Guild Wars 2

Wow, just wow… y’all really got Chronomancer right. It scares me to death though. The outcry of “nerf this” will be OP from day 1.

It would be a heartbreaker to start playing this and see it gutted with “balance” nerfs.

I began to understand the Alacrity stacking game pretty quickly. At first I thought, “these cds will make most of this stuff useless.” Then with a few more minutes of play I got the rudiments of getting alacrity a couple of times. I can see a long alacrity stacking sequence that could be played, but you’d be blowing a lot of cd’s.

Time Catches Up is like mana from heaven, if I believed in heaven. I’ve been waiting for this for years. I predict shouts of “OP” after the first PvP match it’s used in.

The duration of the f5 shatter skill is about as short as it could possibly be and still be useful. It’s neat as a sort of bomb/super mimic. Any less duration will make it a vestigial skill though.

The fact that [Tides of Time] interrupts is one of the things ANET got right for sure. It is also one reason the nerf pleas will be loud.

[Tides of Time] fails if it strikes terrain. This would be a major issue in many PVE situations and PvP matches. Having the shield wall fail if it hits terrain is a definite deal-breaker on this skill. It follows that it will hamper the alacrity mini game. This “bug” will make the alacrity mini game not work in many situations For example, shield 5 would likely be almost unusable on point at the altar in Temple of the Silent Storm.

I noticed that the shield 4 skill doesn’t produce a phantasm if an attack is not blocked. The wording of the skill tip implies otherwise. What is the intent here?

Overall, wonderful job. Please don’t dash my hopes with insta nerfs and “balance adjustments.”

I agree though it does create a phantasm for me even when not blocked.

First of all, absolutely amazing class, as a mesmer lover and a person with a weakspot for time-control, I basically won the lottery with Anet’s decision on this.

Now for a little feedback on the numbers:

1. All alacrities are incredibly short, even with the Improved Alacrity trait it barely passes 1 second, never reaching 2 seconds, and as far as I know they aren’t affected by boon duration. Maybe I’m using it wrong but it just doesn’t seem to boost you that much with such low duration.

2. Continuum Split base duration (i.e. duration without illusions on) is too short to do anything, it’s over before you can finish casting any well, thus wasting it completely and having to wait a full 90 seconds (, which is more than kittenual battle duration.

3. The shield skills have insanely high cooldown, specially Tides of Time. I know you tried to compensate for the alacrity and for its 10 seconds cooldown reduction effect, but the thing is when you DO get the effect, the cooldown is lowered to 30 seconds, which is the normal cooldown for a 5 skill, so when you touch the barrier, you feel like you got nothing in return, however when you DON’T touch it, you feel like you got punished.
I recommend lowering ToT cooldown to 30 seconds, or 35 tops, and keping the 10 seconds cooldown reduction effect so you feel like you got a buff when you touch the wall, and you didn’t lose or gain anything if you don’t touch it, and lowering EoM cooldown to 20-25 seconds. Also, I feel like the enemy time-stop effect on it is too short, but others may disagree on this.

I notice that the shield 4 Phantasm seems to grant Alacrity only once. If true, this is either a bug or a subtle nerf.

I love the Shield!

Adept and Master traits feel a little weak if I’m honest, we got spoiled with such powerful traits recently I guess but +33% Alacrity can’t even compare with Clone on Shatter (because the next Shatter will get the same Alacrity bonus at least – while having the benfit of the clone).

The Slow trait synergy is nice but its essentially just a system of keeping Slow on the target with the extra crit chance (powerful but the traits aren’t impactful on their own – you need the set and given the recent folding of trait sets into one trait makes this 3 trait requirement seem out of step).

Wells aren’t competing with current utilities imo – remember they are against the best set in the game. The Well trait is also very meh.

Continuum Split I think is a little low on duration atm – possibly needs to be nonlinear? Or just raise the secs per clone? Just the max of 6sec doesn’t give it much play except spam skills back to back – I had hoped for time to reposition or set up movement tricks.

Possibly try to add alacrity to certain traits or a Shield trait because I do think the current Adept and Master traits feel a little weak.

Overall it was great fun to play just needs a little more attention to traits to bring them in line with the other specs.

Like the shield so far play style is good with an extra block. The new F5 skill is weak in my opinion the distance is too short. I don’t see it being usable…everyone knows where your gonna end up and burn you down.
Wells are okay could be used in a zerg situation but the reward /payoff doesn’t seem worth it. Elite skill not worth it in my opinion you can get stability from other classes.

