Guild Wars 2

Haha, so I’m a PvX-er, meaning I do my moderate/heavy amount of WvW and builds are essential. I’ve been wanting to change my build to a condi tank running weapons like staff, scepter/torch. I have an idea of the build I’ll create/use/modify etc but what’s stopping me are my shiny greatswords / swords xD I don’t want to get rid of them!

So my dumb survey question is, are any of you running a certain build (even in wvw) just because you have weapon skins that looks cooler/prettier? :P haha

I guess this applies for all classes as well

Iavra.8510:

Viel is visible for enemies. Maybe they were 10 people max and used MassInvis (probably multiple times as it stacks) but MassInvis has quite an obvious animation itself (char lifting his arm for ~2s and a white circle quickly expanding afterwards).

It was a zerg of around 25 rushing forward haha but oh well, veil still does the job. Most of the time i’m with the group doing veils so i don’t often get to see the veils being used on us

I don’t rely on shatter, I just shatter when i know my next phantasms or whatever i’m doing next will replace illusions, its just the question, why not? If i have time and extra fingers to shatter for extra damage, confusion, daze, etc and of course distortion to save yourself, why not? a daze well timed is great, mind wrack makes room for next illusions to go.

On the other hand, if theres really no need to shatter, and you can just be lazy, then don’t.

But the way i see it, it’s just why not?

You don’t have to rely on it, you don’t have to play a shatter build. I play a phantasm oriented build. Just shatter when you’re able to

bobross.5034:

that is a fair comparison…though I think Mass Invis affects 10 people, not 5 and it does give more stealth, and without a clear tell for the enemy (giant line in the ground). It’s also an elite, so cooldowns also have to be balanced with things like Lyssa and Mad King runes in mind.

oh wait, you can see the veil line from enemy? I remember so many times when the enemy zerg just disappeared cuz they were using a veil tactic. I don’t remember seeing the line, but maybe it was just misperception in the heat of the fight :P But nevertheless, the veil changes the tide of wvw group fights so much… running with a zerg busting group, makes mesmer feel like a god hahaha, portal and veil tactics are amazing

Hmm, i can’t consider the runes to be part of the comparison, because not everyone/not a lot of ppl will use them, limiting usage of other runes for their builds. the skill alone, when compared to a veil tactic in wvw, MI, i practically only use it for roaming/solo purposes

there’s some really good phantasm builds out there. I run a phantasm based build as well, but in pve, i ENJOY the spinny camera, running around, dodging all the time, BUT the build is quite tanky, synergizing defensive traits/boons, and using gear for damage potential and often I solo group evens with a lot of mobs like u know 20 risen or something. I barely take damage even when i run into the middle and take hits. If you have a tanky build you dont have to move much, that said, it’s better to, if it is a tougher situation… you’ll need to move around a lot like in dungeons with one/two-shot kill bosses etc

I also think it is kind of annoying / disappointing, but it makes sense. We aren’t supposed to compare mesmer and thieves, bc thieves are the real stealth class. Mesmers are utility and trickery based, and MI is simply just a supplementary trick for us. and tricks don’t need to last so long kind of deal?

What bugs me though is comparing veil and MI, they both have same CD, veil affects unlimited? allies as long as they run through it, duration is shorter, and MI only affects up to 5 players? and duration is longer. BUT the issue is it is an Elite Skill that needs 30 points… and yeah… it is an elite skill… Basically Veil and MI for its worth are the same (since they have their disadvantages/advantages). So it doesn’t make sense. Elite skill should be far better and worth it right??

imo, even if it is a small tweak like, MI not needing a cast time, being an instant cast skill will greatly validate the skill

In any case i run a stealth heavy build and I do love all my three stealths (excluding torch). All of them in my fights are very useful and if getting away they are way enough + blink

but yeah just doesn’t make a lot of sense

dani.1956:

Levitas.1953:

dani.1956:

Weakest ? Ofc it is ! Check a combat log of a mesmer with 3500 attack and compare to any class ! Edit : in fact dont check it or compare it , you might delete your mesmer !

I dont know if you are sarcastic but… combat log? did you mention that crap? I dont like to read that word.

Yes its sarcasm ! And yes i love to hit 600 dmg when i got 3500 attk ! LOVE IT !

i’m not sure what you mean by sarcasm, because i am only interpreting it as your actual opinion lol so i’ll just say, you do know that combat log doesn’t record all our damage and 600 dmg from you is no relevance, as most of our damage comes from things like, phantasms, shatters, conditions…. and from what i remember looking at my combat log (which was a long time ago), it never showed any of the damage my illusions were doing. combat log has nothing to do with mesmer fighting.

