Guild Wars 2

Fay.2357:

Curunen.8729:

Hmm, only NA players?

“In addition, all Guild Wars 2 Forum Specialists… must live in the USA and be age 18 or older, for legal reasons…”

Well if we were allowed to vote, I’d vote for any of you guys here who knows the class inside out – at least we might have a chance of seeing something fresh injected into the class.

They mention that this is sorta the ‘pilot program’, and is only being released for the english speaking forums. I presume that once it’s out of pilot, they’ll release it for other areas as well.

Read this a few days ago (had to go find it), but it’s due to legal reasons primarily:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Questions-on-the-Guild-Wars-2-Forum-Specialists-Program/first#post4600354

She does leave the opening to extend into other areas though, so hopefully that happens (assuming the pilot goes well).

And Chaos … why you do this … thanks for the vote of confidence. I’m on here a lot but don’t think I have the time/energy to dive that much more into it.

Yeah I saw it a week ago or so when they posted it. I’m really hoping this doesn’t turn into some entitlement sort of thing and they find people with the time and energy to do a good job without egos. The last thing we want is some overlord.

It’s a tall task really and I’m glad they went to the lengths they did with the application process.

Ansau.7326:

Since when it was nerfed??

OP may be referring to the December 2012 patch where shattered strength was buffed to give 3 stacks of might per illusion but then nerfed 3 weeks later to 1 stack per illusion. It was wildly overpowered for that short period of time and got nerfed as it should have.

WitchKing.5317:

a 90s cd for a master trait is hard to like…

Used to be 90s, but was reduced to 60s in the 12/10/2013 patch.

PvP-speak aside, when I was leveling 2 years ago one of the main weapons I used was torch. That extra stealth really helped me as I was learning the ropes of mesmer. Back then I wasn’t even aware of the forums so I didn’t realize there were more efficient ways to level. Shatter isn’t the best way, but it’s decent and in the end doesn’t matter. If that’s what you want to play, it’s fine and you’ll get to 80 eventually.

Since that first leveling experience, something I’ve done though with my alts has been to learn each weapon set on each profession while leveling. I’d strongly suggest you do the same with mesmer. So every 10-15 levels, switch things up. If you’re focusing on shatter, go sw/t for awhile and then switch to GS/Staff etc. You can’t really go wrong with any of these combinations with shatter. Mix it up and learn the various advantages/disadvantages of each weapon. Then when you reach 80, what you decide to play in open world PvE is really what was the most fun for you during the process.

Another thing on sw/t shatter – helseth actually used it in the WTS finals over the weekend. The iMage is fodder but the prestige AoE blind + stealth + dmg burst + long burn make it very powerful for mesmer using sword. More than anything, the extra stealth source helps survivability vs thieves in both PvP and WvW.

StickerHappy.8052:

Wouldn’t Be Harmonious Mantras and Restorative Mantras Counterproductive? Since you have 1 more charge extra before you can charge it again?

Only slightly I think, not a big deal. This way you actually get to play a bit more instead of constantly charging. Hopefully you wouldn’t need to be literally spamming it over and over, but in case you do, I guess you could look at it as 3 quick MoP small damage bursts.

I don’t think bountiful disillusionment is the best choice in it’s current state – so weak.

A note on shattered conditions. It’s decent if you’re an on point bunker or using it selfishly. Once you leave the point, your group support diminishes greatly. I honestly don’t think it’s very reliable to use by itself for condition management in a support focused build for a couple reasons:

• Condition isn’t cleansed until illusion begins it’s shatter animation. This means you have to wait as it trudges to it’s target (who could be moving). Could be 10 seconds before you/your ally receives the cleanse when you need it now.
• You don’t have reliable on demand cleanse ability. If you take DE, it’s better cause you can dodge > shatter to cleanse, but even then still not fool proof if you’re out of endurance or you don’t have a target within 600 range. IP is the only ultimate fix for this. No illusions required and you don’t even have to be within 600 range to cleanse (tested only on myself but assume it works on ally next to you).

To provide good condition support, I think you have to solve that on demand issue. Mantra of resolve seems to fit the bill for this, but obviously not as strong as the trait on point due to limited charges. So how about a compromise?

With mesmer support I think you almost need to choose between three different focuses. Are you going to support with 1) traits, 2) utilities or 3) boon share? I don’t think you can do all at once very well. You can pull off trying two in one build but it’s challenging to get the most out of.