I like the shield though just wish the cool down on 5 was less for what it does.

what i do know for sure is gonna get nerf is Jade Winds on rev, with the 3s duration all you need is 2 revs in a team to perma stun the other team

back to topic. messing around with the training dummies, i really like how kitten HIGH the clones generation is with the clone on shatter trait is. and with alacry reducing the CD on mind wrack. im looking foward for the return of shatter mesmer for pve

Coulter.2315:

I love the Shield!

Adept and Master traits feel a little weak if I’m honest, we got spoiled with such powerful traits recently I guess but +33% Alacrity can’t even compare with Clone on Shatter (because the next Shatter will get the same Alacrity bonus at least – while having the benfit of the clone).

The Slow trait synergy is nice but its essentially just a system of keeping Slow on the target with the extra crit chance (powerful but the traits aren’t impactful on their own – you need the set and given the recent folding of trait sets into one trait makes this 3 trait requirement seem out of step).

Wells aren’t competing with current utilities imo – remember they are against the best set in the game. The Well trait is also very meh.

Continuum Split I think is a little low on duration atm – possibly needs to be nonlinear? Or just raise the secs per clone? Just the max of 6sec doesn’t give it much play except spam skills back to back – I had hoped for time to reposition or set up movement tricks.

Possibly try to add alacrity to certain traits or a Shield trait because I do think the current Adept and Master traits feel a little weak.

Overall it was great fun to play just needs a little more attention to traits to bring them in line with the other specs.

Yeah I too felt the traits were really weak compared to other traitlines and specializations, even the reaper had more impactful traits than the chrono. I also felt there was an obvious best path, thus not allowing for a lot of customization.

As for the wells, I think they’re in a good place right now, they act as a two-in-one, both debuffing groups of enemies and buffing groups of allies, they also seem much better for group support than previous mesmer skills.

Hirosama Nadasaki.6792:

Coulter.2315:

I love the Shield!

Adept and Master traits feel a little weak if I’m honest, we got spoiled with such powerful traits recently I guess but +33% Alacrity can’t even compare with Clone on Shatter (because the next Shatter will get the same Alacrity bonus at least – while having the benfit of the clone).

The Slow trait synergy is nice but its essentially just a system of keeping Slow on the target with the extra crit chance (powerful but the traits aren’t impactful on their own – you need the set and given the recent folding of trait sets into one trait makes this 3 trait requirement seem out of step).

Wells aren’t competing with current utilities imo – remember they are against the best set in the game. The Well trait is also very meh.

Continuum Split I think is a little low on duration atm – possibly needs to be nonlinear? Or just raise the secs per clone? Just the max of 6sec doesn’t give it much play except spam skills back to back – I had hoped for time to reposition or set up movement tricks.

Possibly try to add alacrity to certain traits or a Shield trait because I do think the current Adept and Master traits feel a little weak.

Overall it was great fun to play just needs a little more attention to traits to bring them in line with the other specs.

Yeah I too felt the traits were really weak compared to other traitlines and specializations, even the reaper had more impactful traits than the chrono. I also felt there was an obvious best path, thus not allowing for a lot of customization.

As for the wells, I think they’re in a good place right now, they act as a two-in-one, both debuffing groups of enemies and buffing groups of allies, they also seem much better for group support than previous mesmer skills.

The Heal is good but the utilities can’t compare to Feedback, Mantras or Sig of Insp for group support imo. I just wouldn’t choose to slot one of the Wells over those choices if I wanted support, I suppose it gives us a larger tool box but if you have Shield and Power Block the weakness Well seems a little unnecessary, the Slow and Quickness Well is ok (but traits and Sig of Insp will out perform it if you needed those effects), the Unblockable and Evade Well will be an excellent toolbox skill no doubt though.

Like I say they just didn’t feel tempting to take over our current set even in specific situations traits and other utilities outshine most of them. Just maybe a little powerup to the Well trait could make them a bit more tantalising (because the condi remove at the end is pretty lackluster).

Also I agree with the above that the Heal Well should be more obviously blue on the floor.

I would agree especially the Heal Well should be a more obvious blue colour.

I was thinking for a bit and I came up with some traits that could replace others in the chronomancer line, to make it more interesting and versatile.

Minor trait:
“All’s Well That Ends Well” replaced by —-—-> “Shores of Time” : Increases the radius of Well skills by 20%

Adept trait:
“Danger Time” replaced by —-—> “Easy Come, Easy Go” : Applying Slow on an enemy gives Quickness to you and nearby allies for the same duration as the Slow, applying Quickness to yourself gives Slow to nearby enemies for the same duration as the Quickness.

