Guild Wars 2

I submitted a /bug in regards to the scrolling combat text. I don’t know if it is honestly considered one, but it doesn’t hurt to have consistency. I also submitted one for the phantasm’s not showing up in the combat log.

Did a test with blurred frenzy. The combat log showed each hit at 223 but the total figure in the scrolling combat text was additive. It looks like there is an issue with some abilities functioning this way and others not. I suspect it has to do with the channeled nature of some spells. Blurred frenzy animation locks you, but it is not channeled. By that same token, the iD’s attacks must not be considered channeled.

Confusing images is channeled, so the damage is displayed individually for each hit. I’m not sure if that’s intended or not, but I suspect no.

EasymodeX.4062:

I still find it hilarious that there’s an actual discussion on something that’s pretty obvious when you play the class in game and pay any attention to the numbers.

I’m sure it’s obvious to a lot of people, I had guildies laugh at me when I mentioned it. The fact that there is some inconsistency in how the damage is displayed depending on if the ability is channeled or not may be the reason there is confusion as to how it works.

Okay, for starters, I think the combat log may be bugged. When I summoned the duelist, it’s damage did not appear in the log.

That being said, the tooltip reads Damage (8x) 404. The final number was 1534

188, 303 570, 1074, 1534 were the numbers I got. I probably missed 3 of the attacks since it’s a x8.

That being said, when I used confusing images, it displayed the same number consistently, it didn’t add them up and display the final number in the scrolling combat text.

Nikijih.1075:

You may be one of the poor players that are adding up each damage number you see from iDuelist as if they were separate. This is not the case. For multi-hit attacks, the game displays the accumulated damage. For example, if your iDuelist volley looks like:

175 350 525 700 875 1050 1225 1400

Then iD did 1400 damage. Not 1400+whatever. The game displays and refreshes the total damage of the multi-hit attack.

Do you have a source to back that up or is that just pure conjecture? Been trying to research it and nothing of the sorts comes up.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Damage

This provides an overview of how damage is calculated based on what people have noticed so far, but nothing in it backs up EasymodeX’s claim…

That being said, I logged in and went to HoM to hit a target dummy and looked at my combat log. The skill I used was confusing images and consistently hit for 447 on each hit, the damage not adding itself up overtime. The same thing happened for the scrolling combat text. I believe EasymodeX is incorrect based on my observations.

edit: just read the post above mine, further comments result

Maybe it only works this way for certain attacks? Confusing images is the only skill I tried, I’ll load out a pistol and reply back.

EasymodeX.4062:

For multi-hit attacks, the game displays the accumulated damage. For example, if your iDuelist volley looks like:

175 350 525 700 875 1050 1225 1400

Then iD did 1400 damage. Not 1400+whatever. The game displays and refreshes the total damage of the multi-hit attack. This is likely a UI evolution/adaptation from SWTOR, WAR, Rift, and certain WoW UI mods where this display mechanism was introduced.

This is completely new to me, I totally didn’t realize that’s how it worked. TBH, I wasn’t really paying attention, but still, I feel like a terribad for not noticing it sooner.

I think this idea is pretty imbalanced. It’s basically a guarantee that the effect is going to go off and combined with the fact that we have other abilities that could be devastating in their own right, feels a bit like overkill.

If this idea had to be implemented no matter what, then I think maybe a trait or something that makes it so your clones get a defensive bonus when the shatter is initiated might be better.

Someone else has put forth the idea of the illusions turning into butterflies and flying to their target. I think a better idea would be to make their pathing smarter and maybe give em a speed increase.

nidwin.6731:

What I find weird with the Torch is that we have a combo finisher on a 3s stealth skill.

Not sure it’s not the case but it would be nice if the combo finisher kicks of after the 3s stealth or when the stealth is interrupted.

From what I observed earlier today, the combo finisher activates when it explodes on the burn effect. As long as you activated the skill while the combo field was up, even if the combo field disappears, the finisher should still go off. I’m not sure if that’s intentional or a bug, but that’s what was happening.

I’m wondering what people are using to determine that not using a rotation that shatters their phantasms is more DPS than shattering them. I see people throwing this around a lot, saying that it’s pointless to shatter (specifically mindwrack) if they have a bunch of phantasm’s up because the phantasm’s will output more DPS than shattering.

