Guild Wars 2

Irxallis.7350:

My problem is not with Decoy in isolation; it is Decoy + Blink combined. Two very powerful defensive utilities, both stunbreakers, both give us high utility. They are that good combined, that they mask some problems mesmer has (simply because you have one utility slot if you use both; also, I didn’t realize why Sc/Sw has no defenses until I dropped Decoy). So, one wants both for full defensive efficiency, which hits build diversity.

Decoy + Blink offer very nice self-sustain. But they do not provide high utility. If you choose to be strong solo and sacrifice group utility for this purpose, then you should be strong solo.

You are obviously bothered by the defense of the Sc/Sw combo. I took the time and watched your video. So I know you have been talking about the delay of the block + clone spawn. I agree with you on this one. This should be worked on. But it is no reason to nerf defensive utilities just to make people aware of something else which doesn’t work properly.

Stealth, although a core mechanic of the Thief, is a very important defensive mechanic of the Mesmer. Because he is squishy and needs to drop the target on him from time to time. This is how the class is designed. So if you want to use an offensive armor set you will have to pick defensive skills. If you don’t want to run stealth you might not be able to run full berserker. That’s how it works for every class. Besides Warrior maybe.

Irxallis.7350:

Blink has a counter – enemy mobility.

And so does Decoy. Area effects (damage, cripple and immobilizes) or cleaving attacks and channeled attacks which will still hit you after stealthing. Many people just fail to realize that you can hit stealthed people if you predict their actions. Stealth indeed makes you slippery and hard to taget. But it doesn’t make you invulnerable. Mesmer stealth is easily counterable because it is not spammable. You just have to know how.

Irxallis.7350:

Experimental build example for teamplay (to show what I mean):
Sc/Sw + Sw/T, 10-20-0-25-15, Berserker > Soldier, Traveller runes, [Blink Decoy ? MassInvis], 2* Sigils of Energy, 2* Sigils of Force.

Phantasm builds are by design more passive than other builds. I guess this makes those builds rather “easy” to play. But that is no bad thing per se. They also are very strong in small group fights but quite useless in large scale fights. That’s how it has been for a while now. I haven’t seen any complains about Phantasm builds for months, though. And I haven’t seen that many Phantasm builds in PvP either.

The most important question is: Where could the 15 points for Illusions come from?

• Duelling: 10 points. Not the case for this build but might be the case when using a pistol. Result: Less range and less cc.
• Domination: 10 points. Maybe the case for this build. Result: Fewer condition cleanses, less stealth and blind from Prestige.
• Chaos: 15 points. Maybe the case for this build. Result: Most likely less Blink or Retaliation, 15% less boon duration, 12s less Protection per minute.

The build you posted indeed will receive certain improvements when compaired to current Phantasm builds. Mostly cooldown reductions on weapon skills. IC makes it easier to recast the iSwordsman which might translate into more damage. You also got slightly more defense because of the blocks. However, using them more frequently will also diminish your gain on the shorter Phantasm cooldowns.

Considering the loss from switching 15 points into Illusions I’m not sure if the change really is as big as you think it is. The build will gain some flexibility because of the shorter cooldowns but it might actually be squishier especially when the points were invested in Domination or Chaos before. The change is more likely to offer some diversity among Phantasm builds.

The buff to Chaos25 doesn’t matter, true. Yet the buff will improve something which does not need improving, while there are other things for which improving would be better. I mean, ANet designed the game in a way that bunker doesn’t really lose condition damage (3 offensive stats for power, 2 for condi and only one is available in equipment in sane amounts). Why buff it?

You missed the context here. They didn’t buff a specific build or class. They just improved those kind of traits in general so they feel less useless.

About utility slot to interrupt… I don’t want another Mantra of Distraction. I want a skill which interrupts and if it interrupts, does something.

I guess I get where you are coming from. I’m afraid that ANet wants you to use the traits for achieving anything when interrupting.

I don’t mind the trait changes, they don’t really change the gameplay, they just change stats and figures.

As far a the scepter is concerned : Xaylin did a good analyse regarding conditions and boons but don’t forget the other possible effect : block and combo.

I suggest fot the scepter chain : suppress the automatic clone
– hit/hit/hit and gain 1s block and succeful block creates a clone
or
- hit/hit and projectile finisher/hit and blast finisher

The whole idea is to trick the ennemy : are you going to block at the at the last second or not ? is your block already over ? do you want to attack and risk to create a clone ?
Second option : the scepter seems armless until suddently you pop a field and combo !

As far as iMage is concerned : it needs a real reworking
If you don’t want to change it totaly, at least give him retaliation and stability.

I think a lot of the skills and traits that mesmer’s have are good ideas but they’re incomplete.

1. The scepter auto attack – we all know it needs to be faster and the clones need to complete the attack chain. Creating a clone on the third hit is good idea but it’s like driving a car without brakes. We can’t stop creating clones and it’s a problem for certain builds. Changing the skill Ether Clone to something else(Ether Explosion) when we are at max illusions should be your top priority.

Ether Explosion- it’s Ether Clone without creating a clone, hitting 3 targets and spreading Crippling Dissipation, Confusing Combatants and Debilitating Dissipation if you have the traits.

2. Crippling Dissipation, Confusing Combatants and Debilitating Dissipation needs direct damage added to them.

3. Shattered Conditions and Restorative Illusions – If both of them are grandmaster traits they should have their effects activate on phantasms when they are destroyed and add direct damage to it. The radius on all skills that effect allies should be 600.

I love the changes, but i’m wondering if people will think we’re too op again…. we’re already a strong class but i felt that we were quite balanced. Only thing I’d like to see changed is mantra traits making more sense so a mantra build is more viable

I’m worried bout PU as well, i run PU, but not the standard cookie cutter PU builds.

