etiolate.9185

More Winds than the other group can win you some fights, but they have to be well placed and somewhat organized. Wasting Winds can destroy you just as easily as not having enough Winds.

I don't think it should be removed of course. Game would fall right back into a boon ball meta. Maybe an ICD on Enchant Collap.

I am curious how much the alacrity sigil comes into play. The increase in alacrity in the game mode via the sigil means more Winds more often, along with other long CD skills.

"Militia" would choose Battlegroups the same as guilds would. I imagine if the idea was implemented, it would have current server communities defaulted to certain battlegroups to retain community identity. The idea is not elitist. It's about reshuffling population for the health of the game mode. Only the extremely large servers would have a chance of being broken up.

edit: Those aren't scare quotes on Militia. I used quotation marks because Militia is often guild members roaming when their guild isn't running together. There's a lot of crossover., so Militia becomes a loose term.

You can't solve all the problems with one change. I would also say my description is my proposal for Battlegroups and doesn't account for everyone's view of BGs.

As for how its different from EotM: EotM is a fill-up instance based version of WvW. It populates the same way a PVE map does. Battlegroups would be chosen like servers. Maps would fill up in same way they do in current WvW. It's not like EotM at all in that manner.

The rule sets will decide the flavor of each tier. For your Fight tier question: Focusing on PPT means less when PPK mean more. Sure, you can focus on that, but you may get hunted down and kill farmed by a fight group. It's not like Structures and Fights are separate. A structure taking can often lead to a fight. The rule set of higher PPK and skirmish reset will encourage people away from heavy siege wars, but you can't completely nullify that attempt.

80% of the pop may sign up for the "Fight Tier" or Tier B. They will also sign up for another tier. If they can't get into Tier B then they may play on their other tier instead. If fight tier is that much more popular than the rest, then there's no reason you cannot change one other tier into the same ruleset.

Maintaining pop balance between Battlegroups can not be perfectly executed. What you do want is natural forms of population shifts, which the two tier system allows. If a Battlegroup dominates, they may get bored by Monday. I've seen it plenty of times, so they may shift to another of their chosen tiers. Same, if someone who mainly plays on another tier gets bored and sees a mismatch elsewhere, they may move up to see if they can get something out of it. There will be natural shifts in population within a match-up within this system and players look for what suits them best at that time.

You also must realize that the current pop balance developed over the entire cycle of the game's life. Battlegroups would resort people into new populations with the current population limits on joining applied. The current imbalance is based on a shifting policy on population and server change, which has been manipulated over and over. So, in that manner, even though Blackgate may be closed for months, it still has years of population gain over other servers. It's "militia" pop or general pop dwarfs other servers. BG would then be redestributed with the change to Battlegroups, and population shifts would happen every X weeks or months, with the same limits on total active population when shifting Battlegroups.

Perhaps I should add that this would remove server transfers. You can change Battlegroups every X weeks. When a Battlegroup fills up it is then closed to new joins. You would have to adjust the math on "full" to account for the two tier system, since activity won't match potential pop. You can also, since people will have a second Battlegroup to belong to, change outmanned to a buff given when behind X many points, thus encouraging people to play on their other Battlegroup choice.

The idea of my system is that it allows movement while removing tier manipulation from that movement. It creates natural incentives towards population rebalance.

People want an answer or explanation for Battlegroups and how it would improve the situation. I will offer an explanation of how this should work in a way that it has a chance to be successful. Battlegroups cannot solve all problems, of course. The two biggest problems are population loss and the view that ANet doesn't care about the game mode. One change won't fix population loss and the other issue is something ArenaNet can only solve themselves.

The Battlegroup System:

Tiers of play will be made. Each tier will have 3 battlegroups within(Red, Blue, Green). Each tier will also represent a style of play and level of play. Battlegroups will not move up or down in ranking between tiers. Battlegroups will stay in their tier. A different battlegroup may win the tier from week to week, but that won't push a Battlegroup up out of their tier. It may only shift their home Borderland from week to week.

Victory Tier or Tier A will be focused on PPT. I know people say nobody cares about winning, but apparently Blackgate does. So that's for the people who want heavy populations, heavy zergs and heavy sieges.

Tier B or "fight" tier will reward more points for kills. All structures except the home Keep will reset to tier 1 after a Skirmish.. This will be a tier for more back and forth conflicts.

Tier C or Casual Tier will be basic rules and be fit for more laidback play.

Tier D or Beginner Tier will be for new players. Players over Rank 500 can not choose this tier to prevent exploitative farming of new players.

