Guild Wars 2

Yeah, using the GW2Skill.net builder, I’m trying to set up at least >50% crit chance for PvE. I’m debating with having either soldier’s armor or soldier’s weapons and the other is assassin’s and the trinkets being mostly berserker. Something like this:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseWncfCtfi9pB+fCUrhFijyMASgFquS/0QFNkittenD-TBSBABiq+jZKBvS5RHnCAyUixz+DA8EAyTfAZA0HDA-e

Or this:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseWncfCtfi9pB+fCUrhFijyMASgFquS/0QFNkittenD-TBSBABFqPwMlgXp8Ao9HqU9nOOFAkpEDgnAAZA0HDA-e

Like you said, optimal specs are still in the works. I’m gonna have to try out each version to see which seems better.

Those two traits are quite good in PvP, and can also be decent in PvE.

Quickness is always nice to have. I’m debating if I should go ‘Chronophantasma’ or ‘Sieze the Moment’; they’re both good when I was trying them out last BWE in PvE (and I don’t really PvP much).

‘Time Catches Up’ would help make sure the illusions reach their target without dying, but losing out alacrity on wells is a concern (if you use wells); so this one is unsure for me. Now if the illusions have more survivability, then the TCU wouldn’t be as useful (I’m still waiting on that news).

I appreciate the bump! The full build I’m thinking of using would be this:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseWncfCtfi9pB+fCUrhFijyMASgFquS/0QFNkittenD-TBSBABFqPwMlgXp8Ao9HqU9nOOFAkpEDgnAAZA0HDA-e

The soldier’s and assassin’s may change, but this is sort of a nice overall power setup with a little survivability for HoT (since we’ve only touch the tip of the expansion in beta).

I will have to test this build out once HoT’s out to see how it fares.

Edit: Wrong link as it’s suppose to have Well of Calamity. >.<

Offhand scepter is an interesting idea! I also like to see dual-wielding foci…like this Aetherblade Striker npc has.

Male Asura, named “Enchanter Phloww”, with a pair of slim glasses so that he looks also studious.

Very nice overview of the elite spec with a little touch of (twisted?) humor. One thing that caught my attention is Assassin’s gear not listed in Precision. I personally feel this overview is newbie-friendly to the Chronomancer as well as touching each area nicely.

Your soldier Chrono build is a nice and different approach than the usual. Probably in HoT/raids, some vitality and toughness may be needed. I’m gonna have to look into seeing how it fares in PvE.

Inspired by Fay/Pyro’s chrono build/rotation, I’m wondering if Mimic would provide similar alacrity upkeep. I’m planning on bringing this build to PvE.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseGncfi9pB+fCUrhFijyMASgFquS/0QFNkittenD-e

Note: Empty slot can be any of the other wells, but I tested using Well of Action on an indestructible golem in HotM.

Rotation:

-3 phantasms or 2 with 1 clone
-Well of Recall
-Continuum Split during Recall’s casting
-Time Warp
-Mimic
-Well of Action
-Repeat Well of Action
-1 shatter and Tides of Time somewhere in between well mimicing

I used Well of Action and tested on an indestructible golem in HoTM. After several attempts, I manage all but one well (the one that isn’t mimic’d) within Continuum Split. Maybe I’m slow. I don’t know if this is better or worse or equal to Fay’s build with regards to how much alacrity upkeep is available. I just wanted to share, see if anyone else gets similar results and/or hear everyone thinks of Mimic with wells.

I’ve only played Scrapper for a little bit, but here’s my first impression:

The elite does have a different playstyle. Hammer is great, although I did not expect the Rocket Charge to go random with each impact. I fell off cliffs and into water when using it several times. Would it be possible to have a telegraph to show how far it’ll go?

Gyros are nice. Purge Gyro doesn’t show a radius at all, both in tooltip and ingame. Defense Shield doesn’t have an indicator icon and during the midst of a battle, I couldn’t tell if it was on me or not (unless I’m a Norn or Charr).

During the short time I try out Berserker, all I can say is, “Iyiyiyiyiyiyi!”

Very fast paced and sometimes I got carried away with my axe/torch and rage skills. I kill things quickly but I tend to get myself killed a few times due to how fast things go. I went with Carrion gear, but I’m sure it’ll be better with Sinister or even Rampager.

