Guild Wars 2

I personally don’t hate the new Mimic: being able to copy all boons from a thief who just used consumed plasma or the might stacks of a celestial ele won me more than fight.
the real issue seems to lie in its redundancy with arcane thievery (which i never really like because of its substantial cool down and limited amount of b00ns/conditions transfered).
in that sense, i think we should also explore changes to arcane thievery. one of such changes could be :
Arcane Swap
-reduce cooldown to 20 secs ( 16 when traited)
- range 900 (1200 when traited)
- functionality: swap position with the latest clone or phantasm created (LOS needed?) Immobilize nearby foes for 2secs.

oh lard

such a change would represent a huge blessing against thieves and them pesky RP rangers. we could just abuse LOS until its time to burst one down.
please Jeezas. i mean, Anet.

Really, the skill inflicting confusion on interrupt feels so much like a mesmer skill that warriors should feel ashamed to use it.
Interrupts and Confusion is characteristic of mesmer gameplay, as highlighted by our f1-f4 skills. i’d happily give up Master of Misdirection for such a skill.

Biske has been only character since gw1
the combination of the shoulder scarf and Tiki mask gave him a very slick look for this winter. I have to be careful tho, he dont talk but bites hard when angry :/ , mostly from 4v5 matchs in spvp.

feight.2704:

i think, the problem with stealth for THIEF is that it hardly allows for effective counterplay. the fact that they have High mobility/stealth/Crazy damage is often too much on a “no recharge” class. solution? allows some type of counter play by modifying stealth itself. how? they are many ways to allow stealth to become more tactical .
1- make stealthed characters have a very slight blur while moving (as in stealthed units in Sc2). or at least some visual cues that, if a player is very careful, could pick up and use to locate the stealthed unit. while immobile, you are totally invincible.
2- maybe turn stealth into a boon, that way it could be removed by more skills.
3- make stealth to get cancelled when character takes a certain % of damage while in stealth.
or something like that…

:)

feight.2704:

THE most elegantly simple fix for Mindstab: Instant recharge on boon rip.
+100% damage if no boons. same recharge.
I fell something like a genius right now.

really guys? cant ya’ll imagine the fun it would be to mind stab guardians multiple times for each boon you manage to rip from them?
stab stab stab.
think it over

THE most elegantly simple fix for Mindstab: Instant recharge on boon rip.
+100% damage if no boons. same recharge.
I fell something like a genius right now.

i’m playing a similar build and i’m having a blast! i go 0/6/6/2/0 with harmonious mantras and mender’s on inspiration. s/s-staff gives so many interrupts. i constantly play with around 15 might and can get it up to 25 with 2 well placed interrupts. then i just look at iswordman stab that warrior for 5k damage… with CELESTIAL. i’m in love.

@munkee, if you dont enjoy it, let the others be, mantras are awesome, especially in Spvp. even while daze, you can still use them, (if charged). this makes any class doing combo on you very hard, group heal with inspiration traits, just having a blast in spvp. i invite you to try it before judging.

i, for one , really enjoys this change. the new gameplay style it allows fits my style perfectly. it feels more active , more “focused” and infinity more fun! i go 0/30/20/20/0 staff + s/s with celestial in SPVP and just cant seem to die. interrupts give me plenty boons and boost my power & cond damage. very gratifiying to interrupt the guardian droping is elite. you guys should give it a try

i think, the problem with stealth for THIEF is that it hardly allows for effective counterplay. the fact that they have High mobility/stealth/Crazy damage is often too much on a “no recharge” class. solution? allows some type of counter play by modifying stealth itself. how? they are many ways to allow stealth to become more tactical .
1- make stealthed characters have a very slight blur while moving (as in stealthed units in Sc2). or at least some visual cues that, if a player is very careful, could pick up and use to locate the stealthed unit. while immobile, you are totally invincible.
2- maybe turn stealth into a boon, that way it could be removed by more skills.
3- make stealth to get cancelled when character takes a certain % of damage while in stealth.
or something like that…

Bring it on, once charged mantras are not cast only executed. they work through stun. and so many other ways to mitigate damage… i suppose in the end, personal preferences will decide whether one is more effective than the other. the build I’m running now works great with my playstyle (i like calculated, precision strikes) and im having alot of succes with it … only downside is the mobility, but i suppose you cannot have it all.

how so? we just saw how mesmer stack up might and boons every conditions. other traits like chaotic interruption and furious interruption weren’t even discussed.. interrupt benefits mesmers in the long run.
chaos storm on more than 3 foes most certainly will let you stack up to 20 might

then cast i swordman for 6k damage every 3.2 sec.
not negligeable by any means.

even if you have to land before being able to stun break, how is it really an advantage? not much thing cant be done while foes is flying around . second yes engi have the hard cc. but its not as SPammable as mesmers daze… and since daze is more beneficial for mesmer than engies, it makes mesmers better at interrupting . engi have have crowd control , mesmer have interrupt.
and i think your are missing the point. Casting Mantras dont Necessarily makes you vulnerable .

wow that was really long … i’ll make sure to synthesize for latter posts.

