Guild Wars 2

I’m considering converting my Sinister with nightmare (x5) and a coral orb over to Viper with Berserker’s runes… I’m not sure yet, though.

Needs moar maths!

Has anyone tested to see if we can convert our Ascended gear in the mystic forge with the new exotic insignias?

I havent seen anyone else test it so…

Its 5 stacks of might for 3 seconds on interrupt (no ICD)

Edit: Duration

nearlight.3064:

Josh Davis.6015:

Passed this along to the team.

Also the wanderers stats in pvp are different from the ones in PvE.

What are they in PvE?

Ansau.7326:

The only thing staff is not really a condi weapon, but more a jack of all trades master of none.
It has a bit of everything, but each one is pretty meh by its own.

Thats the problem though… we dont have a dedicated condition weapon.

Staff- Primarily defensive, hybrid damage

Scepter- Hybrid damage, AA ruins phantasm builds

Pistol- Hybrid (but only if traited)

Torch- Defensive (Stealth), condi pressure sucks

Our traits dont synergize well for PvE condi damage (things like DE and Mistrust competing, DD and PF, etc)

We dont have any Utilities that apply damaging conditions.

You need to choose between shattering (confusion and torment, which don’t work well in PvE ) or Phantasm bleed build (which our weapons do a poor job of supporting)

Due to our mechanics, we have HUGE ramp-up time to get to max condition damage, which isn’t even impressive.

Mesmer already has poor AoE capabilities, and condi mesmer is even MORE single target focused than our power builds.

Many of our condi traits (like clone death) were removed, and things were nerfed like MtD

I’m stubborn though, I still try to make it work.

I would rather they fix the Scepter AA so I don’t have to equip a staff at all….

The ‘huge amount of rage’ after the last update was in response to the changes to Necro’s scepter. Mesmers would also like their Scepter skills improved. Specifically, most would agree that the Clone produced from the AA is a hindrance to the scepter’s overall function and would prefer it removed.

The also added two new attributes, both of which can be found on a few of the new amulets.

Expertise- Increases your condition duration

Concentration- Increases your boon duration

+560 Expertise is granting me an additional 37.33% condition duration.

So every 15 expertise = +1% condition duration

All of the profession specific runes are in PvP along with many other new runes. They cost 5 gold to unlock.

For those of you that dont bother reading through the update notes-

Mesmer

Temporal Curtain: Increased the height of the spell by 22% to better interact with the Warden’s Feedback trait.

Into the Void: Fixed a bug with this skill so that it will properly pull up to 600 range and properly pull to the wall location instead of sometimes past it.

Signet of the Ether: Fixed a bug that could cause this signet to heal dead players.

Fencer’s Finesse: Fixed a typo in the description text.

Blinding Tide: Fixed a bug in which an incorrect number of targets displayed in the skill fact.

Phantasms: Fixed a bug in which incorrect damage values displayed in the skill facts.

Illusionary Whaler: Increased the damage of this phantasm by 53% to put it in line with other phantasms.

Mantras: Fixed a bug that prevented the toughness granted by channeling a mantra from scaling properly with your effective level.

Swap: Removed undocumented stun-break effect from this skill to match its intended functionality.

I read through the Chronomancer notes and It doesnt look anything was changed.

Fay.2357:

apharma.3741:

That’s kinda disturbing and very rude if Pyro isn’t male lol.

No worries, I think my podcasts are pretty unambiguous in that regard.

You have a podcast? Is it GW2 related?

Links or it didnt happen!

Klonko.8341:

Stun on daze, massive shatter dmg (with right spec and setup), perma torment, ranged, almost as stealthy as thief, tankier… all in one. Am i right? Discuss…

The OP forget to add…

Constant stability
Immune to conditions
Super low cooldowns
Lots of Blinds
Permanent reflection/projectile destruction
High mobility

Having to pick trait lines (yuck!), being stuck with only 3 utility skills + 1 elite (ewwww!) and having to choose armor/amulet stats (whaaaaaat!?) are not things a mesmer has to worry about.

oh, wait…

Us ol’ timers call that the 6/6/6/6/6 build.

