Guild Wars 2

What if instead of making them mobile, we simply added a cast-time to picking up a turret which would then give it no cooldown? You would still be left the instantaneous destruction of the turret from anywhere, which would put it on the full CD, but this way have another option to make them more viable – in all aspects of the game really.

Importantly though, the overcharge effect would and toolbar CD for the turrets would remain as is or that’d be too OP IMO.

The actual cast-time for this would need to be explored but I’d be leaning towards 2 sec? Not long enough that people would just blow them up anyways, but not so short that it can be done too easily while in combat.

Also, it may sound tedious to have to pick up all 3-4 turrets (taking up to 8 sec) but that’s the beauty of it (in my mind :P). Makes you think a little more about how you’d use turrets.

I don’t think this would make it terribly OP (except for maybe in a decap build? I don’t play one so not too sure how that would change) in sPvP but may be a good step towards making them slightly useful in WvW/PvE situations?

Thoughts? Sorry about the weird paragraphing… it’s a direct correlation to my train of thoughts, which tends to jump a bit.

Would love to see a phantasm summoning elite.
——-
Name: Phantasmal Doppleganger
Cast-time: 3s
Cooldown: PvP/WvW – 120s; PvE – 60s
Duration: 20s
Skill: Summons a phantasm based on currently selected target. If none selected, goes on 3s cooldown. Does not count towards the 3 summon limit; invulnerable to damage; does not participate in shatters; attacks on summon then every 5s. Type of attack dependent on target. All phantasms give off a tell before attacks allowing for dodge/block etc. On target death, phantasm also dies.

Warrior – Summons at range 300 from target, dual axe whirling blades for x AOE damage towards target for 600 range. Projectile finisher.

Guardian – Summons on player, creates a dome that prevents enemies from exiting/entering for 2s. Doesn’t block projectiles/skills.

Elementalist – Summons at range 1200 from target, AOE firestorm around target for 2s. Similar to elementalist skill, red circle tell allowing for dodging out of. Blast finisher.

Thief – Summons at 300 range from target, stealth+heartseeker for x damage + poison for 2s. Leap finisher

Ranger – Summons at 1200 range from target, fires an arrows, immobilizing target for 1s.

Engineer – Summons at 900 range from target, throws wrench hitting 3 times split between 3 targets if in range causing daze, confusion, immobilize for 1s.

Necromancer – Summons at 1200 range from target, laying down poison well with duration 5s if not triggered, 2s if triggered. Poison field.

Mesmer – Summons on player, lays down portal (only for mesmer), blinks to target (1200 range) and lays down exit portal. Portals last for 2s.

For PvE, there can be generic phantasms based on type(?) that either strictly damage or perform some utility. I don’t have the knowledge of all the types of enemies nor the time to think up some for all of them but simple things like damage/AOE damage/casting conditions/casting boons etc can all be fair game.

Apperance: Phantasms would take on generic race/class appearance or generic type of PvE mob (ie. trees/skale/generic looking boss phantasm)
——-

So looking back, even I can tell it’s sounding pretty OP, especially the invulnerable part. It could always just have more HP/increased defense from AOE or something so that the elite wouldn’t just be like our other phantasms that get one-shotted. But I think it could definitely be tweaked and adjusted so that it wasn’t OP and would be a super fun elite. It brings on more strategy with which class to target and clone specifically, or which mob, and I don’t think it’s so OP that all mesmers would be running it all the time. Time warp will still have its use, MOA will still have it’s non-use, mass invis would still be useful and this one would also have its uses.

Again, I know it may be OP with how I’ve presented it or some people might not like what I’ve chosen for the skills but the cool thing is, that could all be up for debate from us, the devs, anyone. I had fun trying to come up with unique/useful/not OP (probably failed haha) skills and would genuinely love running with this elite.

If anyone read through all of it, thanks haha. For those that couldn’t…

TL;DR – OP target based phantasm summoning skill with unique pewpews.

