Guild Wars 2

“Block the next attack. When this skull ends, summon a phantasm that slows enemies and grants alacrity to allies. If an attack is blocked, deja vu is usable for a short time.”

Dear ArenaNet, be very very careful when you implement this skill. Honestly, i dont know how you dare to make another skull that blocks only 1 attack.

I would strongly suggest you look at changing the funtionality somehow. Look at sword off hand and scepter. Neither are good weapons in a pvp situation, largely due to the block skills. They are extremely clunky and feel somewhat buggy to use. One of the reasons for this is because they one block ONE attack. This means they active from random aoes and work uncontrollably. I fear the shield block will work just as bad, summoning phantasms on an unintended target and the like. I know you want mesmer skills to be hard to use and require timing, but block skills like this often just kitten the weapon. Ranger also has a block that only blocks a single attack, but it also blocks all projectiles for the full duration. Another example is warrior sword block, which again is almost never used for the actual skillful block. Consider instead to change this ability to perhaps a blast finisher of some kind, like Phantasmal Swordsman is a leap finisher.

If it has to be a block, make SURE it doesnt feel as laggy as the sword block does. I honestly couldnt care less if the shield skills are “powerful”, but they need to feel fun and rewarding to use properly.

We only get 2 weapon skills – make sure they are good. Thank you. =)

We already have a thread about this skill.

And Windwalker already made the best suggestion for what to do with it:

Windwalker.7421:

Why not just have it summon a Phantasm, and block ALL attacks while summoning ? (At least that would make those god awful Phantasm summon times useful for once!) Much easier, much more powerful, much more like a shield is expected to work!

tobascodagama.2961:

We already have a thread about this skill.

And Windwalker already made the best suggestion for what to do with it:

Windwalker.7421:

Why not just have it summon a Phantasm, and block ALL attacks while summoning ? (At least that would make those god awful Phantasm summon times useful for once!) Much easier, much more powerful, much more like a shield is expected to work!

I dont like it, too common and quite probably also too strong (depending on the casttime). I will check out the thread you linked, but i felt like i needed to bring it up again to make sure Anet sees it, otherwise it is useless. =(

Too strong? Because the list of ways to counter a phantasm attack isn’t long enough?

• Blind the Mesmer … phantasm not even summoned
• Interrupt the Mesmer … phantasm not even summoned
• LOS the Mesmer … phantasm not even summoned
• [Accidentally] kill the phantasm … no phantasm attack
• Blind the Phantasm … phantasm attack misses
• Aegis … phantasm attack blocked
• Block … phantasm attack blocked
• Dodge … phantasm attack dodged

… on and on …

No, the block might be too strong, depending how how long cast time.

Sebrent.3625:

Too strong? Because the list of ways to counter a phantasm attack isn’t long enough?

• Blind the Mesmer … phantasm not even summoned
• Interrupt the Mesmer … phantasm not even summoned
• LOS the Mesmer … phantasm not even summoned
• [Accidentally] kill the phantasm … no phantasm attack
• Blind the Phantasm … phantasm attack misses
• Aegis … phantasm attack blocked
• Block … phantasm attack blocked
• Dodge … phantasm attack dodged

… on and on …

^ Quit depressing me in my hypetrain mood! ;-)

For what it’s worth, it appears you could consider this to be a 2 block clunky style block skill, with the chance to summon 2 Phants. It’s kinda more of the same, but twice the “fun”…hence Deja Vu I suppose. ;-)

Enemy: “Hey wait! Didn’t he just summon that same Phantams on my last attack and didn’t I just 1-shot that one! Rats another one, it’s like having Deja Vu all over again! Oh well, lemme AA 1-shot this one too I guess!”

Mesmer: “Woohoo! 2s of Alacrity! Almost 1 full second off my CDs! These new Phants rock! Wait 4k burning, 2.5k bleeding, and 5k physical damage!? Oh it’s a Dragonhunter.”

Sorry, couldn’t resist. ;-)

Quadox.7834:

No, the block might be too strong, depending how how long cast time.

