Guild Wars 2

Instead of keeping scepter 2 the way it is, “which is a terrible idea because you cannot control where the torment goes in a team fight” It might be a better idea to give the block a on screen proc. An example of this being something similar to a icons you would see when you weapon swap to the sigil of doom. Meaning that your next attack would proc the torment if it connects. That way you would actually get to direct the torment at the target of your choosing. At the same time your enemy would have a chance to counter play it because of the on screen proc. Thoughts?

Countless

I like it actually, though then you stand the chance of the proc failing if THEY block/evade the next attack. But I’d be ok with this, especially if they upped it due to this change(and potential damage loss if the proc doesn’t hit).

Hey Countless, great to see you in the Mesmer forum.

My opinion on this – I hear the issue with applying torment in a team fight and for that I like the change. I don’t agree with the current lack of counterplay though, so I personally wouldn’t list that as a reason for change. I’d definitely miss the immediate proc, especially in 1v1 situations, but I think the on-screen proc could ultimately work there too.

That said, we have much worse issues with other weapons/skills I’d rather have Anet spend time on. Unfortunately they seem to be focused more on skills that don’t need as much love, evidenced by the recent Mind Stab thread.

The technology already exists with the Engineer Flamethrower toolbelt skill, when it’s activated it gives you a buff that applies the burn. I can’t see why this wouldn’t work here. Although I wouldn’t like it if it got blinded/blocked/evaded. It’d have to be an unblock able on hit effect. The only negative I can think of would be the fact that because of your teammates actions, you could randomly receive 5 torment which would guarantee to kitten me off in a match.

skcamow.3527:

That said, we have much worse issues with other weapons/skills I’d rather have Anet spend time on. Unfortunately they seem to be focused more on skills that don’t need as much love, evidenced by the recent Mind Stab thread.

I pretty much scream murder every time my iwarden stands there and looks at a target, but Anet is looking at Mind Stab? Ok, Mind Stab as a field finisher would be cool, but it’s hardly a priority.

I dunno about that, it’s hard to see people’s sigil procs already in a teamfight, so I doubt people will notice it much on a mesmer. Plus I don’t like the idea of not getting an instant reward beyond lackluster damage after I counter.

I think it’d be better to swap the condition functions. Blind-on-counter and the activated projectile applies the torment.

Dracatis.1908:

I like it actually, though then you stand the chance of the proc failing if THEY block/evade the next attack. But I’d be ok with this, especially if they upped it due to this change(and potential damage loss if the proc doesn’t hit).

It sounds like a pretty cool idea for blocking in general. And also opens up the possibility of making other skills in a similar fashion.

For example:

• Evade backwards. If an attack fails to connect, this chains into XYZ-skill.
• Roll around the target. If hit during the roll, this chains into XYZ-skill.

And so on…

What I would prefer to see are things like beams that interrupt the target the moment they use a skill other than #1, which causes them to gain X effect.

So for example:

Chains a beam onto target X, istantly applies 0.25 seconds daze the moment he uses skill #2-10 to interrupt him, applying X amount of torment stacks.
This being less torment than 5 I’d say. I’d love to see a similar effect on the sword offhand too.

I want the scepter autoattack to be more useful. Not condispam, but just somehow more worth it to use.

I think what would help the Scepter, is having Confusion be worth applying.

The whole counterattack bit can be a bit clunky, so I wouldn’t mind the change suggested.

I would also like to see something be gained by letting the counterattack expire. Various other block-counter attacks in the game give you some sort of benefit by having the duration expire (i.e. warriors gain adrenaline). One thing that’s annoying for the scepter is that if no one attacks you and it expires, it is just completely wasted. It should perhaps automatically trigger the blinding bolt attack, or maybe just automatically summon an ether bolt clone or something.

nearlight.3064:

I want the scepter autoattack to be more useful. Not condispam, but just somehow more worth it to use.

The main use I’ve got out of it is to just keep clones up without spending any utilities or cooldowns.

If you have all clones up, you can use the auto-attack chain to pop them, leading to extra condis from clone deaths without having to waste dodges.

The other use has been with signet of the ether. If you’re using it with scepter, you can generate a few clones just to keep your regen up while saving dodges and not spending utilities.

Thats a good point. I think that playing mesmer first has sort of given me a bad habit of dodging too much to produce cloes, which doesn’t translate to success in other classes very well.

honestly scepter 2 is fine the way it is. its one of those skills i reallly really like and that saved my life many times.please leave it the way it is.

Mesmer’s scepter skills lack a lot of flavor (with the exception of scepter 3 …kind of). A suggestion I have for scepter 2 is to change how torment is applied. When the block is activated and the scepter is swung, it should apply torment in a cone shape (bonus if it is with a swarm of butterflies).
Also scepter 1 projectile is really slow and weak looking, not to mention the clone generation aspect of it seems out of place. Why not remove the projectile altogether and make it hit the opponent immediately when in range? (bonus points if the animation looks like the user is smashing a glyph three times, which would then “summon” another clone)

I’ve come to generally like the scepter though I wish the auto-attack was a bit faster.

As a new player to GW2 with Mesmer as my first character, I really didn’t get the scepter. I think Mesmer is positioned as a more advanced class, but all three of the scepter skills have something about them that add to the learning curve for the new player (who is starting in PVE).

Autoattack is slow and by the time the clone is created, you have agro (mobs aren’t fooled by this clone). Block is a bit of a tricky thing to learn at the start since you don’t know any tells. The 3rd skill has the huge lag in startup so it feels cumbersome and mobs don’t attack often enough to really be hurt by confusion.

At this point, I’d rather have only minimal changes in scepter since I’ve learned to really like it. But it is interesting to have a “tricksy” weapon as the first weapon for the profession.

Flavor-wise, the only skill I like in scepter is #3. I think it’s very iconic and class-defining, even if probably not as strong as it could be.

I like the idea of having torment in this weapon as well, but a direct damage AA and a melee block skill at the second slot make this weapon look like a mess. I would wish for both skills to have more spellcasting flavor, instead of feeling like an hybrid melee/ ranged, and magical/ physical weapon.

Illusionary Counter is not a “melee” block, I don’t know why people still think this. Neither is Illusionary Riposte for that matter.

Embolism where did you come from!? o_O

Curses! I am discovered! * Decoys *

Embolism.8106:

Curses! I am discovered! * Decoys *

wb

Embolism.8106:

Illusionary Counter is not a “melee” block, I don’t know why people still think this. Neither is Illusionary Riposte for that matter.

My problem comes from the flavor. I just don’t like the idea that mesmer’s scepter playstyle involves blocking and counter-attacking.

Mesmers have their MH sword and OH sword for that flavor, I’d rather have a different, more spellcasting-ish flavor for scepter’s skill mechanics.