Is this conclusion perceived or is there hard data supporting this conclusion? While I can understand people saying “it’s obvious to anyone with a brain that this is the way it works”, unfortunately my brain works better when it has supporting evidence to look at before it reaches a conclusion.

Iloesten.7162:

I remember this thread. IT was a good thread. Very fun to read.

I see what you did there and I laughed for a solid minute.

Phanx.4832:

So I can have 2 phantasms continuously and 1 clone trillion times replaced with scepter 1skill, right?

Gonna test it again today…

That’s what should be happening phanx and if it’s not, then it’s a bug and needs to be fixed.

I don’t know about summoning 3 wardens, chances are the first one will go through it’s motions once or twice and then die, but I end up with aegis more often than not so forgive me if my statement was skewed in that directions.

Embolism.8106:

It doesn’t reflect AoE attacks. Arrow Cart is an AoE attack.

That is a shame, but it explains why it always dies to an AoE. Do you know if our other reflect skills reflect AoE attacks, or do they only work on single target attacks?

Teror.8940:

Can you imagine if shatter also granted swiftness and an increase in movement speed to the clones and phantasms? It’s frustrating to just watch them leisurely jog after their shatter target.

If you roll with the focus, you can drop the skill that grants swiftness to allies that pass through it. The swiftness goes to your illusions and they get to the target faster. And if you place it just right, you can suck enemies through it so there is no need for illusions to go the entire way.

The mesmer with the staff is basically everything I’ve ever wanted in an MMO class. Well, if they had life drain, that’d be nice too, but the fact that I can play the class without feeling like I need it speaks volumes for how much I enjoy it.

Crowley.8761:

Focus has very many uses. You’re talking about utility, well how about dragging people off the walls of a tower in WvWvW?

Oh man, I’m so trying this. No idea why it never occurred to me.

In all seriousness, I would like to suggest that waypoint costs not be reduced globally, I think they are fine as they are. I think that as you complete an entire zone, it should be cheaper to travel there, but not by much, like 10-20%.

While mounts would be nice, I think they should not be usable in WvWvW as the time it takes for a wave of attackers to be fought off and then for them to return seems just about right for any given point.

I dont like to stress the fact that the mesmer rocks, but he jus does,So, for all you staff users out there, feel free to come in and post, my staff is a good one, but here is how it goes
1. post message in the room
2. LOOK IT OVER
3. dont report anything, i might get in trouble :)
and 4. Have fun!!!

(I couldn’t resist)

Then your only option is to summon the duelists and then switch to a weapon that won’t automatically overwrite your phantasms. with the auto attack.

Also, in another thread, someone said something to the effect of “What’s wrong with not shatterings?” and I tend to agree on that sentiment as well. Unless you’re running a build where it’s possible to shatter 3 illusions by the time the cooldown is up, is it really so bad that you aren’t spamming the skill? I tend to shatter when the target is almost dead or if I know they are about to use an ability that can hit them for a lot confusion wise. I also distort if I’m in an “Oh kitten!” situation or stagger daze em if I want to lock em down.

While I can now agree with your opinion that shatter might need some work to make it more viable for people who want to go that route exclusively, I don’t think setting it up so that it can be used more frequently by people who aren’t in a spec that relies on it exclusively is the answer.

The fact that chaos storm gives multiple instances of Aegis makes the cooldown seem just about right to me if you spec for the reduction in cooldowns for the staff. You can also spec/outfit your utilities so that your illusions live longer making the AoE more effective.

Sardoni, I never really thought about it the way you put it in your longer post and I can honestly say I’m starting to see what your point is. While I’m not entirely convinced that all of your suggestions should be implemented, I can understand how the shatter mechanic could use some work to make it seem more appealing than just having phantasms out. It’s possible that I’m not playing effectively enough to make better use of them, but my current play style doesn’t make shattering seem worthless and I seem to be doing okay.

That being said, the fact that a main class mechanic seems worthless to a lot of people in a specific build set up is a shame and should be addressed, one way or another.

I guess I can’t really sympathize with your suggestions because I don’t see a problem with the way shatter currently operates, or rather is designed to operate. That doesn’t make your points any less valid though.

I don’t consider the way the mesmer plays to be ACME quality at all and I think the way you’re trying to play the class may be the problem, more than the way it was designed.

We have multiple ways to disable or slow down foes who are trying to run away so the shatters can take effect, it’s just a matter of using them. At the very beginning, ANet said that the mesmer will be a class that anyone can play but will be difficult to master.

