Guild Wars 2

We already have a condi version of “power block”. Chaotic Interruption. How about this; Mistrust: “Whenever you interrupt a foe, inflict confusion and daze in an area around them”. The duration would obviously be very short, maybe 1/4s, basically just to aoe interrupt. Would’ve made it worth taking over DE in interrupt builds for me.

It’s about time Anet split the skills and traits to match the different game modes it has. They’ve done so with GW1, when balancing was near to impossible. Everyone welcomed it then, I see no reason it won’t be welcomed again. Especially since GW2 has less skills+traits then GW1 and with less unique effects as well. When GW2 was developed, we asked them if it would have split skills as well. Their answer was, yes. The didn’t split

Here’s an old interview with Izzy, the main balance developer at the time. I believe that since then he’s moved to another area of the game. I had to filter search for 2009-2010 articles. The part of interest is at the end of the piece. You can search for “split”.

For the lazy:
“That’s the main lesson they learnt from GW1. You have to split the skills according to the gameplay mode. If you don’t, you end up with GW1 situation, with its 17 modes which ends up being impossible to manage properly. From his own confession, Izzy had to put aside some of those modes like HA, AvA, TA which knew the fate GW1 players know…

Ideally, he’d like to have only two modes to balance, but he knows he can handle three which is the intended number atm. For the record, WvW is as of now based on PvE skills. With three modes, he knows he’ll be able to supply a decent work and make GW2 a real e-sport along Counterstrike or DOTA-likes."

I’ve found the link! I can’t believe it. I had to filter search 2009-2010 articles. It’s an interview with Izzy, the main balance developer at the time. I believe that since then he’s moved to another area of the game. The part of interest is at the end of the piece. You can search for “split”.

Edit – For the lazies:
“That’s the main lesson they learnt from GW1. You have to split the skills according to the gameplay mode. If you don’t, you end up with GW1 situation, with its 17 modes which ends up being impossible to manage properly. From his own confession, Izzy had to put aside some of those modes like HA, AvA, TA which knew the fate GW1 players know…

Ideally, he’d like to have only two modes to balance, but he knows he can handle three which is the intended number atm. For the record, WvW is as of now based on PvE skills. With three modes, he knows he’ll be able to supply a decent work and make GW2 a real e-sport along Counterstrike or DOTA-likes."

Tissitra.4153:

apharma.3741:

Tissitra.4153:

Even if (I should probably rather say ‘when’) CS and PU are brought back to sanity, mesmer will still be much better off then prior to the June patch. You are kidding yourself if you think that it is now balanced after just this nerf.

Not really.

Pre patch most people wouldn’t use PU because it’s been watered down so much it’s no longer a great defensive option. 1s and a 2/5 chance to get something that might help you not die isn’t great.

Pre patch we had cripple on clone death, gone. We had confusion on clone death, gone. We had a chance at weakness on clone death, gone. I’m glad the damage on clone death is gone but we lost ways to 1. Stop people killing clones like it was going out of fashion or at least slow them down and 2. Ways to control and weaken the enemy.

We did get BD which is nice but forces you to shatter early for the defence. We got buffed PU and CS is actually worth using however remove them and our survivability just tanked back to pre patch levels and that wasn’t a good place.

Once again, we lost all penalties to mowing down our clones and that will start to hurt when people wise up to it as is starting to happen.

No one used clone death builds in anything serious, let alone the fact the they were strongly nerfed already prior to the June patch, pure condi builds have not been viable for a long time. Also note how mesmers became the overlords after the patch WITH all of these traits removed. The biggest problems are still CS, PU (and possibly illusion/mindwrack damage).

Prepatch using PU meant losing either deceptive evasion or illusionary persona. THIS is the reason it was not used. Now not only does it give ridiculous survivability, you can also use it combined with more burst damage than power shatter had before the patch.

No one used PU builds in anything serious as well. You pick and choose the facts that support your theory while dropping the ones that contradict it.

PU is already sub-optimal in “anything serious”. PU mesmers still lose great damage/interrupt traits for taking it. Also, the first two traits chosen in that line are ridiculously weak.

BUT THIS IS NOT THE TOPIC OF THIS THREAD

Tissitra.4153:

Tha nerf was justified and I would expect there to be more. PU and CS still need to be addressed.

So almost everything that made mesmers better after this patch. Only need to nerf Illusionary Persona and we’re done, right?

Edit:

Velimere.7685:

Velimere.7685:

My Mesmer uses absolutely zero stealth, and this Mirror Blade nerf really bothers me. I have more hours played in this game than any other game, and I’ll be playing it until Guild Wars 3, but my nerves are definitely tested with this. Let me break it down:

1. We used to be able to trait Illusionary Elasticity for that extra bounce.
2. ArenaNet gave us the extra bounce as baseline and removed the trait.
3. ArenaNet then removed the extra bounce as well.

