or a bad player in any way. It is a very effective roaming build. Why would a thief deliberately limit himself. If the game offers the perfect setup for a certain task, why not use it? (btw. I don’t play thief myself )

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

Thieves can’t 1 shot you from stealth. Mesmers can. I have a bigger problem with that.

I have never been 1 shot by a mesmer. And I am very glassy. But maybe they simply don’t catch me, for I am a mesmer myself^^

EDIT:
Also, if the Mesmer 1 shot you, he blew a lot of cool downs to do so.

Had an idea for a new Elite. Here it goes:

Phantasm Form:

• Transform into a Phantasm (visually)
• clone production disabled (however, you cans till summon phantasms)
• you gain all benefits from equipped traits, which are directly associated with phantasms or illusions
• you are revealed for the duration of the transform (if Moa formed, reveal will also disappear)
• Duration: 20s
• Cast Time: 1s
• Cool Down: 180s

Note:

• Phantasmal Haste will reduce skill cool downs by a set percentage (except for the elite itself)
• You will count as an illusion for Ether Feast, Signet of the Ether or shatters
• Illusionists Celerity won’t have an effect on the elite skill
• The active effect of Signet of the Ether will not reset the cool down for the elite

hm… that would be a simpler implementation of that ^^

makes me dream of a dismantling mastery, where your extra dmg to enemy siege allows you to gain supply through the damage done.

Just had a quick idea, and wanted to see, what you guys think of it:

When outnumbered, the players with the buff gain the ability to dismantle siege engines (reducing it by 10 supply). One can dismantle the own siege engines (and gain all the supply back) or dismantle enemy siege (but gain only half the supply).

• This applies only to siege engines that actually can be deployed (so cannons, oil and mortar cannot be dismantled).
• Dismantling is only possible, when out of combat.
• The actual siege owner must allow, that his siege can be dismantled (to prevent trolling in the case of dismantling server owned siege).
• Hostile dismantling doesn’t require this permission.
• Siege, that is in use cannot be dismantled.
• Supply, that surpasses the supply capacity of the player dismantling a siege engine is lost.

SoPP.7034:

Come on. Is anyone really surprised we get EotM 2.0???

If you’ve been following these forums for any length of time you would have seen posts from DC talking about the success of EotM. About how forums posters don’t reflect the community as a whole etc.

Then come to understand concepts like ‘group think’ mentality and ‘office politics’.

It’s far easier to continue on with your ‘success’ than to admit to your failures.

The thing is, if I wouldn’t check the forums and just be with my guild, I actually would believe people love EoTM. And I personally like the map too. What is wrong about EoTM is, that it is not part of the PPT system and that people from different servers are thrown togetha. Therefor no1 really cares what happens there. All the people complaining about getting pushed down should choose their battles better and move away from the dangerous places.

Forum posters are not the majority. They are but active and invested. So they might be the ones, who are commanding, who are forming communities and are leading the charge (just a theory, I am certainly not ). And judging from this thread: There are just as many people, who seem to like the map, as there are, who seem to dislike it.

However, this map is not EoTM 2.0. Examine it closely. There are places, fro which you can be pushed off, yes. As far as I saw just a minority of them would WP you instantly, some even let you survive and others leave you there to be rezzed. With a certain shrine under your control, you won’t even take falling damage in certain areas. This is hugely different from EoTM.

Dondagora.9645:

Wow, WvW is toxic…

Anyway, another thing I’d like to note in support of this map: Defenders in war[and other things] usually have what’s called the “Home Field Advantage”, so the fact that the battle is skewed a bit to be advantageous to the defending world is likely intended to help replicate certain aspects of real war, but in a more dense and dynamic fashion.

I think so too. Looking at the current WvW objective design, it shows, that the devs didn’t have a real idea about how fights would work in WvW. I mean, if I was to design a tower for the Mists and actually had experiences of WvW battles, I would totally change up the design and prevent defenders from being sitting ducks for zerg bombing.

@rainisword:
We get it. You’re the hero and successful in the current setup. This is why you are afraid of any change. Because you might need to adapt. The posts of you, which I read, consist all pretty much on baseless WvW elitist ideology.

Many problems being caused in WvW are not by design. They are caused by players like you, who think they are better than PvE players, more skilled and over all the best there is. This arrogance blinds you (btw I am almost exclusively a WvW player, so no, I don’t try to defend someone here).

