Guild Wars 2

Ross Biddle.2367:

Devs stated numbers are in flux, and in particular that mental torment was on the OP side.

Suggestion: Wait for final release numbers. Then for follow up round of balances changes.

I’ve just used the numbers we know. The idea will be the same. Just wanted to show the potential we get out of these traits.

With the new traitlines we seem to get a really powerful combo of damage increase boosts.
Weapons: GS/xy
Traits: this Chaos is not important for this whole thing.
Ulilities: Decoy, Blink, Mantra of Distraction

We start with a daze from our mantra.
daze->(dazzling)->vulnerability->fragility
daze->(confounding suggestions)->stun->“inactive foe”(mental torment)

Now we have at least 5 stacks of vulnerability which will trigger fragility and a stun which makes sure that we get the full dmg boost from mental torment.
If well timed we throw a mirror blade at the same time wich will grant 6 stacks might to us and apply another 9 stacks of vulnerability to the enemy.

By now we have 14% bonus dmg from vulnerability, 10% from fragility and 50% from mental torment. Since our burst is going in hand with stuns let’s take another 10% from sigil of impact (+10% dmg against stunned foes)

1.14*1.1*1.5*1.1=2.0691 yay! double shatter damage soon

I actually loved this bug I had a really good time against some (usually quite good) D/P thieves^^

I wonder how this bug happened.

Sebrent.3625:

You balance it by the fact that it is providing nothing else … unlike other rezzes like:

• Warrior Banner which provides other boons
• Necro Signet that provides passive Life Force generation

Though, honestly, if they don’t want us to have a real rez skill … get rid of it and give us a good manipulation in its place. I’d love that. I’ve never once used Illusion of Life.

This.

Mimic
This skill is absolute trash. Not stealing but copying all boons for the same duration they were before is ok. The problem with this skill is the cooldown. It is not worth taking if the cooldown is as high as it is right now. To make mesmers run that skill one should maybe decrease the cooldown to 10-15s.
Or rework it! There have been so many cool and creative ideas on the forum. Please Robert =)

Illusionary Riposte/Counter
The skills and their effects are cool. The problem with these two is the aftercast which is performed on block. We even get a buff which shows that we block so that everyone knows what is happening. The enemy shouldn’t get a second chance. And if this is to fix extremly well timed blocks… reward skillful play pls!

Signet of Midnight
Underwhelming in every part of it. This skill is doesn’t really give you anything cool. The passive effect is just nothing that any player (unless chaos maestros) ever feel while playing. The active effect is just a blind and a stunbreak. There is not a single reason why this should have a 30s cooldown. As it is right now: Completly useless.

Illusion of Life
This is something one could argue about. This skill has imo no use in pve/wvw. When rezzing someone with IoLife the person goes into a state where they bypass the next downstate (most of them just die). In addition this skill has extremly high cooldown… wow.

Mind Stab
Still no blast finisher? Why? This skill fits even better than any warhorn-blast in the game.

Illusionary Leap
One thing I don’t understand is why we shouldn’t have a gapcloser that works without a target. These classes have target independed gap closers: Thief, Engineer, Ranger, Guardian, Warrior, Elementalist, Necromancer (Reaper).
The next thing which I cannot understand is: Why can our gapcloser be killed. Even IF we are in ranger and HAVE a target in many cases the clone is just destroyed and doesn’t do anything. The patch which turned this skill to only work when the clone is alive turned it into a much powerless skill.
If not reverting that change, then why are we the only class that cannot deal damage with their gapcloser?

We already got (or better will get) a spec focusing on the control of time… what else themes fit the mesmer?

