Guild Wars 2

I’m really unimpressed with the specialization weapon skins. There’s nothing really interesting about them. Horologicus is way to complex and cluttered. It should have just been an animated clock. Other weapons should have glows or other interesting markings on them. But no, a 3g exotic weapon is more interesting than something that takes forever to grind.

I don’t think Tempest uses Durability. Soldier rune is the meta for the condition cleanse.

+1 +2 +3 +4 +5. We all need to become thieves for this thread.

Orangensaft.7139:

Zintrothen.1056:

Some actual balancing would have been nice. They can take their time, but taking their time should mean giving out little adjustments here and there over time instead of waiting a long time and throwing everything at us all at once. That can’t possibly offer balance.

Also, reducing aura noise? Auras were the least noisy thing in the game. They should at least be visible… Chaos Armor is now a faint glow, barely visible, with a super thing purple oval. Visual noise on points wouldn’t be so bad if points were larger. If you keep this up, there won’t anything decent to look at and things will still be cluttered. Watching fights in the Legacy of the Foefire Graveyard is much more fun than any other points because it’s open and large. You get a better sense of space and how many more positioning options there are.

So my points are: actually balance the classes and make capture points larger. This, in my opinion (dare I have one over the internet) will make the game more fun to play and easier to watch.

visual noise

means you cant see them anymore now and only hear them
so the opposite of what you understood maybe^^

I understand it as the strength of a visual. Auras were very visible, but now barely visible. That, in my understanding, is a strong visual noise reduction on auras. And if you ask me, they were way too strongly reduced, but that’s beside the point. Tight spaces, no matter how much you lower visual noise, will always look noisy!

Some actual balancing would have been nice. They can take their time, but taking their time should mean giving out little adjustments here and there over time instead of waiting a long time and throwing everything at us all at once. That can’t possibly offer balance.

Also, reducing aura noise? Auras were the least noisy thing in the game. They should at least be visible… Chaos Armor is now a faint glow, barely visible, with a super thing purple oval. Visual noise on points wouldn’t be so bad if points were larger. If you keep this up, there won’t anything decent to look at and things will still be cluttered. Watching fights in the Legacy of the Foefire Graveyard is much more fun than any other points because it’s open and large. You get a better sense of space and how many more positioning options there are.

So my points are: actually balance the classes and make capture points larger. This, in my opinion (dare I have one over the internet) will make the game more fun to play and easier to watch.

Morwath, could you give screenshots of the teams’ builds like you did with the EU thread?

So this is suspiciously looking like a Canada issue LOL, eh?

What you described in your thread is exactly what I’m experiencing.

Hi, everyone! I play on a Mac (oh look, another Mac thread) and am experiencing horrible connection problems. This only started this morning for me (I live in EST in Southern Ontario, Canada). It took me half an hour to log in to my account or onto a character at all, and now I can’t cast skills or load anything in game. Eventually the game disconnects me from my character and either sends me back to the character screen or totally crashes. A player in my guild also mentioned the same issue and he also lives in Canada, so maybe this is a Canadian issue. Is anyone going through this since last night or this morning? It’s 11am right now.

A second amulet with concentration would be lovely. There are two with expertise (one of which is the only one with concentration). Honestly, why are there no customizable stats? An easy solution to people selecting only tank stats is adding a restriction like requiring at least one offensive stat.

For example: I can’t do 1050 toughness, 1050 vitality, 560 concentration and 560 healing power like Minstril’s. One of those stats would have to be either power, precision, ferocity, or expertise. And ferocity and expertise can only replace the 560 stat options.

There could also be 3 stat options for 1200 and two 900 stats, of course with 560 only stats being restricted. This system would offer the same options as there are currently but allowing the player to customize better to suit their spec. I would love to know how this can be abused to create OP specs (seriously, tell me how so we can think of a solution).

And this would also allow to actually use the REAL Wanderer stats!

Quite the balance patch, eh? How many balance changes were there in the mix of visual changes?

It’s been bugged like that since the beta and they haven’t even acknowledged it.

I think f5 will be impossible because they will only allow the use of one elite spec. But whatever. There was a thread on this a while ago and it sounds really neat. As a musician, you have my full support!

Mistrust requires an interrupt. Gravity Well’s CCs happen every second and last for one second, so unless they use one second of stability to avoid the second CC, they will only be interrupted once at most.

Great….just like earlier in the week. We try to log in and then crash.

Awesome. That’s what I thought was the case. But needed to confirm for them. Consider us all better informed mesmers. Thanks!

