Guild Wars 2

In B 4 Berserker Stance applies a strippable ‘Resistance’ rather than blunt immunity to conditions.

No no, this boon is actually much, much needed against an assault that was otherwise completely overpowering.

Changes like this push people out of min-maxing into condition builds, it’ll force people to build more dynamically. Good! About time!

Absconditus.6804:

I got to agree I miss the older Mesmer as well, it looked cooler too when the clones were more active. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0nKx_Ukpec)

What on earth? What I just saw looked sublime. It looked…effective. How did we go from THAT, to what we have now? Can anyone who was around in beta shed some more insight for me into how this happened?

Aomine.5012:

I don’t think SR will work on doorbreaker because they’ll keep on moving forward and you have no control over it. Without doorbreaker standing stationaly for 5 seconds, there’s no way you’re going to build up stealth. (Even with blast finisher it’s not enough.)

Also I can forsee that, like Temple of Silent Storm, you cannot channel supply or summon npc when you’re in stealth.

Please just wait until it’s out before you pass quick judgement.

Right?

I mean have people forgotten how Shadow Refuge functions -entirely- ?

Because we all know this is the only skill they’re actually referring to, deep down.

The thought of Mesmers getting a paltry two new weapon skills i.e. just a shield offhand is…offensive really.

A success.

A majority of loose ends were tied up coherently, and of what loose ends that remain (The identity of ‘E’ for example, and the true reasoning behind Scarlet’s intentions which I do believe will be revealed in Heart of Thorns), it’s enough to bring us into Heart of Thorns and get us involved in the lore.

Bosses were well designed for the most part (molten facility fight as a very strong highlight of this, as well as Tower of Nightmares as a whole), the ambiance in the new zones is superb, and the way in which conditions were given a place in addressing PvE enemies such as husks is a definite plus.

Meri.7512:

If you are away for more than 60 seconds your team is in an great disadvantage. That grace period is long enough for a lot of player. Everything else is just too long to be fair.

Might suck for you, but sucks even more for the 4 ppl who are 4v5.

This addresses literally none of what the OP was talking about in regards to the effect grace periods have on leaderboard standings. Soapboxing.

ozzy.8059:

and if the engie spreads his turrets out then what? most of the time they put them on clifs and areas out of reach. I play necro and even if I pop everything I have its not enough to kill the engie especially if they still take a kit.. usually the one with shield

don’t get me wrong I do los but his friends are free to pull us into view and attack us so..

Then you put yourself into a position where it’s a 1 vs 2/3 with his friends.

Don’t. Stick with the rest of your team, don’t travel alone. You’re a necromancer. It should be common practice.

I won’t suggest anything else because you’ll just throw out reasons why you can’t do it and why this spec is overpowered when it’s not. I’ve tried with this, really.

Expect L2P responses from here on out.

I don’t have this legendary or plan on getting this one, but come on, seven days and no dev response is incredibly disappointing.

From my experience, engaging them from off-point using as many AoE options as you can, and at the same time using line-of-sight does the trick.

For example:

The little straw hut on Khylo.
The pillars and mine areas in Forest.
The wooden fences around the points in Foefire.
The pillars around points on Skyhammer.
The large boulders near the points on Spirit Watch.
Then finally the inclines and ledges over the points on Silent Storm (we don’t talk about Courtyard).

Using line-of-sight to your advantage is one of the most under-used tactics in low-end to mid PvP, and it’s easy to forget about taking advantage of it, but it’s worth abusing as much as you possibly can in these situation.

Unless of course you’re fighting a thief, because for some really really idiotic reason, steal has no line of sight requirement (what the hell A-net)…but that’s another topic.

Klinch.2964:

kylwilson.9137:

Funny when Stronghold is actually Fort Aspenwood/Jade Quarry 2.0, one of the most successful PvP modes in Guild Wars: Factions.

That’s what I thought! I loved that mode, which is why I’m excited to see how Stronghold turns out.

It’s so good to hear other players as enthusiastic about this!

For all intents and purposes, nearly (key word) everything in the Heart of Thorns expansion has been geared towards bringing back old Guild Wars 1 systems with a new flavor.
This is apparent in specializations, guild halls, and now of course the Stronghold PvP map. I feel optimistic.

