Guild Wars 2 Class/Builds Discussion Catch All

karmajay wrote:

I really wish you could have multiple saved trait builds. For PvE I'm running 30 firearms and 30 explosives. I want more elixir for dungeon builds but redoing it all is a pain!

Did you know that if you have enough points in reserve you can skip hitting the + button and just select the traits you want? Select the trait and it'll pop up a window asking you if you want to spend the 10/20/30 points to unlock it. It's not quite what you're asking for, but it does save quite a few clicks. I think it worked for the 5 point minor traits too, but I don't recall for sure.

Redwing wrote:

I recently started a Mesmer and got her into the low teens, I think I've found my class! Love the greatsword as a long range DPS weapon, it's just such a cool concept, I like that each weapon change with a class almost makes it feel like an entirely different class altogether.

I'm sure I'll be back in here with some Mesmer questions of my own at some stage. Especially since this is the only GW2 thread moving slow enough for me to keep up with.

Heh, once again it seems like we have the same taste in gameplay style Red, I've been rocking a Mesmer since headstart. Only 25 at the moment as I split my time between a few alts (mostly a thief and an Engineer).

Oops, I think I overlooked this in the shuffle. Apologies.

AndrewA wrote:

What do you run with as secondary weapons usually? Further down in your post you talk about a sceptre+sword, but you also discuss using a staff. Or do you have a different set of main/secondary weapons for PVE than PVP?

Yep, I find myself using a different set of main/secondary weapons for PvE and WvW.
For PvP and groups I use 1)Greatsword 2)Staff. Staff for the AOE+DOT and GS to attack from range since it does more damage that way.

For PvE I find myself going 1)Scepter/Sword 2)Staff. Sc/Sw for the 2 blocking skills and Staff for the AOE+DOT once again.

AndrewA wrote:

So far I really only use the F1 shatter, which is just pure damage. Can you sum up the different situations in which you'd think of using the other shatters? (Confusion, Daze, and Blind IIRC)

It's mostly only useful when fighting a boss monster, as those usually can soak alot of hits and dish them out as well. So it's better to hinter them instead of trying to beat them in damage output.
Blind - I usually use on monsters that have ranged attacks
Daze - on monsters that have a long wind-up attack as I find Daze seems to interrupt more regularly
Confusion - on monsters that move slowly

I'm pretty sure some of that it's purely speculative, but I think there is a reason they are added to the game and have different effects even though the seem to overlap. Not to mention that some monsters are able to resist some types of condition better than other types.

AndrewA wrote:

Oh shoot - I started down the trait path that deal with my clones. Is it possible to redistribute the points ever?

Thanks for the feedback.

Yep, just talk to the class trainer again and they will charge only a few coin to reset your traits depending on level. You don't have to buy another manual just to re-assign points.

Sorry for the late reply and hope some of this helps.

Vargen wrote:
karmajay wrote:

I really wish you could have multiple saved trait builds. For PvE I'm running 30 firearms and 30 explosives. I want more elixir for dungeon builds but redoing it all is a pain!

Did you know that if you have enough points in reserve you can skip hitting the + button and just select the traits you want? Select the trait and it'll pop up a window asking you if you want to spend the 10/20/30 points to unlock it. It's not quite what you're asking for, but it does save quite a few clicks. I think it worked for the 5 point minor traits too, but I don't recall for sure.

its the part where I have to go to the respec guy that irritates me.

I'm going to respec traits I think. Level 70 now, but this build is what i'll try at 80.

In retrospect I might have named my warrior Lazy McPassiveton.
Notice the strong bowsting so I can eventually beast in PvP. That might get swapped out.

Random question to you all: how are you using your Karma as you level up? Are you guys all saving it for lvl 80 equipment? I spend some every now and then at a renown heart merchant when I see something good and suitable for my level, but are there other good uses I'm missing? I'm just guessing that I'm not going to do a lot of the "endgame" content that requires enormous work and grinding. Therefore, I'm not against the idea of spending my karma now on cool stuff. Is any exotic equipment purchased with karma? Is it worth it? etc. Just wondering what you guys are doing with yours.

Severian wrote:

Random question to you all: how are you using your Karma as you level up? Are you guys all saving it for lvl 80 equipment? I spend some every now and then at a renown heart merchant when I see something good and suitable for my level, but are there other good uses I'm missing? I'm just guessing that I'm not going to do a lot of the "endgame" content that requires enormous work and grinding. Therefore, I'm not against the idea of spending my karma now on cool stuff. Is any exotic equipment purchased with karma? Is it worth it? etc. Just wondering what you guys are doing with yours.

I used to spend karma on stuff, then I realized I could upgrade for a few silver on the AH. Now saving all karma for endgame items.

DeThroned wrote:
Severian wrote:

Random question to you all: how are you using your Karma as you level up? Are you guys all saving it for lvl 80 equipment? I spend some every now and then at a renown heart merchant when I see something good and suitable for my level, but are there other good uses I'm missing? I'm just guessing that I'm not going to do a lot of the "endgame" content that requires enormous work and grinding. Therefore, I'm not against the idea of spending my karma now on cool stuff. Is any exotic equipment purchased with karma? Is it worth it? etc. Just wondering what you guys are doing with yours.