I’ve been the victim of a few bait-and-switches in my life, but boy do they sure hit me right in the feels every time. I’d much rather have Confounding Suggestions completely reworked into something that offers counter-play than have this nerfed Mirror Blade. Hell, I’ll even make a suggestion:

Confounding Suggestions
Increase daze duration when interrupting a foe.

• Duration increase: 100%

This would make the trait more skill-based like Power Block and offer counter-play in the fact that players can move and dodge while dazed unlike when they are stunned.

Interrupting doesn’t daze. It would only work with Diversion.
Perhaps “Interrupts daze (Xs). Increase Daze duration: Y%”

However, that would mean that mesmer will have no hard CC (Fear, Knockdown, Launch, Stun, Knockback, Stun, Taunt, Petrified, Freeze).
Except for:
1.MoA – Can only be mirrored. 60s cd.
2. Magic bullet – Pistol…
3.Signet of Domination – fourty five (It’s censoring the numerical way :S) s cd. Bugged activation time (0.5 instead of 2.5).
And that’s it. Just increase SC’s cooldown, or lessen it’s duration. Don’t completely change it’s function.

Sandrox.9524:

not when you stunned/mesmer is in stealth/4 sec cd skill

Your first two complaints are not about Mirror Blade. They’re about stun and stealth. Your third complaint is painfully wrong. Untraited, it’s 8 cd. There’re two better traits in the same spot of Imagined Burden. But if you desperately want to feel that MB’s cd is OP, then traited using a Grandmaster slot, it’s 6.5 cd.

Carighan.6758:

zerocool.9842:

I get the feeling anet only makes changes based on how much people complain in PvP, not considering that some of use don’t do PvP (ahem)

This is entirely correct. Most balancing changes except edge cases (see old Portal nerfs) are based on sPvP, because… well honestly, I doubt anyone knows, in a game where the majority of combat is based on scaling solo to zerg, basing character balance on 5v5 Domination maps is … not a word allowed by the word filter, apparently. :P

Anyhow, as far as nerfing Mantras go: Good.
I hate the concept of Mantras. They feel clunky, they don’t feel mesmer-y at all, they’re stupid as a gameplay element, and really the sooner they’re so useless they can remove them, the better.

My favorite take on what we could conceptually use is still “Illusions” (basically Illusion of Life as a concept). Say an illusion heal heals you to 100% instantly, even through poison, but then drains all of the damage healed that way over the next 10 seconds. It’s just an illusion.
Or Illusion of Power. Gain 5 stacks of “Imaginary Power”, giving you more power, malice, toughness and run speed. Drains 1 stack per second. Continues draining past 5 seconds, giving you “Imaginated Weakness”, reducing your toughness, vitality, healing power and run speed, until you are at 5 stacks of that, then it ends. Both effect should be quite strong.

That’d feel somewhat mesmer-y, at least. :S

Amazing concepts, clearly based on “illusion of _” skills from GW1. Which is always a good thing imo. Also, I think that it would fit GW2’s gameplay very nicely.

However, I really dislike the connection to actual illusions doing it, as they’re too squishy. Making them too unreliable.

I suggest to keep the “Mantra” feel to it while combining it with your idea. You activate the mantra and while it’s active (the visual effect is on and you keep repeating it maybe) you have the positive effect. When it ends, you get the negative effect applied.

I think this idea is worth it’s own topic to be honest.

Velimere.7685:

Ithamir.5928:

I think that Force is always better than Accuracy. For reflects or for personal dps.

Reflects crit based off of your crit chance, but their base damage is based off of your enemy’s power.

I know that, but don’t the damage modifiers affect the end result as well? What I understand is that the base damage is the enemy’s while anything added on it, is my own. So Critical Chance, Critical Damage and +% from Damage Modifiers affect the reflected projectiles. However, as before, I have only my logic to support that. Am I right or wrong in my assumption?

DavyMcB.1603:

I thought it was a nice improvement as well when I first saw its background CD. But then something kinda felt off when you could do 3 dazes and then have another 3 dazes up in 2 seconds and then another 3 dazes in maybe 10 seconds if your enemy isn’t dead already. The cost of 2 sec charging in battle didn’t really justify the 6 dazes tbh. You said it forced you to waste stealth, ONE stealth but then you come up with 3 more CCs.

It was fun while it lasted.

