Guild Wars 2

is it by design that the mesmer’s ether bolt combo is more responsive while in melee range?

Looks like the next chain attack starts right after the prior attack hits the target.
Near target → faster chain?

Isn’t it like this for all scepter users? Certainly felt much faster on my guardian.

Staff is also the same. I get far more bounces and seem to cast them faster.

yea I’ve noticed the closer you are to a target, the faster you’ll swing at it. I figured it out in wvwvw standing next to an undefended tower door.

Sebbl.2806:

Looks like the next chain attack starts right after the prior attack hits the target.
Near target -> faster chain?

That’s what it is. The cast bars are exactly the same, but the next swing doesn’t start until you hit the target. That happens faster the closer you are.

Confirmed for Scepter.
60 attacks in ~65 sec. at melee range.
60 attacks in ~78 sec. at max. range.

The 2nd cast, Ether Blast, is the problem. It will only start to cast once the privious cast hits the target.

Nothing like this on the staff though.
50 attacks in ~67 sec. at melee range.
50 attacks in ~67 sec. at max. range.

I think this should be flagged as a bug. The DPS should not be dependent upon range. The game does support multiple projectiles at the same time (Staff 1 with bounce trait, guardian scepter, etc). Unless there’s a balance issue or some functional limitation, it should be changed.

Agree, good catch!

Great catch! I always felt something like this was happening, but never took the initiative to test it. Nice job. This should definitely be placed in the main Mesmer bug list, as distance should not affect the attack rate, just like with the staff…

Another reason why the scepter kind of sucks tbh.

Good catch!

Does this affect our clones too?

Good catch. I suspect a projectile must register to hit before the skill can be swapped to the next in the chain (scepter), altering attack speed. Just a guess tho. This might also be why staffs aren’t affected.

It’s a shame you can’t test the skill swap theory with swords :/

Nostagmus is right. Problem is that Scepter 1 is a chain. Therefore it can’t just spam the attack the way Guardian Scepter 1 does or our Staff 1 does. It has to wait to see if the attack hits to know whether to start the chain over or go to the next step of the chain.

So this is better isolated as a bug with “range projectile chain attacks”.

Wonder how many classes have this type of auto.

This is interesting. As I use my scepter with a sword and use that combo while soloing for the counter attacks that make a quick fight in most cases I guess it’s been to a real advantage to me. I have noticed though that at longer distances for mobs that I want to have clones get attacked early on it is much slower getting them all out. Or at least it seems.

I play the same way Raiden. Two blocks and septer 3 is all you need.

i made a thread in the suggestions section because this issue is being overlooked as a bug and may be an intended feature

tbesniper.7548:

Confirmed for Scepter.
60 attacks in ~65 sec. at melee range.
60 attacks in ~78 sec. at max. range.

This implies that it was intended to be 60 attacks in 60 sec (even melee range has some added flight time).