I feel a bit differently. They were right to move Illusionist Celerity. It was too powerful for 5 points. However, it should have become a minor Master trait. For 15 points, it would be in line with most cooldown reduction traits and still viable for anyone not making a shatter build.
Last time I checked, Portal requires usage affirmation. If you don’t want to use it, don’t. I, personally, did my best to do this jumping puzzle without cheating. Eventually I got to a point where I spent an hour doing the same section over and over and over again. That’s not fun.
We have one. The second part of Illusionary Leap is, literally, Swap. As to wanting to be somewhere specific, we have Blink. I can’t think of a reason why we would need this as a utility.
to me, the real issue is the unreadiness of the community to adapt the new changes, to play with the new changes, to try new things out and grow up with the visions of the devs (and I played many MMOs before, so I can say ANet does a good job).
Are all the changes welcome? clearly not. But its by far not the apocalyptic scenario some people want to believe us.
It took me about 10 minutes to theorycraft a couple of builds with traits i never used before. and guess what: its fun. at least for me. I call it variation.
I actually agree with you here. Change can be good and I too look forward to seeing what’s new and how we can innovate. However, my original statement still stands. To use your example, theorycrafting 10 minutes after the patch drops is good but what would be great is if we knew the finalized upcoming patch notes 1 to 2 weeks in advance. That way we can theorycraft, gather all the armor, weapons, runes and sigils we need and have everything already ready by patch day. From then on it would be a simple test to see if our theories work in practice as they do on paper.
Hitting us with this much needed info on patch day is like when Sega decided it was a great idea to launch the Saturn during E3, on the same day they announced it. In fact, the players’ sentiment reflect those of developers and retailers whom were left out the loop and unprepared.
I’m on the fence about this. One one hand, I prefer the shatter effect as it is far more artistic and even elegant. It truly fits the mesmer MO. However, the traited explosions have a visceral feel. When they go boom and something next to them dies, it just feels more satisfying.
Amidst all the animosity that flies right after patch day, I want to say thank you for finally fixing the iBerzerk bug and the recent problems to bounce logic. While my peers say that this should have been done long ago, as a programmer, I understand that seemingly simple things are usually the hardest ones to fix. Also, as a person that works for a major corporation, I also understand how frustrating it is when you want to place priority on something that the brass doesn’t feel is important enough to merit your time.
Now I have to go tsundere on you though. This doesn’t mean I like you. I’m still kitten ed about the confusion nerf because I was making a second mesmer specifically for a wvw glamour build. However, I do appreciate the effort taken to fix errors that have plague this class for months. So just imagine me hugging you as thanks… and then imagine me stomping on your foot because I suddenly remembered how many things are pointlessly tied to RNG.
To me, the real issue is a lack of communication with players. Anet says they’re listening but they rarely interact on their own forums except for general bug fixes and personal story help. I’m not suggesting that they respond to every post or even every thread as that would take way too much time away from game development. However, would it hurt to start one thread in every the profession forum and ask, “what’s the one thing everyone wants”?
What I want, particularly for the mesmer forums, is one thread every month where a dev actually talks to us consistently. Let us know where you want the profession to go and let us tell you where we want it to go. Then see if we can meet somewhere in the middle. I know it’s going to take a lot of effort. Any thread of this like will get thousands of replies and hundreds of pages. It will also attract people that would, “show their butt,” simply for the sake of disruptively drawing attention to themselves. However, it will also give us a heads up on upcoming changes.
For example, the drastic nerf to confusion should have been discussed in great length at least 4 to 6 weeks ahead of time. Worst case scenario would have been a dev telling us that it has to happen because the numbers show it’s potentially scaring new players from wvw. Then give us some options on how to fix it, allow us to give alternative suggestions, vote on which solution is best and implement it. Even if the result doesn’t please everyone, we will have had our chance to be heard and be forewarned that a huge nerf is coming. Instead of being suddenly, “punched in the chest,” on patch day like we usually are, we will have the chance to prepare. We won’t waist our time, money, energy and effort on gear for a build that’s neutered the very next day.
That’s what I want. Communication. Don’t just tell us you’re listening, Anet. Show us!
I would like the ability to turn it off because the scope of implementation is too wide. I often come across post I have a hard time following because it partially censors words with letters that would form profanity if not for the space between them.
What’s even worse is in game where the npcs curse, the censorship is inconsistent. Sometimes it’s spoken but the text is censored. Sometimes both are censored. Sometimes dialogue is written to avoid profanity and ends up sounding stupid.