PvE, open world and demo story experience:

Overall, I had fun with Tempest compare to last BWE. Overcharge is better, but I feel that it needs to be 3 seconds instead of 4, especially if you interrupted. And also, the penalty shouldn’t apply if it’s interrupted (just have the normal cooldown). I enjoy the movement while channeling the overload. Overload Air is my favorite of the four.

The tooltip info of Lightning Orb is misleading. I thought I was gonna launch a giant electric ball that hits foes as it moves. The ball looks very small compare to the radius size, and it doesn’t look like it’s firing projectiles.

Why does Dust Storm have number (624704) as its tooltip?

Shouts in general are nice! I feel like it’s suppose to sync with other Aura traits. “Eye of the Storm” has a bit too long of cooldown, maybe what Thomas suggested or 40 secs at least.

ODB.6891:

We ALL do not want another range attacking phantasm. I know I don’t. They explained clearly why the ranged attack was changed to melee. What they need is simply a survival increase for the iAvenger…which does not necessarily mean changing it to yet another range attacking phantasm. They can start by treating it similar to the iSwordsman and have it pop in and out of melee to execute its attack and generate the alacrity + slow. The iSwordsman does a great job of this already. They could simply modify its behavior to be like a shield bash charge…like warrior shield 4…only leap back out of melee after executing the attack…again…similar to iSwordsman. They could combine this type of change with whatever they have been alluding to regarding increasing pet/minion/gyro survival improvement. They have enough range phantasms already…at least 4 (iMage, iDuelist, iWarlock, iDisenchanter). Both iSwordsman and iBerserker already have mechanics that get them in and out of melee to execute their melee attacks…they just need to add something similar to the iAvenger. Its past time they improved AI survival anyway…they need to do that regardless since there are AI units that will be melee regardless like ranger/druid pets.

That’s actually not a bad idea! I didn’t thought of having iAvenger have the same behavior as iSwordsman. It could possibly work for iDefender as well, although I think that may confuse people. But yeah, if they decide that melee with AoE buff/debuff is the best way, then the illusions just need to have more survivability to be fine. That would be nice if each phantasm has some utility purpose in addition to damage or whatever their role is (if that makes sense).

Aside from the placeholder animations/visuals, the staff is better than its previous performance. I hope Daredevils can hold the staff like the mini Monkey King. I like the extra endurance bar. I definitely like the dash trait (forgot the name).

However, I do feel very squishy and there seems to not be a lot of damage mitigation or evasion, but maybe I just need more practice.

For the short time that I’ve tried Reaper, I’m enjoying it! I enjoy “Rise!” alot. I do feel like my greatsword attacks seem a little slow. I felt most of my damage came from my shouts.

Embolism.8106:

The cast time is why it also grants Stability. See also: Well of Power, and other stunbreakers with cast times.

Ah, my fault for not looking at every stunbreaker and assumed all stunbreakers are instant cast. >.<

tobascodagama.2961:

Phloww.1048:

Hmm….I’m trying out other elite specs and notice their stunbreakers have very short cooldowns. Well of Precognition is 45 secs long and the stability only applies to the mesmer. Think the cooldown’s too long? Maybe shorten it down to at least 35 or 40 secs?

Yeah, but we also have multiple other stunbreak options on shorter cooldowns, and Precog does a lot for us beyond just breaking stuns.

While that is true, Well of Precognition currently has a casting time while all other stunbreakers are instant. There were a few times where I was casting it and then get interrupted (whether by mob or I try to dodge into it for the blur.

I’ve only tried Druid in the demo story area, so I’m not sure if my first impression matters or not.

Celestial Avatar and skills: I don’t know what the skills are and how they function unless I actually go into the form. It would be nice to see what each one does. When I became a Celestial Avatar, I noticed all my glyphs changed and there’s no tooltip to explain what they do unless I hover my mouse over them.

I do like the electric wyvern very much and he’s cute!

I’m not sure if it’s just missing a tooltip, but Glyph of Equality is usuable when CC’d and I’d assume it’s a stunbreaker? Also, I feel the Glyph of Rejuvenation needs to be ground targeted, unless it’s suppose to synchronize with Ancestral Grace?