Anyway… i’m pretty sure all good mesmer players, and there are plenty on these forums, many who posted videos, who posted their builds etc, and they will tell u how powerful their mesmer play is…. and you can see how versatile mesmers are in everything, 1v1, 1vX, PvE dungeons, PvE open field, wvw zerging, wvw roaming, pvp, and i’m pretty sure opponent classes always complain about mesmers being OP AND allies appreciate and ask for mesmer help in many situations. I’ve heard it myself first hand so many times… theres a reason for that. and if you believe mesmers are weak then you need to L2P, make a better build, practice, or switch to another class that suits ur playstyle better…

Every class has its own niche, own strengths and weaknesses. Not every class can be good at everything. On the other hand, there is the variables of player skill and actual builds when different players clash. Sometimes one build just doesn’t complement the other and will be easily taken down, other times player skill is the issue.

Mesmers have a lot of strengths , you will see a lot of classes calling good mesmers OP.

It’s funny how you mentioned the warrior coming along, but the other day I just 1 v 2 warriors and downed both. Am I supposed to take that and say all warriors are horrible, that the warrior class sucks? By all means no! There are crazy amounts of variables in a wvw fight like i mentioned above.

Good rangers with good builds hold up a nice fight, so do eles. Well so do any other profession with good skill and good builds. It means absolutely nothing. I had a 20 minute 1v1 duel with d/d ele where i finally won with some luck. Where as another ele was downed in a few minutes at another encounter. I 1 v 2 thieves once, but got downed by one thief at another day. It varies. Don’t use these as points of references.

About the actual class skills and stuff, indeed, condi removal is a little tough. But why can’t it be tough for us? We have an abundance of other utilities like others have said. Our positioning, evasion, active defense is amazing. Blurred Frenzy, distortion shatters, diversion shatters, phase retreats, chaos storm, blinks, stealth like decoy, veil, mass invisibility, just the idea of clones alone and having it hard to target us, even if you land a moa. Our offense has huge amounts of damage output, shatters + burst, phantasms like zerker and warlocks, utility and offensive phantasms like a well placed focus 5. i mean, there’s all kinds of stuff we are good at. No other class has the same kind of strategies and abilities we do. But that’s the same for them as well. I think all classes are unique and pretty decently balanced right now.

I can’t talk about tPvP since I don’t do that.

hahaha unfortunately i do have the illusionary stuff

Vision of the Mists
Whisperblade
Anomaly…

But theres no mists staff So i’m using an asura cultural Peacemaker Staff

I also switch to Zenith Staff and Greatsword too

I don’t shatter much either, it’s based on keeping illusions around, but I just shatter when necessary, when needing a final burst or after a full rotation, where my next weapon set will replace illusions with its own anyway, and of course to save your life! like distortion, daze

My build isn’t special but it works very well in pve and wvw, I find i can solo tons of group events and mobs like 20 risen?? NP! LOL cuz its defensive traited, with tons of protective boons and such, while delivering steady damage with offensive gear. Wvw is great for roaming 1vX and staying alive in sieges as well, pretty much staying well alive and pressuring with sustained dmg.

You can take a look at my signature, idk if the thread is a little out of date or not

And there is also a cumulative thread too with a bunch of builds: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/List-Find-your-Mesmer-Build-Guides/first

Reina Takayama

:)

i think on staff only change is 45 to 48% crit chance and 72 to 68% crit dmg

@Aphrodyte we kinda match hahaha

Lol I agree with op but just lol at ^

Kiel doesn’t contribute bc she’s an NPC and it’s gameplay. If this was real I’m pretty sure she would be fighting just as valiantly and skillfully lest any of us be killed… Don’t mix in gameplay with lore. It like saying Zhaitan is weaker than the temple priests bc it took less ppl, was a shorter fight, was kind of a joke, whereas temples needs like a whole group of ppl and relatively a lot of time to complete successfully… Gameplay should not be a basis of judgment in game lore or storyline

Also Kiel her decision or not will for sure stand by the values, ideals, and visions that LA was built upon an defend the ppl and general well being as she has demonstrated. It is her duty and she will do it properly. Read the novel Sea of Sorrows and you’ll understand where LA comes from and what happened, who founded it, what they had a vision of and their important values for this city. It isn’t a pirate city IMO. The novel explains it clearly. They are simply survivors who have a common enemy just like the PACT and created this city to stand free and independent and welcome all races of Tyria to work together to fend of Zhaitan and prosper together in trade. Actualy, they might have been the first instances of charr and human and diff races coming together in relative harmony. Without LA and Marriner, there would still be raging wars and no place for diff races to interact and learn from one another. They aren’t really pirates in all honesty. Read the book, then you might feel the belonging and patriotism for LA and why it’s better to hand it off to Kiel

Oh this sounds too much like the Sea of Sorrows book over again, pro-Krytan extremists who want Lions Arch to be taken over. If you read the book you’ll understand where the city and it’s people come from and what beliefs it’s built on. It’s intended to be a sanctuary for all races coming together for trade and defense against invading forces particularly the Risen as they have experienced it… But other than that, they will remain independent and seek for the best of its citizens not the citizens of Kryta, Black Citadel, Rata Sum, The Grove, Hoelbrak etc. that’s why lions arch is good the way it is, it prevails because it defends it’s people without attachment or specific affiliations to any external forces. Those who reside or stay or are interested in Lions Arch automatically accepts its stance, if they don’t, they can live or go elsewhere. Marriner and those that defended the city gave their lives to protect it and it’s ideals of being that neutral fortified safe house for everyone. In fact bc of Lions Arch and the collaboration of different races especially in the construction and defense against Zhaitan’s offense (essentially the first demonstration of a Pact-like effort), it has brought us more equality and harmony, else you’d likely still be fighting wars for many years against other races… Anyone against it… Doesn’t believe in freedom and equality in races in essence…

