Am I the only one at least a little pleased?

Am I the only one at least a little pleased?

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Posted by: Daishi.6027

Daishi.6027

I feel like I’m the only one relatively pleased with this spec.

It will not do as well as condi chrono especially on point. It strait up lacks the same output, and close quarters/bruisery-ish surviability.

But in terms of just out playing opponents, and giving us more options to hide our burst in a PvP/WvW setting, and giving us even more mobility than before, I think it has potential at it’s skill ceiling.

I don’t deny it NEEDS some buffs, GS Ambush being a prime example, and Jaunt definetly needs to be a bit further. Also yeah, in PvE it brings literally nothing to the group. But it’s not like we don’t still have chrono, and when we finally do get the ability to DPS really hard like the way holo can, we probably wont be constantly evading, dropping target, and juking.

So sure, Condi Chrono will be stronger head to head. Condi Mirage will probably still be better than power, other than the gap left from giving up shield. But Power Mirage is like old power shatter, but with the mobility to actually do things it only wished it could do before.

I realize I’m the outlier, and it wont impose on chrono’s spot, and to be honest I kind of like that Chrono is keeping it’s place. I would have liked more Raid/Fractal vaiablity, and it may be incredibly subjective; but I’ve been having quite a bit of fun with what it offers so far.

Edit: Brought up controversy of False Oasis in 3rd post. Will copy here for discussion sake.

“One thing I also don’t get is the hate on False Oasis. It only heals slightly less than Troll Urgent (8496 vs 8100), While oasis is faster to hit it’s cap, gives vigor, and the opportunity to doge+ambush. With the amount of doges and mobility we have I’ve found it to be pretty good even if it could use some tweaks. (I’d prefer flat endurance than vigor) Also btw you don’t need to be near the oasis to get the healing.”

“I control time and space; you can’t break free.~”
“Maybe I was the illusion all along!”

(edited by Daishi.6027)

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Posted by: glenndevis.8327

glenndevis.8327

Im somewhat pleased too. I really like the idea of Mirage and the scepter ambush feels great. The Mirage Cloak mechanic is quite nice.
Casting while dodging, Dodging while stomping,… quite nice.

But yeah it has a lot of problems.
-All ambush skills other than scepter suck.
-Mirage Mirrors are a bad idea and they’re annoying.
-Traits are a mess (mostly that all of the shatter traits, which mesmer has a LOT of, contradict what Mirage is supposed to do. They do nothing for the spec.
-Some of the utilities aren’t useful at all.
-Axe skills are a mess. #1 & #2 are good for PvE but aren’t useful at all for PvP while #3 is good for PvP. (or it’s supposed to be but it’s not coz the confusion never lands because people run out of it before it lands.)
-Nothing changed for our shatters/no new F skill that works witht our Mirage Cloak/Ambush mechanics.

In the end I do find some fun in playing with scepter though.

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Posted by: Esplen.3940

Esplen.3940

I like the mechanics. But the entire class seems unpolished and balanced around a traitline very different than what we’re given. Perhaps the same traits, but they’ve already been nerfed and shuffled.

The unpolished is a lot of mechanics feel off and don’t work well (IAmbush/Axe3 putting you with wrong facing/out of range, MAdvance cast time/range req, Jaunt almost requires quick-cast due to low range, False Oasis small drawn out heal). The list of problems is really long and incorporates almost everything given.

One thing to note is that I’m almost entirely sure that the ambushes are balanced around Infinite Horizon, which is kind of counter-intuitive to how major traits and class mechanics should be built. The reason I say that is that all of the ambushes are pretty lackluster and weak when done with just you. You can trait them to be decent, but the only way they’re “out of control” is if you chain them with multiple clones. They aren’t ever actually powerful by themselves.

Mirage feels like a non-elite line as it is now. I’m not saying that the weapon, utilities, or mechanics are bad in concept, they just aren’t tuned to Mesmer… or the game, really. The spec doesn’t need to be scrapped, but it’s not polished. Things need to get smoothed out, moved around, and upgraded, to be completely honest. In the current state I don’t see it having many viable options.

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Posted by: Daishi.6027

Daishi.6027

Im somewhat pleased too. I really like the idea of Mirage and the scepter ambush feels great. The Mirage Cloak mechanic is quite nice.
Casting while dodging, Dodging while stomping,… quite nice.

But yeah it has a lot of problems.
-All ambush skills other than scepter suck.
-Mirage Mirrors are a bad idea and they’re annoying.
-Traits are a mess (mostly that all of the shatter traits, which mesmer has a LOT of, contradict what Mirage is supposed to do. They do nothing for the spec.
-Some of the utilities aren’t useful at all.
-Axe skills are a mess. #1 & #2 are good for PvE but aren’t useful at all for PvP while #3 is good for PvP. (or it’s supposed to be but it’s not coz the confusion never lands because people run out of it before it lands.)
-Nothing changed for our shatters/no new F skill that works witht our Mirage Cloak/Ambush mechanics.

In the end I do find some fun in playing with scepter though.

I’ve actually been warming up to sword ambush. With Domination line having an easy access stun from just doge has been kinda cool. and the untargeted mobility has been really handy. Even off confounding suggestions the daze has been more reliable than I initially thought. I’m clearly not running infinite horizon though. Elusive mind with Jaunt and inspiration line is tons condi clear and easy access stunbreaker/sudo stunbreakers

I hated how sword ambush looked on paper, but in practice the 3/4 cast feels about normal, even tho I do wish it was faster.

Mirrors are a pain I agree 100% they should last for at least double their duration.

and yeah Axe does feel like a bit of a mess in PvP.

“I control time and space; you can’t break free.~”
“Maybe I was the illusion all along!”

(edited by Daishi.6027)

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Posted by: Esplen.3940

Esplen.3940

One issue I have with Sword Ambush is the scaling. In PvE with 3300+ power, this is the damage of the Sword Ambush vs Sword Autos.

It’s a Power weapon with a Power Ambush. It does daze and spawn a clone, but does that justify making it weaker than a sword auto while taking longer?

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Posted by: Daishi.6027

Daishi.6027

One thing I also don’t get is the hate on False Oasis. It only heals slightly less than Troll Urgent (8496 vs 8100), While oasis is faster to hit it’s cap, gives vigor, and the opportunity to doge+ambush. With the amount of doges and mobility we have I’ve found it to be pretty good even if it could use some tweaks. (I’d prefer flat endurance than vigor) Also btw you don’t need to be near the oasis to get the healing.

@Esplen No I agree it should be stronger. However I think we might be falling into some trap believing that all of them need to be powerful in terms of damage. I mostly care if they are useful. Greatsword Ambush for example is anything but. All it offers is damage, and the damage is negligible.

“I control time and space; you can’t break free.~”
“Maybe I was the illusion all along!”