Major trait:

“Seize The Moment” replaced by —-—> “Counterclock”: The effect of all Well skills is reversed in the following manner:

Well of Eternity: Instead of giving Vigor per tick and ending with a big heal, it will give a smaller heal per tick and end with a long-lasting Vigor.

Well of Calamity: Instead of applying conditions per tick and ending with a large damage, it will give moderate damage per tick and end with long lasting conditions.

Well of Recall: Will pulse Chill per tick and end with a long lasting Alacrity.

Well of Precognition: Will pulse one second of blur with each tick and end making ally attacks unblockable for 3-5 seconds.

Well of Action: Quickens allies per pulse and ends with 3-5 seconds of slow.

Well of Gravity: Floats enemies with each tick and ends with a long Stability and heavy damage.

Additionally, the total sum of the tick effects will be higher than they would be if this trait is deactivated, and vice versa (e.g. total healing made throughout the ticks of Well of Eternity would be higher than what the well would tick without Counterclock, but the vigor given at the end would be shorter than the total time of vigor given without the trait).

Additional traits that I did not know where to put:
“The Long Night”: Wells pulse 5 times instead of 3.

“The Last Moments”: When downed, cast “Well of the World” at your location.
“Well of the World”: Enemies in the area are frozen in time (like the Tides of Time effect) for 2 seconds with every pulse, when the well expires it applies 5 seconds of Alacrity to you and allies in the area (this well is affected by all traits mentioned).

Additional Well changes: The ending effect of all Wells are blast finishers, and Well of Eternity has blue visuals instead of pink, to make it more noticeable.

I would very much like to get some feedback on this, both from players and if I’m lucky from a Anet staff member.

Dragon Hunter here. When wailing on some mobs I remember going “Why did my cooldowns just flash green?” Then I saw a Chronomancer being me. Yeah it really didn’t seem that long from my perspective. Also felt kinda weird…

Silhouette.5631:

Dragon Hunter here. When wailing on some mobs I remember going “Why did my cooldowns just flash green?” Then I saw a Chronomancer being me. Yeah it really didn’t seem that long from my perspective. Also felt kinda weird…

Weird as in…?

And did you feel the alacrity (green number that makes your cooldown go faster) made much of a difference?

Hirosama Nadasaki.6792:

First of all, absolutely amazing class, as a mesmer lover and a person with a weakspot for time-control, I basically won the lottery with Anet’s decision on this.

Now for a little feedback on the numbers:

1. All alacrities are incredibly short, even with the Improved Alacrity trait it barely passes 1 second, never reaching 2 seconds, and as far as I know they aren’t affected by boon duration. Maybe I’m using it wrong but it just doesn’t seem to boost you that much with such low duration.

2. Continuum Split base duration (i.e. duration without illusions on) is too short to do anything, it’s over before you can finish casting any well, thus wasting it completely and having to wait a full 90 seconds (, which is more than kittenual battle duration.

3. The shield skills have insanely high cooldown, specially Tides of Time. I know you tried to compensate for the alacrity and for its 10 seconds cooldown reduction effect, but the thing is when you DO get the effect, the cooldown is lowered to 30 seconds, which is the normal cooldown for a 5 skill, so when you touch the barrier, you feel like you got nothing in return, however when you DON’T touch it, you feel like you got punished.
I recommend lowering ToT cooldown to 30 seconds, or 35 tops, and keping the 10 seconds cooldown reduction effect so you feel like you got a buff when you touch the wall, and you didn’t lose or gain anything if you don’t touch it, and lowering EoM cooldown to 20-25 seconds. Also, I feel like the enemy time-stop effect on it is too short, but others may disagree on this.

I agree in every part of your suggestions! I know that A-net does not want to make Chrono OP but curently these coldowns and durations are bad.

Chrono isn’t all bad but yes, need rebalance, lets be honest please, this is our first play at chrono, maybe they will rebalance before next beta (if there is one) since live stream a few things did change! Grav well now pulses damage over time with larger end damage and floats but no longer pulls during pulses. The well trait now purges 2 condi instead of 1, the grand master lost time if i recall right was 3 hits and not crit required but now is kittens and only after that is fit hits of critting not five normal hits which kinda needs good precision and danger time to reap benefit from prompt and properly.

