Guild Wars 2

This video is a list of ideas that I came up with to address the problem with guild wars 2 and build diversity. I will be touching base on mesmer in specific because that’s where I have the most knowledge regarding how the class works. Ranging from elite specializations being too strong, to other weapons and other specializations being underwhelming, and ideas on how to bring them in line with the rest of their counterparts. So without further adieu. Here is the list of changes I propose. Along with the video below. Enjoy

Countless

Weapon Changes
Off hand Sword:

illusionary reposte: Block incoming attacks for a short duration and create an illusion when attacked
Damage: 36
Block Duration 1 1/2 seconds

Counter Blade: Swap places with the illusion created by illusionary riposte and release the energy stored by your blocked attack in a area of effect by stabbing your sword in the ground, knocking enemies down within the radius. "the animation will be similar to greatsword 3, except with a off hand sword instead without the illusionary blade animation afterwards”. You will only have a 5 second window to swap after a successful block “same amount of time as main hand sword 3”

-Damage : 710
-Radius: 240
-Max targets knocked down: 3
-Knockdown time: 1 second
-Range: 600
-Cast time : ¾ second. You can cast this while moving

Phantasmal Swordsman: This ability is now summoned on the target, similar to phantasmal beserker.

Reasoning – At its current state, off hand sword isn’t even worth mentioning. So these suggestions would bring its defensive capabilities in line, as well as having some good aoe damage with cc capability that comparable with pistol and focus. However the cc isn’t free, and you must both successfully block an attack, and line up your clone with an enemy on top of a 3/4 second cast that can be easily interrupted to make up for it’s considerable damage. And when it comes to the swordsman change, I’ve never seen a slower phantasm in my life. I could go for a jog, come back and my swordsman still wouldn’t have traveled to the target, this is very needed change.

*Shield: *

Tides Of Time: This skill no longer stuns enemies on its return trip. However touching the wave still reduces the cooldown of this skill.

Reasoning – Any weapon ability that has the power to stun ten people in a conquest game is unacceptable in simple terms. There isn’t another weapon that I know of that has the same amount of control. So with that change it will still give shield really good cc, but not to the point where it’s completely overblown in comparison to every other weapon mesmer has to offer.

Off Hand Focus:

Phantasmal Warden: This phantasm now chases its target until destroyed or shattered. There is no stop and go animation between attacks.

Reasoning: Simple change, before you could walk away three feet and not have to worry about warden until it’s attack was over waiting for the phantasm to reposition. This way it’s always trying to get the best position on you, despite if the target is moving.

Domination

Imagined Burden: Your Greatsword skills are improved
-Spacial Surge – Number of targets increased from 3 to 4
-Mirror Blade – Gives 4 stacks of might instead of 3 –
-Mind Stab – removes 2 boons from foes, removes 1 condition from you if you are inside the skills aoe radius.
-Phantasmal Beserker – Number of impacts increased from 4 to 5
-illusionary wave – knockback increased to 600 up from 450

Blurred Inscriptions: Conditions removed increased from 1 to 2

Mental Anguish : Shatter skills deal more damage, This damage increase
is higher against foes that have 20 or more stacks of vulnerability
-damage increase 15%
-damage increase with 20 stacks of vuln – 35%

Power Block : Interrupts deal damage and inflict weakness, Enemy skills
that you interrupt have an increased cooldown. (If you interrupt a skill
that has no recharge, weakness duration is increased from 5 seconds to 7.5.)
Damage 399

Reasoning:

Imagined Burden: The old version of this skill felt very passive, and didn’t reward the player for active play. This redesign idea brings more utility, damage, and survivability to greatsword. And it also offers a unique mechanic to clearing a condition, forcing the placer to sometimes having to use the cooldown on himself for survivability instead of damage. When it comes to mental anguish it puts more importance on vulnerability, which makes sense compared to the old version because vulnerability simply increases condition and power damage, and now this trait amplifies it based off how many stacks of vuln you have on a target, not to mention it gives you more of a incentive to spec into rending shatter. When it comes to power block the idea was meant to give you some type of reasoning to spec into block despite going against classes that don’t have skill recharges such as thieves for example.

