142 replies to this topic

[Blowi]

I agree, and I'll look into this and see if I can add other opinions below, valued discussion disagreeing with me and such, should be easier to find when game is released.

[Vetina]

terrific guide !!!  thank you for taking time to put this together.  Also watched several videos.  very nice.

[henker]

Good job. Very well presented guide.

I strongly disagree on Blink tho. To me that's one, if not THE best utility spell. A teleport that breaks stun? Try teleporting on top of something when you have people focusing you and come back here telling me it's not the best utility spell.

Not to mention when you wanna confuse people, just use this while poping clones. I find this more effective than stealthing, works every time.

[They Call Me Cookie]

Cheers on this guide, it's great. I didn't feel at all that you were telling us how to play but more a less giving us the tools to help ourselves. Loved every second of it !!! Hope to see you in game.

[Epic_Bear_Guy]

Great guide, gave me a good insight on the mesmer. I knew barely anything about it before this post.

[Zendharma]

I have to agree that Blink is really good.  I didn't think it was worth anything at first.  But once I realized how to make it work, I have a hard time imagining most builds without it.

[vkythr]

hi, just wondering if - Blade Training increases precision for each sword you're wielding or just one? For example if I wield Sword/Sword does it give +100? Also does mender's purity synergize with restorative illusions? ie. does the condition removal trigger on the heal by restorative illusions. thank you

[Blowi]

vkythr, on 10 August 2012 - 10:30 AM, said:

hi, just wondering if - Blade Training increases precision for each sword you're wielding or just one? For example if I wield Sword/Sword does it give +100? Also does mender's purity synergize with restorative illusions? ie. does the condition removal trigger on the heal by restorative illusions. thank you

It only works on an actual heal spell that you can choose in your heal slot. I'll test the other thing when stress test

[Merryem]

I LOVE YOU BLOWI HAVE MAH BABIES PLZ.

This guide helps tremendously C:.

[PlayerKX]

I have to disagree Blowi about your GS statement and how it isn't a good sPvP weapon. In fact, it's one of our strongest weapons imo. If you trait into phantom damage and the phantom bleeds on crit, then the GS berserker phantom becomes very powerful. Yes the sword phantom does more damage than either the iduelist or berserker, but he can't stack bleeds. Sword phan strikes once every few seconds while the iduelist and bers hit multiple times. During the stress test yesterday I tested the bleed crit trait with a sword/pistol and GS combination. Let me just say, I wish I recorded the gameplay. I was tearing people up with the bleed stacks and damage.

Otherwise great class overview. Helpful for new players.

[Blowi]

Sigil of Earth has an internal CD now though, but I'm going through the weapons after this stress test as some things may have changed.

[Green]

Nice write up, the one comment I have is your take on the Broadsword & Scepter. I feel the scepter makes for a better PVE weapon than PVP, although i do use it, I prefer the Broadsword/Staff combo above all else, I know soo uncool to use a Bsword lol.

Edited by Green, 14 August 2012 - 01:05 AM.

[jmb4028]

Green, on 10 August 2012 - 05:58 PM, said:

Nice write up, the one comment I have is your take on the Broadsword & Scepter. I feel the scepter makes for a better PVE weapon than PVP, although i do use it, I prefer the Broadsword/Staff combo above all else, I know soo uncool to use a Bsword lol.

If we're talking Mesmer 1v1 meta, it doesnt get much more meta than this. The video is of 1 vs 1 fights with footage I captured yesterday during the Stress Test. Broadsword at its best!

Thanks for the video. Only complaint -- it appears that your #4 button was broken, or hard to reach.

[Green]

jmb4028, on 11 August 2012 - 05:08 PM, said:

Thanks for the video. Only complaint -- it appears that your #4 button was broken, or hard to reach.

Haha, that made me lol inside, thanks for that. It goes to show that I simply don't spam all my buttons, I'm very exacting in my skill rotations.

But really, the #4 skill for Broadsword is a cripple Phantasm that I find to be useful only when chasing a down a foe. With Staff equipped its a defensive bubble that reflects damage back, of which I can make as a combo with the #5 and #2 skills together, yes, I use that when ever needed.