I used to spend karma on stuff, then I realized I could upgrade for a few silver on the AH. Now saving all karma for endgame items.

Same here. Except aqua breathers. You can't buy those on the TP.

DeThroned wrote:
Severian wrote:

Random question to you all: how are you using your Karma as you level up? Are you guys all saving it for lvl 80 equipment? I spend some every now and then at a renown heart merchant when I see something good and suitable for my level, but are there other good uses I'm missing? I'm just guessing that I'm not going to do a lot of the "endgame" content that requires enormous work and grinding. Therefore, I'm not against the idea of spending my karma now on cool stuff. Is any exotic equipment purchased with karma? Is it worth it? etc. Just wondering what you guys are doing with yours.

I used to spend karma on stuff, then I realized I could upgrade for a few silver on the AH. Now saving all karma for endgame items.

You can't buy account bound cooking ingredients on the AH either. Whenever I see ingredients from a karma vendor, I grab them.

I've used mine to get some of the heart vendor armor sets. I'll get the blue version and transmute it so it has the stats of my current armor. I'm currently running around in Plated Armor from the Iron Marches karma vendors, which looks like this (with different coloring):
IMAGE(http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/thumb/f/fb/Human_male_PvP_Plated_armor.jpg/452px-Human_male_PvP_Plated_armor.jpg)

That's a good idea, since I find a lot of the higher level armor sets to look really crappy

That set is very spacemarine-like. With a fantasy twist though, looking very cool.

Severian wrote:

Random question to you all: how are you using your Karma as you level up? Are you guys all saving it for lvl 80 equipment? I spend some every now and then at a renown heart merchant when I see something good and suitable for my level, but are there other good uses I'm missing? I'm just guessing that I'm not going to do a lot of the "endgame" content that requires enormous work and grinding. Therefore, I'm not against the idea of spending my karma now on cool stuff. Is any exotic equipment purchased with karma? Is it worth it? etc. Just wondering what you guys are doing with yours.

If you aren't going for a legendary, which will cost hundreds of thousands of karma (possibly millions), then spend away. I spent some on craft recipes and accessories that have specific stats you cant get anywhere else.

In regards to builds, I still can't seem to find a good fit for my thief. Seems like I'm better off grabbing a greatsword on my warrior and staying durable. The support builds I tried on my thief never seemed to work out well. It either relied on stealing too much, while the buffs rewarded on stealing were criminally short.

In regards to builds, I still can't seem to find a good fit for my thief. Seems like I'm better off grabbing a sword/axe on my warrior and staying durable.

FIXED for awesomeness.

fangblackbone wrote:
In regards to builds, I still can't seem to find a good fit for my thief. Seems like I'm better off grabbing a sword/axe on my warrior and staying durable.

FIXED for awesomeness.

I prefer axe/axe, for choppiness.

While everything I've read keeps telling me to use scepter/X and staff for my necro loadout I can't help but love the dagger/dagger skills in combo with scepter/focus. Of course it probably helps that I've traited blood magic with bloodthirst making the dagger 2 skill 50% more effective. And yeah, everything I'd read told me to trait Mark of Evasion so that I could leave a Mark of Blood whenever I dodged but I just didn't like it. Half the time the enemies wouldn't step into the mark and I already had bleeds going from opening with the scepter so it seemed redundant.

Since I'm just shy of level 30 I'm sure this will all change later on but for now I'm really enjoying tossing all of my scepter/focus conditions onto an enemy while charging them, dropping some wells and then opening up with the dagger/dagger skills. It's far more aggressive than I had been playing my necro and it's been taking down large groups fairly easily. If I'm rolling into a group of enemies (3 or more) I'll pop into death shroud and drop the aoe before switching to daggers. I find that I'm dropping groups faster and with less risk than any other class I've tried and I also seem to have a far easier time taking on mobs that are several levels higher than me. The only other class I see regularly rolling into large groups like that are well played elementalists but I haven't gotten that good with my ele yet.

When I first tried out the necro I didn't think I liked it but, apparently, I just don't like the Asura. I've tried 3 times now to play an Asura with a different class each time and I just can't do it. Something about them just doesn't click with me.

The camera angle.

Though I will admit jumping puzzles seem a heckuva lot easier with Asuras than with a large Norn.

NathanialG wrote:
fangblackbone wrote:
In regards to builds, I still can't seem to find a good fit for my thief. Seems like I'm better off grabbing a sword/axe on my warrior and staying durable.

FIXED for awesomeness.

I prefer axe/axe, for choppiness.

I prefer hammer, for smashiness.

The camera angle.

This.

However, if you adjust your character height to maximum at creation the camera is much better. And the funny thing is that you are only about a head or a head and a half taller but that slight difference fixes the camera issues.