With the old trait system gone and a sixth specialization getting added, I guess we can start calling it the ‘6 spec’.

Apolo.5942:

Is there any way to bind 4 directional movement to the facing of the camera?.

Meaning having move forward, move backwards strafe left and strafe rigth always be dependant on camera facing? because it is realy confusing to be looking at something, pressing foward and having my character start running in the opposite direction.

Do you have “Use free camera” checked?

If you uncheck it, you can still move your camera around, but it will automatically reset to behind your character when your moving around and will solve your problem.

As someone who uses the application keys for movement and only uses the mouse for placing ground targeted skills, I cannot thank you enough for snap targeting. This is a HUGE QoL change for me.

Somebody give this man a raise.

You’re all wasting your time with this guy. Read his post history. He has huge time gaps in his post history suggesting long breaks from the game, and spends the majority of his time in WvW. He also has multiple posts about how he wants stealth ‘removed from the game completely’.

Everyone just move on. Nothing constructive will come from this thread.

The devs said we’ll be getting a bunch of new sigils and runes with HoT… so I’m not even sure this is worth talking about yet. I’d hold off on making any investments.

Another thread that needs to be closed.

@Apharma

When the OP comes back next week to bump this thread, he is going to quote your first paragraph…

After the quote will read:

This too.

@Fay

For channeled abilities like Ranger LB #2 (which they used in the stream) and confusing images, we’ll be able to shift between targets DURING a channel refocusing its fire to multiple targets if we want. So now if you go to unload a scepter 3 on a target that dies before your channel ends, you can just shift between different targets and not waste the channel. I’m just hoping someone at anet considers implementing elements of these improvements to our Phantasm AI. I’m not overly optimistic, but figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

I’ll start by saying- I loved everything I saw in today’s stream. Thank you, Joel.

If you didnt watch the stream, here are the notes on reddit-

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3p0wg5/guild_chat_livestream_notes_pro/

I’m curious if any of that technology will apply to our Illusions, though…

Like being able to change between targets during a channeled ability. If I summon a duelist on a target that dies before the duelist is done channeling its unload… will it shift its attack to another target?

Or, are there any plans to maybe make Illusions change targets if you’re still in combat?

Seriously? People ask you to please elaborate on your original post so we can have a constructive conversation and you respond with three words a week later?

Its really hard to interpret this thread as anything but trolling…

Can someone please close this so it doesn’t get bumped again?

I’ve had the same experience as Menaka. If I have Imagined Burden traited, Illusionary wave’s pushback becomes very inconsistent. It still interrupts though, so It doesn’t bother me.

Xyonon.3987:

Uhhh objection! I think GS #1 is indeed bad. The only way to hit multiple targets with it is if they line up AND you manually target the farest with your mouse. Besides the damage of GS #1 may occur fast, but it’s WAAAAYY lower dps than all other ranged attacks the other professions have. The GS #1 is dps wise pretty on par with the scepter auto hit wich is famous for it’s terrible power damage. Don’t tell me you honestly like GS #1 and use it against a target at ~900 range and beleve your dps is over 3k …

The DPS on the AA isnt a problem with the GS, its a problem with mesmer. All of our AAs are not only low damage, but have extra (unnecessary) limitations to them.

The design of GS 1 is not all bad though.

1200 range
Instant
Can not be reflected
Can hit up to 3 targets with proper positioning

I’m not saying “ZOMG GS IS SOOPER AHSUM!”, but I do believe its one of our better weapons.

As far as Scepter is concerned… It has the worst AA of any weapon on any profession I’ve played to date. I hate its AA passionately, so I find it really hard to even begin comparing it to GS in any way.

Doug Whisper.2465:

I found the GS1 in Mesmer is way better than Engineer Rife 1. Ranger LB1 need trait to hit multiple targets but by default in Mesmer. Guardian scepter 1 and Elementals staff 1 are very slow. As a long rang AA, Mesmer GS1 is not bad at all.

Many (if not most) of us dont think GS 1 is ‘bad’. Our primary problem with it stems from having watched traits get nerfed/removed because of how disproportionately well GS synergizes with them.

Xyonon.3987:

I had a conversation with a Mesmer fellow today, about the very same topic.

