Guild Wars 2

Merciless.5349:

Ship.3612:

A mesmer complaining about warriors and rangers, now I’ve seen it all. Thief I can agree with but I do not think it’s overpowered, but 100b takes no skill? lol. Try playing 100b against a competent team, not in hotjoin, and tell me how many times you land it. It takes a lot of skill to play GS warrior, yes I said it, against good players of course. A skill that roots the warrior in place, frenzy causes them to take 50% more damage, and is countered by stability, invulnerability, or a dodge. if you die to it you got outplayed, hard.

Btw good GS warriors use more than just 100b but I don’t feel this thread deserves an in depth explanation of all that, more of a l2p issue, those players are pressing more than 1 button.

How about you focus on the topic instead of resorting to class warfare? You’re making the thread devolve. You have not contributed anything.

The thread is about the viability/effectiveness of spam skills vs those who weapon swap and use more than 2-3 skills.

You know what’s funny? I saw an axe/torch and greatsword Ranger SMOKING shortbow Rangers a few days ago. Like no contest. It was pretty funny. I’d like to know what his build was, because it was awesome.

@Kargion
That isn’t the build I use on my Necro, but I tried it out and it seemed to work pretty well. The wells were up frequently and I never felt like I was crippled without them. It wasn’t really a build that meshes well with my personal play style, but it worked out alright. I realize you can die in Plague form, but when I used it my HP jumped to like 50k or something crazy and I was able to go right into Death Shroud out of Plague like nothing happened.

@DoubleUnder
I actually asked about that and my buddy told me that he uses Surprise Shot over Rocket because you can do six Surprise Shots in the same time frame as one Rocket and so you get six more lightning discharges. He said by the time his first rotation of toolbelt and rifle shots are up Surprise Shot is ready to go again.

Kaim.7125:

Srsly if you think that Thief can buy TONS of time you justa fail game. 1 (very) short teleport, and stealth for 2s at SAME PLACE is no oppurtonity for mesmers telepots like crazy + making fake clones at grund and stealth.

Mesmers got most OP ground skills for now, I just cant count how many times we 2-3 try kill 1 grounded mesmer at middle of fight- its take AGES.

Other very strong ground skills have warrior, if you dont finish him fast- he just stand and kick ur kitten

The reason the Thief down state is so good is because most players are raging idiots. If you time your teleport or smoke screen so that it looks like they succeeded on their stomp (i.e., while they’re coming down on you from the air) they MIGHT turn around and look for you, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve healed and gotten back up because they think they won and run off.

Also, as Derps already stated, Mesmers have a RED SKULL above the head of the real Mesmer. If you spend “ages” running around stomping on clones, I don’t know what to tell you.

I’ve been playing a Ranger in PvE and PvP since release and for the greater part of the time since release I’m usually the only Ranger in any given PvP match. Not so much in the last couple weeks. I have been seeing shortbow Rangers (and only shortbow Rangers) out the wazoo.

It’s because it’s a stupidly easy spec. Positioning yourself is a joke, since any immobilize freezes your target in the direction they’re facing. If Rangers had some kind of immobilize that had a (potentially) long duration they could just unload a Sharpening Stone+QZ barrage in someone’s backside and have a 25 stack of bleeds in just a few seconds. Hrm… Anybody know of any abilities like that?

Derps.7421:

Mesmer down state. Want to know the secret? The real downed mesmer has the skull still over his head. It’s not so OP now is it.

That’s why I don’t mind the Mesmer downstate so much.

Now if only that pesky target would stick to Mesmers that insist on disappearing every 5 seconds.

marianitten.1247:

GankSinatra.2653:

marianitten.1247:

336862

Check what nr ability they are. Check how long it takes for Mist form to come up, and your fear to come up.
I understand your confusion, as nobody plays ele in 8v8.

The CD is not the problem. If you have the skill ready, and you are downed by 2 enemies.
.

Im sorry but i cant make it any clearer than that. If you dont think the cooldown matters when it most certainly does, i dont know what to tell you.

