Guild Wars 2

- Warrior shield block traited to reflect does not reflect engineer grenades.
- Engineer flamethrower 3 reflect does reflect engineer grenades.
- Mesmer mirror blade is unblockable for no reason.

Please balance, thanks.

Haven’t tested the first 2 ones but I agree that there is no good reason for a normal ranged weapon skill on such low cooldown to be unblockable.

Mirror Blade IS unblockable, it’s in the description. (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mirror_Blade)

Also, shadow shot (Thief D/P 3) is ALSO unblockable, it’s in the description. (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadow_Shot)

If a projectile is unblockable, it means it goes through w/e is blocking/reflecting

Cheers

Because mesmers have so many unblockable skills

Zefrost.3425:

- Mesmer mirror blade is unblockable for no reason.

It was probably they simplest way for them to keep nonmesmer based clones from forming. However there are numerous inconsistencies with how ranged attack are treated projectile vs nonprojectile that probably should be looked into, but are not really on anyone’s honey-do list.

The reflect mechanic is consistent. What’s changing is the size of the target. In order to reflect a projectile, the projectile has to hit the object that is reflecting. If it hits the ground first, it won’t get reflected. You can easily see this with Wall of Reflection and warrior longbow #3 or #F1. When you target the ground in front of the wall, the projectile can hit stuff behind it which is still in the radius; target behind the wall and it gets reflected. Warrior reflect skills have a small reflect area, so projectiles which hit around the target, like grenades, often don’t get reflected.

Agree on Mirror Blade. A high damage skill which can hit multiple times being unblockable is silly. Elementalist’s Phoenix shouldn’t be unblockable either.

Exedore.6320:

The reflect mechanic is consistent. What’s changing is the size of the target. In order to reflect a projectile, the projectile has to hit the object that is reflecting. If it hits the ground first, it won’t get reflected. You can easily see this with Wall of Reflection and warrior longbow #3 or #F1. When you target the ground in front of the wall, the projectile can hit stuff behind it which is still in the radius; target behind the wall and it gets reflected. Warrior reflect skills have a small reflect area, so projectiles which hit around the target, like grenades, often don’t get reflected.

Agree on Mirror Blade. A high damage skill which can hit multiple times being unblockable is silly. Elementalist’s Phoenix shouldn’t be unblockable either.

Mirror blade has a very obvious cast, is very slow, and very easy to dodge. Not to mention in big team fights it is the only way mesmers get away with doing any AOE damage at all.

jportell.2197:

Mirror blade has a very obvious cast, is very slow, and very easy to dodge. Not to mention in big team fights it is the only way mesmers get away with doing any AOE damage at all.

Like most projectile skills, it’s only easy to dodge if you’re at range with it. If you’re in melee, the time to dodge is a lot less. Oh, and if they do it out of stealth or a clone split, good luck.

Further, it’s really counter-intuitive that you can block other damaging skills they throw at you, but not this one. You can blind it, evade it, and dodge it – why not block too?

Those two are the only skills which are heavy up-front damage and unblockable. Maybe three if you counter greater marks being used by a power necro. Everything else is some kind of utility with minimal damage or an over-time effect that can be further countered.

The two reflects you mentioned are very narrow windows of reflects. There designed to reflect things that directly come in contact with your body. Flamethrower especially is a very short window on a very narrow cone effect.

Grenades will often “miss” the effect radius and detonate outside of it. The splash damage is whats hitting you. IF you actually body block the grenades. or stand ON the engineer while hes using them. Youl reflect the full barrage. often to hilarious results (engis can dish it out but they cant take it)

Edit: although sometimes the projectiles will act like there destroyed in the case of grenades reflected at point blank range. Its almost like they have an “arming” distance they have to travel before there lethal.

Edit mk2: My apologies I did not see the above post that answers the OP.

Mirror Blade is probably unblockable to prevent reflect clone generation.

Like Phoenix, it’s a pretty important skill for putting pressure on a target using a long channelled block such as Gear Shield.

Simonoly.4352:

Mirror Blade is probably unblockable to prevent reflect clone generation.

Then why isn’t scepter #1.3 unblockable? There have been numerous videos of the reflect in use.

Exedore.6320:

Simonoly.4352:

Mirror Blade is probably unblockable to prevent reflect clone generation.

Then why isn’t scepter #1.3 unblockable? There have been numerous videos of the reflect in use.

Let’s just say of all the things that are unblockable mirror blade should be pretty far down there. Slick Shoes anyone?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Unblockable

Slick shoes drops the oil on the ground. Makes sense that you can’t block the ground. Is the same principle as frozen ground, static field, wells, etc….

Also it has a kitten cooldown compared with base 8s cooldown mirror blade (most mesmers have it on a 6.5s cd though).

xDudisx.5914:

Slick shoes drops the oil on the ground. Makes sense that you can’t block the ground. Is the same principle as frozen ground, static field, wells, etc….

