So much QQ cuz Mesmers can actually reliably set up a shatter.
If I can out play steal and infiltrator strikes into bigger burst than a Mesmer can possibly pull off, surely you can out play a clone popping into your face version.
Inf. strike is on a weapon set that lacks any burst to follow it up with (and is shorter immob), and traited steal merely dazes (and doesn’t prevent dodging). Any other instant port skill does not inherently cc your opponent. Instead, tell me how well you outplay panic strike (a better analog) without using phase retreat. Also, if you think thief burst is harder than mesmer shatter burst, I question how well you have learned shatter.
Any sort of damage to kill the clone will disallow the swap (so AoE or any type of heavy auto attack cleave)
Instant swap on creation. There is no leap animation anymore and no time to kill it.
You can doge as it pops up in your face.
Poor visual tell. Swap may proc before you even see a clone.
You can condi clense.
Instant condi cleanses have CD much greater than this skill.
you can interupt the mesmer.
Not everyone has shocking aura to interrupt blurred frenzy, which evades everything.
you can out play the shatter itself instead of the swap.
This doesn’t mean anything. If you don’t outplay the swap, you eat the full burst and game over.
you can use any mobility or location changing based skills to clear the distance of the swap.
The swap is instant, you will have to dodge the cast of the skill. Once the clone is next to you, its already too late, and the clone no longer has to actually travel to you.
This is only to name a few via a copy pasta from another thread.
get creative and l2p with all your skills.
The point is that proper shatter bursts, currently, require skill to set-up, and have good animations (when it doesn’t bug) to allow excellent counterplay. Reducing the animation and the counterplay just makes shatter even easier and way stronger. Fewer instant skills and more animations are a great thing for the game.