So for IC and Phantasmal haste does that mean phantasm builds are now going to be crazy? It stacks right? -40% phantasm CD and what about weapon reduction XD -60% CD? I forgot how all that worked when it used to happen a year ago

Phantasmal haste reduce time between phantasm Attacks.
Doesn t reduce summoning skills CD.

Also its bugged.

Is there any way we can get more access to swiftness other than focus? Maybe staff 5 chaos storm always granting swiftness in addition to some other RNG boon.

oh! yeah its been too long since there was the CD reducing thing we had like a half a year ago, havent touched that trait line in too long

Bunda.2691:

But shouldn’t our three main builds be:
1) Phantasm (power and condition)
2) Shatter (power and condition)
3) Clone-Spam (power and condition)
This gives us six distinct options—two versions each of three build types. And then each can be tailored further to boon share, support, glam, control, interrupt, etc.

I agree with this assessment of the Mesmer. Mantas, signets, interrupts and all the other goodies are modifications of those 6 builds. People asking for builds that do damage without using illusions remind me a lot of the rangers that kept petitioning for pet-less rangers. Illusions should be integral to our builds and I don’t want that to change.

With that in mind, I think clone spam builds need help on the power side. Specifically, the dissipation traits (or a new trait) need to add power damage to our clone bombs. This would still give us decent AOE in zergs while eliminating the problem of “our clones die too fast.” In smaller fights, this would promote less mindless AOE spam. The damage should be about 30-60% of Mind Wrack per clone to keep the risk/reward balanced with shatters.

On the condi shatter side, Illusionary Retribution needs to change. Having uniform confusion on all of our shatters is boring and 3 seconds confusion is really weak. Give us torment on F3 and bleeds on F1. F2 can stay with 2 stacks of confusion.

I’m a little confused as to what clone-spam would mean, because shatter is already clone spam isn’kitten Clone spam without shattering is likely closer to relying on a phantasm build isn’kitten I can understand clone spam condition, for those bleeds and on kill conditions etc, but probably just me but i don’t know what’s a power clone spam build. on the other hand what is a hybrid blackwater build considered? PU, phantasm and clones and lots of shatters, kinda the blend of all for short time

LordByron.8369:

Phantasmal haste reduce time between phantasm Attacks.
Doesn t reduce summoning skills CD.

Also its bugged.

It’s not supposed to reduce the cool down. So many people think it does, by not reading the tool tip.

Shatter builds will summon clones and phantasms and time the shatters to spike someone down quickly. You don’t want people killing your illusions.

Clone spam/death builds tend to spawn clones and only clones and leave them up. More clones cause previous clones to explode or the clones can be killed by enemies to also explode.

So while they both spam illusions, I would consider these very different builds/play-styles when it comes to traits. Of course, all those builds can use tactics from the other builds and there will be overlap/hybrids. However, shatter and phantasm builds have problems in zerg fights in wvw. Mainly, illusions die too fast. So why not embrace the fast death as a viable zerg aoe build? Current traits give a 33% chance of a weak bleed and 3 second of confusion in an aoe. That doesn’t cut it in a zerg. That’s why I think a new trait for power bombs on clone death would help Mesmers in zergs but having it do less damage than shatters or phantasms would prevent the build from being OP in other formats.

After thinking about this a bit more, I think it would have to be a new trait. The blackwater build is rather strong as is. The trade off should probably be pick this trait or pick PU. Since 20 dueling would be pretty mandatory for this build, maybe 30 domination? 30/25/0/0/15 or 30/20/10/X/X?

Jester.1236:

LordByron.8369:

Phantasmal haste reduce time between phantasm Attacks.
Doesn t reduce summoning skills CD.

Also its bugged.

It’s not supposed to reduce the cool down. So many people think it does, by not reading the tool tip.

But it still is bugged. Not all the phantasms attack at a higher rate.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phantasmal_Haste

Pyroatheist.9031:

The scepter autoattack SHOULD have a unique aspect that the clones can inherit.

The scepter autoattack SHOULD NOT have a condition.

Just a random thought: What if the third scepter autoattack caused a very short (0.5 sec) stealth?

The main effect would be to break targeting. It would also cause the mesmer to suddenly pop into appearance, making it easier to hide among the clones. Both contribute to scepter “trickiness”.

Some potential synergy with PU, too.

Spin Echo.8263:

Pyroatheist.9031:

The scepter autoattack SHOULD have a unique aspect that the clones can inherit.

The scepter autoattack SHOULD NOT have a condition.

Just a random thought: What if the third scepter autoattack caused a very short (0.5 sec) stealth?

The main effect would be to break targeting. It would also cause the mesmer to suddenly pop into appearance, making it easier to hide among the clones. Both contribute to scepter “trickiness”.

Some potential synergy with PU, too.

Love the idea, probably OP though. The current blackwater build is already a pain to fight in WvW due to the frequent stealths. No need to add another spammable stealth to the build that already enjoys many stealths.

A buff to Glamours for AoE would be nice. Maybe revert/change Blinding Befuddlement or something to make fighting in zergs practical again?

Anything other than vulnerability on scepter auto would be OP, unless there was an rng or on crit component, but no one wants that.

Stealth would be lots of fun, but incredibly overpowered.

Really just increasing the aa projectile velocity (or maybe shaving the cast time a tiny bit) and reducing the precast of confusing images is all the love the scepter needs.

cyyrix.6105:

Anything other than vulnerability on scepter auto would be OP, unless there was an rng or on crit component, but no one wants that.

Stealth would be lots of fun, but incredibly overpowered.

Really just increasing the aa projectile velocity (or maybe shaving the cast time a tiny bit) and reducing the precast of confusing images is all the love the scepter needs.

There are 3 stages to the scepter auto attack. Adding conditions on stage 2 or stage 3 would be harmless with regards to clones.

The power coefficient on scepter 1 is half way between staff and 1H-sword. I think a fine balance trade-off is the addition of conditions to the chain, but the reduction of the power coefficient.