I suggest to rework GS one like this:
While having a target selected and using your auto attack, a none targetable, just visual effect phantasmal version of yourself spawns at the target, wich attacks when you do.
The attack however will be the same as any GS auto attack chain, just ranged, so yes, CLEAVE!

It sounds so weird I used my AWESOME PAINT SKILLS to visualize what I just said! BEHOLD!!! xD

Thats creating a lot of particle effects for just a AA. Maybe if it was just a phantasmal version of your greatsword swinging in tandem with you? It would also have to be a normal cleave close-up, and only activate the ‘phantasmal cleave’ at over 450~ range to prevent awkward overlaps in the animations. Otherwise, I really like the concept (and LOVE the drawing).

When I used to run full rampagers, i usually ran it as GS + scepter/pistol for open world. GS clones are great at stacking bleeds with the higher crit rate and the berzerker does great AoE physical damage and spreads the bleed love around. Then for dungeons I’d swap out GS for Sword + Focus.

@Alpha
Have you run the numbers on what an optimal crit percentage is in a condi build? I always feel like I lose a lot of extra bleeds as soon as I drop below about 60%… There has to be a cut-off where the extra condi damage becomes more valuable than the extra bleeds from crits. With how poorly bleeds scale though, I’m thinking that sweet spot is probably higher than what full sinister offers for most weapons (basically everything but staff clones…). Specifically, I’m mostly thinking of x3 pistol phantasms… but a breakdown for all weapons would be really cool to see.

If Deceptive Evasion and Blinding dissipation were swapped, mistrust would actually become an option (and harmonious mantras would see more action). All three of those traits (BD, mistrust, and HM) can compete with each other on equal footing, and would all be viable.

Having mistrust compete with DE… there is just no contest there. Condi mesmers are heavily reliant on high clone up-time to be successful.

Edit: I’m starting to think maybe Robert isnt a big fan of condition builds….

Not only should CS be removed, the mesmer profession should also be locked for new players. If you want to play mesmer you need to acquire the other 7 “Champion X” PvP titles to ensure you have the appropriate base skill and knowledge. All mesmers should be praised for their extraordinary mechanical prowess. They are the elite!

Your interpretation is spot on. He posted about a week ago about changes to the survivability for all minions/pets coming with HoT. We still havent seen any details, so there is no telling how impactful those changes will actually be. If raids are any indication though, then things are looking really positive.

eldenbri.1059:

For sure for me, I would always prefer to keep the third phantasm and not get the clone.

I was just trying to think of something simple that might allow some other playstyle. But I would be thrilled to never have a phantasm overwritten

If this change is made, I’ll be sending flowers and a heartfelt card to Anet’s office.

The current overwrite priorities do nothing but cause unnecessary irritation and skill/weapon limitations in PvE. We have four (or 5 with chrono) shatter skills on mesmer, we can empty and adjust our illusion queue whenever we want. Replacing a phantasm with a clone hasnt had any benefits (from my perspective) since the removal of clone death traits, and even back then I would have preferred to keep my phantasms.

If you run nothing but the meta Sword/X+X build on your mesmer in PvE you’ll probably never run into this problem. Its one of many facets to that weapon combo that makes it meta. For the rest of mesmerkind that likes to use a variety of weapons and builds, we run into this dilemma frequently.

I love BD. Its become a staple for all of my PvP builds ever since the mantra “bug fix”. I haven’t touched the inspiration trait line at all for any build in any game mode since then actually…

eldenbri.1059:

I don’t play enough pvp to know if it’s realistic, but I can see a case where you have shield and mental defense and you get two Avengers and a Defender up.

I’m not sure how hard it would be to code, but would be ideal for me is if you take a phantasm trait (like Chronophantasma) then clones never replace phantasms. Maybe to make this simpler, make this only apply to the Chronophantasma trait.

Why would you need or want to overwrite any of them with a clone in that situation? All three of them would be buht-hoomping your target. . . shatter away!

Ross Biddle.2367:

Rifle.

Discussion over.

I would love to see the concept skills they had for the rifle.

