Guild Wars 2

First off, this is directly related to Phantasms as I feel (imho) that the clone mechanic is fine as is and doesn’t need any adjustments except to be properly effected by our bugged traits/skills.

Secondly, please keep it civil and if you don’t play a Mesmer, then please refrain from posting as the issues currently with the class do not directly effect you.

Phantasms imho need a rework.

Firstly, our trait and skill issues need to be fixed.

After that has happened, my suggestions would be, leave Phantasms as they currently are in the damage output state they are in and allow sigils to trigger from our Phantasms only.

I would be more then happy with this simple change.

If this suggestion is to not even be remotely considered then I would like to suggest these things:

1) Seeing as the bug fix with attacks that bounce was scaling iBerserkers DPS too high, avergage that damage out to scale evenly across each attack.

2) Review iMage DPS which takes into consideration attack speed and damage output. For the amount of time a iMage is up due to the low amount of HP they recieve (not to the mention the bug where they can die from a one shot on summoning due to the lag involved in the extra HP to be applied from traits/skills) and thier extremely slow attack speed, the damage output in the iMages current state should be considerably higher.

3) iWarden and iDuelist, are fine where they are for the situational use they get. Please leave them alone.

4) Remove the cool down that is applied when you are obstructed or too far out of range. Compunding this issue is when you are fighting mobs/pc players at elevated positions, you can hit them with your auto attack, but get obstructed issues when trying to summon Phantasms.

Please post your suggestions and or ideas in a civil manner and again, even though you don’t play a Mesmer and mmight not agree with the suggestions here, please don’t post. This is a directly related issue to Mesmers.

Phantasm suggestions:

1 – make our utility spells “unlockable secondaries” (think focus 4 pull attack) that are made available after a phantasm is cast, but exist independently of the phantasm.

2 – Make our phantasms persist for only one attack (the fact they persist after the first attack, and that there can be more than one up, is unbalanced in that it scales ridiculously —- this leads to forum crying and frustrated rage quitting)

3 – compensate for the above by de-coupling the phantasm count from our clone-count and shatter mechanics, and making them untargetable/invulnerable to guarantee the first attack hits. (provided the mesmer themself is not blind, the target does not dodge or become invulnerable)

Those changes would bring phantasms into line with the way devs described them in this recent patch while reversing the evisceration of our group utilities and putting an end to “phantasm army” (which if you track the patch notes devs obviously don’t want) once and for all.

Additionally, I don’t think our clone mechanic when it comes to shatters is in good shape.

As encounters scale, our clones become increasingly useless. They’re supposed to be a source of AOE but die a fraction of a second after spawning when they’re really needed on “aoe packs” in pve.

I’d like to see our clone-to-shatter mechanic changed thusly:
1 – our clones still fill our “dot bar” on summon, but no longer empty when they are killed by any means other than shatter.

2 – “shatter” gets transformed into a 3-pulse aoe radiating from the current target. (Shatter STILL kills all active clones, so the rate at which you spawn and shatter clones would remain un-changed)

3 – Any shatter will still kill all active clones, so the rate at which you spawn and shatter clones will remain unchanged.

The effects of this will be to make the performance of shatters more consistent with event scaling. It would be a huge QOL improvement in general while also providing more consistent results for the balancing of mesmer. (As of now they seem to be always assuming all 3 clones survive and make it in to shatter, which is unreasonable in the most important circumstances.)

Fix Imaginary Leap, make it ignore +-500 Z Axis or appear @ a target after 0.15seconds of lag time, so I can teleport off a 1 foot ledge.

The prestige sometimes fails to stealth on my screen not sure if I’m actually visible, all I see is myself in a bent over type of animation rushing into the enemy 5man.

Everything else seems to be working as intended for me.

I agree, the Shatter damage output is very low considering we have to sacrafice all our clones/illusions.

They definately need to fix the obstruction issue we are having where you can hit with your auto attack, but obstructed with skills/illusion/clone summoning.

With the latest patch, summoning phantasms must now be line-of-sight of target and are now considered normal attacks. This hinders the mesmer’s performance in both providing extra damage and our core mechanic: shattering; it also requires the mesmer players to be more conservative of when to use a phantasm. If this is intended, then here’s a idea of making phantasms useful but not overpowered: Allow only 1 phantasm out at a time but with several criteria:

1a) It DOES NOT count towards our illusion counter (basically having 3 clones + 1 phantasm max) and stays spawned until one of the following conditions is met:

*target is defeated
*mesmer is defeated
*replaced by a newer phantasm (whether same or different one)
*killed by conditional damage (see next bullet).

1b) Since it won’t count with our illusion counter, traits that give extra #% to damage, defense, speed, etc. SHOULD NOT be applied with the phantasm (to prevent overpowering). If the opponent kills the phantasm via condition damage, there is only one trait (Confusing Combatants) that applies to phantasm and punishes the opponent. You can even make that trait only affecting clones (much like Crippling Dissipation and Debilitating Dissipation).

2) Due to its very low health, phantasm should be immune to direct damage, BUT is susceptible to conditions/condition damages and controls. Mesmer’s vitality is not derived to illusions (but toughness is), so if mesmers want the phantasm to stay alive longer (especially during fights that have lots of AoE conditions), they will need to spec into Inspiration or Chaos trait to help give the phantasm more health or more toughness. Since there are plenty of conditions, especially bleed, poison, and burning, that other professions can deal (and mesmers can deal bleed/confusion/burn), it won’t make that one phantasm invincible.