From your post, it seems like a problem with Power Lock rather than mantras as a whole to me. However, I don’t think that the dazes were the issue, it was the stun. Which is the fault of Confounding Suggestions. Which has 5 seconds cd. Maybe it should be higher, or has a shorter duration of stun. But for certain, mantras shouldn’t have changed back.

Zenith.7301:

I think you give them too much credit on their awareness around class design. They just don’t want to split pve/pvp skill balancing.

Their reasoning for not splitting skills in GW1 was that it would confuse players. GW1 had hundreds of skills with unique effects. It got to a point where they couldn’t avoid that anymore, and split the skills anyway. Everyone was happy. When GW2 was developed we asked them if GW2 will have split skills as well. Their answer was, and I’m paraphrasing, “we’ve learned from our past mistakes”. (I can’t provide a link to verify, it’s from my memory alone. As it was a very important issue to me, I believe that may memory does not fail me) A dodgy answer but we mostly took it as a yes. They didn’t split.

TLDR; They probably don’t split because they don’t want to confuse players. Balancing separately may have more quantity of skills to balance, but it’s much much easier to balance overall.

Loony.3714:

I think the whole thing is stupid. Damage right now is just too high in PvP, and it isn’t a mesmer issue. Yes mirror blade hit too hard, but so do most classes right now. I think that the mirror blade nerf should be kept, but other classes need to get the same treatment.

That’s a valid point. However, right now, we live in a world where the other classes are overpowered. So a nerf only to MB is certainly unjustified. Although, I personally rather have a quick & bursty meta rather than the slow & tanky one we had before.

I think that Force is always better than Accuracy. For reflects or for personal dps. I have no data, only my logic. Which may not be worth much at this late hour. :P

Edit: My reasoning being that Scholar runes are the best thanks to their damage modifier. Otherwise we would be running Pack runes.

Kitta.3657:

let’s all circlejerk about how terrible anet is at balance /smh

invigoration was an amazing trait and better than elasticity with sw/t, i can’t see how you’d think otherwise :O (I mean… opinions sure, but this just feels like too blatantly obvious to me) it’s literally double the invulnerability.

I think making mantras start recharging after using the first charge is a good compromise.

can’t wait for the OP chronomancer defenders coming over here at the first sight of deserved nerf to QQ and say they quit the game

Chronomancer isn’t even out, yet you already know that is overpowered and deserved to be nerfed.

You seem like a reasonable and logical guy that judges things case by case and not make up his mind months in advance without any real knowledge on the matter. Can’t wait to hear more from you in the future, each word a precious gem. /s

Choppy.4183:

rchu.8945:

DHawk.2687:

yes it was a trait, WAS
now it was standard
and with the increased power due to the patch it was too strong
accept it

would you rather have 4 bounces and the base dmg cut in half??
my god one nerf and you are already crying for a buff

Since June 23 patch, how many nerfs have Mesmers received? I think more so than other classes.

What an odd claim to make.

This is the only one of the two patches since June 23 in which any changes were made to the mesmer class. Most of the changes made to any class in either patch have also been labelled as bug fixes, which can hardly be seen as “nerfs”.

And have you even read through the gains and losses the different classes received on June 23?

It’s not about how many nerfs a class get. Not even how big those nerfs are. The only thing that matters is how the class is doing before and after the changes. Before the spec. patch, mesmer was almost non existent in pvp. Afterwards, more people started to play it. Veterans and newbs alike. Seeing that was heartwarming for long time mesmers.

Anet should have given more time for players to come up with counters, via builds and strategies . Just like Signet Necros are starting to pop up to counter the “OP” ele. I respect constant tweaks and updates to balance things out. However, after a huge patch like this, Anet should’ve left the meta to settle on its own a bit, before bringing out the nerf bat.

After a “grace period”, go and nerf abilities you consider OP. But even then, do it piece by piece. No need to nerf MB and Mantras at the same time. That is, if they really intend to do weekly balance updates.

The problems is not mesmer per se. It is the WTS. They’re too soon for this kind of approach. So Anet’s decision is to revert what they assumed was breaking the balance as quickly as they could, to give themselves time to re-balance again after the inevitable bugs arise.

Simonoly.4352:

I think the Mirror Blade nerf was fair bearing in mind the relative strength of Mesmer currently. I always felt it to be a little over the top before specialisations but it glided under the radar because Mesmer was generally pretty irrelevant in sPvP. It’s still a 1200 range unblockable projectile on an 8 second cooldown (lowest is less than 5 seconds with IC and IB). It’s still amazing.

If you use MB from range and there’re people near your enemy, friends or foes, than it becomes very unreliable for bursting. Not to mention the very low travel speed of the projectile, nor how bluntly visible a giant purple flaming greatsword is. Its burst potential is from point-blank. The range is irrelevant more often than not.

