Curunen.8729

Er - literally no one is claiming this, least of all mesmer players. The only difference in opinion is the accuracy as to the specific areas that are unbalanced, rather than senseless emotional ranting.I guess they took down the WvW/PvP split balance thread that previewed the balance update. I assume with a balance path the claim would be that "all is balanced" lol. Also, that was sarcasm. I know that literally no player that is not a mesmer main (or that will be) would make this claim.Sure, I forgot you tend to make funny/sarcastic posts. :)

Er - literally no one is claiming this, least of all mesmer players. The only difference in opinion is the accuracy as to the specific areas that are unbalanced, rather than senseless emotional ranting.

Not really sure what I was going for here, just liked the grey/blue colour tones. Edit - Deleted to thin out images.

Yeah this - I banked everything until the finishing the whole thing. Safer that way. But afterwards I deleted everything that couldn't be sold.

Yet another quality comprehensive post from you, Curunen. :)The might stacking from the illusions line (Phantasmal force and Persistance of Memory) combined with Bountiful Disillusionment (might on mind wrack) and the staff ambush can get quite high fast. It is this in tandem with Compounding Power that can boost your power and condition damage significantly. Phantasmal disenchanter could also be used to add more might. Once might is sufficient (which actually can happen quite quickly), I like to switch to axe/torch and wreak havoc. Both lines approach damage in different ways: Dueling with fury/crit and Illusions with might/damage. I suppose dueling would be better with stats high in precision whereas illusions would be better in builds stacking power/condi and ignoring precision. You're welcome. Ah yes the might stacking is better with Chaos and Illusions - the raw stat boosting is higher with Illusions, providing you can manage clone output to benefit from it. With Duelling you get a bit more endurance regen from additional vigour so slightly more frequent dodge access, whether that's worth it for you. Personally the times I've tried playing Axe without DE it just doesn't feel right, and it's become ingrained in my playstyle such that I don't think I'd play as well without it. But if you can then tbh Illusions+Chaos is solid. That's the beauty of the state of mesmer right now, there are a lot of solid options for building so it really comes down to personal taste.

There's far more knowledgeable people on here regarding game mechanics and theory crafting, especially across different modes! :) I can only speak for the niche I play and tend to go by flow over numbers (funny given my past work IRL). From a wvw roaming perspective the biggest loss of Duelling is actually DE. Especially if you use axe. DE changes the entire flow with axe and mirage such that you can execute much smoother and faster combos (ie axe2 dodge into axe 3 or similar). Crucial for exploiting windows of opportunity when trying to nail thieves or opponent mesmers for example. Or even for quickly spitting clones out for F4, or for IA and so on. In addition Duelling gives you almost perma vigour and pretty much perma fury together with Chaotic Persistence and other boons from Bountiful