(edited by Daishi.6027)

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Posted by: Esplen.3940

Esplen.3940

I’m a PvE player, I do raids, fractals, dungeons (those still exist?) and honestly I can’t see myself using Sword on Mirage because you’re losing out on so much for a daze and a clone. If you want clone gen, you can use Deceptions and Deceptive Evasion. if you want dazes.. F3, Moa, MoD, SoD, Pistol5, Scepter2, Sword4, Focus4 all do the same job but better.

It doesn’t have to be godly damage, but if your class mechanic is weaker than an auto attack, there’s something wrong. (Also GS ambush is weaker than a GS auto attack, and Spear ambush is weaker than a spear auto attack.)

I’m not going to quit saying it: All the ambushes are scaled as if we have 3 clones with Infinite Horizon. That’s the only way any of the ambushes do anything significant. Even Scepter Ambush is basically a mini Scepter3 merged with Phase Retreat (without any clones).

As for False Oasis I think people are just knee jerk reacting. The only dilemma I see with it is the Mirror being placed where you cast it. I would like to see it become a ground target so you can predict or even set up something.

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Posted by: Daishi.6027

Daishi.6027

I’m a PvE player, I do raids, fractals, dungeons (those still exist?) and honestly I can’t see myself using Sword on Mirage because you’re losing out on so much for a daze and a clone. If you want clone gen, you can use Deceptions and Deceptive Evasion. if you want dazes.. F3, Moa, MoD, SoD, Pistol5, Scepter2, Sword4, Focus4 all do the same job but better.

It doesn’t have to be godly damage, but if your class mechanic is weaker than an auto attack, there’s something wrong. (Also GS ambush is weaker than a GS auto attack, and Spear ambush is weaker than a spear auto attack.)

I’m not going to quit saying it: All the ambushes are scaled as if we have 3 clones with Infinite Horizon. That’s the only way any of the ambushes do anything significant. Even Scepter Ambush is basically a mini Scepter3 merged with Phase Retreat (without any clones).

As for False Oasis I think people are just knee jerk reacting. The only dilemma I see with it is the Mirror being placed where you cast it. I would like to see it become a ground target so you can predict or even set up something.

From a PvE persepctive I totally get it, and again I 100% agree that the damage should be higher, but does infinite horizon cause illusions to do decent damage beyond w/e their effect is? The damage is so low so I’ve never payed attention, and since I haven’t been running it I haven’t had much opportunity to notice.

But in regards to sword ambush would it not be good vs break bars? I could almost imgine a sw/sw + sw/focus set which was pretty common and with energy runes you could spam those dazes pretty quickly without relying on mirrors. (not to say that is an efficient thing to do, but wouldn’t at least one 3 clone sword ambush do a number on the bar?)

“I control time and space; you can’t break free.~”
“Maybe I was the illusion all along!”

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Posted by: Esplen.3940

Esplen.3940

But in regards to sword ambush would it not be good vs break bars? I could almost imgine a sw/sw + sw/focus set which was pretty common and with energy runes you could spam those dazes pretty quickly without relying on mirrors. (not to say that is an efficient thing to do, but wouldn’t at least one 3 clone sword ambush do a number on the bar?)

With 3 sword clones (lolwat?) you’ll be doing 400 breakbar damage. If you trait stun, you’ll do 400 breakbar damage.

Moa does 1000 breakbar damage, Graviy Well does 550 breakbar damage, Magic Bullet does 200 breakbar damage to 2 targets, Sword4/Scepter2 do 100 breakbar damage.

The only use I see for it is a quick 800 breakbar off of Sword ambush → Diversion but that’s… never going to happen because the setup and execution mean you’ve done nothing for quite a while.

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Posted by: Oxlade.6931

Oxlade.6931

I’m traveling with work at the moment and havent had the pleasure of trying out the new specs. I’m with you, Esplen, I’m more of a PvE player than WvW/PvP.
Can you see the new spec with axe being a PvE spec for fractals, dungeons, raids etc?

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Posted by: Jojo.6140

Jojo.6140

Also yeah, in PvE it brings literally nothing to the group. But it’s not like we don’t still have chrono, and when we finally do get the ability to DPS really hard like the way holo can, we probably wont be constantly evading, dropping target, and juking.

And here is the problem: With chrono we already have an elite specialization with tons of ways to avoid damage with all the blocks and distortion. We however dont have a single option to make it a good damage dealer.

A spec that has some dmg potential would also make playing through the expansion a lot more enjoyable, since for the general pve content like open world and story instances, what matters are your offensive capabilities.

I dont get the point of this new spec. Mesmer already has high base-hp and distortion. Im just wondering how the dev-meeting for the mirage went. “Yeah, lets focus this spec about dmg-avoiding, this is what the mesmer truely lacks and what will offer new playstyles.”? I just dont get it.

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Posted by: Daishi.6027

Daishi.6027

But in regards to sword ambush would it not be good vs break bars? I could almost imgine a sw/sw + sw/focus set which was pretty common and with energy runes you could spam those dazes pretty quickly without relying on mirrors. (not to say that is an efficient thing to do, but wouldn’t at least one 3 clone sword ambush do a number on the bar?)

With 3 sword clones (lolwat?) you’ll be doing 400 breakbar damage. If you trait stun, you’ll do 400 breakbar damage.

Moa does 1000 breakbar damage, Graviy Well does 550 breakbar damage, Magic Bullet does 200 breakbar damage to 2 targets, Sword4/Scepter2 do 100 breakbar damage.

The only use I see for it is a quick 800 breakbar off of Sword ambush -> Diversion but that’s… never going to happen because the setup and execution mean you’ve done nothing for quite a while.

I haven’t raided so I don’t know how in depth the numbers get and the nuances of what is viable and what isn’t. So forgive my ignorance as a player murdering pleb.

But 400 on something relatively spammable doesn’t sound awful? Even a 2 clone ambush at 300 + diversion for a quick 700 seems alright by comparision when Gravity well is 550, and Moa is 1000. Plus I’m still under the impression that with mirrors you can do this multiple times, so like a two clone 300 ambush x 2 gives you 600 with little investment.

I don’t know how high Raid bosses get but isn’t the average boss monster out side of raids (including fractals) about 600? So even without doing it twice that is half the bar for at worst the cost of a doge?

What am I missing?

@Jojo I’m pretty sure they just said "Hey! Let’s give mes more teef things!

Which to be fair, apart from auto attack damage and skipping content what role did core thief ever have back in the day when warriors and eles were speed running dungeons?

“I control time and space; you can’t break free.~”
“Maybe I was the illusion all along!”

(edited by Daishi.6027)

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Posted by: Toeofdoom.6152

Toeofdoom.6152

I find it interesting so far – but mainly been poking at the technical aspect instead of playing properly.

In terms of optimised PvE, it only offers condi damage boosts – it looks like it will improve the i-duelist spec but that has well known limitations.

