draxynnic.3719

So...

I'd probably say I'm split between Guardian and Mesmer in GW2, Mesmer main in GW1. Given the nature of the thread, though, I'll focus on the mesmer.

The general concept of mind magic, counterspells, and illusions is one I've liked since playing Sorcery in Master of Magic back in the 90s. Having a range of means to render the enemy impotent, or even turning their strength against them and punishing them for their actions, seems to me to be more interesting than simply having a range of options for evoking destruction. Mesmer had that well and truly covered, and as I've stated elsewhere, I had a tendency to think like a mesmer when playing other professions, looking for the options that allowed me to prevent the enemy from acting (such as blinds, dazes, and knockdowns) rather than pure damage options.

Now, the GW2 mesmer has less of a focus in that area, albeit still up there by GW2 standards (the fact that guardian also has a lot in that area is a contributing factor with that profession being a strong competitor). However, I also enjoy the summoning playstyle of the GW2 mesmer, and find it to be more active, and therefore more fun, than that of other summoning professions such as minion master necromancers. The aesthetic also helps: when I do resort to simple destruction by magical means, my preferred aesthetic for doing so is lightning, which I have to admit that I don't really think that ArenaNet has really captured the feel of with the GW2 elementalist. The 'purple lightning' effects on skills like Spatial Surge, Confusing Images, Winds of Chaos and Chaos Storm just feel more lightning-mage-esque to me than air attuned elementalists or Static Discharge engineers, even if I know it's not _technically_ lightning according to the game lore however similar it looks, and the fact that I get to combine that with illusions, reflects, and other means of mesmerising the enemy just makes it even better.

> @Zenith.7301 said:

> It would also help explain how spectral grasp is a whopping 50 sec cd and costs a utility slot while guardian greatsword 5 does the job just as well at half the cooldown and comes integrated with the weapon.

Generally speaking, utility skills have higher cooldown for the same effect as an equivalent weapon skill - probably in part because weapon skills come as a package, while the only opportunity cost for a utility skill is the slot (unless you're a revenent). Look at Illusionary Ambush versus Axes of Symmetry on the Mirage, and that's just the first example that comes to mind.

Eh, some of the stuff Grenth did in Wintersday was pretty terrible when you think about it. Given the way they flanderised Balthazar, it wouldn't be too hard to also flanderise Grenth. After all, Disney narratives like villainising gods of death almost as much as they like doing so to gods of war!

We are told multiple times that Mordremoth's body is the jungle itself (or, rather, the corruption), however.

At best, the Mouth of Mordremoth was the head and it impaled itself around the moment the PC killed its mind. Ingame dialogue, however, suggests that the Mouth was fought multiple times.

The PC's explanation in the academy strikes me as being a case of a "lie to children" - teaching something that isn't the whole truth but where the student isn't ready to understand the whole truth yet, and in this case, the simplification is still a lot better than believing that Joko soloed Mordremoth.

In GW1, elementalist was basically the 'default' mursaat - when ever they just wanted generic mursaat, it was usually elementalists. You see this, for instance, in the mission where you rescue Evennia - the mursaat on the non-bonus path there are basically all elementalists, since story-wise you're not supposed to be able to fight them (not having infused armour...). So when Lazarus appears in the EOTN quest, they went with elementalist as the default.

They then brought him back in the BMP, but didn't want to have him be a second elementalist alongside Optimus Caliph, so he got to be a necromancer instead (which makes sense given his strategy of dividing his essence). As Jay says, this finally got reflected in E6 by making him a bit of both. Probably E/N - he seems to use more elementalist stuff than necromancer stuff.

> @Jinroh.4251 said:

> I am not surprised. Devs said they were supposed to massive Godzilla sized monsters. Wait do the Elder Dragons get along or do they not like each other? What happens if we...LET THEM FIGHT?!

Taimi: I don't think they're going to duke it out physically. Feels like that would be a disaster anyway.

> @Luindu.2418 said:

> * The decission of not make a realm/prission for him (like they do with Abaddon's) and throw it with chains and no guards in a random place of the mists.

On top of what Konig has already said...

We still haven't got the full story of what happened to Rytlock in the Mists, just a couple of highlights. It's possible that the gods did put various protections over Balthazar's prison, and Rytlock simply managed to overcome them without finding out that they were guarding a fallen god.

Heck, it's even possible that he did pick up that information, but didn't consider that a random stranger in the Mists might be the fallen god that was being guarded.