So for trait support, you could maybe run something like x/6/x/6/x with harmonious mantras, DE and everything you currently have in inspiration. It all works together well with plenty of vigor to keep endurance full for you/allies, decent healing with mantras, plus massive condition removal on point and for your roamers. Obviously with this you wouldn’t run the signet as boon share isn’t the focus.

For boon support, I think 6 in chaos is mandatory as you have. Signet mastery might be good. I’d run chaotic dampening and BI together (I do that in my utility wizard build and it’s great). Everything else is about the boons, so choose traits that provide them (vigorous revalation, etc) and if you have enough points to spend from there, move into another focus area.

Just some ideas, hope it helps.

If you weren’t landing many interrupts, my guess is you were running into a lot of stability. You’re unfortunately not going to be able to strip all that on your own. When stability isn’t as prevalent (or readily stripped), in my experience the interrupts aren’t too difficult to land just because of the chaos that goes on in these types of fights, meaning you’re bound to interrupt something with all the AoE options this build has.

As for the build itself, I would say it can certainly work and I’ve used it successfully in large zerg fights (albeit not organized), which seem to be what you’re describing. Are there better interrupt focused builds that could be used in that format? Probably, but then again any interrupt build is going to run into problems with stability. I’ve always thought of chillruption as maybe not the most optimal build to use for these situations but it holds it’s own and remains a very fun ranged interrupt bomber.

The best suggestions I’ve seen on how to best handle this without making it a default class mechanic are adding other ways to generate clones outside of DE. Because let’s be honest, taking a powerful 4 point trait and just giving it to us by default is never going to happen.

Creating new traits

^ Many other creative things could come from this concept.

Adding functionality to our weapon recharge traits

^ Taking Pyro’s idea further – limiting the extra clone to the weapon specific CD trait so we can get some additional clone generation in the adept and master trees.

Add DE by default but with 5s ICD

^ This is one of best I’ve seen. So by default we get a clone on dodge with an internal CD, but we can still trait DE if we want the current functionality. ICD may need to be higher, not sure, but I think I like this concept the best.

Booms.2594:

you should make it so skyhammer won’t ever appear if there is a team of 5 qing. only if its duoqing or soloqrs.. that way teams that are actually trying to practice actual competitive tpvp for your such amazing holy tournaments won’t have to waste 15 minutes of their life knocking people off ledges.

I like the idea, but it would have to be your team and an opposing five man organized team matched together, which may or may not always happen. For higher end teams actively queuing I could see it occurring often though.

That aside, even if something like this isn’t done – at least if your whole team doesn’t want to play skyhammer, all five can vote as such giving you a decent chance you won’t get it.

Dondagora.9645:

Why not create more traits which can create clones in certain circumstances? Clone on heal[good with Mantra of Recovery], Clone on interrupt[good in Lockdown], Clone on teleport[no idea, but might be fun to play around with], and maybe even Clone on boonstrip[would create this ridiculous combo with Nullfield to create a barrage of clone-death AoEs very quickly]. These are fun alternative ways to create clones, illusions which are our profession resource for our mechanic. Putting these in different trees creates more diversity in options.

Yeah I mentioned this in the other thread:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Mesmer-Trait-Deceptive-Evasion-swap/first#post4575064

And still think that would be the best solution. Ideas, though – not much aside from one I thought of. Add one clone to all clone generating skills on every weapon if you take the cooldown trait for that weapon. Each MH weapon and Staff/GS has one.

Most people don’t take these traits because there are other options so much more appealing. This would force some serious consideration for those. Scepter and Sword are two cases where DE can easily be taken with, but still, it’s just one extra clone and don’t think it’d be OP. At the same time, you can forego DE and get a little extra clone generation that isn’t based on randomness or RnG.

EDIT: Not sure how I feel about it related to the scepter AA clone but still might OK. I was more thinking of the clone on scepter block.

Swish.2463:

skcamow.3527:

DE will likely never become the default class mechanic. The outcry would be such that even if Anet went with it, it would get reverted.

I doubt we’d see any outcry at all. Nearly every single Mesmer build runs DE now. How many would notice that all Mesmers went from using a trait to just having it default without a proper Announcement in the patch notes?

The meta is already built up around Mesmer using this trait, and the change probably wouldn’t alter how its handled..