I for once are very excited about the new map. I see lots of potential. If you are really good, you will adapt to the new environment. If you can not adapt, then you are probably just an opportunist, who does well with the status quo and can’t handle change… probably…

BTW: Most of the GW2 players are PvEers. WvW is the minority. So be glad, they even thought of that game mode

Never noticed smth like that. When I trait Masterful Reflection, my F4 makes me still immune to dmg.

PolishTank.3156:

TyPin.9860:

PolishTank.3156:

Disruption is fine however for one guy to fly around someone’s Borderlands and run back and forth taking multiple supply camps at only a couple minutes needed rate for each is a bit too easy. 2-4 people to take a supply camp I think is better balanced.

No. It is not. One single player keeping me busy, would prevent me from constantly killing dollies and taking camps. He doesn’t need to even defeat me, just slow me down (and I am far from invincible^^). Adding more PvE is really the wrong direction for WvW. Majority of WvW players want less PvE and more PvP in WvW.

The current state of WvW, supposed it is an fairly even matchup, requires players to take care of roamers: Find the infiltrator and send them where they belong: back to spawn. And not: “Bah, don’t worry, camps can defend themselves. All stack on tag and AA away.”

But that’s the thing I believe that toughening up some objectives will create more PvP. I feel that Roamers and Zergs spend the majority of time chasing and countering each others’ take overs more than fighting each other. Giving Keeps and Towers a bit more auto defenses of some nature I think will counteract this.

Zergs don’t care about any kind of NPC strengths in a camp. They run over it in seconds anyway. And how would this benefit roaming? Making camps stronger either will make roaming not worth it, or it will make roamers team up more, while letting them do the same they soloed before, now they do it with teams of 5.

Really, the amount of PvE is already too much in WvW.

PolishTank.3156:

Disruption is fine however for one guy to fly around someone’s Borderlands and run back and forth taking multiple supply camps at only a couple minutes needed rate for each is a bit too easy. 2-4 people to take a supply camp I think is better balanced.

No. It is not. One single player keeping me busy, would prevent me from constantly killing dollies and taking camps. He doesn’t need to even defeat me, just slow me down (and I am far from invincible^^). Adding more PvE is really the wrong direction for WvW. Majority of WvW players want less PvE and more PvP in WvW.

The current state of WvW, supposed it is an fairly even matchup, requires players to take care of roamers: Find the infiltrator and send them where they belong: back to spawn. And not: “Bah, don’t worry, camps can defend themselves. All stack on tag and AA away.”

That makes me sad. Because Mesmer (in GW and GW2) is a really unique concept. However, they don’t seem to have a very good feel for it atm… maybe the expansion will change that.

@DaShi:
You don’t see the point. The point is that this change has a way bigger impact on the whole balance of PvP. Only looking at the mesmer, one may quickly come to the conclusion, that it would be an indirect mesmer nerf. However, one has to give credit to the context. Stacking stability may well change the whole meta and how the mesmer really ends up there with this change can only be guessed atm …

I agree with StickerHappy here. It is a change that effects balance on a larger scale. It affects all boon removal, including sigils. So in result, it could change the whole balance. How we will end up in this new balance depends on the actual implementation.

If for some skill staby is generated every 3 seconds, it would leave you the chance of boon stripping the staby and right afterwards applying the CC. If at all it requires better coordinated team play, or a better timed rotation.

These days you simply strip the staby and have ages time to apply your CC. After patch you might have only 3 seconds, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able. And if you miss your CC and hit the new staby stack, then you reduced it still making the target potentially susceptible to further (unkoordinated) CC…

PolishTank.3156:

Its WvW, not Super Hero vs World.

Actually for me WvW is exactly that. Often I run around the map preventing objectives from upgrading by killing dollies and taking camps and ambushing dolly escorts. I like to split up with some other guys, so we work together in a way of soloing in our areas and teaming up, when needed. It more often than not requires me to 1vX and to fight players in their camp. Sometimes I win, sometimes not, but this is the path I chose and the play style I enjoy very much. Especially the cat and mouse play, when I lie in waiting around a supply camp and several opponents waiting in the camp, trying to save dollies as I attack them, when they move out. It often results in 5+ players gathering in camp before they push out to get me (and often they don’t, so the play starts anew^^).