The odd thing is… axe clones seem to stack a very high amount of condis themselves, to the point where my calculations show them applying more than iduelists or staff clones – before you even start using ambushes. Obviously they don’t come with any power damage, but actually having cleave and a short ramp up time counts for something.

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Posted by: Mastamaker.2957

Mastamaker.2957

The limitations of iDuelist are somewhat mitigated if you use Axe 3 and the new deception utility that retargets all illusions. As long as there aren’t a million mobs it should be relatively easy to keep phantasms up and switch targets.

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Posted by: musu.9205

musu.9205

The limitations of iDuelist are somewhat mitigated if you use Axe 3 and the new deception utility that retargets all illusions. As long as there aren’t a million mobs it should be relatively easy to keep phantasms up and switch targets.

for what exactly ?still no aoe still not good enough dps .
lave font adds while we target one by one while wasting so many skills + trait line for such basic thing ?

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Posted by: Esplen.3940

Esplen.3940

But in regards to sword ambush would it not be good vs break bars? I could almost imgine a sw/sw + sw/focus set which was pretty common and with energy runes you could spam those dazes pretty quickly without relying on mirrors. (not to say that is an efficient thing to do, but wouldn’t at least one 3 clone sword ambush do a number on the bar?)

With 3 sword clones (lolwat?) you’ll be doing 400 breakbar damage. If you trait stun, you’ll do 400 breakbar damage.

Moa does 1000 breakbar damage, Graviy Well does 550 breakbar damage, Magic Bullet does 200 breakbar damage to 2 targets, Sword4/Scepter2 do 100 breakbar damage.

The only use I see for it is a quick 800 breakbar off of Sword ambush -> Diversion but that’s… never going to happen because the setup and execution mean you’ve done nothing for quite a while.

I haven’t raided so I don’t know how in depth the numbers get and the nuances of what is viable and what isn’t. So forgive my ignorance as a player murdering pleb.

But 400 on something relatively spammable doesn’t sound awful? Even a 2 clone ambush at 300 + diversion for a quick 700 seems alright by comparision when Gravity well is 550, and Moa is 1000. Plus I’m still under the impression that with mirrors you can do this multiple times, so like a two clone 300 ambush x 2 gives you 600 with little investment.

I don’t know how high Raid bosses get but isn’t the average boss monster out side of raids (including fractals) about 600? So even without doing it twice that is half the bar for at worst the cost of a doge?

What am I missing?

I mean, 800 breakbar damage is really good even though many Raid breakbars sit around 2-5k-ish. The problem, however, is that’s pure theoretical mumbo jumbo. You’re not going to have 3 sword clones out. You will, AT MOST, have 1 out and it will have a specific purpose (extra duration on CS aka no Mirage or boon strip aka no Ambush). Also, breakbars aren’t up constantly, so you’ll effectively be unable to dodge most of the time in addition to having to have your clones up for break phases. It’s great on paper, but when you take the moment to think about application it falls apart really, really fast. If it’s a 6th weapon skill, sure, why not. But if it interrupts your auto attack chain, pops up when you dodge, and is effectively everything your entire trait line is about, you’re going to run into a lot of problems.

I’m traveling with work at the moment and havent had the pleasure of trying out the new specs. I’m with you, Esplen, I’m more of a PvE player than WvW/PvP.
Can you see the new spec with axe being a PvE spec for fractals, dungeons, raids etc?

Well, I told myself I would drop Chronomancer as soon as PoF hits so I’m going to be running Mirage regardless. The reason for that is because I hate how Shields take up the same slot as backpacks and wings. It bothers me so much that I’m done with Chrono. When it comes to raids, though, I’ll run what I need to run and it’s most definitely not going to be Mirage in its current state. For Fractals, I can’t see it being ran, because it’s too vulnerable. Dungeons don’t really matter, you can run what you want although you’ll be tweaking traits/utilities/weapons per boss/dungeon as per normal Mesmer routine.

Raids I can’t see Mirage being useful. Although, to be fair, I also think Condi Mesmer is a meme build that shouldn’t exist. The only “argument” I really hear about running it is it’s safe dps and it brings reflects. However, a Chrono can easily bring reflects without hampering their rotation, and if the Chrono is set up with 100% Boon Duration via Chaos, they can run a traited focus without even touching their utilities. For Cairn… I guess? But honestly Condi Mes is only “safe” because the dps comes from Phants.

In current raid setups, Condi Mirage would be in place of Condi Mes so Matthias and Cairn, both of which would suck for Mirage. You can’t use Axe3 against either Cairn or Matthias as random positioning in raid fights can be death. Axe2 could be used, but won’t be able to be spammed as is necessary for such a skill. Unless you were to use a rotation of Phant auto → shatter → clones → ambush → shatter which requires a lot of precision, you’re probably better off being pure Condi Mes as the notable gains for going Mirage would be Condi Damage on Vigor and Condi Duration. Also, that kind of precision defeats the purpose for being a Mesmer on Cairn or Matthias as now you have a rotation that requires positioning and constant focus.

So… I don’t see Mirage in a very good place. It was made to fight against Players and, from what it looks like, it doesn’t do that job well enough to solidify its place in any game mode meta.

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Posted by: Exciton.8942

Exciton.8942

One thing I also don’t get is the hate on False Oasis. It only heals slightly less than Troll Urgent (8496 vs 8100), While oasis is faster to hit it’s cap, gives vigor, and the opportunity to doge+ambush. With the amount of doges and mobility we have I’ve found it to be pretty good even if it could use some tweaks. (I’d prefer flat endurance than vigor) Also btw you don’t need to be near the oasis to get the healing.

@Esplen No I agree it should be stronger. However I think we might be falling into some trap believing that all of them need to be powerful in terms of damage. I mostly care if they are useful. Greatsword Ambush for example is anything but. All it offers is damage, and the damage is negligible.

You are comparing it with a bad heal skill.

Which meta ranger build uses troll unguent? The skill hasn’t been on their utility bar since HoT came. The only reason they ever take the skill before was to trait it to 20 sec CD. 8k heal every 20 sec is not too bad I guess. But pulsing heal is just not as good as burst heal.

(edited by Exciton.8942)

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Posted by: Toeofdoom.6152

Toeofdoom.6152

The limitations of iDuelist are somewhat mitigated if you use Axe 3 and the new deception utility that retargets all illusions. As long as there aren’t a million mobs it should be relatively easy to keep phantasms up and switch targets.

Yeah that helps but it still has hefty ramp up time, no AoE and generally prevents use of shatters for utility while locking you into utilities and weapons that don’t really appear to be optimal dps in such a scenario.

Also sometimes there are a million mobs

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Posted by: Hot Boy.7138

Hot Boy.7138

I strongly feel that Mirage should have gotten dual axes. Mirage really needs an offhand that compliments the spec and the main hand weapon well. The offhand weapon needs to be developed from the ground up. I don’t feel like any of the current offhands now truly go well with the mirage, with the exception of the offhand sword because it is the only one that produces a regular clone with its block. The fact that all the offhand weapons have a phantasm on it, just feels like a waste because the build is really not meant for phantasm. It’s meant for ordinary clones.

