Guild Wars 2

Streaks.5076:

Is Time Marches On a passive??

Yes, given that you wanna trait full chronomancy

MailMail.6534:

Continuum shift alone make chronomancer way stronger than Mesmer … who is already fine, who is in a solid spot with all incoming baseline trait …. So basically something stronger than something strong is balanced #legit

While I can always count on Mesmers crying about how unfair everything is, I can equally count on people crying about how OP Mesmer is/was/will-be. Your statement is wrought with a lack of knowledge of the Mesmer profession and also lack of facts to back up otherwise empty speculation.

Fact:
Shatter mesmer is currently more than fine

Fact:
Trait line are enhanced. only mentionning IP baseline

Fact:
continuum shift is a very strong mechanic

Fact:
Trait from Chronomancer are insanely strong

Fact:
you can spec Chronomancer and still keep a strong shatter build (domination + dueling)

Enough fact ? Dare tell me one of them is false

Mattmatt.4962:

MailMail.6534:

Continuum shift alone make chronomancer way stronger than Mesmer … who is already fine, who is in a solid spot with all incoming baseline trait …. So basically something stronger than something strong is balanced #legit

While I can always count on Mesmers crying about how unfair everything is, I can equally count on people crying about how OP Mesmer is/was/will-be. Your statement is wrought with a lack of knowledge of the Mesmer profession and also lack of facts to back up otherwise empty speculation.

Fact:
Shatter mesmer is currently more than fine

Fact:
Trait line are enhanced. only mentionning IP baseline

Fact:
continuum shift is a very strong mechanic

Fact:
Trait from Chronomancer are insanely strong

Fact:
you can spec Chronomancer and still keep a strong shatter build (domination + dueling)

Enough fact ? Dare tell me one of them is false

Fact: Shatter mesmer is not fine, try comparing it with other zerker classes in the meta. high skill needed, high reward, hard countered by thieves and medi guards, how many shatter mesmers do you see in the meta?

Fact: You are over exaggerating, close to whining.

Dare tell me the second one is false

I even gave you one that is false on your opinion.

Want 1 more fact?

All your facts are opinions, why? They are all subjective. Lack factual details because all traits for ALL CLASSES are currently being reworked, so what you know now might mean nothing when the final numbers are presented.

Fact: All classes got Traitline enhancements.

Mattmatt.4962:

MailMail.6534:

Continuum shift alone make chronomancer way stronger than Mesmer … who is already fine, who is in a solid spot with all incoming baseline trait …. So basically something stronger than something strong is balanced #legit

While I can always count on Mesmers crying about how unfair everything is, I can equally count on people crying about how OP Mesmer is/was/will-be. Your statement is wrought with a lack of knowledge of the Mesmer profession and also lack of facts to back up otherwise empty speculation.

Fact:
Shatter mesmer is currently more than fine

Fact:
Trait line are enhanced. only mentionning IP baseline

Fact:
continuum shift is a very strong mechanic

Fact:
Trait from Chronomancer are insanely strong

Fact:
you can spec Chronomancer and still keep a strong shatter build (domination + dueling)

Enough fact ? Dare tell me one of them is false

Shatter Mes is overrated and has been for a long time. It requires a ridiculous amount of luck and set-up and your opponent making the right mistakes to work. Also of course, Thieves delete us from PvP, essentially.

Also I personally don’t think Continuum Shift is going to be all that great. Basically “every minute and a half you can shatter three illusions and then have your rift instantly AoE’d, gaining you nothing.” Easily the least interesting part of the Chronomancer as a whole.

The well trait works on the same theory as the well heal – f5 drop wells, reset… If removal was instant, condis just get reset! But because it is delayed you can double cleanse. remember you really was to be there when the well ends anyway.

Mattmatt.4962:

MailMail.6534:

Continuum shift alone make chronomancer way stronger than Mesmer … who is already fine, who is in a solid spot with all incoming baseline trait …. So basically something stronger than something strong is balanced #legit

While I can always count on Mesmers crying about how unfair everything is, I can equally count on people crying about how OP Mesmer is/was/will-be. Your statement is wrought with a lack of knowledge of the Mesmer profession and also lack of facts to back up otherwise empty speculation.