I don’t know if we need a ‘feature pack’, but another profession balance patch to iron out some of the last of the really big issues before any new specialization mechanics are introduced with Heart of Thorns? That is what I could consider ‘needed’.

In fact it’s more necessary that anything else in the game.

Malthurius.6870:

I think it’s confirmed that precursor crafting is linked to masteries, no? It probably will require crafting… I mean as you said legendaries required crafting anyway, but what you gain through masteries and what you have to do with those masteries could be anything as far as we know.

Linked in the way that you would very likely need to advance in masteries to reach extra areas to complete the precursor collections (it was stated that the precursor acquisition will be collection based), i.e. having a proficiency in whatever language it is we’re learning (the name escapes me now) to access extra areas, and having a certain level of mastery in gliding to reach other areas in the same manner.

This is in all intents and purposes the precursor scavenger hunt that was mentioned over a year ago.

The acquisition of Mawdrey was a way to test and see if this was a viable method of acquisition. From where I’m sitting, I would undoubtedly say that it was indeed incredibly well done and successful so I am looking forward to this.

In turn to address the OP: Would this be easy? No. No easier than using a credit card to buy gems → gold → precursor. And literally any of the other components. Or outright buying the legendary its-self.

Oh definitely. I mean I rather not but I do slot in Portal occasionally in exchange for it when I’m playing with a competent team.

Blink is an ENTIRELY different ball-game though, that is 100% (in my opinion) mandatory in every build. You’re just gimping yourself otherwise.

60 seconds is still too short of a window.

Not sure it’s the same for other players in AU, but it can be up to two minutes between the game becoming unresponsive, getting the disconnection error, the white screen that follows, the SECOND error telling you to restart the client, the client then automatically restarting, and then getting back into the game.

It’s pointless.

Funny when Stronghold is actually Fort Aspenwood/Jade Quarry 2.0, one of the most successful PvP modes in Guild Wars: Factions.

Yes, there is. Not sure about in high-end play but if you want to join unranked yes.

I run a Sc/P and Staff (Can be swapped out for Greatsword depending on what you want to achieve), Carrion amulet and pack runes (to push my crit rate above 20%).

2/6/4/2.

One proc of Bountiful Interruption pushes your condition damage over 1k and your power over 2.2k. Confusing Images coupled with i-Duellist chews away at people very quickly.

Good uptime on fury and swiftness thanks to pack runes.

The 1200 range interrupt on Magic Bullet (let alone the i-Duellist setup range) is a massive advantage.

Just really aim for your interrupts, because it does pay off. I run Halting Strike there because it still does make a difference when you’re interrupting so often.

PandaBear.7510:

I’d say about 85% of all my characters (I have 13) have names that came from Game of Thrones lol. I have 3 female mesmers. The first one (and my most beloved) is an asura named Nymeria. The second is a human named Lady Nymeria. The third is a glorious norn named Nymeria Sand.

I really really like Sand as a surname.

I’ll add, consume plasma is actually a massive part of them being so hard to deal with via aegis and stability.

Unless you have Shattered Concentration traited, any attempt to daze or stun their assault is essentially for nothing. Mind you this is only a terribly huge problem when a Mesmer runs glassy zerker builds.

I’ve personally (finally) found an incredibly solid hybrid build (after years of play and testing) that absolutely chews through anything like a freight train (and I would love to share this but I’m so lazy and I’m still putting it though a ton of testing) but Consume Plasma is quite literally a massive factor in their dominance over Mesmers as a whole.

Secondary to that is the poison on steal which kind of puts the nail in the coffin with the very sparse amount of condition removal we have as it is.

Honestly if steal had line of sight mechanics like it kitten well should have, life would be SO much easier.

I can’t even tell if this crap is sarcastic anymore.

Consume Plasma.

yolo swaggins.2570:

kylwilson.9137:

So this thread is literally about -two- legendaries, The Dreamer and Quip. Let’s be real here. Out of every legendary, out of 19 weapons, 2 are the source of this, eh, I don’t want to say drama but really.