If it were just made defualt I might actually want to take something like DD for the first time in a year and a half..

It would open up the most build diversity the class has ever seen but also allow play of 6 in illusions and 6 in any other tree. You make DE default and all the sudden you don’t necessarily need to spec dueling anymore, or allows other decent master dueling traits to be taken. This opens up the possibility for some very powerful new builds. I can imagine some of the legit 6/0/0/0/6 or 0/0/6/0/6 shatter/lockdown specs if this really happened. I don’t know, I just think it would be too much – something else would have to be balanced behind this change and I have no idea what that would be.

DE will likely never become the default class mechanic. The outcry would be such that even if Anet went with it, it would get reverted.

Personally I think DE is fine and appropriately placed, but we just need more triggers to generate clones to open up diversity with builds that don’t use DE. I like the on interrupt idea but that’s too random. Pyro’s idea is on the right track, but expensive. We need creative options in the various adept or master trees (dom/chaos/insp/illusions). I don’t have any at the moment but I think that’s the solution.

For ranged shatter one of my favorites is the mirror blade > blink to their face > F1 > mind stab. Traited with elasticity, that can be a devastating combo that can almost down a squishy thief from full health.

More things to think about -

I look at lockdown as split into two styles: 1) Stun and 2) Interrupt.

For stun focused builds, confounding suggestions is king. The stun (and to a lesser degree, the daze bounce) from pistol in that build is great synergy.

For interrupt focused builds, chaotic interruption is king and using pistol in that build is counter productive because if you interrupt with the pistol stun, you’re wasting away CI procs. In addition, by virtue of the fact you took pistol, you lose a valuable CI proc’ing source from that MH/OH weapon set, and no, I don’t count the daze bounce as that’s not an interrupt you’re skillfully executing. For the trait points spent to get CI, taking pistol can be a bit wasteful.

Josh mentioned a special RU episode during the last one, but I didn’t catch when that was going to be. I thought he said it wasn’t going to be it’s normal time. Anyone know that info?

MailMail.6534:

Speaking of that, how is it going with all those people who play with Shatter Conditions instead? 4/4/0/0/6 is probably the “go-to” Maim build I’m assuming. How does that match up against 0/4/0/4/6 or even 0/4/2/2/6?

Assume you mean shattered concentration xD.

MailMail.6534:

snip

Yeah my problem with null field is that it’s too slow compared to the mantra, but if you can legitimately make it work as your sole cleanse source while gaining the other benefits discussed, more power to you. Don’t forget the mantra cleanses AoE (but doesn’t strip ofc).

MailMail.6534:

Energy sigil is nice, but vigorous revelation helps the team and gives me an open slot to have sigil of doom and sigil of earth on scepter/torch.

Just wanted to mention I love the idea of running a more selfish (but not so much!) 4 in inspiration (versus 4 in domination) with this build and vigorous revelation/glamour mastery. Very unique idea to spread AoE vigor and also still have boon strip with null field on reduced recharge (and portal). Problem always with inspiration is not taking mender’s purity. While null field is good, it will only get you so far in serious fights. You could always use a cleanse sigil to help with conditions if needed.

I play an extremely selfish sPvP build that mixes both interrupt and shatter beautifully (but doesn’t use CI, so can’t call it lockdown).

Also, my feeling is that any standard 4/4/6 CI build doesn’t work unless shatter plays a big role in it. The mind wracks from the sword or CI immobs are your key damage source outside of the incidental halting strike. So I consider the standard CI build lockdown/shatter to begin with.

@zyxith, everyone in this thread is actually correct, but in different ways. You didn’t once mention using mesmer in a dungeon, but you did mention a team (which may indicate that). Either way, assumptions completely aside, here are your PvE options:

1. Open world PvE: Use what you want. Condition, power, hybrid work fine. On big boss fights your conditions will cap, making your damage largely absent, but who really cares in most of PvE. It’s so faceroll easy it just doesn’t matter. If you enjoy Staff/Sc-T, play it to your heart’s content here.
2. Casual dungeon runs: These groups don’t typically care about dps as much as enjoying the dungeon content, doing minimal skips and just chilling. Very cool for those that like this approach, and your condition build will be more than welcome here. That is, no one will ask you what you’re running or kick you for something you’re running or not running.
3. Speed dungeon runs: These groups will kick you on sight if you’re running a condition build or have more condition focused weapons equipped (like Sc-T). Note that these runs can also often be defined as “80’s exp”. A lot of those groups expect the meta builds, too.