While I’m as excited as anyone about the IC move to 15, if it ends up happening, am I the only one concerned about it being nerfed again soon after? I have to admit I was incredibly surprised to hear about this change, what with the immense QQ that came before the original nerf. I can just hear it starting up again.

Xavi.6591:

A buff to Glamours for AoE would be nice. Maybe revert/change Blinding Befuddlement or something to make fighting in zergs practical again?

I wish we could corner a dev and ask them point blank about this one. It would have made perfect sense to nerf it if they hadn’t nerfed confusion along with it back in the day. I see no reason whatsoever why BB shouldn’t be reverted to it’s original function at this point. If they feel it would still be OP even with gutted confusion, I would love to hear why.

Maybe one should also focus on confusion… yeah in pvp/wvw it may be viable (I don’t even think it is in tPvP) but in PvE it’s the last choice for a Mesmer.
It’s not like “it lasts not long enough to deal dmg” or “we need options to stack it faster/higher”.
IMO it’s the mechanic of this condition. I thought of a few possibilitys for confusion:

• confusion as singletarget “retaliation” debuff
  We could make it like this: Every time your target deals dmg you will cause confusion to hit" so it will make it another way of retaliation based on conditiondmg.
• make it like “empathie” in gw1
  now also reduces dmg dealed by the foe by 1%/2% per stack
• a confused enemy will suffer to random conditions every time he uses a skill
  10% 4s vulnerability per stack
  5% 0.25s immobilize per stack
  10% 2s poison per stack
  30% 5s 2 stacks bleed per stack
  5% 1s chill per stack
  20% 2s cripple per stack
  15% 2s blind per stack
  15% 5s torment per stack
  this may be a bit overpowered since i’m not a balancer but it would give the mesmer the possibility to apply more conditions
• % of dmg hits opponent
  have it like every 100 conditiondmg 1% of the dmg dealed is reflected at the target
  so with 1000cdmg you would cause him to take 10% of his own dmg. With 1500cdmg 15%… (may also be op. I like the idea not the actual numbers )

DuckDuckBOOM.4097:

So why not embrace the fast death as a viable zerg aoe build? Current traits give a 33% chance of a weak bleed and 3 second of confusion in an aoe. That doesn’t cut it in a zerg. That’s why I think a new trait for power bombs on clone death would help Mesmers in zergs but having it do less damage than shatters or phantasms would prevent the build from being OP in other formats.

After thinking about this a bit more, I think it would have to be a new trait. The blackwater build is rather strong as is. The trade off should probably be pick this trait or pick PU. Since 20 dueling would be pretty mandatory for this build, maybe 30 domination? 30/25/0/0/15 or 30/20/10/X/X?

I think this is an excellent idea, and would give us some much needed aoe in zergs. And I think your are completely right that Domination Grandmaster is the line to put it in. PU/DE/This would be just be too potent.

edit: changed master to grandmaster

lol wut?
I think you guys were so hungry for a buff that these table scraps look like a buffet.

Blow by blow:

Domination XII – Confounding Suggestions. Changed to increase daze duration by 25%.
—This could make for some new interrupt builds. Good good, but if these builds are strong the QQ will probably get it nerfed.

Dueling VI – Protected Mantras. Moved to Master Tier. Increase Toughness from 400 to 600.
—Personally, I cannot stand the feel/playstyle of mantras. This should have just been combined with Mantra mastery.

Dueling VII – Mantra Mastery. Moved to Adept Tier.
—Oh boy, another mantra trait in my prec/crit trait line… see above.

Chaos 25 – Chaotic Transference. Increased conversion from 5% to 10%.
—Few more condi damage, not a big deal but nice.

Chaos I – Chaotic Revival. Reduced cooldown from 35s to 10s.
— With all the other great stuff in chaos, I have no idea why anyone would take this, unless they greatly increased the duration of the chaos armor this applies.

Chaos VII – Mirror of Anguish. Reduced cooldown from 90s to 60s.
—Would have to be in the 30-45sec realm for me to consider. Would rather have bountiful interruption, chaotic dampening, etc.

Inspiration IV – Mender’s Purity. Now removes 2 conditions.
—Good if your build has any pts in this trait line.

Inspiration XI – Shattered Conditions. Increased radius from 240 to 600.
—TBH I can’t believe they ever thought 240 was okay.

Illusions VI – Illusionary Invigoration. Recharge reduced from 90s to 60s. Moved to Master Tier.
—zzzZZzzzzZZzzzz.

Illusions VIII – Dazzling Galmours. Moved to Adept Tier.
—Hey, cool. Now you can get this with blinding befuddlement and still pickup Illusionary Persona. This is how it always should have been.

Illusions 15 – Shattered Strength – Moved to Grandmaster tier.
—yay, back where it belongs. This hasn’t been viable for might stacking builds for some time, so it’s good to put it in GM so the only ppl who get it would have gotten it anyway with Illusionary Persona.

Illusions 25 – Illusionist’s Celerity – Moved to Master tier.
—This is where they should have moved it instead of GM to begin with. 5 was cheap and 25 made many builds impossible.

So from my pov, not much changed unless you’re jumping on the mantra bandwagon. Still nerfed from where we were before the first celerity move to GM.

Mimic
4 second channel, reflects all ranged, blocks all melee. Counts the total number of hits, or blocks, and multiplies that times X (possibly to a maximum) for a single target dps Echo effect, post channel.

I think there are some skills that could be changed a bit.

Greatsword

1. Mind stab for Greatsword only has a 120 Radius – Increasing that to 180 would give it a nice needed boost.

Sword:

1. illusionary leap pathing needs to be looked at. Doesn’t go up stairs or hills

Torch:

1. Phantasmal Mage – Increase projectile speed

I know what was posted was traits, these would just be some of my suggestions for skill balancing/improving.

skcamow.3527:

Xavi.6591:

A buff to Glamours for AoE would be nice. Maybe revert/change Blinding Befuddlement or something to make fighting in zergs practical again?