Alacrity had promise but unless you pressure cook it (aka spam duh heck out of alacrity gains aka burn shatters and recall) you don’t really get much out of it, its something that requires effort given uptime to feel an affect while people who barely poke it feel its quite useless cause yeah you blinked its over wait did I even scratch one second off the cd?

Considering the big rollout we got last month which made condi builds more of a pain to run into in pvp/wvw or even condi spam mobs in pve, 1-2 condi purge ability’s feel worthless to slot if it’s going to be over ridden in an instant.

Look t ele, water grandmaster applying regen to self or friend = purge 1 condi, I feel they should endeavor to either give effective condi purge count or apply a nice twist to get a better benefit for running it, well power for purging 2 condi si better then 1 but again, you gotta be in the well field when it ends oops watch out for cc or you totally won’t get condi purge!

I’ma big mesmer player and because i burn alacrity like hot cakes I do feel its affects but only because I keep it up a lot and that is not easy, much like the supposed ele learning curve people keep talking about alacrity is a floating ability that needs to be held onto as much as possible to do anything.

As to wells I feel they all have their use, and some don’t hav emuch, especially if you focus one of three fields in gw2 aka pve/wvw or pvp, for the same reason necros don’t seem to use wells a lot meswells don’t feel too valuable even the grav well because its easy to avoid standing in them if they aren’t yours, without it’s pull function anyone will get out of the grave well unless they aren’t watching then the ability gets used for nothing.

As for the shield, eh I like it, but the tides of time does feel overly heavy. (again if you aren’t burning alacrity for uptime on it.) then even if you do get the 10s reduction you won’t feel special especially if the enemy jumps out of the way further wasting it. The block skills are ok to a degree I have no real problem with the blocking setup but the phantoms need something that isn’t a shield so avengers don’t look like stand in defenders!

Con-shift ooooops weren’t we promised clever use with tides of time for an even better cd reduction? WELL that was a LIE! Burn a cd in shift it will revert to its previous setting aka ready to use, use it before con-shift and oops you can’t get the cd bonus cause again, you will change the current time on the cd when you shift back, so what really got was this. Shift -> throw tides instantly close shift throw tides again (to cheat time and have 2 walls up.) then run through 2 that’s neither clever nor investing in skill its a simple open and close combo, roll shift cast tide shut of shift right after and throw the tide again, you can never get the bonus cd reduction off 1 tide like they told us we could.

And yes Shift is beyond balignerantly short even with max 3 illusions up when you use it. While shift can make some fun (spam) combos aka double TW grav well mass invis moa morphing possible, its really just a shift burn all cd’s possible before shift ends then reuse outside it for a burst attempt, it doesn’t offer much tactical timing unfortunately its just a trivial cheat to cooldown timers pure and simple because skills like blink won’t help when you boing back to where you opened shift.

No this is not a rant post its just a critical opinion to show I care and that I hope this being the first beta event serves its purpose well and that the next beta event shows some development to the chrono and other specs for us to test.

Improvements needed:

Improved alacity gains or durations.

trait for wells aka ‘alls wellt hat ends well’ needs to provide more then just a measly (worthless) 2 condi purge function, maybe a small cd reduction (10%) and/or a radius increase.

Grav well needs pull function so it really feels like gravity instead of a belated soft cc with a large cooldown.

More investing choices in its ‘trait’ line that feel like time magic based abilities.

A better cd balance on the shield 5 skill and a reaction animation for shield 4 when you block an attack.

Avengers need something other then the shield (or the other weapons phantoms already have) so that you don’t mistake them for defenders.

Oops. I accidentally deleted my older, more detailed post.

Our wells all pretty much look the same, especially during combat. Even if our utilities aren’t changed to be more readable at a glance, our healing well should be at least as flashy as our elite one (except white or blue instead of black) for us to be able to expect people to be able to realize it’s good and run into (or stay inside) it. :/

LadySuccubus.4752:

Oops. I accidentally deleted my older, more detailed post.

Our wells all pretty much look the same, especially during combat. Even if our utilities aren’t changed to be more readable at a glance, our healing well should be at least as flashy as our elite one (except white or blue instead of black) for us to be able to expect people to be able to realize it’s good and run into (or stay inside) it. :/

Well (pun), all wells are good to stay inside, they provide debuff/damage to enemies and buff to allies at the same time, the thing would be to be able to see if they’re hostile or friendly, but that seems way too complex. But yeah I agree healing well should be blue to further show that it’s the healing one.