Anyways, my biggest issue is not having any tooltip to show what the Celestial Avatar skills are (as well as the other skills’ changes). Other than that, I like the Druid so far.

I’m new to Revenant/Herald, but I do enjoy its unique playstyle. I found a surprising synergy with Shiro/Glint legends with hammer/sword+shield to provide a nice overall damage/support. I am a little disappointed that only Shiro and Mallyx can be used underwater.

I didn’t get to try out Mallyx from last BWE, but currently, it seems a couple of the skills are….out of place – specifically Pain Absorption and Empowering Misery. I understand that previously, Mallyx utilities inflict certain conditions on self, but now only Pain Absorption will help improve the healing skill, which makes me feel like I should not use my healing skill until I have at least one or more conditions on me.

I didn’t try Ventari or Jalis a whole lot, so I can’t give much feedback. However, I feel like a water field should be in one of Ventari’s skills.

Weapon-wise, hammer’s autoattack and its ground-target skills are a little slow to cast. Maybe reduce it by 1/4 or 1/2 sec would make it more flowy.

Can the stunbreak on Gaze of Darkness (Glint’s) be also on Facet of Darkness?

Overall, I’m enjoying this profession. I was in debate of which heavy armor class that I’ll like, but now, I know revenant/herald is the one for me.

I just wanna put in my impression of Dragonhunter.

I’ve only tried it out at the demo story, but so far, I like the longbow and most of the traps (only trap I didn’t try was Test of Faith). I haven’t played fully around with the traits. There was only one big thing that caught my attention and it’s the longbow #5 skill. Hunter’s Ward cast time is longer than ranger’s Barrage skill and I feel that it needs to be the same casting time.

I’m sure there are other bugs with traps and such, but so far I’m liking the improvements overall.

I main mesmer in both games. Both had suffered quite a bit due to PvP vs PvE. Even though I played other professions, I still come back. It’s sad that whenever mesmers get new toys to play with, others want to break (nerf) them; I know it’s not just mesmers, but seriously, it took them how long to nerf ele’s ice bow? There is one big thing that I noticed in the mesmer community that other profession communities seem to not often do (besides complaining) – trying to find workarounds/alternatives. It’s probably why I’m brave enough to ask even stupid questions to help clarify or seek advice in the mesmer forums; with other forums and abundance of “whinings”, I’m afraid of asking questions for fear of getting yelled at.

Overall, I am very happy with Chronomancer. In PvP, there are ways to counter them (i.e. – knockback them out of their well), but again, it’s a “new concept” to many people so they’d assume we’re OP. In PvE, we finally got some more utility/support to help others. I’ve come to accept that mesmer is not meant to be a high, sustainable damage dealer and more of a bursty damage/utility/supporter.

Hmm….I’m trying out other elite specs and notice their stunbreakers have very short cooldowns. Well of Precognition is 45 secs long and the stability only applies to the mesmer. Think the cooldown’s too long? Maybe shorten it down to at least 35 or 40 secs?

Curunen.8729:

Sometimes Well of Precognition goes on cooldown but doesn’t cast – I think if I accidently dodge too quickly in the 1/4 second cast time it cancels the cast and puts it on full cooldown.

I think this well should be changed to instant cast given it is also a stunbreak.

Yes, I agree with you. As I’ve mentioned in my post, all other stunbreakers are instant cast, so why isn’t this one?

Zenith.7301:

iAvenger will be fine once they fix illusion survivability against aoe/cleave spam in this game.

Robert Gee made the right call to make it melee and a reliable delivery phantasm (when it does its thing, the slow and alacrity are pretty reliable).

When people want it reverted because it’s dying easily, they just want a band aid solution.

I’m glad Gee changed it to melee, because more people are going to start complaining about it dying easily, which should force Anet’s hand to do something about illusions/ranger pets/ranger spirits/necro minions/spirit weapons/engineer turrets and gyros.

They might actually have to catch up to 2015 and apply the aoe avoidance/immunity other MMO’s have been doing since early WoW to keep pet/AI reliant classes functional and viable.