I wish we could corner a dev and ask them point blank about this one. It would have made perfect sense to nerf it if they hadn’t nerfed confusion along with it back in the day. I see no reason whatsoever why BB shouldn’t be reverted to it’s original function at this point. If they feel it would still be OP even with gutted confusion, I would love to hear why.

+1000
Actually, we have very few offensive build viable in a zerg : Phantasm and Illusion are too weak to be effective.
Reflect mechanism is right now one of the only way go but reflection is subject to retaliation. Launching a Feedback in the middle of a big zerg is often synonymous to our death.
We definitively miss our specific Confusion condition to be viable again.

Staff definitely needs to improved at, just like the scepter(but that’s already been adressed by Jon). I can understand that sttaff is good in sPvP, but in PvE it just is complete crap. It doesn’t deal enough damage, not from a power build side and definitely not from a condition build side. And supporting, well the occasional stack of might or fury it gives can hardly be qualified as support when an elementalist can stack might so much higher and deal more damage at the same time.

I think it’s time a decision is taken what the staff should be, and the staff should be buffed to meet its defined goal then. It’s lacking in everything at this moment.

If you want power build, you’ll need more damage on the auto-attack.
If you want condition, at least the phantasmal warlock should apply conditions as well, and maybe an increase in projectile speed/attack speed for both mesmer and clones
If you want support, it should at least apply 2 stacks of might per bounce.

Regarding Interrupts:

It seems fairly pointless to have FI as a Grandmaster trait when there are NO other interrupt-buffing traits in Dueling at all.

Why not get rid of, change, or move FI into another trait line in a Master or Adept slot? 3 seconds of quickness for a mostly random chance is pretty lackluster in the Grandmaster slot.

redux.1502:

Regarding Interrupts:

It seems fairly pointless to have FI as a Grandmaster trait when there are NO other interrupt-buffing traits in Dueling at all.

Why not get rid of, change, or move FI into another trait line in a Master or Adept slot? 3 seconds of quickness for a mostly random chance is pretty lackluster in the Grandmaster slot.

It’s there because it fits the “Duelist” theme. It also synergizes with Pistol. However, I wouldn’t mind if it was moved to Domination 25. That minor is broken anyway and FI would make a lot more sense there.

But what do we replace it with?

Vewen.8016:

Staff definitely needs to improved at, just like the scepter(but that’s already been adressed by Jon). I can understand that sttaff is good in sPvP, but in PvE it just is complete crap. It doesn’t deal enough damage, not from a power build side and definitely not from a condition build side.

Got to disagree. Besides it being a rather defensive weapon, it does deal an insane amount of damage when you use the iWarlock properly. Use your AA. Get 1-2 clones up. Apply conditions. Benefit.

The only lacking skill is Chaos Armor since it got its guaranteed Protection nerfed. It feels useless because you can just use Chaos Storm and Phase Retreat instead. It would be very nice if we got Protection back or had some other effect added to it.

JonPeters.5630:

Scepter
Scepter is still missing something but we don’t want to overload the autoattack as we think that promotes more mindless play and are trying to move away from builds that focus so much on the “1” skill. I feel like that scepter should be the tricksy defender that can stop enemies from attacking and defend allies, but maybe it’s single target nature is keeping that from working.

So after going through all conditions and boons I came to the conclusion that the boons are either too strong or already available to the Mesmer through other sources. I feel that Chill and Weakness might be the most promising as addition to the Scepter AA and Scepter clones. I personally prefer the Chill since we already got Weakness on Debilitating Dissipation which is a trait already associated with the Scepter. So here are some ideas I had.

General changes

• Speed up the chain.
• Change Malicious Sorcery to be more defensive and supportive.

AA Version 1

• #1. Ether Bolt. Now 20% projectile finisher.
• #2. Ether Blast. Now 20% projectile finisher.
• #3. Ether Void. Spawn a clone at your targets position which chills your enemies for 1s in a radius of 240 (target limit = 5). Clones perform the chain but only cast a single target chill. This is to prevent too massiv CC at range.

The projectile finishers offer additional sources for conditions via combo fields although they are not guaranteed. The area chill fits the briefing of keeping your enemies from attacking and defending your allies. The short duration of the Chill will keep it from being maintened permanently unless you decide to keep up clones which will reduce your damage in return.

AA Version 2

• #1. Ether Bolt. Damages the foe and applies 1 stack of 3s Vulnerability.
• #2. Ether Blast. Damages the foe and applies 1 stack of 3s Vulnerability.
• #3. Ether Void. See above.

Although I feel that Mesmers do have enough Vulnerability, it is the only condition which is not too overwhelming as long as it is applied in small stacks. The Vulnerability here serves several purposes. It keeps the clones from being useless in case of them dying before landing the third hit of the chain. It offers condition Mesmers an additional way of covering their damaging conditions. It aids power Mesmers to slightly increase their damage when using a Scepter. Again, the Chill serves as defensive condition to protect your allies and keep your enemies from attacking.

Malicious Sorcery

Right now Malicious Sorcery faces several issues. It competes with Wardens Feedback and it does not provide anything too interesting. The CD reduction is nice but they are rather low anyway. The condition damage is helpful but hardly makes you want to pick it. I really like the idea of having the Scepter as a defensive and supportive weapon. While I feel that incorporating the heal into the AA would be too troublesome because of the clones, it could be done through the Scepter trait.

Please note that the numbers are just a first thought and might have to be adjusted.

Mending Sorcery (Former Malicious Sorcery)

• Reduces the CD of Scepter skills by 20%.
• Illusions now heal nearby allies when killed or shattered.
• Heal on death: 400 (0.2) heal with a 240 radius (target limit = 5)
• Heal on shatter: 600 (0.5) heal per illusion with a 600 radius (target limit = 5).

