Guild Wars 2

Official Notes

• Triumphant Distortion:
  • This trait now gives summoned phantasms 1 second of distortion on creation, in addition to the existing distortion on kill.
• Debilitating Dissipation:
  • Bleeding on this trait has been reduced from 3 stacks for 5 seconds to 2 stacks for 4 seconds.
• Prismatic Understanding:
  • This trait is now applies swiftness for 3 seconds and might for 5 seconds in addition to its previous boons.
• Illusionary Elasticity:
  • This trait now functions with clones using Winds of Chaos.
• Maim the Disillusioned:
  • Increased the torment duration from 4 seconds to 6 seconds.
• Illusionary Leap:
  • This skill now creates the clone adjacent to the mesmer’s target instead of at the mesmer’s location. The initial cast of this skill no longer acts as a Leap finisher, though Swap retains its leap functionality. Added messaging if the skill is cast out of range of the target.
• Illusionary Warden:
  • Fixed a bug that caused this phantasm to follow one target while trying to attack another target at the same time.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the projectile absorption from this skill to last longer than its animation.
  • Fixed a bug that caused this phantasm to reflect unblockable missiles.
• Mind Stab:
  • Increased the radius of the attack to 240. Increased the damage of the attack by 17%.
• Mantra of Pain:
  • Power Spike:
    • This skill now affects up to 5 foes within 240 units of the target.
• Mantra of Distraction
  • Power Lock:
    • This skill now affects up to 5 foes within 180 units of the target.
• Illusion of Life:
  • This skill can now be used underwater, centered on the mesmer’s location.
• Ether Bolt:
  • This skill now inflicts 2 seconds of torment on hit. This change also affects mesmer scepter clones that use Ether Bolt.
• Ether Blast:
  • This skill now inflicts 3 seconds of torment on hit.
• Mimic:
  • Mimic now will copies all boons from the target foe to the player.
• Mesmer clones now spawn with the correct weapon even if the casting player swaps weapons.
• Confusing Combatants:
  • The effects of this trait can now be blocked, dodged, or blinded.
• Crippling Dissipation:
  • The effects of this trait can now be blocked, dodged, or blinded.
• Debilitating Dissipation:
  • The effects of this trait can now be blocked, dodged, or blinded.
• Illusionary Whaler:
  • Fixed a bug that allowed this ability to be cast without a target.
• Illusionary Mariner:
  • Fixed a bug that allowed this ability to be cast without a target.
• The Prestige:
  • Removed an unused range skill fact.
• Illusionary Duelist:
  • Fixed an incorrect damage skill fact.
• Dazzling:
  • Fixed a bug in which this trait would not display the vulnerability applied for Counter Blade, Diversion, Magic Bullet, or Power Lock.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from functioning when used in conjunction with the racial skills Technobabble and Shriek (Become the Raven).
• Warden’s Feedback:
  • Fixed a bug that caused projectiles reflected by Illusionary Warden to sometimes miss their targets.
• Mantras:
  • Fixed a bug that allowed players to have mantra charges when the associated mantra was not equipped.
• Blink:
  • Fixed a bug that allowed this skill to be equipped while underwater when traited with Far-Reaching Manipulations.
• Winds of Chaos:
  • Fixed a bug that caused this skill to only inflict 5 seconds of bleeding instead of 7 when used by clones.
• Illusionary Counter:
  • Fixed a bug that prevented this skill from receiving reduced recharge when traited with Malicious Sorcery in certain situations.
• Decoy:
  • Fixed a bug that allowed this skill to stealth the player when they were revealed.
• Desperate Decoy:
  • Fixed a bug that allowed this trait to stealth the player when they were revealed.
• Confusing Cry:
  • Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from working in conjunction with Illusionary Persona.
• Shattered Conditions:
  • Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from working in conjunction with Illusionary Persona.
• Shattered Strength:
  • Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from working in conjunction with Illusionary Persona.
• Maim the Disillusioned:
  • Fixed a bug that caused the torment skill fact to display incorrect damage numbers.
• Slipstream:
  • Added an Unblockable skill fact.
• Harmonious Mantras:
  • Fixed a bug that caused mesmers to retain extra mantra charges after unequipping this trait.

Unofficial Notes

• GS1 dmg floater still doesn’t reset per attack cycle

So many bug fixes. I’ve already confirmed a few. Feeling the Anet love atm. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Oh, and scepter torment is broken

Decoy:

Fixed a bug that allowed this skill to stealth the player when they were revealed.

Desperate Decoy:

Fixed a bug that allowed this trait to stealth the player when they were revealed.

I don’t use Decoy much, but isn’t that a nerf that was previously un-mentioned?

frifox.5283:

• Decoy:
  • Fixed a bug that allowed this skill to stealth the player when they were revealed.
• Desperate Decoy:
  • Fixed a bug that allowed this trait to stealth the player when they were revealed.