Disillusionment and Staff. Without that you have bigger gaps in vigour and fury - sure Compounding Power makes up a bit for damage output, but otherwise... Yes Illusions has MtD and Cry of Pain - but without DE you'll need to get out enough clones to make the most of this anyway - and if taking Self Deception you lose the perma regen. Axe combos with full clones spit out enough torment such that the little extra from MtD is negligable especially in a wvw context. For pve damage output sure there might be something in it but like I said I'm not one for analysing numbers here. Master of Fragmentation is solid of course - but with perma fury and decent base precision, the extra 25% crit chance on F1 isn't necessary, the cripple on F2 is meaningless fluff, and the reflect on F4 is superfluous given you already build for enough reflect through Evasive Mirror and traited manipulations. The single major benefit of Illusions in my opinion and the one thing I miss most is AoE Diversion. That single thing makes it so much easier to secure/interrupt stomps/resses among other things (otherwise having to retarget while stomping to interrupt an opponent ressing the downed). Oh, shorter shatter cooldowns is nice for sure, but can you get out enough clones to reliably make use of this? I find base cooldowns sufficient with mirage given most of the condi and damage application is from weapons, aside from F1 burst. Shatter Storm - I have to do a 180 and eat my past comments about this trait - initially I thought it was stupidly overpowered, however on testing I realised it's actually not as good as it seems, especially for hybrid or condi. Firstly you need to have enough clones out to make use of things (again with shorter shatter cooldowns), and secondly it's mainly for front loading a double shatter at the beginning of a fight - after which you're back to waiting the full cooldown between shatters, assuming you're most likely to have enough clones out and try to use F1 shortly after it comes off cooldown. Ok if you don't take that you do get The Pledge, which is very nice for torch burn and cooldown on prestige - however the state of the game now is such that I don't like relying on stealth too much. Axe and staff projectiles (especially traited), as well as reflects can proc reveal on yourself very easily - nevermind enemy skills that can reveal you. But yeah if not having Evasive Mirror then this has less chance of breaking. Edit - I forgot. Phantasmal Force is decent, although you've only got staff and torch phantasms so not going to be proccing that too often, same with Persistence of Memory. Or do you also use things like Disenchanter? In any case I'd sooner use these traits with Chrono, and even so I'm not sure how good they would be in wvw - I've not tested them there but I would likely feel a bit disadvantaged compared with other traits. So overall I value DE, perma fury and almost perma vigour and high access to reflect above those benefits of Illusions, Sure Sharper Images isn't that amazing in wvw if playing this as you will aim to shatter often, and Desperate Decoy is a filler (well actually having said that it has surprisingly been useful on a few occasions, so it's not a complete waste of space), but I personally don't rate the stuff in Illusions over having these things.