• Space/Room Manipulation
  For this one imo the coolest weapon would be a MH Dagger. The mesmer would be cutting holes into the reality and let the dagger appear inside of the foe. This kind of Long ranged power weapon fits the most imo.
• Mind Tricks
  This would be one thing which is really hard to do. Skills like controlling the enemies cast bar (moa) would match into this specialization. Also skills that swap around enemies skills on the cast bar could be reeaaally annoying.. (useless for pve though)
• Heavy on Illusions (like without shattering them)
  This is just something I’ve ever wanted for the mesmer. A specialization that does NOT shatter its illusions. This one could be really awesome to play. Ways to interact with your illusions, ways to use them for more than just stupid autohitting… all that stuff would be possible.
• …

The flute with the Hard CC skill Brown Note…

frifoxy.6014:

Debuti.6017:

F5 is also useless in PVE: true fact
PVE mesmers got nothing with new specialization: true fact

I hope that was just sarcasm…

Maybe he doesn’t know that with the right build all of his cooldowns are reduced by 33% (by peraalacrity) and that he will be able to deal a full mind wrack (now with IP in PvE) burst every 7s. Maybe he also doesn’t know that (if timed well) even in PvE shatters will have a 50% damageboost. Maybe he also doesn’t know that he’ll be able to cast ANY skill twice or even three times. Or maybe he’s just sarcastic, yeah.

Specialization: The Harlequin – The Harlequin is a brutal mesmer based on his clone and the way he interacts with illusions. Instead of Shattering them he utilizes them to cast spells for him and makes them act like they were the real mesmer. Overall the damage clones deal is greatly increased. All clones the Harlequin has will weaponswap with him!
Specialization mechanic: The Harlequin has 3 ways to interact with his clones which replace all the shatterskills. All traits that affect shatter skills can be used with these as well.

• [F1] – Double Your next attack will summon a clone on its target. (CD:10s)
• [F2] – Copy All your clones will also cast the next non-phantamsm-weaponskill you use. Clones will not create further illusions (Range 1200; CD: 20s)
• [F3] – Swap Teleport to target area. Send one of your clones to your previous location. The clone will perform a dodge roll backwards. (Range: 900; CD: 30s)

Weapon: Axe MH

1. Chain: 2 hits that deal flat damage and one hit that deals heavy flat damage. \o/ (executed in .5/5./.75 seconds)
2. Leap: Evasive leap towards your target and hit it with your axe. When you hit you have 5s to cast retreat. (Range: 900)
   Retreat: Roll backwards leaving a clone behind. (Range: 600)
3. Piruette: Spin around whirling your axe in a circle around you. (Damage: 2,500×10; CD: 12s Cast: 1s)

Utilities: Shouts

Heal skill: “Come Back!” Order your clones to run towards you and shatter on impact healing you by a great amout. (4.5k heal and 1.3k per clone shattered; CD:25s)

• “Here we are!”: Teleport to you and your illusions to your target. Gain Might and Fury for every Illusion you have. (2xMight: 8s, 3s Fury; CD: 25s)
• “Find me!”: Gain stealth for every illusion you have. (2s Stealth; CD: 30s)
• “Do not rest!”: Grant Quickness to all of your clones. (Quickness: 5s; CD: 15s)
• “xyz!”: I have no other cool idea which I would actually like/use.

Elite Skill: “Fear us!” Shadowstep to your target and create 3 clones. These clones can use all non-phantasm-weaponskills. Clones will not create further illusions

Minor traits

• Dance of Death: Unlocks Command skills, the Axe and Shouts for the Harlequin
• Illusion of Pain: Your clones deal damage. (Clone Damage Bonus: 5000%)
• Healthy Clones: Your clones have 100% more HP.

Adept traits:

• Fighter: When only using heavy weapons (Greatsword, Sword, Axe) your damage is increased. (10%).
• Battlecry: Your shouts recharge faster for each illusion you have. (Recharge: 10%)
• Confusing Chorus: Inflict confusion to foes around you whenever you create a clone.

Master traits:

• Crazy Clown: Your attacks against bleeding foes are more precise. (+15% Critical Strike Chance)
• Personal Mirror: Carry one Clone with you all the time. Respawns out of combat.
• Swift Images: Your clones have swiftness. (Swiftness: 10s ; Interval: 10s)

Grand Master traits:

• Brutal Dancer: Your Axeskills inflict Vulnerability with each hit. (2xVulnerability: 7s)
• Quintett: Allows you to have 4 illusions.
• Shared Burden: Your clones attacks cripple. (Cripple:1s)

Ross Biddle.2367:

Consensus is:

Solo dungeons = conditions great.