I really think anet needs to develop an offhand to go along with this spec.

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Posted by: Vague Memory.2817

Vague Memory.2817

I don’t like the fact that the new elite is obviously made for a condi spec, and for PvP shows how bad our off hand weapons are. I mean if you don’t go condi there is nothing good there at all. Can’t use shield because it is bound to chrono. No sure why devs have given up on power. It is far more active and enjoyable build.

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Posted by: Simonoly.4352

Simonoly.4352

The concept is promising and I like that we can chase quite well with this spec in WvW but so much needs improving that it’s difficult to really see what Mirage can offer long-term.

Gandara

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Posted by: Cyninja.2954

Cyninja.2954

I strongly feel that Mirage should have gotten dual axes. Mirage really needs an offhand that compliments the spec and the main hand weapon well. The offhand weapon needs to be developed from the ground up. I don’t feel like any of the current offhands now truly go well with the mirage, with the exception of the offhand sword because it is the only one that produces a regular clone with its block. The fact that all the offhand weapons have a phantasm on it, just feels like a waste because the build is really not meant for phantasm. It’s meant for ordinary clones.

I really think anet needs to develop an offhand to go along with this spec.

This is actually a good point.

While I don’t think an offhand would solve most of the clunkiness issues (and more and more unfun mechanics stacked on top of each other), having an offhand axe and 5 weapon skills designed specifically around Mirage may have at least made the flow of battle somewhat enjoyable.

Indeed a missed opportunity.

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Posted by: Kadj.6725

Kadj.6725

Can you see the new spec with axe being a PvE spec for fractals, dungeons, raids etc?

We’re stuck on chrono in any raid/high difficulty setting for the rest of this game’s life. Alacrity+quickness is impossible to compete with. The only exception is if there is more than 1 mesmer main per 4 other players, and then I think you’d be suffering from an inferior selection.

However, a Chrono can easily bring reflects without hampering their rotation, and if the Chrono is set up with 100% Boon Duration via Chaos, they can run a traited focus without even touching their utilities.

Chaos is a trash trait line with exactly one minor trait worth something and one major trait worth debating in specific comps.

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Posted by: Carighan.6758

Carighan.6758

I think the animations are neat, and many of the ideas behind skills and traits are amazing and sound wicked.

Increase ~all numbers by 50-75%, and we’re good. Damage durations, clone health, everything.

The strength of heart to face oneself has been made manifest. The persona Carighan has appeared.

(edited by Carighan.6758)

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Posted by: Xaylin.1860

Xaylin.1860

Time for some feedback.


Overall


I personally enjoy the playstyle of the Mirage considering I never liked shatter builds too much and prefer a more thiefy way of playing Mesmers. Since interrupt builds haven’t been that feasable for a longer time this feels very refreshing.

So yeah, I do like the approach to the spec. However, many things are very clunky or simply undertuned. And while Mirage is obviously more condition focussed the alternatives to condi feel pretty lackluster. Furthermore, it doesn’t seem to cater any new ‘role’ as long as the damage isn’t there.

Just for reference: I mainly played PvP with Sw/Sw and Staff and either Dom/Duel/Mir or Duel/Chaos/Mir with a power focus. I ended up running mostly baseline utilities (Mirror, Blink, MoR, MoP and Jaunt). I enjoyed it although the damage didn’t feel that great. Hardly meta-material but viable.


Class Mechanic


I guess it is supposed to be Mirage Cloak and Ambush. I personally like Mirage Cloak but it hardly makes a specialization. It sometimes feels like Daredevil without the GM traits or not enough Endurance. Like others said, I feel that Infinite Horizon is the ‘real’ new mechanic and should be baseline to the spec (meaning: Minor trait).

Ambushs, again, are great in concept but poor in execution. The frame for Ambush attacks got to at least be 3s to not result in brainless #1 smashing. Additionally, many attacks have too long cast times. Even worse, the power based ones are either not working with traits (e.g. Sword with interrupt or on daze traits) or they are just garbage like the one for GS. The power based attack desperately need a review.

Honorable mention: Mirrors. I hate ‘to collect’ stuff in GW2. It’s a pitty those are such a great source for Mirror Cloak but I guess you can’t have it all. However: Those need waaay longer durations.

Two things to add:

  • Phantasms should as well gain some benefit from Mirage cloak. I have seen people mention Alacrity for the Phantasms. 1s reduced recharge for their attack when cloaked would work as well.
  • Ambush attacks should be available on stealth just like on Thieves. This would increase the synergy with the base class and lessen the disconnect between already existing traits and skills and the Mirage.

Axe


I don’t like conditions too much so I didn’t test it too extensively. As others mentioned: The concept is nice. But it needs some adjustments.


Utilities


False Oasis
Okay but needs a lower CD or better healing.

Crystal Sands
Not my cup of tea and has trouble with terrain. But I can see its appeal.

Illusionary Ambush and Mirage Advance
As others mentioned, the redundancy is pretty large especially when also taking Jaunt into account. My suggestion: Scrap Mirage Advance. Illusionary Ambush becomes instant but with a reduced range of 900 and places you closer to your target. Castable retreat like MA but without Endurance gain.

Sand Through Glass
Can’t compete with other Stunbreaks this way. Might need a cooldown reduction or Mirrors have to be improved. I’m also torn on wether I’d like the Mirror at my original position or at the end of the evade.

New utility
Really not sure. Too sleep deprived.

Jaunt
This desperately needs an increased range of at least 600. I’d also like to see it be a bit more defensive considering we got Crystal Sands and Illusionary Ambush. I think removing the damaging portion and adding the blind from Mirage Advance plus increasing the number of cleansed conditions to 2 would make it way more versatile.


Traits


Adept


Mirage Cloak
Not much to say. Speed of Sand should be merged with this.


Self-Deception
Too situational. What about increased cooldown recovery when affected by Vigor and regaining x Endurance when using a Deception (ICD so Jaunt can’t be abused)?

Renewing Oasis
Default option. Okay in my book. Doesn’t list Poison. An oversight?

Riddle of Sand
Considering I’m not into condi Mesmers pretty uninteresting. But I guess it’s okay especially when paired with Scepter and Illusions.


Master


Nomads Endurance
Only benefits condition builds. Make it Expertise or add Power.


Shards of Glass
This feels way too difficult to utilize appropriately. Why not actually make Mirrors useful and, for example, make them pulse something to allies while not broken or make them absorb (so there is still a difference to Duelling and Glamours) projectiles while not broken.