Cosmic glider skin and aura back piece (ie no physical back piece)? Something similar to the cosmic mining tool effect, and something that would match astralaria's blue starry trail visually.

Yeah Illusionary Defence could be interesting for conquest, but for wvw I can't imagine not taking 12s Mirror with 4s reflect and 50% endurance, and 24s Blink with reflect. Chaos allows you to handle outnumbered a lot better, and makes disengaging from it easier - especially because this build doesn't use sword, you need to maximise other mobility cooldowns. Edit - anyway I should apologise for hijacking your thread @AliamRationem.5172! :open_mouth: For the record I do love playing this with IH in open world (aside from Istan where I prefer EM vs those condi spamming mobs) as it does wreck things.

Can this be said for pvp too? Because I have been going around in a circle over and over, between chaos and illusions and although I like what chaos tree brings to the table, I always end up choosing illusions because torment on shatter is something that cannot be overlooked. So far, I have not found any mesmer running chaos which can stand the pressure I can put. What is your experience? EDIT - for the record when I say "this build" I'm referring to my build in signature for wvw, which is different from AliamRationem's build, though a similar structure. Ok apologies for the delay - had a course deadline yesterday so pretty much 2 days all work no sleep to submit my portfolio. :/ Right, so in my experience this build is not that good for pvp, mainly because of the limited stat building. Pvp amulets are too limited to allow the fine tuning necessary for this build to work, and also the higher overall stat margins in wvw allow you to push the min-maxing which makes it go from "passable" to "powerful". From my experience playing this build with cele amulet in unranked having played some games against noteworthy players, this build can survive very well but lacks outgoing pressure against anything that isn't full glass, - and in pvp the ttk is more important. It could be possible for holding 1v2s as a role, but I don't think it's good enough compared with other builds and classes for this purpose.However switching from cele amulet to Wizard amulet is much better - ie you can burst opponent glass cannons like mesmers, thieves and so on faster, while maintaining above average survivability, however I still think it's better in a competitive setting to go with Illusions in order to have faster ttk and be more helpful to the team.The mobility is excellent though and very easy to play as a kind of pseudo-decapper with teamfight potential - and on that note I think it's best used in a teamfight as a kind of light bruiser to focus pressure on targets while having an ally that can soak up some pressure. Also one benefit is relying on evades rather than stealth or blocks allows you to contest points better, and avoid things like scourge aoes more easily. Anyway I'm still in a quandry with this build regarding pvp (conquest), and I don't really play pvp much anymore as it is. In wvw though this is a beast for solo and smallscale. Axe and staff apply enough conditions such that you don't need MtD or extra confusion on F2. Yes it means some fights can be longer, but the increase in survivability by taking Chaos in my opinion vastly outways a slightly longer ttk on some opponents and potential stalemates with a select few, especially in wvw. It also allows you to handle outnumbered situations with more options. Sure Illusions will allow you to nuke someone in 1v1 faster, but if that suddenly becomes a 1v2+ then Chaos is much better, allowing you to effectively "hand-off" (ie rugby) opponents while you try to focus one of them - yes it is such that you might not get a stomp or even a down in some cases, but you can sustain in a fight like that while making decisions of whether to continue or disengage. With more offensive output you're forced to either kill or disengage with less time to think about and play with it. The mobility and ports allow you to stick on your opponent with axe in melee which applies enough conditions that an extra few bits of torment from MtD aren't necessary, especially since the torment changes to axe. The main benefit then of Illusions is extra confusion on F2 and ammo on F1. The former is a single skill on a medium cooldown which if missed has all its benefits negated, the latter while powerful is in my opinion not crucial to kill with, especially if not having immediate clone production for back to back shatter. Oh and the biggest issue with Shatter Storm is losing The Pledge - so you don't even get the benefit of Torch cooldown reduction. Chaos gives you 12s Mirror with 4s reflect along with 50% endurance regain from runes (also synergy with DE for clones, Elusive Mind for condi cleanse, Evasive Mirror for more reflect and renewing oasis for more regen - not to be underestimated when not having other forms of sustainable healing, can enable surviving in places where otherwise dying), 24s Blink with reflect (amazing for kiting/engaging/disengaging), all staff cooldowns lower (yes 8s Phase Retreat is noticeable when using it to disengage or kite, and 28s Chaos Storm is nice), protection on chaos armour and every 15s on regen (synergy with renewing oasis), might/fury/stab/vigour from BD (makes up for losing compounding power) and Chaotic Persistence (makes up for having zero Expertise or Concentration, allowing you to focus stats on crit damage with grieving). But those benefits require tight min-maxing of hybrid stats, which in pvp isn't possible due to amulet limitations. Playable certainly - but I think there are better options.

Can this be said for pvp too? Because I have been going around in a circle over and over, between chaos and illusions and although I like what chaos tree brings to the table, I always end up choosing illusions because torment on shatter is something that cannot be overlooked. So far, I have not found any mesmer running chaos which can stand the pressure I can put. What is your experience? Just saying I'll get back to you regarding this tomorrow as I'm busy with work today.

That makes sense based on the rest of your build and also being more suitable for the context/game mode. I kind of like to synchronise my open world pve build with my wvw build to maintain fluidity, and in wvw the extra 3s off heal plus adventurer rune endurance refill as well as the 4s reflect is too valuable to pass up.

