Guild Wars 2

I don’t think adding more stealth to the game is the right way to go. It promotes lazy gameplay for all classes and is both boring and frustrating to play against.

Again, Stealth comes with a downside which automatically scales with its duration:

• Cannot attack

This breaks stealth. The longer stealth lasts, the longer this restriction applies, or the longer the stealth lost to willingly breaking it early.

Yes, this sounds stupid. But think about it, what are you doing while stealthed? Perma-stealth works in many games, because you cannot do anything while its up. It only gives you initiative once, independent of duration.

For, for one the “cannot attack” part obviously only applies to the mesmer, not for illusions. Also, being able to full heal or reset fights in stealth is what people hated about thieves since the game got released.

There are currently more pressing issues, like the general power creep (all classes need their damage toned down, both condi and power), but i still think the trait is a bit too strong right now.

Perma-stealth works in many games, because you cannot do anything while its up.

That’s the thing, you can do something in stealth, especially as mesmer. Also, other games usually give you a long or permanent stealth once and as soon as you enter combat, stealth becomes sparse and can only be used as a last resort.

Iavra.8510:

For, for one the “cannot attack” part obviously only applies to the mesmer, not for illusions. Also, being able to full heal or reset fights in stealth is what people hated about thieves since the game got released.

There are currently more pressing issues, like the general power creep (all classes need their damage toned down, both condi and power), but i still think the trait is a bit too strong right now.

Perma-stealth works in many games, because you cannot do anything while its up.

That’s the thing, you can do something in stealth, especially as mesmer. Also, other games usually give you a long or permanent stealth once and as soon as you enter combat, stealth becomes sparse and can only be used as a last resort.

While I’m certainly inclined to agree PU is a bit much right now, you seem on a personal crusade against all things Mesmer. As evidenced by the plethora of salty replies you left on practically every thread on the first page of this forum.

What people are NOT taking into account vis a vis Prismatic Understanding mesmer stealth is this:

- the duration are very long
- the cooldowns are ALSO long

What this means is that the decision to prematurely break stealth to cast a spell has a high opportunity cost, because it will be quite some time before the stealth ability used comes off cooldown.

Compare this to the Thief, who has a very low cost associated with breaking stealth, the primary stealth-gain abilities (Cloak and Dagger, Black Powder + Heartseeker) do not have cooldowns associated with them and can be reused provided the thief has not depleted all his initiative.

These are two very different applications of the stealth mechanic, the mesmer can remain in stealth “longer” on a single application, but pays a higher price on breaking prematurely, whereas the Thief has a shorter duration, but is rewarded for entering and leaving stealth frequently.

The mesmer can put themselves at a disadvantage by greedily breaking stealth too often, which ends up with them having no more stealth cooldowns available.

I think PU at 75% instead of 100% might put it in the right spot.

Sorry, if it appears this way. I think all (or most, not sure) classes need to be toned down right now, but since i’m a main mesmer this is the class where i know most about.

I actually use PU myself right now in a Dom/Chaos/Illu Shatter/Lockdown hybrid (right, without DE) and it’s very strong. Unless i overextend, i can escape from everything and still burst thieves in under a second if done right.

Don’t get me wrong, i like this, but i don’t think “hide in stealth until you see the opportunity to oneshot” or “hide in stealth while your illusions do the job” is something that is fun to play against.

Carighan.6758:

Again, Stealth comes with a downside which automatically scales with its duration:

• Cannot attack

This breaks stealth. The longer stealth lasts, the longer this restriction applies, or the longer the stealth lost to willingly breaking it early.

Yes, this sounds stupid. But think about it, what are you doing while stealthed? Perma-stealth works in many games, because you cannot do anything while its up. It only gives you initiative once, independent of duration.

You are forgetting you can setup phantasms and cast 2 or 3 of them from stealth without breaking it.

You can recharge a mantra or 2 in stealth

You can almost have 2 mirror heals with 1 Mi

And you get boons while in stealth

And if you have the pledge skill, 1 stealth you use recharges the prestige.

So yeah everything with PU.

If we work hard guys we can get them to gut all the new stuff!! Go team Self-Hate!!!

TyPin.9860:

PU in combination with Torch Trait is disgusting. 58s of stealth:

Mimic->MI->Torch->Decoy->Decoy->Torch->Torch->Decoy->Torch->Torch

Last time torch just barely is enough. But it is:
10s+6s+6s+6s+6s+6s+6s+6s+6s=58s of chain stealth…

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the MI in the equation?

Lonewolf Kai.3682:

TyPin.9860:

PU in combination with Torch Trait is disgusting. 58s of stealth:

Mimic->MI->Torch->Decoy->Decoy->Torch->Torch->Decoy->Torch->Torch

Last time torch just barely is enough. But it is:
10s+6s+6s+6s+6s+6s+6s+6s+6s=58s of chain stealth…

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the MI in the equation?

Mass Invis

Nazer.7301:

Lonewolf Kai.3682:

TyPin.9860:

PU in combination with Torch Trait is disgusting. 58s of stealth:

Mimic->MI->Torch->Decoy->Decoy->Torch->Torch->Decoy->Torch->Torch

Last time torch just barely is enough. But it is:
10s+6s+6s+6s+6s+6s+6s+6s+6s=58s of chain stealth…

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the MI in the equation?

Mass Invis

Oh okay. Mimic doesn’t work on Mass Inviso though, does it? I guess the charge up works on the Decoy that comes after the first Torch.