I really do hope they have more eccentric legendaries coming. Why is everyone so hell bent on being dark and cool. Are these the same players with ‘reaper’ ‘dark’ and all other stereotypical manner of character names? That’s what makes these weapons so great, they’re not stereotypical. They break the mold.

This isn’t about just two. It is about the design philosophy overall. Not everyone wants eccentric/flamboyant/flashy weapons so asking for more when there is already plenty is not fair to the people who want less of the sparkle unicorn confetti it in newer legendaries.

I totally understand where you’re coming from, I just suppose from my perspective, this isn’t something that’s been a massive invasive thing I suppose, especially when there are really great alternatives that aren’t legendaries floating around out there. I hope they add more options that are on-par with what’s being suggested, but if they change their design philosophy to not include the more out-there options then I will be disappointed. Because for those of us who do enjoy these flamboyant options, we only have two (three if you decide to count Bifrost). We’re in the minority here. Something to think about.

It’s 2:47 am here in Australia on a Wednesday morning.

So this thread is literally about -two- legendaries, The Dreamer and Quip. Let’s be real here. Out of every legendary, out of 19 weapons, 2 are the source of this, eh, I don’t want to say drama but really.

I really do hope they have more eccentric legendaries coming. Why is everyone so hell bent on being dark and cool. Are these the same players with ‘reaper’ ‘dark’ and all other stereotypical manner of character names? That’s what makes these weapons so great, they’re not stereotypical. They break the mold.

I have this fantasy in which the scepter projectiles are changed to be identical in speed and animation to the branded human male barrage attack, whilst still applying torment in bursts, with the clone generation tacked onto it still, to make scepter the ‘go to’ weapon for clone generation.

Clone would simply perform only one shot of the barrage.

And get rid of the awkward overly long animation please. It’s horrendous looking, it’s clunky, it takes too long, just…get rid of it.

Screw this tacky thesaurus use.

Look back into history a little. No not as far as Franz Mesmer, a little more recent. Into some pop-culture, look for something that inspires you.

Here’s an example of how I came up with my Mesmer’s final name and I’m still really pleased with it:

Catwoman. Who doesn’t love Catwoman (except that Halle Berry mess but I digress)?
Well I did a little research into the character, into her creators, and where they got the inspiration for Catwoman from.
Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, she was inspired by Bob’s cousin; and her name?

Ruth Steel. What a bad kitten name for a woman in the 1940’s. So that’s it.

So my advice is to just research and dig deeper and you’ll reach something you really love. And it’ll sound a whole lot better than PHANTASMAL DELUSION or something just as tacky.

“Soon”

“We’re planning on…”

I see a whole lot of this from A-net.

I mean oh I am going to buy and love the hell out of HoT, no doubt! I can’t wait to pre-order! But again it’s more of the same ’We’re planning on doing all of these things’ and it’s more often than not too little too late, to vaguely quote Jojo.

Give me back my inhuman Norgu interrupt reflexes. I used to be competitive with him and see if I could out-interrupt him on my own Mesmer.

Honestly, I’d limit it to one single hero at a time out of a selection if it were to be introduced. But I don’t hate the idea.

But I’m incredibly pro anything that will bring the game closer to it’s Guild Wars 1 days.

I’m kind of very much in love with these concepts.

Nostalgia hits hard with the Guild Wars 1 skill names, and wow, converting my favorite skills into traits is not something I had thought of enough myself.

I LOVE Clumsiness here, and Accumulated Pain. And Spirit Shackles.

Particularly accumulated pain, when used in conjunction with a power build, with Chaos Storm AND Halting Strike, oh boy it gives me the jeebies thinking about how good it could be.

Doesn’t need a change. It’s fine. It’s always been fine.

I love that I can Super Speed + Rocket Boots + Slick Shoes over a bunched up group of people and chain-knock them all down.

They were such a good place to socialize and access basic amenities, and being guested to other people’s guilds and hanging out in their halls with them was a total blast. And it meant real work to earn the amenities for the hall, it was a real real boon if you worked hard enough to get them all in the one place.

OP; this is very much a way to help bring Guild Wars 2 closer to Guild Wars 1’s ideals, much in the way that these specializations are coming into play to echo the secondary profession systems of old.