Fact:
Shatter mesmer is currently more than fine

Which is why it’s used never in PvE, rarely in WvW, extremely sparingly in PvP, and is generally considered to be hardcountered by thief.

Mattmatt.4962:

Fact:
Trait line are enhanced. only mentionning IP baseline

Fact: Every class (sorry necros) got massive boosts to power in the trait rework. Mesmers are hardly alone in this.

Mattmatt.4962:

Fact:
continuum shift is a very strong mechanic

Please, tell me more about this mechanic that you’re armchair theorycrafted your way to a conclusion about without even ever seeing in used in a real situation.

Mattmatt.4962:

Fact:
Trait from Chronomancer are insanely strong

I appreciate your opinion. It might carry just a tad bit more weight if you bothered telling anyone why you felt like saying all these things though.

Mattmatt.4962:

Fact:
you can spec Chronomancer and still keep a strong shatter build (domination + dueling)

Uhm. I’m missing what point you’re trying to make with this.

Mattmatt.4962:

Enough fact ? Dare tell me one of them is false

Lets see your score:

3/5 blatant lies.

2/5 completely irrelevant.

Try harder next time.

In fact “mesmer currently beeing fine” is subjective,
Ibase my opinion on:
in wvw, you at least have 1 or 2 per guild in gvg, you see quite some of them in pvp (“quite some” is subjective but i think you see what i mean).
We dont see much of them in pve, but i just dont care about pve balance (kittened AI make it unintesresting)

Now tell me where i am “exaggerating and close to whining”

All classes got traitline enhancement

True, but if i’m not mistaken, mesmer got more and stronger ones ^^

EDIT (too much posting)

3/5 blatant lies.

lies ? well i think i cant argue with you

2/5 completely irrelevant.

Mesmer get the most enhancement and strongest ones (well maybe engi is the best, but since a lot of trait are still not known, hard to tell) (and RIP ele XD)
5 isnt irrelevant like you’d like to say, almost every current build can take Chronomancer without huge trade off.

Mattmatt.4962:

In fact “mesmer currently beeing fine” is subjective,
Ibase my opinion on:
in wvw, you at least have 1 or 2 per guild in gvg, you see quite some of them in pvp (“quite some” is subjective but i think you see what i mean).
We dont see much of them in pve, but i just dont care about pve balance (kittened AI make it unintesresting)

Now tell me where i am “exaggerating and close to whining”

All classes got traitline enhancement

True, but if i’m not mistaken, mesmer got more and stronger ones ^^

Stronger is still subjective. /facepalm

Mattmatt.4962:

in wvw, you at least have 1 or 2 per guild in gvg,

Yeah, as a veilbot.

Mattmatt.4962:

you see quite some of them in pvp (“quite some” is subjective but i think you see what i mean).

If by ‘quite some’ you mean ‘2’…then sure.

Mattmatt.4962:

Now tell me where i am “exaggerating and close to whining”

Well, almost everything you’ve typed is either an exaggeration or a whine.

Mattmatt.4962:

True, but if i’m not mistaken, mesmer got more and stronger ones ^^

You are mistaken, nbd.

Fay.2357:

Mattmatt.4962:

in wvw, you at least have 1 or 2 per guild in gvg,

Yeah, as a veilbot.

Yeah sure … ever heard about FP ?

/just leaving this here

alexei.9364:

With the phantasm shatter trait making micromanaging different types of illusions even more involved, can we please finally get different indicators for the three circles that represent our active illusions?

Having clones be one color and phantasms another would be very welcome.

Add in a symbol representing the type of clone/phantasm and the circle depleting according to it’s remaining HP and we’ll be good.

Mattmatt.4962:

Fact:
Shatter mesmer is currently more than fine

Well golly…!

/thread

I’m actually impressed with the new trait layout, but very underwhelmed with the Improved Alacrity trait and All’s Well that Ends Well. Everything else looks amazing. I guess I have to wait and see how much the miniscule amounts of alacrity we are getting actually benefit us. I think the trait has to have a meaningful increase for it to be worthwhile though.