The heal would perfectly fit into the Inspiration line and the theme of defending your allies. The first effect (on death) should be recognizably stronger than a tick of Regeneration but weaker than the shatter effect. I also feel that the second effect (shatter) should have an adequat scaling with healing power. However, it should not outshine Restorative Mantras. This new trait serves builds which use on clones’ death traits and also opens up more options for supportive shatter builds. Right now, if anyone went 30 points into Inspiration for shatters, Restorative Illusions would always compete with Shattered Conditions. Restorative Illusions could be removed to make room for a Glamour Grandmaster trait.

JonPeters.5630:

Mimic
Last thought. This skill is for almost all intents and purposes just not working, but is causing some broken behavior with certain bosses. I would like to replace it with a complete redesign and am open to discussion on that as well.

Mimic:
Block up to 3 attacks over the next 3 seconds. Each attack blocked generates a clone of the attacker at the attackers location.
Should all 3 blocks be used the clones shatter and daze up to 5 targets for 1 second each.

Clones created by Mimic use your weapon attacks regardless of what weapon the enemy target is holding at the time.

My thoughts on Glamours

Most of us know how strong Glamours have been before they got a needed nerf. However, since then the traits feel completely useless when compared to other traits. Even in Glamour heavy builds you might get Glamour Mastery for reducing the cooldowns but that is where it will end. The traits simply got overnerfed in combination with the nerf to Confusion.

I do not know what ANet has in mind for Glamours but the following is how I personally see them. Glamours are stationary area effects – in contrast to shatters – which support you group but also punish and control your foes when inside them or crossing them. Nevertheless, no trait really enhances this purpose.

• No trait really helps keeping enemies inside your Glamours.
• No trait recognizably punishes enemies for staying inside the Glamours.
• No trait protects your allies while being inside the Glamours.

I guess the difficulty lies in the fact that Glamours are area effects. Nobody enjoys being the victim of area effect spamming. It’s cheap and breaks game mechanics. However, this can’t be a justification for making traits totally useless. I’ll list some ideas I have.

Blinding Befuddlement
Nerfed into the ground in the past. It’s not a pure Glamour trait since it also affects, for example, Prestige, but it is redundant and useless for Glamours because of Confusing Enchantments. Ultimatively, the best solution would be making all blinding skills benefit without making it too strong. My idea:

• When blinding a foe, you also cause Weakness for 3s.

This change would make it work without conflicting with Confusing Enchantments and it also fits the skills which it proccs from (Prestige, Illusionary Counter, Chaos Armor, Magic Bullet).

Dazzling Glamours
Besides the misleading name, having a blind on cast just does not cut it when considering the cooldown of Glamours. It also does not help your allies staying inside the Glamour and it does not punish your enemies for leaving or staying inside it. My idea:

• Blind your foes when inside or crossing your Glamour
• Pulses a 2s Blind every 2s with a target limit of 5. (Feedback and Nullfield)
• Blind for 3s when crossing a Glamour. (Veil)

This change would protect your allies which might seek safety inside a Feedback or want their conditions cleansed in a Nullfield. It would also make Temporal Enchanter a bit more meaningful because it will add a pulse of Blind. It also nicely synergizes with the new Blinding Befuddlement. Since Blinds are quite powerful, the skill might have to be moved back to the Master tier.

Confusing Enchantments
Applying 1 stack confusion when entering or exiting a Glamour is annoyingly unimpressive. It might help you tagging enemies in WvW but that’s all it does. The entering/exiting mechanic is rather problematic because you can’t make it deal a big amount of damage since there is no target limit. Therefore, I’d rather see it pulse inside the Glamours.

• Confuse your foes when inside or crossing your Glamours.
• Pulses 1 stack of Confusion for 3s every second with a target limit of 5 (FB / NF).
• Cause 3 stacks of Confusion for 3s when crossing the Glamour (Veil)

This change makes the Confusion slowly pile up on your enemies if they are not leaving your Glamour. The target limit keeps it from being too powerful and you also won’t be able to exceed 3 stacks of confusion unless your invest into condition duration. You will be able to gain a fourth stack of confusion when getting Master of Misdirection or going for condition duration on food or runes. The effect for Veil should be stronger since your enemy can avoid the Veil.

Prismatic Glamours (New, Grandmaster)
Since we deleted Restorative Illusions we got a free spot to fill.

• Your Glamours gain additional effects.
• Feedback: Cripple your foes for 1s every second.
• Nullfield: -20% condition duration (allies), -20% boon duration (foes).
• Veil: Make your foe fall when crossing the line (knock down)
• Portal: Gain Swiftness for 10s when using a portal (10s internal cd).

The addition to Feedback ensures that foes are kept inside the Glamour and can’t use projectiles. The addition to Nullfield is comparable to the new Purging Flames but slightly weaker because of the additional effect on your foes. It now is more reasonable to stay inside the field although it makes you very vulnerable to newly applied conditions. The knock down on Veil gives it a more offensive use. The Swiftness for Portal improves the mobility even further.

Confounding Suggestions
Although not a Glamour skill I had an idea which might make this trait more useful.

• Blinds gain a 25-50% chance to daze for 1s.
• Dazes last 25-50% longer.

The longer daze duration should be kept so Mesmers can hopefully in some way reach longer than 1s dazes. However, the daze on blind effect is the one which might make this trait stand out. It fits the theme of domination and synergizes with the Torch very well. It also improves other skills like Chaos Armor. Furthermore, it can turn your Glamours into a form of crowd control similar to Chaos Storm when using Dazzling Glamours. This would highly benefit Glamours because you will actually be able to keep your enemies inside them even though the chance for daze is rather random.

Sorry for the wall of text.

Mimic

30s CD
Breaks stun
Grants 4s Stability
4 second channel, reflects all ranged, blocks all melee. Counts the total number of hits, or blocks, and multiplies that times X (to a maximum of Y) for a single target ranged dps attack Echo effect post channel.