If Guild Halls aren’t your thing that’s great, but I’m getting this really pointed tone when you address the first game and I don’t understand the reasoning behind it. People in this thread have already laid out why they were such a boon in Guild Wars 1.

Well as we know the new specialization adds shield to the Mesmer’s weapon set, I have my fingers loosely crossed that either:

- Shield is not the only new weapon we will be able to use with the specialization and that we haven’t been shown half of our new weapon skills already
- Existing weapon skills will be altered depending on the specialization selected.

But I can’t lie when I say I’m disappointed that we’re only getting one specialization. Nothing special about one new option for the whole Mesmer community.

(also kitten it I’m nearly done making Quip, COME ON main-hand pistol).

Crovax.7854:

kylwilson.9137:

Or you can resurrect downed players and work as a group as the game had intended you to, you colossal kitten.

Timed bosses are a dps race. One dead person leads to multiple others stopping what they are supposed to do and attemp to ress, more often than not getting them cought up in aoe and dying themselves.

Think, then post, before calling others ‘colossal kitten’. The problem is far more complex than ‘ress dead players and all is well’.

No, it is not as complex as you suggest. With the amount of people in each lane by the time of an encounter, it takes all of a second to resurrect a downed player if more than one person is nearby, and oh lookie here; fancy each encounter encouraging groups of players to stick close together via the mechanics built into said encounters.

Cut off the source of your issues and they cease to exist. Be proactive rather than watch someone bleed out on the floor.

Think, then post, or even -attempt- to point out why a ‘dps race’ like this is so complex, since there’s is absolutely nothing complex about a dps race. Use the god kitten built in game mechanics to help each other through an encounter.

100% agree with suggestions on auto-release within a minute.

Or you can resurrect downed players and work as a group as the game had intended you to, you colossal kitten.

Will definitely be using Time Warp in a sPvP setting, if only because I’ve noticed lately people have a harder time pulling off quick stomps than usual. Specially if we’re lobbed into a darn Courtyard map.

notebene.3190:

Astral Projections.7320:

Get the shortbow that shoots unicorns then.

I was looking forward to that for my ranger until they changed how the short bow worked.

But did it really change THAT much in the scope of things?

You know this is all not as important as being able to dye our eye-brows so we don’t look like bottle-blondes.

Novuake.2691:

deSade.9437:

*snip wall of text

Seems the 80s are coming back?

I connect with this. This is me.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

What’s that saying about two wrongs not making a right?

The pact being destroyed from the inside out. That beautiful thing called hindsight.

Cut ’em all up.

- Main-hand Pistol
- Off-hand Shield
- Off-hand Dagger

This was so so so fun to do! And they may not be balanced because hello bias. Hopefully I’ve covered options for both condition and power-based setups.

Main-hand pistol ideas:

Skill 1 –
2 attack chain.
‘Potshot’. Shoot the target applying one stack of vulnerability. (radius 120 on first shot)
‘Roulette’. Shoot the target three times, 30% chance of removing a boon with each shot.

Skill 2 -
Clone
‘Complicate’ Shoot the target twice, applying (x) stacks of confusion, and teleport 400 units behind them. (the potential for vertical travel with this is just woooaw). (10 second cooldown)

Skill 3 -
‘Aneurysm’ Hit your foe with the stock of your gun, dazing them and applying (x stacks) of confusion. Stun foe if they are already confused.

Off-hand shield:

Skill 5 -
Phantasmal Sentinel Conjure a phantasm that creates a protective bubble which negates projectiles (reflecting projectiles when traited with Warden’s Feedback I’m thinking) , granting protection and retaliation to nearby allies (radius 300 or so).

Skill 6 -
‘Price of Pride’
Create a field of energy at target area which disables the stamina regeneration of foes and applies Vigor to allies. Enemies take (x) damage for each boon on them (cumulative). 8 second duration. Pulses every second.

Off-hand dagger:

Skill 5 –
Phantasmal Saboteur Conjure a phantasm that throws a Dancing Dagger at your foe, bouncing three times, applying cripple and torment. (Affected by Illusionary Elasticity, attacks every five seconds).

Skill 6 –
Auspicious Parry Block (3s duration) the next melee attack against you. Regain all endurance and counter the attack by applying torment and cripple to all nearby foes (300 radius) and retreat backwards 600 units.