You can say that statement is nothing more than a crutch to brush away bad design decisions and I’m by no way trying to imply the class is perfect, there are some skills that need tweaking and bugs that need fixing, but I think too many people are trying to play the mesmer in a way it was not designed for or want it to do things like other classes do without really understanding what the mesmer is all about.

Also, I’m not sure if you know this, but in the illusions tree, there is a grandmaster trait that lets you have the shatter effect center on the player as well as the illusions. That might solve some of your problems and possibly create new opportunities/scenarios for you excel or do some of the things you seem to be wanting to do.

Sardoni.8361:

When an enemy target is under the effect of the anchor all the attacks made to it are reflected back to the source.

It’s a bug. When you apply the anchor you’re actually buffing the mob with reflect damage.

Woa…sad times.

Sardoni.8361:

I’d rather they shatter into butterflies and turn into a projectile that flies toward the enemy. The power walk thing is… meh.

That’s where proper positioning comes into play as well as proper skill loadout. If your clones are too far away and you know they won’t make it to the target before being destroyed, shatter using distort to avoid incoming damage and close the distance, summon new clones closer to the target and shatter those.

There are also a few skills that summon the clones/phantasm at the target location rather than near you. Make use of those and shatter immediately.

Malakree.5912:

The problem is that as it stands most of the really powerful mesmer builds are crippled when you use a shatter just because it breaks your phantasms. Unless you turn yourself into a one trick shatter pony your better off in 99% of situations just keeping the phantasms up and not using shatter even in that 1% situation your still probably better off airing on the side of caution in case any kitten hits the fan. For SPvP shatters are essentially not on the mesmer skill list and even in PvE they are kitten horrible.

The way I see it, if you managed to make an effective build that does not require the use of shatter, then why are you complaining? It’s not like shattering the clones is completely useless, at the very least you can get a bit more damage toward the end of the mobs life if you mind wrack or whatever it is, or at the very least daze the target or even distort if you want to run in there and finish it off melee style on your own.

It’s not like you have to use every option available to you at any given time, the fact that weapon skills are static and you have to swap in and out should have given people that clue in the first place.

That being said, if you use your trait points smartly, it is possible to create a build where your illusions still do a lot of damage and your shatters are a lot more “useful” and by useful, I mean more damaging.

ToxicToothpick.4396:

You forgot to mention that using the Underwater Downed 2 skill will lock the Mesmer in place until they either Rally or Die.

Gah! That’s why half the time I can’t swim to the surface. Thank you so much, this explains a lot. I thought I was doing something wrong.

I haven’t been paying attention tbh, I tend to use it when I want to temporarily disable a mob rather than for the damage it supposedly does.

I like the way shatter works. The only problems with it as I see aren’t the system itself, but issues in the system such as pathing. Even this can be solved by taking the trait that makes it so when you shatter, the shatter effect centers on yourself as well as the clones, thereby increasing the range and likelyhood that whatever it is you’re trying to do goes off.

I don’t mean to be insulting, but as others have pointed out, this class has a large skill curve if you want to be good. Anyone can pick it up and have a good time, but if you want to be effective, you have work harder at it than some of the other classes.

The last thing I want to see is Anet tuning things in a direction that make this class super easy to master.

djones.4751:

Illusionists Celerity affects loads, if not everything, actually. But a lot of people mis-see the data because of the various weapon trait slots applying the same cooldown reduction, which in fact stacks. Bear in mind that the tooltips don’t update properly however the actual cooldown IS adjusted.

Yeah, the tooltips are broken, not the skill. I figured this out recently.

I’m not sure if this is a bug or not, but another thread mentioned the fact that clones who are using Winds of Chaos are using an old version that paths along the ground instead of the newer one our characters use that flies through the air. As a result, pathing issues appear with them making it so that their hits don’t always apply.

Embolism.8106:

Clones use the old version of Winds of Chaos, the one that travels along the ground and completely fails against any minor change in elevation.

Is this on purpose? Do you think that if we ask politely enough we can get this changed?

Here goes my mesmer. I found the helm a few levels back and have been using transmutation stones on it since. I feel awesome running around with it on.