Levetty.1279:

Honestly PvP is just kittening me off at the moment. I can do well in it but everywhere its 20 stack burns from Guard and eles, permaevading theifs with a million stun breaks, eles with higher damage mobility and sustain then the pre patch cele ele and retaliation by itself making it almost imposible to play a power ranger but no apprently its Mesmer that needs all the nerfs because reasons…

The thought that they ever thought this would become an esport is laughable.

Can you really blame them? With everyone and I mean everyone. Including self-proclaimed main mesmers in this very forum. Asked Cried for nerfs. it was nigh impossible to avoid this scenario. And the crying for nerfs isn’t over yet. Prepare yourself, more nerfs are coming.

Zenith.7301:

No mesmer is gonna shatter to just blind, and they sure as hell won’t take blinding dissipation over offensive traits.

Whether the group melees or not is inconsequential. In the cliffside fractal for example the cultist archers constantly spawn and plink away at your group for range more often than your focus pull is off cooldown, which means guardian wall works better there. Same for volcanic fractal.

With mimic you’re blowing a utility slot on a 90 sec cd to have a feedback that lasts around the same time of a traited wall of reflection. Traited focus’s reflection is unreliable, with curtain having elevation issues where projectiles from elevated mobs ignore it and iWarden as most phantasms gets destroyed immediately.

Guardian projectile defense is just far more practical and requires less investment. It also comes with the luxury of not requiring them to equip a garbage offhand and suffer a dps loss just so they can have a pull/reflect option, since the guardian greatsword is also one of their best weapons at no DPS cost.

Mesmer is there for portal and Time Warp slow on a few niche cases. Anywhere else, a guardian is better, less DPS loss to the group.

Aegis on virtue is instant whereas distortion share on mesmer requires signet cast times, investment into inspiration for further group dps loss, or requires you to shatter your phantasms for distortion usage to share it.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the direction they took with inspiration, and dom/illusions/dueling should have more useful traits like those instead of a litany of pvp interrupt/shatter traits, but mesmers still have ways to go if they want to be included in a group for anything other than portal.

Finally, someone on this forum who gets it. It seems like everyone is in complete denial. Mesmer isn’t in a good place in PvE. Go in the game, LFG Fractals 40+ and look for the group requirements. It’s not perfect, but it’s a simple and quick way to see how “great” mesmers are, compared to other classes. For a more professional look, check Brazil [DnT] video on mesmer or check Nike[DnT] stream. Mesmer is only good for time record speed clearing, for the rest 99% of the community, mesmer is subpar.

Gabriell.4856:

Sorry, I beg to differ regarding the high risk for high reward and most vulnerable remarks. If you were to run without any trait what so ever than I would agree with you. But when you have traits like BD, MoA, and PU, Mesmer burst is far from being risky.

Drop the bias a bit and maybe we can have a serious discussion.

Unfortunately I can’t drop the bias, as mesmer is my main. I would really appreciate it if you would continue to keep me in check when you see that my point of view is skewed. Although, keep in mind, that we’re all biased in some way or another.

I use Blinding Dissipation and Mirror of Anguish. However, I do not use Prismatic Understanding, I use Chaotic Interruption instead. Also, I use MoA because it’s the only non-condition oriented trait in that slot. It also has a hefty cooldown of 60 seconds. Longer than most other similar traits for other professions by the way.

Can you please share your thoughts on the nerf to Mirror Blade? You seem like you could contribute to this thread.

Edit:

Tbh I think this was the only necessary nerf for mesmers out of the whole patch.

How come? This trait was here before the patch. It was never an issue before. If anything, it was underpowered. Often times not taken, for contending with Masterful Reflection.

As the title suggests, I ask to undo the nerf to Mirror Blade. It was never the issue. It was in the game long before the specialization patch and was never complained about.

The real problem was the Confounding Suggestions & Power Lock combo. Especially when done from stealth. (This is NOT what this thread is about. Please do not discuss this matter here)

Therefore, it’s a hard and unneeded nerf to a long standing trait; Illusionary Elasticity. Which we were promised to get as baseline. Basically removing it for one skill only.

Moreover, in order to get the maximum number of bounces to hit your target, you had to literally stand on your enemy. For a mesmer, the most vulnerable profession in my opinion, it’s very risky. High risk for a high reward tactic, like the mesmer should be.

To summarize, the mesmer main role in pvp is to burst. We can’t sustain in fights for a long period of time, we have to be quick and nimble. In order to achieve that, we have to take risks. This nerf hurts all that, without addressing the real issue. All power mesmers are negatively affected by this nerf, those who use mantras and those who do not.