Errrrr ma gerd. Seriously?

Decoy:
Fixed a bug that allowed this skill to stealth the player when they were revealed.

Was this truly a bug? I’m going to miss this functionality dearly.

from the wiki:

Applies a distinct Decoy effect that is different from normal stealth. As such, it can be used while revealed and can be active at the same time as regular stealth, but will not stack in duration. Attacking while under the effects of Decoy will still result in being Revealed.

I would say that it was not “fixing a bug” but a nerf. Targetted more for those PU builds, and yet all builds suffer for it.

So far, amazing changes for us, even I’d say OP. We’re really back to game:

- Shattered strength now works with IP (proved).
- IE working with staff clones (without attacking and Mirror Images with 50% crit, clones can put like 15 stacks of bleed, 5-6 stacks of vulnerability and nearly eprma burning). Simply totally OP.
Phantasms get 1s of distotion with TI, and CD is not changed. Also, bug with Masterful Reflection still exists.
- Scepter torment is OP. 20 stacks of torment in a condi shatter build. Now scepter trait works with IC, so you have a block every 6s.

PD: With 20 stacks of torment I’ve calculated about 5k per second if the enemy is moving.

Quick! get all your pvp in before the hotfixes start!

Illusionary Warden:

Fixed a bug that caused this phantasm to follow one target while trying to attack another target at the same time.
Fixed a bug that caused the projectile absorption from this skill to last longer than its animation.
Fixed a bug that caused this phantasm to reflect unblockable missiles.

RIP Mesmers in PvE Guess I’ll main guard and ele then ._.

Jeremlloyd.6837:

Illusionary Warden:

Fixed a bug that caused this phantasm to reflect unblockable missiles.

Didn’t realize this was a bug. This makes me very very sad and will make reflects in PvE much less useful

/wet

Oh, Destiny, you were so close to giving my Xbox One more playtime. =[

^^
We’re all in guild chat fanboy’ing over the changes/fixes

My only question… Does iwarden work!? Mantra of distraction!? Is it true!?!?!?

Seems the ranger runes still work with a mini!

Chaos Archangel.5071:

My only question… Does iwarden work!? Mantra of distraction!? Is it true!?!?!?

Yes, MoD and MoP are amazing. IE is fixed. iLeap is fast. Mind Stab AoE field huge and I’d swear the animation got bigger. Malicious Sorcery fixed (FINALLY). Dat 6s scepter block traited with illusionist’s celerity.

Many more bug fixes being validated. Really good day for Mesmers, so far.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

My only question… Does iwarden work!? Mantra of distraction!? Is it true!?!?!?

I was testing the unblockable projectile fix on spider queen since arah p2 seems to be well and truely bugged and..they still bugged out on the mini spiders. And sometimes the terrain seemed to cause them to hesitate. Seems like the same as before the patch but I’ll have to play with it more.

And yeah, you cant block spider queen’s spit so I assume it really is gg for untraited wardens.

So, phantasm/clone damage shows up in combat log… INCLUDING CONDITION DAMAGE!

Someone test plz if sigils/runes apply to phantasms now too…

lets see how long it will last. especially if you look at the scepter aa it sounds op but i have to try it first^^.

At last it seems there is a reason to play gw2 again

The AoE mantra effects look AWESOME.

No cooldown to swap after clone spawn on iLeap is really nice, too.

The decoy nerf is meh, but not surprising with the whole PU nerf QQ campaign in mind.

Having a larger AoE on GS3 looks promising.

Just my first run in hot joins… Conditions are EVERYWHERE!!!!! I never thought it could get worse…

lol Scepter is -just as expected- still wildly inferior to Staff, both AA and Clones. Not sure what the rather slow & weak Scepter AAs/Clones has to do with 20 stacks of Torment, but left on it’s own it gets about 5-6 stacks on a test golem at close range.

What you’re showing there in those PvE screenshots was very likely just possible before this patch too IMO, and isn’t in any way indicative of an imbalance.

When you count in the 6s off block and then shatter with MtD, yeah you might get 20 stacks on the unkillable test clone or a tough mob in PvE, but it’d be very hard to do that to a remotely competent player in PvP. (And it would still be mainly single target, with only the MtD shatters adding 3-6 stacks in AoE.)

Nerfing it would be silly, since you can still do better -overall- with Staff AAs, Clones, and MtD.

