Guild Wars 2

Scepter is a clunky weapon so I can see why few people feel it is strong but some people ignore its obvious strengths, other do not understand it’s weaknesses.

Scepter skill #1 – applies torment and low power damage on first 2 attacks, 3rd attack summons a clone and deals significantly more power damage though the power damage is still terrible and applies no conditions via 3rd chain attack —- why people believe it doesn’t work —- terrible power damage, but it can function well in condition builds, is slow and clunky.

Scepter skill #2 – applies 5 stacks of torment and deals a acceptable amount of power damage —- why people believe it doesn’t work —- all block skills on mesmer leave you vulnerable during the delay between the block and the damage + clone summon allowing foes to burst you or forcing you to dodge canceling the cast.

Skill #3- long cast hits for the same power damage as blurred frenzy from medium range and applies 5 stacks of confusion —- why people believe it does not work —- the long cast time works for 3 results #1 it makes the attack easy to predict and avoid before taking serious damage #2 it makes it impossible for most classes to dodge because the duration is longer than 2 dodge frames #3 it has slow effect and offers and easy way to interrupt the mesmer or apply pressure by attacking from behind LoSing the Ray on skill 3.

Sword is a commonly used weapon in shatter builds outside of tournaments and often considered a strong weapon, however, it needs some obvious reworks.

Sword skill #1 – this is the weakest pure power damage melee auto attack in the game ranger longbow hits for the same amount of power damage from 2k range —- why people believe it doesn’t work —- it’s a weak auto and mesmer shouldn’t melee anyways they are squishy!

Sword skill #2 – this is the strongest skill on sword mainland, it evades for over 2s and deals good power damage —- why some people believe it does not work —- this evade can be bypassed by shatters and some other abilities if the ability begins before blurred frenzy starts and lands during blurred frenzied cast, 1/2s delay on beginning to evade. ( same problem can be found with distortion shatter )

Sword skill #3 – this is mesmers’ only weapon skill that can close a gap and it has 600 range, the leap is based on a clone, but immobilized foes when it lands —- why people believe it doesn’t work —- it is unreliable due to aoes killing the clone preventing the leap, it also is the shortest range gap closer in the game.

Scepter #1- get rid of it… make it one boring attack (like every other ranged weapon) with a small splash radius that inflicts torment.

Scepter #2- change it to work like the new shield block… you cast the clone at the end of the block if you didn’t block anything.

Scepter #3- I actually think this is fine the way it is…

Sword #1 and #2- both fine…

Sword #3- This skill drives me crazy. They either need to remove the swap mechanic from it and make it so the clone leaps and inflicts Immobilize on its first attack OR increase the summon of the clone to 900-1200 range (like every other illusion) so we can actually use this skill as a gap closer.

Sword is simple to fix, buff damage, revert blurred Frenzy nerfs and change skill 3 into a leap forward like other gap closers. Maybe leave a clone behind on skill 3 like the skill we were orignally going to get when they first announced the class.

Sword is fine if they revert the sword 3 change of months ago (you know, you can’t teleport when sword 3 clone is dead, it used to work long long ago)

And pistol mainhand plox!

@Sword #3: Since it bugs too often, how about: “Teleport to your target and immobilize it. Leave back a clone at your current position.”

We have the most fantastic set of offhands in the game but never can realisticly take MH+OH/MH+OH. Its a real shame and I would ask anet put some serious effort into making scepter viable (the clunkiness of the auto kills it).

Levetty.1279:

Sword is simple to fix, buff damage, revert blurred Frenzy nerfs and change skill 3 into a leap forward like other gap closers. Maybe leave a clone behind on skill 3 like the skill we were orignally going to get when they first announced the class.

All of this^. Every single bit of it. Not sure how they can’t see this needs to happen.

Isn’t Sword the most directly damaging weapon? If it needs a buff, doesn’t that mean every other weapon needs one as well?

Illusion durability is still key as well. I don’t know why there can’t be a pet AoE resistance kinda thing for them like other MMOs do. There should be a way to counter a Mesmer’s strategies, but right now you can severely handicap a Mesmer without even trying thanks to how weak Illusions tend to be.

Also, I had a clone get rooted on their way to Shatter on a Modrem. That shouldn’t even be able to happen. It’s an Illusion. It’s not really there. It’s a visual representation of the stuff Mesmers did in GW1. I think Illusions need more durability based on that idea.

Making the basic attacks on weapons better still need to happen though. The very mechanic of Illusions means that there will be situations where, no matter how durable, they won’t replace a reliable weapon for basic gameplay (not saying Mesmers should have no weaknesses, but I think you know what I mean).

Jokubas.4265:

Isn’t Sword the most directly damaging weapon? If it needs a buff, doesn’t that mean every other weapon needs one as well?

I think Staff auto attack is pretty much the only auto attack that people don’t have a problem with.

Sword is our highest damaging but hits for a lot less compared to other classes damage focus weapons.

