Guild Wars 2

I never quite understood why Blink does not trigger leaping combos. Phase Retreat and Sword #3 certainly does. Since Blink still suffers from pathing issues, it seems to work as a means of traveling from point A to point B rather quickly, rather than simply blinking in and out of existence. As such, shouldn’t blinking through a combo field thus trigger a leap combo?

Has there been given an official explanation for Blink doesn’t combo?

I think it’s because Blink is a utility skill, and utility skills are never combo finishers.

correct me if I’m wrong

Snoxx.7943:

I think it’s because Blink is a utility skill, and utility skills are never combo finishers.

correct me if I’m wrong

Off the top of my head… Stomp.

Oh, there are utility combo finishers? Well …

ANet, pls turn Blink into a leap combo finisher.

Well you don’t actually leap when you Blink. You’re just kind of … over there now.

Well with Phase Retreat ‘’You’re just kind of … over there now’’, and it is a leap.

Snoxx.7943:

I think it’s because Blink is a utility skill, and utility skills are never combo finishers.

correct me if I’m wrong

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Arcane_Blast
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Arcane_Wave

Only 2 examples :P. I think it’s already strong enough as it is since it’s a break stun, as opposed to S 3 or phase retreat. That’s why you have no combo finisher. Or would you like to see the CD doubled ?

EasymodeX.4062:

Well you don’t actually leap when you Blink. You’re just kind of … over there now.

Thing is, you don’t. It’s just an illusion (no pun intended) of the spell effect. Your toon is actually moving very fast from point A to point B. This is evident by pathing issues, for an example, preventing you from blinking up a cliff.

Also, attempt to blink past some hostile mobs. They’ll aggro as they “see” you “run” past them.

I’m not sure if Phase Retreat is an actual blink or if it works under the same principle; however, Phase Retreat does trigger leap ombos.

KratosAngel.7289:

Snoxx.7943:

I think it’s because Blink is a utility skill, and utility skills are never combo finishers.

correct me if I’m wrong

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Arcane_Blast
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Arcane_Wave

Only 2 examples :P. I think it’s already strong enough as it is since it’s a break stun, as opposed to S 3 or phase retreat. That’s why you have no combo finisher. Or would you like to see the CD doubled ?

I would like to see logic applied. If it’s intended that Blink does not trigger leap combos, I’d like to hear a A-net representative to state such, as well as why they’ve opted not to have it trigger combos. Alternatively, a more knowledgable Mesmer than myself being able to point out something that I’ve missed, which would explain the situation.

Also, unlike Blink, Phase Retreat and Sword # 3 doesn’t just move the player – they also spawn clones. The abilities are thus gap-closers/escapes, clone spawning – and trigger combo fields.

Blink, meanwhile, simply moves you from A to B, doesn’t spawn a clone and does not trigger combo fields. I don’t see why an increase to the cooldown would be warranted.

It’s starting to appear as if the lack of leap-triggers is a bug, rather than an intended effect. =P

Phase Retreat is different — you’re actually ‘retreating’. That implies some actual motion.

The act of gaining a leap finisher involves the motion of the body through a field. For example, you move through a fire field, surrounding yourself with flames, creating a flame shield.

Blink moves you so quickly that the flames don’t actually have a chance to surround you. Too much ninja can be a bad thing.

EasymodeX.4062:

Phase Retreat is different — you’re actually ‘retreating’. That implies some actual motion.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhve1rudzi1qb72jb.gif

It also has phase in its’ name. It clearly has you blink out of harms way – the mechanics themselves are not different, either from a story/lore or a gameplay point of view.

I’ve yet to see a logical reason for why Blink does not trigger leap combos. If it’s intended, fine, I can live with that if the decision is at least explained properly. But not knowing is kinda annoying. =P

Phase retreat has a line that indicates you moved.

The thematics of a skill do not necessarily decide whether or not something gets a finisher. Being a finisher is a balance aspect of a skill. For example, Burning Speed is obviously a ‘blast’ it even has a ‘blast radius’, it’s also obviously a ‘leap’ skill. Yet it is actually a field skill.

Blink is a relatively short CD stun breaking mobility skill, Ele’s get a similar skill with a longer CD in exchange for it dealing damage. While a leap finisher could logically be applied to it, nothing says that it must have one.

Also, blink doesn’t ‘run’ you to the spot. It uses pathing to get you to the ‘nearest location’ whenever your selected location is invalid, but it’s a straight up movement of your character. I use it to jump past aggro all the time.

Malice.8439:

EasymodeX.4062:

Well you don’t actually leap when you Blink. You’re just kind of … over there now.

Thing is, you don’t. It’s just an illusion (no pun intended) of the spell effect. Your toon is actually moving very fast from point A to point B. This is evident by pathing issues, for an example, preventing you from blinking up a cliff.

Also, attempt to blink past some hostile mobs. They’ll aggro as they “see” you “run” past them.

I’m not sure if Phase Retreat is an actual blink or if it works under the same principle; however, Phase Retreat does trigger leap ombos.

Actually, you can use blink to skip mobs and they won’t notice you. You do, in the games background mechanics, simply go from point a to point b by just going past mobs.

Truly? I’ve tested Blink mostly in Fractals of the Mist and Ascalonian Catacombs Explorable Mode, and I did not seem to be able to pass mobs undetected through clever use of blink.

Are there any particular places or mobs you could recommend, where I could easily notice the effects?

Hello fellow people of Tyria,

Our research group has come across this question and I would like to briefly share our preliminary results.

After intense efforts in creating an energy output measure device, we have created the powermeter A1 (1). It is the first prototype of that kind and allows us to detect energy emissions within a radius of some meters. While testing this device, we have noticed, that every time a so called “combo” is being created, a high energy output is emitted by the finisher of the combo. We have then taken our attention closer to some certain techniques, used by the mesmer.

The techniques called “phase retreat” and “illusionary leap” emit such an energy. While phase retreat’s energy manifests into an illusion, this energy emission also causes a finisher. Illsionary leap, after creating an initial illusion, only realeases some energy tension from a psychotic link between the mesmer and their illusion. Further tests are required, to confirm this results. But it seems, that without this energy release, a finisher can not occur.

Now the ability to purely blink has actually lowered the surrounding energy level arround the mesmer. So blink seems to be an energy drawing ability, negating any static energy holding the mesmer back in their reality grounding (2).

Si Lly
Head of the Eternal Alchemy Research Department
College of Synergetics of [AKP]

1. The detector uses a strong magnetic field to measure the change of micro magical particle spin.
2. Reality grounding is the term we use for the fact, that everybody is limited by their own mind and perception, binding them to physical appearances and nature laws. Experienced individuals, however, seem to be able to go around that issue to some degree.

Malice.8439:

Truly? I’ve tested Blink mostly in Fractals of the Mist and Ascalonian Catacombs Explorable Mode, and I did not seem to be able to pass mobs undetected through clever use of blink.

Are there any particular places or mobs you could recommend, where I could easily notice the effects?

Well, as long as your start and endpoint are out of aggro range of a mob, you won’t aggro. It’s easier to test if you have the trait for range, but if you don’t just try an open plain (WvW is nice for this).

Mechanically, Blink is a shadowstep. That is, you move from point A to B very quickly with all the normal pathing involved. Now I can only see 2 reason why it’s not a finisher:

a) Devs just didn’t think to put it in.
b) It’s already an insanely powerful and popular utility.

Either way, reason b is why it probably shouldn’t be a finisher.