For the proper hardcore dungeon run team meta = full power.

Build wrong at your own risk.

We know that for the base game but we don’t know how HoT will affect the meta. You saw that Dragonhunter hitting with 2.5k burning right?

I say: It is not something one should hope for to come into the meta but I hope it does…

Whatever you did, conditions were never really viable in group content. The thing about conditions is that almost all classes spam out their conditions only by attacking a foe eventhough they actually play a power based build with low condition damage. These players will literaly overwrite your high damage condition stacks.

Nevertheless in HoT your build may not be needed to be saved! ANet is on their way to make conditions a possible playstyle in PvE by increasing the number of conditionstacks a boss monster can have. This would prevent other players to overwrite your damage and could make your build viable.
This is only a possibility! It does not mean that you will be strong when HoT ships. Nothing is nailed down yet!
But i guess that your build specs into Dueling/Inspiration/Illusions (Crit/Support/Conditions) With specing into Dueling in HoT with the traits we know ATM your build could be even stronger than ever before. Instead of just stacking bleed from crit, your illusions can now also stack confusion on crit. This is a huge buff to this kind of build.
For a PvE version I would suggest you to run with Rampager/Sininster gear because in you want the highest dps possible (which means no defensive stats). I would run your spec like this in the future:

Weapons: Sword/Focus & Sword/Pistol OR Sword/Focus & Staff
Heal: Mantra of Recovery
Utilities: Feedback, Mantra of Concentration, Well of Calamity
Elite: Time Warp

>>>I stronlgy suggest you to run at least 60% critical strike chance<<<

The traits
Dueling:

• Critical Infusion: More dodges!
• Phantasmal Fury: More crit for phantasms → more damage; simple.
• Sharper Images: Bleed on your illusions crits! \o/
• Sword Training: More Precision → more crits; less cooldown on Blurred Frenzy.
• Confusing Combatants: Confusion on your and your illusions crits \o/
• Harmonious Mantra: One more stack for each mantra → more heal/stability

Inspiration

• Persisting Images: well… 20% hp for phants… woow…
• Menders Purity: Heal on charging your mantras and a LOT of condition removal when used with Mantra of
• Protected Phantasms: nothing I would trait for…
• Wardens Feedback: reflect → cool
• Phantasmal Healing: Permaregeneration… why not?
• Illusionary Inspiration: Boonshare of doom (well maybe.. we don’t know the ICD yet)

Chronomancy

• Time Splitter: unlocks F5 and wells
• all not good in this spot
• Flow of Time: Alactrity on shatter… why not?
• Danger Time: More crit on slow → more confusion → more damage
• Time Marches On: MOOOVEMENTMESMER!!! HUUUIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
• Lost Time: Slow on crit + more crit on slow → more crit → more slow → more crit → more slow… \o/

What is good:

• crit → raw damage & conditions (bleed/confusion)
• feedback → reflect + etherfield for your warden → confusion
• warden → reflection (support+damage) & combo finisher whirl
• Mantra of Recovery → good self heal + massive aoe cleanse
• Staffclones are a good way to apply conditions. Now that Illusionary Elasticity becomes baseline it would be even stronger.
• Well of Calamity is also an etherfield which would cause dmg/crits(conditions)/combos.

What do you lose to a power build:

• Crit damage on reflections!
• dps from the first second → mesmer has to build up its damage and conditions also have to be build up!

Daniel Handler.4816:

No reason there can’t be two manipulations as elites. I’ll point to Necro, and Guardian.

Guard is most likely getting its tomes turned into different skill classes. I’m not saying that it isn’t possible though. I just wouldn’t like it. (And i’ve always wanted an elite mantra or an elite signet :P)

Levetty.1279:

I’d prefere it as a Signet. As you said the passive you gve it would cause problems with some skills are we would mostly just cause us to have reveal on us most of the time. Not sure what passive I would give it that would stick with the genral theme of the skill though.