Dueling

Duelists Discipline: Chance to bleed has been increased to 66%

Fencer’s Finesse: Gain a stacking ferocity effect when you successfully block
with off hand sword “illusionary riposte” OR for when you or one of your illusions strikes with main hand sword.
Reduces recharge on sword skills

Fencer’s finesse 6 seconds: 15 ferocity
maximum stacks: 20
sword and offhand sword recharge reduced: 20%

Reasoning: This addon to Fencer’s Finesse was meant to give you further incentive to spec into the trait because of the added functionality of off hand sword 4, again rewarding the player through active play through giving another way to stack ferocity through blocking of sword 4 only, not to mention buffing the skill to 20 stacks instead of 10.

Inspiration

Wardens Feedback: is now in the place of Temporal Enchanter, and vice versa.

Wardens Feedback: Your focus skills have been improved. Focus recharge reduced by 20%

Temporal Curtain: Now also grants super speed to yourself and allies for 3 seconds upon first entering. Reflects projectiles

Into The Void: Now cripples foes upon activation. Damages all foes based off how many are enemies pulled.

Max number of of foes crippled: 5
-Cripple duration: 3 seconds
-Void Damage 1 Enemy : 210
-Void Damage 2 Enemies : 231
-Void Damage 3 Enemies: 252
-Void Damage 4 Enemies: 273
-Void Damage 5 Enemies: 294

Reasoning: Adding new mobility, soft cc, and damage to Into the Void if you trait for it. Personally I think the idea behind into the void is unique, and rewards the player with more damage based off good placement of the skill. On top of the missle reflect and cooldown reduction the new additions make it a now well rounded weapon that can easily compete with the rest of the mesmer off hand weapons.

Chronomancer:

Illusionary Reversion: This is simply stating a bug that allows a player to exploit illusionary reversion. I wont go into this bug in great detail, simply to let the devs know of its existence.

Continuum Split: Skill has been increased from 90 seconds to 110 seconds

Chaos

Mirror Of Anguish: When disabled by stun, daze, knockback, pull, knockdown, sink, float, fear, taunt, or launch, your next attack will mimic whatever control effect you were effected by to the enemy.

Activation Duration: 5 seconds

Reasoning: This simply gets rid of the passive nonsense and gives active play to the user and opponent by via on screen proc.

Utility Skill

Mimic – The cooldown of mimic is double of whatever skill you used it to copy

Reasoning: The way it is now, mimic is pretty redundant if you wish to use it on a lower cooldown utility because of its long cd. This change will make it worthwhile on lower cd utility skills, and more punishing on higher cd utility skills.

Elite Skill

Signet Of Humility: The duration of moa form has been decreased from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.

Reasoning: A ten second lockdown is simply too much, not to mention the overall gimmicky mechanics behind how it functions in general not to mention with continuum split compounding its effects. I thought of the idea of not having elite skills be available during split, however moa was the only one that made it a serious problem compared to its other elite counterparts, therefore decreasing moa’s duration was the only logical choice in my opinion.

Hopefully you enjoyed my list video, and it gives you some insight on how to possibly promote build diversity to not only mesmer, but to other classes as well.

CS and shield skills are definitely OP and need shave. I think shield 5 should be daze instead of stun. Shield 4 second chain deja vu should not summon another iavenger.

But I don’t think Moa needs nerf. 5 sec Moa on a 180 sec CD is pretty much useless. The guy who got moa’ed simply dodge and moa5 and the duration is almost over.

If you nerf moa like this, it won’t improve diversity. The only thing that will happen is that everyone will use gravity well instead.

I’m way more keen to suggest that csplit no longer interacts with Elites, and it must be used for a damage avoidance / heal combo / damage combo.

Such a widely applicable, not to mention cool skill and every Mesmer in PvP uses it to just to transform people into flipping birds.