This is a task not always recognized, but keeping objectives downgraded during the early evening helps for the zergs later to take stuff quickly. So yes: for me WvW is: Super Hero vs World :P

I agree that sentries are a waste of coding, for they don’t really do anything unless one is stupid enough to announce your presence by killing them. (sometimes you can throw the enemy off though, by killing a sentry and then going the other way^^). But camps don’t need more PvE. Players should take care of dollies and camps. If at all camps need less PvE. Maybe fortify them with walls that can be killed by weapons and installing an asura style warning system (as upgrade) would be something I could imagine being handy.

But upgrading NPCs to punish roaming is the wrong direction.

Aitadis.8269:

Achieving rank 14 to purchase the gift of battle was too difficult so they removed the rank requirement, now they are removing wvw maps from world completion as it is also too difficult apparently. I thought the whole point of making a legendary was because it was suppose to be somewhat difficult.

That is a weird argument. What is about players that are accidentally on a stacked server matched against low pop servers? They get map completion just by logging in one day and walking around the map to get all POIs and Vistas…

Aitadis.8269:

At least add Gift of Exploration to the Gift of Battle vendor for us players who hate doing pve zones for map completion. 1k badges for gift of exploration sounds fair. It’s not fair to force pvp players into pve, but not do the same for pve players into pvp.

I agree that it is weird to require PvE map completion for a WvW player to gain access to legendaries. However the challenges are different. While the PvE “challenge” to get map completion are simply time gated, the PvP challenge to get map completion is depended on so many other factors. In some situations it makes it impossible for the average player to ever get WvW map completion unless they are ready to transfer server, for a considerable extra cost.

Fairness is the last thing this game knows (except partly for PvEers, who I guess are the majority of GW2 players). And as a WvW player one should be aware of that. One can only hope, that in the future they will allow WvW players their own rewards and make the game mode more interesting by adding actual good (and exclusive) WvW rewards.

I like it. It was hard for certain PvEers to get their world completion on certain servers without transferring. I had to do my WvW completion on FoW server the first time around. And being constantly blue back then, I never had a chance to get green side Vistas and POIs (once with a friend we tried soloing fully upgraded keep in EBG… almost did it… but couldn’t get to the vista while being chased as the green zerg arrived^^).

There was a time of free transfer though, where I “cheated” and went to ruins of surmia to get finally that green side stuff and went back afterwards. So I can sympathize with the pain of needing WvW completion but being denied.

Maybe he was mad that he lost… I don’t know. It was weird. He was a platinum rank necro and from how the first fight went, I gathered he didn’t only zerk farm that rank, but also knows how to fight in small scale combat. However, he was just fodder to me without LF^^

He respawned in garry on his BL and went strait to me (I was west of garry). There are not many ambient creatures there, so there was not much chance of gathering some quick life force…

I would love a new new version of mimic:

Transform:
Transform into a copy of your target, granting you the target’s stats and skills as well as their physical appearance for 10 seconds.
Cast time: 1s
Cool Down: 90s
Range: 900

Note: Skills that occupy slots of previous skills in cool down, remain in the same cool down. This applies for change from true form to mimic form and back.

But this kind of thing might be better suited as an elite skill.^^

I hope this will some day exist in a PvP format. However, it might be funny to use it in PvE and transform into lupi^^

Also, I wanna be able to mimic a thief and hide myself in Shadow Refuge^^

At least I can’t live without the 25% speed boost from traveler runes any more. Yes there might be better runes stat wise, but especially repositioning in stealth is so much easier, if you are faster. I tried with other runes… and it was just painful to walk so slow. Even if that means giving up on dmg or defensive stats/effects… I can’t play without that speed any more without going crazy about how slow the normal speed is…

Fay.2357:

travelers are just a waste of rune slots.

