Guild Wars 2

Undead

Always need to account for the dmg rng when doing real world, or should I say virtual world measurement. This is why I always do my tests for extended periods of time, ie attacking a dummy golem for 20+ minutes and taking an average dps instead of just few attack rotations and calling it good.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Sad that a personal DPS meter would easily resolve all this in less than 10 minutes.

lol, yes it does. that’s what I use after all

Found a bug and how to reproduce it and decided to have some fun with it. Result is I can have one or more clones out and command their movement at will, including forcing them to swap their target to whatever whoever I choose. Not sure how practical but definitely interesting, for me at least.

Fun starts at the 2nd half of the video,

• http://youtube.com/watch?v=oWkzSwmlXtc

Elite dungeon runners are the ones that world actually care which is why it’s posted here. The key is not the subject but target audience.

Yes, even recorded it on video to be sure.

I was referring to the same skill interrupted at different stages. Take his healing skill for example. If I daze him right as he’s casting the skill (~400ms window) it gets interrupted through defiance. If I daze him as he’s channeling the skill defiance prevent the interrupt. So you technically can interrupt the channeled skill as long as you land it during its cast, which quite often is a very short window of opportunity.

Did some more testing in SE p2’s 1st boss, Foreman Kreutzerova..

3 of her 4 skills have about 200ms to 400ms cast time and if you manage to land an interrupt in that window, the skill will get interrupted through the defiance and put it on 10s cd.

If you land an interrupt past that window and during the channeling of that skill, interrupt will not happen even though Halting Strike & Illusion of Vulnerabilty will trigger and deal damage and load 3 stacks of vuln on her as if interrupt did took place.

Average human reaction time is 200ms – 230ms so you would have to be extremely skilled to land such interrupt just by reading animation. I managed to hit daze mantra 230ms after animation started, but still failed to interrupt. I’m guessing network latency and/or skill lag is to blame. So, that or just memorize every single skill pattern and which skills can be baited out by something and only then you may take advantage of this trait effectively.

IMO if you are able to reach such level of skill then I would argue that it is not an exploit where Power Block goes through defiance. Just an extremely skilled playstyle.

For once I actually feel that even in suboptimal gear elitists would love a skilled interrupt mesmer in their party. Finally a role that isn’t driven by zerk meta.

I was solo’ing SEp1 last night. Most of the fight were me, 3 phantasms, and 3 golems constantly knocking the mob around with their spins. It’s glorious XD

My assumption is there is a small amount of idle time between animations. The 10% trait decreases the duration of the animation but not the time between them.

Some math, assuming aa always hit for 35k,

• untraited = 60/3.560*35k
• traited = 60/3.280*35k
• increase = (traited-untraited)/untraited*100
• increase = 8.5%

If you compare the difference against traited: (traited-untraited)/traited*100 = 7.87%.
Not 100% which one is the correct % to use in dps calculations. If someone here is a math major, feel free to chip in. Either way, neither are 10% as tooltip suggests.

So I did some tests and found the following, warrior axe auto-attack chain happens every:

Untraited

• 3.560 sec

Traited

• 3.280 sec

Difference

• 0.280 sec
• 7.87% (0.280 / 3.560 * 100)

7.87% faster aa chain rate implies a 7.87% damage increase, not 10%. Thought this info might come in handy for the theorycrafters on here.

No wonder I’m seeing 2 or 3 golems constantly spawning on me when I wear my human T3 armor (originally CoE armor). With 3 phantasms and 3 golems out, even solo you feel OP. One of the best bugs

Correct.

Furthermore, if we assume phantasm CD really did go down by 20%, then we can calculate the duration of the animation and idle.

Animation
2.690 sec – Duelist
1.620 sec – Swordsman
6.691 sec – Warden
1.825 sec – Mage
1.929 sec – Berserker
1.369 sec – Warlock
1.376 sec – Disenchanter
1.686 sec – Defender

Idle (without PH)
4.890 sec – Duelist
2.920 sec – Swordsman
7.025 sec – Warden
5.965 sec – Mage
5.115 sec – Berserker
5.535 sec – Warlock
3.085 sec – Disenchanter
2.935 sec – Defender

5 mesmers. Stunlocked boss. 15 swordsmans…. mmmmm

Sadly, not all skills seems to be interruptable. The Advanced Golem spin (coe) can not be interrupted. Maybe I have to interrupt him right as he’s about to spin, not when he is already spinning.

Ok, maybe not exactly meta but definitely an interesting new playstyle for mesmers in dungeons. Lets hope this isn’t one of them famous unintended “bugs” that ANet loves to nerf.