We lack stability options. Manipulations are ripe for having one. Also a zerg friendly option.

I really like the idea of another option to get stability.

If this is an option for making the scepter more tricksy and defensive, it would be cool to get stability from something there as well.

arcane thievery needs to be 30 seconds

decoy needs to be 30 seconds

JonPeters.5630:

Scepter
Scepter is still missing something but we don’t want to overload the autoattack as we think that promotes more mindless play and are trying to move away from builds that focus so much on the “1” skill. I feel like that scepter should be the tricksy defender that can stop enemies from attacking and defend allies, but maybe it’s single target nature is keeping that from working.

May I offer some of my basic input? I mainly play my mesmer with a scepter/pistol, with a build that focuses on domination and dueling. The scepter is a very strong single-targeted weapon, but if I get mobbed, I’m more intent on using the 5 to stun enemies to get out of the way. It’s faster and more reliable than using the scepter’s blocking skill.

The way I see the scepter, it’s (1) clone summoner (2) block skill that gives another clone summon (3) long stream of pink damaging energy. The scepter is more of a soloist weapon, than one for a team fight. It remains on one target, and the clones it summons stay close to the target enemy, instead of moving around and attracting more mobs. It’s very useful for picking out one monster at a time, and killing it.

I use the “1” skill as an easy way to summon clones for shatter skills. But since the clones spawn at the target enemy, they sometimes get destroyed quickly as well. But because of this rich access to ‘killed or shattered,’ the scepter just has so many strong offensive uses, especially if it’s utilized with their respective shattered/killed traits. If I want to be defensive against a mob, I’ll take my greatsword instead. It has an illusion that can instantly cripple, and a wave that can push away enemies.

To be honest, the scepter does feel like a ‘mindless spam’ skill at times. thock thock thock clone! thock thock thock clone! thock thock thock clone! press f1 Extra damage! My shatter added a condition damage too! thock thock thock clone! thock thock- Aw. clone died. Oh well, it added another condition.thock thock thock clone! thock thock thock* clone! thock thock- enemy is coming at me! oh no! lift scepter – block! clone! press f2 Condition damage!

Inspiration traits are pretty much the best traits that utilizes a ‘clone army’ scepter weapon that is aimed to help allies in a large team group fight.

:Inspiration:

Adept – Shattering illusions grants vigor to nearby allies. (helps the team)
Adept – Move faster for each active illusion. (increased survivability in mobbed team fights. Especially since mesmers have no speed skills!)
Master – Increased condition damage while wielding a scepter. Reduces recharge on scepter skills. (goes directly into the scepter)
Grandmaster – Using a shatter skill removes a condition from you and allies around you. (helps the team)
Grandmaster – Heal a small amount when you shatter illusions. (lets you live longer in a mobbed team fight)
==

But…the mandatory trait skills are all based off phantasms. Scepters don’t summon phantasms, they summon clones.
*Adept – Grants retaliation to Phantasms.
*Master – Phantasms grant regeneration to nearby allies.
*Grandmaster – Phantasms deal more damage.

If we’re gonna be using a scepter, the offhand would be the phantasm summoner. And I’d rather drop points into precision (dueling) for my pistol offhand. So this just steers scepter users away from inspiration traits, and focus more on the damage dealing properties of scepters.

I guess another way to look at it is that it’s a ranged weapon. I don’t see why a mesmer would build vitality over damage, if they’re in a team fight and intent on standing far away.

If there was anything I would change with the scepter, it would be to add some combo effects on it – perhaps a combo initiator? Another idea that I’ve always wanted to see worked in was to have my clone summoned from the block (skill 2) to take the aggro that I have. It would just feel like it’s more utilized.

Xaylin.1860:

Got to disagree. Besides it being a rather defensive weapon, it does deal an insane amount of damage when you use the iWarlock properly. Use your AA. Get 1-2 clones up. Apply conditions. Benefit.

The only lacking skill is Chaos Armor since it got its guaranteed Protection nerfed. It feels useless because you can just use Chaos Storm and Phase Retreat instead. It would be very nice if we got Protection back or had some other effect added to it.

Then I ask you: would you say staff is a great weapon in open world pve as well as in dungeons? Do you actually run it over the typical sword? I used to run a staff until people started ridiculing me for it.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Mimic

30s CD
Breaks stun
Grants 4s Stability
4 second channel, reflects all ranged, blocks all melee. Counts the total number of hits, or blocks, and multiplies that times X (to a maximum of Y) for a single target ranged dps attack Echo effect post channel.

We lack stability options. Manipulations are ripe for having one. Also a zerg friendly option.

this – also fixes the fractale agony abuse

I understand they want it to be unique and new but scepter just screams condition damage…
Both confusing images and illusionary counter are condition centered with decent direct damage parts as well. Taking this into account, why not make the scepter AA like this too. Say 50% of the time it will deal an additional static damage(since it is static it would apply to clones as well) and 50% of the time it applies a condition. This will be a huge improvement because as it stands scepter clones are nothing but shatter generation and a very slow one at that.

What if scepter auto attack gave aegis on the end of the attack chain? Like a 1-2 second aegis on the mesmer. Additionally, the clones generated by scepter would have a 1-2 second aegis on them to block a single attack. Maybe have it cause a 1s stun when someone removes the aegis from the clone.

As an alternative, have the scepter clone’s attack cause an interrupt in some way… either stun or whatever.

If you don’t want scepter to be more condition-focused (not sure why…but okay), then make it focused on defense / interrupts to help those builds.

My idea for mimic would be -
Have it summon a clone that mirrors the current target for a few seconds (looks just like the target, instead of like the mesmer). This clone of the target would do the same actions / attacks that the target does…including any damage. So…when mimic is cast against you, whatever you do for the duration will be mirrored back on you by a clone that looks just like you.