I’ve been considering taking Danger Time instead of Improved Alacrity, but it appears Danger Time + Lost Time is the path for low direct damage geared players…as taking that combo with zerk/assassins wastes way too much crit chance. 90+ % crit chance is just excessive and wasted. It looks like Improved Alacrity + Chronophantasma is the path for zerk/assassins, but the alacrity numbers are suspect.

All’s Well that Ends Well is just flat out underwhelming. I can’t see anyone actually taking that. It doesn’t reduce well cool downs. It has extremely weak and delayed condi removal. At the very least, it should either pulse condi removal of 1 condi per pulse…or it should just give and pulse a decent duration of resistance (someone else had this idea). I’m more in favor of the resistance option so it won’t steal the thunder of null field (someone else had this idea too).

I can’t even express how excited I am for Time Marches On. Finally not having to move in slow motion without the focus equipped or random signet of inspiration procs is amazing. Thank you Robert Gee.

It looks like I will be giving this new shatter + direct damage hybrid build a go in HoT. It looks interesting at the very least.

StickerHappy.8052:

Zenith.7301:

I think wells are gonna end up being the new Churning Earth. People are gonna be excited until they realize that like Dragon Tooth from ele scepter it will never land on someone with a clue.

Uhmm we have immobs, stuns, slows, to do it?

Are you saying Chaos Storm is useless too, because you wont land it on people? :O

Chaos storm can pulse its daze from the getgo. The well’s powerful effect is lumped at the 3 second mark. You don’t have a 3 second stun. When you lay a well you already telegraphed your Swap.

It’s really not hard to dodge, it’s like saying dragon tooth is actually easy to land because an ele has access to 2 stuns via air and earth offhand dagger and an immobilize from earth signet if they choose to bring that.

And yet dragon tooth is not hitting anyone most of the time outside a zerg.

The difference is Dragon Tooth has a trivial cooldown. Wells have lengthy cooldown and come at the cost of a utility skill.

Guardian traps have virtually the same effect. You have an arming time, but they actually go off on the opponent guaranteed when he triggers them (getting close to where you planted it). And those guardian traps have stronger effects like 25 stacks of vulnerability (25% increased damage), 10 seconds of revealed, and high damage pulses to boot.

I mean, Well of Precognition is all wrong. The effects should be flipped around. Enemy attacks in PvE are such that this will never be a useful well for mitigating damage. Most lethal attacks from bosses have 1/2 or less seconds of cast time. They don’t give a group 3 seconds of telegraph to set down a well to avoid damage.

I will wait till we see the professions in action. It will take sometime for people to realize classes don’t exist in a vacuum and that it doesn’t matter if we saw improvement when classes that were better off than us already saw similar or greater power gains so we are still in the same crappy place relative to them.

Zenith.7301:

StickerHappy.8052:

Zenith.7301:

I think wells are gonna end up being the new Churning Earth. People are gonna be excited until they realize that like Dragon Tooth from ele scepter it will never land on someone with a clue.

Uhmm we have immobs, stuns, slows, to do it?

Are you saying Chaos Storm is useless too, because you wont land it on people? :O

Chaos storm can pulse its daze from the getgo. The well’s powerful effect is lumped at the 3 second mark. You don’t have a 3 second stun. When you lay a well you already telegraphed your Swap.

It’s really not hard to dodge, it’s like saying dragon tooth is actually easy to land because an ele has access to 2 stuns via air and earth offhand dagger and an immobilize from earth signet if they choose to bring that.

And yet dragon tooth is not hitting anyone most of the time outside a zerg.

The difference is Dragon Tooth has a trivial cooldown. Wells have lengthy cooldown and come at the cost of a utility skill.

Signet of domination says hi, also whats cs daze have to do with landing it?

Gm traits sounds little op.

Traiting into Chronomancer sounds pretty much mandatory, not a specialization.

The Chrono sounds so good, now I really want to play my mesmer. I just leveled it to 80 with tomes. Will Assassin Armor /Strength runes be still viable in HoT (PvE and WvW roam) or should I just go with Condition, now that things like torment etc look really cool to use.