Maybe something that gives us benefits when attacking from stealth/being stealthed.
Or just stealth on dodge?

We know that anet wants all elite spells to have a skill type and give us the opportunity to trait them.
Our 3 elites we have are Polymorph Moa, Mass Invisibility and Time Warp
Our Skill types are: Mantra, Glamour, Signet, Illusion, Manipulation

The easiest one to define is Time Warp which obviously should be a Glamour skill.

Now the next one: Polymorph Moa. This imo should be a Manipulation. The Trait could give us a reflect while casting it to be able to cast it without being interrupted by projectiles. Illusion does not fit at all and Mantra or Signet would maybe be too weird or powerful.

The last one is Mass Invisibility. Most think that this should be a Manipulation as well but I think it should be different. I think Glamour does not fit at all. Manipulation is already taken by Moa and it obviously does not summon an illusion.

I can think of two possible ways for Mass Invisibility:

Mantra of Invisibilty:
Meditate, charging a spell that will instantly grant stealth to you and your allies when activated.
A mantra that grants 3s stealth per cast to up to 5 targets in a 360 radius. The Charge has a 60-90s cooldown and the charges have a 2s cooldown. It would allow us to trait it for 3 charges, use it in cooler ways and it would prevent the issue with instantly unstealthing when traiting for Manipulations (reflect->reveal).

Signet of Mass Invisibility:
Passive: Briefly gain stealth whenever you summon a clone.
Active: You and your allies gain stealth for a short time.
This would make the Mass invisibility a signet which could be extremly cool when used with Phase Retreat, Deceptive Evasion, iLeap or other skills. I can already see an issue with Mirror Blade which could instantly reveal us when creating a clone and hitting another enemy. The passive effect should be <1s per clone. The active effect should be the same as Mass Invisibility is now.

TL;DR:
They said that they wanted to give every elite spell a category.
I think that Moa and Mass Invis match with Manipulation but there shouldn’t be two Manipulations as elite spell so Mass Invis should either be a Signet or a Mantra.

What do you think?

keenlam.4753:

Me Games Ma.8426:

They say that reaper will have longer cast time with larger effect -> INTERRUPT!!

But they will have Defiance bar =P

Where was that mentioned?

They say that reaper will have longer cast time with larger effect → INTERRUPT!!

For the well trait I could also think of something like: “Every tick you stand inside a well decreases all wells cooldowns by 4%”

StickerHappy.8052:

Me Games Ma.8426:

keenlam.4753:

StickerHappy.8052:

Me Games Ma.8426:

O M G what am I reading here?!
The crystal being destroyed in WvW fights? Yeah, sure I’m going to place my crystalon the points where the meele trains will collide. Made me laugh hard! Skillful play includes positioning. This skill will be a HUGE buff to all mesmers playing skillful. In wvw it’s not that hard to survive as a glascanon mesmer when your positioning is good and your stealth abilities are well timed. Always remember that you are a CASTER. (Backline or Caster-Killer). With good positioning your little crystal will most likely not even be noticed.

Next point: Robert is doing a fantastic job with our class! The way we will be able to combine our skills (like Tides of Time with iLeap) is exactly what we need. More would be even cooler but well he cannot redesign everything.
Wells will be a really cool thing to use with “Into the Void” but it seems that everyone here forgot about that spell^^.
Skillful play means also to time your skills. I’d like to quote Chaos’ forum signature here:“Skill isn’t in knowing how, its in knowing when”. Your Skills will be dependend on timing and this is what skillful play is all about. If timed well we can pull the enemy into the well when it is about to burst.

And again to all those F5 haters: We do not know enough to hate it yet. Keep that for later

Did they mention what range you have to be in to be able to recall?

If its portal range, that would be hilarious. Probably wont work well though, just wishful thinking.

5000. Well that sounds like a portal to me

hmm. if you only have 6 seconds to recall, how can i put in a very long range?

