Guild Wars 2

So I was really excited reading that this could hit multiple targets now, however, it is near impossible to get it to hit more than 1 in pve. To have everything directly lined up is near impossible. I cannot see this really doing much at all I have tried a few times and they have to be in such a straight line that it really does not hit more than 1 target often. This may need to be looked at a bit more.. maybe just make it an automatic chain based on distance not placement.

AND THEY STILL HAVE NOT FIXED THE EFFING IZERKERZ! And what is worse is they have no kitten clue how that even happened… And here we have a report already of how this buff to GS is pretty freakin lame. Great good job anet… You deserve a freaking golf clap.

jportell.2197:

Great good job anet… You deserve a freaking golf clap.

+1.

Funny, Gaiawolf just posted and said the width was huge. Maybe he was referring to scepter.

I think he was because I have tried multiple times with groups of 3 and can hardly get a chain. They stack with triangular formation in PVE so yeah a Straight line is near impossible. I have not tried in wvw , so maybe there? But again the line is not very giving to get the chain.

Dastion.3106:

Funny, Gaiawolf just posted and said the width was huge. Maybe he was being sarcastic.

Well i’ll check when I play again but all I wanted to know from this patch is if they would fix what they break. IMO no new kitten needs introduced on a weapon for a class if that weapon in that class is still suffering from massive kitten bugs… Hence the iZerker.

jazzllanna.1278:

So I was really excited reading that this could hit multiple targets now, however, it is near impossible to get it to hit more than 1 in pve. To have everything directly lined up is near impossible. I cannot see this really doing much at all I have tried a few times and they have to be in such a straight line that it really does not hit more than 1 target often. This may need to be looked at a bit more.. maybe just make it an automatic chain based on distance not placement.

As a former ranger who ran with piercing arrows, I can tell you that you need practice. It’s very possible to line up enemies this way.

It just has no give though.. I just tried it again. The line has to be so straight it is insane lol. Oh well. Going to try wvw and see but as for pve I cannot see this being any use at all.

Reposted a Bug report for Phantasmal Berserker in the bugs thread… Specifically requested that it not be closed until they fix the problem.

It’s odd, the width was indeed massive during my tests, but its not replicating in the field. Must be an anomaly with the LA training dummies. Shame. Would have been fun to confuse everything within a 3-mile radius with scepter 3. :p

You can still hit 3 closer targets (and 5 with scepter) even if your main target is out of range, tho.

They have the ability to tweak skills without bringing the game down or needing to patch. They may have tweaked it.

Dastion.3106:

They have the ability to tweak skills without bringing the game down or needing to patch.

I dunno … their “Big” WvW Patch brought down WvW … lol.

I’m loving the new spatial surge. Takes some getting used to but it’s basically free extra damage.

Tried to get a pic showing how insanely straight you have to be lined up. The front dragonfly took no damage here. Maybe I am wrong but really I think this just sucks. Sure it is extra damage on the off chance that something walks in front of your beam.. but if they want to give us Aoe capabilities this is not going to cut it.

Yea that’s pretty narrow, but since it’s channeled you should be able to adjust while auto attacking.

Of course, eventually they’ll get to Melee range and the damage will become pitiful anyhow.

This is exactly why I was so hard on Xeph for claiming that “Shatter must be nerfed!” Due to this change. It’s a small tweak that very situationally allows us some More AoE damage.

I wonder if I can angle myself to hit the shatterer’s claw and head at the same time…

You can adjust but your targets are also moving so it is pretty hard. Not to say I never get a chain but, I would not count on it as damage at all. Also to get 3 moving targets with this is near impossible.

Oh well

I’ve managed to get the max 3 targets in PvE fairly often since the patch, it does seem to be precisely the width of the beam but that’s the point right? I still think it’s a great change. ^^

It’s bugged though, as mentioned earlier in the topic, the width is huge hitting the dummies in LA but also I noticed the same on the Ice Pillars during phase 2 of Claw. I was basically hitting every pillar in front of me regardless of it’s position. Possibly to do with ‘objects’ then.

All the drawbacks of GS being stated, the Scepter buff is actually pretty nice and does add some damage to already beefy Confusion glamour builds and I can’t see it taking away from Condition builds in general.

The only drawback is not having the defensive invul from Sword 2 if you use Scepter. The block is meh in comparison, but it gives us Condition spec’s another offensive option. I’ve yet to test it out in WvW but in sPvP it’s pretty spot on.

Now if they would just make the GS beam act in the same manner by making the “streams” wider, it wouldn’t be too bad.

How is the damage on shatters now? Was it nerfed or not?

I like the idea behind these mechanics, because it rewards good play. A problem is however that we move like turtles when strafing, which makes aligning to hit multiple enemies rather difficult.

For pvp this is more of a nerf than a buff.
Players can no longer hide behind npc’s or other players to be safe from beam attacks.
As mesmer is capable of keeping up 3 npc (illusions) most of the time, we are disadvantaged by this change more than most classes.