Utility stuff:

Energy Burn Target and nearby foes lose all stamina. If target has full stamina when this skill is activated, they are knocked down and suffer burning for (x) seconds. (Radius 300). Unblockable

Raise the boon-condition swap amount to five of each for Arcane Thievery

Mimic – Revert to old functionality. Mimic should absorb ALL attacks to hit the Mesmer in this state within a three second channel, which can then be unloaded onto a selected target in the form of a projectile that is dictated by the amount of damage ‘blocked/absorbed’ during the period of channeling. Can be activated instantly. (this is a total cream-my-pants fantasy though)

Trait stuff:

Combining existing traits into one e.g. Far-Reaching Manipulations & Master of Manipulation. Making Power-Block put attacks with no cool-down on a 5 second cool-down i.e. Thief skills and auto-attacks.

Removing a condition on yourself when proccing Bountiful Interruption, Chaotic Interruption removing 1-2 boons on interruption or 1-2 boons on daze and the like.

Mirror of Anguish negating a CC attempt and instead applying it to the enemy would be a huge QoL improvement (along with an icon showing you when Mirror of Anguish is up). Imagine how much help this would be against thief daze-steal.

Deceptive Evasion being a baseline mechanic of the Mesmer.

Reverting Chaos Armor and Blurred Frenzy (I had to put this in here honestly), as well as the Blinding Befuddlement trait. Chaos armor builds were a lot of fun before the patch ruined it for everyone.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

lordkrall.7241:

ElysianEternity.6215:

So, in other words the most cited, fanfiction-ish and unfounded theory since beta was supposedly one of anet’s story’s greatest mysteries?

I hope that isn’t something the writers are proud of.

I don’t even really know what to say. Just wow. Lame.

Unfounded?
The fact that people have been discussing it since beta would suggest that there were indeed things pointing towards it, ergo not unfounded.

The supporters have been arguing it despite continuous evidence against the theory. All evidential support they had was debunked upon release.

But ArenaNet goes and make the most illogical, asinine, and ridiculous but “common” theory canon lore.

It’s pretty kitten clear this wasn’t the fate of the sylvari upon their creation or during release.

What’s next? The gods are the Elder Dragons after all?

CureForLiving.5360:

I don’t know, just because player were able to guess it doesn’t mean its bad. Remember the series Lost? You know where the writers were so determined to be smarter than the audience that they purposefully took the series into the most stupidest directs? Yeah, I’d rather ANet not do that.

Too late, they’re going in the most stupidest directions.

It’s just that they’re giving the vocal fans what they think they want.

THe NPE was this as well.

It’s become clear to me: ArenaNet has someone or someones who’s too kitten sensative to their feelings over their work that they intentionally kitten it up in a way to make it into what the players claim to want.

What’s next, Anet? Kormir no longer is a god, it is the PC from GW1?

I think this “revelation” is utterly bullkitten because 1) the “theory” has been debunked time and time again by the game itself and 2) it destroys the uniquness of the sylvari race, turning them into an atypical boring “bad guys turned good” rather than the stigmatic, mysterious race they were until now. There were thousands of potential directions ArenaNet could have gone with, all of them far more original than “bad turned good”.

Dear ArenaNet, I don’t kittening care about your story anymore. Congratulations. You just managed to ruin one of your biggest fans since 2006, one of the biggest contributors to the wikis until last year, and someone who was eager to be part of your company until that same point last year. You had a chance to bring me back. I’ve been patient with you, hoping that despite the constant continuity errors that the Living World (especially Season 2) adds in, that you’d fix your path. Well, it’s obvious you didn’t. You decide, once more, to go with the “rule of cool” and ignore this fascinating thing called logic and continuity.

Congratulations, ArenaNet, and goodbye.

If you see me in-game, it isn’t for the story anymore. It’s for the mindless acts of killing pixels. Though Quake does a better job at that.

I haven’t even played Episode 8, but this single spoiler makes me not want to. To think I was actually looking forward to the update today. But no more. If I do play it, it’ll be to complete the Carapace and Luminescent armor, or to satiate a potentially inevitable curiosity about how, exactly, they decided the kitten up.