MtD shatter with chronomancer quickness on shatter will be an interesting thing for scepter.

But I agree it is still clunky on its own.

I hate scepter, I cannot safely spam the AA without a chance of overwriting a phantom. That will make me never use it. I know it’s great for shattering/clone production but I don’t PvP so there is no need for that for me. Though, with the update and them wanting us to shatter, I may take a relook at using it. But that slow AA casting just irritates the kitten out of me.

I love sword, I do think it needs a buff to the AA. Sword 3 can be a bit annoying…wish the clone spawned had a little invulnerability to it so we could reliably use the swap.

i used to use scepter all the time during glamour times but nowadays its not viable anymore. maybe we will get a few improvements in future.

Mikkel.8427:

Scepter #1- get rid of it… make it one boring attack (like every other ranged weapon) with a small splash radius that inflicts torment.

Noooo!! I have too much fun using reflects to make Tornado and Lich clones!!!

You can fix both weapons by pretty much doing two simple things and ignoring the other flaws:

Make scepter attack without a projectile like Necro scepter.
Make sword attack speed like Warrior sword.

Done.

Dawdler.8521:

You can fix both weapons by pretty much doing two simple things and ignoring the other flaws:

Make scepter attack without a projectile like Necro scepter.
Make sword attack speed like Warrior sword.

Done.

The speed of the sword attack isn’t a problem at all. It has a great rhythm/pace. It has great function as well (boon stripping). The problem is damage output. They have it very low on damage, probably intentionally, due to expecting us to make up that damage from phantasms. The problem with that is that phantasms are currently a flawed mechanic. By the time you are able to get enough phantasms summoned to equal out the missing damage, either your party has killed the mob and phantasms despawn….or the mob has killed your phantasms. They just need to stop trying to make illusions deal damage and move the damage onto the weapon skills + shatters. If they make illusions invulnerable but deal no damage, this would allow that. It would fix so many problems if they did that. They could just let illusions do their utility functions successfully at that point like all other classes utilities.

I may add a changes / fix section. Would love more change / fix ideas.

I don’t think that our mainhand weapons are SO terrible. But things are kind of stale with them. From an SPvP/WvW perspective, I use the sword mainly for defensive purposes. The scepter has its uses, but it is clunky.

That being said, they’re not useless/a joke. I’ve put together a few hybrid builds that use Sword/Torch-Scepter/Pistol quite well. They’re not as straight-forward as our two-handers, but there is utility depending on how you build.

Now, keeping “hybrid” in mind, I can imagine some really interesting ways to work with Sword/Shield-Scepter/Pistol and mixing the Chronomancy line with any of our updated trees. Though, to be honest, I’ve become a diehard fan of the greatsword, so maybe I’ll just stick with the Sword/Shield :P

Am I the only one here that remembers when:

• Sword clones applied cripple
• Sword #3 had 900 range

I miss those :-/

Sebrent.3625:

Am I the only one here that remembers when:

• Sword clones applied cripple
• Sword #3 had 900 range

I miss those :-/

I miss swap working even if your clone is obliterated by a zerg…

If they want to clean up the Mesmer weapon sets, they need to go back to the drawing board on some of the skills that just don’t function properly. Illusionary Leap, for example, has massive technical flaws, and tweaking the numbers around won’t save it. Other skills are just too cumbersome, such as the scepter autoattack. A streamlined setup would look something like this…

Scepter
Ether Bolt: no longer a projectile, acts like Necro scepter. Torments.
Counterspell: channeled block, negates attacks for a brief time and confuses attackers.
Confusing Images: flick your scepter and spawn a clone that casts the beam, then autoattacks.

This cleans up the scepter by switching clone production to Confusing Images, allowing the Mesmer to make clones on demand rather than relying on clunky 3rd attacks and the counter. Similarly, Confusing Images is now more flexible, since the Mesmer doesn’t have to be the one channeling the beam. Reduce the amount of direct damage and allow this weapon to thrive as a pure condition weapon.

Sword
Mind Slash: all skills in the chain should have the “more damage against foes with no boons” effect to give it teeth.
Blurred Frenzy: rename this to Flourish. Mesmers do not frenzy, it’s undignified. Frenzying is for peasants and products of inbreeding.
Illusionary Leap: when cast, spawns a clone behind the target who executes a crippling attack with a built-in evade. This will protect the clone for ~1 second, thus allowing the mesmer time to Swap, and ensure that there’s no bad pathing problems to the target. 900 range.

Cleaning up iLeap and solving the damage issue will go a long way towards streamlining the weapon. Add a mainhand pistol as a ranged direct damage option, and we’re golden.

See, I like the Scepter a lot for my build. Overwriting old clones with new ones is what my build is based on, so being able to summon a ton of new clones (thus killing the previous one, exploding into a bleed/rooting AoE) is imperative. As with the Torment, and the clones stacking its’ own torment. Granted, I also use the Torch as my offhand, making aggro wipe a lot easier so mobs will be more likely to attack my Clones, killing them, and rooting the mob. Slow ’em down, hurt ’em, transfer aggro to a clone, let the clone die, and repeat!