Also, I don’t believe the change was intended to create a new aoe, it was intended to be able to continue hitting your target with beam attacks when they go behind something.

Max.8563:

For pvp this is more of a nerf than a buff.
Players can no longer hide behind npc’s or other players to be safe from beam attacks.
As mesmer is capable of keeping up 3 npc (illusions) most of the time, we are disadvantaged by this change more than most classes.

Also, I don’t believe the change was intended to create a new aoe, it was intended to be able to continue hitting your target with beam attacks when they go behind something.

Beam attacks were never stopped by players being in between you and the target…. not sure what you’re talking about. It was a buff, the only downside is maybe agroing mobs when people run around…. but that’s more of an issue with wvw being full of random mobs than the ability itself.

When I first logged on the beam attack width was huge (guessing around 200 on each side of the beam), but now it seems to be smaller. I did switch from GS to scepter, and I thought it may have been that, but since you are all saying spatial surge also has a small width I think they probably hotfixed it.

Oddly, Spatial Surge now has an enormous AoE effect around your target that only affects structures.

I thought it was pretty amusing during CoE when I could hit half the turrets when the beam only ever touched the Golem boss. Subject Alpha’s spines went down really quick with this as well.

I don’t really know how ANet set out to let Spatial Surge pierce targets and somehow gave it structure-only-AoE…. Weird.

I think those issues of structures is just a matter of how big the hitbox is. It’s probably way bigger on structures/dummies.

UnrepentantProcrastinator.7420:

Oddly, Spatial Surge now has an enormous AoE effect around your target that only affects structures.

I thought it was pretty amusing during CoE when I could hit half the turrets when the beam only ever touched the Golem boss. Subject Alpha’s spines went down really quick with this as well.

I don’t really know how ANet set out to let Spatial Surge pierce targets and somehow gave it structure-only-AoE…. Weird.

I noticed this. It’s bizarre and seems like a bug.

Re: the beam behaving oddly – it does not pierce your target like arrows do – that is why it is so hard to use. You have to target the most distant enemy.

Dunno what problems you guys are having. My main problem is that I’m used to targeting near enemies instead of far enemies.

There’s also an unintentional bug that lets you hit walls for full damage with a Greatsword in WvW. Yayyyyy~ too bad I use Staff instead. ._.

UnrepentantProcrastinator.7420:

Oddly, Spatial Surge now has an enormous AoE effect around your target that only affects structures.

I thought it was pretty amusing during CoE when I could hit half the turrets when the beam only ever touched the Golem boss. Subject Alpha’s spines went down really quick with this as well.

I don’t really know how ANet set out to let Spatial Surge pierce targets and somehow gave it structure-only-AoE…. Weird.

SHHHHH
Rule 1 of Spatial Surge Club:
Don’t Talk about Spatial Surge Club

KratosAngel.7289:

I think those issues of structures is just a matter of how big the hitbox is. It’s probably way bigger on structures/dummies.

Nope, it’s bugged all to hell. It pretty much hits every structure around you, even ones that are offscreen at times. Which is particularly annoying because you’ll be stuck in combat and not sure why.

I can hit all of the portals in the maw event while shooting at the ground.

Ok, so after getting in game, I’ll agree that the piercing effect is a bit too narrow (at least compared to what it’s like compared to a ranger using piercing).

That being said, the GS didn’t need this to be viable in the first place, so I don’t think it’s really a big deal anyways.

Dahkeus.8243:

That being said, the GS didn’t need this to be viable in the first place, so I don’t think it’s really a big deal anyways.

Agreed, they only needed to fix the bug with the iZerker and it would have been fine.

Btw guys, has anyone else noticed the change to the damage ?
From 3 different “levels” of damage, there are now 4. I’m not sure which was buffed or nerfed, I think it’s only the 600-900 which is new but I’m not sure. I had made a screenshot of it before the update but it seems like tooltip don’t appear on screenshots :/

It would be nice if the area was a little more forgiving, but it can be pretty nasty if you can properly line it up on multiple people.

KratosAngel.7289:

Btw guys, has anyone else noticed the change to the damage ?
From 3 different “levels” of damage, there are now 4. I’m not sure which was buffed or nerfed, I think it’s only the 600-900 which is new but I’m not sure. I had made a screenshot of it before the update but it seems like tooltip don’t appear on screenshots :/

I thought it was hitting for less last night but I just assumed I was imagining it and maybe it always hit for that much. You’re right though I can usually get around 2000 damage with it and it seemed like the highest number I saw roll off of it was around 1400 I think.

My most played characters are engineer and mesmer and the spatial surge change is easy for me to get used to as engineer has piercing shots on rifle. I think it takes practice but once you know how to safely line targets up its fine. I think the tears about this buff are unnecessary.

