Delofasht.4231

Curious what other think of the options...

The minor GM trait seems odd in that it feels like it could be baked directly into Mirage Cloak itself.

Infinite Horizon becoming the minor would make the remaining traits much more interesting for builds (without massively increasing the damage or utility of builds).

Elusive Mind having the exhaustion for such a long period feels extremely lackluster and simply gives up too much damage in general.

Dune Cloak is nearly exclusively for condition damage builds, but for all the usual builds seems to be a less good option than Infinite Horizon (which is why making it minor would be such a good choice).

Moving and adjusting Mirage Cloak and making Infinite Horizon the minor would free up a slot though, so perhaps making a power option for a grandmaster major would work. I suggest one that interacts with shattering mirrors to increase the damage of your next non basic attack ability, so that using the mirror creating utilities and Desert Distortion together for a bunch of mirrors means doing a bit more damage with direct damage. Such an ability could be called Through the Looking Glass and also affect the damage of each of your clones when activated as well, this makes interactions between the player and usage of their clones a bit more interesting. This also decouples the damage of Mirage from condition damage a little and opens up the gameplay (which being telegraphed a bit and somewhat able to be counter played in PvP or WvW scenarios).

Basically, while the damage for condition damage users is present and strong, for power it is a bit lacking. Increasing the damage and making it require skill to use and play around would open up a lot of play potential.

Does anyone else have thoughts on adding or rearranging some traits?

Maybe rework Power Spike mantra to remove all stacks of confusion to burst some damage and reduce the cooldown of any ability that applies confusion. A little simple solution that works to correct a number of issues with instant damage and reactions in other game modes while also making confusion more reliable in PvE. Traits could be adjusted to provide other methods for popping stacks and reducing recharges if abilities as well. Would make confusion far more interesting for PvE, but might make players feel like they have no choices in PvP situations (other than actually running cleanses).

Confusion is not really bad, but as has always been the case, in PvE it is unreliable and straight less useful than many other conditions. Focus on making it useful by way of interactions that feel rewarding for mashing buttons in a certain sequence, at least makes it more fun.

> @"praqtos.9035" said:

> > @"Daccura.4769" said:

> I just described in OP an example, thats pathetic 1500 base damage once per 3 seconds IF you interrupt. If anything this should crit fo liker 6k as huge punishment,not pathetic 1.500

1500 damage is fine without an ICD on players, which it specifically says only an ICD on defiance bar enemies (PvE content).

"This trait can only damage enemies with **defiance bars** once per interval"

This does not apply to players, you are assuming without footage of it's failures. Meaning, unless you are showing it's broken in the way you describe, then you are just not using it appropriately. Yes autoattack abilities are not placed on a 10s CD, simply because that would be a bit odd to lock someone out of using basic attacks.

How are you testing to see if it works or not? Also, do you have any footage from both players perspectives to show what is happening?

A grandmaster trait like this failing to function on players would be most unfortunate. Usually I do not use Domination, but have been interested it in more lately since picking up a one handed sword on mirage.

> @"Arimir.5864" said:

> Having come from wow, and playing a mesmer, and reading this thread reminds me of how warlocks used to be in wow (mop xpac and before)..

> - Was it useful? nerf it

> - Did it perform? nerf it

> - Did it get you kill in pvp? nerf it

> - Did the community complain about it? nerf it

> - Topping DPS charts? nerf it

> - is mage and rogue getting buffed again? nerf warlocks again, because.

> - did warlocks get a nerf? nerf more of their abilities and traits all at once

> - did other classes have single abilities buffed? Make warlocks abilities weaker so they have to use more of them to do any form of damage... and nerf them a little more whilst any change is happening

>

> In all honesty, I don't know enough about the intricacies of professions in GW2 to really feel a % difference in any abilities as it stands, but I feel its does pretty decent how it is now... maybe I don't know how it was!

>

> Cool thread btw :)

Excellent comparison, pretty much spot on actually. Mesmer is a silly profession, nerfing it has invariably hit the wrong things. The one aspect I did think was a good change was Phantasms, because stacking them and standing around doing nothing while they did all the damage felt boring and stupid.... certainly was easier for my wife to play the profession though. Unfortunately, they did not reduce the CD on phantasms during the change, which I feel they really should have done.

Weapons are not as bad off as many would suggest here, but every ability is so niche and tough to land that they are unlike any other profession in the game. Literally every other class can mash any button and get results, except Mesmer. This is a known issue, and really the source is a number of our skills being linked to requiring a target, clones and phantasms would best benefited by being able to be used out of combat.

All the major issues with the profession have been around and will always remain because we function in spite of being a broken profession.

In short, simple changes, clones and phantasms no longer needing a valid target but assuming whatever is targeted after summon. Targeted abilities made to require no target (AoE, line, or radius instead). This would resolve Mesmer being unlike every other profession, then they could be tuned like others instead of constantly having to be treated in a unique fashion.