I really disagree. At least for WvW roaming. Th ooc and in combat mobility is very strong. The stats are a waste, I agree, but the condition duration still is a benefit…

Lol, in the title I thought with CC you meant Crowd Control^^

But following this misconception. Why not make it a CC build?
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJARWlknpMt1oxRNcrNitBZyOEBUPkjsySGghB-TViFABKcIA4TJokq/AwDAI49HoS53Z6CS4CAcwRAgQAK2CA-w

My changes:

• Chaos X to Chaos VIII + Mantra of Distraction —> might stacking
• Illusions VII —> more bounces from staff #1 and GS #2 means better might stacking and significant + easy dmg increase
• moved 4 points from domination into dueling for Sharpener Images (bleeds) and DE (clone production)

The weakness in my changes:

• no condition cleanse
• less power and condition duration

If you can manage to stack some might with shatters and interrupts, you will get some nice damage in your target. But it’s gonna be difficult. On my MtD shatter build I usually stack around 4-5 Might in “idle mode”. Where I just let staff clones attack… Shatters + bountiful interruption might allow for some nice might stacking.

stof.9341:

TyPin.9860:

Ever tried interrupting Hide in Shadows? You expect me to slot a 6 trait points skill on the off chance to actually hit a Hide in Shadows interrupt?

So you cannot interrupt a 1s cast glowy blue effect Hide in Shadows skill ? And you want to interrupt the thief weapon skills which more often than not have 1/4s to 3/4s cast time ?

Sry, I confused it with Shadow Refuge^^
However, interrupting thief weapon skills is quite easy… cuz they like to spam certain attack chains. So hitting one of those is easy (if you don’t blow it into evade skills). But yes, Hide in Shadows is an easy to interrupt skill. But it is not used by many thieves I encounter and still leaves the issue, that the majority of thief utility skills, that are present in the meta, have short or even no cast time…

This results in weapon skills being immune to Power Block and also most utilities immune or virtually immune.

ensoriki.5789:

My Cooldown Extender isn’t hurting Initiative. How dare intentional design work.
My Cooldown extender does work on Hide in Shadows…how dare that work.

Ever tried interrupting Hide in Shadows? You expect me to slot a 6 trait points skill on the off chance to actually hit a Hide in Shadows interrupt? Or maybe I should interupt a 0s cast time signet? There are sime thief utilities, that can be interrupted. However, they are not that common or even usually cast out of combat range…

As I said: One of Mesmer’s central concerns is thief in PvP. Adding a trait to Mesmer, that virtually doesn’t effect thieves is simply worthless.

Also, nobody claims that this isn’t working as intended. However, the thought process behind the intention is already flawed for explained reason. The trait simply is wasted data space. Removing it wouldn’t change anything because for explained reason (almost) no1 uses it…

EDIT:
Confused Hide in Shadows with Shadow Refuge^^

For me there is no other viable WvW roaming rune than travaler in a condition build. The reason is simply the mobility. It also adds 10% condi duration, so condi builds have still some advantage from using it.

Centaur is okay on a power build. Especially if you have two centaur mesmers teaming up^^

Ravenmoon.5318:

@TyPin – Its not the first trait that has 0 viability. Especially in the grandmaster slot. Its more of a design hindsight rather than a bug. Why would every profession suffer If it is moved to adept line? Well probably because every semi-braindead mesmer would be running interrupt build then and the only viable class will be the thief. Due to mechanics.

Moving it to adept or master was one of my suggestions, not the only one. However, it all depends on what it is changed with. Lockdown builds take significant dmg boost from halting strike, which is an adept trait. So in the adept level it would have serious competition and might still not be picked. In fact the domination trait line has several good traits that compete with each other and most of the time you must make a pick even with 6 points invested. Moving it to adept might not even change anything for builds… it just would give proper credit to the actual value of the trait…

It also depends on what will be moved to grandmaster instead.

@Initiative loss on interrupt:
This is a weak argument, since it depends on the actual skill used and often the initiative isn’t even spend if the skill was interrupted. Also this has nothing to do with the trait. Normal skills suffer a 5 seconds cool down when interrupted and thief skills suffer (ideally, but in practice this seems different) wasted initiative.

This is before the trait Power Block even applies. Power block cause more “suffering” to normal skills on interrupt, why is it, that thieves should be immune to this trait. An essential aspect of many (if not most or even all) Mesmer PvP builds is how well can they do against thieves. For Power Block virtually doesn’t effect thieves, it is a worthless GM trait. Nothing would change, if it simply disappeared.

Ravenmoon.5318:

TyPin.9860:

So imo the trait should be changed. Make it a master or even adept trait or change, what it does or make it effect thieves. In the current state, the trait is simply not used, because every other GM trait is more useful.

So .. because thief can’t get interrupted (as intended) all other classes should suffer?
Impeccable logic right there, sir.