Who said it only lasts 6 seconds? It’s a shatter. That means that iPersona does most likely work with that. The tooltips sais it lasts 3seconds. I believe that it stacks duration as well as diversion does so that you can end up with 12s with 3 illusions shattered.

keenlam.4753:

StickerHappy.8052:

Me Games Ma.8426:

O M G what am I reading here?!
The crystal being destroyed in WvW fights? Yeah, sure I’m going to place my crystalon the points where the meele trains will collide. Made me laugh hard! Skillful play includes positioning. This skill will be a HUGE buff to all mesmers playing skillful. In wvw it’s not that hard to survive as a glascanon mesmer when your positioning is good and your stealth abilities are well timed. Always remember that you are a CASTER. (Backline or Caster-Killer). With good positioning your little crystal will most likely not even be noticed.

Next point: Robert is doing a fantastic job with our class! The way we will be able to combine our skills (like Tides of Time with iLeap) is exactly what we need. More would be even cooler but well he cannot redesign everything.
Wells will be a really cool thing to use with “Into the Void” but it seems that everyone here forgot about that spell^^.
Skillful play means also to time your skills. I’d like to quote Chaos’ forum signature here:“Skill isn’t in knowing how, its in knowing when”. Your Skills will be dependend on timing and this is what skillful play is all about. If timed well we can pull the enemy into the well when it is about to burst.

And again to all those F5 haters: We do not know enough to hate it yet. Keep that for later

Did they mention what range you have to be in to be able to recall?

If its portal range, that would be hilarious. Probably wont work well though, just wishful thinking.

5000. Well that sounds like a portal to me

O M G what am I reading here?!
The crystal being destroyed in WvW fights? Yeah, sure I’m going to place my crystalon the points where the meele trains will collide. Made me laugh hard! Skillful play includes positioning. This skill will be a HUGE buff to all mesmers playing skillful. In wvw it’s not that hard to survive as a glascanon mesmer when your positioning is good and your stealth abilities are well timed. Always remember that you are a CASTER. (Backline or Caster-Killer). With good positioning your little crystal will most likely not even be noticed.

Next point: Robert is doing a fantastic job with our class! The way we will be able to combine our skills (like Tides of Time with iLeap) is exactly what we need. More would be even cooler but well he cannot redesign everything.
Wells will be a really cool thing to use with “Into the Void” but it seems that everyone here forgot about that spell^^.
Skillful play means also to time your skills. I’d like to quote Chaos’ forum signature here:“Skill isn’t in knowing how, its in knowing when”. Your Skills will be dependend on timing and this is what skillful play is all about. If timed well we can pull the enemy into the well when it is about to burst.

And again to all those F5 haters: We do not know enough to hate it yet. Keep that for later

Well of Eternity: When you are more than one mesmer this will be a super awesome heal skill since the ending heal will prog for all of you.
2.6k + x*4k heal is not that bad (on a 20s cooldown it’s more than ether feast as long as you have 2 mesmers. ~10.5k)

Well of Precognition: This one could be useful in some places in PvE. (like aetherblades fractal) But in PvP I only see use against a few matchups. A guard heal can now be interrupted → cool thing! Blocks of engis/warriors can be rupted too. Quite cool but not as powerful as i’d like it to be. The last effect is also quite cool but you cannot say which attack your enemy will cast in 3 seconds…

Well of Recall: Let’s see how cool alacrity is. 3s on kitten cooldown? Chill is a cool effect but we’ll need the enemy to stay inside and do not doge the last tick. I am not hyped for this one.

Well of Action: 3s slow and 3s quickness on a 30s cooldown could be cool. helps interrupt builds and gives a cool damagebuff for later. i can see it being cool with chaotic interruption and bursting as soon as we get the quickness.

Well of Calamity: DAMAAAAGE as a wvw play i love it. i really do. finally a way to get your baggies.

Gravity Well: This is awesome. I’ve wanted something like this for a really really long time. I can see some really cool stuff with this one!