True, if what Irenio says is gonna help improve their survivability, then I’m fine with it being in melee range.

Robert Gee, if illusions are getting more survivability against AoE/cleave soon, then disregard my feedback of iAvenger please.

Okay, I need to update my feedback (which is all from PvE perspective) from earlier regarding about wells:

In general, they are good, but they all seem to have different casting times, which I assume it’s to balance certain things?

Well of Eternity is great, much better than previous version, but may I suggest instead of removing 1 condition, make it remove 2 to match with our other condition removal skills.

Well of Recall should have a 3/4 cast time instead of 1 second.

Well of Precognition is our stunbreaker and the only stunbreaker in the game that has a cast time. Shouldn’t it be instant cast to match with all other stunbreak skills? Also, with a lot of hard CCs, I’m thinking stability should be at least 1 second longer since it only gives one stack (especially if you’re not in the well for whatever reason); or make stability be given at end as AoE for a few seconds (but that might be too much). fine for the most part, although I wish its cooldown was 40 secs, but I understand that it’s to match with other stunbreakers with cast time. Plus, AoE blur is awesome.

Well of Calamity is a great beast. The conditions it gives make sense, so no suggestion here.

Well of Action is good as it is, slowing during pulse and then quickening at end. No complaints.

So really, Well of Precognition needs to be instant cast since it’s our stunbreaker and increase stability by at least 1 sec longer Well of Eternity removing 2 conditions per pulse and reduce the cast time of Well of Recall to 3/4 sec.

This is to add along with my previous feedback – which includes iAvenger phantasm reverting back to range attacker (and its BWE2 sound effect) + AoE on target hit, fully fix Tides of Time return, and make wells usable underwater like Necromancer wells/Time Warp.

Edit: Gravity Well - I’m actually surprised people didn’t complain about it cause of the 3 CCs, but maybe it’s due to people having multiple stability/stunbreakers equipped. I have nothing to complain about the elite well, honestly. However, I do think Time Warp should have a lower cooldown, like 120 seconds at least.

Edit2: Fix my mistake for not looking at all stunbreakers (I saw most of them) and hope a buff for Well of Eternity’s condition removal up to 2 per pulse.

apharma.3741:

-snip-

casts Mass Invisibility

Alacrity reduces skill recharge by 66%. Chill increases skill recharge and movement speed by 66%. If Alacrity’s suppose to counter Chill and vice versa, then Alacrity may not need its function nerf, but instead the duration of it on certain skills/traits. I agree that while I am loving Chronomancer and Alacrity, I anticipate the duration of Alacrity to go down a little.

@Angel de Lyssa

At first, I’m like ‘Why is he/she typing what I typed?’, then I noticed the quotations. XD

Edit: Something else that I wanted to add on my feedback:

Continuum Split/Shift with Master of Fragmentation: The slow doesn’t seem to apply to the target unless you manually activate Continuum Shift (after hitting Split). All other effects from the other shatters work right away. Maybe it’s overpowering, but wouldn’t it be better to have that slow apply to Continuum Split instead?

Here’s my feedback:

Overall, Chronomancer is a lot better and enjoy it very much! There were a few things that need some adjustments/fixes.

- Echo of Memory/Deja Vu: I enjoy the continuous blocking very much! However, Illusionary Avenger seems to be worse than before. It takes a second or two for it to run up to the enemy and then hit it in melee range; it is really slow initially compare to most other phantasms. I much prefer it being ranged and throw the shield and deals the AoE around the target. This way, it keeps it alive long enough for shatters (unless what Irenio’s statement of improving pets/minions/illusions is to help make them not withstand such ‘AoE’).

- Tides of Time: It still does not come back when it hit against a wall or certain objects. But I think Robert has mentioned that it’s still a bit clunky so hopefully, this is an easy fix.

- Wells: In general, they are so much better than before! I’m kinda debating on Well of Recall’s BWE2 version or BWE3’s, but both are good. Only well that I haven’t tried is Gravity Well.

- Traits: I’ve only tried the alacrity/well ones and Chronophantasma (which has a GW1 icon buff on phantasms when summoned). All’s Well that Ends Well is much better since condition cleanse is now in Well of Eternity.