> @Danikat.8537 said:

> I seem to remember Kasmeer once talked about coming home from her mesmer lessons to find her father had been arrested. But I can't remember which story chapter that happened in so I can't find the actual dialogue.

I have a vague memory of Kasmeer giving her sob story sometime in the second half of S1.

She definitely mentions classes in S2E3, albeit not specifically mentioning magic (the focus of her statement is that siege warfare was NOT in her classes). This does indicate that human nobles at least have some kind of educational system, though, even if we don't see an institution ingame.

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

> As for the Forgotten "cleansing Kralkatorrik" - honestly I'd list that as "poorly thought out reasoning why they had Branded Forgotten" until further notice. Which is to say "it makes no sense given what we know".

Not to mention an excuse to put another piece of GW1 lore in the Killed Off For Real basket.

Less cynically, it's possible that the Forgotten knew something we don't, or had some different ritual which they felt could work, and were desperate enough to try. After all, it'd be a gamechanger if it succeeded.

(Be funny if it turned out that they sensed Snaff's mind inside Kralk and were trying to give Snaff control. Be even funnier if it turned out that they were more successful than they thought, but it's just going to take more time for the effect to be fully realised.)

One thing to consider is that there are multiple 'levels' of death in Guild Wars.

The PC was just dead. Their spirit was released into the Mists, still able to do virtually anything they could do normally. If resurrection magic was still a thing, Kasmeer could possibly have just ResSigged the Commander and skipped the entire instance.

However, there is also a level where the spirit is also destroyed. That's harder, if not impossible, to come back from.

In between, there are levels where a spirit is said to be utterly destroyed, but is actually trapped in some other being. We see this with the Eater of Souls - killing the Eater releases the spirits that had previously been trapped within. It's possible that something similar is true for Abaddon - his broken spirit remains within Kormir. However, for him to return would require Kormir to release his spirit, either willingly or by force.

> @Kerivek.5740 said:

> I always wondered that myself. Why does the large cone of flames not cause any burning? Since FB came out I don't think I've used the skill once, prior to that I used it on rare occasions when the condi removal was useful.

I think the theory is that it has so many hits that it'll proc VoJ a few times... assuming the passive is up.

Torch 5 was a good situational skill before they gave it a target cap, if you clumped up enough enemies. They really should have let it still hit 5 targets, however, like the elementalist equivalents such as Drake's Breath.

A self-cleanse would also be good. 9 cleanses probably would be overkill, but they could make it self-cleanse 2-3 conditions over the course of the channel and that would probably be reasonable.

I think the short answer is that they do exist - it's just that, unlike GW1, they're not a part of the story and thus they're largely ignored (unless you're asura).

What seems to be happening, though, is that magic is at a point where it's considered 'mundane' enough that it's taught as part of the basic education of the society in question - people who have the talent and interest take classes in magic along with mathematics, history, and other topics. We have quotes that compare mastering a spellcasting profession to getting a PhD: we could probably conclude that getting a basic knowledge in a spellcasting profession might be equivalent to a bachelor's degree. If you have the talent and inclination, you start with some basic courses in magic in your early teens (or equivalent), steadily specialising in a specific profession over time until you eventually graduate as a spellcaster.

One of Glint's memory crystals, in fact, indicated that she couldn't see beyond her own death. Her echo in the Mists might be different, but I suspect Glint's gift of prophecy is gone.

> @"Mickey Frogeater.1470" said:

> Rurik was claimed by the Stone Summit and was Undead when we next found him. Resurrecting him after killing his Undead form would have taken a long time considering we were pressed for time what with the Titan invasion of Tyria going on. After we were teleported out of Ring of Fire Isles by Glint doing a proper resurrection was out of the question(Rurik was buried under molten lava).

>

> Saidra's corpse was claimed by the Mursaat and likely dismembered or shoved into a Soul Battery and as for Togo... He personally decided that he be ensconced into Tahnnakai Temple so no resurrecting him after he made **that** decision.

It's also possible that whatever ritual Shiro used to claim Togo's life for his own resurrection prevented Togo from being resurrected, at least by conventional means.

I think Marjory has used 'he' for E in dialogue ingame somewhere. Of course, that could be due to defaulting to 'he' when gender is unknown than Marjory actually knowing for sure.

> @RyuDragnier.9476 said:

> > @GWMO.4785 said:

> > > @RyuDragnier.9476 said:

> > > We're using Ancient Magic with Sohothin, something which if you recall, we mastered during the last Living Story. Rytlock never learned how to use Ancient Magic, so he cannot use that power. That explanation works, at least for me.

