Guild Wars 2

The Zerk meta in PvE is simply because of the lack of a good AI. Image an enemy, that switches randomly between different AI’s. He also has endurance and dodges every skill if he can. The enemy will use blocks and riposte, won’t oneshot you, but will be a bit more unpredictable. The reason why ppl normally don’t use zerker in WvW is that the enemy is unpredictable compared to PvE. This way range combat gets a buff, rangers ger more viable again since they can be zerker, while others can’t anymore. CC gets more important and heals / survivability > might stacks.

I mean – how strong PH is depends on the duration of the attack of each illusion. The iSwordsman will become insanly strong compared to all other phants, aswell the iWarlock. However dps wise the duellist and warden will not recive as much of a buff. But the warden is just a different kind of illusion – the reflection uptime is gold.

20% less CD on attacks. That’s in theory 25% more attack speed, but reducing it by the time the illusions require to attack results into something like 10-20% depending on illusion. I think this trait is worse than putting 10 in dominon for the 15% +100 power or 25 in illusions. If you got both it’s even 32.25%.

So PH is a 2nd focus trait … :s Sometimes I wish we had 80 points to spend xD

You can go for a SD build however a fire field / finishers are pretty much a must have for engis. Otherwise you’ll be extremly useless. HGH is overrated. The might you get isn’t higher than the might you simply could spread with a few combos. Also for the whole team. You will be weaker – definitly – but still viable i guess.

Instead of removing the tier lists, why don’t we just “fuse” them a bit? The armor has different stats on a light, medium or heavy armor type character. There are still the common light, medium and heavy armors, but now new: there should be hybrids:
*L*ight armor
*M*edium armor
*H*eavy armor
LM armor
MH armor
LH armor
LHM armor
The armor class is defined by the materials you are mainly wearing.

hazenvirus.8154:

Ele still has higher damage without the conjure. There used to be a tier list floating around. I believe ele was either 1 or 2 for damage in ideal situations (using staff). Warrior was 6th.

I guess I know what Tier list that was. It was the single target DpS tier list in a perfect situation, and it was pretty much this:
1. Mesmer (with 3 iSwordman)
2. Thief
3. Ele
4. Ranger
5. Guard
6. Warrior
7. Necro
8. Engineer

yes they actually are (if temporary)

You guys responded to the mesmer bug thread, anything new here maybe too? :o Looking forward to next tuesday for a fix :s

No it means that he will be castable at 1200 range, moves to 800 range, shoots, the projectile flies 1000 range far. If it would have 1000 range, the enemy just had to move 1 range further away and it would be out of range. It’s better like it is right now

Tbh, the ascended light armor looks like a heavy one (female human). However I would not enjoy seeing Warriors in robes etc. I would vote against you sorry. It just doesn’t fit. Too much freedom and the game becomes worse. As for weapons, image a warrior with a scepter or a engineer with a staff or bow… really?

offtopic:
The highest direct damage clearly is dealt by the ele, wich is known by those who really care. Many warriors (and sadly for those who aren’t like this) are jerks who see a big fat number from 100b and think they deal awesome dps, then there are even more stupid players who think they deal with a chain attack 5k, 10k, 15k, etc per hit… in the end how much damage someone deals depends on the allies he has aswell the enemies. Passive damage is also something that gets forgotten too often.

I didn’t say that. I just said that I expect that the bugfixes will be the biggest buffs we recive. And I kinda have to smile while thinking about that fact

Just tought about it. Since it has been announced that it will be fixed next week, it would be a good phant trait. But It seems unreachable (PvE):

We all would like to go for a 10/30/0/30/20 build, but where can we undo the 20 points?

0/30/0/20/0 is a must have I think. So we got 20 points left. 0/30/0/20/20 still seems less useful than 0/30/0/25/15 due the fact that atk speed is just rewarding if burst won’t kill the enemy or the phant won’t die too early. Or shall we really ignore the mantra trait? 0/20/0/30/20? 0/25/0/25/20? I think it’s still too far away since other traits are much more rewarding.

