I’d like to add besides the bleeding for dueling 15 trait, staff clones will copy winds of chaos and bleed/burn/vulnerability or might/fury allies, and sword clones will add vulnerability and remove boons.
Maybe a simple solution is to introduce a few options players have to do before one enters any fractal greater than say 20? You could:
1. Go to map A, location X, and kneel down in front of Y statue for a 30 to 60 minute buff that yields agony prevention of Z percent.
How about adding an optional side event during a fractal where if the party completes it gets Xmin agony resist buff? For example, in the Ascalonian fractal, before capturing the courtyard, if players take out key commanders in the area or another task they receive agony buff related to their fractal lvl. This way the gear would still be desired to save time going through fractals, but at the same time there is a optional work around for groups without agony resist to progress.
For a Mesmer, going staff with mirror, blink, illusion of life, and signet of inspiration works well. With staff CD reduction trait, manipulation range and CD reduction traits you can always keep Lupi at a distance and blink from his attacks. Illusion of Life is there to revive a down players so they can run out side and safely rally. Signet of Inspiration for that random aegis. Staff also has chaos armor for protection, and chaos storm for aegis/protection on yourself or an ally if they need that additional defense. Secondary weapon I go great sword for damage, but sword/sword or sceptor/sword gives you some good invulnerably/block options.
What I would like to see if the iWarden to be a ground target skill. This gives you the option of using it has an offensive damage skill or a strategic defensive skill. Of course keep it immobile.
Not sure about Lupi, but with Alphard have been no changes it just a really random boss. It seems when I’ve fought it if you have constant melee pressure it rarely teleports to the middle and does the spinning electric attack. however, has soon as you all run away or do range it does just that. Probably because if you are melee it considers the dropping bomb attack a priority over the other. Then there were times that contradicted this when it was low health, so not sure. Alphard has very odd attack patterns.
I could see raids working if the dungeon instance required you to split your team to tackle multiple objectives at once. Sorta like the beginning of The Deep in Factions.
I like the current dungeons we have, but variety is the spice of life so here is an idea on how to introduced a new type of dungeon. In Guild Wars 1, we had Elite Areas like Underworld, Fissure of Woe, and Domain of Anguish where it it was large open area map that had quests you had to accomplish in whatever order you wanted to, and when you cleared the zone you were rewarded with a chest. I see this style of content translating very well to Guild Wars 2. Create an explorable zones sized map which are open with event chains that tell the story of the conflict in that area that lead up to a final boss battle/event. Design the events with difficult objectives, and tough monsters.
For example, in a Balthazar style map it would feature eternal war between Balthazar followers and perhaps army of Menzies, you can have events where you assault fortifications, rescue prisoners, take out champions, all the while pushing the enemy back to a confrontation with Menzies or another final boss.
The overall idea is a large “dungeon” zone filled with events designed for an organized 5-man group.
Simple fix, add Underworld and Fissure of Woe. I think the format of GW1 Underworld and FoW would translate very well to GW2. Large open map around the size of an explorable zone, replace the quests with event chains that lead up to final boss event and make it hard, not by just the monster strength but the event objectives as well.
Congratulations on the title! I agree a mix of both have kept dungeons interesting. With PUGs you never know what you’re getting and you also get to experience what different classes bring to the table in dungeons. In addition, you get to see what your class can do since you sometimes need to change your playstyle to compliment your new group members. With a consistent team you developed a synergy with each other that only get more refined the more dungeons you play. Which is very helpful if you are token farming, makes the runs go faster.
Just need Forgotten path in Arah for the title, hopefully I’ll get it today.
I rarely use damage builds in dungeons, I find myself being a much better support character. Use traited focus w/ feedback for range denial. Null field/disenchanted for party condition removal. Medic feedback with distortion,chaos storm, veil or decoy are great to get downed party members up safety. Use iDenfender or chaos storm on party members to survive a dangerous attack. You can go a shatter build with 30 illusions to give your party might stacks or vigor if you have the inspiration trait. Perhaps other classes can do similar things easier, however, I have never felt useless as a mesmer in a dungeon. Only thing I can stress is a mesmer needs to be rethinking their utilities and weapon sets for every encounter since as posters have mentioned above alot of our skills are very situational.
Are you sure that shattering gives friendlies vigor and might, not just you?
Based on trait descriptions it should at least give vigor to allies on shatter. I will have test to make sure the might affects allies as well. Even if it does only give vigor to allies in conjunction with illusionary persona you can buff melee range and ranged party members with proper positioning.
Now that I think about does Confusing Cry gives you retaliation or adds that boon as a aoe buff when you shatter?
I rarely use damage builds in dungeons, I find myself being a much better support character. Use traited focus w/ feedback for range denial. Null field/disenchanted for party condition removal. Medic feedback with distortion,chaos storm, veil or decoy are great to get downed party members up safety. Use iDenfender or chaos storm on party members to survive a dangerous attack. You can go a shatter build with 30 illusions to give your party might stacks or vigor if you have the inspiration trait. Perhaps other classes can do similar things easier, however, I have never felt useless as a mesmer in a dungeon. Only thing I can stress is a mesmer needs to be rethinking their utilities and weapon sets for every encounter since as posters have mentioned above alot of our skills are very situational.
1) Couple ways to avoid this without dodging. It zig zags so it is possible to strafe dodge it, though it is unreliable. You can block it, with aegis or if you have blocking move. You can also reflect it since it is a projectile. I am a mesmer and had great success using mirror as a heal to keep my alive and survive the random bolt coming at me.
2. The AOE circles are accurate most of the time, it just when he uses AOE spray in Phase 2 he also launches the regular bolt attack which have the same look. So it hard to tell if the indicators are bugged or if it just a hidden bolt in the spray. Best to use whatever you use to survive point 1 when outside the AOE.
3. Not enough time in the bubble to answer this one. Only thing I can comment on is you can teleport out the bubble, of course that only applies to certain classes.
I hear the AOE bolts are projectiles, but I not sure if they can be reflected or not.
I agree with you, most of the more enjoyable boss battles I faced involved some mechanic that players had to learn and use their skills to accomplish, like Baelfire in CoF Story mode. I really like the idea of switching between underwater and ground combat mid fight. Not sure if it can be done in the game, but it would make for a really interesting battle.