While I am for mounts, I’m against flying ones. I want mounts because waypoints can get expensive and there’s a LOT of the game we miss by going from waypoint to waypoint. Flying mounts would take away from “sight-seeing” as the game isn’t built to accommodate flying and it encourages going over natural barriers (like cliffs and fortified walls) instead of around them. That’s going to require months of debugging.
On the flipside, ignore the ignorant idiots that think WoW is the only game with mounts. It wasn’t even the first to introduce such a feature. In fact, there’s an MMO out there completely built around flying mounts and it came out before vanilla WoW.
You should play around with your traits to make sure it’s not one of them doing it. If this turns out to be a ninja buff then it definitely has my interest.
And environmental traps seem unavoidable too. The new story dungeon has a part that would have made the old blurred frenzy shine like a diamond.
I’m not going to burst out in tears like the OP but I do feel the change was heavy-handed. I’m not upset that it got nerfed because it’s a very powerful and versatile skill with rooting being its only drawback. That being said, either the type change or the cooldown increase should have been tried first and then they should have waited to see if the other was necessary.
Ever since the game came out Illusionist Celerity has been deemed too powerful for to be minor adapt skill and this was the opinion of us players, not the devs. Personally I feel it should have been in the master trait area, like most cooldown reductions, but that’s an argument for another day.
This is not a nerf and my reasoning for that is because the skill hasn’t changed. If you want it, you can still get it. The only thing now is, you have to give up more in other areas to gain it. Yes, it sucks but that’s how traitlines should be. They are suppose to make us make very hard choices for our builds. That’s the very definition of build diversity.
But, to be fair, I have you tell you guys that I haven’t used IC in months. I do believe it’s an awesome trait but I have learned to live without it. I still have a weird 20/30/20/0/0 build with my damage spread out between power, crit effects and conditions. While it does lean towards “jack of all trades,” lately I have found that to be its highlight. The reason is, it’s extremely resistant to change. I can damage everything, change tactics mid-fight without even concerning myself about stats and traits and I only need one set of armor.
My only concern, if the patch notes are real, is that newbie mesmers may have an even harder time leveling up now. A few might stacks won’t make much of a difference, especially if you’re not sure what to do with them. It will encourage newbies to shatter more though.
Let me get this straight. You won about 50% of the time in matches lasting 2 to 5 minutes against the same opponent and you consider this a problem?!
In the case of the Mesmer, the only diversity they introduced it seems is the possibility of Interrupt builds, and even that is dubious. Personally I don’t think Mesmer builds will change very much at all.
Like Toobz said, it’s best to wait and test the changes before whining.
I’ve always felt that mantras should be channeled shouts. Take Mantra of Recovery, for instance. When activated, a mesmer will be able to move but otherwise enter an animation lock and say, “Health! Vigor! Recovery!” This will cause three pulses with the first being an aoe heal, the second granting aoe vigor and the third, aoe regen. Because they would leave mesmers vulnerable, they can be a bit more powerful than regular shouts. They should also be labeled as shouts and/or receive the same benefits from the soldier runes.
Mine is Shinticre, a name I stole from someone I knew years ago. I’m thinking of changing it though. I just haven’t found a name that screams “mesmer” and/or makes my opponents roll their eyes.
Also with signet of air it doesn’t stack so the signet is better
Exactly. I don’t think these developers spend much time working on these traits.
You guys aren’t seeing the big picture. You potentially have a trait that frees up a utility spot. Mesmers would kill for what you’re complaining about.
How about waiting until tomorrow to find out if it’s true and then trying out the changes in depth to see how it works in practice instead of just on paper?
It’s a well established fact that mesmers are late bloomers. On their own, are skills are mediocre. It’s only when they are properly traited that we become demigods. Also, this is a duelist class. What we lack in fighting crowds, we excel at one-on-one. That said, there are already a few guides out about getting past lower levels. I can’t think of any off the top of my head but a simple search should produce them easily.
From what I’ve seen, meta events don’t just restart regardless of what was done prior. They commonly have a “hold the line” event sometime after a point is captured. Because most, if not all, of the players have moved on by then and the npcs couldn’t punch their way out of a wet paper bag, the point is lost and then the meta event chain resets. That is the dynamic world the devs promised and they have done a reasonable job delivering. Granted there are huge problems with how the system presently works but the original concept is there.
And if you think most people do Balthazar for the skins, which you even stated they can get elsewhere, then you are sorely mistaken. It’s done for the stats those skins carry and it’s the only vendor that sells obsidian shards for karma.