Well we are probably gonna roam with about 5 ppl. Maybe sometimes I solo. I tought it is viable due bountiful interruption → curtain, GS5 = 25 stacks?

Do some emotes, bow, laugh, cheer, they all are shorter.

Although I like all those changes – isn’kitten bit poor that the greatest buffs we recive are … bugfixes? xD

Tyvm already! Gonna check the stuff out soon

Is PU allways condi? What exactly are the weapons etc for pu?? Sword / Torch but still condi dmg??? :/

I use this trait at dwayna combined with another 20% of traits to let my iWarlocks survive with their additional 80% HP the aoe attack of that statue.

Also I use it combined with the iDefender at wall fractale or somewhere where I have to stay alive for a long time. Dredge too. But all the other time? No way, NEVER! xD

^this

f.ex watchknight works too, or charr toy soldiers etc. however they stop each emote after a few sec :o

Great news! Ty very very much!

1: The oldest CLONE will die first. If you only got phantasms out, the oldest of them dies.

2: After hitting the F1-F4 button, you may resummon up to 3 illusions again, even before they hit the target. You can have 3 illusions, F1, summon 3 again, F2 for 6 illusion shatter.

3: The first shatter skill goes on CD, they start running, the second will (afik) go on a 3 sec CD since you have “no more” illusions left.

So I actually can heal more if I heal myself on a low vit wapon and swap after it? :o Hm… ok. Not really sure how to use this system effective.

Ty very much!

Hey everyone!

I never played much WvW before, allways wanted to but never felt motivated :s
Right now I do, and I think an interruption build would be pretty ok to start with? Talking about Bountiful Interruption / Halting Strike stuff.

• I’ve got berserker weapons, zerk/soldier armor and trinkets
• GS + Sword/Focus or Staff?
• Viable?
• PU stronger? Easier?
• gonna do roaming, no zerg!

You guys can help me?

greez!

interruption build – not pve ofc :P wanna try some stuff in wvw
maybe gs + sword/focus is more effective. dunno, have to test, never did wvw before :o

the question is, if i got 20’000 HP and get hit, down to 19’000 and i swap, i will keep my 19’000? If I got 19’000 and am in combat and swap, I will have 19’000/20’000 right? ooc i would keep the 20’000? i’m a little bit confused :o

Hey everyone. I’ve never tought about this situation, but what happens if I swap to a weapon that has vitality stats on it, and what happens if I swap back?

Lets say I play my mesmer with staff + GS for WvW. My GS is berserker and my staff is … soldier I beleve? (power, vita, toughness).

So I’ve got my staff equiped, 20’000 HP (examples). Now I swap to GS, 19’000 HP. If I swap back I’ve got again 20’000 HP. At least thats what happens ooc. But what happens if I’m in combat???

15’000/20’000 HP -> swap -> 14’000 or still 15’000? And what happens vice versa?
15’000/19’000 HP -> swap -> 16’000 or still 15’000? Is Vita pretty much useless as a weapon stat like this? :S (dropped ascended staff, <3)

ty vm for explanations!

greez!

You should do Dwayna – my highest crit was 26k there. <3

Well, still the utility of the staff 2 is strong enough to take it sometimes even in dungeons. The aa isn’t that terrible for a single target tbh. 2k dps ø.

Well true the CD is more about the replacement mechanism than the DpS. However I accept that argument.

But the rest of the message is just a long version of “7 conditions” and “PH”.

The 2x 15% dmg, aswell fury and sharper images all affect both phantasms the same. Both deal 32.25% more damage, have 20% more crit chance. Well maybe the iS will cause a few more bleeding tics, due its faster atk spd. But nothing noticable. The % damage increase is the same.

PH will affect the iWarlock but does not the iSwordsman. But you said this already and added “many other variables”. But there aren’t any, only the fact that the iS dies often and the iW misses sometimes.

No traited staff for a longer wind up time? That trait doesn’t work like this my friend.

Wich other variables? Tell me one. I just can think about “surviability” and that’s it.

