~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
@wasbunny: I noticed that in a previous post you mentioned your condition damage is around 1580. That’s…pretty low. In a standard WvW condie build, I hold around 2050 fully buffed/stacked, and if you wanted to go for absolute maximum I believe the grand total was something near 3000.
Something else to note is that you’re using old confusion in your calculations. 450 per stack is 2000 condition damage pre-nerf. Now that’s 225 per stack. With your 1600ish condition damage, it’ll be 185 per stack.
Right right. That 1580 is without food or any might, and PvE only. Looks like it’s 1974 with food and tuning crystals and Sigil of Domination. Of course this is again without might. I think the beauty of that new GM trait is that Cry of Frustration adds 3 stacks of Torment, 6 stacks of Confusion & 3 stacks of might in one shatter with this build. And if the sigil procs another stack of Torment (56% crit chance so it usually does). Of course the staff is continually adding Might & Torment on it’s auto-attack (double bounce trait as well).
Honestly haven’t crunched the numbers to this extent but it seems like adding that much additional conditions outweighs the added condi damage.
Well, it doesn’t really. The torment shatter is actually a very weak trait. Any build with that trait could be done better as a standard clone-death build without shatters. The issue is that shatters are fairly easy to avoid. Dodgeable, blockable, blindable, etc. None of those apply with clone deaths. On top of that, 3 stacks of torment is just…eh. It honestly doesn’t do that much damage, and the confusion lasts 4 seconds at best. Your opponent will either straight cleanse all of it…or just stand still a few seconds using no skills and that whole shatter will do about 1500 damage.
Note that this isn’t something particular about your build itself. It’s inherent to the trait, it’s simply too weak to be a shatter trait. It doesn’t reward the sacrifice of so many resources well enough. Your big shatter is Cry in this build. It does 1500 damage if your opponent stands still and takes no actions. Compare this to a glassy shatter build where each clone (+ IP) will do 2000-2500 damage.
But isn’t that the magic of Confusion/Torment and Mesmers in general? I mean in order to not eat the damage they have to stand motionless using no skills for at least 4 seconds, all the while you pile on more Confusion and more Torment and have your way with them. And how much damage do they take if they chose to ignore the stacks of Confusion & Torment? Or use a cleanse and put it on cooldown only to have more quickly added?
It ends up being sort of a tricky lock-down condi build. I’ll concede though that on my part it’s all mainly theoretical since I don’t PvP much and for God’s sake I’m debating this with Pyro. 
EDIT: Looks like the Confusion lasts about 7 seconds for Cry of Frustration if that makes any difference. Master of Misdirection taken & with food.
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
@wasbunny: I noticed that in a previous post you mentioned your condition damage is around 1580. That’s…pretty low. In a standard WvW condie build, I hold around 2050 fully buffed/stacked, and if you wanted to go for absolute maximum I believe the grand total was something near 3000.
Something else to note is that you’re using old confusion in your calculations. 450 per stack is 2000 condition damage pre-nerf. Now that’s 225 per stack. With your 1600ish condition damage, it’ll be 185 per stack.
Right right. That 1580 is without food or any might, and PvE only. Looks like it’s 1974 with food and tuning crystals and Sigil of Domination. Of course this is again without might. I think the beauty of that new GM trait is that Cry of Frustration adds 3 stacks of Torment, 6 stacks of Confusion & 3 stacks of might in one shatter with this build. And if the sigil procs another stack of Torment (56% crit chance so it usually does). Of course the staff is continually adding Might & Torment on it’s auto-attack (double bounce trait as well).
It looks like when fully buffed with 25 stacks of might the condi damage is 2849. This is without corruption stacks or ‘guard buff’ (I’m honestly embarrassed not to know what this is).
Honestly haven’t crunched the numbers to this extent but it seems like adding that much additional conditions outweighs the added condi damage.
EDIT: Feel a bit honored and humbled by Pyro analyzing my build. Big fan. 
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
Probably won’t help since I’ve been using a weird Mesmer condi build (of my own design) that is not officially sanctioned by anyone, anywhere but after calculating the highest condi damage I could this is where I’m at:
0/6/2/0/6 all Rabid. Staff & Scepter/Torch. Full Perplexity runes. Sigils of Torment in there as well.
This build that I call my ‘Mesmermancer’ will probably be scoffed at by all and feared by none, but the condi damage is truly impressive. Again, all Rabid is the key.