I also already agreed with you if you would read more carefully.
You’re a bit…. i’ll just leave this thread now. Just got my posting priviliges back : D

A bit what? I not that kind of people who report comments who doesn’t agree with me… never did that.. and i’m not going to do it

I think he’s saying you’re not catching on.

The Necro fear in downstate is instantly available. You just have to hit the button and you interrupt anyone who is attempting to stomp you. The mist form that Elementalists get only activates once you’ve been downed for nine seconds.

During that NINE seconds someone has the opportunity to stomp you THREE times or just kill you. Either one is easily doable within that time frame. Elementalists have NO way to stop someone from stomping them for nine seconds versus the instant fear ability of Necros.

In my opinion the strongest down state abilities belong to Thieves, Warriors, and Rangers. In that order.

Why, you may ask?

Thieves can buy themselves a TON of time for someone to show up and save them. If you time your teleport right you’ll have enough time to smoke screen and keep them looking for you while you heal up. Often times I can teleport two or three times before I get stomped or saved. You can also teleport WHILE you’re healing without interrupting the heal.

If you don’t stomp a Warrior fast they can pop back up with vengeance and sometimes finish a person off. If they’re traited, they’re back up for good (until they get downed again).

Rangers, believe it or not, have a pretty strong downed state. You have the daze to stop opponents from stomping you immediately. If you survive long enough for Lick Wounds to come up you can get double the healing AND bring your pet back to life. If you have a wolf pet (which a lot of Rangers do) you get a second stomp interrupt with fear.

TL;DR: complaining about Elementalist downstate being OP is crazy.

Sezu.8564:

nldixon.8514:

Can’t really spam 100B either, since it has a CD.

Implying a 6 sec CD (traited) means it’s not spammable…. oh you…

You can’t spam something with a cool down since spamming implies using the same ability over and over consecutively within a very short time frame.

Besides, if you’re doing it right you only need to use 100B once anyway.

Can’t really spam 100B either, since it has a CD.

Edited the Thief build and also tested with a steady sword and steady pistol. Assassin’s Signet does appear to only increase the damage of the first attack, so it’s actually a DPS loss to use the signet before your Pistol Whip. My bad and apologies for spreading misinformation.

Hundred Blades is only eight strikes plus the final strike. Definitely looks like a staged 1v1 since there is no other damage in there at all, which you would expect to see in W3 or sPvP.

Definitely need a screenshot of your Mesmer, because it sounds hilarious/awesome.

I agree with Lorian.4028. Toughness and vitality will make melee combat not nearly as punishing, plus you get the benefit of traits that are geared towards melee combat (X in WS and IX in NM).

I’d use Sharpening Stone, Quickening Zephyr, and Lightning Reflexes along with Wilderness Knowledge and you’ll have pretty good up time on all three of those abilities. Troll Unguent is a good heal, but I personally prefer Healing Spring for the combo field, but to each his own.

What exactly is that you enjoy about the Ranger? If you just enjoy the ranged weapon play style, you can play an Engineer. No pets and it’s focused on ranged combat. You could also play a shortbow or pistol Thief or a longbow or rifle Warrior. There are viable builds for both classes using ranged weapons.

I use a P/D and P/P build on my Thief and do exactly what you’re talking about. Like Geiir.7603 said, with the right traits you can keep your initiative up (and your damage) so you can constantly be using Cloak and Dagger to restealth and stack/reapply bleeds from Sneak Attack.

I’ve never taken a group 5v1, but I’ve won 2v1s and even a 3v1 (by the skin of my teeth) with this build. It’s not a burst build, but you can steadily whittle people down.

Ergo Proxy.6219:

Your necromancer build is kina silly, wells scale with power so im not sure why you went with condition damage.

Like I’ve said about five times in the thread already, they’re not my builds. I don’t know why he went with condition damage over power. I don’t really play Necro that much, but it seems to work for him and was working pretty well for me when I played around with it.

I haven’t talked to him in a few days, but I’ll ask him why he chose condition over power.

Science.4207:

Links appear to be broken.

There was an issue with guildhead a bit ago, I think. They should work.