The ones you want to target are the “All welcome” “Casual”, or if they don’t specify a level requirement, need for experienced or speed.

For any other questions, feel free to ping me in game and I’d be more than happy to help explain anything further.

Snakebyte.2804:

I m currently running GS/Staff bc iWar kitten s world bosses but in situations where I need to cleave fast I just wish I had a sword. I guess I could always just swap out though. Thanks yall!

If I use MoP, would training harmonious mantas be worth the cd reductions Id give up for one of my weapons tagging-wise?

Could be maybe, would have to play with it to see.

Fay.2357:

MoD with halting isn’t worth it. The cooldown time on it makes it just entirely inefficient. You’d be better off cleaving with sword during that time. I’d run something more along the lines of gs + sw/focus with mantra of pain. You can fiddle with the traits, but that’s going to be more or less the best tagging you can get. Staff isn’t worth it because chaos storm is on a 35s cd.

Well, you can lay down the mantra without breaking AA or BF, so it just adds more potential tags. That said, if you want a different utility instead of waiting on that 30s recharge, I get it.

Chaos Storm isn’t bad at all on 28s traited recharge and tags excellently. Again if you don’t prefer that, just run Sw/F. I consider GS mandatory.

I won’t dub this the ultimate farming build, but when I run mesmer for these types of things, I’ll run GS/Staff with traited GS, Staff and illusionist’s celerity for maximum illusion recharge reduction. You could certainly swap Staff for Sw/F for a bit better tagging and swiftness if you want to take something other than traveler’s. I just love staff so I use it.

Aside from that, running with Mantra of Pain is a must (since AoE), and Mantra of Distraction with halting strike.

So, something like this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJARGlknpEt1oxMNSMNET2rIKLfmkBOUqQA-TVghAAw+DAA-w

Also make sure you shatter mind wrack and CoF (F1/F2) as often as possible in between MoP’s, Mind Stab, iBerserker and Chaos Storm. That’ll keep the AoE tagging up until those come off recharge.

If you use sword, take 2 points from chaos and put them in dueling for blade training.

This kind of setup will get you closer to ele/guard potential tagging, but you are working really hard to get those tags even with this setup, and still won’t match. Ele is just too OP and easy mode when it comes to this kind of thing and that’s what I mainly run.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Gonna give 2/4/2/0/6 a run. Them clonedeaths!

Carighan.6758:

Joined Chaos with 2/4/2/0/6, for me due to being utterly reliant on Descent into Madness. Loving it. And yes, I am aware Power Shatter is better, but this is a nice change of pace.

I still don’t understand the dichotomy of playing clone death along with shatter. In a build where you want to be shattering as much as possible, it seems like you’re gimping yourself by spending into those on death traits (meaning, they could be better spent elsewhere).

I guess I don’t see how much more beneficial it would be than rampagers, which isn’t largely used. Might be another option to play with for folks who roll hybrid.

Don’t forget to try out the new maim the disillusioned buff that hit today …

No RnG please, and make it work on all classes. Don’t really care beyond that.
It’s a tough thing to drum up because of the way skills work in the game, but until they do, it’ll remain useless unfortunately.

There is certainly room in the game for the play how you want crowd, as long as you understand common courtesy. There are numerous condition builds built more for WvW in the build sticky and any of those can be used in PvE. Often you’ll see dungeon runs described as clearly not a speed run and your build will be happily accepted in those. Just don’t expect to get done with the dungeon in a reasonable amount of time.

In open PvE, use any of those builds to your content. They’ll all work fine. You’ll rarely if ever die and do sub-optimal damage, but if it’s a condition build you’re really after, then go for it.

keenlam.4753:

Many might agree with me on this, but I think Imbued Diversion should be baseline for Diversion (maybe reduce the radius to 180 instead of 240, like the Daze Mantra).

I think when Diversion shatter was designed originally, its use was intended as to defend against or disrupt a single target enemy. But more than 2 years into the game, the meta has changed dramatically and Diversion is now being used for both defense and offense in many creative ways. The buff to Diversion would give the mesmer the unique role for aoe control, especially for people who enjoys lock-down playstyle. Also as Anet is trying to give mesmer some more aoe dmg option like recent buff to mantras, this would be another nice thing to add (Diversion + Halting Strike 2 trait pts vs Imbued Diversion + Halting Strike 8 trait pts)

Then the gm trait can be changed to : increase the radius to 240 and reduce 20% recharge time for Diversion.

