Guild Wars 2

This is a complaint about the 3rd main hand sword skill not spawning illusion anymore unless you’re so close it doesn’t matter anymore.

Yeah, I feel like this ability is supposed to be a decent gap closer, but it just doesn’t do the job with its current range.

its one of the main reasons i changed to great sword.
The one hand sword snare is so unreliable.

+1 to this. Definitely needs at least (at the very least) 900 range.

Mellotron.7598:

…a decent gap closer….

That was the phrase I was looking for. Unfortunately it isn’t anymore. It felt kind of powerful in the last beta I played – now it just feels unnecessary.

did i miss something?
after reading the title i like rushed to start gw2 but i do spawn illusion when using 3rd main hand sword skill.. are there any changes?

im playing on a german server. may that be the thing?
(same thing with GS btw)

It used to be ~1200 range in beta.
It was intentionally reduced to 600 because it isn’t meant as a gap-closer, only as a “binding move”.

Carighan.6758:

It used to be ~1200 range in beta.
It was intentionally reduced to 600 because it isn’t meant as a gap-closer, only as a “binding move”.

This couldn’t be anything else but an opinionated thread, so i won’t even bother pretending: I think I have plenty of binding moves, what I want is a gap-closer:P

FrozenDream.1590:

did i miss something?
after reading the title i like rushed to start gw2 but i do spawn illusion when using 3rd main hand sword skill.. are there any changes?

im playing on a german server. may that be the thing?
(same thing with GS btw)

You spawn them, but only if you’re closer than 600 units to the target…

Oh yeah Nocna, I know. I mean, I can’t quite understand why they did it either. It was very deliberate though.

Additionally trying to use this ability on players that are moving ends with the immobilize effect not working the majority of the time, along with the clone being unable to keep up with a target you can swap positions and end up being further away from your target then you originally were.

Well, that’s what the red bars below the skills are. If you see a red bar below Illusionary Leap, don’t use the skill. Move towards the target and activate the skill as soon as the red disappears.

Yet, they could make it 900 … since it IS a gap closer … melee needs this.

Vmax.9410:

Additionally trying to use this ability on players that are moving ends with the immobilize effect not working the majority of the time, along with the clone being unable to keep up with a target you can swap positions and end up being further away from your target then you originally were.

I think the Sword clone stands in place until it finishes it’s 3 hit combo, then walks up to them again as opposed to walking with them and attacking. This is the reason it doesn’t keep up. Seems like they should be able to fix that.

Nretep.2564:

Well, that’s what the red bars below the skills are. If you see a red bar below Illusionary Leap, don’t use the skill. Move towards the target and activate the skill as soon as the red disappears.

Yet, they could make it 900 … since it IS a gap closer … melee needs this.

Also, the basic formula for 1H Sword is: Attack, Gap Closer, Flavour (not necessarily in that order). I understand that gap closer + snare is powerful (especially in conjunction with Blurred Frenzy), but even a small increase in range would help. 700-800 even would feel much better.

So… I don’t know why they changed it, and I didn’t play in the betas, so maybe I’m not getting the other side of the coin where it was 1200, BUT.. I have absolutely no problem with its lower range right now. It’s a sword skill, so I’m honestly not expecting it to have a magnificent range. I primarily use this skill to cripple nearby people (it’s an AoE I think) then I cast warden, then I jump in and immobilize. It works very well.

Once again, this is just my strategy and how I use it. If you find that the skill isn’t working for what you wanted it to work for, you should alter your build, not beg Anet to fix it to make things easier for you. For example, you could add the blink utility, which is fabulous for chasing. Or you could get the low level inspiration trait that gives you 3% more movement speed for every active illusion. That way, even if your clone CAN’T keep up, you’re moving faster because he’s there.

There are a lot of ways around the issue, and perhaps you’re taking the wrong stance on the skill if you’re having trouble with it. Maybe Anet really DIDN’T want it to be a gap closer, which I would completely understand because Mesmers are one of the most evasive classes there (I would argue moreso than the thief) and making them amazing evaders AND amazing chasers might be unbalanced.

I think there needs to be a mechanic that just prevents you from casting spells when you’re not in range when you begin casting.

Suzut.4905:

I think there needs to be a mechanic that just prevents you from casting spells when you’re not in range when you begin casting.

No way, this makes stupid people waste their skills… this is good. It’s realistic.

If illusionary leap was not meant to be a gap closer, why give the secondary effect of swapping locations? If’s meant to truly be a snare, why not have it immobilize after it’s cast? Right now it’s really is just a crappy way of applying snare (use to be great snare when you could roll afterwards and have 2 clones that applied cripple all the time.)

I would not mind more range.

But I think the short range should be a real big clue that it’s not there to be a long range charge ability. It has plenty of other uses though, it’s not exactly a wasted slot as it is.

The range is a pain but I’ve been finding at times it just won’t Do anything and start it’s c/d

It’s mostly fine in combat but you can’t start combat or snag a fleeing foe with it.

If you or the target move into range at the point the skill finishes casting, it will still work. Same thing, if you move out of range of a skill b/f it finishes casting, it gets wasted.

You want to be able to cast things early so you can reward player skill.

Swap remains active for a bit after Illusionary Leap so I cast it at the 600 range – clone leaps ahead of me (combo), melee a swing or two, dodge back and then swap.

It would be GREAT to get an increased range for pvp since players can just start kiting as soon as they see you unlike pve where you can run up to anything and start going to town =P.

The first part (clone) should be 900. The swap should remain 600. IMO.

I liked what it used to do in the first beta: it was a leap that left a clone in your prior position, and the turn-over ability permitted you to swap places with said clone—an amazing gap closer, imo. Also a way to kitten with people a little bit if they didn’t know what to expect (no, the clone wasn’t stationary, it did also run in when summoned).
If you guys had been able to see that skill as it first, FIRST was revealed, I think you’d be even more disappointed with the sword. =/

I really think the skill should send the Mesmer jumping forward. Its current version is too clunky and ineffective and it would give Mesmer’s something to do while they are running round PvE/WvW wishing they had easier access to movement speed increase like every other class.