Why should the other professions suffer? That would depend of the nature on the change, would it not?

Right now no1 uses it. The trait is of no use in PvE. It might have some use in sPvP, where it won’t be used by mesmers, because their “greatest adversary” is virtually immune to it. And what use does it have in WvW? Roaming is the same as PvP: Thief is immune. And large scale WvW: Against good groups it does almost nothing (stabi). Against bad groups… well… it is not needed.

This trait, if thief is intended to not be interrupted, makes no sense. With the same trait investment you get, to remain interrupter, confounding suggestion. Which would be even helpful against thieves.

In fact ANet logic is flawed, because they introduced a trait, that has by design absolutely no usage. But ANet seems to have problems with Mesmer anyways, as apparent by certain changes like Mimic.

But it’s okay to leave thieves immune against any kind of counter play… let’em spam away. As this seems totally okay…

First I find it funny that ppl refer to skills 6-10 can be interrupted.

So let’s observe frequently used skills:

• Withdraw —> evades, no interrupt
• Shadow refuge —> 1/4s cast time. It can be interrupted at times, but it’s more luck than anything. It follows no rotation and can be used by a thief at any time. So it is not even predictable
• Shadow Step —> can not be interrupted
• Hide in Shadows —> yes, can easily be interrupted
• Signets —> have no cast time according to wiki, so no, can not be interrupted.
• Basilisk Weapon —> Yep, can be interrupted, but is often cast out of combat range or in stealth

So in practice, only a minimum of those skills are really susceptible to interruption. And this would be fine. But Power block not working on weapon skills and utilities mostly immune to interruption, makes this trait basically worthless against thieves.

So imo the trait should be changed. Make it a master or even adept trait or change, what it does or make it effect thieves. In the current state, the trait is simply not used, because every other GM trait is more useful.

The point is, that thieves are almost immune against an offensive control GM trait. There is no reason for a Mesmer to trait it. There are always better options, simply because of one profession being almost immune to it by design.

But this is the normality for mesmers. Screwed up skills, bugs everywhere, and questionable design decisions… I just say: Mimic…

I bet no1 on the ANet balance team plays Mesmer or even cares to take the Mesmer PoV…

And this is not about being against thieves. But if I invest 6 trait points into a GM trait, I would like this one to also effect thieves, which are anyway our “natural predators”

@Teutos.8620:
Uh, I didn’t know that, for I avoid carrying the orb myself. That confirms my suspicions, if it is true. So basically mesmers have no tools to help them carry the orb. Same goes maybe for necromancer and thief, but I am not sure…

Those orb mechanics either are simply not thought through, or they are a statement of the devs, as to what professions should be capable of…

Zenith.7301:

lol let’s see your fractal 50 solo videos if PvE is so easy compared to rolling some faceroll spvp hotjoin meta build.

I tried to make one. But the computer refused to record, because it was blown away by the mesmer awesomeness.^^

I know the need for balancing. Let’s assume we find certain skills too strong for the map, like portal or spectral walk (that would be an entirely different discussion, so I leave it out here).

My point was, that there are professions, that don’t need certain builds to help carrying the orb. They just have it across different builds. Like blocks from engi and guardian, like leaps from engi and guardian. Not even warrior has in the common builds an inherent ability to better carry the orb, however either shouts or stances still give them good benefits. Rangers can leap in every build I have encountered.

Now to the things you said about Mesmer, which are all subpar in comparison or situational:

Mesmer distortion:

• either on an odd signet build for frequent use
• or it’s a long cool down and requires a clone setup (Distortion)
• or it roots the mesmer (Blurred Frenzy) —> this one helps to survive but you won’t be closer to any cap point

Mesmer aegis (I almost laughed at this comment…):

• random application from a relatively long CD skill (Chaos Storm)
• random application from PU, but then we’ll drop the orb, cause of stealth…

Now compare this to other one button click and unconditional skills:

• frequent block across different builds (engi gear shield, guardian shelter, guardian focus #5)
• frequent leaps across different builds (engineer rifle, guardian GS, warrior GS, ranger GS or 1H-sword)
• defensive skills across different builds (warrior shouts or stances, guardian shouts or meditation)
  —> those are skills which are often used across different builds, can be used frequently and don’t require chance or a set up to work

—> A mesmer for instance, if he wants to carry the orb as efficiently, needs to go out of their way (literally) and use certain builds (like signet builds) to do it, or needs to blow long cool down skills (like Distortion).

