[Another WvW/Gearing question]

Druid’s wear leather so Leatherworker is fine. However it is fairly easy to buy exotics from the trading post or earn and buy them with WvW currencies.  You may find the time and gold investment in leveling Leatherworking slows down your acquisition of the gear you need. 
 

You may find better value in leveling cooking to make ascended feasts (the top food type) buffs. 
 

As for flying mounts, you can earn the Griffon or Skyscale by completing the associated achievements in PoF and LWS4 for these. These mounts are for PvE zones only. However, in WvW the only mount you can use is the Warclaw which is earned exclusively in WvW via reward tracks. 

[I don't understand why Guild Wars 2's handles lag and mini-dcs the way it does.]

For a test, try running a YouTube video in the background while you play. Something really long like 10 hours of nyancat.  It used to be the fix for DCs during video story sequences. 
 

Now I know this is not desirable to leave a stream running in the background but the results (if it works or not) may help point towards the actual issue. 

[Dear Anet, does skill flavor still hold up to your standard?]

I don’t think Anet cares anymore about that part of the player experience. This has been witnessed by the hack and slash mentality of professions updates the past 18-24 months.  Perhaps it’s that the developers don’t care or perhaps the company they work for isn’t going to adequately fund them to continue to make the game comparable to the quality of PoF and earlier era content.  
 

Since the second half of IBS the bulk of content released has been lacking in many ways. They don’t even excuse it as they did during IBS and the announced launch of EoD.  At this point in time I wouldn’t expect to get anything better than what we got with EoD. 

[Achievement leader boards are kind of moot - Please update / fix AP so it has equality across the board]

7 hours ago, Lama.2735 said:

.  It's like playing a racing game competitively and professionally;  Only the 10 year old veterans can use the shortcuts and special power ups provided compared to a brand new player is stuck with a junk car and everybody telling the new player to DEAL WITH IT!

This analogy makes no sense. AP is a number to show how much you have completed in game. You want to take away all the years of playing from other players because you think it’s unfair that they started playing this game before you??

 

[Add optional servers]

I tend to think sharded servers are boring, the rule sets are never that interesting. However…
 

Server shard with perma-death and  lose all items on death.  Aka if you die you roll a new character and start at level 1 again with nothing  

PvP shard where you lose an item when an opponent successfully finishes you, and the opponent gains that item.

Shard where Ascended and Legendary gear has Exotic stats (but keep the slots).  Pull back the power creep!!

 

There are loads of interesting rule sets that could be applied but, the issue is who is actually going to play alternate rule sets in the long term???

 

[Tone Deaf Sales BF deals...]

4 minutes ago, subgenius.7649 said:

I do believe you are missing the point of the bundle... and as a BF deal. Yes we all know they are in the shop, but this is a perfect time for them to push this exact type of special weekend only deal to push sales on something that people have been asking for, for years.

They put the LW bundles on sale periodically.  When they are discounted, you can even buy the individual chapters at a discount or the whole season. 
 

I don’t know they they have been on sale since EoD. Id check the Holiday or March sales for the next time they may get added. 

[Mesmer in Reality]

1 hour ago, Mell.4873 said:

The real problem with Fractals and this type of content in general is you are limited to number of classes you can bring so the performance or liability each person has is high. This is why when you do Fractal CM you always interrogate peoples builds and never trust anyone who plays Mesmer due to how difficult it is to play this class.

It would be nice if this wasn’t a thing wouldn’t it?  Players don’t question some professions or eSpecs yet Mesmer still gets questioned in several game modes. 

What do you think needs to happen for Mesmer to be perceived as being a reliable profession in the eyes of Mesmer players and other players?

[Changes that completely change the meta should happen only during xpac releases]

Meta changes on a regular 2/3/4/6 month cycle would be fine if the game was balanced to begin with.
 

But GW2 is far from balanced and these changes we’ve been facing are far more about an understaffed and under prepared team trying to rebalance the game without having a clear design goal for what that balance looks like. 
 

Unfortunately the changes they have been making have ruined multiple play styles in favor of homogenized garbage that really works for some specs and really doesn’t for others.  

[what is this ?]

Yup, power creep at its finest. If you are playing anything Open World that isn’t taking advantage of the Jade Protocols and Jade Bot Power Core (for vitality) you are simply nerfng your own playtime. 
 

I am waiting for the batteries and Protocols to make it into Core cities since going to EoD zones isn’t worth it except for these buffs. 

[Need help interpreting a skill description.]

Smoke Bomb on GW2 Wiki

wiki is your friend, most questions can be answered by reading the associated article. You can use /wiki (skill name) from the chat window in game to launch the wiki as well. 
 

PS if you click on Blindness link it shows the breakbar calculations. 

[Design Request: technology]

If we are suggesting eSpec skill skin perhaps Invisible Daggers for Virtuoso could be a thing. 

[Which major, unrealistic feature would you gladly skip an expansion for?]