Edit: The skill cap would be raised if you didn’t just only flick it on before casting an elite every time. Accumulating clones, enough to get your utility/shatter combo off, that’s my ideal usage.

I also think CS not interacting with elite is a good change.

But this should be a PvP-only change since it will hurt PvE mesmer greatly.

No mention of a reduced cooldown for Time Warp??

The change to quickness/slow no longer affecting rez/stomps was a huge nerf to Time Warp in sPvP. Sure, it still might have a place in raids and WvW, but it surely deserves a 120sec cd now?

Also, I think Imagined Burden could be improved by adding “slow” to the trait. But I like the Mind stab idea. (It does need more).

And this is why PvP and PvE balance needs to be separated. I understand people don’t like being Moa’ed. I don’t like it, but PvP isn’t the only game mode and honestly it’s not the biggest in the game.
There’s three game modes and I know they say it would be hard to balance them seperate but it can’t be much worse than it is now. I’m sure they try and do what they feel is right, but sometimes I feel they don’t understand the changes they make. With a dedicated PvP team you can have grouch and Evan telling them to look into this or that and it be the sole focus for that team.
But I digress, they could give every player a legendary of their choosing, 3k gems, and a llama and someone would complain.

SlimChance.6593:

No mention of a reduced cooldown for Time Warp??

The change to quickness/slow no longer affecting rez/stomps was a huge nerf to Time Warp in sPvP. Sure, it still might have a place in raids and WvW, but it surely deserves a 120sec cd now?

Also, I think Imagined Burden could be improved by adding “slow” to the trait. But I like the Mind stab idea. (It does need more).

The problem with that is most PvP’ers don’t care about balance for PvE. Hence why people get kitten over balance changes or the lack there of.

Instead of double Time Warping in PvE, you’re still able to csplit all your utilities and heal for utility.

Doesn’t that highlight a problem with core Mesmer PvE/PvP underpoweredness as well

These are quite sensible suggestions. The Moa thing is difficult to work out though. Reducing its duration to 5 seconds undermines its use by core Mesmer. Disallowing F5 with elites causes issues for other double elite castings that aren’t causing balance problems. I’m not sure what Anet will go for really.

I’d love to see similarly sensible suggestions for every other class.

While I don’t agree with all the suggestions Countless has suggested, I’m on the separate game mode = separate balance bandwagon. As said in the video, one side of the games meta should not dictate the other.

Without going into every bullet made, I’d like to add that I feel:
- Trait lines should solidify a distinct side of a class. Each one making a player exceptional in a specific aspect of the class. While picking 3 lets you exceptional to a specific build. It seems bassackwards to pick up for example phantasm traits in multiple trees. Instead the three tier option should separate damage/defense/utility. This way you can’t have the best damage, utility, and defense at the same time; however you don’t have to go on a scavenger hunt to pair them as well. Players should be able to get exactly what they want from traits, no fluff.

- If balance needs to be done, I’m in favor of everything being good, instead of bringing good things down to the unusable level. In which case you can have a very balanced but boring game no one has any desire to play….

- Traited weapons… These have always been in an odd place. Great to the point you need it to play with a specific weapon, underwhelming to the point there is no reason for trait allocation, or in a place that isn’t advantages to take take an entire trait line. I’d like to suggest a “weapon buff” which could be selected in much the same way an amulet or rune is.. (imgur picture for reference, A+ artwork here) http://imgur.com/DLsoYpM . This would allow players to select ONE weapon of the 2-4 weapons they have selected and buff it. Secondly, I think it would be a great change to make this buff improve or change the functionality of the weapon to suit a build or players play-style.

eh.. I’m long winded so that’s it for now. cheers

Simonoly.4352:

These are quite sensible suggestions. The Moa thing is difficult to work out though. Reducing its duration to 5 seconds undermines its use by core Mesmer. Disallowing F5 with elites causes issues for other double elite castings that aren’t causing balance problems. I’m not sure what Anet will go for really.

I’d love to see similarly sensible suggestions for every other class.