KratosAngel.7289:

Btw guys, has anyone else noticed the change to the damage ?
From 3 different “levels” of damage, there are now 4. I’m not sure which was buffed or nerfed, I think it’s only the 600-900 which is new but I’m not sure. I had made a screenshot of it before the update but it seems like tooltip don’t appear on screenshots :/

It had 4 damage ranges before the patch.

Quartz.3462:

I think the tears about this buff are unnecessary.

I lol’ed at this. Most mesmers on this forum will cry when we get nerfed and now we’re crying when we get buffed. It’s quite sad, really. Just take it and get used to it.

I can understand it, in this case. Prior to the patch, ArenaNet described the Spatial Surge buff as something that would give the mesmer some more AoE capability with the greatsword, so they could nerf it’s AoE somewhere else (namely, shatters). I haven’t tried it myself yet, but the impressions I’m getting here is that the greatsword remains a theoretical AoE weapon – in theory Spatial Surge (and Mind Stab) are area attacks, but in practise it’s often impractical to actually catch multiple targets due to the small hitboxes.

Without the possibility of nerfs over the horizon, the change to Spatial Surge would likely be taken as a small buff that may not come into play on a regular basis but is cute when it is. With the possibility of nerfs over the horizon, though, there’s value in pointing out that it may not actually be as much compensation for the planned nerfs as anticipated.

I found out what is going on with spatial surge for those who were testing it on the dummies in LA. It bugs out when there you are attacking “objects.” I found this by running TA and CoE; in TA when you’re fighting the nightmare tree you’ll notice that spatial surge is hitting turrets that are along the SIDE of it when directly facing it; In CoE on the golem boss if you position yourself between the inquest golem boss and the turrets you’ll find that spatial surge can damage “objects” in a 360 degree radius around you.

TL;DR: Its bugged when attacking “objects”

I started a new human mesmer and killed both elemental hands at the same time. Lol!

I also had to wait for the gate to open and as long as the centaurs came at me in roughly line formation I could kill all of them at the same time. (I gave myself GS through deluxe edition golem banker)

PS: I got deluxe edition upgrade for free, before someone berates me for getting it.

I love the new spatial surge, really really great and I got used to it pretty instantly, really fun to use. =D

The beam definitely shines in events, and likely in Fractals too (haven’t done any this week). I managed to hit Jormag’s head and claw at the same time at one point, but had a hard time reproducing it.

My only complaint is that it takes a lot of babysitting to get the most out of it compared to a true piercing attack. Mesmers already have to choose our targets wisely so that we can build-up our mechanic before the targets die, so having to also choose a specific target to get the most out of my auto-attack conflicts with that.

The bugged range for objects is a bit amusing, I was destroying jormag’s crystals he spawns in the final phase.

I feel like the buff was meant for structures really.. I’m fine with how it works right now but a fix so that I could hit more targets (other than structures), is welcome.

It also applies to more beam skills than just ours and makes it more consistent with some other line-based attacks (Fiery Greatsword #1 comes to mind).

draxynnic.3719:

I can understand it, in this case. Prior to the patch, ArenaNet described the Spatial Surge buff as something that would give the mesmer some more AoE capability with the greatsword, so they could nerf it’s AoE somewhere else (namely, shatters). I haven’t tried it myself yet, but the impressions I’m getting here is that the greatsword remains a theoretical AoE weapon – in theory Spatial Surge (and Mind Stab) are area attacks, but in practise it’s often impractical to actually catch multiple targets due to the small hitboxes.

Without the possibility of nerfs over the horizon, the change to Spatial Surge would likely be taken as a small buff that may not come into play on a regular basis but is cute when it is. With the possibility of nerfs over the horizon, though, there’s value in pointing out that it may not actually be as much compensation for the planned nerfs as anticipated.

Except there are no known planned nerfs. That was something Xeph, suggested, not the devs.

Hitting a pack of guys under the effects of retaliation with our auto attack now is pretty brutalizing. Downed myself without even realizing what had happened.

Im surprised nobody has called us out on this in wvw. I am able to hit a burning oil, gate and a cannon on a corner in 1 autoattack in inner garrison.

Oddly, in TA dungeon last boss on f/f path, I was able to hit almost every turret that is in front of the nightmare tree.

They’ll fix it soon. In the meantime., run the hell out of CoF P1, those crystals don’t stand a chance.

it should pierce differently… All targets in a line BEHIND your target should take damage (up to 1200 range and SG states) and not enemies in front of the targeted enemy…

Harbinger.9645:

KratosAngel.7289:

Btw guys, has anyone else noticed the change to the damage ?
From 3 different “levels” of damage, there are now 4. I’m not sure which was buffed or nerfed, I think it’s only the 600-900 which is new but I’m not sure. I had made a screenshot of it before the update but it seems like tooltip don’t appear on screenshots :/

I thought it was hitting for less last night but I just assumed I was imagining it and maybe it always hit for that much. You’re right though I can usually get around 2000 damage with it and it seemed like the highest number I saw roll off of it was around 1400 I think.

I get anywhere from 1400-2400 at max range, but I run full zerkers.