I'd trade an expansion to have the existing professions and eSpecs reworked from the ground up.  Keep the base mechanics for each, just remove all the bloat and band aids that have been applied over the years and start with fresh code.

Perhaps if the design team were starting fresh they would be able to implement cohesive playstyles for different eSpecs that are balanced against each other, the roles they share and the game modes they are used in.

[Where do Chrono Quick and Alac builds actually work?]

52 minutes ago, Markus.6415 said:

Power-Alac
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAw6FlVwYYLsNWJOyKdNPA-zRZYBRHH5WQZwBJUGRUBVkC2OLRMDAA-e

Power-Quick

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAw6FlVwYYTsN2JOyKdNXA-zRZYBRHH5WQZwBJUGRUBVkC2OLRMDAA-e

That's what I'm using. Not anything special really, I hope those skins work. I've never used that website 😛
And I use it in Raids and Strikes mostly.

Thanks for posting these.  One is a copy of the Snowcrows build I linked, the other has a trait and a couple utilities changed.  I can assume that with the sword AA changes that there will be a slight DPS increase for these builds.  Still, these are just uninspired variations of Power DPS Chrono.  Viable, sure, why not, but enjoyable, not in my eyes.  Being a bottom feeder in the Support pool with uninspired gameplay really doesn't engage me to using Chrono again.

And that isn't an indictment on the experience or builds you have here, it is my view on what the developers have given us.  Virtuoso, for all the disdain it has received, does offer some varied build design options using each of the Core trees in different ways while still offering competitive DPS and Survivability.  Chrono doesn't have that, it's Dueling/Domination all day every day or you are screwing your build over.  Mirage also uses a lot of Dueling and Domination or Chaos for the same reason.

Do note, I am aware that in PvP there are a wider variety of viable builds for Chrono and Mirage that do use different Core trees than just Dom/Duel.  The concern here is that PvE doesn't get that nice variety of builds even though 'any build works' in PvE.  They obviously don't or we would see a wider variety of builds not just from Mesmer but all professions.

I mean, we have all the parts to make a Heal Alac Chrono yet, no one is building or playing it right?

 

[CMC should have been main balance dev from the beginning]

36 minutes ago, Arheundel.6451 said:

Since the "engi/guardian" lover got removed from power and replaced by CMC, the game overall has seen some impressive QoL changes, and CMC was the one to unnerf SB no?! Since CMC took over, the ranger has seen nothing but positive changes and the most oppressive builds to fight as ranger...nerfed. I bet you'd rather have CMC in charge than go back to the age of the "guardian lover"

You evidently don't play all 9 professions or all game modes.  The damage CMC and team has done in the past year has left multiple eSpecs worse off in different game modes.  I am happy that your experience has gotten better but holistically, the game has not gotten better, the devs have simply moved the pain points around to different builds.

That they released this so called Balance Philosophy and then follow it up with another patch that doesn't relate to it, their own document, their own words and goals, is indicative of a team that doesn't actually know what they are doing or perhaps even care about the end results.

[Where do Chrono Quick and Alac builds actually work?]

5 hours ago, Markus.6415 said:

The only reason you don't see those is exactly that. It's not listed on those sites, and rarely anyone plays something that's not on those sites. Power alac/quick chrono in my opinion is totally viable, i have both builds, but prefer to play the alac version since i like to actually see some well effects. You gotta take a shield and you won't even need concentration to cap on the boons, have very good CC and maybe some encounter specific flex like portal or pulls.

Can you provide a build for each from GW2Skills to showcase what you are running?  Where are you playing this as well, Fractals/Raids or OW?

And given that most eSpecs have one or more viable or meta builds in multiple game modes which appear on these sites, isn't it somewhat damning that none of the people who curate these sites haven't included Quick or Alac Chrono builds yet?  Well okay, SnowCrows has this build under the 'viable' tier, but that is it, one of the lowest DPS support roles that appears only to buff Quick and Fury. 

Support Chrono isn't likely to change for another 3 months, this is what we get.

If it is truly viable, then sharing what you are running will help uplift this segment of the community.

[Guild Wars 2 Balance Philosophy]

@Cal Cohen.2358

Your Balance Philosophy doesn't appear to be in-line with the changes you are making in the Nov 29th patch.

Over the past 12 months you have delivered a variety of hacks and band-aids in the name of Balance that have continued to prove that your team doesn't know what they are balancing.  The Nov 29th update continues this trend.

And now we wait until what, late January or February for the next Balance Patch?  It hasn't been announced yet but, we know you aren't working over the holiday season.  So maybe 3-4 months from now we see another patch that may or may not address some of the issues that have existed for months or years (not including whatever you have broken in Nov 29th patch).

How long is it okay for you to allow professions to have bad builds before you care to fix them?

Your team should have never published this Balance Philosophy and just kept it hidden.  You have given us a document we can point at and say "you aren't doing what you said".  And here I am, doing just that.

