Since the Chrono’s Alacrity buff is being nerfed as well a change to well of precognition (for the worst, 3 times aegis wtf), I’m going to give my suggestions as to how to make the Alacrity Nerf seem less hurtful to the Chrono. However, it does involve changing a bit how the Chrono works.
To begin with, I suggest making “Flow of Time” an adept major trait and “Time Catches Up” the master minor trait. Now, obviously the amount of time alacrity that will be up with flow of time would be increased from 3/4 to 1/2 seconds. Reasoning behind this is to provide a difficult choice between alls well, flow, and delayed reactions.
Alacrity’s effectiveness will be reduced so to help balance that, I propose making every well except well of eternity and Gravity Well give 2 seconds of alacrity when it ends. That means well of recall will be 7 seconds instead of 5 seconds. Alls well that ends well will have to change as well. Instead of alacrity when it ends, I propose giving a boon opposite of the negative effect the well is giving. For example, Calamity causes cripple and weakness. With the alls well trait, calamity will give out 3 pulses of 2 second swiftness and 3 pulses of 2 stacks of might resulting in 6 stacks of might. Here’s my proposed list with alls well trait:
Calamity- cripple and weakness to foes, swiftness and might to allies
Action-increased slow and quickness duration
Pregonition-blur to allies, blind to foes
Recall-increased chill duration but no increase on alacrity.
I’d also like to propose a change to mesmer weapons. So far the mesmer’s dps is split between the mesmer and its phantasms. My change would be this: after the mesmer summons the phantasm, allow the mesmer himself to replicate the attack done by the phantasm. I realize this might be horrendous for PvP so maybe it can be balanced around the phantasm dies if the mesmer replicates the attack but only ONLY in PvP. For example, Phantasmal Berserker’s whirling attack is an excellent aoe but at the cost of dying or being shattered. So instead, the mesmer himself can perform the whirling attack and the phantasm enters cooldown but won’t die, allowing for synergy with Phantasmal haste and Chronophantasma. This allows for a definite boost of Dps in pve where mesmers are very lacking.
Which brings me to my next weapon and my personal favorite : the Greatsword. Everything about the mesmer gs oozes style and creativity. I fell in love after I found out I could shoot lasers out of a giant sword. But of course, I get dirty looks when I use it in fractals like WHAT ARE YOU DOING, PUT THAT THING AWAY THERE ARE CHILDREN HERE. So for the gs I suggest taking away the range barrier and making Spatial Surge into a three hit laser combo. Similar to how it is now but not quite. Spatial surge now at close range has pitiful dps and maybe even long range too. Removing the range requirement and making each hit of spatial surge hit for about the same as a mesmer sword aa makes it a somewhat viable option to take into open world and fractals too. Most of the gs skills require you to get up close anyway so why not?
Which brings me to my last suggestion, core mesmer balance. The june 23 patch gave us some good abilties but we still do not match the raw power of an elementalist or the crazy condi psycho necro. With the inclusion of chrono, we were made to be more than portal and reflect guys. Now we are reflecting, portal alacrity quickness bots. So, I’d like to return to core mesmer for a bit. I’d like to see the return of “Confusing Combatants” maybe mixed in with Mistrust. I’d also like to see Deceptive evasion moved to the Illusions grandmaster and Ineptitude moved to the Dueling grandmaster line for synergy with Blinding Dissipation. I’d also like to see a change in Chaos trait line with Illusionary defense. Instead of “less damage depending on illusions up” how about “gain a stacking damage reduction depending on illusions shattered”. That synergizes with pretty much every trait in mesmer and chrono lines. I propose the same change with “Healing Prism” except healing stacks with each illusion shattered.
Well, I’m pretty much burnt out with suggestions but I honestly don’t wanna see my favorite class in any mmorpg or RPG I’ve ever played get slowly knocked down. I might be dramatic about it but I hope my suggestions bring some kind of enlightenment on how to make the mesmer wanted again. Please discuss and constructive criticism is welcome. Thank you guys for reading this post.