Vewen.8016:

Then I ask you: would you say staff is a great weapon in open world pve as well as in dungeons? Do you actually run it over the typical sword? I used to run a staff until people started ridiculing me for it.

In PvE many weapons might be preferred over Staff but that is not due the Staff not being a great weapon. People just need to wrap their head around the fact that there will always be a most effective weapon for certain situations and that a weapon can’t – or at least should not be – oustanding in every scenario. In this case, the Staff happens to be a lot better in PvP than in PvE. It also happens to be a defensive weapon. And in PvE people usually expect you to bring fast raw damage.

So no, I usually do not use the Staff in dungeons or fractals because people expect you to bring raw damage. Also, WoC can be reflected which is extremly annoying. I also do not use the Staff in the open world when zerging because the AA is too slow to tag anything. However, when solo I in high level areas I ALWAYS prefer Staff + Sword/X because this offers me a great combination of defensive and offense.

And please don’t go “SEE! You are using a Sword!”. Sword is the only melee weapon we have and the Scepter is completely useless in PvE imho. The Staff is just not good at killing fast. I’m sad that I can’t use it all the time. But I still like the Staff a lot and it is far from being bad, broken or underpowered. And it is far far away from being in the state of the Scepter in PvE.

Xaylin.1860:

Vewen.8016:

Then I ask you: would you say staff is a great weapon in open world pve as well as in dungeons? Do you actually run it over the typical sword? I used to run a staff until people started ridiculing me for it.

In PvE many weapons might be preferred over Staff but that is not due the Staff not being a great weapon. People just need to wrap their head around the fact that there will always be a most effective weapon for certain situations and that a weapon can’t – or at least should not be – oustanding in every scenario. In this case, the Staff happens to be a lot better in PvP than in PvE. It also happens to be a defensive weapon. And in PvE people usually expect you to bring fast raw damage.

So no, I usually do not use the Staff in dungeons or fractals because people expect you to bring raw damage. Also, WoC can be reflected which is extremly annoying. I also do not use the Staff in the open world when zerging because the AA is too slow to tag anything. However, when solo I in high level areas I ALWAYS prefer Staff + Sword/X because this offers me a great combination of defensive and offense.

And please don’t go “SEE! You are using a Sword!”. Sword is the only melee weapon we have and the Scepter is completely useless in PvE imho. The Staff is just not good at killing fast. I’m sad that I can’t use it all the time. But I still like the Staff a lot and it is far from being bad, broken or underpowered. And it is far far away from being in the state of the Scepter in PvE.

Very true, and I completely understand that each weapon should bring something unique. But that division should not run with PvE/pvP, but rather situations where one or the other is needed. You need refletction? You bring the focus. You need ranged, you bring the GS. Heavy melee damage? Bring the iduelist.
Every weapon needs to have its use in the respective game modes, that’s why Anet made it even possible to have a split between PvP/PvE. The staff could be a great support weapon if we really want the scepter to be the prime condition weapon, but then it needs to be buffed in that regard as it doesn’t provide enough at this point compared to other classes. Mind you, I’m only talking about PvE. Even toying with the numbers (duration of the buffs) could be enough to push staff in a stronger position, and that would hardly be a cruel split; it’s not like there will be different mechanics for the same skill.

And btw: Jon clearly said he wants the scepter to be the defensive weapon, meaning the staff obviously has to be something else as I doubt they want overlap in what weapons do. So yes, the staff might be the best defensive weapon we have but what will happen if the scepter gets buffed/reworked?

regarding scepter AA
first reminder :" Mesmers can create illusions to fight by their side, which they use to harass enemies with phantasms or mislead them with clones."

ppl dont use scepter AA as it benefit nothing so here are my suggestions:

1. the third attack create a clone which daze for 1 seconds – harass your enemy. so its not the power we want but the harassment. if enemy focus on us the clone can break its fight reathm.
2. the third attack create a clone which confuse for 2 seconds – as for now mesmer can stack in average of a fight 8-12 stacks of confusion while engineer can stack easily 25 with perplexity. i want confusion to be belong mostly to the mesmers and again 2 seconds of confusion its not op and can harass our enemy
3. combination of 1+2 – the third attack create a clone which might deal confusion or daze or torment for 1 seconds – like staff randomness the scepter will have it too- it wont be OP as it 1 seconds and usually clone easy to kill
4. if we want the scepter to be with power gear than me want to add maybe a clone which does 50%-100% more dmg or again give it some random ability like 3 so it can cause high dmg or daze or confusion or torment
5. the third attack create 3 clones which die after 3 seconds causing aoe torment/confusion for 1 second and give random boon for 3 seconds (240 area)- defend tool to confuse our position

i dont want it to cause bleed as it belongs to the necro part.

Fozzik.1742:

What if scepter auto attack gave aegis on the end of the attack chain? Like a 1-2 second aegis on the mesmer. Additionally, the clones generated by scepter would have a 1-2 second aegis on them to block a single attack. Maybe have it cause a 1s stun when someone removes the aegis from the clone.

As an alternative, have the scepter clone’s attack cause an interrupt in some way… either stun or whatever.

Aegis: Aegis on clones would not be thaaaaat strong because they usually do not deal a lot of damage. In fact it might actually be bad for on death traits because they won’t trigger as often. Aegis on an AA would be insane though. In PvE and 1vs1 people would constantly spam the AA to gain close to permanent Aegis. Additionally, Mesmers can get Retaliation on block and add in some on death traits to make it even more ridiciulous.

Stun/Interrupt: Not sure what to say. That would be craaaaaazy…

Vewen.8016:

Very true, and I completely understand that each weapon should bring something unique. But that division should not run with PvE/pvP, but rather situations where one or the other is needed. You need refletction? You bring the focus. You need ranged, you bring the GS. Heavy melee damage? Bring the iduelist.

You’re right that at least for PvE the Staff does not offer anything special although it is very prominent when playing a supportive boon sharing build. Maybe ANet could change the #4 into something which applies longer boons to the party to make the Staff more appealing.