Knowing that I have never liked mesmer before and do a horrible job with them (I have a mantra-mesmer)… then I come into chloromancer and mow through mobs like they are nothing points me to the idea it is still a bit too powerful (as others said in here). I do really like the shield though and have this build running through the new map. It makes shattering even easier because the Alacrity does seem to help cool-downs.

I ran outside the beta map and did Jormag. At one point, I hit the Continuum skill (I was just spamming all my shatters for the torment) and ran up to Jormag, forgetting about it (it looked like the skill was on cooldown). I got all the way up there and hit him a couple times and got flashed back to the camp. Is that a glitch, perhaps, or intended mechanic to last that long? I think we all know you cannot make it from the camp to Jormag in under a second…

Pompeia.5483:

Knowing that I have never liked mesmer before and do a horrible job with them (I have a mantra-mesmer)… then I come into chloromancer and mow through mobs like they are nothing points me to the idea it is still a bit too powerful (as others said in here). I do really like the shield though and have this build running through the new map. It makes shattering even easier because the Alacrity does seem to help cool-downs.

I ran outside the beta map and did Jormag. At one point, I hit the Continuum skill (I was just spamming all my shatters for the torment) and ran up to Jormag, forgetting about it (it looked like the skill was on cooldown). I got all the way up there and hit him a couple times and got flashed back to the camp. Is that a glitch, perhaps, or intended mechanic to last that long? I think we all know you cannot make it from the camp to Jormag in under a second…

Mowing through mobs isn’t a problem with any class. In pvp, wvw, or the hardest type of pve, you’d be required to use certain strategies, and strategies involving chronomancer would be all about getting the most out of Alacrity, aswell as using your wells cleverly to turn the tables, as it debuffs and buffs all at once, AND wisely using Continuum Split to get the jump on the enemy. So far, to make any of this work, certain adjustments are required.

Even though they are very strong traits, I personally feel like all of the shatter traits are very misplaced in the Chronomancer elite spec. I don’t get what time-manipulation has to do with shattering the crap out of illusions. It is basically like just taking mesmer’s base gameplay and amping it up. We know mesmers shatter. That’s their profession mechanic. I find it a very uninteresting way to advance the elite spec when there could be so many other new and exciting options. Plus the well trait is just plain horrible.

I would really prefer to see some kind of trait that causes conditions on you or allies to perhaps tick slower or shorten duration. Maybe something that lets you rally a nearby ally if you shatter Diversion quickly enough or maybe even if you blow your continuum shift. Maybe wells could grant stability instead of condi removal.

Nobody is going to stand in your well simply to have condi’s removed, and there is no guaranteeing that they will have condis on to remove in the first place. Especially by the time the well has finished ticking down in its entirety.

Maybe some sort of new stasis locking condition that prevents boons from being applied, sort of, in a way, like resistance but anti-boons? Maybe this could be applied when struck by a phantasm or something similar.

All of these would be more interesting than… let’s see what happens if mesmers could shatter everything twice, then get new things to shatter to replace the ones you just shattered, and then lets use mirror images and shatter again and possibly continuum shift and shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter.

@Pompeia: I think continuum shift is 1.5 seconds per illusion – so if you have three out, you can get 6 seconds.

From my own perspective… the one problem I found while playing it is the way shield 4 works. It’s essentially doing double-duty as a block and a phantasm generator – however, while ideally you want to get the block and therefor get Deja Vu, it does mean that if you just want a phantasm, you’re spending two seconds channeling for the phantasm. And from what I’ve observed, while you get the phantasm regardless of whether you block or not, if you do anything to cancel it, you do not.

I’m not sure if it’s possible given that it already has a chain, but what might be good is for it to have a second skill that can be activated to generate the phantasm faster if you know you’re not going to block anything and just want to have the phantasm. It’s a minor issue, but it does seem to be a downside that has possibly not been considered.

Tora.7214:

what i do know for sure is gonna get nerf is Jade Winds on rev, with the 3s duration all you need is 2 revs in a team to perma stun the other team

A couple of venomshare thieves can generate a similar effect as it is, and Jade Winds has a massive tell and requires you to be fairly close to the revenant.

Shield:

Echo of Memory / Deja Vu: Nice block, although I wish it was a sustained block for a time duration rather – or that Deja Vu at least was a sustained block (like Shelter or Gear Shield) (4/5 Stars)

Tides of Time: Really fun to use skill with a great visual. A little tricky to use if you’re near a wall or gate though as it can disappear sometimes. Synergizes well with interrupt traits. (5/5 Stars)

Wells:

Love Love Love the Wells!