Yeah I think I could finally agree that this wouldn’t be too OP. I know it has been brought up before where I didn’t agree. In light of the recent changes to the mantra and other things you mentioned, it wouldn’t seem that far off. Then imbued diversion would lower the recharge and I think even get moved to master. It’d be in a great spot then.

Those are some pretty big changes though, so at the very least if they gave imbued diversion some love where it’s at, it’d be better than nothing.

Agreed, this trait struggles to find relevancy in it’s current spot. I think it’s strong only within the confines of coordination with a team. Therefore, you’ll never see this gain traction in soloq. Feels like a broken record at this point, but I’ve said many times that to make it relevant in soloq, adding a buff to lower the base recharge of diversion would really help. I believe people would start using it then, and that may be all it really needs to warrant GM tier.

Even still, I don’t believe it would crack consideration at the highest competitive levels. In order for that to happen, it probably needs to move down to Master. It then competes with popular traits such as Illusionary Elasticity and to a lesser extent, Illusionary Invigoration. Then you’d see serious consideration.

Bottom line, it needs the attention of Anet, much like MtD has recently received. I hope this happens soon.

keenlam.4753:

So I have been playing this spec in WvW for weeks and loving it.
However, I have trouble going against high regen warrior who simply outheals all my condi dmg as well as having so much mobility.

Right now im thinking of switching from tormenting runes to grenth runes for the extra chill since Temporal Curtain doesn’t give a reliable cripple to slow down those GS warriors.
Also I’m using doom sigils on both weapon sets as well.

Anyone have any good tip to deal with warriors in general?

Yeah warriors are plain difficult in WvW. Using a chill sigil instead of torment on one might help slow them down a little. As far as fighting them, one thing to keep in mind is to never attack them when they’ve popped Berserker Stance or Endure Pain (noting that can also pop via their Defy Pain trait). A lot of conditions and damage can be mitigated via those two utilities.

Swish.2463:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Unnecessary pessimism aside, I believe it’s supposed to be in November.

Though I haven’t heard of any buff besides Maim being 2x torment per shatter rather than one.

that was stated to be in the Halloween patch chaos…

They stated early November for the balance changes.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Dondagora.9645:

I had a thought, and wonder if this might work: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAW8al0npGttqxUNUrNyqxcqlQ9VrNWpHJ7AA-TZBCwAAOIAYuAAiLDc5JAoc/BA

Basically a lockdown build not meant to win 1v1s, but rather influence team fights with mass-lockdowns, such as Chaos Storm, Imbued Diversion, Magic Bullet, Mantra of Distraction, and Dazzling Glamours. Something like pushing out these at a steady pace from outside of the skirmish to wither the enemy team down. Unsure about whether to use scepter or sword. Scepter allows creating clones from a safe distance away, but sword has that AoE immob. Well, any opinion on this style of lockdown as opposed to the more up-front style?

This is rather tricky. I really feel imbued can work in a teamfight lockdown build but I have rarely experimented with it (though skcamow has).

Yeah this will regurgitate some of what chaos said, but I’ve played chillruption of course which makes heavy use of the trait. Using imbued diversion outside of that build, however has led to some frustration in theory-crafting. I’ve tried a couple times but it always ends with something too meh for me to even try. The issue is the longer 35s recharge on imbued diversion. You can try taking signet of illusions and illusionary invigoration to mitigate this, but you give up too much damage (IE) and utility to do it IMO. If you can get past that (I never could), the other very painful decision is then to determine whether 4 in domination or 4 in chaos. The might stacking potential is insane with AoE dazes from imbued diversion and MoD, thus screaming BI. On the other hand, the same case could be made for multiple halting strike procs + massive AoE vulnerability spread (epidemic numbers) along with your standard boon strip.

I do think in a very coordinated team (not top tier), one of those two specs – especially the 4/4/0/0/6 – could be used effectively.