Why do you have 6 points in dueling if you’re aiming for maximum condition damage?
Well that’s a good point actually. I need to take 5 points to get Confusing Combatants, as well as DE and Phantasmal Fury.
I’m taking the new GM trait Maim the Disillusioned so I’m kind of stuck with that last extra point. I put it in Dueling to pick up another new GM trait Triumphant Distortion since I have no better place to put it (and because I like the way it looks
Well, I’m just remarking on the fact that if you’re going for maximum condition damage, your setup is all wrong. You’d need to be 0/0/5/4/5 for absolute maximum, or 0/4/5/0/5 for a more workable setup. Your setup sounds like it’ll cap at around 2100ish condition damage with full stacks of corruption and guard leech.
I can see that. But I’m not really just calculating condi damage of conditions but the ability to apply conditions in the first place. For instance, on crit condis (torment) and bleed from my illusions, torment on shatter (new GM) and the condis applied from illusion death traits. With those builds it seems like I’d be losing out on a lot of application of the condis even though my condi damage is increased. I could be wrong but it seems like the overall condi DPS would be lower than my build.
EDIT: Looks like I was pretty close with my previous build of 0/5/5/0/4. I’m really multiplying for AoE condi damage so that AoE Confusion illusion death trait Confusing Combatants is really important. Picking up that new GM that adds Torment on shatter though changed things around a bit.
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
Probably won’t help since I’ve been using a weird Mesmer condi build (of my own design) that is not officially sanctioned by anyone, anywhere but after calculating the highest condi damage I could this is where I’m at:
0/6/2/0/6 all Rabid. Staff & Scepter/Torch. Full Perplexity runes. Sigils of Torment in there as well.
This build that I call my ‘Mesmermancer’ will probably be scoffed at by all and feared by none, but the condi damage is truly impressive. Again, all Rabid is the key.
Why do you have 6 points in dueling if you’re aiming for maximum condition damage?
Well that’s a good point actually. I need to take 5 points to get Confusing Combatants, as well as DE and Phantasmal Fury.
I’m taking the new GM trait Maim the Disillusioned so I’m kind of stuck with that last extra point. I put it in Dueling to pick up another new GM trait Triumphant Distortion since I have no better place to put it (and because I like the way it looks and seriously because there is really no other option for a condi spec, and added survivability is always good for one.)
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
Just realized this was Uzi’s first post, visionary right out of the gate!
This is how the future is created.
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
Your idea with Champ Pavillon is generally good. Leave QD champs as they are – just make the loot at pavillon better. Then the people will move on on their own, without feeling angry that they have been denied yet another source of income (especially since the trains did receive a nerf recently).
When herding players towards specific content (or away from specific content), using a carrot is way better than using the stick. Too bad Anet doesn’t like to give out carrots.
We seem to be on two different sides of the fence about the QD train and yet I have to absolutely agree with you on this solution. I think it’s a win/win.
Actually I don’t really disagree with most of your comments to my post, in that they describe a certain totally valid playstyle of loot collecting as a main source of enjoyment in the game. I sincerely have no problem with this, and in fact you might be in the majority. Doesn’t matter really, as I said it’s a totally valid way to play the game. Of course the impact on the community and general game experience for those that don’t share this view can be negatively impacted, even if not intentional. Neither ‘side’ wants this, we all want a better experience regardless.
Myself on the other side of the fence couldn’t care less about loot or gold and find all my primary rewards to be the journey to the chest, rather than the chest itself. Once again, really doesn’t matter. To each their own.
Comes down to a philosophical difference really, so no right or wrong.
Anyway, I really think we are coming to a great ‘best of both worlds’ solution with having a purposefully implemented zone/instance much like the Crown Pavilion specifically for champ farming, or basically farming tough high level mobs in general.
There is no need to nerf the loot further as long as the loot gained in this area is greater than the current rate for the Queensdale train. It would be an upleveled zone which would allow new players to get a taste of what level 80 is like in PvE, not just in WvW or PvP.
While not eliminating the Queensdale champ train it would give another option for those who want to do this type of thing, reducing the concentration in QD. I would personally love to jump back into the Crown Pavilion every now and again for some quick gold and epic mayhem.
I like it, and if it was on my desk right now I’d be tempted to sign it into law.
What do you all think, could it work?
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
The danger is that new players coming into the game will end up with a shallow understanding of the game and thus share your opinion.