> >

> > I'm sorry what? Ancient Magic's, is just an additional mastery line for the lws3 maps. It gave us certain special skill abilities specifically bound to those maps. You're incapable of using those abilities outside the maps. Next to that: its bound to HoT, you dont have to own HoT to play PoF. So that makes your comment completely irrelevant

>

> I meant from a story standpoint. The events of LS3 happened in the story. We HAD to master the first part of that line at the least to continue. So by a story standpoint, the Commander has mastered Ancient Magics. Sohothin has ancient magic in it. Thus we can use the power because we learned FOR STORY PURPOSES how to use Ancient Magic.

It's also worth noting that at least one of the Ancient Magics (and arguably two) involve mastering potent fire magic. Another involves invoking the powers of the gods (the sirens). So it stands to reason that this knowledge might allow us to get better usage out of a fiery sword that is probably powered by god magic.

> @"Emissary Vex.5690" said:

> The developer comment is more accurate. The aatxe and shades in the library are not from Abaddon's Realm of Torment but rather the underworld. In fact none of the monsters in the library represent the Realm of Torment.

Of course, that's probably because they don't have models for anything from the Realm of Torment, and weren't about to make them for one instance.

> @LightningWolfTigerBear.6725 said:

> I like my build just fine, thanks. To make IH baseline they'd have to lower the damage of the clone's ambushes, and if they did that then why even bother giving the clones ambushes to begin with?

For the mesmer, the cosmetic effect **matters**. The logic behind giving mirage a special dodge mechanic is that it was too easy to identify the 'real' mesmer by their dodges. Without IH, however, the same identification can come as soon as an ambush skill triggers - if you see the mesmer use an ambush skill and the clones don't, not only do you know which is the real mesmer, but you also know they're running a different grandmaster.

What could be done is making it so that the clones get the **visual** effect of using an ambush skill baseline, but it's purely visual: the actual effect of these fake ambush skills is similar to what you'd get from the clone normally. Taking IH, on the other hand, gives them an actual evade frame and a proper ambush skill usage. There will probably still be cues that opposing players can use to identify the real mesmer, but it won't be as simple as "they're not using IH, go for the one that actually uses an ambush skill!"

> @Yakubyogami.7586 said:

> > @draxynnic.3719 said:

> > > @Bigpapasmurf.5623 said:

> > > Why Holo tho? lol

> >

> > If the shroud is your draw into necromancer, holoforge is probably the closest thing to it outside of necromancer.

>

> Shroud doesn't kill you

This is true, and in fact one of the things I've been finding where holosmith falls down with regards to reaper in PvE is general survivability even if you don't overheat. Part of that might be that my build isn't well tuned, though.

The general principle, though, is similar: you have your regular form, and a special mode which is more powerful, but which is hard to stay in indefinitely (reaper could sometimes manage it if it gets enough LF gain while in shroud; holosmith _may_ be able to pull it off with the vent-heat-on-dodge trait, although I haven't tested it or seen it tested myself); thus creating a playstyle that hinges on making the best use of the resource that limits your usage of the special mode.

Obviously, they aren't exactly identical, but for traditional necromancer players who don't like the scourge playstyle but who don't feel that the reaper or core necro is viable in the current meta, holosmith probably is the next best thing.

> @Bigpapasmurf.5623 said:

> Why Holo tho? lol

If the shroud is your draw into necromancer, holoforge is probably the closest thing to it outside of necromancer.

> @Zalpharx.2491 said:

> Kralk initially awoken and flew south to get rid of Glint. We do know that there is apparently another dragon that had been around Cantha already. What if that was another scion of Glint? Or a previously unknown cleansed Champion of Kralk down there? And perhaps Kralk is making his next attempt to get rid of anothr traitor down south.

Pretty sure that Aurene was called the 'second scion' somewhere, indicating that Vlast and Aurene are it. Additionally, Kuunavang is certainly no crystal dragon. If the dragons of Cantha are related to an Elder Dragon at all, it'd probably be Scleribubbles.

Another way to think of it could be 'freedom of thought'.

A slave is free to think and plan whatever they like. They may be physically prevented from acting on those plans, by restraints, guards, walls, or some other means that prevents them from doing a runner or murdering their master. But they can still think, and if given an opportunity, they can act.

A dragon minion, however, does not have that freedom of thought. They are simply not capable of thinking "I don't want to serve my master any more" or even "I'm not going to follow that order." They have the ability to choose _how_ they follow an order, but the possibility of disobeying just never crosses their mind.