To fix the issue, I’ve suggested numerous times on the forums that a buff to imbued diversion needs made to add a default 20% recharge reduction in diversion to the trait. If they did that, I would much more seriously consider something like this.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Phoenix.5047:

I’ve been running with a variant of the “Chillruption” build posted here some time ago by someone, and I make heavy use of scepter+torch, mainly Confusion and Torment.
It’s worth mentioning that these two conditions act as a sort of “soft” lockdown, punishing your opponents for kiting or using skills(complimented by Torch5’s Retal), or forcing them to remain static for some time until they can deal with those conditions, all the while allowing your other lockdown skills time to go off cooldown.

Which reminds me, we need more Chillruption vids, skcamow!

I’ve actually wanted to for awhile, just need the motivation.

Tealots.6095:

Tealots.6095:

Any tips on how to really make GS really meld with a CI build? I tried playing around with the build below for a little bit. Thinking maybe I’ll try double-ranged shatter “style” with CI for control. It was fun, but I’m sure I could be doing something else with that. I found that this one could handle engineers pretty well.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJAWRlknpGtFqxMNcrNytxY6Ne4CU20UlMggB-TZxFwAJeAAo2fAwRAAxlAQaZAA

My main problem with that build that I linked is that the damage isn’t that great. I considered going 4/0/6/0/4. Sacrifice DE and take Halting Strike and Shattered Concentration. Utility-wise I would then definitely use iDisenchanter and either Mirror Images or Decoy for the extra clones. I need to pick a different rune set. And it’s hard creating any kind of damage spike out of an interrupt without Halting Strike. I could switch to a rampager amulet/Grenth rune combo and try a little hybrid I suppose, but that just doesn’t feel clean.

My 2 cents here – since you’re running a more shatter focused style, you definitely need to keep DE. Your damage is being hamstrung by your sigils, runes and choice of illusionary invigoration instead of IE. When you take those three augmented damage sources away from a build with 0 points in power, you’re going to feel a bit weak. Taking IE will help a lot. Keeping energy but switching ice for air will help. Finally, going with hoelbrak or strength runes will be a big boost since you’re running BI. Being a shatter build, I would also opt to swap the iDisenchanter for something else (probably cleanse mantra).

I don’t want to derail this thread too much, but I don’t where people get the idea mesmer isn’t used in top tier tournament PvP. Supcutie has played mesmer as recently as a couple weeks ago in the ToG. Other teams actively using mesmers at what I would consider high/top tier are Sharks with Lazers, Made in Meta, TCG, Apex Prime and Boon. Mesmer is absolutely viable in a team that is built to use it’s strengths and able to provide valid peeling and protection for it. And many teams are actively doing just that.

Just not with PU mesmers.

Fay.2357:

NICENIKESHOE.7128:

Try to fix that lack of rooting in Scepter+torch/staff with sylvari power
What do you guys think about grasping vines? Should I change it to signet of domination? Or should I forget about rooting and add condition cleanse to free up traits?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhUQNArfWl0npRtlpxbOcrNyqBdqlg6s0lgW6LktAA-TFyCABAcEAwS5Hz7Pcp6PS8AA0TfAFnCgxUCSKAImGB-w

Grasping vines work wonders against range opponents or opponents who doesn’t look below them. And 2s to longer immobilize isn’t too much compromised when compare to domination.

Nah, the skill is pretty bad to anyone that isn’t absolutely awful. It’s on a kitten cooldown, so have fun bursting once every 45 seconds I guess. Additionally, the vines can be cleaved down in an instant even by condie classes. It’s just…not good at all.

Well, maybe it’s not so good, but might give it a shot anyway.

NICENIKESHOE.7128:

Try to fix that lack of rooting in Scepter+torch/staff with sylvari power
What do you guys think about grasping vines? Should I change it to signet of domination? Or should I forget about rooting and add condition cleanse to free up traits?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhUQNArfWl0npRtlpxbOcrNyqBdqlg6s0lgW6LktAA-TFyCABAcEAwS5Hz7Pcp6PS8AA0TfAFnCgxUCSKAImGB-w

Grasping vines work wonders against range opponents or opponents who doesn’t look below them. And 2s to longer immobilize isn’t too much compromised when compare to domination.

2 years in playing sylvari and had never thought of using that skill. Yeah it could definitely work similar to iLeap immob. Nice!

^^ welcome to the mesmer forums xD.

Yeah I don’t think anyone would argue any MtD build is OP, or even will be after the buff.