[Hopium]

2 minutes ago, Justine.6351 said:

Where are the notes?

 

[Hopium]

1 minute ago, Salt Mode.3780 said:

This is a reason why you don't wish for more as a  Mesmer main. Not only did they not mention Mirage getting a 2nd dodge back but instead of buffs we got nerfs on csplit considering it wasn't mentioned PvP or PvE this is probably going to affect both modes. To those Alacrity Mirage, your boons got reduced. So no real buffs perhaps some damage buffs in PvE but certainly nerfs in the competitive side.

Im guessing distortion for both chrono and virtuoso is going to carry us till the next expansion.

I really doubt they want Mesmer providing boons anymore.

[November 29 Balance Update Preview]

2 hours ago, Double Tap said:

Cal "cmc" Cohen

So are Chrono Alac and Quick builds working as intended?  Are these builds meant to be not viable in any game mode?  With exception to WvW where we only need 1 or 2 per zerg......

I'm pretty disappointed that these builds appear to be forgotten after you pulled all the utility out of them and gave it to other professions who are now the defacto boon providers. 

 

Is it true you hate Mesmers?  Asking for a friend......

[Where do Chrono Quick and Alac builds actually work?]

Just reviewed the new (Nov 29) patch notes.  It's cool to see Powser Chrono getting some buffs, but I am still looking at the Quick and Alac builds for Support Chrono as not being well implemented and not fun to play.  Am I wrong?  Are there some secret builds not on MetaBattle or Snowcrows or Discretize that unlock Quick or Alac Chrono builds?

Or is it as I expect, that Quick and Alac support builds are really not viable at this time.

[Please allow us to disable the mastery nag box]

2 hours ago, DD39C89C-1C46-4F28-BDB7-49 said:

Sadly, it's intended, a player is nagged to waste points on other unwanted tracks to play longer, as he must collect more points for a chosen track then. Very nasty design.

You could have at any time changed the mastery track you were earning XP towards before you completed it as well.   Is the system flawless, absolutely not, but there is no need to mischaracterize it because you didn’t know what could happen. 
 

As an aside, I can confirm that this issue does not happen on all accounts. Or rather, my second account doesn’t have this issue in any zone with max XP in any given mastery.  Some feel this issue was resolved a while ago yet posts like yours continue to appear. Perhaps it is a bug but either way, you know how to work around it in several ways now. 
 

I just realized that you and I both posted in the last thread about this but you had a different message at that time…

Old post

[Alac+Quickness Support Chrono is viable again (Raid/Strikes)]

1 hour ago, Blumpf.2518 said:

With the changes to Rune of the Chronomancer

What changes are you referring to?

[Sitting in a Novelty Chair = Arborstone Incredibly Well Rested buff?]

Trying to understand the Novelty Chair and Arborstone Rested thing.

After testing it, it appears that every 15 seconds this new effect adds 2 minutes to your Incredibly Well Rested buff.

What purpose does this serve, was this something players asked for?  It seems like such an odd addition unless it is a precursor to getting other EoD features being added to Core and older expansion maps.

Does this hint at us seeing Jade Battery and Jade Offensive and Defensive Protocol outside of EoD at some point?

[Making Black Lion Chests salvageable.]

The price of BL Cheats has been slowly dropping since 2015 or so when they jumped up to 10-11s.  Even 2 years ago I was selling stacks at about 4 silver a chest. I typically get a stack of chests every few months of regular play but they are now reaching a price where it is almost not worth listing them on the TP. 
 

I’d be okay with a way to salvage chests. We have historically not had any problems with BL Chests being priced as high as 10s for months on end, and I doubt that the price of chests would creep up to 10s again if they were salvageable.   With the price bottoming out so low currently, we will eventually see players destroying stacks of chests rather than putting them on the TP to rot. 
 

Ultimately the OP is perhaps a little early to complain about what to do with excess BL Chests, but the question is valid. Can we get a way to salvage chests, a chest gobbler or even a vendor price for BL Chests. 

[Just finished End of Dragon what to do now]

I recognize this is perhaps counter to what you were asking for but, have you worked towards Vision and Aurora yet?  
 

These legendary trinkets require a lot of playtime in season 3 and 4 of living world, and coincide with the Return to Achievements as well as the Season achievements. 
 

I suggest these as you can work on the smaller achievements and collections that make up the meta achievements piece by piece on your own time. After a few weeks or months you will have likely cleared most of the Season 3 and 4 achievements and have generated enough gold and materials to finish one or both of the Vision or Aurora.  You will also generate HoT Mastery XP and MP in Season 3 zones to help finish the HoT mastery off.   This also helps clear a big chunk of the Return to Achievement for a third legendary Trinket, Prismatic Champions Regalia.

While the long term goal may appear challenging, that it is made up of many smaller easy to complete achievements should make working on these more palatable.  You can even focus your attention to the S3 and S4 daily zones to get a little bit more out of your time each play session.