As I said, each tier will have 3 Battlegroups. You can pick a Battlegroup in two tiers and belong to that Battlegroup exclusively for a period of time. (Let's say the current linking period.) At any time during a match-up you can hop between your chosen two Tiers, but you cannot hop Battlegroups within the tier. You (and your guild/friends/community) pick two tiers and one Battlegroup within each of those tiers to stick with.

So, to be more direct, my account may belong to Battlegroup Green in Tier B and Batttlegroup Red in Tier A. During the week, I can hop into tier A or B with the same account. I can't swap sides within those tiers though. I will always be Battlegroup Green in Tier B and Red in Tier A.

This system allows for player movement, which will happen anyways, but restricts it in such a way that won't tear apart groups. It also allows for population flow within a match-up. If Tier A or B has a huge population imbalance, then those players have the option to move to their other assigned tier for better match-ups. This creates a natural release valve of population.

This system also allows tiers to be more distinct and offer different flavors of play. You can experiment with rule differences between tiers to try to liven up the game.

Currently, Red, Green and Blue is just a default name for Battlegroups. I think you would have to allow Battlegroups to change sides from week to week because you have a difference in maps. Both in Borderlands and also EBG home Keeps.

> @Bigpapasmurf.5623 said:

> I believe that mirage is a PvP/WvW class...a dueler if you will. Annoying to fight (Couldn't tell ya how many times I can poof away from attacks and produce confusion like fecal matter.) Its def something that needs a fine tune, but its def not a bad class.

Mesmer was already a dueler class (and one of the best dueling classes) and Mirage is terrible in WvW.

I kind of posted this elsewhere, but a power based spec that has condition hate and a burst skill that summons an illusionary weapon based on the weapon used at the time. Utility skills would be Hex Beasts summons. Hex Beasts operate somewhat like old GW1 Hexes, but are stationary AoE effects. Conjure Phantasm would summon a Hex Beast of Screaming Heads that rise from the ground and then descend back to the ground, doing damage each time. An Hex Devourer beast swims around in the area, removing conditions from allies and doing damage for each condition removed. Conjure Nightmare would summon a Hex Beast that does damage to enemies with vulnerability on them.

Weapon can be Spear or MH Pistol or Focus, but it needs a reliable blast finisher on it.

Call it a Conjurer or a Chaotic Knight.

The Greatsword Ambush with clones actually hits a good deal as a range multi or single target nuke. The issue is it needs 3 clones to accomplish that and it's high cost to keep up three clones and dodges.

Pure zerk clone crits are around 500. Your crits are 3x that at the least. This is speaking per hit and this is a multi-hit skill. I have nuked player targets with a three clone Greatsword ambush. It also surprises people who are used to laser beams being annoying and persistent rather than sudden and powerful. The nature of it also makes it work well with Greiving stats, due to the bleed procs on clone crits. Maybe add a fourth hit to the chain and people would start liking it. (Also factor in the instant Vuln stacks a three clone ambush does. I think its a bit underrated right now.)

-Infinite Horizons baseline. Replaced by a new GM trait that helps shatter builds.

-The middle trait line seems pretty sparse. Two of those traits could roll into one and give Mirage another new GM or Master trait. My suggestion: Roll Protection, stunbreak and Stab into one GM trait. Add a new Master trait that removes conditions for every tick of regen you receive.

-Mirror Mirage removed or completely reworked. It's just too inconvenient and obvious to enemies to work well in any situation. This gimmick is the replacement for the extra endurance bar that the last dodge-based elite spec got. Except an extra endurance bar gives control to the player and works in multiple settings. Mirror Mirages are completely frustrating and an inadequate solution to the issue of "dodge thirst" that a dodge spec has.

-Most other condi trait lines have a trait that increases the effectiveness of a certain condition. Mirage has one that increases duration of other conditions. This frees up stat points from expertise, but that trade-off doesn't seem as strong as a flat % increase of condition damage.

-Completely selfish in design if you want to make it effective. It neuters the utility and support of Mesmer for minimal DPS gain (if any at all, once we can compare properly to power core).

-Improve/Fix/Remove various skills and animations. The teleport re-targets still put the mesmer in poor spots. Ill Ambush often leaves you out of melee range. It is random and it shouldn't be. The only point of the randomness is the naive idea it will fool players. It will only fool bad players, which means it won't serve high level play. As well, the Mirage Advance is a poor man's Shadowstep. It has a clunky and obtrusive animation wind-up and gets blocked by any line of sight. It's not really a teleport as much as a leap. It's targeted because it does an attack and blind, but that does not seem to be worth the otherwise gimped nature of it.