Well of Eternity: Nice big heal, very group-support oriented, which I enjoyed as it gave the Mesmer something new; reliable group heals. (3/5 Stars)

Well of Action: Feels like a less-effective mini Timewarp. Not that exciting. (2/5 Stars)

Well of Calamity: Great damage, good recast. Adds much-needed AoE damage (that isn’t dependent on shatters) to the class. (5/5 Stars)

Well of Precognition: Cooldown felt kind of long so I didn’t use it much. Stability would need to provide more stacks to really be useful. Underwhelming. (2/5 Stars)

Well of Recall: The pulsing Alacrity is nice, and the Chill duration is nice and long. The final damage is almost negligible though. (3/5 Stars)

Gravity Well: Radius is too small to make it impactful. Difficult to catch enemies in this without some kind of CC incorporated into it.

Other:

Continuum Split: Fun, but disorienting and sometimes buggy. I think it would be cool if there was a visual indication for the user while it’s active, kind of like when a Necromancer is in Deathshroud. (2/5 Stars)

Traits:

Time Splitter – (Obvious enabler for the build)

All’s Well that End’s Well – Can be hard to land when folks are mobile, but I imagine it works well in dungeons.
Delayed Reactions – Works okay
Time Catches up – Helps land shatters effectively

Flow of Time – Love it

Danger Time – Hard to determine how useful it was
Illusionary Reversion – Nice alternative to Deceptive Evasion in some ways
Improved Alacrity – “eh” would prefer Revershion most of the time

Time Marches on – Love it

Chronophantasma – Great for Phantasms and Shatter builds alike
Lost Time – Odd buildup, tends to trigger when not needed
Seize The Moment – Preferred choice for this tier in my opinion

I think the mechanics given by the specialisation fit the chronomancer theme really well. Speaking of wells, i think we should be able to recast them to end them prematurely, giving the end effect at the cost of the pulsing effect, it would add a bit more flexibility and it should make “All’s well that end well” a bite more useful without making it op

A bug i noticed: Continuum Split/Shift doesn’t reset Mantra charges.

Running SW/Shield + SW/Pistol with a power break build is just OP. If they were to decrease the #5 shield skill by 10seconds it would feel more versatile for other builds but for this stun build, no it would be OP.

If you spec right, you can start with Pistol 5, pop 4 then switch to sw/shield and shied5 and pistol 5 is almost always reset, rinse and repeat and you have a nearly perm stun build with the mix of your daze mantra there, and signet of domination too.

I did not try this in WvW or sPVP as that was not my interest here.

But, I was steam rolling mobs with 4-5 others in the new zone and all i was doing was stunning everything while everyone else plowed through. Seriously no risk other then the AOE ground condi you have to avoid. And I was maintaining 25 stacks of Might through out all of this too (Shield hits like everything in that wave 2 times).

In its current form, the shield for a stun base build its perfectly OP. For other builds (Shatter, Condi..ect) it needs 10 seconds shaved off. Thats how I feel about it honestly.

edit
Maybe make the shield’s skills cooldowns 10 second less, unless you equip the Daze to stun trait then add 10seconds back on to it? Like i said, with the way it is NOW it feels OP/Fine for a stun based build but lacking for anything else.

The class as a whole feels great, I like the theme of time manipulation, and the skills and mechanics fit the theme really well.

Wells are a bit underwhelming. I think we should be able to recast them to end them prematurely and get the end buff/effect when we want, at the cost of the pulsating effect.

What makes chronomancer really good is the amazing synergy from the traitline with all other traitlines and playstiles. They could remove F5 and the class would still be amazing. I wish the other spec could get good synergy like that, DH and especially Revenant are a big letdown for me right now.

sirsquishy.8531:

Running SW/Shield + SW/Pistol with a power break build is just OP. If they were to decrease the #5 shield skill by 10seconds it would feel more versatile for other builds but for this stun build, no it would be OP.

If you spec right, you can start with Pistol 5, pop 4 then switch to sw/shield and shied5 and pistol 5 is almost always reset, rinse and repeat and you have a nearly perm stun build with the mix of your daze mantra there, and signet of domination too.

I did not try this in WvW or sPVP as that was not my interest here.