Yes blocks, leaps and other defensive skills can often be countered. But most Mesmer builds don’t even have anything useful in the first place for orb carrying. That is the imbalance by design.

And all of this, because ANet didn’t know how to balance certain teleports? I understand that blink for instance could be very strong too. What I don’t understand is, why they left Mesmers (and others) without any reliable utility, while others still have it.

From wiki:
“Bring the orb to any capture point to score. Movement speed decreased by 40%. Prevents stealth and swiftness. Carriers drop the orb if teleportation or invulnerability abilities are used.”

So why is it, that professions with leaps and powerful blocks (engineer, guard and warrior comes to mind) are allowed to do their thing, and professions with teleports, stealth and invulnerability (like necro to an extend, thief or mesmer) are not allowed to use theirs? Do I see a pattern of preferred professions ANet wants to see in PvP?

You may say: “Well engi also uses stealth, guardian has invul too and swiftness is smth many professions use. So in the end all are hindered.” This is correct, to an extend. Necro for instance is only left with DS to tank dmg… mesmers has nothing to help them carry the orb (besides odd signet tank builds maybe). The same is true for thieves. However warriors, guardians and engineers (and also rangers?) have still a variety of skills left to use (some of them available in a variety of builds), which they can use to help them carry the orb. But the profession concepts of mesmers and thieves are denied… why is that?

hm… I really wasn’t aware of that. I mean when I roam with my necro I do need LF… but I can start most fights without it and gathering LF during a fight is enough for condi spike so that it puts any foe (well except diamond skin ele^^) on the defensive.^^

Wasn’t aware that power builds rely so much on DS. Thx guys for the info

Maybe it would have been possible at release. Or if for some reason the game mechanics change, so that everyone basically starts fresh, it might be possible. Mind you, I am mainly talking about PvP (as in sPvP or WvW).

But as of now, there are so many Mesmer around, who all had to live through the uphill battle. Basically – and this is just my theory, it might not be true – the top Mesmers today need more skill to master their profession than a Warrior for instance.

If now Mesmers are buffed, so it becomes easier in the low and mid range skill level of the game, then it might become just as easy for the top level of play. And this might be perceived as an imbalance in design, while it actually would be an imbalance in skill, which now shows. And ppl would demand nerfs to Mesmers again, although the perceived imbalance is not caused in imbalanced game mechanic, but in the sudden boost for Mesmer from an uphill to an even battle.

EDIT:
Anet would need to let ppl figure out the new mechanics and not overcompensate for things in overeager balance patches… given the balancing history with Mesmers though, I fear they wouldn’t do that.

As far as I know shield will only be available to the Mesmer specialization. So the class mechanic will change… no matter if you use shield or not.

Uh, that actually sounds interesting.

Only “problem” might be, that spying on a server becomes a bit more easy.

My second profession is Necromancer, but rarely play her. I mostly run around with Mesmer (either condition shatter or CI power lockdown) in WvW. ANd so I met that necromancer today while running CI power lockdown. He seemed to have been running a power based build and he had full LF when we started fighting.

I admit I made some mistakes in that fight. But it was very close and I was only barely able to defeat him. However, he then used the WP from the close keep and attacked me again. This time without any life force (and his elite was still in cool down too)… my daze mantra also was still in cool down. But this time he wasn’t a thread at all. It was ridiculously easy to dispose of him a 2nd time, while the first fight was very close and could have gone the other way.

My experiences with LF as a necro comes only from my condition dmg roaming build, where I just need a bit of LF for my condi bursts (burning, chill, bleed, torment) and then I switch out again.

Are power builds that much reliant on LF? Those 2 fights were a such a difference und without a bit of a LF pool he wasn’t a threat to me at all…

Chaos Archangel.5071:

- Equipping Shield could alters mainhand abilities: Similar to a Thief, equipping a shield may change one or two of the skills on our two mainhand weapons. Illusionary Leap or Confusing Images could be changed to something different. Alternatively, shield skills could change depending on which mainhand is going with it.

I hope they do something like this.