Funny anecdote: I was running path 3 AC explorer mode and one of my group mates commented that I was a big asura. Yet, I responded that I would go and get three of my asura friends and take them down. (the group mate was a norn that was litterally 3x taller than the max height asura)

I prefer axe/axe, for choppiness.

I like axe/axe but sword/axe is better for me because they have the much longer range leap skill that does not require adrenaline. Plus, the sword adrenaline skill is awesome.

Do any mesmers have any opinion on this for a WvW mesmer?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAs...

I would equip Superior Rune of Centaur set for 10 seconds of swift on a 15 heal CD, as well as +165 power. To take advantage of the short CD heal, it removes a condition on heal. I like the idea of a 8 sec Reflection + Distortion on my 1H sword. I think it might be pretty strategic if you are fast with it.

Gear wise I would equip Knight's set (315 toughness 224 power 224 prec), since with 30 inspiration I should be reaching an acceptable ~18,000 HP, with likely a combination of 3 tough/power/prec jewelry pieces and maybe 2 pieces of berserker attributes (power prec crit)

Kehama wrote:

While everything I've read keeps telling me to use scepter/X and staff for my necro loadout I can't help but love the dagger/dagger skills in combo with scepter/focus. Of course it probably helps that I've traited blood magic with bloodthirst making the dagger 2 skill 50% more effective. And yeah, everything I'd read told me to trait Mark of Evasion so that I could leave a Mark of Blood whenever I dodged but I just didn't like it. Half the time the enemies wouldn't step into the mark and I already had bleeds going from opening with the scepter so it seemed redundant.

Since I'm just shy of level 30 I'm sure this will all change later on but for now I'm really enjoying tossing all of my scepter/focus conditions onto an enemy while charging them, dropping some wells and then opening up with the dagger/dagger skills. It's far more aggressive than I had been playing my necro and it's been taking down large groups fairly easily. If I'm rolling into a group of enemies (3 or more) I'll pop into death shroud and drop the aoe before switching to daggers. I find that I'm dropping groups faster and with less risk than any other class I've tried and I also seem to have a far easier time taking on mobs that are several levels higher than me. The only other class I see regularly rolling into large groups like that are well played elementalists but I haven't gotten that good with my ele yet.

When I first tried out the necro I didn't think I liked it but, apparently, I just don't like the Asura. I've tried 3 times now to play an Asura with a different class each time and I just can't do it. Something about them just doesn't click with me.

I'm the opposite, as I enjoy scepter/dagger and staff on switch, traiting curses first. I'm kind of mashing buttons at this point with 1,2,5 on the sceptre/dagger plus the marks from the staff, but everything drops fast. Thats the great part about this game though...so many combinations to mess around with.

Scaphism wrote:

[...big mesmer build post...]

Wow - I respeced to something similar to what you described, and it has made a world of difference. Trash mobs die like flies, I'm almost never without at least one clone alive, and I can take on Veteran mobs or groups of mobs without much hassle.

Thanks!

So at what level can I "realistically" expect to unlock my first elite as a guardian? I'm closing in on 30 but it's been tough finding enough skill points to fill up my 3rd tier. I'm starting to feel like unlocking my first elite was like buying my first mount in vanilla WOW - sure you can unlock it at one level, but you really can't afford it for a couple levels more.

I don't think you need to fill up any of the utility skills tiers, elites are on their own tier system.

Yep, Elites are separate. Are you doing the skill points on maps Zappa? I think I was about 32 when I got around to my first Elite, now at 47 and I have 3. Not spending any more until I get the Charrzooka.

At level 30 I had 19 unspent skillpoints with at least 2 of the 6 point skills already unlocked. I had completed a few maps so that was probably somewhere around 30 or so extra skill points just from the challenges. If you specifically started hitting up the skill point challenges in all of the starter zones you'd be swimming in skill points once you hit level 30.

I saved up my skill points as my guardian approached 30. So, when I hit 30, I immediately unlocked the Tome of Wrath.

mooosicle wrote:

Do any mesmers have any opinion on this for a WvW mesmer?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAs...

I only play WvWvW. The weapon(s) I use are Greatsword and Scepter + Focus.

The rule of the game is ranged if you want to stay alive. Over 3 hours I may die once and the ranged attack allows me to quickly refocus targets without having to run around. The greatsword has the longest range of 1200 and keeps me out of the AoEs surrounding the vanguard. The Berserker phantasm does not require line of sight so you can use it to pop attackers on the battlements and through walls/doors.

The off hand focus has a neat trick. It can pull attackers off of their walls and into your attacking zerg. The secondary chain on the weapon pulls enemies towards it. So you paste it on a wall below where enemies are raining down and tap the secondary. If they are on the edge they will soon be mincemeat. I use the scepter as secondary because once again it's ranged. I never get close enough to an enemy to strike them because it's more difficult to run when things go bad. At the back of the group I can always pop stealth/blink and speed skill the focus and get out of dodge.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAR...

The Berserker phantasm not needing LOS definitely feels like a bug/exploit, one I hope they deal with soon.