Poxxia.1547:

@nldixon: If many people don’t understand the intention of your post, it was perhaps because you weren’t very clear? These days, so many posts have an underlying agenda, so ppl keep looking for that

The builds are fine (and certainly a place to start) … but the titles of the builds tend to say: “OP-build that will smash the opponent in seconds” or “make you survive no matter what” and hence the display some OP-aspect of the game.

Yeah, I was attempting to interject some humor into the post with the the names and statements like “so you can quit complaining about Mesmers and Thieves and be one”. Tone is hard to convey through text though, so I guess some people weren’t picking up on the sarcastic humor.

I guess the underlying agenda is for people to try new things that might be fun for them.

Skolvikings.5132:

I’m traited 30 intoBM and mainly use a Lynx in PvE for its high DPS. I keep trying birds, but they die so fast. I’m the type that hates having to pet swap as a normal gameplay tactic. There are times in level 70 PvE where I can order my Lynx to attack a target, and within a few seconds, it’s dead without any help on my part. Especially when I have multiple stacks of Beastmaster’s Bond active on her.

In WvWvW, I run my Lynx usually. I suck at WvWvW though. I like the ideas to use a wolf or drakehound for the CC. I’ll have to try that.

My hawk never dies in PvE, even when fighting veteran and some champion mobs. Not sure what your build is, but running this build my hawk is a killing, tanking machine (even more so than ‘tanky’ pets).

[Edit: For the record, I just used GS and LB for filler, it’s not actually what I use. You can use pretty much any weapons with a BM build. Those are the skills I use though.]

Lite.3819:

I’m not sure what the OP is trying to accomplish, but if all classes have an overpowered build doesn’t that make the game balance?

What happens if a “haha I can’t die” build fight a “haha you die in 3 sec” build?

I feel like nobody bothers to read anything on the internet. People just skim the titles of posts then start whining and moaning or flaming.

If you’ll read the first post you’ll notice that I specifically state what I’m “trying to accomplish”: Obviously not everyone is going to see eye to eye on builds. These are just a few that I have seen frequently in PvP or builds that made me take notice (like the Engineer running the build below that melted me in a few seconds) and Here are some basic builds that are effective and fun, so you can quit complaining about Mesmers and Thieves and be one (or, you know, try a different class and playstyle)!

In case you still don’t understand the intent of the post: I talked to a few people from different classes who play builds that are different than my own and put them in this thread so people can check out different play styles that seem to work.

@Zunhar.4079
No worries, man. Tone is hard to read through text. I tend to shatter my illusions when I get someone to around half health for a little more burst and by that time the CDs are up on the phantasms and can be pulled right back out. I don’t just summon them and then shatter them right away.

While I haven’t done any number crunching on Assassin’s Signet (since I don’t use it with my build), my buddy was under the impression that the on use portion of the signet applied to the entire attack (i.e., Pistol Whip from start to finish) and not just the first tick. I’ll check it out with a steady sword when I get home tonight.

@ Cribbage
My bad. I’ll get the proper spec up there later. I’m at work and it’s not the one that I personally use on my Ranger, so I don’t remember it right off the bat.

@Payneful
Anyway, like I said in my original post and reiterated a few posts down is that they’re not my builds. I’ve talked to people that have stomped me or I’ve played with that have builds that they are able to use effectively and I’ve shared them here so that people can get an idea of what some classes are capable of. That being said, I tried that Necro build (which a friend uses) and I was able to clean house with it. It’s pretty awesome for clearing out points that are being guarded by bunker builds.

If you’re basing your statement on a one on one situation, maybe it stinks. I dunno. I don’t usually go running around solo on my Necro.

@Aelona
I’ve only seen a couple of Guardians running around with torches, but one smoked me earlier today on my Ranger. Just couldn’t get away from him. Every time I’d get out of melee range, he’d be right back on my butt. Thanks for sharing your build!