Vewen.8016:

Every weapon needs to have its use in the respective game modes, that’s why Anet made it even possible to have a split between PvP/PvE.

I know that this has been quite common in GW1 although I never played it. But ANet stated that they want to avoid too extensive skills splitting in GW2 because it makes balancing very hard.

Vewen.8016:

And btw: Jon clearly said he wants the scepter to be the defensive weapon, meaning the staff obviously has to be something else as I doubt they want overlap in what weapons do. So yes, the staff might be the best defensive weapon we have but what will happen if the scepter gets buffed/reworked?

I think that Jons statement could be a bit misleading. The Staff is defensive and supportive through providing boons (which indeed could be improved) and applying random debuffs and conditions to your enemies (which indeed could need faster projectiles). Although Jon said that they want the Scepter to be a “tricksy” defender does not mean that the Scepter is supposed to be a defensive weapon. It’s unarguably our most powerful condition weapon. The Scepter defends the allies by shutting down enemies (Confusion = can’t use skills, Torment = can’t move). That’s also the reason why they feel it might need area effects because shutting down one enemy often does not cut it. At least that is how I think they mean it. Unfortunately, this concept does not work in PvE because Confusion and Torment are very crappy against mobs.

Xaylin.1860:

Fozzik.1742:

What if scepter auto attack gave aegis on the end of the attack chain? Like a 1-2 second aegis on the mesmer. Additionally, the clones generated by scepter would have a 1-2 second aegis on them to block a single attack. Maybe have it cause a 1s stun when someone removes the aegis from the clone.

As an alternative, have the scepter clone’s attack cause an interrupt in some way… either stun or whatever.

Aegis: Aegis on clones would not be thaaaaat strong because they usually do not deal a lot of damage. In fact it might actually be bad for on death traits because they won’t trigger as often. Aegis on an AA would be insane though. In PvE and 1vs1 people would constantly spam the AA to gain close to permanent Aegis. Additionally, Mesmers can get Retaliation on block and add in some on death traits to make it even more ridiciulous.

If it was a 1-2 second aegis on the mesmer applied at the end of the AA attack chain, it would not be perma-aegis. The attack chain is pretty darn slow (how long is it? 3-4 seconds to go through the whole chain?). Also, aegis only blocks one attack…so if someone is bashing away on you, it’s going to get removed much more quickly than you can apply it.

I agree with you that aegis on the clones would kind of go contrary to the idea of clone replacement, which seems to be what scepter is good at… but I think it could be quite nice in some situations to have clones tanking hits (even if it’s just one hit) before they die (providing a little more time to shatter?).

Maybe to give it more randomness (mesmer flavor?), make it a chance to proc 1 of 3 different boons… 1s aegis, or 3s protection, or 3s regen… on the final hit in the attack chain.

The point of the suggestion was just to push the scepter in a defensive direction, since the devs seem to not want it to be more condition-focused.

Stun/Interrupt: Not sure what to say. That would be craaaaaazy…

Crazy good and fun for interrupt builds ;D. Scepter clones proccing an interrupt is actually what I would most like to see.

JonPeters.5630:

I think we have a pretty good understanding of the mesmer scepter auto attack problem. I would really like to design a chain of auto attacks here that end with something good, and then allow the clones generated from scepter to also do that thing. That being said, we are trying to avoid just condition spam overload with that weapon because that would be greatly compounded by clones spamming as well.

Here’s a couple of thoughts.

a) clones generated by the scepter could inflict a short duration bleed on each attack (1 tick) like the trident.

b) normalize the attack speed of the scepter so the attack rate doesn’t depend on the distance from the target or have the scepter apply a different effect depending on range. For example, short range → torment, medium range → cripple, long range → burning.

TooBz.3065:

JonPeters.5630:

I think we have a pretty good understanding of the mesmer scepter auto attack problem. I would really like to design a chain of auto attacks here that end with something good, and then allow the clones generated from scepter to also do that thing. That being said, we are trying to avoid just condition spam overload with that weapon because that would be greatly compounded by clones spamming as well.

Here’s a couple of thoughts.

a) clones generated by the scepter could inflict a short duration bleed on each attack (1 tick) like the trident.

b) normalize the attack speed of the scepter so the attack rate doesn’t depend on the distance from the target or have the scepter apply a different effect depending on range. For example, short range -> torment, medium range -> cripple, long range -> burning.

Regarding b, the attack rate doesn’t vary based on range (this is illusory, no pun intended), it just has too long of an aftercast for its damage, which is common across several ranged weapons on various classes, most prominently Pistol and Longbow (this was recently fixed on Rangers).

Jon doesn’t seem to mind that autoattacks vary wildly in their effectivness when I would regard it as the most critical component of inter-weapon balance. I would argue that having a weak autoattack is the #1 reason why several weapons feel borked to hell and back.

@Einlanzer: Actually, it does.

The chain will not progress to the next attack until the previous attack has hit a target. This causes the chain to be significantly faster at close range and significantly slower at maximum range.

Xyonon.3987:

Ross Biddle.2367:

Mimic

30s CD
Breaks stun
Grants 4s Stability
4 second channel, reflects all ranged, blocks all melee. Counts the total number of hits, or blocks, and multiplies that times X (to a maximum of Y) for a single target ranged dps attack Echo effect post channel.

We lack stability options. Manipulations are ripe for having one. Also a zerg friendly option.

this – also fixes the fractale agony abuse

FYI its officially NOT an abuse.
But it sactually quite a bad skill as it is

Pyroatheist.9031:

@Einlanzer: Actually, it does.

The chain will not progress to the next attack until the previous attack has hit a target. This causes the chain to be significantly faster at close range and significantly slower at maximum range.

If that’s true I was never aware of it, but I do know that the chain is too slow even when standing right on top of the target. I’ll have to test this out later.