1. #1201
    Drake, the third scepter hit spawns a clone that does no damage (in melee range), and the only condition it applies is the traited "on crit, free bleed". But the attack chain of the scepter hasn't done Confusion since BWE1. It does ultra weak damage compared to pretty much any other weapon choice, and is very fast to overwrite your phantasms for no real gain. It's not hard to see why anyone would want to "pass that up", if you will.
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  2. #1202
    The Lightbringer Durzlla's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kelesti View Post
    Drake, the third scepter hit spawns a clone that does no damage (in melee range), and the only condition it applies is the traited "on crit, free bleed". But the attack chain of the scepter hasn't done Confusion since BWE1. It does ultra weak damage compared to pretty much any other weapon choice, and is very fast to overwrite your phantasms for no real gain. It's not hard to see why anyone would want to "pass that up", if you will.
    actually... the third hit DOES put 2 stacks of confusion on them... it did in the stress test and every beta after they removed the confusion on the first 2 hits...
    Quote Originally Posted by draykorinee View Post
    Youre in the mmo forums and you find mmos boring, Im heading on over to the twilight forums to add my unecessary and shallow 2 cents.

  3. #1203
    The Insane DrakeWurrum's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Durzlla View Post
    actually... the third hit DOES put 2 stacks of confusion on them... it did in the stress test and every beta after they removed the confusion on the first 2 hits...
    Oh good, so I'm not crazy.
    I hope you haven't forgotten my role in this little story. I'm the leading man. You know what they say about the leading man? He never dies.

    If you give in to your impulses in this world, the price is that it changes your personality in the real world. The player and character are one and the same.

  4. #1204
    The Lightbringer Durzlla's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrakeWurrum View Post
    Oh good, so I'm not crazy.
    not this time no lol
    Quote Originally Posted by draykorinee View Post
    Youre in the mmo forums and you find mmos boring, Im heading on over to the twilight forums to add my unecessary and shallow 2 cents.

  5. #1205
    The Insane DrakeWurrum's Avatar
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    I wasn't aware that it was 2 stacks of Confusion, however. Nothing to sneeze at, imo. Could be fun to time a Cry of Frustration traited with Illusionary Retrbution and Confusing Cry at just the right time.

    Also: After seeing that Mantra of Pain no longer sucks, I've been tempted to try out a Mantra-based build on release. :O!

    I bet I could find ways to get away with re-charging Mantras mid-battle, without being interrupted, if I really try.

    ---------- Post added 2012-08-03 at 02:35 PM ----------

    I wonder what Empowered Illusions will become on live. Mantra Mastery, as well, since Mantras don't have a CD.
    Last edited by DrakeWurrum; 2012-08-03 at 07:46 PM.
    I hope you haven't forgotten my role in this little story. I'm the leading man. You know what they say about the leading man? He never dies.

    If you give in to your impulses in this world, the price is that it changes your personality in the real world. The player and character are one and the same.

  6. #1206
    whats the max confusion stacks? 25 like other boons/condition? That would be a bit crazy I think.
    "Haters give me balance, every Kyle's got a Cartman." -George Watsky

  7. #1207
    Hmm a mantra build sounds rather fun. Could create some powerful spikes I likey.

  8. #1208
    I wasn't aware that it was 2 stacks of Confusion, however. Nothing to sneeze at, imo.
    It's a double edge sword.

    You get 2 stacks of confusion yes however you have to go threw 3 attacks to get them. Not to mention confusion scales with condition damage and not power. So if you are stacking condition damage like me for confusion its pointless to use scepter attack 1 over staff because those 3 attacks will do crap damage and it doesn't make up for the 2 stacks of confusion.

    Its good for initial confusion burst but after its back to staff for me.

    Your HP and toughness are abysmal... You need to fix that if you want to use that in pvp ever...
    To get 18k hp I need to drop 1k toughness. I maxed out toughness and condition damage for the most reduced damage and the most condition damage.

    Don't know what you want me to do.
    Last edited by zito; 2012-08-04 at 12:34 AM.

  9. #1209
    Zito, I've seen some zero vitality builds work for PvP, even without being glass cannons. I believe in you. :3

  10. #1210
    Quote Originally Posted by Larynx View Post
    Zito, I've seen some zero vitality builds work for PvP, even without being glass cannons. I believe in you. :3
    That's the intention of toughness, to have low vitality to reduce the most damage possible. I fought a warrior during the stress test. All he did was kite around a rock for his cd's. However his burst with my 2k toughness got me down to 3k hp in 3 seconds if I did not time my defensive cd's right.

    and without his burst he would still hit me for 2kish.

    So I don't see how some of you are "tankin" as a mesmer, you must be fighting bads.

  11. #1211
    The Insane DrakeWurrum's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zito View Post
    It's a double edge sword.