I’d like to point out again for everyone else posting in this thread, these are not my builds (except the Guardian one). I’m just passing along builds that have worked for other people that I’ve talked to. I didn’t come up with or tweak any of these builds (except the Guardian build).

uMad.5719:

nldixon.8514:

Zunhar.4079:

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say…….
And oh, you don’t use Assassin’s Signet before Pistol Whip. That’d be a waste.
Why would you MindWrack when you have 2 Phanstasms up?
Someone should play these classes before posting…

Maybe someone should learn to read before posting? In the disclaimer I clearly state that not everyone is going to agree with all the build decisions. These are just some of the builds that people I’ve talked to use to excellent effect.

Maybe using Assasin’s Signet before Pistol Whip is a waste. I dunno. I don’t play Pistol Whip, I use pistol/dagger. That’s just what a friend of mine does and since he pistol whips people to death in less then 4 seconds, I’ll take his word for it, not some random on the internet.

Second, you have three illusions up before you Mind Wrack. It clearly says that in my original post. Duelist > Mirror Blade > Berserker. Counting is hard.

Thanks for the input though, snarky as it was.

For the mesmer part I think hes asking why would you waste phantasms. Not many people want to shatter and lose their phantasms for some reason.

I have noticed that lots of people don’t want to shatter. Doesn’t make much sense, since the illusions disappear after the fight is over anyway, plus you get huge burst or utility from the shatter AND the CDs on illusions are all relatively short (especially traited).

The lazy Mesmer play (leaving your illusions out and letting them do all the work while you auto-attack) works, but there’s so much more potential in the class.

Zunhar.4079:

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say…….
And oh, you don’t use Assassin’s Signet before Pistol Whip. That’d be a waste.
Why would you MindWrack when you have 2 Phanstasms up?
Someone should play these classes before posting…

Maybe someone should learn to read before posting? In the disclaimer I clearly state that not everyone is going to agree with all the build decisions. These are just some of the builds that people I’ve talked to use to excellent effect.

Maybe using Assasin’s Signet before Pistol Whip is a waste. I dunno. I don’t play Pistol Whip, I use pistol/dagger. That’s just what a friend of mine does and since he pistol whips people to death in less then 4 seconds, I’ll take his word for it, not some random on the internet.

Second, you have three illusions up before you Mind Wrack. It clearly says that in my original post. Duelist > Mirror Blade > Berserker. Counting is hard.

Thanks for the input though, snarky as it was.

Necromancer
Well, Just Make ’Em Bleed
Get it? Drop wells. Profit. I’ve been noticing a lot of these in PvP lately, because a monkey could play this setup. If you get in trouble use Plague and last longer. When Plague is over, use Death Shroud. /SNORE

Ranger
Shortbow Bleed
There’s a reason you see tons of Rangers running around with shortbows. Because it’s easy to stack 25 bleeds and watch those high toughness Guardians bleed to death. Condition damage is ridiculous and this build stacks bleeds like nobody’s business. Just try not to get immobilized.

Thief
Pistol Whip
This is one of the builds that everybody hates so much, because you can burst someone down so easy, it’s not even funny. There are several ways to trait, but this one seems pretty common. Steal, immobilize target with Devourer Venom, Assassin’s Signet, Haste, then Pistol Whip away. Doesn’t always work, but when it does you know the guy on the receiving end is throwing his mouse, or at the very least cursing loudly about Thieves.

Warrior
100 Blades
You don’t need Bull’s Rush. You don’t need Throw Bolas. You just need a sword in your main hand and adrenaline (which is no short supply in PvP). The immobilize on Flurry is long enough for you to kill anybody. It’s seriously as easy as Savage Leap, Signet of Rage, Flurry, swap to greatsword, 100 BLADES!, maybe a Whirlwind Attack, then wait for everybody else to kill your squishy rear end so you can do it again in a minute.

Ever wondered how that Elementalist stays alive forever? Or how that Necromancer does eight billion bleeding damage to everybody in 15 seconds flat?

Here are some basic builds that are effective and fun, so you can quit complaining about Mesmers and Thieves and be one (or, you know, try a different class and playstyle)!