TLDR:

1) Abaddon or not, Anet won’t take away its own core gw lore based on elections

2) Fractals is a limited, contained, dose of nostalgia with no real effect on game. Forget all other gimmicky bribes

3) Evon is portrayed (by Anet) as a money-focused, greedy, character who already “controls” our player economy (potential villainous character)

4) Lore enthusiasts should consider the book Sea of Sorrows and the grassroots, noble, benevolent values, beliefs and ideals of Marriner who established and defended the city with all his life, and the seafaring community who had their original city destroyed

5) Kiel portrayed as a “good” force, fighting alongside players in various stories to defend the city and its people

6) Rather than focused on immediate gameplay, the election probably has an impact to long term future, seeing that things are more complex and affecting the game story, ultimately our future gameplay. Direct LA and Tyria towards a “better” vision?

There are many supporters for Evon, many will cite Abaddon Fractal, and consider themselves enthusiastic about gw lore. I may get a lot of criticism for this, but I do want to state my opinion… If you are truly concerned about the lore, I think many of us may have a case of tunnel vision and are focused on small trivial matters. It seems like the Abaddon Fractal is rather just like a bribe, and is something gimmicky, where not everyone even frequents fractals, and has no true impact on our real gw2 universe. A contained dungeon to give us nostalgia about gw1 should hardly be a strong case to make a political decision.

Some may say that it indicates to Anet that we want gw1 lore to be fulfilled, but like others have said, we believe this hardly to be the case, because there’s no reason Anet would make this election decisive in abandoning all their old gw stuff and take it out of the game. They will still address the actual core gw lore, because it is just that, a vital and core of the game universe anyway. This decision probably will not affect it in that capacity. That said,

I’m more concerned about what the implications are for Lion’s Arch and so on in general, seeing how Anet is trying to portray Evon as somewhat greedy, money-driven, and he does hold control over our economy as players. I like to believe there will be significant effects on the world, and OUR world as well, else what else would this election be for, just something fancy to play around with?

I think it will have significance in the future, as we see living stories and stuff getting more and more complex and developed. For people who are truly enthusiastic and concerned about LORE, having read the Sea of Sorrows and understanding the founding and concept of Lion’s Arch being a sanctuary free from rigid legal and financial systems, for all races and defending against the threats of dragons or external forces, I would rather protect what Cobiah Marriner first established by a grassroots pirate, seafaring, sailor community, who were willing to risk their lives and all they had for “the greater good” and put my trust in Kiel especially since she has shown that she stands for “what is good” as far as Anet is concerned because of the way they have portrayed her in the stories we’ve been involved in and fought alongside. (It would also be sad how we’ve “risked our lives” alongside this Kiel, but now turn away from defending Lion’s Arch properly and going with someone who is more concerned about financial power). Evon hasn’t gotten much light and from the scenes we see, Evon is portrayed as somewhat the “villain”.

That said, even if Evon wins, someone argued that oh, Kiel won’t disappear and will probably continue to fight against Evon, while if Evon wasn’t voted for he might disappear back into the A F K place in TP. (Though this probably is vice versa, as in if Kiel is elected, Evon might still be present, it wouldn’t make sense and would be inconsistent if they removed Evon again)

However, as a “citizen” of LA and this game, andi personally have great ties with LA cuz i chill in LA all the time and have met many friends and chatted to people there all the time rofl, I am actually concerned and want “good” to prevail. call me naive or idealistic or whatever, but i really don’t want someone who doesn’t prioritize the good of all people, and the community, rather focused on furthering financial gain and power, to have a position of more power…

Who knows what Anet has cooked up in the future, but, I’m more willing to put my trust in Kiel. A legit decision, rather than based on WP prices, Fractals or whatever temporary content some might not really care about. I’d much rather direct the world and lore of Tyria towards a better place in the bigger picture, rather than submit to Evon just because he is offering Abaddon…

We WILL continue to get good CORE lore, regardless, Abaddon or not, that is simply CORE to the game and to Anet, making a vote on Kiel doesn’t decide otherwise.

You may think this is just a game and you prioritize the actual game play, but I suggest we think of it as actual politics, where you want good things to happen, because ultimately that has an effect on the long term outcome of our game play as well.

Of course, this is still all speculation and opinion either way. It may happen that Kiel suddenly turns into a villain who knows LOL. i don’t think that’s the case though

19-20 is up now… Some more boring stuff but action to come on the next ones :P ahahaha

It’s easy and no problem at all for Mesmers . That said I do have a highly survivable defensive build with alot of boons going on while having good phantasm dps through zerker gear and stuff like that. I use staff and gs so im just kiting non stop. Generally of course best if u take out those scouts and stuff with CC but I find that sometimes I just bunch them up and hit the supervisor and they all die easily lol.