So really, the main issue I have is Illusionary Avenger phantasm. It was better during BWE2, when it was range attacker and then give it an AoE around the target. Also, the sound effect from BWE2 when it attacks is so much better, please bring it back!

Also, are Chronomancer wells be usable underwater similar to Necromancer wells? Currently, they’re unusable.

AlphatheWhite.9351:

Are you making sure to precast Well of Recall before you pop f6? That’ll save you most of a second…

Edit: that said, I myself found Pyro’s rotation very difficult to get good at. He makes it look easy, but it’s pretty frantic, and easy to mess up.

Ok, precasting Well of Recall and use F5 before it fully finish casting did the trick. I was able to get Time Warp, all 4 wells, and a Tides of Time within CS. I never thought of that. Thanks Alpha! I tried squeezing shatters in, but it causes me to lose a well cast.

I’m using Eternity, Calamity, Action, and Recall wells and Chronophantasma trait and the 2 alacrity ones. Only issue is no stability or stunbreaker, which can throw this whole rotation out unless Tides of Time gets to the target first or have Bountiful Disillusionment trait or take Well of Precognition instead of Calamity.

@Fay

Like what Alpha said, you made it look easy!

Edit: Nevermind! I manage to squeeze in a Mind Wrack along with Timewarp, 4 wells, and Tides of Time with a split second left to spare, but that’s in perfect scenario when the target allows me to hit him. I’m afraid performing this outside of that will be more tricky.

Edit2: With Bountiful Disillusionment trait, Continuum Split gives Resistance boon. Just fyi.

Also, anyone notice the buff icon for the phantasms with Chronophantasma and recognize it?

I think this is the post with the rotation that Fay has: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Swiftness-and-Boon-sharing-Herald-vs-Mesmer/first#post5464793

So far, in BWE3, following Fay’s rotation, after having 3 illusions and using F5, I only have enough to get Time Warp and 3 wells in before Continuum Split ends. I tested using a target dummy in Silverwastes. I didn’t have enough time to actually use shield 5 during the rapid rotation. However, if I include shield 5, I will only have Time Warp and 2 wells within CS.

Is it due to the aftercast that occurs after putting down a well now? I recall something about that being added (it was in the stickied thread of ‘Upcoming changes in BWE3’).

Edit: I also noticed that not all wells have the same activation time. Both Gravity Well and Well of Recall have 1 sec cast, Well of Calamity and Action have 3/4 activation time, and Well of Eternity and Precognition have 1/2 and 1/4 cast time, respectfully.

And our wells are not used underwater….

Well, I won’t keep my hopes up, except for Robert to confirm if this is a bug or not. With the bugs that came into last patch, it’s not surprising that may be a “bug”.

Is this intentional? This’ll be a first since I thought illusions don’t inherit mesmer’s vitality, well, base value. Wiki doesn’t say specifically ‘armor’. Having some more health is always nice, but will it make +vitality armors more appealing? There are several different ones that give vitality.

Embolism.8106:

When you cast Ether Bolt, after the cast time is finished it won’t flip into Ether Blast until Ether Bolt’s projectile has disappeared, i.e. until it reaches its maximum range or hits a target.

This means the actual cast time + “aftercast” of Ether Bolt (and Blast and Clone) is longer the further away you are from your target. In melee range when the projectile doesn’t get created at all, the aftercast doesn’t exist so the rate of fire of the entire chain is much faster. But as soon as you have even a tiny bit of range, enough so the projectile is created, the rate of fire plummets.

Fix this, and all problems with Ether Bolt’s rate of fire disappears. It really isn’t slow at all (and it seems Rob might not be aware of this issue, hence why I keep bringing it up in hopes he’ll see it), it’s just plagued with a very weird bug that I believe is to accomodate Ether Clone.

If it can’t be fixed because of Ether Clone, I’d much, much rather Ether Clone be completely axed. For three years it has held the Sceptre back, please no more.

Oooh, you’re talking about the projectile velocity of Ether Bolt and distance upon contact or until bolt is gone. I misunderstood and thought you’re talking about the autoattack skill chain not working when you use it. My bad. >_<

Embolism.8106:

Most importantly can the “bug” where Ether Bolt will not progress to the next skill in the chain until the previous Ether Bolt projectile has hit the target/disappeared be fixed? It makes Sceptre’s rate of fire much, much lower than it should be at range.