Quadox.7834:

Sword Trait in master is bad and not fun whatsoever. I would advice against using it. It could be moved to adept since the adept traits in duelling don’t synergize well and the stealth trait sucks.

Also, chaotic transference is NOT a good trait whatsoever. Seriously, read on the staff trait and compare- the difference is obvious and you will see that chaotic transference is bad and passive.

And what about these players who are not using a staff?

Menaka.5092:

Robert Gee showed an example using F5 to go through the return wall twice during the video

Edit: and indeed it lowers the cooldown twice

Wait. I wonder what it does if I walk through the SAME wall twice :P

How about a mechanic that mesmer individual has a quite high dps but the dmg done by the mesmer decrease for each phantasm up.
Like this:
0 phantasms: Mesmer 100% dps | phantasm 0% dps
1 phantasm: Mesmer 90% dps | phantasm 15% dps
2 phantasms: Mesmer 80% dps | phantasms 30% dps
3 phantasms: mesmer 70% dps | phantasms 45% dps
Could this help? Is it bad because of phantasms like the defender/mage that deal (almost) no dmg?

Quadox.7834:

as a said, i would prefer to not have to take a trait to use my profession mechanic

they said that it can be destroyed. yes. but who the hell knows how long that will take? I don’t think that it’s cleaved in less than 4 hits. you are a little bit too hasty with your “have to take a trait to use” -.-

the only thing I really dislike is that it prevents point capture. it can be destroyed why the hell should it denie point capturing??

Quadox.7834:

TyPin.9860:

Quadox.7834:

I feel like with the changes we know of so far, dragonhunter is much stronger than chronomancer. I feel like they need to remove the crystal that instantly cancels the mesmer’s f5, i have this gut feeling that it will get absolutely destroyed by a gs guardian using spin or similar. Then it will be fair. I can’t even imagine using chronomancer f5 in wvwvw since the crystal will die instantly. Funnily enough, this is EXACTLY the problem mesmer already has in larger fights- phantasms and clones die. So Anet decided – “Hey, let’s add more things that die in 1 second due to Aoe cleave to the mesmer class!”

I understand the concern. However, maybe there will be some traits connected to this, to make it more resilient. It also depends on how it actually works. If it’s like engie turrets, it will be immune to conditions. And if it has some decent HP, it might just survive long enough to be useful.

This is the mesmer class (well, that can be disscussed) you are talking about. And even if it will be as you say, even if we got a trait which said “your time crystal thing is invulnerable”, it would probably be in grandmaster tier :P

i could imagine it to be immune to crit and have like 7-10k hp and a trait which increases it by 25/40/50% in eigher adept/master/grandmaster tier

I’ve thought a bit about this skill and I came to the point to ask what happens if you pass the same wall twice? Will it lower your cooldown twice? It could be, right?

3 possible ways to do so:

1. the blink way (easy)
   step 1: Cast tides of time
   step 2: run after your tides of time
   step 3: catch it as soon as it starts returning
   step 4: blink to a spot where it will pass through
2. the phase retreat way (medium)
   step 1: cast tides of time
   step 2: run after your tides of time
   step 3: catch it as soon as it starts returning
   step 4: swap weapons
   step 5: phase retreat to a spot where it will pass through
3. the illusionary leap way (hard)
   step 1: cast tides of time
   step 2: run after your tides of time
   step 3: cast illusionary leap on an enemy (make sure that you are between your wall and the enemy)
   step 4: catch it as soon as it starts returning
   step 5: swap to reach the spot where your tides of time will pass through

I guess it’s possible with portal as well but I like the ones with phase retreat and iLeap more, they are more skill based and do not require to burn a utility.

Josh Davis.6015:

Peters and I discussed the chronomancer traits thing today. We’ll try to get something out to you guys as soon as we can (next week at the earliest, obviously).

Hype! Thanks for answering here Josh =)
Good to see that you care for us =)

Sebrent.3625:

The Guardian’s new +15% dmg trait has me concerned though since that allows this traitline + one other to give them a total of +50% dmg on their target(s).