I’m talking to some guildies right now and we were debating on whether Well of Precognition prevents capturing. Some of them have tested this apparently and say it prevents it for a second, but I recall reputable and well known mesmers on these forums saying it doesn’t because it’s blur and not invuln. I think we’re getting confused because Distortion says “Evade all attacks” and has the same icon as blur, yet it gives invuln. Then there’s blur from sword 2 and WoP that also “evade all attacks”, and actually give evade.

So what’s the deal? What actually prevents capturing?

Greatsword’s problem is the same problem that we got with HoT release: things are too extreme. Its cast times are too long, its CDs are too long, and its damage is absolutely too high, particularly from Gravedigger. GD needs a damage nerf, being a skill that’s literally spammable below 50% hp, if it’s going to get a reduced cast time. Skill 5 needs a 900 range as well (seriously, what is with the 750 range?) so that necros can actually have a decent gap closer outside of shroud and the one avoidable utility.

This is my personally view on Reaper GS. I don’t main necro; I main mesmer. GS needs a change, not a buff, and not a nerf. Normalize it a little and see how things go from there.

I’m not comparing the stat quantities, just what the stats are at all.

Well if they want to change the stats, they should call it something different.

So now I want to know why there isn’t a power, toughness, vitality, concentration option. Would it be imbalanced and why? It’s not pure defence like Minstrel’s. Is it a concern with how many specs it would be useful for?

Bump. I’d really like to know why the stats are different with the same name.

Wanderer’s Amulet gives power, toughness, condi damage and expertise, but the gear gives power, toughness, vitality and concentration. So why call them the same thing when they are totally different? And why is there no vitality and concentration option with power and toughness?

It’s strategic to let someone bleed out and not stomp, as long as there isn’t an ally to res, in order to keep them out of the game. Why take away that strategy? I know it’s not fun sitting there, but take that time to communicate with your team on where the enemy is going, or reinforce your plan etc.

Today I discovered that it actually speeds up Well of Precognition, but I forgot to check out the other wells as well. Likely, the healing well would benefit as well as any well with a desirable finishing effect like Action, but I think the cons outweigh the pros in this case. A shorter WoP and GW is just terrible. Though I guess if you don’t use those, it could be a decent rune.

It would be nice if it pulled first, floated, and then knocked down. Imagine it like the knockdown throwing you to the ground and bashing yourself into other players would be what causes the damage. Then yes, increase it’s radius and CD.

We can only dream at this point I guess.

The first shield skill (weapon skill 4) gives a 2.5 second cast that blocks all attacks during. At the end of the cast, a phantasm will be summoned which slows enemies it hits and gives alacrity (opposite of chill) to allies around it. If any attack is blocked during this cast, the mesmer will be able to cast the same skill again, but any additional blocks will not allow a third cast. 24 second CD.

The second skill (weapon skill 5) is a moving wall from the mesmer that stuns enemies it hits for 1 second and gives quickness for 2 seconds (or is it 1 second?). After a couple seconds, the wall will turn around (unless it hits a wall in which case it will try to bounce back earlier but sometimes dissipates) back toward the mesmer. If the mesmer hits the returning wall, the CD of the ability is reduced by 10 seconds. 35 second CD? Somewhere around there.

Skill 4 appears similar to Chaos Armor, but thicker and with two clock hands pointing out from the mesmer. A mesmer may try to use this in anticipation of a burst or during a burst. When you see it, try to stop attacking ASAP. ANY block will allow for a second cast. The best counter is to stop attacking, but unblockable attacks are also work. You being a Dragonhunter, longbow skill 3 I’ve heard is unblockable. You could cast it within range 300 and interrupt the blocking cast. Mesmers have few options for stability.

Skill 5 is used main for control but can also be used to offer quickness to allies for faster stomps or extreme burst. A mesmer may use this just before a burst to keep a target still. Then possibly use the immobilize from sword skill 3 so you can’t evade the returning wall. Have either condi cleanse, stability or some other defence handy because a lot of burst can be dealt in those 3-4 seconds of lockdown.

These are only a few ways these skills are used. Since I’m not a top tier player, I can’t speak for how those players use these skills. To be honest, I’d also like to see how these skills are used and how they’re countered.

Exalted give a crafted item needed to crafted a specific Auric Weapon.

Glad to hear Engineers get shield. To bad I don’t have one haha. Guess I’ll just craft it.

Farming Flats.5370:

Zintrothen.1056:

I’m working on Guardian. Guessing: Greatsword, Hammer, Shield. They better give shield.

just did it on my Guard yesterday :

Hammer , Focus and Mace.

>.< So there’s no class that gives shield?

I’m working on Guardian. Guessing: Greatsword, Hammer, Shield. They better give shield.