--As a subset of this issue: Axe 2 skill would be a good PVE dps boost because of its effectiness in combo fields, yet it creates clones that overwrite phantasms and so it cannot be used. Give this scepter behavior and you up the raid dps for a spec that doesn't offer much other than condi dmg.

-Increase Jaunt to 600 range. Remove the cooldown.

-And finally promise to never ever return to the ill-fated idea of the Mesmer as shell-game. It doesn't work in PVE and it doesn't work against decent players. You design the class around that and you're making it weak from the start. Next time, give Mesmers an elite spec that actually offers them something new rather than more of the same. ANet has done this with Ranger, Necro, and Engineer. It's time to address the Mesmers biggest holes: Weapon Damage and Power builds. You don't learn to value your auto attack on Mesmer because it's generally so weak. I suggest that next time you give Mesmers a Burst Skill mechanic powered up by Shatters. When you use the burst skill, you summon an Illusionary Weapon version of the Weapon being used. Boosts auto attack, scales well with power. So on and so on. You made Chronomancer which is Mesmer+++ and then you made Mirage which is Mesderpmer. Something fresh next time.

> @Aorin.9168 said:

> I enjoy how engaging it is, how many tools exist in the entire kit. I really like the mobility of all the shadowstep skills, the "now you see me, now you don't" stealth factor; how easy it is to apply multiple stacks of multiple conditions. I find it to be a very stable and fun solo play spec.

>

> My targeted build seems to imply a lot of damage, at least on paper, but I'll leave that to better theorycrafters than I. I never go full glass cannon, I cannot abide being squishy, so some Toughness/Vitality can be found on all my characters.

>

> I'm using Decoy and Time Warp until I get Mirage Advance and Jaunt.

>

> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAnf7fnsICNohVoBWLDMMjlXDDNA8FOClTgeTwx//VAXgA-jhzCQBYRJByOJgOAAcEAUhmgxoE8YPAgLpKwy2fwZKXKoKBMTFC9oVYjKh8kaKAA-e

>

>

Thanks for responding. It can stack bleed, confusion and torment with some burning, too. I guess I already have been doing the stealthy, mobile style of Mesmer for years. Mirage has more ports for certain, but I wasn't ever needing more combat ability.

As a FYI, Mirage Advance is a little wonky because of the animation wind-up and it's not a port but more of a ... jump? It gets blocked by line of sight. So watch out for that.

I was pondering a thread stating that Mirage was simply not fun to play. Instead, I'll just disagree here. What do you find fun about it? it's visually interesting, but feels like basic Mesmer with some ambush thrown in.

Axe 2 could add dps as a whirl finisher + axe trait, but overwrites Phantasms. Perhaps the spec needs a boost to a particular condition the same as Ranger, Thief and Guardian have.

Also, would Jaunt ever be carried? I guess you're assuming that Firebrand or Chrono carries your quickness uptime for you. Even then, you probably take Humility for breakbar.

It's called jaunt but its more like a really heavy frog trying to cross a sidewalk. Maybe rename it Sloppy Hop.

Either make it 600 range and have it feel like an elite or remove the cooldown between jaunts so you can actually multiblink in an effective way. It doesn't gap close or make am escape in its current function.

Nope and that's a huge problem.

Early testing on the raid dps is underwhelming as well. It should be a tiny bump in dps, but I am not sure if its significant enough to make it viable. The dps buff really relies on dodging and your access to more dodges are dependent upon food/buffs more than your build. You give up a ton of group support for middling dps.

Mirage is terrible in WvW. It can only run old power shatter with some new gimmick, but I'm not sure its worth taking over the other shatter builds. Running anything without condi clear is death in WvW and Mirage power shatter falls under that unfortunate distinction.

Mirage in PvP is going to be a condi gank or power shatter gank so it's a matter of whether its worth taking over baseline or chrono versions of the same thing. Considering hybrid Condi Chrono can actually hold a point for a tiny bit and is far better in group fights then I doubt it becomes meta there.

They addressed some issues with the update before release (I was shocked Infinite Horizon was not made baseline though.) but I don't think ANet understands how misguided and useless Mirage is as a concept. They need to find its niche and maximize it, then go back to the drawing board to make a better elite spec for the next time around. As in, an elite spec that actually offers new styles of play for Mesmer. Mirage is Mesmer but wonky. Chrono is Mesmer but better at everything Mesmer does. There's still not been an elite Mesmer spec that feels like a new way of playing Mesmer.

By the end of the expansion cycle, Mirage will either be reworked entirely or have its condi dps buffed a large amount and then left untouched as they work on something better.