Condition damage
Confusion and Torment are primarily for PvP/WvW as they force other players to make decisions about how to play against you. They are used to control behavior moreso than to damage players.
In PvE, those conditions aren’t as useful because mobs don’t change their behavior based on whether the condition is present or not.
Server: Devona’s Rest
There would be no point in making conditions similar to others in that respect. Every condition however needs to be unique, and yes torment/confusion don’t really feel that way.
In my opinion torment should be a condition that punishes those who ignore condition removal. Slow ticking damage for the first few seconds but then ticks for the remainder of the damage in the last few seconds. Another option maybe is to treat torment like spiteful spirit in GW1, which means if you cast spells while torment is on you, then it damages everyone around you, while also maintaining the DoT on yourself.
Confusion on the other hand is definitely not punishing enough. This however should not be a damage over time, but I feel should relate to its original hex in GW1. This should work like stability stacks, but in reverse. Every skill you use does heavy damage to you, but each spell/attack you cast removes one stack. To have a fairness in this respect, make instant condition removal spells remove the condition before the damage ticks, so you don’t kill yourself and leave a spot where you have no way out. It doesn’t make sense why confusion does damage over time, it feels like a filler to an unfixed problem.
Arenanet should just stick to its core game for answers, rather than creating new radical ideas that have no experience beyond simple testing.
In my opinion torment should be a condition that punishes those who ignore condition removal. Slow ticking damage for the first few seconds but then ticks for the remainder of the damage in the last few seconds. Another option maybe is to treat torment like spiteful spirit in GW1, which means if you cast spells while torment is on you, then it damages everyone around you, while also maintaining the DoT on yourself.
That would require a rebalance on the application. Spiteful Spirit can be casted on a single target every 15s. Torment can be applied much quicker in an AoE. This is also problematic in WvW for sides. The attacker would get a 500% increase to their target limit but they would also get ripped apart by retaliation. That doesn’t balance itself out since there is no way to control the how many targets are being hit.
Confusion on the other hand is definitely not punishing enough. This however should not be a damage over time, but I feel should relate to its original hex in GW1. This should work like stability stacks, but in reverse. Every skill you use does heavy damage to you, but each spell/attack you cast removes one stack. To have a fairness in this respect, make instant condition removal spells remove the condition before the damage ticks, so you don’t kill yourself and leave a spot where you have no way out. It doesn’t make sense why confusion does damage over time, it feels like a filler to an unfixed problem.
Arenanet should just stick to its core game for answers, rather than creating new radical ideas that have no experience beyond simple testing.
Confusion is a DoT because of PvE …
The stack idea does sound good. With increased base duration it should still be able to work equally well with PvE mobs and players.
There is an important factor missing when comparing these to GW1 hexes. Hexes are always bad for the enemy but in GW1 the enemy or their allies can sometimes make them beneficial to themselves as well. Slapping a pile of hexes on something can potentially backfire since they can end up helping the enemy damage your allies or heal your enemies.
I find both Confusion and Torment the most fun conditions to use on a PvE enemy, for some reason. Especially Torment.
I think they work well just as they are myself, sorry.
Blood & Merlot [Wine]
I think that old confusion was better where it did a lot more damage when you acted. Torment could follow its lead doing no damage when stationary but tremendous when moving. Like true pressure is intended to.