I agree with you, why are players so focused on the short term and on mere fractal gameplay (while there’s a good portion of players who don’t frequent fractals), it is just such a small part of the game that isn’t significant. It’s almost like tunnel vision. A little bribery and gimmick and voters will flock to one party. Almost reminds me of real politics…

To me, the candidate who wins and will actually affect Lion’s Arch, whatever way Anet has cooked up for us will matter. Anet has made it clear and suggested this will influence the future events and development. there would be no point in our voting if this wasn’t the case. I really wouldn’t want a charr who controls our economy and our gold already to have more power to affect the entire city, i honestly don’t think it will amount to good.

Kiel has been fighting “for justice” along side our stories and involvement throughout the living stories, it is also sad that people eagerly choose a little bribe over potential good for the city. If we read sea of sorrows we will feel that patriotism, belonging with the founding of Lion’s Arch and what the kind of sanctuary and safe haven it stands for, not the focus on money.

Staff is one of my fav weapons, as others said, its not really for tagging, but its for powerful defensive and stun breaking, escape strategies. It’s also a relatively close quarters weapon, the closer u are, the faster it bounces, adding boons to u and conditions on enemies.

Staff in a zerg environment, you’d want to help protect your allies, with chaos storm on people who might be most at risk from the backline, and they can blast finish as well and sending out phantasms to help regen backline if u have the trait, since its long ranged and stays relatively more alive.

Most of all staff is good for roaming though, and really trumping your enemies and even facing multiple players.

Essentially with staff, while it is good at producing illusions, for “real” fights, you want to keep your clones out to stack some conditions where you can. They attack with the autoattack projectiles while they don’t seem damaging, when they start stacking, alot of conditions will come up and it will do significant damage, regardless of how you’re set up etc. Of course, shatter when necessary, when it feels right to, like if you’re going to swap weapon sets, and your next few moves will replace staff clones anyway, time to shatter them

…. This is getting exciting…. Supporting and voting??? it’s pushing the world of Tyria into a direction we can be involved in. I like this alot!

Kay, Abaddon is pretty darn cool… i think it’s not fair to give Evon such a good upperhand there lol… but i mean its just one fractal… in the future if Evon gets on the Captain’s Council, i really don’t know what might happen in the storyline…

so i’m #TeamKiel! Don’t let a greedy money hungry BLTC charr control more than our economy! And come on, for the past three weeks Kiel has been investigating and fighting alongside us in whatever crap that came up

This reminds me of the book Sea of Sorrows. If you read it and understand the history of Lion’s Arch and all its gone through, you should feel some sort of belonging/patriotism that makes u feel like we need to make a stand for justice, from the grassroots people who really want to defend the city not defend the money and the economy that feeds off of the people, like Cobiah did against the Risen over and over again

Yeah it’s almost impossible to compare skill levels lol, skill varies and it’s not a static point of reference. There’s always better or worse players. However, you can look at the entire class as a whole, and like you said, even in the hands of a newbie, the entire average or overview of the class. For example, one can say that thieves on average, with the huge amount of perma stealth or wvw builds out there, you can argue that thieves as a class in general can get away from situations easier than other classes. There has been so many instances and most players when asked which class they don’t like to fight, they will cite thieves as one. It is a common one to state. It’s the fact that in wvw even with a group of 10 chasing after a thief, a lot of times, they can still get away, super good player or not. So that being the case, we can say thieves have great escape ability and people call them OP. I would say maybe OP in getting away. Which is the concept of the class in any case.

In this case, we’re arguing the mesmer is a fantastic dueling class, and can be capable of winning most fights 1v1. Overview, on average, on players of varying skill levels, mesmers are cited as a class people don’t like to fight as well. Perhaps we can say if someone is able to actually play mesmer all the way to level 80, bring it to wvw or whatever, the skill level for playing a mesmer is higher, and therefore, the class in general does well. We also have a variety of builds as well and we see many players with videos and lots of experience playing as a zerker phantasm, or heavy shatter build, or tanky condition build, all of them who do very well, regardless of the build. I’m not too sure of opinions from other classes, because being a mesmer I hear more from mesmers than from other people. However, in my own fights, the times I’ve lost I know exactly what mistake I made, and the class in general is a powerful 1v1 class.

I might not say the same for a ranger as a class overall for example. I have a ranger as well, a good regen build or something might work well, but it is by no means guaranteed capability to win all fights, i’ve seen many go down. The ranger has a huge spectrum, the very very good player could do very well and win all their fights. However, other builds and skill levels won’t and it can be quite a fragile class to play.