I’d agree that IE on Staff Clones seems borderline OP, but then you run into the updated Rangers, Engies, and Elementalists and you won’t feel so tough anymore. The very first Ranger I came up on nearly insta-gibbed me with RF + LS from long range. (I had 1600 Tough 16k HPs in sPvP)

A player simply won’t let you get much Torment on them. The off block fails frequently and requires being attacked, the clone shatters also fail plenty of times, and the Scepter AA is still too slow to stack any meaningful amounts even if you have 3 clones up and your target is dumb enough to stand still and get AAd by the 4 of you. (Doing the same with Staff is almost twice as damaging and more reliable by far. )

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a big step forward for Scepter, but I was actually surprised how bad it really was. I agree, the bigger change is perhaps the ability to spec the off block down to 6s, which in 1v1 is undoubtably significant.

The changes to Condie damage output seem pretty good, I had fun, but I was far from OPd in a non PU build at least. I’m actually hoping the Power related changes will be more meaningful for the Mesmer class.

I’ll echo a few people. AoE MoP is very nice and does do significant damage at range. Keep in mind it is instant cast so you can be doing all sorts of other things while nailing the button over and over. Same with MoD, you can hit it at the same time as other stuff like shatters or summoning. Good stuff.

IE lets me get 25 stacks of bleeds, perma burn in under 10 seconds on mobs with just eating some +40% duration food, no problem. Not to mention the fury and might uptime. This will be nerfed I can see it now.

Scepter is actually underwhelming considering all the concern people had. Only 4-5 stacks if JUST spamming auto attack. In reality it will probably contribute far less than that. This will not get nerfed. It’s fine.

Oh and have fun with the first ranger you come across. Their burst is very good now. It went something like this: Burst for 6000 (tracked me in stealth), stealthed himself, came out of stealth, knockback/knockdown followed by barrage, second Rapid Fire burst, pet knockdown, then switched to Greatsword for some other stuff.

In the end some other players showed up as I went down, (we went down almost together as I was creating staff clones and dodging this whole time trying to get a footing, that should tell you just how OP staff clones are-they were my only source of damage) so I “won”.

It’s a good thing we got some buffs.

Dude nobody mentioned the Temporal Curtain (LIGHT AURA) buff!

Leaps ontop of curtain supposedly grant the new aura.

The icon is ugly. Therefore, I disapprove.

By the way… Chaos Armor is still not considered an aura.

Triumphant Distortion and the new MoP in a zerg mantra+phantasm nuker build (6/6/x) seems like it’d be super good. With the Berserker not insta-dying and MoP spam now doing AOE damage, suddenly you actually have reasonable dps vs blobs too (instead of just single-target).

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Dude nobody mentioned the Temporal Curtain (LIGHT AURA) buff!

Leaps ontop of curtain supposedly grant the new aura.

This is what I found most interesting. Clones often die in 1 hit though. I’m assuming that guarantees the vulnerability. Don’t think it will proc retal on the clone.

If scepter torment seems underwhelming, it’s because it’s now 2 and 3 seconds base instead of 2.5 and 4 second shown in the preview. That makes a huge difference in break points and condi duration.

Edit: Briefly tested and I can’t get the vulnerability to proc.
Edit 2: Nvm I read it wrong. 8 SECONDS of vulnerability per attack. Clones won’t live long enough to really matter. Especially not 1 clone

Is phantasmal haste broken for the new warden? Usually I use 2 wardens for almost-perma reflection in pve. Now I notice a longer reflection downtime after 2 warden attack.

They fixed the reflection lasting longer than the animation.

Things I tested:

• Buffed Mind Stab is nice (even if other ideas were actually nicer, the larger aoe radius is really a charm) and the bigger animation looks amazing
• AoE mantra of pain is lovely (also: animation/effect)
• The change to Triumphant Distortion is very nice, I was able to use iZerker and iWarden in group fights (12-15 of us and I’d say 20-25 enemies, with arrowcarts and stuff)
• iWarden confirmed fixed! I slaughtered countless rangers :°)
• iLeap feels weird, it will take a while to get used to it
• Illusionary Elasticity with staff feels powerful, but I didn’t test much (will test more soon!)

Things that I want to test:

• AoE mantra of distraction
• Shattered conditions

I think the nerfs and buffs to condition builds are somewhat balanced, but I’m not really into condi mesmer. The only nerf that I’ll probably “feel” is the one to decoy, but it makes sense in the bigger scheme of things.

All considered, probably the best patch for mesmers since the start of the game!

Reflection (iWarden and Feedback) are less useful now. Many bosses and champs can’t be reflected now. Even regular Burning Effigies go right through the reflection. I’m very sad in PvE right now

Mimic is god awful.

Der Buck.5439:

They fixed the reflection lasting longer than the animation.

Yeah, I noticed that. I should have said attack downtime. Sorry for the confusion.
It looks like warden does not attack as often with phantasmal haste now. Perhaps anet shortens the animation together with the reflection time? I didn’t do a thorough test.

Attack downtime (from animation stops to next animation starts) is constantly around 9.2s with or without phantasmal haste.