So I ran a few tests on my favorite punching bag, Subject Alpha in CoE:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRZi3rqddzA

Now comparing Phantasm Heavy builds – 2/4/0/5/3 vs. 2/3/0/5/4.

Is it worth sacrificing 4.8% crit chance & 3.3% crit damage for both you and your phantasms (and lower sword cd’s for you) and instead gain 13% dps increase for your swordsmans? In a typical zerk build the DPS split between you and 3 swordsmans is roughly 40%/60% to 50%/50%.

Atm it’s hard to actually test this since there are too many people in HotM constantly interrupting my tests

Without PH

• 7.580 sec – Duelist
• 4.540 sec – Swordsman
• 13.716 sec – Warden
• 7.790 sec – Mage
• 7.044 sec – Berserker
• 6.904 sec – Warlock
• 4.461 sec – Disenchanter
• 4.621 sec – Defender

With PH

• 6.602 sec – Duelist
• 3.956 sec – Swordsman
• 12.311 sec – Warden
• 6.597 sec – Mage
• 6.021 sec – Berserker
• 5.797 sec – Warlock
• 3.844 sec – Disenchanter
• 4.034 sec – Defender

Increase

• 13% – Duelist
• 13% – Swordsman
• 10% – Warden
• 15% – Mage
• 15% – Berserker
• 16% – Warlock
• 14% – Disenchanter
• 13% – Defender

Taking swordsman as an example, 13% attack rate increase is a 13% increase in DPS. From this I can assume that it’s still better to use Phantasmal Strength, which is a 15% increase, instead of using PH if you’re looking to increase your DPS.

Xavi.6591:

Good job on breaking the Mesmer class (which was pretty broken before the last patch).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZW8sya3roU

That was a pre-existing bug. Video was made to show that it’s still not fixed.

I’ll post in this thread as well, last night I interrupted my friends as he was stomping and he said they couldn’t stomp anyone again for some time. Can someone test if it just prevents stomps for 10s or more?

Tried Power Block in WvW… friends say interrupting a stomp prevents them from stomping anyone else for some time

D:

Yeah, mobs have to be summoned.

Yep, I’m aware of this being an old bug. Tyler Chapman made a post in the mes bug thread from which I understood that it was being worked on and close to getting fixed. What I didn’t understand is whether he meant fixed this feature patch or later.

Probably just adding more salt to our wounds but,
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZW8sya3roU (on summoned mobs)

Had so many hopes for this patch, shades on, all shattered…

Try in WvW. Also, same build? I did pop the trait window for a sec so you can copy it.

On another note, a video of warden not spinning (dungeons),
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9wC0qQEseo (at 0:28)

Tested Warden vs Ele + Icebow and Ranger + Longbow, both auto and non auto-attack skills. Here’s a vid of the Ele test:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JKHnfJ0uCw

In fact, while testing with a ranger even targeting the warden still didn’t proc the reflects. The animation happened, but not the dmg.

Also, warden STILL fails to spin on summon:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9wC0qQEseo (at 0:28)

Drop reflect utility and do mantra 6/4/0/0/4?

Tested Warden vs Ele + Icebow and Ranger + Longbow, both auto and non auto-attack skills. Here’s a vid of the Ele test:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JKHnfJ0uCw

In fact, while testing with a ranger even targeting the warden still didn’t proc the reflects. The animation happened, but not the dmg.

I hope this behavior where sword #3 summon attacks a wrong target is not a new thing:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDJ44bmDpp8

Time to create Mesmer Bugs Round 2 thread in the bugs forum…

Here I got all fired up ready to rage about mesmer build dps comparisons for PvE, but then remembered, tomorrow’s patch will change everything anyways so fukkit, brb in few days XD

Fingers crossed for the feature patch. If not, my faith in ANet will drop even lower.

The max distance is calculated in 3D space so terrain height is accounted for. IE 5k forward, or 5k up, doesn’t matter as long as the net distance from point A to B is less than 5k.

The mini-map zoom level doesn’t affect the portal distance. I was referring to distance being further than mini-map borders when you have it fully zoomed in and resized to a square, and you are portaling on a flat terrain.

I run my mesmer everywhere. Because purple butterflies and dual whisperblades.

Portal range:

PvE/WvW = <5,000
PvP = <6,000

Video to show how much that is exactly,
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbOrYR58XSA
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTF5VeqyP0A

I probably should make a tutorial video showing how far that is on a mini map. It’s definitely MUCH further than the border of the mini map.