So what we can say is that the mesmer class in general is extremely good for 1v1 fights. A good player might be able to win most of their fights. Although it is an exaggeration that mesmers shouldn’t lose ANY 1v1, for example for myself, i lose when there was human error, but we can say we strive for that, because the mesmer is a very capable class

Bolt for sure, the effects are coolest! Twilight and Sunrise are a little bland for legendaries…They’re like a piece of glass with a little fuzz around the edges lol, theres a blade trail but… that’s not all that spectacular. i like shiny glowy stuff, like my gs Vision of the Mists, so sunrise and twilight aren’t really shine, they’re more paintbrushes lol The bolt lightning makes it unique though.

I’d honestly just go for other skins, like Vision of the Mists, Foefire’s Essence, Volcanus etc, those are pretty cool imo.

Bolt is alright though, can be nicer but yeah, bolt if you have to

There is a graphic glitch with that. It sometimes happens. Particularly, you can make it happen if you summon ur phantasms and then cast an elite like Mass Invisibility on you and your phantasms, once the effect disappears, they will appear as clones. I play around with it a lot on the practice dummies in Lion’s Arch

with the mesmer, no thief has been able to take me down lately after i’ve figured out my build post-patch, nor any warrior, in 1v1. I lost once to a regen tank ranger because i thought i could burst him down lol mistake on my part, i used too many CD. And engineers are no prob for me. Some necros and d/d eles sometimes are a little challenging, but they are quite even fights. I don’t run condition removal unfortunately, except the condition remove on heal trait, or it could be a lot easier

U can withdraw as many times as u want from ur achievement panel! I’ve pulled like 10 stacks of 250 just for fun, just cuz i can… LOL hahaha

Just one thing to reiterate again, these living story things are sort of like unravelling step by step teasers and trailers to more to come.

Look into the LORE behind the Zephyr Sanctum. It relates almost directly with the Elder Dragons.

The NPCs themselves and their conversations will tell you they are followers or protectors etc of Glint, the dragon who was once a Kralkatorrik minion, who was cleansed by the Forgotten, who led a dwarven Brotherhood, who passed on the duty to the Zephyrite humans when they left the current world we know, and who from the short story collected crystals from Glint after she died during the fight alongside Destiny’s Edge against Kralkatorrik.

It’s all (almost all) written right there directly and clearly, if you take a look. It directly relates to the core of Gw lore. So how can we say its all politics and is boring? It’s all teasers and part of the development towards more to come in the future!

I do understand its frustrating for people who care but for a lazy don’t-really-care player like myself i have no complaints HAHA

But as a lazy easy-going player I’d just like to say that, isn’t this the essence of the achievement? Why would Anet place it in wvw jp if it wasn’t for this thrill/frustration/danger/risk of doing it in the first place?

I think this is the point, and i’m sure if you go back at another day maybe at a different time like early morning or by luck no one would be there. Anet made it so you dont need this exact achievement but if you were up for a challenge, or if you wanted to round up your own team to be safe then by all means.

I think we shouldn’t go with the “entitlement” thing either. it is intended to be a little harder than usual and require some effort but it’s not impossible

Pyroatheist.9031:

Both the height and the width can be adjusted manually.

My method does require a focus. It does not require it to be traited, that’s just the metric I use. The swiftness is necessary though.

Oh so you can adjust the map into a square, with the maximum width mini map, then it would be correct right? I dont know i never had a problem with minimap positioning haha

Pyroatheist.9031:

Amadan.9451:

thank you for these nice advice a little complex at the beginning i suppose but i could get use to it… although a red bar under the skill would be nice

A red bar would be nice.

The minimap trick works, but fails unless you are going strictly left-right on the map. I designed my method for use in any situation out of combat.

Oh that’s true, well, isn’t the “height” of the map shorter than the length (left/right) from what i remember, im not currently in game lol but if that were the case at least you wouldn’t be out of range maybe haha

But for your method you would require a focus and traited as well. some people, like me don’t run focus or trait for focus, are there any other skills? You said a 8 second on swiftness? maybe we can also calculate without swiftness running in the straight line

ooh okay i’ll check it out

And sounds like it’s similar to my current build haha, I essentially have the PU, toughness, so on thing + zerker and knight gear and use gs + staff for kiting and defensive fun xD But it’d be nice to try out something more close quarters

but do I have to go condition for this kinda stuff?

I’m loving my build and it’s great, but it’s a kiting, PU stealth, survivability build, but I was always curious about trying out something a little more unconventional on the other end of the spectrum… I think i’ve seen one here and there but

do you use any builds that is something like Scepter/* + Sword/* ?

Like I don’t know, Scepter/Torch + Sword/Pistol?

What combinations are viable? Something to get in people’s face, close quarters in a super annoying way

What would your traits / gear etc be?