Here we go! Had to search about 50 pages for this! >:(

frifox.5283:

Spent few hours recording each phantasm and then using video editing software to record the time between attacks with Phantasmal Haste and without. Then, in HotM (no armor, no trinkets, no sigils, no power traits) against a dummy golem (open field, not against a wall) I recorded 20 non-crits from each phantasms and took an average for each. Finally, I divided the average damage over the time between attacks. Here are attack rates:

Attack rate (untraited):

• Swordsman – 4.5 sec
• Berserker – 7.1 sec
• Duelist – 7.5 sec
• Warlock – 6.8 sec
• Warden – 13.7 sec
• Mariner – 10.3 sec
• Mage – 7.7 sec
• Whaler – 9.7 sec
• Disenchanter – 4.4 sec
• Defender – 4.6 sec

Attack rate (traited):

• Swordsman – 4.5 sec
• Berserker – 7.1 sec
• Duelist – 6.5 sec
• Warlock – 5.7 sec
• Warden – 12.2 sec
• Mariner – 10.3 sec
• Mage – 6.5 sec
• Whaler – 8.3 sec
• Disenchanter – 3.8 sec
• Defender – 4.0 sec

Attack rate (difference):

• Swordsman – 0% faster
• Berserker – 0% faster
• Duelist – 15% faster
• Warlock – 19% faster
• Warden – 12% faster
• Mariner – 0% faster
• Mage – 18% faster
• Whaler – 17% faster
• Disenchanter – 16% faster
• Defender – 15% faster

relative direct DPS. No gear, no traits, no crits

hide spoiler

Without Phantasmal Haste:

• Swordsman – 144
• Berserker – 115
• Duelist – 98
• Warlock – 81
• Warden – 81
• Mariner 67
• Mage – 30
• Whaler – 28
• Disenchanter – 21
• Defender – 18

With Phantasmal Haste:

• Swordsman – 144
• Berserker – 115
• Duelist – 113
• Warlock – 97
• Warden – 90
• Mariner – 67
• Mage – 35
• Whaler – 33
• Disenchanter – 25
• Defender – 21

Of course, the damage dealt from possible bleeds on crit (5s base duration), confusion stacks (mage), and conditions on enemy (warlock) was not accounted in the test.

I added a second table on wiki for Phantasmal Haste beside the current one where I listed the times between attacks. The time is the amount of time between 1st damage hit of the phantasm. In case of swordsman, the time between every hit. In case of duelist or any multi-hit phantasm, the time between the very 1st hit for each unload.

So the iWarlock requires:

• 2 conditions for the duellist (probably 3 cuz of bleeding)
• 5 / 8 conditions for the swordsman (PH doesn’t affect iS)

fair enough I guess, since the iS often dies while ranged phants survive longer

There was another thread about this and without PH with 4 conditions it’s the highest dps phant.

Btw (as almost allways) I can just confirm Pyro. In this game there is NO BASE DAMAGE only a BASE HEAL on healing skills and a BASE DAMAGE on conditions.

Also the skill coefficient is the only number a skill has. Means it DOES NOT MATTER how much power you got. 1000, 2000, 3000, the % damage Phant A does more than B is allways the same!

A duellist dealing 5k DpS with 2k power (just an example) would deal 7.5k DpS with 3k power and so on.

Don’t go for a crappy condition engineer. The flaw is not only that the conditions overstack (poison and burn max. 8 stacks, no more are applied until the first runs off) or get rid of themselves (25 stacks bleeding, new bleeding overwrites old, careless of condi dmg), no it’s also that the damage still is much lower than a full zerk bomb / grenade engi. The condition scalings are just terrible for damage in PvE. I kick condi X immediately at high fotm due to their lack of dmg.

30/30/0/0/10 for full dmg, 30/30/0/10/0 for some survivablity and support (boon duration):

The first 30 are definitly:

• bomb range
• explosives +10% dmg
• traited grenades

The 2nd 30 are kinda free, however you MUST trait vulnerability on crit.