3) SHOULD NOT be counted toward Shattering skills. With only one phantasm as our extra dps/damage-over-time assistance, it would be overpowered if it’s included.
This idea with the three criteria can make that one phantasm a powerhouse, yet can easily be defeated with conditional damages or killing the mesmer. It will be gone when the target is defeated so it still needs to be recast when fighting another target.
Now, this is just one idea and I hope I have covered most of the issues regarding about phantasms in general. Another suggestion is having the same (or similar) idea above, BUT make that 1 phantasm as our pet. I wouldn’t mind having one running/walking around with me. ^^

I’m sure others have similar or even better suggestions. I don’t often post, but with this latest patch, it really hinders mesmer’s performance for our phantasms.
P.S. – Please also fix the other mesmer traits related to phantasm (i.e. – Phantasmal Fury, Vengeful Images, Phantasmal Healing, etc.).

Phloww.1048:

I’ve posted an idea for phantasms over at the Suggestion thread:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Different-Mesmer-Phantasm-Function/first#post775605

Should delete that post and copy/paste it here.

The suggestion forums attracts the wrong attention sometimes.

Okay so i have been reading this thread, it really got some good points. But its actually really hard to tell if you guys talk about PvE,WvW or SPvP. So if you guys could tell which game part your suggestions are based on, that would be cool.

My suggestions are purely based on SPvP. I really feel that mesmer is still too strong, latest patch was definitely step to right direction.

I dont really have suggestions, but there is few things that i would like to get nerfed and buffed, for example mind wrack, duelist and swordsman needs damage nerf. I really liked how they made it harder to summon these phantasms on players.

At the moment i dont really see mage and warden very viable options in SPvP, So i would like to see some kind of buffs to these.

Sorry if its wrong topic for this, But i just wanted to share my opinion about mesmer in SPvP, And yes if someone is wondering im playing mesmer as my main.

@Nilvio

My suggestion is related to all aspects of the game.

Making mesmer phantasms and shatters more consistent and less subject to upper and lower bounds which vary too heavily based on encounter scaling and opponent skill would only be GOOD for mesmer players, their opponents, and the devs — as would be bringing phantasms into line with the latest vision in the patch notes by divorcing the utility aspect of phantasms from the attack aspect.

All of my suggestions above are designed to produce that consistency with a minimum of change to the current “feel” of the profession.

Raksha.8049:

Phloww.1048:

I’ve posted an idea for phantasms over at the Suggestion thread:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Different-Mesmer-Phantasm-Function/first#post775605

Should delete that post and copy/paste it here.

The suggestion forums attracts the wrong attention sometimes.

Copied over here. Thanks!

My suggestion would be to revert Phantasms back to the way they worked before the last patch of November 15th.

What if we could summon phantoms with radials, like mind stab? After being summoned they’d act the same as they do now(attack target and die with target), but we’d have control of the location. This would also remove the whole “line of sight” argument. Plus we could do with a few more AOEs casts, why not phantoms.

Fellow mesmers

Raksha.8049 / Phloww.1048 I could not agree with you guys more.
The idea of phantasm is to be an illusion with major damage output. In order to make them conventional and understandable for all, I propose the following:

1 The phantasm should be a skill as the elementalist dragon tooth -> They will do 1 attack depending on the type of phantasm then vanish. For example:
* iBerserker – AoE whirl comboe finisher, untargetable, swirls only ones and is destroyed
* iMage – Grants 3 stacks of confusion to the target, untargetable, grants nearby allies retaliation for 3 secs and is destroyed
* iSwordsman – Combo finisher leap, doe X damage, then vanishes
* iWarden – Casts a bubble for X time that does Y damange on his location per pulse, untargetable, after the time has finished it vanishes
* iWarlock – Phantasm that does X damage + 10 % per condition on the target, untargettable then vanishes
* iDuelist – Casts comboe finisher projectile by unloading 2 pistols, untargettable then vanishes
* iDefender – Casts protection and regen bubble for X seconds (in order to reproduce the half the damage reduction) , untargetable, then vanishes
* iDisenchanter – Casts boon removal bubble for X seconds (not to overlap with the Null field), untargetable then vanishes

2 – The phantasms will be just a skill, not an illusion, therefore they must no be counted for Shatter purposes

3 – This way the phantasms looks more like skills rather then illusions and therefore will be easily understandable for the mass.

4 – Since they are attacks of some type, not illusions, they can be blocked/dodged/missed. LOS is a must, unless the phantasm uses buble (stationary phantasm)

5 – Since the phantasm is attack initiated by us, any demage by retaliation/reflection on the target must be redirected to us

I hope this gives some ideas. I will be glad to know what you think of this approach.

Thora, I like those ideas.

Keep them coming guys/gals.

Thora.6428:

The idea of phantasm is to be an illusion with major damage output.

I thought phantasms were supposed to take the place of the old GW1 Hexes. By that logic, they should focus on utility rather than damage output. But then, due to their cooldowns, perhaps they should output stronger shatter numbers so that the increased burst damage justifies sacrificing your “hex”.

As for LoS, it needs to be fixed or not used at all. I like the ground-targeted idea, but then how would you bind the phantasm to your target?
Best solution would be to fix LoS, but who knows when that will happen.