StickerHappy.8052:

Zenith.7301:

StickerHappy.8052:

Zenith.7301:

I think wells are gonna end up being the new Churning Earth. People are gonna be excited until they realize that like Dragon Tooth from ele scepter it will never land on someone with a clue.

Uhmm we have immobs, stuns, slows, to do it?

Are you saying Chaos Storm is useless too, because you wont land it on people? :O

Chaos storm can pulse its daze from the getgo. The well’s powerful effect is lumped at the 3 second mark. You don’t have a 3 second stun. When you lay a well you already telegraphed your Swap.

It’s really not hard to dodge, it’s like saying dragon tooth is actually easy to land because an ele has access to 2 stuns via air and earth offhand dagger and an immobilize from earth signet if they choose to bring that.

And yet dragon tooth is not hitting anyone most of the time outside a zerg.

The difference is Dragon Tooth has a trivial cooldown. Wells have lengthy cooldown and come at the cost of a utility skill.

Signet of domination says hi, also whats cs daze have to do with landing it?

Ah, ok. So which one are you giving up for that signet virtually no one runs. Blink? Decoy?One of the wells in that final slot?

We’re not talking a 1v1 tournament here.

Zenith.7301:

StickerHappy.8052:

Zenith.7301:

StickerHappy.8052:

Zenith.7301:

I think wells are gonna end up being the new Churning Earth. People are gonna be excited until they realize that like Dragon Tooth from ele scepter it will never land on someone with a clue.

Uhmm we have immobs, stuns, slows, to do it?

Are you saying Chaos Storm is useless too, because you wont land it on people? :O

Chaos storm can pulse its daze from the getgo. The well’s powerful effect is lumped at the 3 second mark. You don’t have a 3 second stun. When you lay a well you already telegraphed your Swap.

It’s really not hard to dodge, it’s like saying dragon tooth is actually easy to land because an ele has access to 2 stuns via air and earth offhand dagger and an immobilize from earth signet if they choose to bring that.

And yet dragon tooth is not hitting anyone most of the time outside a zerg.

The difference is Dragon Tooth has a trivial cooldown. Wells have lengthy cooldown and come at the cost of a utility skill.

Signet of domination says hi, also whats cs daze have to do with landing it?

Ah, ok. So which one are you giving up for that signet virtually no one runs. Blink? Decoy?One of the wells in that final slot?

We’re not talking a 1v1 tournament here.

Remember that the wells also do good things to your allies too, they’re not purely offensive. Additionally, covering a point in wells or churning earth generally makes it empty pretty quickly.

Wow thx for the traids.
Minor
Finally some more movement in there.
Adapt

• Time catches up: makes shatter easyer
• Delayed reaction: gimmeeeee
• all well that ends well: add remove a boon or something no need to use imo

Master

• Illusionary Reversion : awsome for shatter
• improve Alacrity: eg 1 shatter reduces the skills for 3s each second. 33% longer would add add 1 second on cooldown so in 1.33s you reduce your cd by 4 seconds if this is right?
  * Danger time: Instead of zerker i might go with Chevalier

Grandmaster

• lost the time: i hope there is no internal cooldown
• chronophantasmen: very strong! Joice in pve
• Saize the Moment: wow very strong will be the choice in pvp

I’m still really excited for Illusionary Reversion and Chronophantasia, albiet for different builds. Being able to preserve phantasms for one more attack after shattering them is nice. Or even just cashing in three phantasms by shattering them all twice in rapid succession.

I… Can’t… Process…

This… Is… Too… Cool…

This is ridiculously strong. Internal cooldown?
Lost Time – Every 3rd critical hit will slow your target. (2s of Slow)

Will slow compound in duration? Hope not.

In one word: AWESOME.
I only think that the All’s Well that Ends Well trait should be a bit boosted, see no reason to take it at this point. The cooldowns on the wells are too long for this trait to be good

Completely OP but I wouldn’t mind if All’s Well that End’s Well made it so that a well’s pulse cleansed a condition (with each pulse) and stored it and on last pulse it explodes causing the conditions to be spread out in a small AoE.