Anyone know what happens if a Defender has not enough HP to take 50% of the damage? Lets say he has 1000 HP left, somone takes a 4000 hit. So the iD will die but will that guy take 2000 or 3000 damage? :o

Engineers are great in PvE and totally underrated. They got the highest AoE damage and can stack 12x might permanently without flaws, even more by sacrificing utility if not required. They can heal, cure conditions, cc, and everything another class can do too.

However to keep the might up and swap kits all the time makes him definitly the hardest to play in PvE. Not just to play – to master! I can say so without beeing a fan boy, I’m playing every class and the engi is top tier in pve – definitly!

Soo, it’s definitly true, just sayin

FT cc: push back, one time blind
Grenades: one time blind, chill
Bombs: multi blind, root, point black knock back

still like the FT the least :/

compared to bombs / grenades

• less dmg
• less cc
• less conditions
• less vulnerability
• less targets

in a nutshell … the FT just looks kitten great and has a good boom + fire field.

wolfpaq.7354:

2) Dagger storm does not add up its damage like 100blades. I have no idea how or why you are so confused about this, but it doesn’t. Go test it against a single golem in the mist, you’ll see that I’m right

It does add up like every skill if it kits fast enough. You rarely use it, right? CoF p2 I allways use it against the mass of trash and even there it adds up due the bounces.

And what do you mean with “it does not add up, it’s like 100b”?? 100b damages up aswell…

I beleve it is true, gonna test it myself tonight. You got stability so she can’t knock you away with her gun.

Hinko yours is beautiful, just the backpiece destroys the perfect outfit.

I really would like to see a change ot the FT. I allways wanted to be a slow moving destruction machine. Like the cof FT guys. So why not change it like that? While equipped the FT or maybe only while using FT 1 you move slower. 1 could be channeled longer, pressing 1 again chancels. Damage at least doubled.

And that from a bomb/grenades lover lul I luv engis <3

You should meet my dear Ziggy. He also likes to blow up things. Also, hobosacks? HAHA! Dude, NOTHING looks cooler than an elixier gun with metal wings!
Btw you should get yourself a worm rifle

I really hope the mesmer can equip a mh pistol, a longbow aswell a shield soon. I’d love to see that coming. Shields are beautiful, I wonder if we’d gain a 2nd idefender on the shield O.O

Pyro is one of the best and most expirienced mesmers around here. He’s probably the only one who I beleve something without testing it myself. And he’s right here too, most of the time :P imo

Everyone can talk good and bad about a weapon, where some say “GS aa is so bad it almost heals the enemy” and others say “GS has a great AoE potential, good for opening and trash”. Both are right. So in the end it’s the desicion of the user if it’s worth taking a weapon in a specific situation. Aslong as you try different weapons against a boss, you realize wich weapon really fits the best. Better than just using X all the time for semigood results.

The staff isn’t that bad imo. Its a good PvE boss kiting and dps weapon. You have the strongest phantasm, you have a meatshield (2) wich may be similiar to a aegis selfbuff and you got a pretty ok aoe goodforme-badforyou field.
The main reason not to take the staff seems to be the aa. But now you have to decide:

• can you simply stack and dd? well bad choice, go for a sword
• will your phants die fast, will you never reach 3 phants → maybe (!) scepter
• do you have condispammers, are there enough conditions to outdamage scepter + pistol?
• does the boss have a hold, blink, projectile you wanna evade? would it make more sense to block it? are you able to block it? scepter?
• do you really need range?
• do you have to be on long range + your phants die often? GS?

There are so many things you could add to that list. But in the end the staff has it’s place and the aa hits single target for 1-3k depending on buffs and condition applied + it deals passive damage from the might / fury you may grant. Sure you SEE better numbers at the sword, but passvie dmg still exists.

GS 1 sucks yes, so just don’t use it. GS 5 is awesome however if you don’t use it like an idiot. Interrupting foes causes vulnerbility if you got 5 in dominion. Since not everyone plays the same way (0/30/0/25/15 = meta) it’s allways more viable or less viable. I go for 10/30/0/30/0, my personal best build, so I can make use of the huge passive damage of a few stacks vulnerbility. It’s natural selection if you get kicked by smashing enemies around with 0 brain activity. Just push them into the corner they are already standing and you’ll be fine.