Toss me some links if you want

Mesmers most commonly use the minimap. The mini map zoomed in its fullest, from the location of ur portal, move until it is at the edge of the minimap. that is your max range. some mesmers put down a “personal waypoint” to mark the spot, but for example with a golem rush in wvw, you’ll see green dots or commander tags to mark the spot :P

Actually, for pve levelling, i was doing extremely well with staff. With the level of survivability you can have no matter what level with staff and a lot of utilities and whatever ur second weapon set is, you can level in places higher level than you, and solo multiple mobs, and even solo-ing some bosses

The trick i found with staff levelling, is unconventional compared to most, i found that the clones are vital to dps, they stack conditions like crazy even without proper traits or gear, but the most important trick was to get agggro on urself. Your clones remain stationary, while you pop ur chaos armor, chaos storms on them and urself, to gain defensive boons, while you kind of run around in circles, dodging, kiting, and let ur clones and phantasms do the work. Staff is very defensive and keeps u alive, but the clones and phantasms also can build up a lot of damage after a few seconds.

While levelling i found that i had to assign a clone to each mob i’m facing, if its multiple mobs, and then kite them around. While our clone production at lower levels is slow, I always had to keep a Mirror Images slotted, which keeps those clones going

But I would autoattack and tag them FIRST, so they’re aggro’d on to me. Clones can’t dodge. We can. With our play skill, we can stay alive while the clones do some damage. I prefer them to go after ME than my clones in PvE. I don’t die easily lol and since I’m not a shatter build, I keep my damage dealing phantasms and clones up.

Tanith.5264:

Jumpin’ Jack Noob: The one player at every major world event (such as the Shadow Behemoth or one of the dragons) who simply cannot be still. They leap about, cast skills randomly, murder innocent ambient wildlife along with any nearby mobs, and fire cannons at nothing.

THIS. I laughed so hard. I’m one of them HAHA. It’s like that one problem kid in class who can’t stay still

I’m not sure how this works, but I think you forgot one of the most important phenomenon that seems to occur in many servers… and I am this type of person … 80% of my online time is in LA… in front of the bank on the ledge. I’m always there, with my commander tag still on and I’m famous on my server for it and everyone ends up knowing me LOL my nickname is like Commander of the Ledge

Something like

Farm the Ledge! , The Ledge Potato or The PvC’er : The stereotypical extremely lazy player that is always online yet always standing in front of the bank in Lion’s Arch doing nothing but PvC (player vs chat), randomly dancing, trolling, spamming emotes, looking sexy or actually quietly AFK. They usually think they have a lot of friends.

THESE ARE SO BEAUTIFUL. I can’t wait for more til we have a collection of everything. I swear I will be watching these a lot <3 the music <3 gahhhh

But wondering if you could also do a compilation of landscape vistas of diff maps? Not sure how many there are, but I really enjoy the vast landscapes the ones without many buildings or whatnot

I don’t think anyone can put their thumb on the “Best” roaming build. I don’t think there is ever a best, because

1) player skills are compared when getting into fights, there’s always someone better or worst than you

2) builds will clash as well, some builds will trump others, but they’re not always the same, its sort of synergetic, which ones thrown into the combination will be stronger

3) Luck, mistakes, human error, mood, psychological state of mind, LOL whatever! whatever gives you a split second of hesitation or mistake or whatnot that you know made you screw up, or perhaps you don’t know but it was human error anyway rather than your usual skill and build

Overall, my own build that i’ve been using for the past two weeks has been doing really well roaming and 1vX hasn’t been much of a problem. I pit myself up against outnumbering enemies all the time, 2 thieves, 2 warriors yesterday, sometimes 3 or 4 players. Sometimes 1 v1 with a super good player where the fight lasts forever, sometimes its a super good bunker, all sorts of combinations happen.

But so far my build has been really durable and really strong. I focus on defensive traits, so stealth PU boons, and other traits, using staff and gs, and constant kiting, maneuvering, stealth etc. I have 2.4-2.5k armor, while my gear gives me high power around 2.2k, 45 / 48% crit chance, 72% crit damage. Overall a rounded stats build, but definitely not a burst damage build because my traits are for survivability and tanking, rather than getting in those shatters. But its sustained heavy damage over time. So most of the time, i last long enough to get players down. But most of the time these fights are really fun cuz it lasts kind of longer and u really have to be on top of things, but I can’t tell enemy skill, because it’s not burst, regardless who I face, it won’t be over in two seconds even if they suck for example haha

And I also do a combination of key and clicking, sometimes its faster to have the mouse AND keys at the same time lol Obviously you shouldn’t be spending time searching for the skill to click, that’s where the problem would be

^ Exactly, don’t give Evon more power over our TP and so on than he already has!

We don’t need greedy person who controls the economy to run LA

Read Sea of Sorrows, he would be like a Yomm or something ahaha

Kiel! Let’s have justice and righteousness

While I would enjoy some more fantastical and whatever core lore that we’ve all been waiting for like the dragons and whatnot, we also understand they are slowly developing up to those core things. For example, the bazaar of the four winds seems to be like that, but if you talk to the NPCs you realize they actually come from having to do with Dwarves and Glint, the dragon, mentions Destiny’s Edge, which is a major story line.

Ellen Kiel, seems to be a re-occuring and significant character in the storyline right now. She even got character development from being promoted to Captain and having a position in the Council. This is significant in the entire storyline, it means there’s a lot more to come in the future regarding her and her involvement with our Gw2 universe.