Knock-back is good , no doubt , but i think their interrupt are not as profitable to them than ours if we both setup for it.
-For the engis, they have many knock backs, i concur but how useful being set solely as “interrupt” will be in a match? in contrast, mesmers ,when set up for it, benefit more from actually interrupting foes than other profession – close second would be warrior. The advantages are no only in our traits but also in our style of play . Here’s an example…
-:Traits: I play a 10\20\20\20\0 mantra build (bezerkers/valkyrie jewel). Sword-Sword (always on deck) and Staff .
First, domination minor traits are all daze/interrupt related. Basically adding damage% via vulnerability application and Grandmaster minor. halting strike buff last patch really made it consistent with the theme .
Dueling is a must for many builds but is also one of the most useful trait line. 20 points invested in will greatly improve mantra’S usefulness (something we’ll discuss later on).
Chaos is my favorite right now: bountiful interruption is heavenly on an interrupt build, often granting protection, swiftness and other juicy boons on top of 5 stack of might for 10 seconds, no internal cool-down (something i suppose they’ll change once this build catches on to the general public).
Inspiration brings this whole build together : 2.6k of AOE healing per mantra cast. coupled with 20% reduction on recharge and 400 armor while casting them , mesmer can basically take care of other things while letting their phantasms do the damage and getting healed themselves (inspiration master minor + Restorative mantras).
Thats the reason why i think mesmers benefit more from interrupt builds than other profession, because they can do OTHER THINGS while interrupting. that makes it the prime Profession to fill this role , just as in GW1. and that brings us to the gameplay…

To start off, Daze is not just an interrupt , it’s also a skill blocker like a shorter Blackout in GW1… a fact that is easily dismissed while it shouldn’t be. Dazing whether interrupts or block stills allowing mesmers to create nice openings for timing his attacks and those of his phantasms.
Experienced mesmers seems to develop an internal clock which help them predict when their phantasms will strike again. With good positioning , a decent player can lure foes away from phantasms and back towards them at whim allowing phantasms to recharge their attacks.
The phantasms have around 3-4k health which is decent. You on the other hand have the ability to healspike yourself , your phantasms as well as your teammates (10k to yourself plus 4 sec of bonus armor , enhancing damage% (phantasms live longer) and team efficiency.
I read another post calling for the nerf of Lyssa’s runes. And i must admit that on this build they feel almost OP. Invincibility and invisibility for 5 sec every 90 sec with mass inviso. Use it to cloak your phantasms after their first attack, use it while on distortion when outnumbered, for stability and TOTAL condition cleanse, random boon whenever using heal skill(using healing mantra, spells synergy?)… so many uses.
Mesmers basically have 2 Speeds: active Attack and active Defense. the Formal being 50% automated and latter rendered extremely easy with the all in one tool: chaos armor. whenever off CD or casting a mantra(400A don’t dare forgetting), popping chaos armor whether through staff 4 or the plethora of leap finishers available (almost 4 in this build) greatly enhances survivability. I figured there was no need to mention chaos storm as both an AOE interrupt and survival tool. i just did.
I couldn’t help but to turn this post into a mesmer eulogy , but the point i wanted to make should be clear by now : mesmers traits and gameplay allow them to be the best at interrupting foes; not via knock backs or Condition but Via direct daze, often without casting time. interrupting will deal damage , grant you boons and create opportunities for you’re Attacks… which really aren’t yours but your phantasm’s.
between you and me , if you let me get 2 Iswordman out, you will die. better kill them kill… through a barrage of daze and auto-attacks :P
Mesmers are still viable AND fun to play. we just got toned down in order to have our build diversity expand beyond the Shatter-Phantasm dichotomy. GReat advancement toward Esport.

ok for the Hammer warrior, not or the engi… you will never have more knockback than mesmer have interrupts. again, you have to be set as an interrupt character compared to interruptions which are embedded in the mesmers mechanics. so it is still easier for us to interrupt than it is for other professions. and its just one of many new builds available to us.

Uno-I doubt any profession as more interrupts than mesmers. fear is good , but often single target. Secundo, interrupts are not as situational as you make them out to be; even more so once you understand that Auto-Attack skills are easily interrupted since they act like mini chnnel skills. Tersio: Mesmer have the most spammable interrupts in the game .counter blade, is on a 12 sec coooldown, power lock on a 24 secs cooldown with 2 charges. diversion on 45 sec (up to 3 X daze if lucky)…. chaos storm… pull-push, ect. to sum it up, the one thing that mesmers do better than other classes is dueling because of the array of the interrupts and boon stripping ability. (sword 1+ clones remove boons fast). Mesmers can take on many different builds using one setup, that’s diversity.

There is no way we are talking about the same game….
Mesmer is still awesome. WE just have to be MORE creative not only with your builds but with your play as well. the changes they made to some traits opened so many new possibilities that i found myself having the best fun i ever had playing the profession since beta. Difficulty has certainly improved but so did the rewards.
-EXEMPLE: Bountiful interruption? what? 5 might per interrupt. are you aware of how many ways Mesmers have to interrupt foes at a time? focus (2), great-sword (5) and staff (5), for AOE pull, push, and interrupt. pistol, off-Sword, and Mantra for a more precision. …Add Halting strike for good measure and you got yourself 2k damage on interrupt.

Ahh! i like Meaty Numbers… Honestly , (and we’ll use the following as an example amongst many other viable builds) , few things are more satisfactory than interrupting another mesmer casting iBeserker with a charged power lock(2k), following up with ISwordsman(4k), i leap, F3(2k if rupt) blurred frenzy (3.5k), Swap, STaff 5(2k more if rupt), Phase(CA) then warlock(3-4K)…To finally have the downed player PM you requesting to give him your build; A build which, for the first time since Forever, don’t make use of Deceptive Evasion. It is of course if everything is “ceteris paribus”, but diversity in the gameplay is something that i for one, gladly welcome.