IGN: Aurore Eswoop
Server: Jade Quarry
Role: Scholar
Playstyle: I delve into all aspects
Playtime: Sporadic

Would love to meet up with fellow mesmers to hang/map clear/dungeons, anything!

So, with the price of crafting materials going up with this last patch, what do people think would be the better choice?

Continue to hoard crafting mats OR sell it all and wait till the price goes down in a bit to buy back what is needed to craft then?

Would it really be that OP though? Sigh, I love my mesmer but the lack of swiftness without having to switch to focus makes me so so sad.

@ Dawdler – Love that idea

@Osicat – Thanks for the reply. I’ll have to take a look at that. Been messing around with another build at the moment but will definitely have a look at the Shattercat mist/heavy when I have time. Only trouble is celestial is so darn expensive haha. I’ve been eyeing that gear since it’s come out though lol

Was considering ways to increase swiftness uptime/run speed but didn’t feel they were ideas worth starting a new thread for so hopefully it’s alright to throw them in here.

I don’t know if this has been discussed before or not but what do people think about changing out the first minor trait in Chaos for 5s of swiftness for each second of stealth? Then throw the rejuv at 75% health in with the 15 point minor in Chaos and we don’t really lose anything and simply gain a bit of swiftness. With it, we get two offhands that offer swiftness (torch and focus), two utilities (three I suppose if you include the randomness of signet of inspiration) that give it as well (decoy, veil) and an elite that would also provide swiftness (mass invis).

It’s still not great (some pretty long CDs for a short swiftness boost), but at least this way we have a few more ways of obtaining swiftness without it being OP or groundbreaking IMO. The only complaint I can see is other classes complaining about buffing our ability to run away but really, how different is it to elementalists or thieves? Also, we could get away just fine without it before anyhow so no big difference I believe.

So TL;DR

New Chaos 5 point minor:
Deceptive Speed – For every 1s in stealth, the mesmer gains 5s of swiftness. Stackable.

Revamped Chaos 15 point minor (Metaphysical rejuv gets added to illusionary membrane):
Rejuvenating Membrane – 10s of regen when health hits 75% (30s CD) and gain protection for 3s when you gain regen (15s CD).

What do you all think?

Thanks for the guides Osicat, I’ve watched through all of them but have never actually gone the way of the shattercat. I do however really enjoy condition mesmers and have been playing something based off of Natsu’s build. So, it’s been great getting to see your take on playing a condition mesmer.

A quick question though, what do you (and everyone else) think about cutting back on the rabid gear a bit and throwing on some power gear (Valk, Rampagers, Berserkers)? Would it kitten the condition cat 2.0 build too much?

To be honest, what I’d love is a great hybrid build and I’ve tried to build one but due to time/gold/creativity constraints, I just haven’t been able to come up with an effective one. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen very many hybrid guides either and I’m suspecting that with the nature of mesmers, going hybrid may very well be unattainable because of the unique playstyle Either way, would love to know what you all think!

Cheers

I for one agree wholeheartedly with the OP. In fact, I think they need to look at strafing too. Too many times I aim a skill at someone only to have them sidestep it. Ridiculous IMO.

TheAngryLuddite.1834:

Pretty sure it’s intentional. You gotta be super careful in this level with the keys.

It’s just another one of their wonderfully punishing/trolly game design mechanics (like that trail of baubles in the first level that’s a suicide jump).

Just so you know Luddite, that is a doable jump. Requires precision spacebar control (haha, doesn’t that sound all spiffy, should make it into an achievement title – “Spacebar technician” for jumping puzzle completion), but doable.

Flamenco.3894:

Do the rare super skins drop from all end chests or only from the boss chost in zone 3?

I can confirm that the skins do drop from the end chests in other zones. Well, only zone 1 I guess since I got a drop from the end chest there, but I can only assume that there is a chance for them to drop from the end chest in zone 2 as well.

Now my question is, can anyone confirm/deny them dropping from the other chests scattered throughout the zones that have to be opened with a key?