By doing this, I’ve made a rather viable (or, at least, good enough for me!) build using the Scepter, which relies heavily on its AA.

Piffinatour.5940:

See, I like the Scepter a lot for my build. Overwriting old clones with new ones is what my build is based on, so being able to summon a ton of new clones (thus killing the previous one, exploding into a bleed/rooting AoE) is imperative. As with the Torment, and the clones stacking its’ own torment. Granted, I also use the Torch as my offhand, making aggro wipe a lot easier so mobs will be more likely to attack my Clones, killing them, and rooting the mob. Slow ’em down, hurt ’em, transfer aggro to a clone, let the clone die, and repeat!

By doing this, I’ve made a rather viable (or, at least, good enough for me!) build using the Scepter, which relies heavily on its AA.

Anet is getting rid of all the ‘on clone death’ effects in our traits… so, your build/play-style will be even less effective after the trait adjustment update.

I think mostly we’re close, but some of the themeing has been lost. What I’d do:

• Scepter: Our slow, powerful weapon. Buff power damage significantly, keep slowness and clunkiness. Buff conditions, too. This should be a pain to use but pay off really big for how slow it is. I mean thy use that concept for the Reaper form ,so…
• Sword: “catch” weapon. Make the swap independent of the clone (rather, if the clone is alive when you swap, it’ll be 100% invisible, no graphics tell you that the Mesmer and the clone just traded places). Make the autoattack drain endurance to limit enemy mobility.
• Greatsword: long-range weapon. Mostly fine as it is.
• Staff: “chaos” and support weapon. Buff boons and conditions further, but keep the random element. Maybe just add more to increase potential. For example winds should cause boons and conditions while flying forward instead of bouncing.

Shriketalon.1937:

Scepter
Ether Bolt: no longer a projectile, acts like Necro scepter. Torments.
Counterspell: channeled block, negates attacks for a brief time and confuses attackers.
Confusing Images: flick your scepter and spawn a clone that casts the beam, then autoattacks.
.
.
.
Sword
Mind Slash: all skills in the chain should have the “more damage against foes with no boons” effect to give it teeth.
Blurred Frenzy: rename this to Flourish. Mesmers do not frenzy, it’s undignified. Frenzying is for peasants and products of inbreeding.
Illusionary Leap: when cast, spawns a clone behind the target who executes a crippling attack with a built-in evade. This will protect the clone for ~1 second, thus allowing the mesmer time to Swap, and ensure that there’s no bad pathing problems to the target. 900 range.

Great ideas! Well thought out, I really like these and agree 100% on BF! lol! ;-)

Although I also like the idea of “slow and hard-hitting”, both are nice alternatives.

I do think all the the Quickness we’re getting access to will make both our MHs a good bit better though. Sword AA is pretty decent DPS with Quickness up, and you only use BF before or after Quickness.

With Confounding Suggestions for example, you could iLeap→Immob→BF + F1→F3 to stun your target and then AA…and if you interrupt you get Quickness from FI and thus a couple of AAs for free.

Of course you’re unlikely to give up Shattered Concentration for FI, but then you could get your Quickness from Shield, or Chrono GM Quickness-on-shatter trait?

Not sure, but some synergies do exist that will make both Sword and especially Scepter a little less bad. ;-)

Shriketalon.1937:

If they want to clean up the Mesmer weapon sets, they need to go back to the drawing board on some of the skills that just don’t function properly. Illusionary Leap, for example, has massive technical flaws, and tweaking the numbers around won’t save it. Other skills are just too cumbersome, such as the scepter autoattack. A streamlined setup would look something like this…

Scepter
Ether Bolt: no longer a projectile, acts like Necro scepter. Torments.
Counterspell: channeled block, negates attacks for a brief time and confuses attackers.
Confusing Images: flick your scepter and spawn a clone that casts the beam, then autoattacks.

This cleans up the scepter by switching clone production to Confusing Images, allowing the Mesmer to make clones on demand rather than relying on clunky 3rd attacks and the counter. Similarly, Confusing Images is now more flexible, since the Mesmer doesn’t have to be the one channeling the beam. Reduce the amount of direct damage and allow this weapon to thrive as a pure condition weapon.

Sword
Mind Slash: all skills in the chain should have the “more damage against foes with no boons” effect to give it teeth.
Blurred Frenzy: rename this to Flourish. Mesmers do not frenzy, it’s undignified. Frenzying is for peasants and products of inbreeding.
Illusionary Leap: when cast, spawns a clone behind the target who executes a crippling attack with a built-in evade. This will protect the clone for ~1 second, thus allowing the mesmer time to Swap, and ensure that there’s no bad pathing problems to the target. 900 range.

Cleaning up iLeap and solving the damage issue will go a long way towards streamlining the weapon. Add a mainhand pistol as a ranged direct damage option, and we’re golden.

best post ever !!!!!