GS Mesmers binding multiple skills to one key

[Daishi.6027]

I know people don’t like the instant cast nature of shatters, but illusions have travel times, and mirror blade has both a cast and travel time. The only thing truly instant is the mantra which I think is fair for how mantras function.

[NICENIKESHOE.7128]

> @"warherox.7943" said:

>

> It is when you have focus.

 

A 3s invul on 50s CD and 2 projectile hates on 25+ CDs. That doesn't warrant an "especially with...". A thief, mes, SB, ranger, holo, necro, guard or even revenant (oh wait that's everyone) can easily bait out and chew up FA ele in less than 30s if FA ele doesn't know how to position and LoS.

 

Honestly this game would have a lot less diversity and appeal if every class needs to facetank everything.

[rwolf.9571]

> @"Itz Jay.8941" said:

> > @"Brandon.8294" said:

> > I've been encountering a few mesmers a day who bind mantra of pain, f1 and GS 3 to all cast upon hitting one button. Now I understand that mashing all 3 buttons at once can almost have the same effect, but still leave a delay long enough to dodge or use any defensive CD needed to survive the burst. Recently I've been noticing a hand full of mesmers a day using what is basically an exploit to remove what little counterplay there is to their burst.

> >

> > You can tell when a Mesmer is using this exploit by the sound of GS3 and mantra of pain happening at literally the same exact time. I've played against enough GS power mesmers to understand how quickly that combo can legitimately be casted.

> >

> > I can provide video proof if needed or you could watch any streamer playing in a pvp environment

>

> Actually, hitting a button with your thumb, left hand finger and one mouse button finger is not that difficult, it's actually essential to pulling off GS burst. I have 1-5 normal keybinds, then I have 7-10 keybinded to zxcv and I have F1&F2 on two of my mouse buttons right next to my index finger. No macro required.

 

^lol this

I personally have 5,6 back/forward on my mouse. 7-R, 8-X, 9-C (I use ESDF layout)

3 skills at once is easy peasy, 4-5 at once would require some hand acrobatics tho.

 

Helseth (Pro mesmer back during ESL) has a guide on key binds (although lengthy)

[zoopop.5630]

> @"Alatar.7364" said:

> If I remember correctly then the Anet's Rule say that anything that helps player to "activate" two and more different skills with less then 1 second delay between each cast by using only One Key Bind is prohibited with an exception of Musical Instruments.

> So I guess it would be useful to seek out those people and eliminate this kind of play.

> However, this regards mostly the One-shot Ele builds, it's hard to imagine having such 3rd party program to be used along with a targeted AoE skill.

 

fyi , A lot of high end players use this and trust me when i tell you that Anet doesn't do a single thing about it. Matter fact, I know a few personally who use key binding to abuse combos.... it's the dumbest shit ever.

[Itz Jay.8941]

> @"rwolf.9571" said:

> > @"Itz Jay.8941" said:

> > > @"Brandon.8294" said:

> > > I've been encountering a few mesmers a day who bind mantra of pain, f1 and GS 3 to all cast upon hitting one button. Now I understand that mashing all 3 buttons at once can almost have the same effect, but still leave a delay long enough to dodge or use any defensive CD needed to survive the burst. Recently I've been noticing a hand full of mesmers a day using what is basically an exploit to remove what little counterplay there is to their burst.

> > >

> > > You can tell when a Mesmer is using this exploit by the sound of GS3 and mantra of pain happening at literally the same exact time. I've played against enough GS power mesmers to understand how quickly that combo can legitimately be casted.

> > >

> > > I can provide video proof if needed or you could watch any streamer playing in a pvp environment

> >

> > Actually, hitting a button with your thumb, left hand finger and one mouse button finger is not that difficult, it's actually essential to pulling off GS burst. I have 1-5 normal keybinds, then I have 7-10 keybinded to zxcv and I have F1&F2 on two of my mouse buttons right next to my index finger. No macro required.

>

> ^lol this

> I personally have 5,6 back/forward on my mouse. 7-R, 8-X, 9-C (I use ESDF layout)

> 3 skills at once is easy peasy, 4-5 at once would require some hand acrobatics tho.

>

> Helseth (Pro mesmer back during ESL) has a guide on key binds (although lengthy)

 

Yeah this is a great video. Getting an MMO mouse with 3-5 buttons and re binding strafe keys is pretty much essential to playing GW2 or any game where movement is such a big focus. This game isn't like WoW you don't get a chance to stand still, if you do you're probably gonna die.

 

I have a logitech proteus spectrum mouse. It's great because you have two index finger buttons, two thumb buttons and another thumb slighly further away. I like it because I can still clench the mouse without anything going of accidentally xD. With one of these 16 button things there's no way you''re going to effectively hit your combos with GW2's pacing in pvp. I have swap weapons and dodge on my thumb buttons because I consider them important and movement skills even though swap weapons isn't, I still consider it too important for a normal keybind. I then have about face on the last button because I can swap it to special action key for raids and it's nicely accessible.

 

With all those keybinds I can easily hold my movement keys and hit both sides of my skill bar with my free fingers/thumb, along with tab target, call target, take target, stow weapons, dodge e.t.c.

 

[DMO.4158]

I make macros all the time for computer games. Especially mmo's.

 

It's built in to almost every modern keyboard and mouse software suite.

 

Love to hear how anyone is going to combat this. Sounds like a L2MMO issue.

 

One of the first things I do in any mmo is figure out how to trim keybind fat with macros. It's like mmo 101.....

[Crab Fear.1624]

People are flying in GW2. I would not be surprised at players freeing up a hand for "other activities".