Regardless of the blast finisher number, I also lean towards having the blast + fire damage on the initial skill trigger. Gives us a more predictable blast since we can’t manually trigger it plus it actually allows the skill to be used as an escape. At the moment, what’s the point in blinding the opponent if we end up stealthed anyways? Yes, I know that it might be good in the sense that attacks can still hit through stealth but in general, it just doesn’t seem to make sense. Also, at the moment, I find myself having to chase opponents around while stealthed so that the burning portion of the skill can be utilized. Again, I just feel as if the skill was meant to accomplish something different, like disorienting the opponent so that if THEY stick close, they get punished. Using it as an escape mechanism would make much more sense then too I feel. Hit prestige to escape only to find that they’re chasing in the exact same direction you’re fleeing? No problem, re-appearing applies blind, allowing you to more effectively continue fleeing.

Plus, it’s only after flames that you get smoke right? :P

It would definitely be a nice “quality of life” thing. I don’t use it all that much but would a passive speed buff on signet of inspiration really make it that OP?

As for an answer to Engineers. They can essentially have unlimited swiftness with traits. I haven’t played one for a while now but the +swiftness on kit use essentially provides them with unlimited swiftness. Couple that with swiftness on the med kit built in + another two traits that gives vigor and swiftness on crits and ya, engineers don’t really have much of a speed issue. Again, things may have changed but from what I remember, that’s what it was like.

Appreciate the thoughts! I quite like having staff as a secondary regardless of the field proc but I did find it helpful when I only want to run null field and not feedback as well.

I generally leave blink and null field for stun break + condition removal (which other than iWarden on curtain, I don’t have) but having staff as my alternate provides me with that extra field + chaos armor (on 4) which is nice. It also helps to also give my iWarden the confusion bolts that I find stack pretty reliably if the mob is close enough.

Good to know that a variant of it works well in WvW though! Looking forward to seeing your guide samski!

Hey guys, thought I’d come in here and ask for advice regarding my build.

For starters, here’s what I’m running:

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mcmmzc9cMabrmMabrm0GGpVMmmaVR08kiT7khT7kiH7070M7kuZ70V

What I really enjoy doing with this build is self-comboing for almost consistent chaos armor up-time plus the occasional retaliation combo as well. To do that requires loads of weapon swaps plus tons of movement for getting into position for combos which I quite enjoy. I’ve run with GS before and while I like it, I found myself being static for far too much of the time in dungeons (I could be playing it wrong but that’s what I found happening anyways).

Additionally, I’ve really come to love the focus. The speed boost is undoubtedly really nice but what’s really awesome is the iWarden. I used to think he sucks (and it still does suck that he doesn’t move at all essentially) but I’d have to say he does a fair bit of the DPS in my build. I know confusion is still pretty wishy-washy as a condition but I like to couple the Warden with any of the ethereal fields/curtain for confusion or condition cleanse. I find kiting groups of enemies into the Warden to be quite enjoyable. Plus! The reflection trait from the focus is so good! I don’t know if I could run without it now.

The MH sword is well, the MH sword. No one’s ever really complained about it and I’m not going to start (well… the leap could be a bit more finessed). The staff is mainly about defense plus providing a field for chaos armor comboing. It doesn’t hurt that the iWarlock and staff clones are also super useful.

What do you guys think of the build? Would love to hear what some of you think in terms of viability. I’ve found it to be decently viable PvE and in dungeons/fractals (though I am a noob in fractals atm). WvW I’m not so sure yet. I do seem to get owned quite quickly but I wonder how much of that is gear related?

Speaking of gear, that’s where my main question is. I’ve thinking of rampagers as I was hoping the vit+tough from the traits would be defensive enough. Also adding in loads of chaos armor up-time and I hope that will be sufficient. I went with rampagers since I felt it compliments the playstyle well. More power so that I hit harder and phantasms hit harder, high prec for sharper images bleed proc as well as MH bleed proc, and high condition damage for the confusion + bleed + chaos armor/storm debuff damage. Thoughts on that?