• Big Game Hunter + Fiery Wrath + Zealous Blade + Symbolic Avenger = 15% + 10% + 5% + 20% = +50% damage … from two specializations

I guess it’s stacking by multiplication: 1*1.15*1.10*1.05*1.20=1.5939
That would mean: Bye Bye Reflect mesmer :< Hello Reflect Guardian

Windwalker.7421:

Mesmer: “Woohoo! 2s of Alacrity! Almost 1 full second off my CDs! These new Phants rock! Wait 4k burning, 2.5k bleeding, and 5k physical damage!? Oh it’s a Dragonhunter.”

Don’t forget that we’ll have a full load of confusion application fraom confusiong combatants when the patch hits I could imagine something like: “Wait 3k confusion ticking + 4k confusion from using skills + 4k physical damage.”

When I remember right WoodenPotatoes already mentioned that in one of his chronomancer videos. I don’t really remember which one it was but I’m pretty sure he did. And yes it seems to appear in twilligt arbor only.

They said that the mesmer should be a character that does not want to get hit and removed retaliation with that reason. I personally like that decision and they would go against it if they added taunt to the mesmer. Sure for some builds it could be fun but for a lot of zerker stats using build taunt would be not as cool as a stun. For me it’s like this:

Stun>Taunt>Daze>Immobilize
stun controlls movement AND skills and is an effect
taunt controlls movement AND skills but is a condition
immobilize controlls only movement but is a condition
daze controlls only skills and is an effect

I like the shield having a stun better than having a taunt.
Next reason is that taunt can be avoided by using resistance.

No. You spec into chronomancy but take any weapon you like. It just “unlocks” that weapon.

If I had to chose that choice would be easy.
Scepter has greater synergy with Shield than sword has and sword works better with focus than sword does.

• Scepter and Shield will have a HELL of illusion generation.
• Scepter has a Block, Shield has a block → Matches
• Tides of Time has cool synergy with Confusing Images (quickness and stun)
• The focus phantasm attacks while standing still → immob is needed; sword has immob

On the other hand one really cool combos can be done with iLeap and Tides of Time.

For the traitlines I can say that I will definetly try out Dueling + Chaos + Chronomancy using on-interrupt traits =)

Fay.2357:

On-target placement allows you to ignore line of sight and place it through walls and behind and doors and stuff. Ground targeting would eliminate this.

Wow. Isn’t that something they are always about to ‘fix’? Like they did with phantasms.

From a WvW perspective:
Ground targeting that spell would allow a lot of cool stuff to do with that skill.
We could place it at the gate in WvW keeps/towers. Yes we can do that right now but it’s extremly buggy and in most cases we throw a feedback without target it is created somewhere under the map >.<
We could place it where the enemies are heading to have its effect for the whole duration not just for the few seconds of the enemy zerg running through it.
We could also use it defensive. (Placing it on top of US)

Hello everyone,
I’d like to post my suggestion for a new Gem Shop Item which I would definetly buy.
The idea is quite simple. It’s an Item that you can doubleclick to gain the buff Petrified which will freeze your movement after 5 seconds. Like the petrification of the Box of Fun it allowes a skill called Walk it off that breaks the petrification.

The only difference is that it does NOT recolour your body so that you can create a lot of cool poses for your screenshots

Lishtenbird.2814:

Noha.3749:

Who knows if thieves gets Death Shroud and Rangers longbow range.

Come on, we all know thiefs will be immune to Slow and Confusion, autotarget the real mesmer, reveal us from stealth, and double steal for all boons plus permaalacrity.

Which thief needs permaalacrity? We all know that their elite specializations mechanic will be that none of their skills has cooldown and their initiative regeneration when fighting mesmers is increased to 10/sec.

Sebrent.3625:

After being shattered and resummoned, the phantasms are now in shatter (see: melee) range of the target … where they will quite likely be killed; especially in PvE.