Mirage Mantle
Personally, I find the duration of the protection somewhat insulting. Make it grant a reasonable benefit when attacked while affected by Mirage Cloak or make it Blind and Weaken foes for a short period of time when the cloak expires. Or: Grant yourself and nearby allies 1s of Blurr when Mirage Cloak expires (ICD). Or: Distortion has a reduced cooldown and is recharged for small amount everytime you gain Mirage Cloak.

Mirrored Axes
Okay by me.


Grandmaster


Speed of Sand
This should never ever be a seperate trait, it is ridiculous. It clearly is placed here to make up for the missing distance from the new dodge. So, add it to Mirage Cloak. Put Infinite Horizon here.


Elusive Mind
A bit blant but gets the job done. I used it in the end because Infinite Horizon doesn’t really do much for power builds.

Dune Cloak
Feels okay but didn’t test it too extensively.

Speed of Sand (new)
Vigor on you is more effective and lasts longer. Gain Swiftness when you gain Vigor.

[Edit]: Whoups… Meant to post it into the feedback thread.

(edited by Xaylin.1860)

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Posted by: Levetty.1279

Levetty.1279

The problem I have with alacrity on Phantasms is we really need to move away from Phantasms being our main source of damage. They just don’t work under most situations in the game across all modes.

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Posted by: Carighan.6758

Carighan.6758

In detail, I would do these changes:

  • Ambush skills: Substantially buff all but Scepter. Then, make ambush skills always replace all illusions with clones of the correct weapon type and make them all execute the same ambush skill, full power. Meaning Mirage is a powerful DPS spec where virtually all DPS is in the ambush bursts.
  • Axe: Make it summon the clone in addition to two mirage mirrors, in a cross pattern (You move through the enemy, clone appears where you started, mirage mirrors appear to the left and right of the center point).
  • False Oasis: Increase the radius to 450 (900 total diameter). Mirage Mirror spawns on the Mesmer’s location when it runs out, assuming she is still inside. Increase healing by ~20%.
  • Jaunt: Increase range to 600. Charges are returned all at once, 20 seconds after the first charge was used.
  • Crystal Sands: Increase to ~15 projectiles of which only 5 can hit a single enemy.
  • Illusionary Ambush: Increase CD to 45 seconds, make it summon as many clones as necessary to fill up to 3 illusions.
  • Mirage Advance: Make it apply Mirage Cloak upon cast-start, and once again when you arrive at the target location.
  • Sand through glass: Reduce the CD to 20 seconds.
  • Traits: Number buff across the board.
The strength of heart to face oneself has been made manifest. The persona Carighan has appeared.

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Posted by: glenndevis.8327

glenndevis.8327

I’ve actually been warming up to sword ambush. With Domination line having an easy access stun from just doge has been kinda cool. and the untargeted mobility has been really handy. Even off confounding suggestions the daze has been more reliable than I initially thought. I’m clearly not running infinite horizon though. Elusive mind with Jaunt and inspiration line is tons condi clear and easy access stunbreaker/sudo stunbreakers

I hated how sword ambush looked on paper, but in practice the 3/4 cast feels about normal, even tho I do wish it was faster.

Mirrors are a pain I agree 100% they should last for at least double their duration.

and yeah Axe does feel like a bit of a mess in PvP.

I felt the opposite. It looked interesting on paper but in practice it doesn’t seem as satisfying or useful.

Daze/Interrupt traits not working with clones really sucks.
The mobility is great, the stun is alright (if it would work with clones as well that would be great.)

If you use it yourself with maybe other clones. it seems pretty decent but not worth taking sword over anything else. Maybe in a power shatter build.

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Posted by: Stacwad.8250

Stacwad.8250

I think it’s pretty cool

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Posted by: Thenme.6491

Thenme.6491

I don’t think anyone who hate on the spec understand the Mesmer. Mesmer was never supposed to be a PvE class, ever since guild wars 1 got out Mesmer job was to kitten with the other teams mind. mirage seems to do it wonderfully. Mesmers are illusionist who use mind tricks. you want to play heavy damage dealers, go to elementalists. the whole phantasm and shatter mechanic were more feat to necro to say the least. I mean it’s legit minion bomber. but hey Mesmer in guild wars 2 was the Mesmer of guild wars 2 since the beginning so I get why some people would feel cheated. I really like this though.

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Posted by: OriOri.8724

OriOri.8724

One thing to note is that I’m almost entirely sure that the ambushes are balanced around Infinite Horizon, which is kind of counter-intuitive to how major traits and class mechanics should be built. The reason I say that is that all of the ambushes are pretty lackluster and weak when done with just you. You can trait them to be decent, but the only way they’re “out of control” is if you chain them with multiple clones. They aren’t ever actually powerful by themselves.

Mirage feels like a non-elite line as it is now. I’m not saying that the weapon, utilities, or mechanics are bad in concept, they just aren’t tuned to Mesmer… or the game, really. The spec doesn’t need to be scrapped, but it’s not polished. Things need to get smoothed out, moved around, and upgraded, to be completely honest. In the current state I don’t see it having many viable options.

Of course they are all balanced around having 3 clones up (even though some of them still really suck, even with that). Everything about mesmer isbalanced around the assumption that you will have 3 illusions up at all times. Our sustained damage is kitten, because we might have 3 phantasms up dealing damage. Our burst damage is weak for the investment required.

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Posted by: musu.9205

musu.9205

I don’t think anyone who hate on the spec understand the Mesmer. Mesmer was never supposed to be a PvE class, ever since guild wars 1 got out Mesmer job was to kitten with the other teams mind. mirage seems to do it wonderfully. Mesmers are illusionist who use mind tricks. you want to play heavy damage dealers, go to elementalists. the whole phantasm and shatter mechanic were more feat to necro to say the least. I mean it’s legit minion bomber. but hey Mesmer in guild wars 2 was the Mesmer of guild wars 2 since the beginning so I get why some people would feel cheated. I really like this though.

can you people stop saying all those nice words , try to actually play it .
"guild wars 1 got out Mesmer job was to kitten with the other teams mind. " did you ever play gw1 mes ?
dude all you said is just some nice concept .

in actual game gw1 mes is for interrupt and in later game it became top dps . kitten with other mind is a theme for gw1 mes . there is no gameplay with that .

you are the one who doesnt understand mes in all game mode .

and people in this whole front page of mes forum listed many many problem with mirage , they are not just complaining numbers .

what we are saying is mirage is good at nothing .
i can target any mirage real mes any sec no matter how many stealth skills or tele skills he uses .
if you think that trick your foes thing ever works , you certainly didnt play mes .

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Posted by: Kadj.6725

Kadj.6725

This thread has nice, structured feedback on the profession? I’ll throw in my lot.

Overall:
I like the base mechanical concepts and the core ideas behind the elite spec. In terms of combat, the skills tend to fit what I’ve always wanted out of Mesmer, an agile combatant with more focus on Shadowsteps.

Now, onto some specifics.