I haven’t tried it since the balance patch. But before I noticed it not reducing the CD on Magic Bullet when using that to interrupt. It should be going on CD before the bullets hit any targets. Is this intended or a bug? The iDuelest was being reduced just fine.

Ansau.7326:

• Chronophantasma. I don’t have a problem with the time, since phantasms already have a 0.75s internal CD. But the stun, I find it’s just too much. Phantasms are locked in the ground, and melee ones have a harder time, since enemies move and they need to catch them, putting themselves in dangerous situations where they die before attacking.
  I think Daze would be the ideal CC applied.

They actually are suppose to be dazed, but there’s a bug that makes daze on NPCs act like stun, and I guess illusions are NPCs.

Now, to the Devs: You’re going to hear a lot of QQ from bad PvPers and WvW roamers, but PLEASE be reasonable with nerfs! Take your time with them! And try only to consider high end PvPers for PvP balance. Don’t nerf things less than an hour after release either! Listen to reason, not whining. People are not in a state of mind that promotes good decisions when they are frustrated, so QQers ask for unreasonable nerfs instead of figuring out ways to improve because it’s easier. I really feel this needed to be said again.

Something I noticed is that F5 doesn’t reset CDs used during the last second. I thought it was lag but if I use F5 without clones and then use a Well with a half second cast time, the CD won’t reset after the 1.5 seconds. I’ll try some basic tests to see if this continues later.

I noticed also that the initial heal wasn’t healing for nearly as much as the finishing one. It seemed to be cut in half even.

Make the shield phantasm throw it’s shield and spawn beside the mesmer, just like iDuelist. If someone threw a shield at me, I’d feel pretty slowed down too!

F5 feels spammy. Use it and spam Wells and shatters. On the other hand, it increases the CDs of abilities already on their CDs, which IMO adds a level of skill to it. A random suggestion is adding a cap to how many abilities will be reset once F5 is finished.

Also, F5 is still bugged. Occasionally it’ll just never finish. Your illusions will shatter and then nothing will happen until you use it again or it’s destroyed.

Shield 5 (forgot its name) sometimes doesn’t bounce off walls.

This is my first and only BWE and I’m already loving the possibilities.

It definitely does great at avoiding stomps, but it would still be nice if we could at least have a little control over where we go. There’s no more annoying than teleporting right into an AoE. A quality of life change is what it needs (that phrase has popped up a lot in the last few weeks it seems), not a buff. Hell, I’d take a teleport range nerf for some control over where I teleport.

Dear Zin,

Stop dodging to make clones in melee range BEFORE an attack. Why would you dodge and waste endurance on a clone that’s going to die instantly when you could have avoided the damage instead?

Stop dazing randomly. Actually pay close attention to animations and learn to interrupt the right abilities. MoD only has 2 charges and 20 seconds is a long time in PvP.

Abuse Blink spots more often, and learn the Phase Retreat spots. Also, stop Phase Retreating and then Chaos Storming. Do it the other way around! Another thing, stop using iWarlock at the same time as Phase Retreat, especially if you already have 2+ clones up. It’s a waste.

Find other things that you need to work on.

Name: Zintrothen
Role: Mostly scholar but occasionally could be a tester
Server: Fort Aspenwood
Times: Usually online randomly between 9am and 12pm EST, depending on the day
I mostly do WvW and some PvP. PvE is reserved for my warrior cuz big numberzez.

ttyl.6021:

• Chaotic Dampening trait makes Warlock damage instead scale off of condition damage stat

Yes please! I would even be ok if the took out the protection on chaos armor and kept the crappy CD recharge with this change! Assuming they MUST slap this to a trait instead of making it baseline like it should be imo.

I got an invite as well. Quite disappointing that they don’t have a Mac specific download.

Now that they’re aware of this, they’ll do the logical thing…increase the CD of MW to that of CoF!

That’s a crazy confusion proc! And that’s without Dire gear? With Dire, you can get some extra condition damage through a utility buff that increases condi damage based on toughness and vitality. Have you tried using iWarden in an ethereal field? I’ve been able to get 20 stacks of confusion during that and popping MI into a CoF. With interrupts and extra shatters, confusion can get insane stacks. Don’t worry, it’ll get nerfed eventually. We’re mesmers!

Here’s something I’ve wondered about. Phantasmal defender gives a buff that transfers 50% of damage taken to the phantasm. But when I shatter it, the buff stays till the duration runs out. Will I still take 50% reduced damage even when the phantasm isn’t around before the buff expires?

In spite of condi build nerfs, I still play it in WvW (I don’t “PvP”) and elsewhere. It’s fun trying to stack as much confusion as possible to see how much it hits for.