I encourage everyone to go to HoTM and check Mirror Blade on a Target Golem – Light. See how well it does, then come back here and say that the 1 extra bounce was overpowered.

Mantras already need to be pre-cast with a very long casting time. In middle of a fight, unless I’m stealthed or behind some cover, I can’t pre-cast one. Was it really that imbalanced to have them recharge in the background? To me, it just felt more fluid.

You also forgot to mention that we need to fill our bar with, mostly useless, utility skills and to get that buff while warriors just needs to attack. Or just take damage with a certain trait. Or, and this is the best, just be in combat while not attacking or being attacked if they just take Signet of Rage.

apharma.3741:

pfft, more like we one shot them with our 50k auto attack, can provide picture evidence!

100% totally authentic and scientifically valid. Spatial surge confirmed OP by anecdotal evidence, pls nerf.

You got me at “nerf”! No need for proof or evidence to get mesmers in this forum to support nerfs. Obviously the more nerfed we are the higher skilled we get! Which means that we’re all sophisticated elite players and the rest, more powerful professions, are nothing but simpletons and scrubs! /s

Daniel Handler.4816:

Mesmer was getting out of line. I did not appreciate being insulted every time I joined a pvp match.

and nothing was nerfed below what it was pre-patch

If other professions are getting buffed, while we’re not “nerfed below what it was pre-patch”, isn’t it an indirect nerf?

You wanted nerfes. Almost every other topic here asked for them. Well, we got them. Are you’re happy now. No? I didn’t think so…

The mesmer forums is the only fourm I’ve ever seen, begging for self-nerfs. On GW2 forums or any other mmo for that matter. And it’s not like we were known as a top tier class. Even after the last patch, did you ever see more than 1 mesmer at best on the top teams? Unlike eles, engies and guards…

So we’re good at 1v1. We’re the duelist class, that is supposed to be our strong suit. Can we support our teamates, tank a point or aoe cleave? No. We can single out a target and take them down as quickly as possible. That’s all. Now we’re less good at that. Yet you still cry for more nerfs!

I’m not even mentioning PvE. Without reflects we would’ve been less desired than necros or rangers.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

I just checked the article. While Tempest is looking cool as hell, check the skill again:

• Rebound: Causes the next skill to have a 25% reduced recharge.

Its an elite (so likely longish cooldown) and only affects the next skill. Alacrity is a much stronger effect that is more easily applied.

Thank you. I took my info from Dulfy. I didn’t even think to verify the information. It looks less threatening now, but without knowing the CD, it’s still a very strong concern.

I’m worried. And not without a good reason. Mesmer isn’t in a good spot in Fractals & Dungeons. Chronomancer may change that with Alacrity. Anything that threatens that, shakes my resolve.

Edit:

Rebound will be strong, but only if you’re calling out the skill before using it, otherwise it’ll be wasted. Alacrity on the other hand is visible for everyone that has the buff, and with Mimic/Continuum + Well of Recall (and other skills/traits), I guess you can manage a pretty high uptime as well. Plus you can lower your own Alacrity CDs with Alacrity. Cray-zay.

It’s not hard to call skills. You just CTRL+Mouse Click it. Plus, we have no reason to believe that it won’t have an icon. Just like any other special effect has. e.g. the warrior’s Empower Allies.

There’s no doubt in my mind that the chronomacer will be better at reducing CDs for his team. However, will it be enough to warrant the massive dps loss? Right now, for quickness(+slow even) and reflects, the answer is resounding no.

The elite skill of the elementalist’s specialization, Tempest, is: “Rebound!” (Elite) – Cause nearby allies to have 25% faster skill recharge. Steps on the toes of the mesmer’s elite specialization, Chronomancer, special effect: Alacrity – 66% Skill Recharge Rate.

With the elementalist and very likely the tempest as well, having superior dps to mesmer and chronomancer. It will further diminish the unique role of the chornomancer. For an existing example, look at the Guardian’s Wall of Reflect and the new(ish) elite skill “Feel My Wrath!”. While a mesmer can both reflect and provide quickness (and even slow) better than a guardian can, a guardian is more desirable mainly since he has superior dps.

Hence, while a chronomancer can provide superior recharge rate for his team, he’ll be less desirable than a tempest with much better dps. Which can still provide quicker recharge, albeit not as much. It is a much unneeded competition, that can only harm the chornomancer.

Disclaimer: I main a mesmer. I wrote this with only PvE in mind. Anyone who also mains a mesmer and plays fractals, know where I’m coming from.