I like Mesmer shield, because in GW1 I was sometimes goofing around with an Illusionary Weaponry build in random arena. I used a sword and shield for this and it was quite some fun at times^^

I fear though that we will get only shield. This would mean, we get only 2 new weapon skills. However, maybe they’ll do something like thief sword: Skill #3 changes, when you use different off hand weapons. Maybe they could do smth similar when using offhand shield and change skill #3 depending on the used main hand (so basically shield changes #3 one hand weapon skills when equiped). That would be kinda cool and maybe we get smth ultra awesome in place of buggy iLeap.

The idea behind the proposal is nice. But unless server transfers are free (for a limited time for instance) not so many people might transfer to not stacked servers.

Also, some people simply wanna stay with their server, as it may have become some kind of identity in GW2.

If now for some reason (cuz scores could be all much closer then) a top server is matched with a low ranking server, it could mean that sometimes the maps are almost empty, while hundreds of players are stuck in queue.

Yeah, the main purpose of sword is to cripple/immobilize. I was also thinking it might be better to use the cripple on clone death trait to hinder enemy movement. I had the sword for ages though, and the sigil of earth was still on it and I was too lazy to switch it out yet^^

Hey fellow Mesmers,

I am lately falling in love with MtD Shatter builds for roaming in WvW (mobility, toughness and decent dmg output). So I made a short video of the fights I had yesterday:
click me

Build:
MtD Shatter

I know, it isn’t exactly highest level Mesmer skill, especially the first 2 fights^^ But still, I managed to come out on top most of the time.

I would appreciate some feedback on the build and the play style. I plan to do some more videos in the future. Still working to find the right editing tool. So I apologize for the low video quality.

P.S.: Can someone recommend a good free to use video editing tool? Right now I used Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 (cuz it was free^^)

As far as I know, it is intended. Sadly…

I have experienced this too several times. Either they were on a queue for another map or simply left WvW. But it seems that this prevents you to get loot and exp.

It happens rarely though in my experience, so I do not think this is a very pressing issue. On the other hand I can’t imagine that this would be too hard to fix.

Hm… I personally didn’t read any guide and used only builds, I created myself. I was looking at what I enjoy about Mesmer and focused on that. This is how I got to know the profession. Of course having played since launch made it easier, cuz when I was a scrub, everyone else basically was too^^

I also started the game mostly in WvW. It is imo still the best place to learn a profession. Because even playing casually you need to be way more adaptive than in casual PvP. On the other hand, you can get away in WvW with builds and strategies, that wouldn’t work that well in PvP (I for instance sometimes use missile reflection focused build in WvW, where it can work wonders. In PvP I got always crushed using it^^). But that is just my opinion/experience.

Maybe after 6 month into the game I started looking for other builds and reading/watching guides and streams. Now having a fairly good understanding of the profession, I still had troubles against certain builds, in certain situations. And this is why I started seeking help in the forum and through those guides.

After having played for a while different power shatter styles, which I tried to copy from videos and streams, I am now back most of the time to my own builds. I learned a lot about strategies and tactics with those guides and “premade” builds, but ultimately, at least for a casual player, I find it the best to adept the builds you play to your play style instead of adapting your play style to a certain build.

rly? Whoa. I want an apology for the Mesmer breaking. Admitting is the first step for improvement^^

Still a shame. The havoc and destruction was awesome xD

And I played a rampager setup back then with centaur runes (so they added bleeding duration). I did enjoy the might stacking very much

Fay.2357:

TyPin.9860:

Jedge.3619:

Shattered strength – increased to 2-3 stacks of might

Remember any1 when ppl complained about the might stacking of shatter builds when the game was young? They then nerfed our might stacking ability… and allowed others to go havoc with might stacking celestial builds…

You’re remembering this a bit wrong. The might stacking of a shatter build lasted for something like 3 days, then it was nerfed.

I am quite sure it gave more than 1 stack of might per shattered illusion in the beginning. Where can I check? Is there a patch log somewhere?

Found it:

• Game Update Notes – December 14, 2012: “Shattered Strength: Increased to three stacks of might and ten second duration.”
• Game Update Notes – January 3, 2013: “Shattered Strength: This trait now grants 1 stack of might per illusion shattered.”

It was a short run of awesome destruction though^^

@Jedge.3619:
I disagree. Confusion from glamor builds was way way more predictable, avoidable in the first place and you weren’t loaded with many other conditions. It was way more balanced. Confusion did not need a nerf back then. The screamers needed to L2P.

But I agree on the perplexity part.