Waaaaait….I just tested it now in HotM. I was able to do the first 2 AA attacks without a target and then I target a golem for the 3rd. Ether clone hits it and summons a clone. I watch the skill chain animation progress once I swing my scepter. I can see that autoattacking in melee range cause the skill chain to go faster, yes, but I’m confused what this “bug” is. :S

Hmm…I’m gonna have to give Phantasmal Disenchanter a try. Didn’t Irenio saidthat there’s more to come soon? If so, I hope there’s a scepter buff.

@Fay

Sorry for the late reply, but thank you for responding to my earlier post about berserker and GS (I had a meta event to attend call “RL Work”. You made a good point about GS’s illusions. At the moment, I have berserker gear with traveler runes, but I may look into possibly Giver’s, Sinister/Rampager, or Celestial. However, you are right that we don’t know exactly what stats are ideal yet.

@thetarot

Thanks for sharing the list of runes with boon durations. While I do agree that using Traveler’s rune would be redundant on the movement speed, the other stats on it makes it still valuable (all stats boost is nice and our wells/weapons can provide some conditions). Also, there is a possibility that new runes will be introduce in HoT.

Adding to the boon duration list, Giver’s give +1% boon duration per item. as well as toughness and healing power. There’s also platinum doubloon that gives +4 instead of the snowflakes’ +1 for upgrade slots. For those who’re wondering, excluding runes, consumables, and Herald and going all Giver’s gear, the total +boon duration will be +67%:

Giver’s armor (x6): 6%
Snowflake jewels (amulet/2 rings/2 accessories): 5%
Platinum doubloon (x14 if use on all upgrade slots): 56%

And sadly, boon duration cannot be increased beyond 100%. However, the wiki stats that “even if the maximum increase is 100%, tooltips will show durations beyond this limit”.

Fay.2357:

Long story short:

General concept is a build that neglects personal dps in favor of party dps. You keep close to permanent alacrity and quickness on your entire party. The way you do this is with traited wells, shield, and time warp primarily. By cycling wells and possibly shield phantasms, you can have ~35-40 seconds of alacrity in a 45 second cycle time. By cycling wells, shield 5, and time warp, you can have 35-40 seconds of quickness in that same 45 second cycle time.

Doing this requires some boon duration. If you happen to have a herald in the party, you can rely on their 50% aura and not worry about it personally. If you don’t, you’re going to need to run chaos for upkeep on boons and the boon duration boost of chaotic persistence.

Edit: Will elaborate some more.

When I ran it, I used sw/shield + staff. Staff allowed me to get 2 illusions up at 1200 range, followed by a third from iLeap to immediately begin a full cSplit combo at the very start of a fight safely. It also augmented my boon upkeep, which allowed for more boon duration.

In situations where I needed some reflects, I’d swap out well of calamity in favor of feedback.

Ultimately in a proper team, you’ll have a herald and therefor won’t need chaos or staff for the boon upkeep on chaotic persistence. This allows you to go for a more normal offhand like focus for reflects or sw/pistol for damage. It also allows you to either pick up inspiration if you need reflects, or domination/dueling if you want to try and do some more damage.

Re Scepter: While it does gain on dps compared to sword when you apply permanent alacrity, it doesn’t gain enough to out-dps it in most situations, particularly when you factor in the 10% damage boost sword is getting.

Re Staff: It definitely doesn’t have the dps of sword, particularly in a power build. That being said, chaos storm is a pretty solid damage skill, along with being the only source of team aegis that a mesmer can provide. With the staff trait and permanent alacrity, the cooldown on it is going to be around 13-15 seconds cooldown, which is quite low. It also allows you to summon those 2 illusions at 1200 range, which really improves the reliability of the opening combo.

Ah, thank you for this. I was also getting confused and am glad for these clarifications. I thought I have to give up my scepter entirely, but it seems it may have some use after all (with sw/sh + sc/p). I wonder, with the whole “berserk” meta going down, would an alternative stat gear would go well or will it just stay with berserker’s? After all, it is not meant for highest dps.