Yes, I was using sword/focus. I can’t tell you when it was the sigil working or the sword because champion karka battles are hectic and I had to be on my toes (not to mention completely insane) to stay in melee range for consistent boon stripping. What I can tell you is that, every time they gained a boon, they lost it about a second later.
I’m fine with it rooting because it is an awesome animation. I just want it to have a bigger aoe and a blast finisher. That would make it a lot more useful.
I have it on my focus and use it on champions that constantly reapply boons. It was a godsend during the Southsun Living Story events because champion karkas constantly reapply retaliation and regeneration.
I have to chime in with most of the praise in this thread. This storyline is a lot better than all the other living stories combined. A small event every day works better than a few missions giving at once and then 3 weeks of nothing. And then there’s the bar cutscene! It had its faults but I still loved it immensely! That’s how all cutscenes should be!
Speaking of faults…
Logan went into a seedy bar in Divinity’s Reach, where he’s already a living legend, while wearing full Seraph armor. Said armor that was glistening dramatically in the sunlight behind him as he seemed to relish in his own grand appearance not even a minute before he insisted, “no names”. That was cringe-worthy. He should have been in jedi-like robes with a hood and whispering while talking to Mahjory. Then, when she was about to speak his name, his line and the entire scene would have made a lot more sense.
As for the investigation, that was done poorly. There’s a scene in the original Knights of the Old Republic where the player is in jedi training and has to settle a dispute between two locals. The player had to pay attention to the facts, figure out where the inconsistencies are and choose specific options to figure out the mystery. The jedi master was there for guidance but was really a game mechanic for giving hints to stuck players. If Mahjory would have said, “I already know the answer but I’m going to let you twiddle your thumbs for a while,” and let the player solve this while she acted like the jedi master, that whole scene would have been a lot better.
As for the sky pirates, I feel that not enough was revealed. They gave no clue as to who they are or what they hoped to accomplish by their actions during dragon bash. Those two things should have been stated clearly before this part of the story was over. You’d get mad props if they could be pieced together while figuring out whom the killer was.
All said in done, I would say this was a decent living story addition with the cutscene making it tapdance on the border of “good”. With just a little more planning and insight, it could easily jump that border.
I like the idea of boosting an interrupt build but feel it would be better suited to cause conditions like weakness, cripple, confusion and torment than direct damage. We already have strong damage builds. What a lot of people want is a shutdown build similar to what was possible in GW1.
Signet of Illusions: FINALLY!!!
If they would just add a freaking blast finisher to Mind Spike, I really wouldn’t care what else it did. I already don’t use it for its original intent because it’s too weak, too small and requires manual targeting. The Superior Sigil of Nullification and the sword’s auto-attack do a better job at boon removal.
Illusion of Life should be an Elite skill that picks up downed teammates instantly. In my personal opinion, they should be temporarily turned into a phantasm while keeping their own weapon and control. Their presence will give the mesmer any buffs usually associated with illusions and allow them to exceed the usual 3 limit. They’ll also have a short time in which the mesmer can shatter, causing the phantasm to break and reveal their ally’s original form again. That would be an elite I would consider.
I feel Protected Mantras should cast Aegis for the duration of the mantra’s cast time. In that situation, I’d be more concerned about being interrupted than damaged.
Compounding Celerity is stupid. We want more out-of-combat speed options. We don’t need more in-combat ones. Unless they allow us to travel with a full array of illusions, I see no point in this.
What I find strange is how well this skill works in wvw but how awful it is in pve.
I went through with a level 75 guardian and steamrolled everything until I ran into the vet. He smacked me around like a ragdoll the first 2 times and all 3 of my regens weren’t enough to keep him from killing me. I finally switched to scepter/torch to take him out at range. My real problem was that his telegraph was so stupidly long that my quick reflexes were allowing him to hit me after the dodgeroll animation. With practice I’m sure I could dodge it easily but I didn’t feel the instance was worth the time.
I will admit that Moa racing is a very interesting concept but the implementation was horrible.
I think it would have been more entertaining if -
1. We could ride the Moas in the race!
or
2. We could BE the Moas in the race!
or
3. There was no race because some wacky asura inventor put experimental speed hormone in the moa feed but instead of making them faster it turned them into rampaging moa-dragons that we must bash in order to save Lion’s Arch. Kind of like bashing the piñatas, ’cept they bash back…
4. Moa-drawn chariots. With swords on the wheels. Yeah.
5. Moa juggling.
Either of the first 2 would have been awesome!