Edited by Green, 12 August 2012 - 01:54 AM.

[Jasfin]

Blowi, on 10 August 2012 - 05:12 PM, said:

Sigil of Earth has an internal CD now though, but I'm going through the weapons after this stress test as some things may have changed.

How long this internal cd is ?

[darkblue]

Jasfin, on 12 August 2012 - 04:16 AM, said:

How long this internal cd is ?

Actually, I don't think they changed it after all ... rangers could still stack bleeding at the same ridiculous rate from what I saw. They probably just add the duration in the description ... that or there really is a 1s CD but I doubt it.

As for the different weapons I disagreed with the OP before those 2 stress tests ... and now that I tested most of them pistol really seemed a lot better than any other off-hand both for power and condition ... that and GS was nerfed too hard too :s
It's kind of sad that a lot of weapon sets are just not viable for PvP (I do believe that every weapon has a niche for PvE though).

Edit : Ok my bad, it seems it is actually a 2s internal CD on earth sigil.

Edited by darkblue, 12 August 2012 - 10:31 PM.

[Merryem]

When do you think you'll update with 1v1 matchups? I'm interested to know your thoughts.

[Blowi]

Merryem, on 12 August 2012 - 11:22 AM, said:

When do you think you'll update with 1v1 matchups? I'm interested to know your thoughts.

I'll update it very soon, but I've been really busy IRL and when I've had time on my hands the system owned me with "content too long" which means I cannot really add further text to my guide, lol. I'm waiting for that to be lifted.

[Maxtofunator]

I personally think you and Xeph should team up to make this guide =] No but seriously, this is a pretty good guide, and I am currently working on a way to get the scepter to work out in PVP, and I am having a bit of trouble, more with it not doing a ton of damage, but I might just need a better offhand than the torch to compliment it with

But I think this is very well done to help people see that the mesmer is a good PVP class still

[darkblue]

About the earth sigil, a leaked internal test note said it has a 2s CD internal CD there ... I guess we had/are going to have the same change.

[phillukin]

Honestly i think this guide is extremely biased towards staff & sword/pistol. Either the OP did not test the other weapon sets with other trait builds or couldn't understand how great the other weapons work in spvp. For example i found the offhand sword one of the most powerful burst damage weapons in the game. When you trait for phantasm damage/haste/and health the iswordsman and iberserker combined will tear through targets faster then using warlock+iduelist. Yes you might not get the stacks from bleeds but specing into power you get more burst faster which is what spvp is all about. Not to mention there is a billion condition removals in this game making direct damage that much more effective.

Other key things is you don't need staff to grant protection if you get the traits that give phantasms the ability to cast regen on allies + the trait whenever you have regen it turns to protection. This gives you tons of survivability without needing to have a staff so you can focus more on damage weapons.

I do agree that the scepter is lackluster but the focus is another top notch weapon. With haste trait and the reflect trait you can almost have perma reflect on. Not to mention the pull on temp curtain but you already acknowledged that.

Its probably mostly the wording that bothered me saying the staff and sword/pistol are must haves and the other weapons are decent or good. Other then that good guide but i really recommend the OP to fully test the other weapons before making absolutes like he does. It just discourages other players to try the other weapons when in fact they could be better choices.

[phillukin]

darkblue, on 12 August 2012 - 10:41 PM, said:

About the earth sigil, a leaked internal test note said it has a 2s CD internal CD there ... I guess we had/are going to have the same change.

this is more of a reason to switch to offhand sword rather than pistol.

Edited by phillukin, 13 August 2012 - 04:19 PM.

[DoubleUnder]

Green, on 10 August 2012 - 05:58 PM, said:

Nice write up, the one comment I have is your take on the Broadsword & Scepter. I feel the scepter makes for a better PVE weapon than PVP, although i do use it, I prefer the Broadsword/Staff combo above all else, I know soo uncool to use a Bsword lol.

If we're talking Mesmer 1v1 meta, it doesnt get much more meta than this. The video is of 1 vs 1 fights with footage I captured yesterday during the Stress Test. Broadsword at its best!

Can you link your build?