But, I was steam rolling mobs with 4-5 others in the new zone and all i was doing was stunning everything while everyone else plowed through. Seriously no risk other then the AOE ground condi you have to avoid. And I was maintaining 25 stacks of Might through out all of this too (Shield hits like everything in that wave 2 times).

In its current form, the shield for a stun base build its perfectly OP. For other builds (Shatter, Condi..ect) it needs 10 seconds shaved off. Thats how I feel about it honestly.

edit
Maybe make the shield’s skills cooldowns 10 second less, unless you equip the Daze to stun trait then add 10seconds back on to it? Like i said, with the way it is NOW it feels OP/Fine for a stun based build but lacking for anything else.

That’s the thing, you can defintely find an OP build with chrono as it is, but imo it’s much better if they nerf that build and buff something else that would allow multiple builds, I don’t want to get mesmer elite specialization for one build only, I want to make multiple, good builds with shield, wells, and things that were already in the mesmer kit.

Hirosama Nadasaki.6792:

sirsquishy.8531:

Running SW/Shield + SW/Pistol with a power break build is just OP. If they were to decrease the #5 shield skill by 10seconds it would feel more versatile for other builds but for this stun build, no it would be OP.

If you spec right, you can start with Pistol 5, pop 4 then switch to sw/shield and shied5 and pistol 5 is almost always reset, rinse and repeat and you have a nearly perm stun build with the mix of your daze mantra there, and signet of domination too.

I did not try this in WvW or sPVP as that was not my interest here.

But, I was steam rolling mobs with 4-5 others in the new zone and all i was doing was stunning everything while everyone else plowed through. Seriously no risk other then the AOE ground condi you have to avoid. And I was maintaining 25 stacks of Might through out all of this too (Shield hits like everything in that wave 2 times).

In its current form, the shield for a stun base build its perfectly OP. For other builds (Shatter, Condi..ect) it needs 10 seconds shaved off. Thats how I feel about it honestly.

edit
Maybe make the shield’s skills cooldowns 10 second less, unless you equip the Daze to stun trait then add 10seconds back on to it? Like i said, with the way it is NOW it feels OP/Fine for a stun based build but lacking for anything else.

That’s the thing, you can defintely find an OP build with chrono as it is, but imo it’s much better if they nerf that build and buff something else that would allow multiple builds, I don’t want to get mesmer elite specialization for one build only, I want to make multiple, good builds with shield, wells, and things that were already in the mesmer kit.

I mainly play mesmer as a stun/CC build. IMHO its more fun. Mix in a lil Condi and watch those Burns and Bleeds tick away while you keep your target stunned for a good portion of time.

what I was saying, as is the shields skills are pretty good even with the cool downs for such a build. But I can see where they are lacking if you played Shatter, PU, or really anything else. So that’s why I added the edit.

Drop the cooldowns by 10seconds (AFTER getting the wave back, and have it affect both 4 and 5) and if you spec into Confounding suggestions add the 10seconds back to the shield skills.

Personally I think that would be a fair give/take on it.

I can sum up my feelings on Chronomancy thus:

I love, love, LOVE Chronomancy!

I had already been playing a well Necro for some time, so it took me almost no time to adapt to them on a Mesmer. It was like a perfect blend of the two.

The shield also proved to be useful. Not sure if it’ll replace a pistol as my off-hand weapon in the end, but it was fun playing with a shield. Or I might wind up switching between the two depending what I’m expecting.

Mesmer was my favorite in GW1. It became my favorite in GW2, and now they are even better!

I’ve never been a fan of mesmer simply because I’m bad at playing it. I don’t know the right skill combos and I’m not great at positioning and stuff. That said, I tried out Chronomancer this weekend because I really liked the idea and it looked straightforward on the POI. Well, the latter was silly, because of course it did, but that doesn’t mean I could play it in active combat! STILL… Here are my thoughts.

I can’t remember what I had my traits set as. I ran only in PvE, with scepter-shield and staff most of the time, and also tried with greatsword.

• I loved hearing the wells clicking and clanging during combat. The sound effects – and visuals – were very cool.
• Like is often the problem with signets, the icons for the wells are so similar I couldn’t remember which one did what. Also, they all do so many things, I might remember one function of a given well, but totally forget about the second or third functions. I’m not sure how useful that feedback is, but if nothing else, I wish the icons made the functions clearer.
• I liked what the F5 skill did, although its location above F4 was really weird looking, and I personally didn’t find any cool uses for it. I just used it to double up all my skills. I look forward to people sharing some “recipes” for skill combos with it once things are finalized.