I also thought about that problem. I’d like them to have the phantasms all respawn at/around your location (just like the trait with the clone does). Like that it could be also a tool to reposition your phantasms.

Sebrent.3625:

Good points.

Is there some new, recent theorycrafting on Signet of Illusions? If so, I must have missed it :-/

Some of us (including me) hope that SoI will recharge Continuum Split. If so the signet would give us the opportunity to cast a spell up to 3 times in a row.
F5→Spell→F5→SoI
F5→Spell→F5
Spell

frifoxy.6014:

First char, or first 2 chars in case there are multiple lines with same char + trait numbers sounds efficient.

For Chaos and Chronomancy we’d need 3 thouth :<
Cha
Chr

Menaka.5092:

What about lo (low, bottom trait), mi (middle trait), to (top trait)?

Domi: lomito
Duel: loloto
Chaos: mimilo

sounds funny

I really like that one

My first go with the new system:
Duel: lomilo
Chao: lolomi
Illu: miloto

Curunen.8729:

Me Games Ma.8426:

The Doctor=Chronomancer

Whoever has claimed that character name in this game had better be playing a die hard chronomancer when HoT hits.

Anything less will be a waste.

Oh yes.

The Doctor=Chronomancer

Zoser.7245:

That’s right, at the end, how many mesmers are you going to carry and what area can they cover? If you put all areas on the stacked zerg, a simple roll can avoid the wells.

We’ll see. I could imagine at least public zergs to be brainafk enough to have A LOT of confusion after gravity well

NICENIKESHOE.7128:

I wonder if F5 helps you “rally”…

Anyway, that certainly is an option. But frontline will likely activate stability in the first pulse (especially after everyone know gravity well), making it harder to trap anymore people. Backline…maybe? but you may not trap as many people as you wish due to less tight formation.

Hrhr ;D stabi does no longer stack in duration. What would you chose: Stabi for a single mesmers well, or stabi for the collision of the meele trains?

Chronomancers will have a win/win. You pull out cooldowns OR you weaken them

WarlordEXE.1364:

I think shields on mesmers are fitting. It goes with the whole duelist theme that anet seemed to try and stress with mesmers. That is,duelists who shoot mind bullets and distort your senses. It would better if shields were made to look smaller on chronomancers. Sort of like Iberian swashbucklers or something to that nature. That and skins that made swords look more like fleurrets/rapiers.

That may be your own opinion I personally don’t like small shields. They could add some smaller ones ofcourse for all those who like it :P
Anet, please don’t make the shields smaller overall for Chronomancers.

Zoser.7245:

With 900 range no, at least, before the collision.

You think so? I guess with Blink and a returnskill like F5 it could be possible…

Zoser.7245:

And, of course, F5 inside the zerg is not an option.

I don’t really understand why? Both raids will most likely be stacking before they inc. Why shouldn’t a mesmer be able to activate F5 in that duration? o.O

To throw in my thoughts here:

There will be MORE elite specializations. What does that mean (especially the word “ELITE”?) It means that we have the choice for ONE (1) Elite speciallization + 2 core specializations or 3 core specializations. That means that somewhen in the future we will have the choice between different elite specializations which will always grant acces to a new traitline, a new mechanic and a full set of skill + weapon skills. This is the main aspect of this system and the reason for chonomancy being the only specialization with access to shield and alacrity.

Just to clarify, you won’t be able to choose two or three elite specializations. That’s why they are called ELITE…

In a stacking zerg that does not have stability (since it now does no longer stack duration this is actually often the case, they often don’t use it until it’s needed) A gravity well that does 4 CCs on 5 targets might interrupt a LOT of enemies(guards doing empower, rest using fire fields/blasts) which leads to a lot of confusion on the zerg.
Any thoughts? Could chronomancer really affect this “stack→inc→stack→inc-…” meta?

A cool way to do this would be to shatter f5->decoy+blink->gravity well->f5->inc on the weakened zerg

This is not an answer to the question. I could say it in a different way:

Does “pulse” mean the weak ones and “burst” the strong ones or does “pulse” mean both?