JonPeters.5630:

• Time Marches On – You move 25% faster. The duration of incoming movement-impairing conditions is reduced by 25%. (Cripple. Chilled, Immobilize)

• Time Catches Up – Activating a shatter gives your illusions Super Speed
• Chronophantasma – Your phantasms respawn the first time they are shattered.

You owe me a pair of new pants as i just…
…never mind.

Slow on every third crit makes the already fairly strong, yet beginner level in terms of skill needed, GS power build too viable. That one needs an ICD.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Much appreciated man! Sooner than I anticipated tbh.

Dude you just made every WvW mesmer everywhere convert to Chrono with Time Marches On.

SLOW ON INTERRUPT! CALLED IT!!

• Activating a shatter gives your illusions super speed. Very clever, I’m liking that.

• Well trait is not worth it imo, no more than 2 wells will be in any build and those cooldowns, even with alacrity, makes the trait unappealing.

• All master traits are legit, hard choice there.

• Lost Time and Chronophantasma are very strong, Quickness on Shatter doesn’t seem able to compete unless traited with Furious Interruption

You and everyone’s Mother called it xD They’ve been showing some love to the Interrupt Build for some time now, so it was no surprise we’d get this too.

Glad these traits got revealed, because now I can start coming up with some post-exp Builds for GvG’s.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

• Lost Time and Chronophantasma are very strong, Quickness on Shatter doesn’t seem able to compete unless traited with Furious Interruption

Remember IP will be baseline – you can use CoF for quickness Mirror Blades. The trait is better than you think.

Time Marches On – You move 25% faster. The duration of incoming movement-impairing conditions is reduced by 25%. (Cripple. Chilled, Immobilize)

Yussszszszzzsss get kittened panic strike!

chornomancer trait line can now compete with DE as you gain new clone and new illusions when you shatter so you can shatter again quicly for huge burst

so both condi shatter and power shatter have alternative

well trait is too weak only 1 condi cleanse when in ends…. make it 2 with this long cd

25% speed buff on minor – as mention every wvw mesmer will grab it and some pvp aswel.

slow on interupt is very nice

i imagine you really wanted shatter to be more aggerssive as if you shatter you make more illusions rather then dodging …

i hope it wont get nerfed before we can actually test it long enough

I’ll start by saying I’m extremely happy to see some movement speed in this trait line. I dont even care care if F5, shield and wells turn out to be completely useless at this point, that minor more than makes up for it imo (THANKS ROBERT <3).

I need more information about ‘Flow of time’ though. That description is a bit ambiguous. Assuming Alacrity works like the opposite of chill (like they said)-

If its only 1 sec/shatter thats -.66 sec recasts per shatter -.88 traited (underwhelming and gimmicky)

If its 1 sec/clone- thats 4 secs of alacrity with 3clones + baseline IP which is -2.64 sec recast per shatter, -3.51 traited (Bordering on OP)

So… I’m not sure what to think of alacrity yet.

So nobody’s concerned with Chronomancer being so kittening powercreep and mandatory?

Miku Lawrence.6329:

So nobody’s concerned with Chronomancer being so kittening powercreep and mandatory?

I definitely wouldn’t call it mandatory. The re-working of the pre-existing traits were solid buffs. I wondered about how strong many of them were but when Chronomancer was announced it was clear why. We needed some solid updates to compete with the elite specialization and we have exactly that. We have some viable competing options to choose from across all trait lines now.

Regarding power creep, yes that’s been in my mind as a potential concern while processing the new changes. Will be interesting how this all plays out.

Zenith.7301:

Already zerk even zerk sits at 57-60% crit. Those wasted stats were not with assassins, which is even worse, and the slow uptimes also figure into that power boost being a wash. Even if they break even or are a slight upgrade, it’s hardly a good tier for PvE mesmers.

With that trait and some way to keep Slow during the reflects you can have 100% crit chance (or more) in Zerk gear instead of going Assassin’s, that means you gain power over an Assassin’s set, still having 100% crit on reflects.

Zenith.7301:

Chaos will always be garbage in WvW so long as it’s tied to conditions and staff.