TheFrighteningFrenchFry.3275:

Mikkel.8427:

You know… I’d be able to tolerate Scepter’s kitten AA if they would just make the following QoL change for mesmer:

Clones no longer overwrite phantasms

I hate feeling locked out of using a skill (scepter AA, scepter block, phase retreat, mirror blade, OH sword block) because I dont want to overwrite one of my phantasms in PvE.

OH sword block summons a phantasm actually. It’s pretty decent. It’s the only phantasm affected by your damage modifiers.

OH sword 4 (the block) creates a Clone. Sword 5 creates the Phantasm.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Illusionary_Riposte

I just posted this in another thread, but felt like it should be its own topic. Its been mentioned before, but I haven’t seen it discussed during the Geesus Era (AKA The Mesmer/Necro Enlightenment).

Clones should not overwrite Phantasms

This change would have almost no impact in PvP, where illusions are constantly being smashed and shattered, but could have a profound impact on the way we play in PvE.

- Scepter AA would no longer punish Phantasm builds

- More refined control over what occupies the finite space on our illusion bar

- We could use clone producing weapon skills as part of a normal rotation w/o sacrificing phantasm damage

The only drawback I can think of is for sword 3… No Clone = No swap with 3 phantasms up. I don’t see this as a particularly significant problem though.

Edit: Changed the name of the thread.

You know… I’d be able to tolerate Scepter’s kitten AA if they would just make the following QoL change for mesmer:

Clones no longer overwrite phantasms

I hate feeling locked out of using a skill (scepter AA, scepter block, phase retreat, mirror blade, OH sword block) because I dont want to overwrite one of my phantasms in PvE.

If you had asked me what needed to be nerfed right after the specialization update, I would have said “CS and PU, duh!”.

With all of the nerfs mesmer has sustained since then, I no longer see CS as a problem… so, I’m having a really tough time agreeing with this proposal.

Traited MoD is just a mesmer’s version of basilisk venom. . . do we want to nerf that also?

They need to change the scepter block to function like the shield block in BWE1-2: Same functionality it has now BUT if you dont block anything in the time limit you still summon a clone at the end of the channel.

Then they need to revamp the entire AA chain. Faster, no clone, possibly a non-projectile (something like necros scepter?), with decent condition pressure.

All of our condition damage comes from Illusions and shatters. We have ZERO condition-applying utilities. There is no good reason for scepter and scepter clones to not have good condi pressure.

You also need to keep in mind that competent people are going to cleanse your bursts, which makes condition duration less effective. For PvP, I generally value condition damage over duration to front-load damage. The only thing i value more than condi dmg/duration is mobility… so my rune choice usually boils down to Undead vs Travelers.

Anet just need to add some physical damage to needle trap.

Just remove mantras from the game and give us something new.

Sincerely,
A Mantra Hater

Edit: And no.. nothings been done about the way Mantras and Chrono interact. I dont believe I’ve heard anything about plans to improve the situation either.

Should something be done? Probably.

AlphatheWhite.9351:

Okay, for Sinister gear, with this build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAraWnsICVohNoBeoBUrhlcDyMBvOklBI19C9HLJHA-TRiCABLcECeW5HyPIgq2PI5Tpov5YTQKrEsZ1fAwCiAAHA7W36ub6u7u7e8xHf8xHvd3d3d3NhAWsGA-e

Chaos/Illusions/Dueling

Under all the usual assumptions (banners, 25 vuln, 25 might, no quickness), except that I ignored the effect of the 170 power from the banner of strength, because calculating the dps impact of 170 power sounded exhausting.

Build-specific assumptions:
1. 3 iDuelists out, and they don’t die.
2. Using no skills other than Auto-attacks (and iDuelist summoning, obv)
3. You have at least 5 boons on you at a given moment.
4. You can keep the Sigil of Earth on icd. That’s not easy to prove, but the loss from waiting to get a crit shouldn’t be too bad in this build, from some math I did on the subject a while ago. I figure I’ll just call that a wash with excluding the 170 power. I didn’t account for Empower Allies either, so eh.
5. You can get the double bounce from Winds of Chaos most of the time. I really just don’t know on this one, so we’ll call that meh too.