@AliamRationem.5172 - why no master of manipulation? I've been running similar (well quite a number of different traits because I take renewing oasis, DE, Elusive Mind, Bountiful Disillusionment and Master of Manipulation) pretty much ever since taking mirage into wvw several months ago. It is insanely strong in terms of survivability, very strong in 1v1s with many you'll come across (especially vs opponent mesmers - remember to cover cast your heal with dodge - most cannot threaten you, I'd go as far as saying it's almost a mirror match hard counter unless the opponent also builds with as much dodge access.), and solid in smallscale or picking off outliers in a zerg. If you're running anything similar to this in wvw definitely take signet of inspiration instead of domination and take blink instead of signet of midnight (illusionary ambush is too good). You'll find the swiftness from it sufficient for roaming - at least it has allowed me to engage/disengage from pretty much any situation I can recall aside from a handful, including some that should be impossible. That's not hyperbole, it's true - I truly regret and wish I could have recorded some of them, but doing that causes issues with my laptop. The ability to survive/escape and even kill chasers while escaping from a mob is unreal - but you need Illusionary Ambush with Blink, Jaunt and Phase Retreat, plus having things like Evasive Mirror and Axe 3 and of course Elusive Mind - very difficult to be caught or pinned down. You don't need sword ambush. Would recommend more grieving over viper though as you want to land that big axe 3 burst and F1 when possible - the expertise from viper is pretty useless given how easily our limited condis in duelling/chaos/mirage are cleansed - you barely have any confusion application for cover. Edit - I will add to this by saying there will be things that take more effort to kill if playing duelling/chaos/mirage. It's an inherantly defensive spec even if you go fairly glassy, especially using staff and axe/torch where your only significant burst is axe 3 synchronised with ambush hits and shatter, and while you may enjoy regular no-death wvw sessions (while being useful of course, taking camps, killing enemies etc), there will be one or two encounters that will end in stalemates. Off the top of my head one I can recall was a troll evade ranger. And even when it comes to taking down things like super tanky core warriors it is a challenge to concentrate damage when the builds naturally sacrifices damage output for survivability.On the flipside those rare builds that are pretty much unkillable can't do sod all to you either, so it doesn't bother me (well the warriors can, and funnily enough my least preferred encounter - but there's more than enough kiting potential to deal with it). I personally value/rate the ability to survive while doing useful things more than the ability to kill everything including the on/two impermeable bunkers you might encounter once in a while. You can still kill majority with this and tbh that's worth the tradeoff to be able to survive impossible odds.

I would like the auras and footfalls to become wardrobe unlocks on account binding a legendary - so I could use the aura or footfall no matter what weapon I have equipped. :)

I use Fraps (have had a licence for years) and just spam the capture hotkey while doing something on screen. It's how I got that axe 2 action still on page 1 - I captured dozens of images and repeated it at many different camera angles to try and get a nice trail to show up. Axe 2's animation is really weird and awesome if you either video it or take loads of stills to see each frame - the character and weapon rotation isn't what I expected it to be when up to speed! I mean sure I could do burst capture to get a perfect action still but I'm not that fussy. In addition make sure to toggle off your HUD (look for the keybind in your control options). and then practice rotating and zooming the camera for a nice angle. The last part is creative - as AmisAmai said, try emotes, jumping, moving, idle animations, weapon skills, etc - find some animation you like and get a good angle on it in a nice location then take loads of images on repeat until you get one you like. :) For the record I never use any third party visual enhancements, and never edit the images afterwards beyond cropping/resizing. I kind of like the built in post processing and other visual options already in gw2.

Fantastic idea - I just wish I hadn't wasted gems on transferring only a month ago... and barely playing gw2 since then. :/

Some new (well a bit old) ones in Istan:

I'd rather all the cosmetic auras be backpiece skins.

Customisable skills through upgrade/evolution trees, including alternative auto attacks. Thinking usual rpg game mechanics for active abilities. Eg using Chaos Storm as an example - you could choose between larger radius, more damage per tick, etc.

They should have given Spellbreaker a focus. xD

One more ticked off the (ugly - never make) list, thank goodness. Now just to see what Scepter and GS end up as - hopefully I don't like both of those either so I don't feel enticed into the tedium of another gift of maguuma...

Playing around with dyes - Zaffre goes nicely with the theme. Edit - Deleted to thin out images.

Oh HELL YES! :D Not only custom keybinds but also options like snap ground target and similar - might actually encourage me to have an alt. Otherwise changing around many keybinds and menu options when trying out a different build let alone a different character is really tedious.

Are they going to rotate these in the store? I'll never gamble on the rng chance of getting an exact skin - would rather just pay 1000 gems or whatever upfront to get exactly what I'd like.

Adventurer rune + traited Mirror heal.

If hardmode = better and more unpredictable enemy AI that behaves similar to real players, then hell yes. If hardmode = bullkitten bullet sponges with millions of hp and predictable but contrived mechanics, then HELL NO. I already hate "high end" instanced pve for this reason. Hard should = unpredictable and adaptive AI more akin to fps or action rpg npcs, not "bosses" with millions of hp that require endless repetitive rotations of skills to chip away at...