I’m having trouble deciding on rings/amulet/accessories though. I could continue with the rampager pattern but I also thought about either adding in more crit damage or grabbing some toughness/vit. I’m not sure what would be good.

Sooo, sorry that it became a massive wall of text but thoughts? Build is terrible, rampagers suck, your traits are all messed up, whatever the thoughts are, I’ve love to hear em!

Thanks all!

Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention, I’m also not sure what runes to run with this build. I like anything with +20% swiftness as that means almost 100% uptime on it with curtain alone but unsure between centaur/pack/air. Great thing about pack/centaur though is that they’re still decently cheap :P

Nice of you to put this guide up Fay. I had gotten sort of tired with my mesmer after hitting 80 but this is a completely different playstyle from anything I’ve tried before so it’s been fun tweaking it and trying it out both sPvP and PvE.

If there’s one complaint I have, it’s the amount of times I have to hear the mantra charge-up line… they really need some new ones or less or none even…

This is going to be a great time for all! Looking forward to it!

Slightly long post, see TL;DR (I think the whole thing’s actually well thought but I’d say that wouldn’t I? :P)

For those that are saying it’s not a nerf, it really and truly is. Both to PvP and PvE in my opinion.

From a PvP perspective, the argument is that phantasms were “too easy”, that they were/are a “drop and forget” skill and perhaps at times they were. But in many ways, the reason for them being a “drop and forget” skill is because that is primarily what they’re meant to be. They don’t have reliable enough utility or damage to be a direct damage skill which some claim they should be. Frankly, I’d rather have the phantasms changed so that they only fire off one attack and then be fodder for shattering but have that one attack be predictable and useful. For example, the iZerker (the best phantasm we have at the moment IMO), have it be a reliable cripple/AoE damage that I can control the area of effect on. Better yet, have the iWarden be a ground-target projectile-reflecting phantasm that I can actually use for defense or gasp an actual AoE! If they did that then I would welcome the increased CDs. But at the moment, the reason our phantasms are “drop and forget” skills is precisely because that’s how they’re meant to be used IMO.

It’s even more ridiculous in PvE due to their fragility and single-use (one mob) nature. Again, the argument is that they are simply another damage skill that the player needs to use “correctly” to have effect (ie. Warrior has to actually “aim” HBs correctly). But unlike other classes, phantasms aren’t in our control anymore after we hit that button. We hope it spawns in-range (looking at you iWarden!), we hope it attacks in the right direction (iZerker!), we hope it doesn’t spawn in the mob’s AoE or simple auto-attack (iWarlock!), we hope it… (actually, both iSwordsman and iDuelist aren’t bad in PvE IMO) and finally, we hope it… (haha, who actually uses iMage??). Anyways, you get the picture. There’s too much randomness to these skills to call them proper simple damage skills. For all this guesswork and unreliability, now we have longer CDs?

I’m no expert, but I have played a mesmer to 80 and am in the process of rolling another one (I know, I’m a masochist) but these are definitely nerfs and maybe while they’re not game-breaking, they don’t seem all that warranted to me.

As for me, I already mentioned it but I think they should/could make them a single-use damage spell. BUT! If they do that, then make iZerker a ground-targeting AoE skill that cripples after its one use (or something like that). Make iWarden also a ground-targeting skill that we can hide in for projectile reflect and then explodes into nothingness. Make iSwordsman stab once and apply vulnerability and then explode. Make iDuelist unload one round with bleed (without critting or traits) then explode. Make iWarlock do only one attack but have it swap 1(2?) conditions on you for 1(2) boons currently on the enemy. Make iMage completely different so it’s useful? Haha, I don’t know, make it do an AoE burn/confuse attack? That’d be cool.

Sorry it got so long, but I love playing my mesmer(s) and just had to chip in my 2 (or more like 100) cents.

TL;DR
These are nerfs both to PvP and PvE since phantasms are so random. My suggestion is to retool them slightly so that they become more reliable single-use damage+utility skills (ie. iZerker becomes a ground-targeting AoE cripple that does not to be cast on a mob but explodes after the one use)