3021

I’m playing a Human Mesmer, just hit L40 (thanks in large part to my WvW supply camp raiding with 2 friends of mine).

Previous to release I was pretty worried about Mesmer’s viability, especially in WvW, due to the clone/illusion mechanic… but I absolutely had a blast with it, I loved it! The mesmer has so many tricks and I love the “counter-fighter” dynamic he has to him. My favorite tactic during keep assaults was to stack piles of Confusion (causes target to do massive damage to themselves when they use a skill) on to the wall defenders, then throw up a Feedback bubble. Feedback creates a dome in the area of your target, and all projectiles fired from WITHIN the dome bounce back and hit them in the face. So not only was Confusion stacked like crazy on the target, but the guys blast themselves in the face with all their projectiles as well for a double helping of self-inflicted damage. That’s the whole thing that got me hooked on the mesmer concept, making people beat themselves up. It’s glorious!

The highlight of my time so far in WvW is roaming around with a few friends (at this point there were four of us). We wanted to do our own thing and avoid the zergs, so we headed out and captured a supply camp near where we were sieging a keep. With that done, we roamed further afield and discovered an Ogre camp that was owned by the Gates of Madness server. It took us a solid 20 minutes of fighting, I would think, battling hordes of ogres as well as enemy players who were trying to stop us, but eventually we destroyed the camp. Once it respawned, we worked for the ogres for a while in order to have them ally with our server and we had planned to head over to the next supply camp when it was done.

As luck would have it, once the Ogres became our allies, they put together a warband and sent it to attack the supply camp we were already eyeing, which was a mine located inside a cave. We followed them there and hit the camp together, which was a good thing since it had multiple player defenders as well as the usual NPC guards. After securing the camp, the enemies came to retake it. Despite there being only four of us and a couple remaining ogres, we were able to hold the tunnel for over 10 minutes against a force of over 20+. I think they were a little timid, being unsure how many defenders were in the cave (Perhaps it helped that I was spewing clones and illusions like crazy, so it looked like more bodies at a distance), so while they were bottled up in the cave tunnels we pummeled them with AE including my aforementioned Feedback bubble. It was glorious, as loot bag after loot bag was piling up at my feet (in WvW, anything you kill will drop it’s loot at YOUR feet, not THEIR feet. So you still get loot while shooting people to death from keep walls, etc). Eventually some of their warriors and guardians got a little brave and charged in, and were able to dig us out. We made piles and piles of EXP and Karma from all the “Repel the Invaders” events that we completed in there.

I also really love the Mesmer illusion mechanic, despite me being extremely wary of it previous to release. I thought I would HATE it, and was trying to find builds that didn’t rely on them much (such a build doesn’t really exist, they’re a core part of the class). After getting some hands-on time with the class, I find I love the illusions both in PVE and WvW. It’s such a tricky resource to manage, constantly trying to determine when to shatter, which shatter to use. Maybe you want to hold off a sec so the clone absorbs another hit for you, or so your phantasms can unleash another attack, but losing those illusions makes your shatters weaker (you do more damage for each illusion out). Each Shatter also has it’s own cooldown, so you have to manage that too.

It’s such a fun class, and one that I’m still getting better at and discovering new tactics with. It seems to have a really high player skill cap, which is something that I’ve been wanting in MMOs like this for a long, long time. The one part of the class I’m not too satisfied with is their general lack of AE (the Greatsword has a small one, the staff has a good one but it’s on a longish cooldown). It’s fine for smaller scale stuff, but it makes it hard in fast-moving Dynamic Events if there’s a lot of players around. Those are generally a mess anyway, though, so it’s a small issue for me.

3022

You must be playing Elem.

3023

sorry - I forgot the smiley - I was joking :-)

3024

I’m playing a Norn Guardian. I’m Norn because something about the race speaks to me. Ancient Viking roots I suppose. Plus, they’re all about getting drunk and fighting. It’s almost like being in college again.

I play a Guardian because when played properly they can be extraordinarily difficult to kill. I’m still working on the playing them properly part. One of the things I’ve found interesting is that in release I play my Guardian way differently than I did in the betas. I primarily use different weapons and slot different utilities.

3025

My Charr Warrior only just hit level 5, but he’s fun. I hit 20 with an Elementalist during a beta weekend and really enjoyed that too. My plan is to roll up a few characters and putz around to 10 or so with them before landing on a “main”. Should be fun doing just that, if nothing else.

3026

I’m playing a Charr Warrior. For most of my playtime I focused on using a Greatsword and absolutely loved it, Hundred Blades being basically the greatest thing ever. Last night I decided to switch things up a little and changed to using a Hammer with a Bow as alternative. I’m especially liking the Bow for the flexibility that it gives me in allowing to attack from distance but I’m a little disappointed with the Hammer and will switch back to the Greatsword as soon as I find a good one.

I chose Armorsmithing and Jewelry as crafting professions and I’ve been able to craft some very useful items so far (in fact, almost all of the accessories I’m using have been crafted). I had some difficulty in leveling the professions at the beginning before I discovered that I could salvage items to get cloth, but now things are progressing more smoothly.

Overall, I’m very satisfied with the char, I feel like the class gives me great survivability and lots of cool skills and the race is great as well. I’m not even bothered by the voice acting that I’ve seen so many people complaining about and the personal story seems interesting as well so far (though it’s definitely not nearly as good as simply exploring the world). I unlocked my first Elite skill just before I logged off yesterday and I can’t wait to try it later today!

3027

Like JPR, I’ve started with a Guardian. Mine’s a Norn, as well: Bardo of Kent.

But unlike JPR, I stink and haven’t figured out the ins and outs yet. So at least I can watch and learn from someone else’s character.