I can now see why some may not see a thematic fit. That being said, I don’t see a harm in the Rune of The Ranger working for the Mesmer’s Illusions. On the contrary, I think it can help mesmers pugging in dungeons and fractals. Which in my opinion, could use the help.

I thought, and still do, that mesmers could benefit from using this rune the most, out of any other profession. It has the precision to increase the crit-chance for our reflects. It also has a damage modifier that could’ve been used to enhance said reflects even more. It would’ve been a close to perfect fit. And for some time, it was.

Can anyone negate including Illusions in the Companion close? With only gameplay in mind.

stamps.4089:

Each other companion you have mentioned are permanent that stay around out of combat. Mesmer clones are clearly not the same as the others and therefore not considered a companion. Don’t know why that doesn’t make sense to you…

Don’t you think it’s weird that the Rune of The Ranger is the only rune that’s limited by profession? Only 2 out of currently 8 professions (soon to be 9) can use it. It not working is the bug, rather than the other way around.

Moreover, your definition of “permanent” is severely lacking. All companions can die. All have other conditions as well. Conditions that wouldn’t meet the 6th effect of the rune. Pets can be stowed. Minions can be ordered to explode or be sacrificed. Turrets can be picked up. Spirit Weapons and Elementals have a limited time duration. And Illusions dissipate when their enemy dies.

Rune of The Ranger should work with any AI spawned by the player:
Ranger’s Pets.
Necromancer’s Minions.
Engineer’s Turrets.
Guardian’s Spirit Weapons.
Elementalist’s Elementals.
Thief’s Thieves Guild.
Mesmer’s Illusions.
-It seems the Warrior is the only one without a companion mechanic :P.-

The profession that is the easiest to maintain an active companion for, is the Ranger. Hence, the runes name.

That’s why, at its current state, it doesn’t make sense to me. Although, it has before. When it worked as I pointed above. Unfortunately it had a bug of also working with a mini-pet out. Which led to a crude fix that crippled this rune original intention.

Esplen, thank you for your input. This thread however is about Rune of the Ranger. As the title displays. I’m sorry if a paragraph on the original post was taking your, and anybody elses, attention from the reason I made this thread in the first place. I edited it accordingly.

Mesmer reflects are an important subject and as such deserves its own thread. This isn’t it however.

Thank you for thoughtful response.

Why do you think that it’s okay for the rune not to work with the mesmer’s companions but it’s okay for every other profession’s spawned companion? The guardian spirit weapons come to mind.
___________________________________________________________

Wall of Reflection
40 Recharge time
Duration:10s
Ground-targeted

Feedback
32 Recharge time
Duration: 6s

The mesmer doesn’t outclass the guardian where it come to support through healing, protection and aegis. Not even when it comes down to DPS. I don’t understand what it does better than the guardian.

Moreover, the guardian may utilize reflects better than a mesmer, since they’ve a longer duration reflect skill on a bit longer cooldown. Feedback upkeep is 0.1875s, while WoR is 0.25s. Resulting in an positive upkeep of 0.0625s for WoR.

The mesmer may has more reflect skills and even traits. But they’re mostly 1 second duration. And you need to choose them over other traits that may increase your dps.

Or even acrifice a utility slot. So with Mimic and Feedback I reflect for 2 more seconds than a guardian, but one of my utility skills is on a 72 seconds CD.
_____________________________________________________________

However, this issue is for another thread. I know it’s an important issue to us mesmers. But let’s try to stay on point. Which is the Rune of the Ranger not working with our illusions.

Rune of the Ranger:
+175 Precision (8.33% Crit-Chance)
+100 Ferocity
+7% damage while you have an active companion.
___________________________________________________________________

Since the patch to fix the minipet bug, the runes effect of +7% damage while you have an active companion, doesn’t work with the Mesmer’s illusions. Neither clones nor phantasms. This is an obvious issue that is hurting the Mesmer in dungeons and fractals for a long time. A profession that isn’t in a good place is these areas to begin with. A fix to this bug is long overdue.

However, the rune still works perfectly with the other professions’ companions. The Necromancer’s minions, the Ranger’s pets and even the Guardian’s Spirit Weapons. I’m not sure about the Elementalist’s elementals. All of which, are classes that don’t use this rune. As there’re other runes that fit their needs better.

Out of all of the professions, the Mesmer needs this rune the most. Evident to that, is the Mesmer’s gear choice. It’s the only profession to use Assassin gear in dungeons and fractals. It’s because the Mesmer needs the extra critical chance to maximize its damage potential. Which is achieved through reflects. The Mesmer also lacks reliable damage modifiers. The Rune of The Ranger would meet theses needs, if it weren’t bugged for the Mesmer.