Ok, went back in and found out my observation was partially incorrect, probably due to my limited amount of times I actually done SEp2, lol. It was not the traited vs untraited curtain but rather the enemy skill that I was attempting to interrupt. He has 4 skills. [Shock Wave] is interruptable, [Mace Bash][Heal] are not. [Shield Bash] but I believe it to be non interruptable as well but I’m too tired to it bait out for testing (the animation is too kitten short and is used only in melee, which is quite scary).

CoE Advanced golem spin is interruptable by curtain/gs5 and so with warriors mace5 through defiance. Destroyer on the other hand can be interrupted with curtain/gs5 but cannot be interrupted with warriors mace5 through defiance. It seems that every enemy skill when interrupted can ignore defiance depending on the type of interrupts – movement (curtain/gs5), knockdown (mace5), or both.

My guess is it may be not specifically a bug with mesmer skill but rather how enemy skills are coded.

Not sure if a bug or intended but quite often Temporal Curtain and Illusionary Wave will ignore defiance on bosses and interrupt their skill. Also, as in case of SEp2’s 1st boss traited Temportal Curtain will ignore defiance while untraited will not.

Here’s vid of TC/IW interrupt, almost 1 yr old but still valid:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=modymIvCQvg

Sometimes I pull out my Staff/GS combo just to see how long it takes for someone to rage.

One (meta) is PvE and other (blackwater) is 1v1 PvP/WvW. Apples and oranges.

Checked a few white critters and they were all lvl 1 regardless of the map. Also, checked those Legendary Defenders that defend wvw spawns and they are level 90 (!)

I want a grandmaster trait where if someone interrupts me while I’m charging a matra they get 5 stacks of confusion on themselves. Counter to a counter, just how mesmers should be

Also attempted SE1 solo, so far so good. Just need to figure out a way how to clear those turrets after 1st boss without dying to trash. Killing the turrets and then running back to the safe spot to avoid the aggro is proving to be a bit… time consuming XD

(just 1 golem fight, not full run)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-lw_icM-88

quercus.9261:

Commander put out a call for thieves in mumble on a queued map and got two names. Later we managed to get a few people to login mesmers so that we could get four to portal omegas to Hills.

The point being that on the most successful WvW servers mesmers and thieves are non-factors.

I’m T1 NA as well and just last night I was running with a random 40man zerg. Commander asked for mesmers in TS and only two x’d up. Using my tool I saw that there were actually SIX mesmers around and I pm’d two of them out of curiosity. Guess what, they didn’t x up simply because they didn’t want to be the veil/portal bots. Commander asking certain classes to x up in /m does not reflect actual class composition at the time.

Mesmers and Warriors, solo.

[ 34%] 1,305 dps (0/30/0/25/15 mes, 0 mantra, 0 phantasms)
[ 38%] 1,486 dps (0/30/0/25/15 mes, 3 mantra, 0 phantasms)
[ 87%] 3,369 dps (0/30/0/25/15 mes, 3 mantra, 3 swordsmans)
[100%] 3,881 dps (25/30/0/0/15 mes, 3 mantra, 3 swordsmans)

Now, compare that to an axe/mace warrior only using auto-attack,
[ 98%] 3,260 dps (30/25/0/0/15 war)

It’s clear that if you compare direct damage mesmers have to work overtime to even match a braindead warrior that’s simply hitting 111111111. Now, once you start adding buffs then mesmer gets left behind even more since our phantasms just ignore most of those buffs…

Not directly, but still quite hilarious that it actually worked

Tested in HotM, underwater.

Illusionary Whaler skill will display red bar below it only once you’re 1,248 away from target (contrary to skill’s 1,200 range skillfact). The phantasm will fail to summon if you’re 1,245 away. This leaves us with a small range 1,245 – 1,247 where phantasm summon skill will not have red bar below it yet fail to summon.

In fact, I’ve tested many other targeted underwater skills (Decoy, Polymorph Tuna, etc) and they will initiate at that range yet will then immediately display “Out of Range” and fail to work. The bug is not limited to just the skill mentioned above.

Spoj The Second.7680:

Because you dont get the 10% while attuned to air if you are camping water. And 10%*10% > 20%.

Aw dam completely forgot they multiply. Guess I’m ok trading some health and endurance regen for a bit more dmg.

Why do people prefer earth 10% instead of water 20% vs vuln foes?

Also, ANet provided us with API for a reason. They encourage us to code 3rd party tools that interact with game data.