Also it has a kitten cooldown compared with base 8s cooldown mirror blade (most mesmers have it on a 6.5s cd though).

Also keep in mind that in most team fights mirror blade doesn’t hit the same person every time. It usually bounces from one player to the other, Making it really do low damage to one person. In a standard shatter build one bounce is about 1.5k tops. It’s only gnarly if the mesmer risks his back side gets super close to you and does mirror blade, and honestly why are we complaining about anything on mesmer… I mean really, not like they are dominating everything in the meta.

Yeah, let’s complain about 1 of 2 active unblockable Mesmer skills, never mind that the class meant to be about distracting opponents isn’t one of the 6 that have unblockable interrupts.

Zefrost.3425:

Please balance, thanks.

Different does not mean unbalanced. What should Mesmers get as compensation for this proposed nerf?

How often has any profession been give compensation of either ‘nerfs’ or ‘fixes’?

Hold on; since when are grenades reflectable (as claimed by like, everyone in this thread)? o.o

They aren’t projectiles after all.

Saturn.6591:

Hold on; since when are grenades reflectable (as claimed by like, everyone in this thread)? o.o

They aren’t projectiles after all.

Since launch.

That being said it is kind of odd to design a reflection mechanic to deal with ranged attack, but then design ranged attacks that conpletely ignore that mechanic.

…and then I thought it says “projectile reflection” for a reason. Nowhere does it say that grenades are considered to be projectiles.

Edit: According to definition, I guess grenades could be considered projectiles. However, since they are so different from what you’d normally consider a projectile (and they (luckily) do not act as a projectile finisher), this can easily be missed. I’d never have gotten the idea that you can actually reflect grenades. Good to know, I guess.

Saturn.6591:

Hold on; since when are grenades reflectable (as claimed by like, everyone in this thread)? o.o

Since beta.

Since grenades hit the ground with a small random variation and not a player directly, it’s hard to see them be reflected/absorbed unless you have an area reflect/absorb. Guardian Shield #5 is a good example to test against.

Bertrand.3057:

Yeah, let’s complain about 1 of 2 active unblockable Mesmer skills, never mind that the class meant to be about distracting opponents isn’t one of the 6 that have unblockable interrupts.

This is more about unblockable damage vs. unblockable utility. There are a lot of unblockable utilities which are fine because they aren’t doing significant instant damage.

Exedore.6320:

Saturn.6591:

Hold on; since when are grenades reflectable (as claimed by like, everyone in this thread)? o.o

Since beta.

Since grenades hit the ground with a small random variation and not a player directly, it’s hard to see them be reflected/absorbed unless you have an area reflect/absorb. Guardian Shield #5 is a good example to test against.

Bertrand.3057:

Yeah, let’s complain about 1 of 2 active unblockable Mesmer skills, never mind that the class meant to be about distracting opponents isn’t one of the 6 that have unblockable interrupts.

This is more about unblockable damage vs. unblockable utility. There are a lot of unblockable utilities which are fine because they aren’t doing significant instant damage.

Mirror blade only does significan’t instant damage if every single bounce connects.

Exedore.6320:

Bertrand.3057:

Yeah, let’s complain about 1 of 2 active unblockable Mesmer skills, never mind that the class meant to be about distracting opponents isn’t one of the 6 that have unblockable interrupts.

This is more about unblockable damage vs. unblockable utility. There are a lot of unblockable utilities which are fine because they aren’t doing significant instant damage.

I bet you’ll be very disappointed to hear that Warriors can Kill Shot/Eviscerate through blocks using Signet of Might.

Bertrand.3057:

I bet you’ll be very disappointed to hear that Warriors can Kill Shot/Eviscerate through blocks using Signet of Might.

Well aware. It’s also a 6sec duration on a 25sec cooldown. The duration aspect is key because it gives the opposing player a clear window in which he/she has to react differently. Once the duration ends, it won’t be back for a while. And this is one whole utility skill, not an innate bonus to a skill.

Exedore.6320:

Bertrand.3057:

I bet you’ll be very disappointed to hear that Warriors can Kill Shot/Eviscerate through blocks using Signet of Might.

Well aware. It’s also a 6sec duration on a 25sec cooldown. The duration aspect is key because it gives the opposing player a clear window in which he/she has to react differently. Once the duration ends, it won’t be back for a while. And this is one whole utility skill, not an innate bonus to a skill.

Signet of Might is an instant cast. There is no window to react.

But I don’t know if your argument is that Mirror Blade shouldn’t be innately unblockable because that’s counter-intuitive for novice players (who have already come to the conclusion that most high-damage skills are blockable) or because you consider that innate bonus to be a source of imbalance between Mesmers and other professions.

Saturn.6591:

Hold on; since when are grenades reflectable (as claimed by like, everyone in this thread)? o.o

They aren’t projectiles after all.

to best understand grenade mechanics, go to the jade maw fractal and grenade some (mini) jade colossi

or some earth elementals in open world, but they dont perma reflect the way jades do