Duelist's Discipline
Keep in mind, the CC recharge is not tied to CCing via Pistol. Paired with a Shield, you can actually get major CDR. Of course, since it’s tied to off-hand only, that means you’re still limited by weaponswap cd.
I don’t think this is a good trait to look at because with almost all of the trait changes, they were buffs but they also nerfed slight aspects of the traits. Duelist’s Discipline is a major portion of Mesmer’s Condi Damage (with Sharper Images, Scepter, and now Axe being the rest).
The bulk of this trait is not the cooldown reduction, but the ability to apply bleeding.
Keep in mind, the CC recharge is not tied to CCing via Pistol. Paired with a Shield, you can actually get major CDR. Of course, since it’s tied to off-hand only, that means you’re still limited by weaponswap cd.
I don’t think this is a good trait to look at because with almost all of the trait changes, they were buffs but they also nerfed slight aspects of the traits. Duelist’s Discipline is a major portion of Mesmer’s Condi Damage (with Sharper Images, Scepter, and now Axe being the rest).
The bulk of this trait is not the cooldown reduction, but the ability to apply bleeding.
I would argue that DD is already balanced out by making it compete with Phantasmal fury.
So if you’re arguing (agreeing) that DD is already balanced out by it’s placement, why change it and risk weakening it?
Note:
Torch gained a stack of Burning (3s) while losing a condition removal on Torch skills. Additionally, it has generally better cooldown reduction unless you’re stealth stacking.
Staff lost 50 Toughness (relic from the old 30 system), but gained more Cooldown Reduction due to the finicky nature of Chaos Armor.
Admittedly: Pistol would gain higher overall CDR due to the finicky nature of interrupts. But at the chance of losing bleed on strikes, I don’t think it’s a worthy trade.
Torch was already a strong option, and it was made stronger by the recently changes… especially with the cleanse on 4 becoming baseline.
Staff’s change to a flat cdr was a flat buff for most builds/situations and the additional effect from the trait was untouched.
Which makes me confused about where your fear of them nerfing the bleeding on DD is coming from. Outside of its current niche (single target condi DPS) pistol is a weak OH option already… It would be insane for them to nerf it.
I don’t think you’re applying niche to Pistol Phantasm appropriately. If we were talking about Power Mesmer and using Pistol Phantasm, then it would be entirely applicable (safe ranged DPS: see Risen Abomination vs Swordsman).
Regardless it is the second highest power damage Phantasm[note1], highest Condition Damage Phantasm- single target or otherwise[note2].
note1: Warlock is unreliable to cap damage and may miss due to slow moving projectile. Rogue is unreliable to spawn and may miss due to Illusion leaps getting caught on terrain.
note2: Mage has AoE but significantly less condi DPS than Pistol due to Sharper Images and DD. Additionally, traited Mage adds nothing to the Mage itself. Lastly, it uses some of its hits on allies, making it an unreliable AoE attack, on top of all of this. It is a poor choice for condi DPS unless you’re using it as a buffer Phantasm or shatter fodder.
Just because it’s insane for someone to do something, doesn’t mean it won’t be done. It would be insane to have an elite spec made after a theme word instead of a practical concept/function.
Changing its CDR wont increase its damage potential though. Its a QoL change. Pistol doesn’t have a hard-hitting skill like ToT, Prestige or Chaos Storm for the CDR to have any sort of DPS impact. Magic bullet is actually DPS loss if you incorporate it in your rotation.
You’re also forgetting Sword phantasm for power…
Its Warlock (with all condis) > Sword > Pistol
If we’re talking about using Pistol for power, you’re going to be taking PF instead of DD so I’m not sure why that’s even relevant to this conversation.
(edited by Mikkel.8427)
Its Warlock (with all condis) > Sword > Pistol
If we’re talking about using Pistol for power, you’re going to be taking PF instead of DD so I’m not sure why that’s even relevant to this conversation.
I stated that Pistol was the second best and explained why I didn’t include Warlock or Rogue (Rogue being downed Phant which is technically stronger than Pistol but weaker than Sword).
Additionally, even in a Power build, if you’re utilizing Pistol over Sword, you’d be running DD for the small damage increase.
Yes, I agree if the change is purely CDR → flat CDR that would be nice, but in neither cases presented to us (Staff and Torch) was it only a flat CDR change.
Yes, I agree if the change is purely CDR -> flat CDR that would be nice, but in neither cases presented to us (Staff and Torch) was it only a flat CDR change.
The change to Staff was a flat CDR change… The extra toughness was bug, not a nerf.
Yes, I agree if the change is purely CDR -> flat CDR that would be nice, but in neither cases presented to us (Staff and Torch) was it only a flat CDR change.
The change to Staff was a flat CDR change… The extra toughness was bug, not a nerf.
It wasn’t actually a bug. It being unlisted was the bug, technically. Source
Additionally, the staff one was a straight buff because it’s extremely impractical to maintain 100% Chaos Armor uptime whereas maintaining 100% Stealth was entirely doable (and made so by the torch traits significant cdr).
@Esplen
After reading your (excellent) breakdown of why Mirage is worse than core Mesmer in a different thread, I now understand and can sympathize with your concerns. The Mirage really doesn’t inspire any sort of confidence.
This is a silly trait/subject to argue over. Its of very little impact. I’m letting it go.
WHAT? NO WE’RE SUPPOSED TO ARGUE ABOUT THIS.
I don’t know what to do with myself anymore…