Adelas.6598:

I’ve never been a fan of mesmer simply because I’m bad at playing it. I don’t know the right skill combos and I’m not great at positioning and stuff. That said, I tried out Chronomancer this weekend because I really liked the idea and it looked straightforward on the POI. Well, the latter was silly, because of course it did, but that doesn’t mean I could play it in active combat! STILL… Here are my thoughts.

I can’t remember what I had my traits set as. I ran only in PvE, with scepter-shield and staff most of the time, and also tried with greatsword.

• I loved hearing the wells clicking and clanging during combat. The sound effects – and visuals – were very cool.
• Like is often the problem with signets, the icons for the wells are so similar I couldn’t remember which one did what. Also, they all do so many things, I might remember one function of a given well, but totally forget about the second or third functions. I’m not sure how useful that feedback is, but if nothing else, I wish the icons made the functions clearer.
• I liked what the F5 skill did, although its location above F4 was really weird looking, and I personally didn’t find any cool uses for it. I just used it to double up all my skills. I look forward to people sharing some “recipes” for skill combos with it once things are finalized.

If it helps, I found that if you time it right, you can use Tides of Time at the end of the F5 skill, then use Tides of Time again while the first wave is still there, catch the two waves together and get double the cooldown reduction (20 seconds). You can also use wells at the end of F5 so that they’re still there when the F5 ends, and use them again for double buff on you.
Either way, I found that the timing has to be so precise that you’d be required to keep your “zen” mode at 100% to get those combos to work, specially at pvp.

arkealia.2713:

What makes chronomancer really good is the amazing synergy from the traitline with all other traitlines and playstiles. They could remove F5 and the class would still be amazing. I wish the other spec could get good synergy like that, DH and especially Revenant are a big letdown for me right now.

THIS.
such a well designed elite spec.
there’s pretty much something for any playstyle/dmg type in chronomancer.

the f5 adds some fun gameplay that is truly game-changing for the class (unlike the other elite specs).

while i expect the quickness generation will be nerfed severely, i hope it doesn’t come at the expense of the amazing shatter potential possible in pve (possible in other modes, but good luck pulling an 8 illusion shatter chain there).

Needless to say, it has me making a Mesmer now with one of my new two char slots (the other for Revnant) so I can keep one of each char type but will end up with two Mesmers (power-mantra and condi-shatter).

On a super fun note. Anyone that was world-bossing with me yesterday got to see Ulgoth, Karka Queen, and Svanir Shaman fly after they drank too much Red Bull
That effect from Gravity well alone made it, likely, my favorite skill in the game!
I tried to use the Continum-Shift to prolong their flight but, especially for Karka where is it EPIC looking, they either move too much or die too fast so I agree on enlarging the radius a bit.

I found it very hard to place Well of Eternity (healing) in the right spot when I needed it while at same time moving myself out of harms way and keep trying to place the other wells on mobs and bosses during fight in the lanes of SW (Vinewrath event).

My largest problem where that while my health where going low I couldn’t just stand there in the Well to wait it out for the last pulse to get healed up (and it is a bit ironic to have a vigor buff considering how small radius this Well have).

Suggestion:
I think I would have preferred this healing Well to be a point blank skill with a larger radius to avoid it being placed in the wrong place while moving cursor or placing other Wells on enemies/allies, especially when alacrity is at work (as I have to use my skills much faster then I normally do to get those CD reduction and shatter). This kind of Well for healing skill could be better if it would provide some kind of protection/reflection/retaliation during healing pulses as you are very vulnerable right now with only vigor buff (which I can’t say for sure if it worked during fights in SW and VB). [I had a Sigil of Energy equipped on my shield]

Wells of Eternity do have a lightning field which should be able to give this kind of needed protection (blast: 3 sec area retaliation – leap: light aura for 5 sec with 2 sec retaliation and 8 sec vulnerability [only when struck] and even condi cleanse with projectiles or whirls) that I am asking for, but my problem with combining all this is that endurance vigor (movement – easy to get lost out of Well) while your already have low health and probably try to get your shattering going for as much alacrity as possible to keep foes from killing you is a bit much when it is also also expected that your allies will be able to use the right finisher for blast/leap to get reduced pressure while staying inside that Well during healing.

All Wells have a very similar look and colours, so it might be best to make this Well stand out more with a clear animation where small butterflies would move inward shaped like three arrows indicating that here should allies try to stand to get buff (pulsing in magenta [a kind of violet] and green as those colours would stand out clearly).