For one, staff is a terrible weapon for aoe as are any weapons that are not greatsword/sword. It will never be used in teamfights.

Please, try to avoid generalization? If you don’t plan on using, or don’t use Staff right now in group fights, it doesn’t mean other mesmers won’t. I find it better than Sw/Focus with my current build and group setup. After the trait changes, Staff will be even stronger. It will probably enable us to join the frontlines again and will synergize very nicely with Sw+Shield in providing control.

Zenith.7301:

You’ll also always be locked into the chronomancy line which leaves Dueling/Domination/Illusion, only 2 of which you can already pick. Chaos will never compete with any of those on a power mesmer.

Really depends on what your role is in your group… if you think you can only play zerk shatter mesmer, well good luck with that

JonPeters.5630:

Was hoping saying it once was enough but I’ll say it again. This is a work in progress. Try to give feedback based on the utility and synergy of the trait instead of the numbers. Slow every 3rd critical hit could also be every 10th critical hit. It could be 8s of slow instead of two. Obviously these numbers are an attempt to be accurate otherwise we wouldn’t even give them but a lot of this stuff will go up and/or down before HoT is released.

Jon

all the traits seem fine except alls well, feels a bit lackluster, being that the finish of wells is delayed, it will seem like a happy accident to remove a condition.

IF you have a well up, and IF you happen to have a condition, you should stay on it for 2 more seconds.

you probably need something that either incentivizes a condition removal more, or something that is beneficial even if you have no conditions when a well ends.

I’m curious about the viability of Inspiration/Chronomancer/X for a support+sustain shatter build.

For example:

• http://dulfy.net/2015/05/02/gw2-specialization-calculator-that_shaman/#profession=mesmer&traits=%22Chronomancer%22,1,4,9-%22Dueling%22,3,5,9-%22Inspiration%22,3,4,8

• Deceptive Evasion and Illusionary Reversion to help with Clone Churn
• Quickness and Vigor on shatter … Heals too if you decide to not take Focus
• Share boons every time you summon a phantasm … so share that Quickness!

If Illusionary Reversion ends up being “enough” to support your illusion churn for shatters, then you could possibly swap out Dueling for Chaos and take Bountiful Disillusionment for more boons on-shatter that you can then immediately share when you summon your next phantasm.

… or replace Dueling with Illusions and share that Might, etc. from shattering … on top of the Quickness, of course … it’s all about sharing that Quickness … everything else is icing on that Quickness Cake …

Side-note:
It is sad/pathetic/ridiculous that Jon and the rest of the people at ArenaNet have to keep reminding people on the forums and in each POI that the mechanics are the current focus as the numbers are still being tweaked for balance …

… I blame the same people that complain about when they find a bug in a beta test … #get_educated and #use_your_brain.

JonPeters.5630:

Was hoping saying it once was enough but I’ll say it again. This is a work in progress. Try to give feedback based on the utility and synergy of the trait instead of the numbers. Slow every 3rd critical hit could also be every 10th critical hit. It could be 8s of slow instead of two. Obviously these numbers are an attempt to be accurate otherwise we wouldn’t even give them but a lot of this stuff will go up and/or down before HoT is released.

Jon

The other traits look powerful/provide useful utility but the well trait doesn’t look very appealing. Is there something about the mechanics of the wells themselves that we haven’t been told about yet that makes the trait more useful than it seems right now? How about making the removal happen at the start instead?

I disagree a bit about the Wells trait.

Your teammates already have a lot of reasons to hang out in wells for their full duration (even your offensive ones, since they punish enemies; not to mention putting it down on point in SPvP).

I think the reason people are going “meh” is that “remove one condition” attached to a bunch of skills with medium-to-long cooldowns does fairly little in a game where conditions get applied sooooo fast. If you upped it to two conditions with the same overall cleanse-on-end mechanic, though, it’d be rather desirable.

Does Illusionary Reversion give you a clone even with a 0-clone (just IP) shatter?