Warriors’ shield stance is three seconds and isn’t too strong. Alternatively, it could block three attacks like guard’s focus or only block one melee attack and block ranged attacks for the duration like warriors’ riposte.

William Bradley Knight.2609:

Quadox.7834:

No, the block might be too strong, depending how how long cast time.

Warriors’ shield stance is three seconds and isn’t too strong. Alternatively, it could block three attacks like guard’s focus or only block one melee attack and block ranged attacks for the duration like warriors’ riposte.

Ill take the block sure, but mesmer is not warrior. Let’s not talk about giving warrior stealth.

Windwalker.7421:

Mesmer: “Woohoo! 2s of Alacrity! Almost 1 full second off my CDs! These new Phants rock! Wait 4k burning, 2.5k bleeding, and 5k physical damage!? Oh it’s a Dragonhunter.”

Don’t forget that we’ll have a full load of confusion application fraom confusiong combatants when the patch hits I could imagine something like: “Wait 3k confusion ticking + 4k confusion from using skills + 4k physical damage.”

Quadox.7834:

William Bradley Knight.2609:

Quadox.7834:

No, the block might be too strong, depending how how long cast time.

Warriors’ shield stance is three seconds and isn’t too strong. Alternatively, it could block three attacks like guard’s focus or only block one melee attack and block ranged attacks for the duration like warriors’ riposte.

Ill take the block sure, but mesmer is not warrior. Let’s not talk about giving warrior stealth.

You are 100% correct, “mesmer is not warrior”. Does that mean those cleaves or aoe is going to give us a pass because we are not warriors? Yeah, stealth is fine when you are out of melee range or not caught in an aoe. Stealth is not so great otherwise. You are comparing apples to oranges when comparing stealth to a multi-hit block. Yes, comparing warriors to mesmers is also apples to oranges, but the situations in which you need a multi-hit block do not distinguish which class you are playing…so the situations are apples to apples. It would be a different story if stealth made you immune to damage…and note I am not asking or advocating for that…just saying the situations when you use stealth vs when you use a multi-hit block are different.

ODB.6891:

Quadox.7834:

William Bradley Knight.2609:

Quadox.7834:

No, the block might be too strong, depending how how long cast time.

Warriors’ shield stance is three seconds and isn’t too strong. Alternatively, it could block three attacks like guard’s focus or only block one melee attack and block ranged attacks for the duration like warriors’ riposte.

Ill take the block sure, but mesmer is not warrior. Let’s not talk about giving warrior stealth.

You are 100% correct, “mesmer is not warrior”. Does that mean those cleaves or aoe is going to give us a pass because we are not warriors? Yeah, stealth is fine when you are out of melee range or not caught in an aoe. Stealth is not so great otherwise. You are comparing apples to oranges when comparing stealth to a multi-hit block. Yes, comparing warriors to mesmers is also apples to oranges, but the situations in which you need a multi-hit block do not distinguish which class you are playing…so the situations are apples to apples. It would be a different story if stealth made you immune to damage…and note I am not asking or advocating for that…just saying the situations when you use stealth vs when you use a multi-hit block are different.

It’s not even as though our stealth is built in. We actually require stealth to make our class function because we don’t have other means of damage/focus mitigation. The stealth provides a mean to target drop, kite, and duke. Stealth allows us to cover all our channeled casts, heals, phant summons, mantra recharges. It allows us to up our chances of landing our overly complicated, predictable bursts. There’s a reason why decoy is fixed to the utility bar, with MI a high contender in the Eilite. Torch has gained a lot of favor in the past year but it’s not being taken for the blast finisher and certainly not the phantasm. The abundance of stealth is present in our builds because of limitations in our class, and the necessity of its provision for the challenges we face. Of course if we had other options (such as blocking mechansms) that could meet the same needs, you might see variation in the approach. Scepter 2 with OH sword 4 can demonstrate this. Sadly the rapid AA cleave and multiple opponent scenario’s we face make them fall short fast outside of any 1v1 scenario. And that’s the way it is.