    You get 2 stacks of confusion yes however you have to go threw 3 attacks to get them. Not to mention confusion scales with condition damage and not power. So if you are stacking condition damage like me for confusion its pointless to use scepter attack 1 over staff because those 3 attacks will do crap damage and it doesn't make up for the 2 stacks of confusion.
    Not necessarily, considering the Staff is not guaranteed to apply damaging conditions (thus the damage it applies is extremely variable even with a heavy Malice build), and it won't automatically summon Illusions which you can shatter to cause Confusion (with the right minor trait) or leave up to cause Bleeding (with the right major trait). The Staff's illusion summoning is slow and primarily requires you to use your defensive skill.
    It's also worth noting that Power is what improves the damage of your Phantasmal Warlock, not Malice (though Expertise increases it indirectly).

    I'm also not sure of this as I haven't played extensively enough, but doesn't the Staff #1 bounce between multiple enemies? It's an advantage when you want to cause widespread damage to be sure, but not when you want to focus on a single target.

    It all depends on build of course - not saying you can't build the way you are, I'm just saying that you shouldn't discount it just because you want a condition-damage build.

    Auto attack until your third Illusion, which would apply 2 stacks of Confusion (doubt the first 4 would still be there), unleash your Scepter #3 for 5 more stacks, blow Cry of Frustration for 6 stacks (minor trait + Cry = 2 stacks per illusion, right?), unless you also traited for the Shatter effect to come from you which makes 8 stacks.
    That's 13 to 15 stacks of Confusion, though some of them will fall off sooner than others.

    You can't really maintain those high stacks easily, but you can periodically push your condition damage up really high. Admittedly, such a set-up would only work well for players too stupid to let it happen.


    Random aside: didn't hear your thoughts on my Mantra-focused build concept, btw. It's got plenty of Daze and Vulnerability and Cripple. It's not exactly defensively-focused, but you could easily stack Power and Vitality and probably make do! Those last 10 points in Chaos could easily be put into Inspiration or Illusions instead, depending on what ends up working out better.
    This build really punishes people for killing my Illusions, but I think those kind of traits activate on Shatters too, right?
    If not, they should. >(

    ---------- Post added 2012-08-03 at 10:20 PM ----------

    I'm actually starting to question if the third Scepter hit still applies Confusion or not. The wiki says that it erroneously states it, even though the tooltips for the first and second hits no longer state it. You think they would be consistent enough to fix all three tooltips, if they fixed two of them.
    Even without that though, it's only 2 stacks of Confusion... the aforementioned setup would still get you to 11-13 stacks (though this still assumes that the minor trait applies one stack per illusion instead of per shatter).
    Last edited by DrakeWurrum; 2012-08-04 at 03:21 AM.
    I hope you haven't forgotten my role in this little story. I'm the leading man. You know what they say about the leading man? He never dies.

    If you give in to your impulses in this world, the price is that it changes your personality in the real world. The player and character are one and the same.

  12. #1212
    When your clone summoning skills are on cd, scepter attack still takes too long and waste too much potential damage just for the 3 clones. So like I said before outside burst confusion stacking its better to use staff for the main attack.

    Go with focus instead of offhand sword:

    http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/mes...|0|0|0|0|2|17|

    You lose increase defense while casting mantras however you should be kiting around a rock or something and not in the open if you are setting up mantras mid combat. The bad thing about mantras is extended fights. If all your mantras are down and you have to charge them that is a considerable amount of time wasted for you and time gained for your foe.

  13. #1213
    Deleted

    mesmer starting masks

    whats the difference between the 3 starting masks, Harlequin's Smile, Phantasm of Sorrow, Fanged Dread, of the mesmer profession?

  14. #1214
    Deleted
    Personal story and look as far as I know.
    Every profession has one choice that affects their starter gear -Guardians have shoulders or helmets, Mesmers have masks, Thieves have headgear.
    I don't think it has different repercussions.

  15. #1215
    Deleted
    u sure? for example elementalist the choose between wind, earth, water and fire which i believe it affects their gameplay later on

  16. #1216
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by greekelf View Post
    u sure? for example elementalist the choose between wind, earth, water and fire which i believe it affects their gameplay later on
    Unless I'm awfully mistaken, that elementalist choice affects the colour of their head crystal. I do not think there's any more gameplay changes, other than perhaps personal story.

  17. #1217
    Deleted
    ohhh i think im the one who is awfully mistaken then xD

    ---------- Post added 2012-08-04 at 10:33 PM ----------

    thx for the info

  18. #1218
    The Lightbringer Glytch's Avatar
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    if anything more than visuals they MIGHT alter personal story...

    but i highly doubt it. ranger pet selection kinda hints its not the case. btw the ranger starting pet is pretty much the only choice that might slightly alter gameplay... until you tame new pets.
    The Original Ganksta

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    Quote Originally Posted by Durzlla View Post
    then again i'm pretty sure you're smarter then the average dumbass

  19. #1219
    The Lightbringer Pud'n's Avatar
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    Oh wow, they updated the individual profession pages on the official site. Can't believe I didn't notice that.

  20. #1220
    I really wish Mesmers had better dps. I played one a lot during the first two Beta Weekend Events, and really liked their aesthetics, but couldn't get over how ridiculously unpolished they were. They still appear to need a lot of work.

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