I’ve been thinking about a build using sword for MtD though, as you seem to be playing. With GS/Staff standard shatter, there are ample means to get a burst off even though you’re not rooting the opponent. Once you take sword or another melee weapon however, you have to have a means to root to land the burst. Maybe taking sword is the key with a MtD build, maybe using earth sigils or something else to spread additional condition pressure on a weapon that doesn’t naturally dish it.

I don’t know how successful it will be, but nevertheless I’m glad to see a MtD build using sword is working for someone and I’ll probably try something like sw/t-sc/p out soon.

Torment applied is two stacks per shatter vs one come November. Nice change.
Source: http://www.twitch.tv/m/644919

At the 25:00 mark.

Full list of upcoming changes announced in ready up:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2jjk8h/ready_up_pvp_balance_and_class_balance_otes/

I believe these will be live on 11/4.

First, drop the debate and just go GS/Staff

Second, I would question how truly veteran one is if they say staff is a crutch (I know Supcutie mostly uses staff/GS in any serious team matches).

I can’t justify not taking staff in just about any power or condition build I would seriously consider playing extensively due to the defenses and mobility it provides. This more so in PvP where you can retreat to ledges. And I would resoundingly disagree with anyone who doesn’t think phase retreating forward isn’t decent mobility in any format of the game (especially PvP), especially with a class that lacks so much of it.

dem mantra heals on mid were real for sure. Nice little support build there.

Some silly scrub who obviously knows nothing about mesmer.

What this guy needs to understand is that versus a glass spec, with the right combo you can actually bring someone with 15k health down in a matter of 1-2 seconds, even in PvP. There are many factors that can go into it though (some you stated), such as if all the skills crit (including halting strike), what damage modifiers you’re running, how much vuln the target has, how much might you have, and if your sigils/runes proc during the combo. You can’t just fabricate that scenario by snapping your fingers, but it’s possible.

The key is the crits. If you’re pre-buffed from a prior fight and you get your crits, you’re gonna one combo/shot people if you catch them off guard.

It’s happened to all of us, similar to that backstab thief coming in to burst you down completely from stealth, with not much you could do about it. These things don’t happen that often, but can and will. It’s the game we play.

I take staff with GS no contest because of (in this order) 1) phase retreat 2) chaos storm and 3) chaos armor uptime.

Phase retreat is so important for about face blinking across maps, and to ledges, etc for escapes (a bit of time needs to be spent though to learn all the spots).

Portal isn’t totally useless in soloq but it’s borderline. Most mesmers I know of take portal only in coordinated situations. Otherwise it becomes mostly a wasted utility on your bar if you’re the only one taking advantage of it.

tourney going on right now (for those unaware)
http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2

Yeah without any special theme, again the build must excel at dishing damage. That build I definitely don’t see 1vX being very fun. In general, without stealth, mesmer isn’t going to fare too well 1vX. So, if that’s what you want out of this, then PU is likely your route, and I’d say just run the standard 4/4/6 build with traveler’s. Boring as all get out, but it still works.

As far as condi builds that are non-PU outperforming power builds, there are some, but it depends on the opponent. Like with thieves, I wreck them on my chaotic perdition build (CI) but playing shatter is much tougher. Just one example.

I theory-crafted a MH x2 scepter build just after patch and haven’t had a chance to come back to it, but without a doubt to make a build like that work I think you must at the very least have scepter double traited for 6s recharges on torment block to make it remotely viable. It wasn’t possible to do this before (bugged), but now is.

Even then, the build doesn’t really end up with a clear focus or theme (like CI/PU etc). It’s just basic condi mesmer. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it better do really well at being a condi mesmer if it’s got nothing else special going for it. To do that, you have to consider the condition output you’re dishing and going MH scepter x2 does limit that. So you have to build as many other condition sources in as possible. This is just one idea I put together really quick – illusion on death theme-ish (maybe you go with pistol vs torch, w/e):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQRArd7PIx2YM1FnsmcQ3QlNghB-w

I’d say it’s less the extra mind wrack and more the free diversion and distortion that would make this OP.

There are a lot of ways to deal with qq targeted at you personally. Lots of great suggestions here, but one thing you could try is just agree with everything they say. The sarcasm will shine through pretty quickly and likely will just shut them down.

By all means, do not quit playing a class because you’re doing well. Enjoy it, continue to improve and carry on …

fixing forum bug