[Sebrent_Tehroth]

Green, on 10 August 2012 - 05:58 PM, said:

Nice write up, the one comment I have is your take on the Broadsword & Scepter. I feel the scepter makes for a better PVE weapon than PVP, although i do use it, I prefer the Broadsword/Staff combo above all else, I know soo uncool to use a Bsword lol.

If we're talking Mesmer 1v1 meta, it doesnt get much more meta than this. The video is of 1 vs 1 fights with footage I captured yesterday during the Stress Test. Broadsword at its best!

After looking at your build, I have to ask, why the Celestial Amulet? I'm not critiquing, just genuinely curious as I've never felt like using it.

[darkblue]

phillukin, on 13 August 2012 - 04:18 PM, said:

this is more of a reason to switch to offhand sword rather than pistol.

The earth sigil never worked with phantasms ... sharper images does and it does not have an internal cooldown.

@phillukin : At first I disagreed too. Now ... well GS tweakings could make it viable again, the sword phantasm is great damage but the block/daze is far inferior to the magic bullet. Magic bullet is the reason why the pistol OH is better than all other OH not the iDuellist (which is good but not necessarily the best as you said). Everybody benefits greatly from a 2s stun/daze/5s blind on a 25s CD ... it's as easy as that.
On the other hand, since it got buffed scepter is a lot more viable now.

Edited by darkblue, 13 August 2012 - 09:01 PM.

[phillukin]

darkblue, on 13 August 2012 - 08:12 PM, said:

The earth sigil never worked with phantasms ... sharper images does and it does not have an internal cooldown.

@phillukin : At first I disagreed too. Now ... well GS tweakings could make it viable again, the sword phantasm is great damage but the block/daze is far inferior to the magic bullet. Magic bullet is the reason why the pistol OH is better than all other OH not the iDuellist (which is good but not necessarily the best as you said). Everybody benefits greatly from a 2s stun/daze/5s blind on a 25s CD ... it's as easy as that.
On the other hand, since it get buffed scepter is a lot more viable now.

It still works with blurred frenzy and im sure it overall decreases the efficiency of going for bleeds with your direct damage because of this. (Without blurred frenzy you will lose alot of stacks)

I actually prefer the daze because it offers a block option as well and its on almost half the cooldown of magic bullet. By the time you do 1 magic bullet to me i can almost  get 2 dazes off, which works better in a 1v1 situation. Magic bullet although is better in group situations and still is good in 1v1, so i see why you would choose it.

Edited by phillukin, 13 August 2012 - 08:38 PM.

[Green]

DoubleUnder, on 13 August 2012 - 04:27 PM, said:

Can you link your build?

Since the day that I ran this build in the video I've updated the build to a different rune set for armor and amulet/gem combination which I think will be even better, I'll wait for testing before releasing that. The link to the build is in the video description of the video on you tube, kindly grab it from there mate.

Thanks!

Sebrent_Tehroth, on 13 August 2012 - 07:39 PM, said:

After looking at your build, I have to ask, why the Celestial Amulet? I'm not critiquing, just genuinely curious as I've never felt like using it.

Good question

I was short on Vitality (Health) with the choice of runes in that vid, I wanted to give myself a bit more survivability so I went with Celestial Amulet and Celestial gem. I have since changed that and are looking forward to testing that soon.

I'll give a more indepth explanation of the build concept and play strategy tonight when I have time to post again.

Edited by Green, 13 August 2012 - 10:22 PM.

[Green]

Blowi, on 13 August 2012 - 11:58 PM, said:

tfw your guide threads get hacked by video links instead of the other pinned thread dedicated to videos

Its funny you say that as actually I came on to remove the link and to ask anyone who has questions to send me a PM to not muddy up your post. A direct PM would have been more effective Blowi, just saying, sorry to offend.

Edited by Green, 15 August 2012 - 07:56 AM.

[Blowi]

tfw your guide threads get hacked by video links instead of the other pinned thread dedicated to videos

[Infinito]

Great, post Blowi!
This is an amazing guide, and I can't wait to see it slowly become perfected once the game goes live.

P.S. The Reaction section was great; I never know what options I should disable or enable for optimal play.
Do you have any other recommendations like with arranging chat or the UI (for the parts that are movable)?