Edit: I don’t know if it’s been mentioned (I’m sure it has), but what’s the thought of greatsword, out of curiosity. I apologize if it was mentioned earlier and I missed it. >.<

Agree that the AA chain is clunky/slow and would like the projectile velocity to be faster or be instant like necromancer’s. I think it’s mentioned by someone, but it would be nice to see the 3rd attack deal extra damage if there’s already 3 illusions out, instead of summoning a clone. Hope there will be some scepter buff coming Tuesday.

rabidsmiles.5926:

Just wanted to point out that the guys who were doing the stream kept wasting time…there should be more to the patch notes come Tuesday. We’ll see then I guess, super frustrating to be promised balance patch stuff and get story time from goofing off A-Net employees. We just want to know what’s going on…not hear jokes!

Ah, well, here’s hoping some scepter love or maybe Illusionary Mage phantasm buff. I just hope I can have 1 weapon set that’s might and one weapon set that’s magic (if that makes sense). But then again, all of mesmer’s weapons are magically oriented in some way.

Nice buffs and QoLs (especially Temporal Curtain). I wonder if that Chaotic Dampening buff will make the staff a little more useful. I don’t use PU builds anyways, so that nerf doesn’t affect me. Nothing for scepter. Oh well, probably gonna say goodbye to Meteorlogicus and polish my sword and probably go sword/shield + staff as Chronomancer. Maybe the new legendary sword (or shield) would be cooler in HoT.

And thank you, Robert Gee, for such fast posts (on mesmer/necromancer/warrior threads) and clarifications!

Edit: Eh, I was having high hopes the staff trait, but that’s cause I have the Gift of Zhaitan sitting in my bank for over 2 years and haven’t touched it since, same with Gift of Quip. Now I’m thinking maybe I should try collecting mats for legendary shield or greatsword.

I am curious and will give the build a try during next BWE. Based on the Chrono traitline and what Robert Gee says about the shield and also the shield skills, I figured the elite spec is meant to be a more support/utility/control role than damage. It reminds me of the battery role that GW1 necromancers had ( http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Battery ), only instead of giving energy/adrenaline, chrono gives alacrity, quickness, and other stuff, including some damage. I am already impressed with it during BWE2, but after the news of upcoming changes from Geesus, I’m more excited for chronomancer and have been doing some various buildcraftings while also looking at other people’s builds. I have a feeling I’ll be spending more time testing stuff out than playing on my actual toons during that beta weekend. (Ack, my buildcrafting/testing urges are coming back at a rapid pace!)

Thank you, Robert Gee!!!! I am happy that you guys look into our feedbacks and try to help make the profession better. Can’t wait to try Chronomancer in BWE3!

I’m glad you made one of the wells remove conditions cause I was wondering how I’m gonna be able to remove conditions when I have all 5 wells during BWE2.

Is the Well of Eternity now 25 or 30 sec cooldown? During BWE2, it was 20 secs.

I know it’s not related to Chronomancer specifically, but is there any chance that the offensive shattering skills (Mind Wrack and Cry of Frustration) could have a bit more damage to them? Or illusions not getting killed instantly upon summoned (maybe add a .25 or .50 secs that they are invulnerable upon summoned)? Currently in PvE, shattering doesn’t really do a whole lot of damage compare to just keeping 3 phantasms alive.

Overall, I am thankful for the changes of Chronomancer. I think….I may end up going for a legendary shield.

Edit: Are the wells usable underwater in BWE3?

Embolism.8106:

This isn’t an novel observation. The issue is our core mechanics should not require us to specialise, they should be synergistic as they are.

Yeah, I agree with you. I wish they would split skills for PvE and PvP like what they did in GW1, or actually make shatter useful again. Or even make our other weapons more viable.

Edit: Hopefully, they’ll post all the changes based on feedback from last BWE (and hopefully good changes).

I wonder if A-net was aware that many mesmers are not using their main mechanics and thus, made chronomancer to see if it’ll convince us to shatter more than keeping phantasms alive. Hmmm……

Edit: Don’t know why I was thinking that. I think I’m gonna blame having no A/C in the house for a couple days and uncomfortable sleeps for making me think something like this. >.<

Fay.2357:

I talked about this in the other thread, but here’s the rotation. I use chronophantasma for this, since it helps with illusion uptime.