Staff 2 is awesome. Staff 1 is semigood with its ø2k hits per target. It’s a good weapon for dangerious enemies or if you require a meatshield (2). 3 hits harder than anythign at 4+ conditions and therefore scales the best with power. Dwayna 25k crits are clearly just for your “D” but it shows how it works. Staff isn’t a condi weapon only at all.

In the end you MUST use the sword. It’s too amazing to ignore. Only Ele is staff only aviable in PvE. Scepter is situational like everything but sword.

30/30/0/0/10
0/30/0/25/15
10/30/0/30/0

All the meta builds use them, the reason to go 30 in duelling is because of them. They also have awesome synergies with good inspiration traits, such as heal on charging a mantra (up to 800 HpS thx to Mantra of Pain) or cleansing 2 conditions when using the healing skill.

They also grant excellent buffs, aoe stability / condi cleanse if required, interruption is also great for bosses like that aetherblade chick or the frost fractale dude with his chilling breath etc.

Normally you can use the mantra heal and condi cleanse for 8% dmg. Feedback is often a must, many also like a good ol’ blink. However if you take blink for the stun breaker, the stability mantra does the job better (harpy, golem worldboss, molten dudes etc). Just use them as fillers. Tbh, if you use 0 of them in a situation, just swap the traits. <3

The highest close combat dps is Sword/Sword + /Pistol. You don’t need a semigood scepter if there is no “must block”s.

Greatsword 2 has a high active and passive damage, 3 hits like 3rd chain of sword aa and does the same stuff, 4 hits 2-4 times according to their body mass and movement, but it hits better than the swordman if there are 2+ mobs. If there aren’t it’s your own fault to use a GS. However if there are, you just won tons of dmg. You don’t have to aa.

A mesmer that does never use the GS is almost as bad as one that only uses the GS.

Yea I like to see a warrior fighting with a fairy scepter …

We all know we are engeniuses!

The GS haters have survived the signet patch. Somehow they don’t realize the massive change. The GS was a terrible weapon, since the aa is extremly weak in close combat.

If the GS would have the skill 1 of the normal sword, everyone would love it. And yes, you are right. You can do swap, 2, 4, heal, 4, 3, 2, swap. You will never use skill 1, and even if you do it once or twice the 4 phantasm outdamages all the single target phantasms immediately if there are even 2 targets … or more ofc.

Ppl get stuck in the old days, most of them are even short minded and only focused on their own build wich seems to be “right” and the only viable thing to play. The GS is a great weapon to open fights that end faster than a 2nd swap, it is also a good aoe option since the warden alone isn’t that awesome. Sword aa deals great damage, however swordman and duellist are pretty useless in fractales like dredge, ice, fire shaman, wall, etc. except for boss fights.

In the end you cannot say A > B, since a good mesmer should allways carry all the weapons with him/her. Adapt to the situation, don’t try to build around stuff you don’t need. However every weapon has it place. At least at the mesmer.

So it’s viable in a 0 movement combat where you don’t have to circle around your reflection wall. k.

Greets everyone!

The new back item shows through the hobo sacks!

Yup it does, it’s my first back item and the following things I’ve learned about hobo sacks, shields and the new back item:

• The back item is not visible under the shield while its ooc on the back.
• The back item sticks ON the shield while draw the shield from the back. It then flies back to where the back item should be. Looks strange but not a big deal.
• The back item is visible under the rifle.
• The back item does not bug while drawing the rifle.

• The back item is invisible if you equip a hobo sack.
• The back item gets visible after the first skill used while carrying a hobo sack or when you get struck.
• The back item aswell the hobo sack are visible at the same time. It still looks great with those wings to be honest, since they are so big.

With those big wings it’s ok to have hobosacks. However All other back items are just … well … I would cry if I had another one Fix it plz!

(pics follow in about 8 hours >_>)

i wonder if norn can simply jump and shoot over it… pretty sure it works …