As other’s have said, I believe the problem isn’t that Mesmer’s don’t have a traditional form of AoE, but that you aren’t effectively using your Mesmer. The staff is an incredible weapon that bounces attacks by default (great sword also has bounce for number 2), and combined with chaos storm or other ethereal field combo abilities and proper usage of shatter can be devastating.

We don’t call down obvious streams of fire or lightning, or even shoot arrows in the sky to rain down death from above, but if you use the right combination of weapons and properly manage your illusions, we can put up a steady stream of damage to multiple targets.

I’m not sure if you visit reddit, but a user by the name of Prometheus0110 made two videos that explain the Mesmer class in great detail to people who are not as familiar with it as they would like to be. This is a link to the thread http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/zpd2b/as_promised_the_comprehensive_mesmer_guide_parts/ and I heavily recommend anyone who thinks the Mesmer lacks multi target viability watch them.

I haven’t touched the other classes yet, but I get the impression that the Mesmer is a class you have to work at if you want to be awesome at it.

It could be that my math is terrible, but it appears to me that these two traits do not stack. By default, when I have the staff out, Phase Retreat has a 10s cooldown. When I apply Illusionist’s Celerity, it drops down to 8s. I would think that with Chaotic dampening, it would drop a further 20% down to 6.4s or whatever the system rounds to, but it does not.

Because it doesn’t say it doesn’t stack, and of course it doesn’t say it does, I’m a bit confused and wanted to get the opinion of other people before I try and submit a bug ticket for something that is possibly working as intended.

Well, I’m not really concerned about the balance of it, I just want to know the changes. Another change that I found was that when you buy a gathering implement, you can no longer vendor it back. I think this was done to prevent people from selling the last one and getting some copper back.

Currently there are no patch notes being presented and as a result, a lot of things have changed that are basically only known if you frequently browse other websites or experience them first hand in the game. I’m hoping that there is someone out there who has tracked these changes and can post them into this thread. The reason why I ask is because I logged in today and noticed that I could no longer buy butter from vendors (apparently the profession was too easy compared to other ones and a cooking guide was created that highlighted this fact).

Other changes like not being able to sell back items cooked to vendors or salvage/sell old karma gear also took place. If anyone knows any others or has a list, I would really like to know. Hopefully, ANet will take the time at some point to properly provide us patch notes instead of overviews.

Wait, if you call out a target, even when you summon an illusion, the target marker stays put on the original? Please tell me this is not the case, because if it is, that really sucks. Hopefully it’s considered a bug.

Miv.4296:

Xfraze.1704:

You know, I thought something was off. I have some traits dumped into increasing my confusion duration and to my eyes, it appeared that confusion was lasting just as long as before.

I’m pretty sure the signet to increase boon duration works though. I used it in conjunction with the one that gives you a random boon every 10 seconds and it appeared to be increasing the boon duration.

Which rune set are you using? I am using Pack and Water, neither work.

I’m not actually using any runes. There are two signets that we get as mesmers (their names elude me), but one gives you a random boon every 10 seconds and the other should theoretically increase your boon durations/share all boons with nearby players (I think it only does it for party members, not randoms).

Assuming what is being said is true, then that signet should not be working.

Hazmat.6432:

The game was just released do you know how hectic it is for them right now? Theres always a lot of bugs and maintenance that they have to look into when a game is just released; Your pet not being there when the pet does nothing for you except look kind of cool is not an issue at all

I don’t have the problem, but to be fair to the people who do, they did spend like $20 more dollars for the pet so I can understand why they would be peeved.

You know, I thought something was off. I have some traits dumped into increasing my confusion duration and to my eyes, it appeared that confusion was lasting just as long as before.

I’m pretty sure the signet to increase boon duration works though. I used it in conjunction with the one that gives you a random boon every 10 seconds and it appeared to be increasing the boon duration.

Do these not work period, or just under water?

Another issue I noticed is that if your target is on a higher plane than you are or if there is even a pebble between you and them (something large, but something you can still walk over and cast through without receiving errors normally), illusionary leap and a few other skills that send clones out will not work.

Except they have to send it out to every user who has had this problem and if they don’t identify the cause of the problem, then every user will continue to have this problem and they’ll have to keep sending them out.

Yeah, for me, it’s always been when using phase retreat. Generally it’s around shallow bodies of water. Every time it happens I take a screenshot using the in game bug reporter and submit a ticket.

I could have sworn the cap for each map wasn’t shared like that, but that each server has a set number of people they’re allowed to field.