Just like when I first tried out WoW, it wasn’t until after I started and then googled around for info that I realized everyone knew the class I picked had a weakness that might frustrate me. In this case, apparently Guardians have no useful ranged attack and therefore have a lot of trouble being relevant in PvP. It can’t be as bad as the Internet says, of course. Have you experienced that, JPR?

At the moment, I’m not too worried about it. I’m still tackling the general learning curve of the game. Some of the basics are bugging me - like the quest system. I haven’t even figured out how to complete some of them. I spent 30 minutes last night snarling at bushes (you Norns know what I’m taking about!), but the progress bar barely moved.

Anyway - the game sure is pretty.

3028

Man, I keep forgetting to look this up, but where do I go to learn some crafting skills?

3029

Each capital city has a crafting area. You can see where it is on the map by various crafting symbols (scissors for tailor, forge for armorsmith, an orb-looking thing for artificing, etc).

3030

I am playing a Human Elementalist. I started with a ranger, but the mage looked more complicated and fun.

It’s certainly more complicated – as much as any class I have played in an MMO. I hope that means it has a long learning curve and a high ceiling, because I’m terrible now. Now is level 35.

I’m working with the staff (Elementalists don’t have a quick weapon-swap). Each of the four attunements (earth, air, fire and water) has five different spells for every weapon combination. Staff is said to be the most group-friendly, as it has some massive AoE damage and decent AoE heal spells. You are expected to use all four elements more or less constantly.

Staff is adept at ‘combos,’ which result in buffs for the party or debuffs to critters. For example, I often begin combat with a lava font, then shoot an Arcane Blast spell through it. That gives all nearby friendlies three stacks of Might.

This character dies more often and more easily than any I have ever played. I hope I get better, as I like the game quite a lot ;)

3031

Are you constantly moving and using your dodges, or are you just standing there and casting at the mobs?

3032

I really don’t know how I want to trait out my ranger, looking at it I’m pretty sold on Wilderness Survival but for the other trees I just have no idea.

3033

I’m also playing a mesmer, and picked a Norn just so I can eventually turn into a snow leopard.

I’m playing him mostly as a glass cannon so far, using the scepter/pistol combo so I can dump a ton of damage on the target at the start, then use the Decoy and Mirror Image abilities to evade and distract the enemy until cooldowns refresh (shattering just before popping MI), and repeat as necessary. If the enemy still isn’t dead after the second wave of Illusionary Duelist and my escape skills are already used, I might be in trouble…

For more of a group/event role, I’m still trying to decide between using the staff or greatsword.

I haven’t really gotten the hang of focusing on how best to do condition damage though; it just seems too hard to judge without getting into raw number crunching. And I still haven’t spent any trait points yet at level 18 because I’m wracked with indecision…

3034

Me too. Twice this morning. Hmm.

3035

I am not JPR but I’ll try to answer.

Depends on which kind of PvP you are talking and what you are trying to do there.

Yes, Kent, Guardians have kind of bad ranged options (damage-wise) comparing to other classes. :)

What do we have to deal damage with?

On scepter (nice 1200 range), “1” has an extremely slow projectile avoidable by simple strafing, “2” is AoE with a pretty small radius, so it’s easy and fast to get out of, “3” is a 2 sec root as well as a vulnerability debuff.

On staff, “1” is a weak short ranged (600) AoE blast, “2” is a very slow moving orb and you need to time (pretty hard to do) and press “2” again to explode it to deal some very weak damage (plus heal).

And that’s it. :) Obviously, Guardian is not a ranged damage dealing machine. :) There are also a couple of medium ranged offhand damage dealing options to help your scepter but nothing major.

Does it affect us in PvP?

In 1 vs 1, not really. Guardian has a lot of ways to get close to the enemy and stay there. It’s going to be very hard to kite a Guardian.

In group vs group, not really. What you do have allows you to do some ranged damage while looking for the opportunity to jump into melee, make a kill and get out.

In sPvP, not really. sPvP zones are pretty compact and very dynamic, which promotes very “in your face” kind of fighting, which Guardian is great at.

In WvW sieges, kind of. You probably won’t be standing under (or on) the walls blasting off at enemies like other classes can. You just won’t do much damage that way at all. But personally, I find that kind of fighting extremely boring and ineffective (for any class) anyway. There is a lot for you to do beside shooting defenders with your “1” and “2” - set up and man siege equipment, hunt for the enemies trying to get into the keep, cut off supplies, kill reinforcements, etc.

Additionally, we can do all kinds of support stuff, damage is not the only thing to do in the game.

In short, pretty weak ranged abilities don’t really affect Guardian much, if you play the class properly. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t say “no” if the devs gifted us with a nice ranged weapon set but even as is I don’t think we desperately need it. And if the devs said “we’ll give you a strong ranged weapon but will have to nerf your survivability or other stuff”, I would say “no, thank you”.

3036

I’ve had two password reset mails as well since yesterday.

Also, the game asks me to verify my email account. I get the email, click on the verification link, and it says “Verification Failed”. This has happened three times.

3037

I played with a Guardian friend in WvW quite a bit over the weekend and he absolutely loved it. He was using Scepter and Staff as his weapons. If you want to be ranged carnage damage dealer in sieges, it’s probably not the best choice, but they’re extremely effective in WvW from what I’ve seen.

3038

You could always team up with a mesmer that has portal and lead some sorties :-)

3039

Not sure what you mean by this.

3040

Same here. I am ignoring them obviously but it makes me wonder if I should actually change my password although it seems that I don’t really need to. It DOES bother me that these are already coming within a day of the launch.

I would feel much better if they added an authenticator to the game.

I got hacked once in WoW and yeah within 24 hours I got everything back after I started the process but it was a pain.