Guild Wars 2

Pretty simple thread with a pretty simple discussion topic – is Illusionists Celerity necessary on all Mesmer builds, and why do you think so? If you run or have run a build that doesn’t require it, what was it? If you believe it is essential, do you think this is a good thing, or a bad thing, and what – if anything – would you do about it?

I’ll get started with saying that I don’t think any points in Illusion are a necessity. I’m currently working on a pair of builds – one of which looks promising while the other looks like a flop – that aren’t interested in taking a single point in Illusions.

That being said, nearly every build I’ve ever had work successfully has run 5 points in Illusions for this trait. Some of them have run 5 points at the cost of going to 30 points in another line for no other reason than getting the 20% CDR.

I personally think this is a problem for build diversity and whatnot, but I don’t know what could be done to fix it. Simply rolling the 20% CDR into the base CDs for the skills seems too simple. Maybe slightly increase the CDR on this and all weapon CDR traits, but make it so they don’t stack?

Anyways. Discuss, please. I’m interested to hear what everyone has to say.

Yes, it is too good to pass. And that implies bad design by Anet (to have a mandatory trait). But, as we don’t have many great grandmaster traits, it isn’t really a problem.

It’s the strongest trait in the game. It’s therefore essential in all builds. Leave it alone.

It’s an extremely strong trait, only beating out IP due to it’s ease of obtainment.

Personally I’d rather they ditched it, reduced all Illusion CDs by 20% and made it something like “Illusionist’s Charge: Illusions gain Swiftness and Aegis when Shattered”, seems a more fitting trait to what is essentially our ‘Shatter’ tree.

Pyroatheist.9031:

It’s the strongest trait in the game. It’s therefore essential in all builds. Leave it alone.

I’m not positive that I agree it’s the game’s strongest trait, but it is certainly the Mesmer’s strongest trait, even disregarding the number of points required to obtain it.

Will also disagree on the idea that it is necessarily essential because it is the strongest trait. Everyone should know that synergy can and often will beat out strength when it comes to constructing a solid build.

If that is the case, however, it should be removed or toned down. Any trait whose raw strength makes it the best choice for every build – regardless of the possible synergy of other traits with the build’s goals – ruins build diversity.

That being said, I don’t know if that is the case, nor do I have any ideas for fixing it to which I am particularly enamored.

It would ruin build diversity, except that its a 5 point minor trait (also a reason that it is so strong). A 5 point minor trait has a tough time actually ruining build diversity, as evidenced by the massive number of viable builds the Mesmer has.

I always use it, since it’s affecting clones and phantasms. I feel obligated to have DE + IC in all builds I make.

It amounts to a 20% CDR on 40-50% of your weapon skills and some of your utilities as well.

40% reduction if you take the Major trait for those weapons.
Let’s not forget it affects decoy and mirror images too as well as phantasmal defender and phantasmal disenchanter.

Pyroatheist.9031:

It would ruin build diversity, except that its a 5 point minor trait (also a reason that it is so strong). A 5 point minor trait has a tough time actually ruining build diversity, as evidenced by the massive number of viable builds the Mesmer has.

5 points can be a lot of points. It really depends on what it is you’re trying to do, and how much you need traits at 20+ in lines that aren’t Illusions.

Simply stating that we already have build diversity doesn’t really mean all that much, since we don’t know how much build diversity we could have if we were to fix the problem.

A good example? Mantra builds. They could be excellent, but instead of going as heavily into Mantra’s as possible, they end up having to take Illusionist’s Celerity to be more effective. That, of course, removes the reason for running Mantras and the purpose of the build, causing it to collapse when matched up with builds that take full advantage of those five Illusions points.