Guild Wars 2

As a phantasm mesmer who does mostly fractals and dungeons, I find myself constantly disappointed at how quickly phantasms die in most encounters, especially because they are such a critical component of mesmer damage.

While I generally like the traits in most mesmer lines, there are a few particularly lackluster traits in the Inspiration tree that could really use a change.
My suggested changes are as follows:

Vengeful Images:
First of all, in case anyone was not aware, this trait applies 5 seconds of Retaliation ONLY when the phantasm is first summoned. After those 5 seconds, the Retaliation is not reapplied.
Even for a minor trait, this is f***ing awful. It really doesn’t have any synergy with the other traits offered by Inspiration. It’s also just weak.

I suggest that Phantasmal Healing (the second Minor trait in Inspiration) be moved to the first Minor trait slot. Phantasmal Healing is not a bad trait by any means, but I don’t think it’s really second-tier material.
My suggestion for the new second Minor trait could have one of the following effects:

1. Phantasms are granted 3 seconds (halved in PvP) of Protection every 5 seconds.
2. Phantasms receive 25% less damage while they are under the effects of Regeneration.
3. Phantasms are healed for 25% of the damage inflicted by their Critical hits.

Persisting Images:

This trait isn’t really bad per se, but it just feels mediocre compared to other traits offered in the Inspiration line, it’s just sort of meh. For anyone who doesn’t know, this trait gives all of your Phantasms 20% more base HP. My suggestion for this one are as follows:
1. Have the bonus health scale off the Mesmer’s own HP rather than the Phantasm’s. This gives players who really want to bulk their Phantasms up the option to gear towards this goal, rather than be restricted to the Phantasm’s own base stats.
2. Have this trait increase the Phantasm’s Armor instead of their HP. Phantasms don’t inherit their owner’s Vitality, so having them boost a stat they actually inherit from their owner makes more sense.
3. Just make the trait give a straight up damage reduction. Have Phantasms receive 30% (15% in PvP) less damage from all sources when the trait is equipped.
4. Make this trait a minor trait (replacing Vengeful Images) and replace it with Major trait that’s actually interesting.

As a whole, I just feel like these particular changes would make the Inspiration line feel more impactful in the goal it’s set up to achieve: allow your phantasms to survive longer so they can deal more damage.