JonPeters.5630:

Was hoping saying it once was enough but I’ll say it again. This is a work in progress. Try to give feedback based on the utility and synergy of the trait instead of the numbers. Slow every 3rd critical hit could also be every 10th critical hit. It could be 8s of slow instead of two. Obviously these numbers are an attempt to be accurate otherwise we wouldn’t even give them but a lot of this stuff will go up and/or down before HoT is released.

Jon

I think most of us understand this is all subject to change, but playing with the numbers is part of the fun.

Thank you for participating in the conversation, I know its not easy watching people tear apart your work. Also, I’m shocked you got these traits to us so quickly… i was sure we’d be waiting 1+ week before seeing them.

There is a lack of +damage% that is going to hurt Mesmer in PvE especially with the changes to other classes seeming to let them stack more then ever. Not necesaraly something that needs added to Chrono but Improved Alacrity could be a good source.

I think alls well that ends well needs to stick with condi remove so that we can actually fit these wells on our bar (instead of null or mantra) but the trait needs a little something extra as well as more condi remove (maybe CD reduction) but also possibly another trait that helps give wells some extra effects. I like Fays idea of All wells pulse their last pulse one extra time or maybe throw out some extra boons.

And while on the topic I think the signet trait could be buffed up to 2 condis removed as well.

Obviously great synergy with Danger Time and Lost Time/our other sources of slow, I really like it. Part of my problem with the base spec changes is the ‘synergy’ in those trait lines seems to be mostly load a bunch of effects up on a shatter or interupt. Not that I wnt you to get rid of that but it needs more combos like Danger Time + Lost Time or the Mantra trait + condi cleanse on heal.

Chronophantasma, Flow of Time and even more so Seize The Moment actually do help with the idea that you want us to shatter in every build even when we need more sustained dps then burst aka phantasms. Some more effects like that could help in the base lines as well particularly dom and duelling. You already have the Phantasm recharge trait on shatter but maybe also
-+damage% for x seconds for each illusion you shatter
- Increasing the might on shattered strength
-Gain might or fury everytime you summon a Phantasm (to encourage cycling through them more) which then could have synergy with Chronophantasma

Miku Lawrence.6329:

So nobody’s concerned with Chronomancer being so kittening powercreep and mandatory?

Not really because we’re an easy target for nerf cries. Before you know it we’re back to square one lol. Not to mention other class goodies might look better, if not on par.

Something we might want to keep in mind, here:

• Slow on crit might seem pretty “OP” atm, but don’t forget that even “burst” specs are going to be down on Precision.

For instance, the decoupling of stats from trait-lines will remove up to ~300(?) points from Precision-heavy builds. I don’t claim to be one of this forum’s math gurus, but that’s going to effect how often you crit. In addition, you’re losing some points out of Ferocity, which’ll effect how hard you crit

Otherwise:

• I’m still in shock about the soon-to-exist “Fast” Mesmer. I honestly thought that would NEVER happen. My Rune choices thank you.
• The Well trait does need a bit of an upgrade. Especially when you consider (IIRC) the lack of anything effecting Well C/Ds. Also considering the traits All’s Well competes with.
• Additional ways to generate clones? Oh, heck yes. Between that, and built-in IP/IE, condilock is mad workable. Hell, I might just go (Dueling or-)Dom/Chaos/Chrono for massive fun.

Overall some nice traits. Here’s my take on them:

Minor

• Time Splitter – Gain access to continuum split/shift which allows you to revert to an earlier point in time.

— Well I guess you have to have this so the trait is specific to the chrono line. In general minor traits are a bit of an oddity now as you will only be able to pick full trait lines which means you get them all anyway for a specialization —

• Flow of Time – Gain alacrity when you shatter. (1s)

— Not clear on this one. Is it when each clone/phant shatters or when shatter skill is used. To me the wording implies it is when you use a shatter skill. Also with out knowing how much alacrity you can get from other skills it’s hard to know if it is sufficient. If I understand alacrity you need 3 secs of it to reduce cds by 1 sec. —

• Time Marches On – You move 25% faster. The duration of incoming movement-impairing conditions is reduced by 25%. (Cripple. Chilled, Immobilize)