3 illusions (staff 2+3 because they remain at range and safe, I’ll use that while approaching the boss), then swap to sw/shield and use iLeap for the third illusion. Immediately shatter f5 so that they don’t have time to get squished. Drop time warp first, because it has a very short channel and will boost the speed of the rest of this combo. Then roll through all 4 wells and shield 5, order here doesn’t matter so much, just do it as fast as possible.

If possible, position yourself so that shield 5 doesn’t hit a wall, otherwise it’ll go poof.

If you roll through that rotation rapidly, you should cast all 4 wells and shield 5 and have about a quarter second before you pop back out of f5. Once you do, drop all 4 wells again, and do shield 5 again. At this point you want to be shattering everything except distortion (and potentially diversion, depending on the boss) off of cooldown. You’ll want to be dropping calamity and the heal well off of cooldown as well, for alacrity uptime. The quickness well and shield 5 will come off of cooldown at about the same time, so use the quickness well cd to time when you need to be back in sw/sh to drop them again. Lastly, try to keep chaos armor up, since you’ll be getting an enormous rate of cd on chaos storm (which actually does really solid damage) with both alacrity and chaos armor when using chaotic dampening.

Don’t use the alacrity well or time warp once you’ve finished the initial combo unless it’s purely to end a fight. That entire combo has a cooldown of 45ish seconds, which is the cd of continuum split when traited in illusions and with permanent alacrity. If the fight really takes that long (it shouldn’t), just make sure you’re ready to get 3 illusions up once CS comes off of cooldown to start it up again.

I am very interested in this! I’m gonna have to give it a try when BWE3 comes around. What is your stat setup for this? Is there a link to your build of this, by chance?

Yes, I did noticed some things become baseline as you’ve mentioned one, which is nice. I do look forward to chronomancer and I really do enjoy using the shield (it does some tweaks/fixes) and using wells (assuming they’ll be used underwater like necro wells). I don’t mind if I don’t do the highest dps, but at least be decent enough along with some utility/support/crowd control. Chronomancer does look promising and hopefully bring more varieties/alternatives to builds.

I hope the PvE community doesn’t turn too elitist to the point that they scare away all other players. But then again, that’s in every MMO.

Thank you for responding and explaining some of the things.

Coming back after 2 years of hiatus, I checked up on what has been happening. Last I recall, there were various types of builds from shatter, mantra, signet, phantasm, etc. Now, from what I’m gathering, it seems only phantasm builds are viable in PvE, unless I’m not looking deep enough. I’ve been trying out the dungeon build on Metabattle site. When I did shatter several times while running dungeons, I was told to ’don’t shatter and just let the illusions die out’. I was surprised since I thought Shattering is part of our profession mechanics. In open world, I don’t often see many mesmers shatter their illusions, just keeping 2-3 phantasms (iswordsman, iduelist, iwarden, and iberserker) up all the time. I don’t mind playing phantasm build, but is it really the only thing mesmers got left?

Chronomancer and shield seems to bring some usage for shattering (which I’m in process of making a hybrid shatter build to test in BWE3), so that does shed some light that Shattering would be used.

If you are looking at the Meta build http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mesmer_-_S/S_/F_/P, there is mention that you can use Greatsword if needed (scroll down to the bottom under ‘Usage’).

I tend to use Greatsword a lot, along with Sword/Focus or /Sword.

As long as chronomancer does not become the only thing that mesmers can bring, then that’s fine by me. (I.E. – LFG needs chronomancer, not mesmer)

As for the shield, well, I did enjoy using it during this past BWE. Just needs some improvement/tweaks/fixes that others have mentioned. I don’t think Tides of Time is suppose to bounce at a 45 degree angle (which sometimes it does); it definitely does need some tweaking and terrain fixing. I also feel that its movement speed needs to move a little bit slower. If they make it useful in PvE, maybe I’ll consider going for the Flameseeker Prophecies legendary weapon.

I should consider rejoining OMFG. I used to be a buildcrafter/tester, but took a 2-year hiatus.