What would be fan-freaking-tastic is if they fixed Malicious Sorcery. For once fix a bug for our benefit.

Oh and give back old MtD somehow!

If you’re relying on crit, then Dire isn’t the set for you. Rabid is actually really good for crit which is its highest stat, while also giving good condi damage. You certainly won’t have as much crit with cele gear, but you’ll have more condi damage, survivability and burst, but obviously not as much as Dire or Beserker etc. Cele is not a min/max stat choice. It’s really best when you want a bit of everything. It suits certain playstyles better than others.

That’s really what determines your gear imo, your playstyle. Think about how you play and want to play in the future and go from there. Personally, I like having all those stats and my playstyle works well with cele stats.

So those are my thoughts on cele gear in a condi build.

This is actually what I’m doing, cele weapons and trinkets, but not sure if I’ll do cele gear. Might just stick with Dire. Dire imo is best for maxing condi damage, but cele offers a little power and burst and also +healing (great for when speccing inspiration which is one of my favourite specs). There’s also something fun about having gear with every stat, and it’s great for when you want to switch playstyles but don’t have different stat items. I’m using Dire exotic gear, cele ascended staff, dire scepter and a mix of zerker and cele trinkets (haven’t replaced them all yet!) and am able to get some huge torment and confusion hits/ticks against mobs. Of course getting those huge numbers will be a lot tougher against any player who knows how to dodge.

Imo, go Dire if you want wicked condi damage; sinister if you want to decent condi but decent burst as well; cele if you want some burst, some survivability, some healing and good condi; and zerker if you want pure burst. So Dire beats cele but cele beats the rest for condi damage.

Since I’m not using DE, I have to put more effort into producing clones. Nothing else seems more difficult than before however. I would say yes, mesmer’s are easier than before.

I love Bountiful Disillusionment and Master of Fragmentation (makes slowing a target so much easier and Scepter trait is bugged still!). Other GM traits have been amazing and actually make me think to choose which I want for the most part.

Ooooooh yeah. Perma stealth or near to it should never be possible, especially with the strong burst capabilities immediately afterward. This is what makes thieves so annoying for me. They can stealth for a while and then burst without any time to react only to stealth again right away.

Not really. I’m terrible with interrupting and I’m having too much fun with condi shatter right now!

My condi shatter build is Chaos, Inspiration, Illusions. I took inspiration for the condi removing capabilities and the healing on shatters, but also because of the summoning iDefender on dodge GM trait, to assist in clone production and add a little more defence. It’s been working great in WvW (I don’t do sPvP yet).

I do enjoy the staff one, which was OP before the nerf and UP now. Torch is terrible unless you’re PU, in which case it might actually be OP, though I haven’t tried it.

Freaking awesome! Double blink is great for catching up to enemy or friendly group, and double MI is amazing for two nearly instant shatters for quick confusion and torment stacking.

I haven’t had any reason to take the stealthing elite. Plus with TW, I can get up to two more chaos armors from blasting with torch 4 or leaping with staff 2. It’s great to throw onto an enemy zerg as well to reduce their burst.

It’s tough to have a fair fight in WvW so I can’t say. Though PU ones seem unskillful compared to the rest.

I’ve looked around the forums and can’t find any guides on how to play venom share in WvW. Specifically, I want to learn when to use certain venoms and how to effectively time them.

Personally, I like to use Greatsword primarily against epic world bosses because they aren’t critable. Sword spec, while it does more dps, gives precision. Another reason for Greatsword is the ability to stack might for allies with iElasticity. Though you sacrifice a phantasm, they end up dead pretty quickly most of the time anyway. For my other weapon set, It will depend on the fight. MH is always sword just because there’s no other option, but OH is either sword of focus. Usually it’s focus because of the speed boost in fights like Teq for getting quickly back to the boss for the burn phase.

In the case of VW, the champs are critable so sword/focus (for stopping projectiles) is the way to go most of the time, but if you aren’t comfortable being in melee, GS is always an option for the same reasons I listed above. It’s importable to be in the middle group for VW and have Feedback on your bar for when the middle boss spins. I never really enjoyed playing in melee, so for VW, I take GS training, Medic’s Feedback or Glamour Mastery (and hope you’re group doesn’t suck), and iElasticity. You could also take the improved focus trait for more reflection (assuming that works for this boss).

This is what I do and it seems to work out quite well.

DE just can’t be a trait anymore unless they improve our method of clone production. To avoid problems with phantasm builds, they could make it a signet or even a mantra. As a signet, it could be the passive and therefore be a choice when you use the signet ability. This would make DE much more of a choice while also making “passive”.

IP just really feels like a true GM trait. There’s no way it should be passive imo.