Ambush:
These fire automatically as soon as conditions are met. This? This is terrible. I love the hell out of Sword, but I can see it getting me killed in, say, fractals(putting aside that I’m stuck in chrono for the rest of the game) and skyhammer, and really any other place with a change in altitude large enough to trigger fall damage/death walls/lava/etc, or in fights with a lot of AoEs.

Put these on F5, and create a new UI mechanic where we can, say, ctrl+rightclick on that skill to give it priority over autoattacks(but obviously, not interfere with that particular ctrl+rightclick). Alternatively, I’m hesitant to say “give us more keys to press” but it would be nice to see a key specifically for any conditional skills, including stealth attacks and such. But I’d prefer it on F5.

Mirage Mirrors:
I like the idea, but stationary touch-triggered objects have always been really bad. We don’t see much tactical use of engi medkit or rev energy orbs for a reason. If they could at least slowly move towards us (while not stealthed) we could get more use out of them.

Axe:
Fix #3. “Shadowstep to a random point around your target” should not mean “any valid navmesh around, including above and below, your target”.
I’m not a fan of condi so I still might not use it. I’m a little sad that it’s not viable for power, especially since axe 3 is obviously meant for phantasm support where phantasms are mainly power, but I guess I can accept that that’s just my loss this round. At a minimum though, because of all the cooldown nerfs post-chrono, I feel like some personal alacrity would not go unappreciated.

False Oasis:
Slow heals have always been bad. We barely tolerate Signet of the Ether and only because it’s an interesting utility for phantasm generation, as it is. Rebalance to 3 pulses with equal overall heal and we might have an okay start.

Crystal Sands:
This doesn’t make it into my utilities, but I feel like this is a pretty good skill. IF you nerf the damage, reduce the cooldown, but otherwise it seemed pretty decent. Kinda wish the shards had a better spread though, RNG damage isn’t fun.

(Is this a good tagging skill for WvW? I notice there’s no stated player limit.)

Illusionary Ambush:
Same deal as Axe 3, fix the axis problem. Otherwise, decent. Nice way to enable Axe 3 access to other weapons. Wish it were ammo-based but I can understand why it isn’t.

Mirage Advance:
Since Mirage is supposed to be Mesmer with a Thief subclass, I feel it stands to reason that this should be our “Steal”. Line of sight requirement and cast time holds it back, badly. I would actually consider replacing Blink with this, despite losing a stunbreak, if both of those changes were made.

Sand Through Glass:
I guess every spec needs a throwaway skill. If this chained to a leap or shadowstep that specifically targetted the mirror, it might be an interesting skill. Otherwise it just comes off as a… fairly dull skill, one that clashes with the mechanic it’s producing by putting us at a distance and providing a huge cue to our next action.

Jaunt:
I really don’t know why everyone wants more range to this. I wouldn’t say no, but I think this skill is a quite interesting elite already. It might not be great in premade pvp groups, but in ranked/unranked where you can’t rely on anyone to actually capitalize on Moa/Grav Well it’s a nice skill that lets us kick off the clone-on-deception trait.

Traits:
I haven’t thought enough about Mirage’s traits, but I will say that if it’s true that clones’ sword ambushes aren’t triggering On Interrupts, that needs to be fixed, badly. I was initially sad that they also don’t count for Confounding Suggestions, but given that Daze overwrites Stun I think I prefer it that way.

Viability:
I feel like this will be fixed by nerfing everything else down. Simply put, power creep in damage/cleaves/AoEs does not mix well with our clones’ static HP pools. Our primary mechanic should not be negated by someone autorunning at us while spamming 1, especially not since we don’t have On Clone Death traits anymore. (That might be something to consider if you drop any traits altogether. If this spec is about deception and mirages, we should be able to seriously punish people who fall for an illusion. The classic movie example is someone walking towards a mirage and realizing that salvation is yet all too far off…)

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Posted by: Amethyst Lure.5624

Amethyst Lure.5624

I’m pleased with the theme, and pleased it’s being tested in a live environment now. I only wish the specs were active during the PvE test as well, because any data would likely benefit them a lot with how big changes they make to the classes.

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Posted by: Allarius.5670

Allarius.5670

Here is a thought I wanted to run by the rest of the community to see what you think regarding the Mirage Mirror and Ambush dilemma to increase functionality and general smoothness of use:

Profession Mechanic F5 (not a shatter, goes above health globe): Mirage Mirror

  • Place a Mirage Mirror within 900 (like Crystal Sands without the confusion; also, increase mirror lifetime)
  • When you have Mirage Cloak, F5 sequences into your Ambush skill (longer window)
  • Recharges at set rate and holds additional charges (ammo mechanic)
  • Deception skills and traits that produce Mirage Mirrors now add a charge to your F5 (can be variable based on source; for example, Crystal Sands could add >1 charge)

Other Feedback

I’m enjoying it as well. I’m not saying its perfect and agree it needs something, but I AM having fun with it. This isn’t exhaustive, there is plenty of feedback going around, but here are a few thoughts.

Axe and Illusionary Ambush: Greatly reduce the distance between the mirage and illusions to their destination target when shadow stepping. Hopefully this would greatly improve flexibility and solve vertical axis problems.

Axe: Double (or more?) the range of the auto attack and Lingering Thoughts. Allow Imaginary Axes (ambush skill) to cast without having to face target. This would change axe into a “near melee” range (similar to elementalist dagger) caster-style weapon. I feel both the suggested changes would dramatically increase its functionality.

Ambush Skills: Autoattacking into mirage cloak feels clunky because of the relationship with ambush; it does not feel responsive. Window to utilize ambush skills would feel much better if increased. Possible solution suggested above.

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Posted by: Sodeni.6041

Sodeni.6041

I completely agree with you! I was so hyped for the mirage but this elite spec is just a mess.

  • The mirage lacks synergy with core mesmer trait-lines. Core trait-lines are heavily focused around shattering illusions and buffing phantasms, which are counterproductive for the mirage.
  • The mirage is clearly not meant to shatter illusions because without clones you can’t perform ambush attacks, yet we still have the same F-skills! There should absolutely be different ones that synergise with the mirage’s design.
  • Phantasms don’t do ambush attacks and are therefore worse than clones so you dont usually use one of your 5 weapon skills.
  • Even clone’s ambush attacks are very lackluster, weak and clunky.
  • Mirages are required to keep up clones, yet clones die like flies in pvp and wvw. There is simply not enough clone generation available.
  • As already mentioned, mirage cloak is a weaker dodge because of it’s reduced mobility.
  • Mirage mirrors are a clunky design. They require you to walk to them (which is very risky in pvp and wvw) to gain mirage cloak (0.75 sec) which is not worth the risk and effort.

These are my main cons I come up with.
Anet still has one month time to fix the mirage. Hopefully we will se some readjustments!

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Posted by: Curunen.8729

Curunen.8729

Oh I agree with the title – I do like quite a few things with Mirage.