The Mesmer competes for the role of providing reflects to the party with the Guardian. A profession with superior DPS and superior party wide support. The main offender is the Guardian’s Wall of Reflection. It’s easy to use, both for the Guardian and rest of his party. It can be placed manually, it’s easy to see for the rest of the team, it has a long duration, and a short cooldown. As such, the Mesmer needs to utilize all the tools available to him in order to compete.

Mesmer isn’t one of the top desired professions in dungeons and fractals. It may not even be the best profession to provide reflects to the group. As such, it sorely needs the mechanics which already exist in the game, to work properly for him. In this case, the Rune of the Ranger. I think that it’s high time Anet has addressed this blatant bug. What do you think?

Edit Reasoning: People are distracted from the main issue of this thread. The only issue of this thread. Rune of the Ranger

Ayrilana.1396:

jknrich.1549:

Ayrilana.1396:

jknrich.1549:

So will there be a big difference in dungeons and so on. We will start seeing lfg saying ascended only.

Not really due to the stat caps.

Im being thick as 2 short planks. What do mean the stat caps.

Easy to test out by going to any low level zone or even Twilight Arbor.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DBgIaO4OW_HHi_nEgtfH35kxEl7GaE7MbLKVVlVkKmM/edit#gid=0

Actually, since they’re also changing the scaling down to be less impactful, it will make a bigger difference than it does currently.

As an altoholic I hate this change. And since condi builds may be a thing, even more will suffer.

However despicable, thank you for admitting your actions.

This has some serious implications. The rest of oRNG must have known what was going on at the time, don’t they?

I’m disillusioned and upset. I always thought that GW2 players were better than this.

GW2’s PvP has a long way before it’s even remotely considered somewhat professional. What a shame.

Evan Lesh.3295:

I can’t remember off the top of my head but I’m fairly certain new professions start at default mmr.

What do you mean by “new professions”?
If I have a mesmer character that I play with all the time, will another mesmer character share the same mmr but a thief character may have another mmr?

Vavume.8065:

Celtic Lady.3729:

Vavume.8065:

@ Lord Funk, Queensdale is always available if complex maps are not your thing.

This doesn’t speak to his concerns because he is looking for new, future content he wants to do, not recycle old content.

If he doesn’t like the new maps maybe he should look for a new game then, because the game is moving in a different direction than the easy mode maps we have played for years. I am happy with the direction it is going and I think the majority of veteran players will feel the same way.

I for one, have played since GW1’s beta and do not feel the same as you. I like big open spaces, with big mountains and big sprawling caves. It has nothing to do with the level of difficulty.

However, in this map, there was little to none of that. It felt like a string of (beautiful) corridors leading to rooms. I hope that other maps are more to my liking, but as is, I’m not content. All said and done, I have faith in Anet. And to get us into perspective, this is just a portion of one map.

You want my Polymorph Moa not to…moa? So I want your Lich Form, well, not to lich. Fair? Fair.

Sword #1 – Remove the second AA.
Sword #2 – Fine as is.
Sword #3 – Increase Range.

Illusion
Minors
- Confusion on shatter.
- 80% illusion skills recharge.
- Might on shatter.
- 85% shatters recharge.

Majors
- Torch skills remove conditions.
- Torch skills recharge faster.
- 5+ stacks of Confusion apply Torment.
- Shatter skills are improved.

That’s a lot to give up on. I guess only time will tell ;P

How about:
All’s Well that Ends Well - Wells also activate end effect at creation. Wells remove conditions from allies when they end. (1 condition)

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Ithamir.5928:

tobascodagama.2961:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Quickness doesn’t affect movement speed (that’s what the super speed trait is for) and all our shatters are instant anyway. The trait will have no effect on shatter rate

I think the idea is that Quickness speeds up your skill activations, meaning you can use more skills before F5 expires.

Exactly. Since you need to reproduce some illusions. However, F5 isn’t required. You produce illusions, F3 to daze, gain quickness, reproduce illusion faster, F1. Alacrity may speed the process even further!

Quickness for skill activations I get, especially for skills with cast times.

But using quickness for clone production outside of GS2 and scepter auto.. Eh, Not seeing it. I highly doubt this trait will increase our shatter rate, because it’ll barely increase our clone production.

The trait is good for sure, and definitely grandmaster worthy, but I can’t see a shatter build going for this over Master of Frag, Deceptive Evasion and Mental Torment.

