Guild Wars 2

So this was a bug, but I really want to see it return as a master trait, added to ‘malicious sorcery’ instead of the condition damage or a new trait in illusions or chaos. For something that was unintended it had so many benefits:

-It boosted the viability of scepter.
-It would make for less reliance on ‘deceptive evasion’ and ‘illusionists celerity’.
-A build based around the traits that cause cripple, random conditions (weakness!) and confusion on clone death would be much more effective.
-It gave the scepter a much stronger and coherent identity of being a punishment weaponset, the ‘double clones’ add conditions to stationary targets while block skill adds a condition that punishes movement, so scepter becomes a weaponset that forces an enemy to keep moving and to be cautious of triggering ‘illusionary counter’.
-With this change and the 3 stacks of bleed on ‘Debilitating Dissipation’, it is the only way for scepter clones to add enough bleeds to equal staff or greatsword. That’s right a power weaponset when traited adds more bleeds than a condition weaponset.
-Build diversity!

I was loving that double clone thing. I just noticed tonight when I got home from work that it wasn’t happening. Sad face.

Another sad face.

keenlam.4753:

I’m sad too but I admit it was too good to be true.
Agree with Op idea to make it a trait. Deceptive evasion is so good that I fear it will get nerfed soon. Most mesmers use it.

You shut your mouth… It has been nerfed already… It used to be a minor master trait… They moved it to major… Any thing else Would be the end of the class… That would be the last straw

I have adapted to all Mesmer nerfs but that would ensure mesmers are stuck in only one build 10/30/0/0/30… That would be the nail in the coffin we have adapted to other things… but DE nerf… Would destroy any viability we have left.

Sorry that my post has offended you. I was not aware of the nerf on DE.

keenlam.4753:

Sorry that my post has offended you. I was not aware of the nerf on DE.

Yup… It used to be minor master dueling… (look at most other classes on dodge traits… Minor right?) but the qq lead to it being moved to dueling master major which is fine… However with the nerf to iCelerity that DE is most mesmers (myself included) only reliable source of clones. Any further nerf. I would quit the class entirely… Some nerfs were called for… The iCelerity nerf was over the top but we have adapted… DE… I fear would destroy us….

Valderro.6389:

So this was a bug, but I really want to see it return as a master trait, added to ‘malicious sorcery’ instead of the condition damage or a new trait in illusions or chaos. For something that was unintended it had so many benefits:

-It boosted the viability of scepter.
-It would make for less reliance on ‘deceptive evasion’ and ‘illusionists celerity’.
-A build based around the traits that cause cripple, random conditions (weakness!) and confusion on clone death would be much more effective.
-It gave the scepter a much stronger and coherent identity of being a punishment weaponset, the ‘double clones’ add conditions to stationary targets while block skill adds a condition that punishes movement, so scepter becomes a weaponset that forces an enemy to keep moving and to be cautious of triggering ‘illusionary counter’.
-With this change and the 3 stacks of bleed on ‘Debilitating Dissipation’, it is the only way for scepter clones to add enough bleeds to equal staff or greatsword. That’s right a power weaponset when traited adds more bleeds than a condition weaponset.
-Build diversity!

Amen!!! I hope Anet does this. It was exactly the buff Sceptor badly needed. How ironic that it wasn’t intentional. It’s almost like the game code itself knew what needed to be done and did it for Anet. They should read the writing on the wall.

jportell.2197:

keenlam.4753:

Sorry that my post has offended you. I was not aware of the nerf on DE.

Yup… It used to be minor master dueling… (look at most other classes on dodge traits… Minor right?) but the qq lead to it being moved to dueling master major which is fine… However with the nerf to iCelerity that DE is most mesmers (myself included) only reliable source of clones. Any further nerf. I would quit the class entirely… Some nerfs were called for… The iCelerity nerf was over the top but we have adapted… DE… I fear would destroy us….

You… Know… Typing… Like… This… Serves… No… Purpose… At… All… Right…?

On topic:

Sounds like Mesmer needs shatters nerfed, and everything else on the mesmer buffed. At the moment it sounds like shatter mesmer is the only way to go, and that just sucks because personally I hate spamming clones only to use them as suicide bombers.

Deceptive Evasion was moved from Minor to Master because people complained that they shouldn’t be overwriting Phantasms through methods of Clone generation that is mostly out of their control. This was before Clones preferentially overwrite other Clones.

Still being moved from minor to major is a nerf. I hope anet doesnt touch it anymore. On topic double scepter clones would be cool

I would actually like to see the scepter on clones create clones as it does on players.
Clone refreshing waves, with the Chaos(5), Dueling(GM) … (I can dream, right?)

OP, great suggestion! I didn’t have the time to check out how other traits would affect a build like this, but the CDs on shatters should be enough to mitigate any kind of excessive clone generation.

With this, we wouldn’t need the scepter auto-attack sped up. (Something many of us dream of.) And it would also keep me from having to bring Mirror Images if I’m going shatter-happy.

Where it might be overpowered is that clones appear directly at the target. (Ah, I’m fairly certain about this. Not in game, so can’t check. Will edit my post if I’m wrong.) So, with little skill, a Mesmer could instantly shatter on a target that is at range where they have no warning. Currently we can only accomplish this through mirror images and it requires us to be pointblank, which is why so many of us carry a sword. I’d be happy if 2 clones appeared at my side instead of at the target. And it maintains the range aspect of a scepter.

Smart ideas on the forums are sometimes rare, but I think you nailed it!

This would be a really interesting trait, in my opinion, and would solidify scepter as a shatter / clonespam option. I’d love to see this happen, somehow.