However the mechanics are not fluid or synergistic yet which makes it less efficient than Chrono in every way.

Edit: eg I LOVE the animation on Chaos Vortex. I love the reflect potential with Evasive Mirror and traited Mirror Heal, I love Jaunt, I also love axe (but not the sound effect of phantasmal axes).
There are some very nice and cool features in there, even if they don’t gel properly.

(edited by Curunen.8729)

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Posted by: Lepre.2519

Lepre.2519

I agree with the title. There are a lot of fun things in this Spec that are being overlooked.

1.) In combat mobility. With Axe 3, the two new deceptions, Blink, and Jaunt we are all over the place. This is tremendously fun and thematic. I’ve had a lot of luck in PvP and WvW roaming with this mobility today and it’s been a blast.

2.) The animations are gorgeous. The false mirage is especially nice, but I also just like the very watching my mesmer leap around like a thief. The Chronomancer is a master of time, but the mirage feels like a master of space.

3.) Clone retargeting is something that we’ve wanted for years.

4.) A fairly nice burst (stealth, Mirror Images, Axe 3, dodge/Ambush, F1). Axe in general has been hitting hard for me, as long as set up my attacks from stealth or with a pistol stun first. This may be clunkier than Chronomancer, but felt very rewarding.

This is a good foundation to the spec. It is something that can be built on. Our feedback should try to build from these foundations, not to fight against them. Here are some minor tweaks that I think could really help Mirage out.

1.) Since we’re so mobile, I’d love to have straight damage buff when we’re behind / to the side of enemies. Reward us for leaping around.

2.) As others have said, we’re still slow. Give us a 25% speed boost or something for your UT of combat mobility.

3.) Setting up Ambushes is fun, so give us a little longer to do so. Heck, the Mirage dodge could last slightly longer than usual to make up for its lack of mobility. More stuns or CC could also help, but may be OP.

4.) The shatter traits confuse me. If I want a shatter build, I should play Chronomancer. So why not do something different? Let F1-F4 focus on buffing our clones and phantasms. Keeping our illusions up will help us blend in, reinforcing Mirage deception.

#Magswag
80 Guardian, Mesmer, Ranger

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Posted by: TheOneWhoSighs.7513

TheOneWhoSighs.7513

But in terms of just out playing opponents, and giving us more options to hide our burst in a PvP/WvW setting, and giving us even more mobility than before, I think it has potential at it’s skill ceiling.

I don’t need something that hides my burst in a WvW setting.

I need something that lets me do more than run mantras for guilds. Because mantras are just about the most boring underwhelming thing in this game.

There was a short time when HoT launched, that I was able to run power chrono in a zerg, get kills, and provide some reasonable support with a certain well that got gutted entirely. (As well as quickness stomps getting gutted, thx ANet~)

That short time was enjoyable, and frankly not over powered in WvW.

There was another time, when I could run wells and boonshare alacrity and other buffs massively to the front line.

It took skill. It took figuring out how the hell I would do the rotations in the middle of a battle.

That time was enjoyable.

Now? Now I’m sitting here questioning what class I want to play instead of the mesmer.

Or if I should just uninstall again.

“Unused Development Initiative. We care so much
about your feedback, that we don’t even read it.” ~ Crystal Suzuki

(edited by TheOneWhoSighs.7513)

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Posted by: glenndevis.8327

glenndevis.8327

I completely agree with you! I was so hyped for the mirage but this elite spec is just a mess.

  • The mirage lacks synergy with core mesmer trait-lines. Core trait-lines are heavily focused around shattering illusions and buffing phantasms, which are counterproductive for the mirage.
  • The mirage is clearly not meant to shatter illusions because without clones you can’t perform ambush attacks, yet we still have the same F-skills! There should absolutely be different ones that synergise with the mirage’s design.
  • Phantasms don’t do ambush attacks and are therefore worse than clones so you dont usually use one of your 5 weapon skills.
  • Even clone’s ambush attacks are very lackluster, weak and clunky.
  • Mirages are required to keep up clones, yet clones die like flies in pvp and wvw. There is simply not enough clone generation available.
  • As already mentioned, mirage cloak is a weaker dodge because of it’s reduced mobility.
  • Mirage mirrors are a clunky design. They require you to walk to them (which is very risky in pvp and wvw) to gain mirage cloak (0.75 sec) which is not worth the risk and effort.

These are my main cons I come up with.
Anet still has one month time to fix the mirage. Hopefully we will se some readjustments!

Mirage Cloak dodge is amazing though

Sure you lose the mobility when dodging sidways or backwards but you gain a lot more in the process. Ambush attacks, being able to dodge while casting, being able to dodge while stomping and being able to get Mirage Cloak while being CCed.

Other than that I agree with everything you say.

-low Synergy with core mesmer due to the huge amount of shatter related traits. (hell there’s even some in the Mirage line itself? Anet???

-1/5 weapon skills are useless coz phantasms. (maybe something that replaces phantasms with clones?)

-Clones really do die way too fast. Giving them double the health would help.

-I don’t even know why Anet thought Mirage Mirrors was a good idea. I wonder what Daredevils would think if their skills made bits of endurance drop around them so they’d have to go & fetch them.

-Mirage also lacks clone generation. And the only way to give us more is Deceptive Evasion… Which also needs our dodges.
They could fix Axe #2 so it doesn’t need an enemy to be near it to spawn a clone. And reduce Axe #2 recharge with Illusionist’s Celerity. That should bring it to 1 clone every 4-5 seconds which is great.

Honestly, Mirage would be the perfect time to bring something along the lines of a clone on death trait. Maybe something that requires more than just spawning clones & sitting in the back with lots of stealth. But at least something that punishes players for mindlessly hacking all of the clones down. This would actually make people think.

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Posted by: Levetty.1279

Levetty.1279

Now? Now I’m sitting here questioning what class I want to play instead of the mesmer.

Guardian has better Phantasms then us and Firebrand can stack quickness even easier.

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Posted by: Curunen.8729

Curunen.8729

Firebrand is a lot of fun.

The only thing I don’t like is lack of fun ranged weapons, but guardian axe skills are beautiful and I love the tomes. It is a beautiful elite spec.

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Posted by: Ohoni.6057

Ohoni.6057

I dabbled with it a bit, and I’ve never been a terribly good mesmer, but I did enjoy some of the options. I liked the constant hopping around of the axe skills, and Jaunt is kind of cool, just nowhere near “Elite skill” level. Maybe if it regenerated faster or was just a normal utility.

“If you spent as much time working on [some task] as
you spend complaining about it on the forums, you’d be
done by now.”

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Posted by: Mikkel.8427

Mikkel.8427

Things I like about Mirage:

Animations
Sounds
Headgear Skin
Lore

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Posted by: Kain Francois.4328

Kain Francois.4328

I’m pretty happy. It’s a condi spec in pve, while multipurpose in pvp. Axe is pretty cool.