— Any movement increase is obviously welcomed in Mes. This is long overdue and gives me some confidence that Robert knows how annoying the lack of speed is. I’m not sure if this is suppose to replace the proposed swiftness for the signet of inspiration mentioned, but if it is I think I’d rather have it as a signet than attached to a trait line. It would be far easier to change a signet while moving than a trait line. If it is not a replacement then I think this adds a lot more play options. —

Adept

• Time Catches Up – Activating a shatter gives your illusions Super Speed

— At this point I know that Robert understands Mes play. It seems as though Mes balance is centered on total damage calculated over 3 main parts (direct, phant skill damage, and shatter). Because all 3 steps can be mitigated together or separately, this tends to average out to overall lower damage on a Mes compared to other classes. I think this is a clever implementation to help improve getting the final part of the damage when setting up a burst. Truth be told this would be nice if the buff was applied to the Mes as well, as we lack decent in-combat mobility compared to other classes —

• Delayed Reactions – Interrupting a foe slows them. (3s of Slow)

— The is a nice addition to interrupt builds. Personally I’m not a fan of interrupt builds as it feels often more random than not. But this make them more attractive for sure. —

• All’s Well that Ends Well – Wells remove conditions from allies when they end. (1 condition)

— This is pretty lacklustre. Mes needs more decent condition removal spread across the trait lines. The concentration of condition cleansing in the inspiration line (which IMO is pretty useless compared to other trait lines) makes no sense to me. Generally the most effective Mes builds have no or very little condi removal, this means no matter how high your skill level an immobilise (some apps are long duration) is likely an immediate death sentence even from full health (especially in PvP). I would say for this trait given the Wells long cds, put the condi clearing at the beginning of the well and not at the end, and at least increase this to 2 conditions, or make it a 1 app complete condi clear within its aoe. —

Master

• Illusionary Reversion – Gain a clone after you activate a shatter skill.

— I think this will be nice with DE so you can get more utility out of them. Not so much a clone generator by itself, more of a clone refund.

• Improved Alacrity – Alacrity applied to you lasts longer. (33%)

— Again this depend on alacrity from other sources, but this does sound pretty low if we are only getting 1 sec here and there. —

• Danger Time – Gain additional critical hit chance against slowed enemies. (30%)

— Should be nice for slow builds. —

Grandmaster

• Lost Time – Every 3rd critical hit will slow your target. (2s of Slow)

— This is a nice addition. For the few who are saying that this is OP other classes have traits that proc on every 3rd hit and not crit, so I think this is a non-issue, if anything thing this would mostly annoy other Mes because of the lack of condi clearing. Tough competition from the other GMs though. —

• Chronophantasma – Your phantasms respawn the first time they are shattered.

— I’ll reserve opinion about this until I know they plan to stop a simultaneous attack by 3 phants summoned in this way. As an observation if you somehow manage to summon 3 phants and keep them alive long enough for a shatter that person is going to get wrecked one way or another anyway. —

• Seize The Moment – Gain quickness for each illusion you shatter. (1s of Quickness)

— This has nice synergy with the F5, without it I doubt you can use many varied skills in the max time frame (4 secs) due to lengthy animations.

Sebrent.3625:

• Share boons every time you summon a phantasm … so share that Quickness!

Quickness is currently an Effect, not a Boon. So it can’t be shared like that unless it’s changed to a Boon with the HoT release.

Quickness is being changed to a boon.

tobascodagama.2961:

Sebrent.3625:

• Share boons every time you summon a phantasm … so share that Quickness!

Quickness is currently an Effect, not a Boon. So it can’t be shared like that unless it’s changed to a Boon with the HoT release.

It is confirmed that with the trait rework, quickness will become a boon.

Miku Lawrence.6329:

So nobody’s concerned with Chronomancer being so kittening powercreep and mandatory?

Not in the least kittenronomancer is a great specialization, but there are plenty of alternative Mesmer builds that are just as strong if not stronger:

• Dom Due Chaos interrupt
• Dom Duel Illusions power shatter
• Duel Illusions Chaos condi shatter

It’s all speculation, but I think going into Chronomancer will means less overall dps in exchange for higher skill management (alacrity, clones, speed) and Slow application.