So each other these little “boring” things, really is leading and connecting the dots eventually. I think it will take a lot more time though… so we have to sit tight.

As well, we can’t forget we are in the Gw2 lore and universe. Lion’s Arch is ran by Captain’s Council etc, the new novel Sea of Sorrows talks about the founding of the city and its political things as well as the epic sea battles. Throughout the gw2 universe there is a whole balance with the deeper political, and systematic issues with the actual action and fantasy. It is simply important to have the back story and all that in building a quality good world. If you research the lore, you realize they’ve put so much work into it, and its so massive like the LOTR universes with so many mysteries and unanswered questions. We would be missing out on a lot of VITAL details if they didn’t give us all the “boring” back story.

So i think they’re getting to balancing it out, but it will take some time. These are supposed to function like teasers imo, towards the bigger objectives and core storylines. Though yes, we all do find them a little boring. They could really put more potent teasers into it… haha

But this game i think needs some deep thinking. For example the karka stuff, you got some action from the LA invasion. But at the same time it is part of a bigger storyline, cuz we might have to think about where they came from. Did the sea dragon push them out of the sea? like other dragons pushed the norn, asura, quaggans, tengu, krait around etc

All in all, I don’t think we should call it weak. We have to consider the entire lore and storyline. The storyline is powerful and deep and there, but its just boring right now, we could use some more exciting developments

Odaman.8359:

Yeah mesmer in small group combat is a bit over the top. That said they’re trash for large scale… portal bots with little impact on the fight past that, that another class can’t do better with less sacrifice. Love the class, but balance in this game is wack since they ignore almost everything outside the realm of 5v5 spvp.

Nice vid btw.

While we don’t do like a lot in terms of offensive perhaps, mesmers can change tides in large group settings… zerg busting groups and Veil for example absolutely changes the entire battle and helps wipe groups that outnumber you, as does good portaling of course. Actually just those two skills alone, something wouldn’t have succeeded without the mesmer. That’s what i’ve experienced many times. Feedback, null field, also are great group tools, not only for its effects and its combo field, but if you trait right for group glamour stuff, it can help out offensively too. You have focus pulls that can help your group from getting overwhelmed sometimes and more reflects. The utilities really does help and count. In group settings I’d say we can function like a toolbox haha

I personally love using gs + staff. the two weapons synergize really well and its like kiting boss haha. Depends on your play style but i love them together. It almost equals immortality if played right along with your utilities.

Imo, your traits look fine, your gear is all zerker. You’re pretty glass haha, since that’s what you like. Your utilities also good for a dungeon group.

However, in those higher level tougher dungeons, it will really come down your skill. Usually I’d say have a bit more defensive stuff for dungeons… one mistake and u can be a liability to the group. But I think you need to keep that staff. Keep your boons/armor going and make use of the phase retreat. Having gs/staff means ur staying at range most of the time, while the rest of your team would be able to tank, so being zerker isn’t too bad

If possible, I’d say switch out the mirror images for something else, like blink, decoy, for something to save you from life and death situations, as in repositioning yourself. What keeps up mesmer survivability is really the repositioning, stunbreaking, oh crap buttons like distortion shatter and stealth skill sets we have available. You have shatters going on, but your illusion production shouldn’t be an issue. GS and Staff both keep up a lot of illusions no problem, as well as your clone on dodge. and with GS/Staff most of the time you’re at a range. I don’t think you really need Mirror Images

For your shattering, your staff would actually be important to make use of Illusionary Persona, shatter on urself. The staff can be a good close quarters weapon too. It actually has faster bounces therefore conditions and boons, while you have defensive things from your chaos skills, so for example you can drop chaos storm and go inside, shatter all your illusions, phase retreat out again and go back to range

Also, I usually go with runes rather than ruby orbs, I’d like some bonuses from runes…. I used to run dolyak in dungeons while I had mostly zerker gear, that helped. But maybe something else might work for u, take a look into runes

I’d recommend getting some toughness gear in there… i guess it’s up to your trinkets now. some dungeons can be tougher. But i mean some zerkers are just really good at gameplay and survive fine with their well time dodges. But i really don’t like going zerker in dungeons and of course not in WvW either. We’re usually the last one standing, zerker gear or not, cuz mesmers are just awesome, but it’s really stressful sometimes to be in zerker

But it’s really up to you and your skill and your play style at this point. If you can survive well as a zerker, by all means. I used to go gs + sword/focus in dungeons while being zerker and that was fine too but i kept a staff with me. Like that newer AR dungeon, CoE , higher level fractals or whatever that is slightly pushing it, I have to pull out a staff to stay alive better

I run a build with gs + staff, with heavy defensive, boons, stealth, etc, and ephantasm focused. Works like a charm! gs and staff synergize very well. in WvW all situations and PvE or whatevers Just kite kite kite and more kite, move around haha + staff also functions as a close quarters weapon actually with faster bounces at close range + boons from the chaos stuff, and traits and whatnot, you can probably even play shatter at close range probably and just phase retreat out of ur combo field etc and get back to range.