I want you guys to understand that random isn’t fair. Random is chaotic by its very nature. I have guildmates that are already up to 3,000 and got nothing while one opened 25 and got 3 tickets. To my guildies that have opened thousands and finally get a ticket, there is no sudden burst of happiness or excitement. They usually say, “FINALLY,” shortly followed with, “KITTEN YOU ANET,” so they surely aren’t enjoying the experience.
But even that isn’t the real issue. These chests are the only way to get tickets. No amount of hard work and determination will earn one. No, grinding for more chests doesn’t count because it’s entirely possible to grind every second of this event, open every chest and still not get a ticket. The odds will never change from the first to the last chest opened.
Think about that for a second. It’s not about how hard you worked. It’s about how lucky you get. How is that fair? Better yet, how is that fun?
I have to admit that I’m not liking the Dragon Bash events either. I expected the fireworks show to be more choreographed. It doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Just having the dragon dodging the fireworks until it was finally downed by the last volley would have been worth watching.
I’m quite sick of the fireworks and pinatas. I feel the limit should have been 25 times or, like mentioned elsewhere, have a finite number scattered across the world that can only be accessed once. I’m so tired of pressing “F” just to increase an arbitrary number by 1 that, now that we have effigies, I just can’t be bothered to do it again. Not even for 50. It’s horrible game design.
I will admit that Moa racing is a very interesting concept but the implementation was horrible. Attaching an achievement to betting (ugh, more RNG nonsense) and making each bet 50 silver sucked the fun out of it.
Don’t even get me started on the Dragon Coffers. It’s apparent Anet isn’t listening because we have been screaming about how wrong it is to gate cosmetic items behind RNG chests since October.
Or, you know, just target the commander normally without wasting your elite slot.
I’m with Pyro on this one. It’s good for the lols but Timewarp and Mas Invis are more useful.
Let’s say I’m in a party and using 6 Runes of the Soldier when all party members are hit with 5 stacks of bleed first and then 5 seconds of burning. At that moment, I use Save Yourselves. What would happen? Would it cure burning and add 20 stacks of bleed to the 5 I already had or would it pass all conditions to me and then cure one of them?
(edited by Crossplay.2067)
Countess Anise!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/BlackRhapsodyX/Guild%20Wars%202/gw021_zps2b7acd4e.jpg
She spawned all 10 of those phantasms at once! (Yes, there are ten! The two in front of Serpentine are hard to see.)
(edited by Crossplay.2067)
Pitching means playing the recored voice faster. This would mean it goes out of snyc with lip movement and emotes your character makes in cinematics.
No, it’s possible to change the pitch without altering the speed. I have a winamp plug-in that can do this. It’s also been done for Phantasy Star Universe.
I pick up the stone because I like to troll trolls. I imagine that’s why the event rewards players with karma.
She is the most epic npc EVER! In fact, during her event, you don’t guard her. She guards you!
If you really want a drop improvement, STOP BUYING RNG CHESTS!!! When it becomes more profitable for anet to put the skins in the gem store instead of in those stupid !@#$%^&* chests, you will get what you want!
As I’ve stated in another post, if that just have to use this stupid rng kitten, then at least put the weapons in the gem store after the event is over. Those whom want to gamble for it get to try first and those whom don’t merely need to wait 2 to 3 weeks. Anet still makes money either way.
I remember in BWE2 when I Arcane Thievery could steal 3 boons, including those that are champion specific. I can’t bare to use the skill now because it just pales in comparison to how awesome it use to be.
IT’S… CALLED… FUCHSIA!!! ::Spartan kick!::
I’m in total opposition of this post because my outfit, powers and weapons have to have the same color scheme! I WANT my enemies to know I’m a mesmer! I WANT them to see me coming a mile away! I WANT them to be fully prepared! That way, when I wax their kitten and dust their drawls, they will have NO EXCUSES!
I will take this opportunity to, again, inform anet that I am willing to buy gems and purchase these weapon skins IF YOU PUT THEM DIRECTLY IN THE GEM STORE!!! I have bought the molten axe, consortium scythe, Rox’s quiver and several town outfits. I would have also bought Halloween weapons, Molten weapons, SAB weapons and even Jade weapons if you would just stop putting them in RNG chests and sell them directly instead! If you just HAVE to do this rng crap, atleast put the weapons in the shop after the event is over! That way, people whom don’t want to gamble can still get what they want and you’ll still get paid!