Without the crutch of a champ train leveling experience most players find out there is a lot more than just pressing 1 to the game. If that’s all they see then it’s possible, like you, to think that’s all there is.
+1
We should fear for the future of this game if that is acceptable to anyone.
Unfortunately when you look at progression that is all there is to the future of the game until they take the time change it. I’m speaking of course of Ascended gear end game crafting.
We’re not all so jaded and dispirited by the lack of new content that we can forget what it was like during launch, are we? I loved those days (yes, even with all the bugs) because it was a new game to me. I don’t know if I could say that if I were a new player starting in Queensdale today.
I would not wish a new player to experience this first thing into his/her new game. Is that so bad?
Exactly. Or even before they introduced champ boxes at all. Most level appropriate players would fear / avoid the champs, some brave ones would take them on. High levels would mostly ignore them except to possibly help out someone trying to take them down or to test themselves by soloing the beasts.
Champs were never seen as passive loot bags waiting to be farmed. They were Champions. Open world semi-bosses to act as challenges for 2-5 players. This was a preparation for future boss fights to learn things like boss mechanics and improve profession skill.
The problem was there was no other reward besides the personal thrill of besting them and the knowledge gained. So in the end the champs were mainly ignored & avoided. This led (unfortunately imo) to champ boxes being added as guaranteed drops and shortly thereafter, champ trains. The champ boxes giving level appropriate loot no matter what made it an obvious choice and ‘path of least resistance’ for a lot of players just looking for loot.
I don’t think the answer is to make champ boxes drop zone level loot, since this would concentrate the high levels to a couple areas with little reason to go back to lower level zones. I think the loot just needs to be equal to the challenge to get it.
The one time I really enjoyed joining in on any form of ‘champ train’ was during the Queen’s Jubilee in the Crown Pavilion. There they had four concentrated areas of vets & champions of different sorts with a legendary boss that would spawn in each at regular intervals, usually at least two at once.
It was really challenging, many died over and over trying to farm the champs. Whole groups of high level players would wipe in an area. It was both challenging and rewarding and didn’t negatively effect anyone with negative mapchat or trivializing content. And if you survived the loot was ridiculous, so much so I had to buy an extra bag slot since I was constantly filling my bags mid battle. And with that much loot I had the gold for bigger bags, extra bag slot, extra bank tabs etc.
So I think if they just brought something like that back and the rewards were at the right level, a lot of Queensdale champ train runners would be encouraged to run on that map/instance for the higher reward but higher risk. Maybe even making open world low level champions a more rare and random occurrence.
Yikes that was long, I guess I had more to say than I thought.
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
Thing I was pointing out was that if a phantasm stops at say 600 range (with a 600 range attack) and the attack itself takes any time at all to cast and to travel, if the target moves to a range of 601 it will miss. I don’t think instant casting phantasms is really on the table.
I think the solution would be to program the phantasms to start their attacks within the attack range. For example the phantasm starts attacking at 400 so even if walking away the target will be hit. They also need to travel slightly faster than an unbuffed player/mob walking away.
EDIT: And yeah seriously, why not have all the projectiles home to their targets if within range? Just seems to make sense. Although I was glad I could just wiggle back and forth to avoid Liadri’s staff attacks. 
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
Thats a different issue.
Issue 1 is the range. If a phantasm like iMage has an attack that only has 1200 range and is fired at 1200 range, the target has to make one step and the projectile disappears at 1201 range before it hits (theory).
Issue 2 is the homing / slow moving / skillshot projectile. By simply spamming left/right/left/right you will NEVER get hit by iWarlock for example. It shoots where you will move and therefore never hits. Then the iMage seems to have a “shoot where it is” skill in the vid. I don’t think thats true, but I guess he won’t aim out of his range where the enemy will move to. So he uses the farest possible “will move there” location wich is similar with the max range in general. He would hit if he would move closer to 1000 range and the bolt flies 1200 far.Imo iDisenchanter, iMage and iWarlock should have homing shots. It’s easy to dodge those skills, same as iSwordsman or iZerker. However letting them miss all the time is extremly frustrating, even in PvE when mobs run and stop for an attack and the 20k iWarlock bolt flies into the void.
It seems Rangers have this same problem with their pets. The pets will run up to the target, stopping at whatever their max attack range is. This is often dramatically countered by the target taking one step back.
While Phantasms seem to suffer the same problems as Ranger pets it’s actually even worse since Ranger pets do in fact move faster than the player, even untraited. As far as I’ve been able to tell Phantasms move at the same speed as the Mesmer. But they unfortunately stop as soon as they are at max attack range.