So you’re saying that shatter mesmers (all pvp mesmers) will stay just that, mesmers. And not take Chrono at all? That possibility depresses me, as it’s the only playstyle I enjoy (crruently). Maybe an interrupt chrono will be a thing…

I want the range increased on iLeap. Also; “Clone created by iLeap gains 1 sec of diversion upon creation”. Too specific or good enough?

tobascodagama.2961:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Quickness doesn’t affect movement speed (that’s what the super speed trait is for) and all our shatters are instant anyway. The trait will have no effect on shatter rate

I think the idea is that Quickness speeds up your skill activations, meaning you can use more skills before F5 expires.

Exactly. Since you need to reproduce some illusions. However, F5 isn’t required. You produce illusions, F3 to daze, gain quickness, reproduce illusion faster, F1. Alacrity may speed the process even further!

ASP.8093:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

• Lost Time and Chronophantasma are very strong, Quickness on Shatter doesn’t seem able to compete unless traited with Furious Interruption

It’s not much, but it helps you throw weapon attacks into the burst, which is exactly when you want them most. Consider the potential synergy with F5 “POP ALL YOUR COOLDOWNS ASAP!” Shatter as well.

Time will tell whether or not it’s better than Chronophant for shatter burst builds. (My first impulse is Chronophant, but I can see this going either way.)

What are you guys talking about? Seize The Moment is my first choice! Diversion, gain quickness and then Mind Wrack them!

Ragner Angel.3690:

Does nobody here get the Blazblue reference or Sylvari speech quote?

All’s Well that Ends Well? It’s also a play by Shakespeare (according to Wiki :P)
But yeah, the first thing that came to my mind is “This won’t end well”. Shut up Trahearne!

MSFone.3026:

Does anyone know if Stability prevents Slow? If not that makes this trait line that much more awesome.

For all I know, it doesn’t affect the effect of Chill. Shouldn’t affect slow either.

Sebrent.3625:

That being said, there is a new effect that prevents the application of conditions … the name of it currently escapes me though :-/

Resistance.

MSFone.3026:

Illusions GM also buffs shatter dmg, and flat out not just against inactive foes. I do not think chrono makes up for DE at all.

Do you mean Master of Fragmentation? All I know about it is that it “improve shatter skills”. Does it straight out improve damage? Still, even if that’s the case, 60+% damage is hard to ignore.

MSFone.3026:

Well, can’t take 4 sadly. DE is mandatory, so that leaves 2. Illusions imo is still going to mandatory for a shatter build. So that leaves chrono or dom :-/

Domination can provide 60+% shatter damage while ripping boons. How can we not take it? Maybe Alacrity and Chrono traits make up for DE?

However, dropping Dueling, means that we lose all of our defensive traits. We’ll become even squishier than now!

So can we finally drop Deceptive Evasion, hence drop Dueling? Please help me!

MSFone.3026:

This is kittening rad. Dueling/Chrono/Illusions power shatter + MoD here I come.

What about Domination? You can’t drop that one!

Thank you so much! Tell Robert we love him. These traits look amazing. Maybe except for All’s Well that Ends Well…

tobascodagama.2961:

The Well CDs are explicitly designed around the presence of Alacrity, so I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the tooltip values necessarily. The actual gameplay values will be lower depending on what our access to personal Alacrity looks like.

If Alacrity speeds up the wells, thus making them more appealing. So it would do to all other skills.

Even still, the CDs aren’t actually that long. 20s on Well of Eternity is the same as Ether Feast, for instance. The other Wells have CDs on the same order of magnitude as Feedback/Null Field, apart from Well of Calamity, which has a CD half as long as those.

A light class. With a healing skill with a delay. That makes you stand in a spot. Making you predictable. No way I’m taking that.

Yes, exactly. We have basically zero point control through anything except burst damage right now. Wells give us a ton of point pressure that we just didn’t have before.

How would you sustain yourself? What would you replace?
-Portal? With little party communication, this is our best utility. Hands down. Maybe even without.
-Blink? Offers both defensive and offensive capabilities. Stun Break.
-Decoy? Same as Blink.

Sirendor.1394:

Kelthien.8593:

It bums me out to see so many folks dismissing wells entirely without considering (1) the different game types and (2) that they are an easily swappable part of our utility set and not the entirety of our utility set.

(1) I only play PvP unfortunately> blink & decoy are superior
(2) That is completely true. Maybe I’ll take them for the elite, but can’t see myself taking heal or utilities.

The other parts of chronomancer I really look forward to using though: shield and the new shatter are pretty amazing. :P

Let me see if I got that right. We’re stuck with the same utilities for almost 3 years now. We hope to play with only half the toys from the new spec, at best. And that makes us excited? Other professions would’ve raised hell. We’re pathetic.