I like the idea but I feel it adds too much complexity to a class that already has a high learning curve. People whom wish to stick to one or two elements are likely to prefer more simplistic battle mechanics. I would encourage you to keep working on this concept though as it would make an interesting mechanic for, say, a Monk class that switches between fighting styles.
Hey guys! First of all, thanks for all the replies. Secondly, to clarify, I DID mean sword/pistol – sword/focus. Realizing that this severely limits my options when I proposed this set-up, I thought scepter would be a waste of time. That being said, I did get a chance to try this set out today (albeit in pvp) and my results were that I absolutely hated it.
Normally I play a GS – Sword/Sword mesmer. When I tried this out today, it made me think to myself – iWarden cannot be functioning properly. It seems like a completely wasted skill because of two things 1. The cast time on it and 2. The fact that iWarden is immobile. I think that if iWarden would at the VERY least walk, it would be better. But ideally, if the cast time were removed from him, I think it would fix the issue. Idk. Does anybody else think along these lines?
I use to until I did a bit of out-of-the-box thinking. If you consider the iWarden only as an attack then yes, being immobile is very bad. On the other hand, if you think of it as a miniature Feedback on a timer, it opens up a lot more possibilities. When fighting ranged opponents that move constantly, it’s great to spawn the warden and then stand beside it while it’s twirling. This gives you a safe zone for a few seconds. Don’t forget that you can use Temporal Curtain to pull enemies into it. This is very easy to do because it’s stationary.
It really depends on how you fight. If you take full advantage of all of the mesmer active defenses and properly time your dodges, you can get away with having no stat boosts to armor and health. I know some that prefer high toughness because it transfers to illusions and makes every hitpoint count more. My personal goal is to have 20k health as I’m fairly proficient at dodging but can be taken down by conditions, if I’m not careful. I only carry Null Field for cleansing which is awesome at it but has a 45 second recharge.
I half agree with AT’s suggestions but that’s really because of the beauty of mesmers. We have a lot of good, effective builds that vary greatly so you are almost certain to find something that fits your playstyle.
I wouldn’t worry about that while leveling though. Right now you should be trying things out and seeing which weapons you’re comfortable with and what your skills can really do. Learn the combos and don’t be afraid to push your limits.
I’m presently working on a guardian and I only have two major issues with it. First, their long range weapons leave a lot to be desired. I can excuse the staff as it can hit 5 enemies at once and has a ridiculously wide arc. I can’t complain about 12 stacks of might AND a heal from skill 4, even if it leaves me anchored and vulnerable. The scepter, on the other hand, has auto-attack that is so painfully slow, I can’t even fathom using it.
My other problem is a lack of Blink. Sure there are a lot of powers that teleport me to enemies but none that teleport me away. This leaves me searching for another get-out-of-jail-free ability.
On the plus side, downed skill #3 is amazing! If i can last long enough for it to be up, I can usually get myself up! There was one situation where I went down next to another guardian and we both used it at the same time. He went from nearly dead to back on his feet in 2 seconds! That is how downed skills should work!
If anet would just release some battle gowns for heavy armor wearers, my guardian would likely replace my elementalist as my secondary.
Blink, Feedback, Null Field and Timewarp are my usually utilities. I could retrait focus skills to get reflection and there are a host of condition removal traits. Timewarp is on such a long cooldown that I sometimes forget I even have it. I shudder to even think about trying to survive without Blink. There’s so much that I use it for. Traveling, getting out of AoEs, stun breaks, positioning, guerrilla tactics, mindgames… I rely on it so much that I have both Manipulation traits slotted. I’ve tried changing my build to see if I could live without it one of them but I ended up going back after a week.
Halting Strike – As stated above, the damage dealt is pitiful. It would be better if it became a grandmaster trait that caused a 1 second daze on interrupt with a 5 to 10 second cooldown to keep it under control. With all the other traits that react to dazing, (not to mention the mesmer rune set including it) this change would open up one hell of an interrupt build!
Confounding Suggestions – RNG is RNG so the 50% aspect needs to be dropped entirely. I would rather this swapped places with Halting Strike and spawn a clone on daze. Confusion on daze would work as well.
Protected Mantras – If you’re casting a mantra, you’re more concerned about interrupts than damage. Granting Aegis with every mantra cast would make this a LOT better! It would also make mantras better as casting one could be used to negate powerful hits.
Compounding Celerity – This should increase the player’s attack speed for each active illusion. I think 5 to 7% each would be good without being overpowered.
(edited by Crossplay.2067)