As an example, consider the scenario where, for reasons known to itself, Jormag ordered an icebrood to jump in a fire at dusk and remain there until dawn. A smart icebrood might spend some time before dusk trying to find a means of surviving a night in a fire, but it is not capable of thinking that it actually doesn't want to spend the night in a fireplace.

> @Rognik.2579 said:

> The original Chantry of Secrets, which is the first Order of Whispers base, was far south of Vabbi. That's probably where the Elonian OoW are based, and the group mentioned in the correspondence. It's probably been a long time since the two Whispers branches have had true contact with each other, and during that time is when the Shadows schism formed. We also know that Kito hasn't told us much about the split between the Shadows and Whispers, and during the epilogue, we're given a promise to learn more in time. That will probably come up during Season 4, perhaps even in the first chapter.

Actually, if you mean the GW1 Chantry, it was on the Vabbi-Kourna border, more or less - just north of Jahai (Kourna) and west of Wehhan Terraces (Vabbi). if ArenaNet puts a map south of the Domain of Vabbi map, it will probably contain the original Chantry site.

> @insanemaniac.2456 said:

> > @draxynnic.3719 said:

> > > @insanemaniac.2456 said:

> > > > @draxynnic.3719 said:

> > > > > @ukuni.8745 said:

> > > > > for general pve content i use a sd build with rifle turret/photon shield/laser disk and it clears trash mobs and veterans really quickly, but yea if your not concerned about being optimal you can run it without kits and still be fairly viable

> > > >

> > > > Having run something similar myself: What's your answer to crowd control? Do you just tough it out, use a different build when you're expecting heavy CC, or have you come up with something that substitutes for the relative lack of stunbreaks?

> > >

> > > in general most really disadvantageous cc is telegraphed, dodge it. if its not telegraphed, its prolly not gonna kill you unless you eat it while already low. plus enemies are predictable and dont react (to blinds). so learn your quick burst rotations, and any rotation with a cd under 30 secs that can do 50%+ of your average vet's hp will suffice to keep you alive through dps as much as avoidance and mitigation for 90% of the time. for the insufficient 10%, theres a zerg around you and aint no one carin bout nothin.

> > >

> > > so... tough it out and learn telegraphs and attack patterns.

> >

> > Right, so it's a "don't have Australian latency" issue...

> >

> > I have been playing since release, so I know the basics, but I have noticed that PoF has some nasty crowd control which isn't as telegraphed as CC typically was in core, or even in HoT. Part of it might still be a matter of learning the telegraphs, and part of it seems to be that ArenaNet has put in more groups that have repeated hard CC that will repetitively pin you down if you get caught by the first one and can't get out of the way. So it does seem that PoF open-world requires a bit more anti-CC than previous releases, where you could get away with it more.

>

> well for example near-launch orr was pretty bad about random open world mobs constantly ccing you (those kitten 1200 range pulls from off screen). its kinda what they *do* in level 80 maps.

>

> buuuuuut yeah ping. lol.

The Putrifiers? They were annoying as heck, but they generally didn't stunlock and kill you (pull you into a mob you couldn't handle, possibly...). I think the nerf on them was more to make it easier to move around Orr than to make them weaker - in some ways, the immobilise they received to replace it is actually more likely to kill you if you don't have a cleanse handy.

Reaper was certainly my first thought - it has a similar style of cycling between a superpowered mode and a regular mode.

It does feel, though, more like you're looking for the characteristics of holoforge mode without actually being an engineer. Listed attributes include big burst damage, easy access to CC, mobility, pewpew, and having options.

With those specifications... the other medium-armour professions might be the ones to look at. Pistol/pistol thief has a lot of pewpew (and therefore burst damage) and always has access to CC as long as you have initiative, and all melee thief weaponsets have gap-closers. Ranger might also work - each bow option brings CC and pewpew (RF on longbow, and just having a high rate of fire on the shortbow), but the melee weapon with a gap-closer is greatsword, which is generally not considered the greatest DPS.

Warrior could also work, although volley fire on warrior rifle doesn't pewpew like thief pistols or ranger longbow does. Melee sets can allow you to strike your own balance between mobility, CC, and damage.

Whether any of these are competitive to raid/high-level fractal play... you'd have to check build sites like qtfy and metabattle for that.

Having a lot of options is somewhat hard to define. Engineer is pretty much defined by having a lot of options, both in terms of customisability and (if built accordingly) having a large number of skills available at once. The professions above will certainly have options, but probably not to the degree engineer has. Soulbeast ranger may well be closest, but accessing all those options will mean swapping through pets as well as swapping in and out of beastmode.