Elementalist
Not Today, Bro
This build is stupidly annoying, because you are impossibly hard to kill, even with only 13k HP. Constant regeneration, constant condition cleansing, lots of escape utilities translate into the ability to hold a point or keep several enemies tied up until reinforcements arrive. You’ll probably never kill anything, but at least it’ll take three to four people to kill you. Make sure you don’t start out in Water. Fire or Air are best so you can switch to Water for your regen and condition cures, then switch to Earth to go defensive with Earthquake to Churning Earth, then continue to roll around healing and annoying your foes.

Engineer
Lightning Bolt Burst
The important part of this build is the 30 points in explosives and the 10 points in tools. The rest of the points can be placed just about anywhere and you’ll still do okay. You don’t even have to use pistol/shield. You can use pistol/pistol or rifle just as easily. Bursting is stupidly easy: Analyze (F2), Surprise Shot (F3), Grenade Barrage (F4). At this point they’ll be almost dead and you just have to finish them off. Easy peasy, holy smokes this is cheesy.

Guardian
It Burns
I don’t really think this is a standard build (maybe it is), but it’s what I play on my Guardian and it’s FUN. Stuff dies pretty darn fast with the greatsword and can swap to the mace/focus and get a little survivability if you need it. Pop Save Yourselves!, Virtue of Justice, then start setting dudes on fire! Kind of squishy, but it’s always fun taking a few people with you.

Mesmer
Mantra Burst
(Fairly) standard mantra burst build. Who needs clones when you can just kill someone outright? Phantasmal Duelist, Mirror Blade, Phantasmal Berserker, Mind Wrack while you nuke them from range. /snore

There are obviously lots of other Mesmer builds, but this one is focused more on upfront damage and less on your clones (except for blowing people up with Mind Wrack).

Heavy Beastmastery spec and I use a hawk and owl for bursting stuff down quickly. In dungeons I use devourers (for ranged damage and extra toughness so they don’t die instantly) and drakes for AoE packs.

Also like the lynx, who has a nasty bleed, but really don’t use any other pets that much. I don’t really feel like the other pets are capable of holding aggro too well and don’t do as much damage.

Underwater I love the shark and armor fish.

I ran into a Thief using Cluster Bomb a few days ago who was doing massive amounts of damage. Five hits for just over 15k damage from Cluster Bomb. Pretty sure I was running a glass cannon build at the time, but I was pretty surprised to see that much damage from Cluster Bombs in my death window. I was dead in about 3 seconds.

I wish I could remember hombre’s name, because he was rocking short bow hard.

teviko.6049:

its funny that forice and now fire are both complaining about, specifically, mesmer clones.

You know, I went up against an entire team of mesmers last night in tPvP…

Oddly enough, we won.

Weird, I thought mesmers were sooooo OP.

Mesmers are pretty OP in the hands of someone who understands the class and knows how to play it effectively.

Luckily, a lot of the people playing Mesmers are just dudes who got stomped by Mesmers so much they gave up and jumped on the bandwagon.

It really is an easy class to dominate with in PvP. It takes a little more time and patience to understand how to play the class than a 100B Warrior or PW/HS Thief, but once someone understands how to play it, it becomes pretty powerful.

Even the builds that don’t require tons of clones, like power/precision GS builds.

Merciless.5349:

Those of us that have been playing sPvP exclusively for the last month or so but want to be able to jump to PvE are so far behind in the economy behind everybody else who’s been grinding money for a month.

No offense, but there shouldn’t be any gold or XP rewarded for sPvP any more than there should be sPvP ranks or armor skins rewarded for doing PvE content. They’re two different aspects of the game and if someone chooses to ignore PvE content for the sake of PvP (and vice versa) that’s a conscious decision made by the player. You CHOSE not to PvE for gold, you shouldn’t be compensated for making (what you now consider to be) the wrong decision.

For the record, I split my time between PvE, sPvP, and W3 and I’m still broke too.

I named my river drake Poop Snout, but Dopey isn’t allowed? Weird.

TheRamosOnline.2670:

Ah, yeah… that build gives me issues too.
I view it as an exploit, as there’s not really anything you can do to counter it. If you waste time killing them, you get picked off by the Mesmer.
If you waste time trying to kill the Mesmer, you get picked off by its illusions.

