(edited by Pyroatheist.9031)
Phantasmal Haste
Untraited Traited Difference Change Warden 14 12 0.857142857 0.142857143 Berserker 7 6 0.857142857 0.142857143 Warlock 7 5.8 0.828571429 0.171428571 Duelist 7.7 6.5 0.844155844 0.155844156 Mage 7.7 6.5 0.844155844 0.155844156 Disenchanter 4.5 4.5 1 0 Swordsman 4.6 4.6 1 0 Mariner 10 10 1 0 Whaler 12.8 10.8 0.84375 0.15625
/e: the pre tag should do it but it’s broken because it doesn’t use a fixed-with font and there doesn’t seem to be a code tag either, too bad.
Iruwen Evillan, Human Mesmer on Drakkar Lake
(edited by Iruwen.3164)
What I really don’t understand is what must be going on behind the scenes with the code. It’s not like delay = delay * 0.8 should be that difficult to do for each phantasm, right?
Interesting. A 15% reduction in CD is roughly equivalent to a 20% increase in attacks done over a given timespan.
Not what the trait states, but too much of a pattern to be chance.
The strength of heart to face oneself has been made manifest. The persona Carighan has appeared.
Indeed interesting, so they’re doing the math wrong. Except for the phantasms that don’t work at all.
Iruwen Evillan, Human Mesmer on Drakkar Lake
@carighan: interesting point, and I would be prepared to give anet the benefit of the doubt if it weren’t for the phantasms that don’t work at all.
Interesting. A 15% reduction in CD is roughly equivalent to a 20% increase in attacks done over a given timespan.
Not what the trait states, but too much of a pattern to be chance.
That’s true, but I think one problem with looking at it from that perspective (aside from it blatantly not being what the trait says) is that phantasm damage is too “packetized,” for lack of a better term, for it to matter much.
If phantasms worked more like clones and just autoattacked, then you would get a relatively smooth damage curve over time, and the trait would start being useful essentially immediately. As it stands, though, phantasm damage is lumped into large discrete attacks, and speeding those up just doesn’t matter all that much given the nature of mesmer combat in the game; enemies die relatively quickly, resulting in our phantasms disappearing, and we’re also encouraged to shatter and resummon even during a single longer fight.
Taking the Duelist as an example, you won’t end up with an extra attack due to the trait until 45-ish seconds have passed since it was summoned. No enemies will last that long, except champions, and your Duelist is almost certain to have died/been shattered/overwritten/etc. in the interim anyways. In fact, given the cooldown timer on the skill itself, you’re probably better off shattering and resummoning no matter what.
I guess what I’m saying is that, bugged or not, Phantasmal Haste seems like a pretty bad trait simply due to the way phantasms function in general. Even if the trait worked exactly as described, you still wouldn’t get an extra attack out of a Duelist until 30 seconds from its summoning; while there are minor benefits to speeding up its attacks prior to that point, it doesn’t seem like they oughtweigh what you have to sacrifice by not taking other traits.