[DeceiverX.8361]

> @"DMO.4158" said:

> I make macros all the time for computer games. Especially mmo's.

>

> It's built in to almost every modern keyboard and mouse software suite.

>

> Love to hear how anyone is going to combat this. Sounds like a L2MMO issue.

>

> One of the first things I do in any mmo is figure out how to trim keybind fat with macros. It's like mmo 101.....

 

Except for the fact it's expressively forbidden in GW2 and by doing it you can be banned.

[Fat Disgrace.4275]

> @"NICENIKESHOE.7128" said:

> > @"warherox.7943" said:

> >

> > It is when you have focus.

>

> A 3s invul on 50s CD and 2 projectile hates on 25+ CDs. That doesn't warrant an "especially with...". A thief, mes, SB, ranger, holo, necro, guard or even revenant (oh wait that's everyone) can easily bait out and chew up FA ele in less than 30s if FA ele doesn't know how to position and LoS.

>

> Honestly this game would have a lot less diversity and appeal if every class needs to facetank everything.

 

Depending what build the ele runs. Arcane shield - lesser shield - tempest defence - mist form - earth #5, may be they don't run this in spvp but most I see run this in wvw and yeah, that seems pretty defenceless.

 

[shippage.1983]

I don't see it as a problem, in fact you'd be at a disadvantage if you used this. You wouldn't be able to adapt to all situations for very little benefit.

[sephiroth.4217]

> @"thatdarnkatz.7168" said:

> > @"Airdive.2613" said:

> > So am I macroing as well on my core guardian when I'm about to land a really sweet hit with hammer 2 and decide to secure it by pressing F1, F2 and F3 in a quick succession during the animation?

>

> You realise that Macros are against ToS and you just admitted to breaking those terms on their forums with your account name associated correct? Please don't use macros, it is against the rules.

 

You didn't read what he said at all.

[Arlette.9684]

I’ve been seeing this not so new phenomenon quite often as of late. Particularly often since the rework to the class that drove a lot of bandwagoners to the class. I’m a firm believer that if you cannot be bothered to executes the combo by yourself, you shouldn’t be able to do it at all. Part of making shatter mesmer challenging is the ability to time your burst and execute it in a timely fashion. Getting it as a 1 button sequence that you lazily pressed from you mouse is just shameful, and I’d like to think that no, non-bandwagon mesmer would ever stoop so low as to do it. It’s just non skillfull play that takes away the appeal of the spec as it was intended to be played.

 

Shame!!! *ding, ding, ding, ding*

[Shirlias.8104]

Do the same.

As far as i happened to see they have no way to see if they are using or not a macro.

[allias.1420]

> @"shippage.1983" said:

> I don't see it as a problem, in fact you'd be at a disadvantage if you used this. You wouldn't be able to adapt to all situations for very little benefit.

 

I agree with Shippage on this one. If a player presses a single button to enable a series of actions in rapid succession, you have very little control over that duration. Against decent players, someone using a macro won't be able to react and counterplay as efficiently as they could if they practiced their combos.

 

I don't think macros make a mesmer's gameplay any better, only worse.

[saerni.2584]

> @"Shirlias.8104" said:

> Do the same.

> As far as i happened to see they have no way to see if they are using or not a macro.

 

But not all classes or builds benefit from macro to the same degree. So you end up with an unfair advantage for some players and not others. If everyone had the same build then a macro would be more “fair” in the sense that certain combo automation was assumed to be possible for all players.

[Shirlias.8104]

> @"saerni.2584" said:

> > @"Shirlias.8104" said:

> > Do the same.

> > As far as i happened to see they have no way to see if they are using or not a macro.

>

> But not all classes or builds benefit from macro to the same degree. So you end up with an unfair advantage for some players and not others. If everyone had the same build then a macro would be more “fair” in the sense that certain combo automation was assumed to be possible for all players.

 

But since they can't stop nor prove that somebody is using a macro, doing the same would probably be the best choice.

I mean, instead of witch hunting ( he was using a macroooo ).

[saerni.2584]

> @"Shirlias.8104" said:

> > @"saerni.2584" said:

> > > @"Shirlias.8104" said:

> > > Do the same.

> > > As far as i happened to see they have no way to see if they are using or not a macro.

> >

> > But not all classes or builds benefit from macro to the same degree. So you end up with an unfair advantage for some players and not others. If everyone had the same build then a macro would be more “fair” in the sense that certain combo automation was assumed to be possible for all players.

>

> But since they can't stop nor prove that somebody is using a macro, doing the same would probably be the best choice.

> I mean, instead of witch hunting ( he was using a macroooo ).

 

Oh absolutely re: witch hunting , especially because some people do have incredible reflexes and end up appearing to use macros when all they did was press the right buttons in the right order at the right time. If some people can play Chopin they can hit the keys that quickly.

 

But I disagree that people should “just do it too” because it is technically against TOS and you never know when or how Anet will enforce it. Better to just assume every Mesmer is “good” and work on being that good yourself with legit play.

 

It’s similar to my philosophy on builds. If you don’t play a gimmicky bandwagon op build you won’t generally get nerfed.

[Kahyos.1437]

Logs should indicate a player consistently pressing the buttons in exactly the right interval, which, I believe, Anet can use as a metric of sorts. Latency might affect this though.

[Taltevus.3289]

> @"BlackBeard.2873" said:

> You could always just dodge the mantra of distraction....oh wait...no you can't b/c it interrupts dodge-rolls while traited with Confounding Suggestions

>

> Literally NO counterplay! Such great design!!!

 

And the test determined that was a lie.