This build is quite unfair and turns a 1v1 into a 5v1 very quickly.

The class is designed to function in that manner. That’s not an exploit.

I just wanted to share this build that I’ve been using to great success in sPvP. Haven’t done any WvWvW with it, but I don’t imagine it would be that great unless it was a small scale fight.

I’m sure it’s not for everyone, especially button mashers, as it requires lots of stealth and avoidance until you can unload. It’s not bursty, but it has lots of steady damage.

Gotta get up in somebody’s grill and Cloak and Dagger as often as possible and Sneak Attack frequently. If someone tries to run, switch to pistol/pistol and let them have a taste of both barrels.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fYUQRAqY6alUmKO3cy7E95EyODgqC5UYUIlPDwSsA;TsAA2CookyIlQKbNOpkSNCYzxcAA

Yup, Wharghoul is right. That’s a speedhack if I’ve ever seen one!

Winter’s Bite applies the chilled effect, which is probably what that person was referring to.

@ManCaptain

Yes, because I clearly stated that you can consecutively chain the abilities together. Oh, wait… Your reading comprehension needs some work, because I simply stated that you could lock someone up for five seconds. Meaning they wouldn’t be able to retaliate for the duration.

Second, I didn’t say it was a good idea, I just said it was possible and pointed out that Mesmers have the ability to steal boons too.

Just because YOU don’t understand English doesn’t mean I don’t understand the Mesmer class. Thanks for playing though,.

vangedas.7358:

Please don’t confuse people. Pets are good against dummies, that’s all. Thank you.

Not true. Pets can be very effective in PvP, especially ranged pets.

I don’t really have a bunch of issues in WvWvW or PvP on my Ranger. Could things be better? Sure. They could always be better, but the class is still fun to play and you can be effective. There are some minor issues that need to be addressed with Rangers, but overall it’s been a fun experience.

swilkers.5938:

vangedas.7358:

Use sword on your 2nd weapon set and win.

How do you hit nothing? They are invisible when they attack. I fail to see the win in this.

You can actually swing away at where the Thief disappears and still hit them. If you manage to contact them while they’re invisible you can spam the chain attack and you’ll stick on them, even though you can’t see them.

felivear.1536:

This is worse than I had originally envisioned. Hmmmm, I may be in for the long haul to learn the nuances of these deviants. I may have to go full undercover, 21 Jump Street Style…

The most common (at least the build I see the most) is the greatsword/sword and pistol build that just spams endless illusions at you. It’s pretty annoying and it’s difficult to counter because the Mesmer just spawns illusions as fast as you kill them and if you do manage to get near the Mesmer they’ll usually just disappear or teleport away. Then you have to spend a couple seconds picking out which one of the four Mesmers is the real one again… It can be pretty infuriating.

The other build I seem to run into a lot is the staff/whatever build which is also incredibly annoying and highly mobile. Pain in the rear!

I think he’s trying to say Mesmer is EZ-mode and that you can effectively stunlock someone. Which is true, if they’re dumb and they let you.

Signet of Domination gives you a two second stun and Mantra of Distraction will let you daze someone three times (traited) for one second each. So you can lock someone up for five seconds assuming they’re too stupid to use a stun break/stability.
Of course, assuming someone DOES use stability, you can just steal it from them…

You won’t really be able to learn how to counter a Mesmer by playing as one. There are SO many different and effective builds that you’d have to play one for days/weeks straight to learn all the fun and different ways Mesmers have to ruin your day.

I dunno, but I ran into a Charr Necro in sPvP a few days ago that demolished me repeatedly. Not sure what his spec was, but he was doing tons of bleeding damage, had a boatload of pets and hardly took any damage at all. I was pretty impressed and promptly hit ‘H’ so I could ‘Return to the Mists’. Hehe.

Eveningstar.6940:

nldixon.8514:

Is that a thing? Do people think shields are bad? I use a shield on my Guardian, but I also frequently use a focus. I feel like the focus might even be a better choice in some cases. Coupled with a sword you get incredible defensive capability with a focus with two blinds and three blocks.