Not sure if this has been said yet, but I don’t have the exact quote but on the Zephyr Sanctum ship, you can speak to an NPC who tells you that they had indeed worked together with the Dwarves and then isolated themselves from outside influences aboard their ship. This is all really interesting, and Glint and all. Wonder how this will lead to the future

Cool. It seems like we have a similar build! I run all three stealth utilities and my build is pu, defensive traits, etc, while having some damage output from my gear. Though I use gs/staff so my playstyle is kite like crazy and i shatter more often when i need to but yeah ur play feels very familiar to me! really feels like a tank haha, can take any class on. I remember taking two thieves on too haha they’re really fun and not much of a threat really. your video was a lot of fun. I see a lot of mesmer videos where they’re really zerker or shatter or something and is all burst damage, so the fights weren’t interesting to watch LOL i like long lasting fights while u just keep pressuring them, this play style is something that resonates with me :P But most of the video was 1v1 haha i think you can take on literally 1vX, with the stealth stuff 1v3 etc is no prob!

Reduce the CD on Mass Invisibility and Veil. So I can be a perma-stealth thief if I wanted to. HAHAHAHA

I think maybe have the PU trait or some stealth trait that reduces cd on all skills that gives stealth, including decoy and the torch one etc XD

OP!

As a mesmer, I like access to perma swiftness, so Rune of Air if you use a focus, but I go with Rune of the Centaur, for perma swiftness on the Mirror Heal

I like my Sigil of Battles… 3 stacks of might every swap that lasts for 20 seconds, if you put on both weapon sets, that can occur every 10 seconds, you can get a lot of might consistently! LOL you can also tell by the price that it’s good and well in demand xD

I changed my build like two weeks ago and ive been really enjoying the solo capability of the mesmer class. Been having a lot of fun in 1vX situations, where normally I would be wary but I can like go ahead and tank three or four of them now. Particularly two fights was 1 v 2 warriors and 1 v 2 thieves, both classes which I am not too confident in engaging outside of 1 v 1, but haha that was too much fun, my health was up high most of the fight

Chapter 17, 18 is up!

This is great! I’m so excited to see live action stuff haha
I love the effects, it’s actually really convincing, you did a great job combining real gw2 in game stuff, especially the actual skills, and that intro with the scenery.
The acting also isn’t bad at all! The actual non-magic fighting could have been maybe sped up a little, that trick would probably make it look really cool. But the costumes do need a little work… haha, from the back in the intro bit, they looked really convincing. But from the front, it’s a bit tough. lol If i were to give a suggestion, I would say use less vibrant color clothing, for a more “realistic” medieval look, like the necromancer was perfect. I’m not sure if we have ties or whatever in the game? haha.
But it’s really good, I’d just love to see a more realistic attire, even like if you just had a cloak on even though gw2 doesn’t have cloaks right night lol, it would be really convincing. If the attire was changed, it would be absolutely perfect.
Other than that, i loved it, it was great.

When i was levelling in pve, i found it actually pretty fast haha. Honestly, and mesmers are so powerful solo in pve levelling, imo. I was levelling in places level 5 – 10 higher and the mobs melt.

For me what was crucial to my levelling was the staff. Not only cuz its defensive but once you have your clones out and phantasm, everythign stacks and they melt really fast. It’s also not a super long range weapon, stick relatively close range so it bounces fast, and just keep running around the mobs. I’d suggest you to get the mobs to target you, like initiate the attack first with ur autoattack, once they’re on to you, then pop all ur clones and phantasms, bc they are necessary to staff “dps”, i found it super fast to melt mobs when i simply run around dodging and kiting while they chased me, and all the conditions from my clones, chaos storm, phantasm would stack up really fast. For the first few seconds it will be slow, but then once things stack, the dps is terrific.

Your second weapon set is up to you, but I do recommend the staff for pve levelling. It IS fast, even without the right traits or gear. it was super fast for me and great for survivability and so on…

on the other hand, without clone on dodge, I used mirror images a lot. It really kept those staff clones stacking all the time. very useful. I also had Decoy and Blink, will get you out of tricky situations but decoy will keep those clones going. Phase retreat also creates your clone and chaos armor combo, so you have great staff clone condition spam/stacking generation between all that already, without mentioning your second weapon set.

I don’t know but it’s really get in sync with the mesmer style.

Indeed, while being zerker alot of ppl opt for the damage etc. However, for example, when facing other zerkers, it becomes just a contest. I’ve faced zerker mesmers before, and with a staff, i can win the fight by a huge margin, without putting myself in much danger. Same with a burst class like thief or warrior etc. Like it’s a lot easier and safer, while the damage doesn’t rely on staff to get them down, you have your other weapon set, and also these are zerker players who don’t have that much toughness or defense etc, they have to rely on play skill, and play skill has its mistakes and flaws. Especially mesmer vs mesmer, sometimes the staff shows its superiority, however of course this is situational still, like op said, against a more bunker or well defensed class, the staff of course can’t be a primary weapon