It’s a good point, and one I thought of when thinking comparing the pros and cons when netween nerfing moa in one hand, to disallowing f5 elites in the other, gutting the functionality. However the change to moa is only a slight nerf to core mesmer while the change to not allowing f5 to work with elite skills is much more drastic.

Countless

Chaith.8256:

I’m way more keen to suggest that csplit no longer interacts with Elites, and it must be used for a damage avoidance / heal combo / damage combo.

Such a widely applicable, not to mention cool skill and every Mesmer in PvP uses it to just to transform people into flipping birds.

Edit: The skill cap would be raised if you didn’t just only flick it on before casting an elite every time. Accumulating clones, enough to get your utility/shatter combo off, that’s my ideal usage.

When gravity well was the main elite for the meta build there weren’t people arguing that CS shouldn’t affect it. So arguably it’s not the split people have a problem with – it’s the moa elite. Therefore moa should be nerfed, not the split. Or ya know we can just continue trashing everything chrono was created for for HoT. Hue.

There is only one route to true balance. #BATGMI

Trigr.6481:

Simonoly.4352:

These are quite sensible suggestions. The Moa thing is difficult to work out though. Reducing its duration to 5 seconds undermines its use by core Mesmer. Disallowing F5 with elites causes issues for other double elite castings that aren’t causing balance problems. I’m not sure what Anet will go for really.

I’d love to see similarly sensible suggestions for every other class.

It’s a good point, and one I thought of when thinking comparing the pros and cons when netween nerfing moa in one hand, to disallowing f5 elites in the other, gutting the functionality. However the change to moa is only a slight nerf to core mesmer while the change to not allowing f5 to work with elite skills is much more drastic.

Countless

Props to Countless for a nice job.

I think you’re off about your moa change/cs elite nerf though. There’s no reason why Moa can’t be unique in that it can’t be doubled up with CS. If we look at Timewarp, it has been singled out as unique in that traiting for Glamors doesnt get the benefit of reduced CD.

If it can happen with a trait to elite, there’s precedence for an elite being singled out to not function with other features (such as CS) for the sake of balance.

5s, or 50% slasher nerf to Moa duration is pointless. If you’re going to make it useless, you might as well remove it from the game. Moa is unique and it’s purpose is to be a situation/gamechanger. That there is a situation/gamechanging effect in the game is a good thing, it adds a layer of fun and excitement to an otherwise mundane field of play. The only problem people seem to be facing is that the situation/gamechanging feature is happening with to much frequency. That’s all. It can create the same snowball effect (and associated feelings) people get when facing a pro 5 man team roflstomp. Which isnt a good thing either XD

@Countless

I do not get the Warden change? If it chases the target and the target kites, so its still useless since it wont be able to attack the kiting target?

Unless you meant to say his attack is not rooted anymore?

This is another problem that people need to see.

INSPIRATION is kinda a mandatory pick for condition removal.

We need more other options like, Condition removal from weapon sets (Like Ele Earth focus 4),

Maybe even improving the signet trait to remove 2 conditions from you and allies?

As it stands now, the condition spam in the game is too much and you HAVE to get INSPIRATION

StickerHappy.8052:

@Countless

I do not get the Warden change? If it chases the target and the target kites, so its still useless since it wont be able to attack the kiting target?

Unless you meant to say his attack is not rooted anymore?

My take was that the attack was not rooted. He’d constantly pursue the target and spin freely.

There’s synergy between that and the curtain pull now too as that cripples. So once the target gets up from a pull, he’ll only hobble away unless he dodges. Moving the trait is perhaps the single most important change to get focus up off the ground at this point. Even still, without QoL improvements like these, it’ll never compete with shield. Though that would make it a decent weapon for base mesmer (non chrono) specs again.

Perhaps the best thing that’d make focus competitive with Shield would be to make the pull unblockable. Though reducing that cd between curtain and into the void to .5 is a must.

Ross Biddle.2367:

StickerHappy.8052:

@Countless

I do not get the Warden change? If it chases the target and the target kites, so its still useless since it wont be able to attack the kiting target?

Unless you meant to say his attack is not rooted anymore?