It’s been good knowing you lore community, but this is my last straw. If you see me on this forum again, it’d be habit and no more.

Edit: Oh, and it’s been said in an interview/by Caithe in TA story (I can never recall which and wiki doesn’t have all TA story dialogue up) that Faolain was, indeed, the first to encounter Nightmare – however, she didn’t fully fall into it until much alter, when Cadeyrn, already fallen to Nightmare, pulled her into it, where she then replaced him as leader of the Nightmare Court.

The salt is real.

We’ve watched you flame down (and often rudely) anyone presenting the Sylvari Mordremoth Minion theory, fanatically defending your stance and now you’re throwing a tantrum because it’s you who’ve been debunked. It would be priceless if it weren’t so sad.

I’m very interested to see how they handle this in relation to Sylvari players in Heart of Thorns. There is no precedent in an online game that I am aware of, that a very large portion of the players had been revealed to be the enemy that they were fighting the entire time.

I endorse this thread.

I’m immensely glad that threads like this do exist, it really enforces the fact that what of the story has been produced thus far, people love (a vast swing for the twistless and predictable story we had early Guild Wars 2), enough to be passionate about it. I do hope the OP’s comments follow through to the right ears.

This is a trick question.

Jim Hunter.6821:

Lachanche.6859:

/stuck is still there, it just takes 30 seconds to take action.

“/stuck – logs your position, use it when you are stuck to report it” From the wiki

Are you saying it does something other than that because I’ve never seen it work. Do you have to type it and then stay perfectly still and not hit anything else for 30 seconds?

Yes, it will then port you back to the spawn, but it’s still having someone out of the game for far too long.

The age old ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ seems to be entirely lost on this development team. It’s truly maddening.

Cynz.9437:

Zietlogik.6208:

or they could just make /stuck kill you, or /kill

that would automatically give enemy team 5 pts :/

Not unless they program it not to..?

Stormbolt.7293:

Blink. Your blink is amazing, and it can frustrate people so much. Use it whenever it’s off cooldown, make some clones and then blink around, blink then decoy, dance around your opponent. A good Mesmer makes the opponent fight on your terms. Far Reaching Manipulations is well worth the investment too.

Oh this so much. I run a double-traited blink now and it has changed the way I play, I’m on a 1200 range distance so much more often now because of it, and so when you’re out of reach of a Necromancer’s scepter, a theif’s steal (I mean who traits for a long range steal anway), and a Guardian’s leaps, life gets a whole lot easier. Works great in reverse too, to gap close on a power-ranger instantly is something that literally swings skirmishes.

Running a solid one here:

Sword/Pistol (Air + Doom) & Greatsword (Air + Fire sigils)
Berzerker Amulet
Rune of the Privateer

2 Domination – II (Halting Strike)
6 Duelling – II (Phantasmal Fury) IX (Duellist’s Discipline) X (Deceptive Evasion)
4 Chaos – [Optional first trait] VIII (Bountiful Interruption)
2 Inspiration – IV (Mender’s Purity)

Utilities:
Decoy / Blink / Arcane Thievery (optional)

Get the jump on fellow steath users and set up a phantasmal duellist from a healthy 1200 range, and do your best to interrupt key skills to beef up your own damage as well as your phantasm’s damage via Bountiful Interruptions (the only thing that makes me feel like a Guild Wars 1 Mesmer). Blink behind enemies to mess up their targeting, mind-wrack when you feel they’ve used up their dodges, honestly there’s a lot of room for split-second improvisation so not much for me to say here.

BojacDR.2104:

Man, a lot of you mesmers look good. Maybe the best looking class in the game but that’s just my opinion. Here’s mine. Just boring white gear but he doesn’t seem to care. He’s got some obsession going on with bats. Do you want to know how he got those scars?

I ADORE this.

Re: Duelist’s Discipline

This one trait allows me to get the jump on Theives as well as other Mesmers, and to set up a Phantasmal Duelist and make them a non-issue with their stealth tracking or even land a nice interrupt from a 1200 range, if we get mainhand pistol I’ll be in pistol-y heaven. It’s a staple for me currently however, I will never let go of my offhand pistol.