So I was thinking about how every other profession has access to permanent Swiftness or at least a speed Signet, while Mesmers just get Temporal Curtain which is 12 seconds (or less) of Swiftness on a 25 second cooldown. What if we were to get a Utility skill for this? I’m aware Mesmers are supposed to be at the bottom of the movement speed chain (for some reason), so there’s plenty of side-effects to be had.
I feel Mesmers should get [Illusion of Haste] as a Manipulation Utility skill. It would work almost the same way as in GW1 but with a bit of a twist. The skill itself would be on a 12 second cooldown, instant cast, remove Cripple upon use, and apply “Illusionary Haste” to the caster for 10 seconds. This way if you trait for Master of Manipulation the skill will be off of cooldown the moment “Illusionary Haste” wears off. The “Illusionary Haste” buff applies either 25% or 33% additional movement speed (whichever is more balanced) although it’s not a boon so it can’t be stolen, corrupted, or removed. After the “Illusionary Haste” buff clocks down to 0 the player will gain Cripple for 6 seconds. For the first 8 seconds after casting [Illusion of Haste] the skill will sequence to a different skill that allows you to send your current “Illusionary Haste” buff to a target in 900 Range (1200 Range when traited with Far-Reaching Manipulations). Doing so will transfer over the buff to them for as long as you had remaining, and then apply the cripple to them instead of you when it wears off.
This way we don’t have to rely on Focus for Swiftness, Mesmers will finally have access to good amounts of movement speed on their own, and it’s still got a couple drawbacks. It’s not quite permanent unless traited, you’ll either have to deal with the Cripple or passing off the buff early, and it doesn’t really do much other than fixing Mesmer’s speed issues and playing with your target’s movement speed. It seems like a unique way to handle Mesmer’s movement in exchange for wasting a valuable Utility slot.
What do you guys think?