Total dps: 16,077

I was able to improve that dps by about 800 by switching Chaos to Dom and Master Tuning Crystal to Toxic Tuning Crystal.

That comes with a ramp-up time, which is obviously the mesmer’s biggest weakness in fights that can be as short as 15s. On the other hand, short fights might be better served with a shatter approach anyway, so those will have to wait until I can get that math worked out.

None of this accounts for the impact chronomancers will have on the field, obviously. Chrono might theoretically improve the dps of the build, or they might tank it. I’ll have to do that math later, too. It’ll be even harder, as I’ll have to figure out an optimal Chronophantasma+Persistence of Memory rotation, probably, and what the average effective attack rate of the phantasms will be in those circumstances. Ugh, chrono makes things so kitten messy.

Dom should definitely offer more damage than chaos for that build. Chaotic Persistence is basically the only reason you would take the chaos line and you can push yourself to 95% condi duration if you just popped a toxic oil (like you said).

Phantasmal Fury should be more damage also, especially if you’re taking DOM and getting phantasmal strength. Additionally, any situation where a single target it going to live long enough for you to actually benefit from the recharge reduction on ‘interrupt’ to get 3 duelists up, that target will be immune to interrupts. Then for faster engagements (trash) you’re going to want to use Phantasmal Warlocks in your rotation because things wont be living long enough to only rely on Duelists and staff clones. PF = win in every situation I can think of… They really butchered DD.

I’d also use a coral orb over a chrys, but that change is super negligible.

Of course, none of the above matters once Chrono is here…

I’m wondering if they plan on making transmutation charges available somewhere else in the game to balance this out. Maybe on the new karma merchant they mentioned?

I understand they are a business and need to make money, but I will be disappointed if they reduce the number of transmutation charges from PvP. I already need to buy them from the BLTC to keep up with how often I update my look.

This game is called ‘Fashion Wars’ for a reason.

Dont fight guys… save it for the ‘ZOMG MESMOR OP’ posts. Its not like those are in short supply.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Embolism.8106:

Mikkel.8427:

Percentage increases on us do not affect our phantasms… Fury, sigil of force, sigil of accuracy, the trait fragility, etc all have no affect on our illusions.

Something I hope will get “fixed” eventually. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of Mesmer balancing was done under the assumption that they do work with our illusions. See also: Danger Time.

It’s actually probably easier to balance things without working them in, because then you can just adjust the base values related to the phantasms without having to consider the entire system.

Though there would be plenty of neat (probably OP) things you could do if it was all like that

They would just need to replace Phantasmal Fury and Phantasmal Strength with new traits, then make fury function the same as might does now (Illusions get our increased stats, but nothing from might they receive directly). Then decrease the baseline mod they gave phantasms from 15% to 5% (since that was intended to make up for phantasms wielding exotic weapons).

We dont have access to many modifiers on mesmer to begin with, so they really wouldnt be that much more powerful than they are now without heavy investment. Especially when you factor in the prerequisites required to maintain them, and each being in a different trait line (meaning no chrono if you want them all).

Fragility – 12.5%
Compounding Power- 9%
Harmonious Mantras (This trait would be a little less horrible)- up to 15%

Sigils-
Force- 5%
Night- 10%

Runes-
Scholar- 10%

So… with three illusions out at night spamming mantras on a mob with 25 vuln while our health is above 90% your Phantasms would be able to get up to a 61.5% modifier!
Of course, you need to factor in that they just lost about 25% potential from their last iteration… so its closer to 36.5% more than they’re capable of doing now.

woot woot

Daniel Handler.4816:

The dueling tree gives perms fury as minor. Phantasmal fury runes augments in addition to this.

So a 20% increase for you and your phants + phantasmal fury = 40%

Percentage increases on us do not affect our phantasms… Fury, sigil of force, sigil of accuracy, the trait fragility, etc all have no affect on our illusions.

Mistrust – Whenever you inflict vulnerability, you also inflict 1 stack of confusion for 3 secs.

Are we getting trolled?

WHATS HAPPENING?

I pointed this out not too long after the specialization update. I really dont understand why this trait is not multiplicative. It would have virtually no impact on PvP balance, but would be a significant boost to our (rather feeble) PvE condition potential.