My take was that the attack was not rooted. He’d constantly pursue the target and spin freely.

There’s synergy between that and the curtain pull now too as that cripples. So once the target gets up from a pull, he’ll only hobble away unless he dodges. Moving the trait is perhaps the single most important change to get focus up off the ground at this point. Even still, without QoL improvements like these, it’ll never compete with shield. Though that would make it a decent weapon for base mesmer (non chrono) specs again.

Of course completely agree.

Moa needs a CD shave too if you want it to be just 5 seconds, even atleast 160.

Ross Biddle.2367:

StickerHappy.8052:

@Countless

I do not get the Warden change? If it chases the target and the target kites, so its still useless since it wont be able to attack the kiting target?

Unless you meant to say his attack is not rooted anymore?

My take was that the attack was not rooted. He’d constantly pursue the target and spin freely.

Correct

Since the inception of the current condition Mesmer I’ve thought that the #1 way to nerf, or just change it for the better, (besides the obvious moa nerf whatever it is) is to change illusionary reversion and chronophantasma. Make these traits trigger ONLY when the clones actually blow up from the shatter and ONLY if they hit, so if they’re dodged or blocked you get no clones back. I think this would be an extremely good change to the trait and would greatly promote skillful play and counterplay

Mooncow.6847:

Since the inception of the current condition Mesmer I’ve thought that the #1 way to nerf, or just change it for the better, (besides the obvious moa nerf whatever it is) is to change illusionary reversion and chronophantasma. Make these traits trigger ONLY when the clones actually blow up from the shatter and ONLY if they hit, so if they’re dodged or blocked you get no clones back. I think this would be an extremely good change to the trait and would greatly promote skillful play and counterplay

Shattering is gated by shatter cd’s. Shatter fodder should be present and accounted for if built for.

Great work, I agree with nearly everything and believe that this is a step in the right direction for this game. As of now I am quickly becoming fed up with the powercreep and lack of skillful counterplay that was so characteristic of Gw2 prior to HoT. Anyways I forsee a long break and or quitting of the game in the near future if PvP remains in its current state.

By the way I was wondering if you overlooked chronophantasma as I believe that it is a key contributor to the entire spam your shatters mesmer fad.

Chaith.8256:

Instead of double Time Warping in PvE, you’re still able to csplit all your utilities and heal for utility.

Doesn’t that highlight a problem with core Mesmer PvE/PvP underpoweredness as well

Of course, something a lot of people have been pointing out for a long time, heck even comparing dps tests for PvE you see Mesmer is bottom of the barrel at 10-13k, next is Druid on about 13-15k followed by warrior at 17-18k. Everyone else is pulling 20k+ some go up considerably with double epidemic shenanigans.

However here’s a problem, if they buff the utilities and skills to be good on their own, how do you balance it against being able to use them back to back? Suddenly balancing by cool down is meaningless and we’ve all seen that ANet does this more often than it should whether for good or bad reasons.

I say change the mechanic or get rid of it. Start doing a long overdue overhaul of the phantasm mechanic. Then if Chrono is UP vs other elites then buff it in quickness, alacrity, slow and maybe chill application.

TheLargeUnit.2793:

Great work, I agree with nearly everything and believe that this is a step in the right direction for this game. As of now I am quickly becoming fed up with the powercreep and lack of skillful counterplay that was so characteristic of Gw2 prior to HoT. Anyways I forsee a long break and or quitting of the game in the near future if PvP remains in its current state.

By the way I was wondering if you overlooked chronophantasma as I believe that it is a key contributor to the entire spam your shatters mesmer fad.

Not necessarily, with chronophantasma I couldn’t think of a solid solution worth noting. However if I do think of something, ill probably update this thread.

Edited for the following change:

Mimic – The cooldown of mimic is double of whatever skill you used it to copy

Reasoning: The way it is now, mimic is pretty redundant if you wish to use it on a lower cooldown utility because of its long cd. This change will make it worthwhile on lower cd utility skills, and more punishing on higher cd utility skills.