[My first Mesmer - Mirage]

So, ideally you would run trailblazer or Viper for Condi mirage in ow/fractals. Not sure you can buy those off the tp. Viper gives you more upfront damage, trailblazer makes u an immortal God. For runes, you can use the standard Nightmare runes. Personally, I use Tormenting runes. Coupled with trailblazer armor and Viper trinkets and weapons. I can solo pretty much every champion I've encountered so far.So:Vanilla Mirage: Viper/Nightmare runes. Illusions/dueling/mirage.

Solo OW: Trailblazer/Tormenting runes. Chaos/dueling/mirage.

(I'm on my phone so I can't see the traits)

Not sure about WvW but in sPvp power mirage wrecks news. Condi would be better built as bunker I'd wager.

Tips: the spec can be a bit overwhelming at first, specially if you aren't already used to mesmers in general. Take it easy and don't try to get it all at once.

[Exordium is underwhelming]

It changes form for pretty much every skill that you use. I'd say that compensates.

[Heavy Armor Suggestions]

For Fashion:(I run this on my guardian but did a mockup of how it'd be on my Rev)

Guardian:

https://imgur.com/a/8dFiIjD

Rev:

https://imgur.com/a/daO0lvW

Parts are:

Helmet: Winged HeadpieceShoulder/Gloves/Boots: requiem armorChest: Elegy armorPants: Ornate Guild Tassets

[To all those that worked on "Living Season 4".]

MMOs have the distinct disadvantage of having an awful time trying to create the sense of protagonism that you see in single player RPGs. Because they have to maintain the massive multiplayer aspect of it, our characters end up going with the flow rather than being decision makers (Small decisions feel superfluous and big decisions lead to different outcomes and that would be a pain to develop. Only MMO that I can think of that scratched the surface on that was SWTOR).

With that in mind, I did like the way the story played out. Yet another missed opportunity for an epic dragon fight finale, but we can't have everything. I'd love to see the whole thing go down a notch or two, and into the more mundane aspects of the world. From the world-saving, dragon-killing, god-murdering character we've become (Yeah, we've had help. You keep telling yourself that) to a person having to deal with cutthroat politics and whatnot.

As for the zones, I thought they were really well crafted. I had a lot of fun navigating them, and there was always something to look for in each zone. Some secret, some collection, etc. The one I dislike a bit is Dragonfall when it comes to the design, mostly because I would have loved to see the three zones in it intertwine more and not be so compartmentalized.

[How's scourge compared to Reaper for open world?]

@KrHome.1920 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:^^ Just be aware that while there are few classes of builds that can do that kind of thing ... they SUCK in OW because they are slow. A build that solos Legendary Bounties is not going to be efficient killing trash, Vets, doing hearts or even participating in group events. They are built to solo the hardest content. They are exceptional doing it ... but it's the only thing they are really good for.

Admittedly, when Anet puts in build templates, it will change the way the game is played and I look forward to it.That's it. Trailblazer (the build in the video) on any spec in open world is like watching the grass grow. You fall asleep quite fast.

It's an overpowered stat combo if you want to outsustain stuff like PvE champs or WvW encounters but not nessessarily effective at killing in an acceptable amount of time.

I'm running Trailblazer on the armor and Viper on everything else. I haven't soloed legendaries but barring champion bounties, haven't had an issue. And haven't really had an issue with dispatching regular foes either. Drop shade, +first and third shade skills and every single regular mob is dead. I just keep walking to the next target. It pays off when I run OW group content and see people dropping around me like flies while I stay alive and doing damage. Dead dps = 0 dps

[How's scourge compared to Reaper for open world?]

So, I've been playing with the scourge for a while now. I'm using Trailblazer armor (cost me a ton to make :C) and viper on everything else. Still gotta swtich one accessory to viper, but other than that...I've used it in raids, T4 fractals, and OW content so far (mostly Dragonfall and bounty farming). I don't pvp outside the daily achievements. And I've been having waaay more fun with it than Reaper. Don't get me wrong, reaper is awesome, but it's pretty simplistic in design. With Scourge, I feel like I have to pay attention to a bunch of different things and that's fun for me. In OW, I've had no problem soloing everything I've found so far, from champions to those nasty double pack of Veteran shadows in Dragonfall (something my reaper particularly struggled with since they heal and barrier and so my shroud would be down before i finished them). In OW, I've only had a single death, when a chopper fell on my head :(

And on raids and fractals, I generally manage to do well on bosses. Trash depends a lot from the amount of elites in it, since power builds burst them down rq. So yeah, very satisfied with my change :D

BTW, does anyone know how viable Harbinger Shroud is for dps? I tested it against Sadistic Searing and the DPS difference was almost negligible. Thanks!

[Stat reset restrictions]

Guys, it takes literally two seconds to select the stats back again.

[How's scourge compared to Reaper for open world?]

Thanks for the replies! I was talking to a guildie and I am currently crafting the gear for it. I want to move to Scourge precisely because Reaper feels a little dull sometimes. As for moving away from Blood, I play with high ping (200+), so I can't always dodge everything. Sometimes I switch to Spite to play around tough. And thanks for the gearing advice! I was actually thinking of Trailblazer armor and Viper on the rest (trinkets will take a while. Will go with core/PoF condi options for now).

[How's scourge compared to Reaper for open world?]

Hey there guys! I've been playing Reaper for a while, and I just love the survivability it has. I play minionless atm and have had no problem soloing pretty much everything I've encountered. I wanted to know how good Scourge is compared to it, cause the play style seems really cool but I'm not sure how it survives by itself. Btw, I use Marauder armor with vampirism runes and I use Blood/Reaper/Reaping, so I don't care about dropping damage to survive longer.

[Skyscale: could it use an overhaul?]

I got it and have used it maybe...once? It's slower to ascend than the Springer. It's slower than the Griffon. It's clunky AF. As for mounts being niche, yeah, except the ones that aren't (springer and griffon).

[Should the Skyscale map currency be reduced?]

At first, I was a bit pissed when I saw what we had to gather (I didn't even have half of the LS4 episodes prior to the Skyscale collection). But I think it was mostly because I had 2-3 days of logging in to just feed that damn dragon and run some dailies, where I could have been farming the currencies needed. Now I'm almost done, and it wasn't bad at all. I got to thoroughly explore some of the maps, and even ended up installing a couple addons I hadn't heard about

[Which weapon would you like to see for third elite ?]

Greatsword and an elite spec that finally makes my pDPS competitive in raids please?