If anything, my only complaint are Ambush skills. I would prefer they either not exist, or if they made the ambush skills strictly superior versions of autoattack. Currently, some of the Ambush skills deal less damage, or have weird effects like charging a mesmer forward on 1h Sword. This is a huge problem because the whole point of Mirage is being able to attack while evading on demand. However, Ambushes effectively remove our attack, and lock us in place with something like an unreliable leap.

The simplest way to fix Ambushes is to simply turn them into an improved version of autoattack, with additiona effects. That’s all.

Once they fix Ambushes, I think we will be in a decent place.

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Posted by: Esplen.3940

Esplen.3940

However, a Chrono can easily bring reflects without hampering their rotation, and if the Chrono is set up with 100% Boon Duration via Chaos, they can run a traited focus without even touching their utilities.

Chaos is a trash trait line with exactly one minor trait worth something and one major trait worth debating in specific comps.

If you’re a boon bot, it doesn’t matter if you drop Dom for Chaos if you don’t utilize distort sharing (which isn’t necessary on most bosses). Chaos allows you to reach 100% boon duration without Sigil of Conc. Yes it IS a waste of 495 Concentration, but it gives you a lot more time to focus on mechanics. Against Matthias where reflects are necessary and needed on demand, being able to run a traited focus is a godsend as it has a lower cooldown than Feedback, can be popped if Matthias decides he wants to jump in the middle of his reflect phase, and allows the Chrono to flub rotation on Matthias (which will happen due to all the mobility mechanics).

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Posted by: TheOneWhoSighs.7513

TheOneWhoSighs.7513

-I don’t even know why Anet thought Mirage Mirrors was a good idea. I wonder what Daredevils would think if their skills made bits of endurance drop around them so they’d have to go & fetch them.

To be honest, Mirage Mirrors could have been cool.

At first when I read about them I was like “Awesome”.

And then I realized my allies couldn’t utilize them, and you couldn’t create tons of them all over the field.

In my mind when I first read about mirage mirrors, I imagined almost spamming them all over the field, supporting my allies.

Maybe even having the ability to jump from mirror to mirror myself, damaging enemies along the path.

This would all be balanced out by the short life of the mirrors & their single use nature.

But no. We got an incredibly boring, uninspired elite spec, lacking in any of the tools I’ve desired as a mesmer.

And I, with my simple mind, probably just created a spec more interesting than any of the devs because it has a stroke of imagination. A little bit of inspiration should any of the devs ever come across this and think “How can we make this lame mechanic not lame”.

“Unused Development Initiative. We care so much
about your feedback, that we don’t even read it.” ~ Crystal Suzuki

(edited by TheOneWhoSighs.7513)

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Posted by: Kadj.6725

Kadj.6725

Against Matthias where reflects are necessary and needed on demand, being able to run a traited focus

I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt at first so I left it alone but I think you’re mistaken? Focus trait is in Inspiration. Manipulations gain reflect under Chaos, which is to say… it will start to affect their rotation, yes.

If Focus were under Chaos, this wouldn’t be a conversation because Focus is actually meaningful. The only thing you get out of Chaos if you’re running the Quickness/Alacrity/Sig-Insp setup is Bountiful Disillusionment and the occasional Protect/Regen combo(or just Protect from wherever you’re getting Regen from), but generally speaking you… really shouldn’t need any of those. Again, specific comps.

EDIT: Wait, maybe you’re saying you’re sacrificing signet of inspiration for a manipulation…? Running Chaos+Insp? If so, that would be a thoroughly confusing choice. You shouldn’t? need more boon duration – as you said, a waste of 495 concentration – and you’re going through all that trouble and breaking your quickness(by 3s i grant, and this can be bridged by time warp I think) for 2s of reflect when you could run Feedback and still maintain whatever chrono dps counts for. Surely there’s better choices; granting that no signets weakens Domination a bit, Dueling comes to mind. You can pull Mirror from an evade if that’s a thing you can reasonably do(I don’t actually know raid bosses) and Superiority Complex can buff up the reflect damage. And you can give your Warden Fury! I guess!

No, even if this edit is right, Chaos is still surely garbage tier.

(edited by Kadj.6725)

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Posted by: glenndevis.8327

glenndevis.8327

-I don’t even know why Anet thought Mirage Mirrors was a good idea. I wonder what Daredevils would think if their skills made bits of endurance drop around them so they’d have to go & fetch them.

To be honest, Mirage Mirrors could have been cool.

At first when I read about them I was like “Awesome”.

And then I realized my allies couldn’t utilize them, and you couldn’t create tons of them all over the field.

In my mind when I first read about mirage mirrors, I imagined almost spamming them all over the field, supporting my allies.

Maybe even having the ability to jump from mirror to mirror myself, damaging enemies along the path.

This would all be balanced out by the short life of the mirrors & their single use nature.

But no. We got an incredibly boring, uninspired elite spec, lacking in any of the tools I’ve desired as a mesmer.

And I, with my simple mind, probably just created a spec more interesting than any of the devs because it has a stroke of imagination. A little bit of inspiration should any of the devs ever come across this and think “How can we make this lame mechanic not lame”.

It could have been cool but yeah I don’t think the devs make a skill with a certain purpose. They just make random things that “seem” cool & interesting, but ultimately are very pointless & annoying.

The whole Mirage Mirror mechanic seems slapped onto random stills just to give us extra Mirage Cloaks.

The worst of them all, the Shards of Glass trait.
1) It promotes shattering on a spec with a mechanic that’s designed around keeping clones up.
2) It spawns those annoying Mirage Mirrors.

Would have been cool if we got a F5 skill that

I’d have rather have that trait be something that respawns our clones the first time they die & grant them Mirage Cloak. Some sort of Clone on Death that sorta fits the Mirage theme. Thinking something’s there, but when you get there (or in this case attack/kill it) it was all an illusion & it confuses & torments you…

Am I the only one at least a little pleased?

in Mesmer

Posted by: TheOneWhoSighs.7513

TheOneWhoSighs.7513

They just make random things that “seem” cool & interesting, but ultimately are very pointless & annoying.

This is precisely what they’d done for quite a long time.

I mean, for instance, wtf was the direction of Chrono? Was it to give the mesmer more survival tools? More group support? More damage? Improve the mesmer’s shatters?

Well I’ll tell you what its direction was? Literally all of the above.

Chrono is a direct upgrade on nearly any mesmer build, because it improved literally everything the mesmer did.

In this case, hoping they would’ve learned from that mistake, I was hoping for something focused.

I’ve been completely let down by this. It completely lacks focus, tries to do too many things. But unlike Chrono, it doesn’t have a glue (Alacrity & F5) to hold it together.

“Unused Development Initiative. We care so much
about your feedback, that we don’t even read it.” ~ Crystal Suzuki