Solution? Hmm… (scratches head) maybe have them start attacking closer to the target? Maybe that’s just crazy talk.
EDIT: Sorry, just realized that last part sounded like I was snarkily advising to just cast the phantasms closer to the target. What I meant was for ArenaNet to program them so that they stop and attack inside their max range, far enough in so that the target can’t simply walk slowly out of range.
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
More good points, in fact you’ve got me re-thinking my entire line of reasoning.
When I dig a little deeper into the ‘problems’ with Ranger’s ranged combat it more boils down to how much content is done by just stacking in a corner in melee range. In these situations the Longbow of course becomes less effective than melee weapons, or even other profession’s ranged weapons.
With mechanics that don’t necessarily optimize melee stacking Spotter longbow & spirits make perfect sense the way they function now. Makes complete sense to be hanging back at range between say a staff Mesmer and a grenade kit Engineer buffing them with Spotter & spirits while the Guardian & Warrior stand in melee with the boss protecting & buffing each other. The Ranger can still jump into the fray with melee weapons whenever necessary of course.
I suppose the way things are it actually allows the Ranger to be more flexible instead of what I originally proposed which would end up just buffing melee fighters.
Good talk, seems there’s a lot more to Rangers than meets the Eagle Eye.
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
Attachments:
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
This is sort of amazing.
Everything seems to be working but I can’t get my mouse wheel to continue to zoom (as I have it set now).
Nonetheless it’s a really great cruise control toggle. If there was anyway in GW2 to be able to assign a new action for the right mouse click (which with the script running is useless except to toggle it off) it would be incredible.
Great job, my mouse and I thank you.
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
You’re obviously new to the game, so welcome!
You never have to deposit gold into a bank. Awhile back they introduced an account wallet system so it’s all automatic, never have to get your hands dirty.
To get your gold back just talk to your guild leader or officer, they have access and I’m sure will get it back to you.
EDIT: And in the future don’t ever post players account names…you need to blank them out or just not include the screenshot. It’s frowned upon on the forums.
EDIT (Again): Sorry, I just realized by your stage in the personal story and actually by the fact you have 50g to deposit at all that you’re probably not new to the game. I hope my ‘welcome to the game’ comment didn’t seem sarcastic, it really wasn’t meant that way. I’ve made my share of /facedesk mistakes with tons of time in the game believe me.
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
If you think all MMO’s are dull, then what in the heck are you doing posting in an MMO forum? Why do you even have an account for that matter? For crying out loud, go find something else to do!
- And if you hate MMOs then you REALLY wanna check out Guild Wars 2 !
Thanks for the link never saw that one before. No idea what your point was but thanks all the same.
Here’s another one:
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
And the wallet…three cheers for the wallet! I remember the dark ages before ArenaNet gave us the account wallet, those were some primitive times indeed.
There is a lot of amazing things in GW2 that is either forgotten or taken for granted, but once you spend some time in other MMOs it’s always oh so good to be back.
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(feel bad about snipping such a great post, but for the sake of space…)
~snip~
Trust me, if you’ve never been to the depths of a game in which gear was the measure of your worth, you’re fortunate. GW2 feels like I’ve died and gone to heaven, where the air smells like warm rootbeer and the towels are oh so fluffy in comparison.
So very true.
Let’s imagine that Citadel of Flame is only accessible after a gear check, full ascended armor & weapons or no entry at all. Then lets imagine ascended gear is not craftable and only drops randomly in chests in Honor of the Waves.
Now imagine HotW requires full exotics or no entry and exotics are not craftable and are only found as random drops in chests in Twilight Arbor.
Further imagine that instead of everyone in the party getting an equal chance for the ascended or exotic drop they need in order to get into the next dungeon/raid only one person has a chance to get the item. If the party is lucky enough to have the gear show up in the chest they must ‘need/greed’ roll to see who gets it, with the possibility of someone stealing it outright.
Can you imagine the grind and negativity this kind of gear check would cause? Luckily no game is sadistic enough to put it’s players through that.
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
(edited by Wasbunny.6531)
The title plus the comment plus your signature quote…well, that’s a lot of funny right there.
Thanks Hamfast!
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
Someone explain the Yak Parade to a Pikeneer, RP in WvW has always interested me.
I had to look it up too. What I found made my day.
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~
~An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.~