I don’t think that it’s a matter of people thinking the shield is bad, because it isn’t. It’s probably just that it’s not as good as a focus in most cases.

There’s been a few pretty heated threads decrying the uselessness of Shields. I never bought it either, although your last sentence totally nailed it: for general use, Focus offers more benefits in more situations. Of course, you really should be keeping a good shield and a good focus in your backpack, if not in your swap sets. Guardians seem to forget that we can use both.

I much prefer the Shield offhand for dungeons though, by far.

Gotcha. I tend to skip over threads with a bunch of whining in them, so I probably missed most of the “shields stink” threads. Hehe.

For the record Rangers do have a form of stealth in camouflage which does make you disappear in the middle of battle.

If a Thief disappears near you, get ready to use Lightning Reflexes and hope they don’t have an immobilize. Once you’re out of melee range you can avoid Cloak and Dagger which is what makes them disappear repeatedly and attempt to kite them. Pray they don’t have a shortbow equipped and have at it.

If the Thief is halfway decent, you’re probably not going to win. If you keep your wits about you and make good use of your utility skills (traps, Lightning Reflexes, Protect Me!) you’ll increase your chances of coming out alive substantially.

I think it’s more of an issue with toughness. How much toughness do you have? I’m guessing somewhere in the 900-1,000 range?

tl;dr

Seriously though, it is a little excessive.

[Edit: I’m not sure if people can hear you saying it (I assume they can’t), but if they can I’m going to start using it more in PvP.]

Is that a thing? Do people think shields are bad? I use a shield on my Guardian, but I also frequently use a focus. I feel like the focus might even be a better choice in some cases. Coupled with a sword you get incredible defensive capability with a focus with two blinds and three blocks.

I don’t think that it’s a matter of people thinking the shield is bad, because it isn’t. It’s probably just that it’s not as good as a focus in most cases.

Irish Cowboy.4153:

True, but rate of fire increases as you get closer to the enemy. Your damage increases the CLOSER you are to your enemy.

That’s why I like the combination of shortbow/longbow. Damage increases as you get closer and as you get farther away.

My rate of fire has never increased the closer I get to an enemy. The only thing that has ever increased my rate of fire with a shortbow is Quickness.

Why is this even a discussion? They are two different tools for two different jobs.

You’re not going to use a hammer to chop down a tree, are you? So why would you compare it to an axe?

Nismoz, you’re chasing ghosts. There is no difference between Norn and Human.

You can use statistics to provide whatever ‘evidence’ you need to pad your argument, but the fact of the matter is that when you remove all variables, Norn and Humans do the exact same amount of damage. End of story.

Trungalung.7850:

nldixon.8514:

I just tested this on a Norn Guardian and a Human Guardian. There is absolutely no difference in damage using a steady greatsword on a heavy golem.

Starting armor, steady greatsword, traits reset both races do exactly nine attacks for 17 damage, barring crits or glancing blows.

How many times have you tested on both? Were you standing directly inside the golem? Even though the description only state 9x attack, you can hit up to 14 hits from whirling wrath (swings + projectiles). I just did some small tests on the heavy golem with my average size human female. If you stand directly on top of the golem, it’s a 14 hits with no misdirection projectiles.

The damage is the same. It’s a conspiracy theory.

I just tested this on a Norn Guardian and a Human Guardian. There is absolutely no difference in damage using a steady greatsword on a heavy golem.

Starting armor, steady greatsword, traits reset both races do exactly nine attacks for 17 damage, barring crits or glancing blows.

There’s no point in this discussion until someone does some tests using a steady greatsword. I would, but I’m at work!

Mongo.2490:

I’ve played engineer and mesmer to 20, the others to around 15. I’ve also done a bit of sPvP with them. I just really want to find a profession I can enjoy so I can play with my friends. It does sound like there’s more emphasis on pets than I’d like. Also took a look at the trait tree, seems like you really can’t get around the fact that it’s a pet class. Kinda what I expected.

If I were you, I’d sPvP with all of the classes for a couple hours (at least) so you can get an idea of what the classes will play like in PvE as you advance to 80.